WWE TLC 2009 Review

Match 1: ECW Championship - Ladder - Christian (c) vs. Shelton Benjamin
This is one of the better WWECW matches that you will find as Christian challenged Shelton Benjamin in this match in order to steal the show. Expectations were obviously high for this one and you have to feel bad for anyone that has to follow this match. I get that their objective was to both steal the show and win the gold, but it felt like this match was just spot after spot after spot. It certainly got the crowd going, but I found it hard to really sink my teeth into this match. They had some really athletic and innovative spots with the ladders as the crowd ate it up. Christian got a cut on his face after Benjamin dropped a ladder on his face which then made the trainers run out to delay the match as they fixed the cut. You guessed it, the crowd was not happy and it really slowed down the momentum the match had built. The end spot came when Christian had Benjamin prone on top of a ladder set up between the ring apron and the announce table where Christian splashed on Benjamin from the top rope and through the ladder. Christian then climbed the ladder to retain the belt. Good match that really didn't live up to the huge hype the internet had built for it. Still, it was lots of fun and a great way to open up the night.
Winner: Christian
Rating: ***1/2

Match 2: Intercontinental Championship - John Morrison (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
After Mr. McMahon came out on an episode of Friday Night SmackDown to declare Drew McIntyre as the chosen one, he faces John Morrison here for the Intercontinental Championship. The crowd hasn't yet adapted themselves to McIntyre as his generic entrance music and basic style of wrestling isn't necessarily the greatest thing to watch. Even still, he more than held his own against Morrison and I liked the match. He got in a significant amount of offense and he looked good. McIntyre poked Morrison in his eyes before hitting his DDT finisher for the win and secures his first taste of gold early on in his career. Even with a pretty dead crowd, I still enjoyed this match and it's pretty clear that the WWE had some big plans for McIntyre.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
Rating: ***

Match 3: Women's Championship - Michelle McCool vs. Mickie James
This has to be one of the dumbest and most immature feuds in recent memory as both Michelle McCool & Layla tease Mickie James for being fat. James looks to be in great shape and also, this is just straight up stupid. Regardless, here we are as the two go at it for the Women's Championship. Just your basic Divas match until Layla tries to get involved before inadvertently eating a boot from McCool. James isn't able to take advantage and instead eats a boot from McCool, as well. McCool covers and retains. Crowd could care less.
Winner: Michelle McCool
Rating: *1/4

Match 4: WWE Championship - Tables - John Cena (c) vs. Sheamus
Sheamus practically ran through the ECW roster within months before finally making his transition to the brighter lights of Monday Night Raw on October 26, 2009. After winning a battle royal, he earned a shot to face John Cena here for the company's richest prize. Cena comes out hot and looks more motivated than ever here. Sheamus definitely holds his ground and just looks like he belongs there. He's a smart and brash heel, trying his best to get away from Cena in some spots and throwing a table out of the ring when he looked to be in trouble. The match ended when the two were perched on the top rope as Cena fell off where he landed through a table set up in the middle. Whether or not Cena fell by himself or by Sheamus is irrelevant, Sheamus is the WWE Champion. After the match, the cameras get an amazing shot of the stunned fans across the arena as Cena takes home a piece of the broken table for the icing on the cake. This was a shock in 2009 and still remains a shock to me in 2015. It was a huge risk to put the gold on Sheamus but looking back, it ultimately worked out for the better. People always complain about Cena being on top forever and once we got a new guy on top, even more complaints came in. Awesome. Sheamus looked like a star here and in 2015, he still remains one of the company's biggest names. Sometimes, moments like these ones are the ones that truly make a star. The match was fairly short but it ultimately served its purpose and the point got across. It didn't need to go five more minutes because the story was really Cena letting his guard down and letting the new guy score the biggest win of his career out of absolutely nowhere.
Winner: Sheamus
Rating: ***1/4

Match 5: World Heavyweight Championship - Chairs - The Undertaker (c) vs. Batista
I'm not a fan of revisiting old feuds, especially when they ended theirs a couple years ago in a Hell in a Cell match. Still, Batista is now a completely different character and is a full-fledged heel. One of the best in the game, too. This match against The Undertaker felt very dry. I didn't feel the hate between the two like I could in 2007 and it just felt like a filler of a match. The chair shots weren't brutal, nothing felt new, and the crowd sucked to make matters worse. Batista looked to score the victory when he hit a low blow on The Undertaker before following it up with a chair shot to the head. He score the victory before Teddy Long came out and demanded that the match restarted. Undertaker hit Batista with the chair and nailed a Tombstone for the win. A pretty boring match between two guys who have great chemistry with each other but the ending made sense. Nobody had to eat the true loss and Batista has another reason to say why he got screwed over again.
Winner: The Undertaker
Rating: **1/4

Match 6: Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton
2009 marked the changing of Kofi Kingston's persona and it really got started with his feud against Randy Orton. Kofi had a marquee moment on an edition of Monday Night Raw in Madison Square Garden where he did his Boom Drop on Orton through a table which eventually led to a match here. Strong match here that saw the younger Kingston try to keep up with the veteran in Orton. Whenever Orton looked to be in trouble, he got right back into the fight with a dropkick or some sort of reversal. Basically, he was still on another level than Kingston and the story they told got across pretty well. Orton was able to nail Kingston with an RKO to win the match. However, Kingston walks away looking like a main player despite the loss.
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: ***

Match 7: Unified Tag Team Championships - TLC - The Big Show & Chris Jericho (c) vs. D-Generation X
The veterans main event the night as Triple H & Shawn Michaels look to capture their first Tag Team Championships as D-Generation X. I'm praying for the crowd to be louder for this one but I was wrong. Either way, the match itself was good enough for me to not worry so much about that. You knew these guys wanted to be different from TLC matches from the past and they really did a fine job of doing that. Lots of innovative spots including The Big Show Chokeslamming Shawn Michaels through Triple H onto a table outside or the awesome ending scene of Michaels hitting a Sweet Chin Music on Big Show with Chris Jericho on Show's shoulders. Triple H then grabbed half of a broken ladder and held it up for Michaels to grab the gold from the top to send the fans home happy. I hate going back to the crowd but they really deterred me from truly sinking my teeth into the match. They had some cool spots but they couldn't even react accordingly. Still, an enjoyable TLC match and a proper way to end 2009 for WWE PPVs.
Winners: D-Generation X
Rating: ***1/2

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
I remember watching this event in 2009 and being really disappointed. In 2015, I was hoping that maybe my perspective of this show would have changed. Unfortunately, it didn't. The crowd was terrible and nothing really stood out too much aside from Sheamus capturing the WWE Championship and maybe the main event. The matches were good but nothing that will set the world on fire and nothing I would really recommend anyone to go out of their way to watch. Nothing was bad, but nothing was spectacularly good.
Rating: 7/10