Dolph Ziggler and Vickie Guerrero head out to kick off the last show of 2010; Vickie does not look happy. Vickie is mad at John Cena for almost Attitude Adjusting her because she suffers from vertigo; Dolph explains vertigo to the WWE Universe. Kofi Kingston interrupts; he basically tells Vickie to keep quiet. Kofi calls her on vertigo climbing the ladder during their TLC match. The other competitor in that TLC match, Jack Swagger now heads out and agrees with Kingston. Swagger says he should have won that match. Ziggler claims he they are jealous and that he could beat either of them. Kofi says he deserves a rematch; Swagger also says he deserves a rematch. Dolph claims that since he is the special guest at Teddy Long’s New Year’s party he cannot give them rematches. They all brawl until the latter mentioned arrives and invites them to the Holla Holla Holladay Party and books a triple threat IC title match for tonight. 4.5/10 It is good to see Kofi and Swagger to get some microphone time.
Big Show vs. “Dashing” Cody Rhodes: Show attacks at the bell and chops in the corner then flings him across the ring; shush chop follows. Big Show SITS on Cody’s face in the corner; Cody loses him mind in the floor and demands ring announcer Tony Chimel to hold his mirror jacket for him. Big Show palms him back into the ring but Cody counters with a kick to the knee. Rhodes does not keep the advantage long as a clothesline and a HUGE backdrop puts him back down. Big Show misses the reverse avalanche and Rhodes hits his Beautiful Disaster kick; Rhodes stomps Show down to one knee. Rhodes charges but Big Show runs through him; Big Show readies the knockout punch but Cody takes a walk and gets counted out. 2.5/10 Quick match that keeps the storyline going and to play off Cody’s vain attitude more. Too bad Show ignored almost all of Rhodes’ offense.
In Teddy Long’s New Year’s party there are a bunch of superstars hanging out; NXT rookie Conor O’Brian plays up his rat character eyeballing Rosa Mendes’ cheese platter until Alberto Del Rio interrupts and apologizes. Long invites people to make some resolutions; Drew McIntyre starts off and says he will become champion and be a better person. A drunken Chavo Guerrero calls everyone idiots; Teddy informs him that there is no alcohol in the champagne he was drinking. Everyone glares at him.
Trent Barreta vs. Drew McIntyre: They are selling Drew as having a new aggressive attitude. Drew side headlock takedowns Trent and holds it; Trent nips up out of it and applies his own side headlock. Drew gets annoyed and starts hammering away but Trent counters in the corner to a head scissors leg drag. He tries a hurracanrana but Drew blocks it and buckle bombs Barreta. McIntyre slaps him and drags him to the apron where he elbows him. Drew almost decapitates Trent in the corner with clotheslines but it only gets two so McIntyre applies a keylock. Drew sends him to the apron and tries to back suplex him back in but Barreta flips over and nails a step-up enziguri for a nearfall. Trent springboard missile dropkicks Drew to the floor; he tries a somersault plancha but Drew sidesteps him and Barreta splats on the floor. Barreta is not moving so the referee calls the match in favor of McIntyre. Post-match Drew Future Shock DDTs him and wishes him a happy New Year. 4.5/10 Pretty decent little squash-like match; Barreta got more offense in than Kaval did last week.
At the party Chavo Guerrero seeks console from the Soaring Eagle. Laycool arrives to run their mouths and insult everyone. Natalya and Beth Phoenix start arguing. Teddy Long books them in a tag match.
World Heavyweight Champion Edge & Rey Mysterio vs. Kane & Alberto Del Rio: Rey and Del Rio start off; Rey kicks him in the corner and Rey lands a tilt-a-whirl head scissors and tags Edge who clotheslines him over the top. Kane comes in and Rey and Edge team up to clothesline him to the floor; Edge then powerbombs Rey onto Kane and Alberto on the floor. Back from commercial Kane has Edge on the mat; Edge and Kane then battle in the corner. Edge mounts Kane on the turnbuckles but Del Rio slides along the apron and hotshots Edge’s throat across the top rope. Kane and Del Rio tag in and out; Alberto hits a seated basement dropkick. Kane adds a boot on the ropes and tags back in. Kane chokes on the ropes but Edge counters a corner charge and drops Kane in the Edge-O-Matic. Rey tags in and comes off the top with a seated senton, dropkicks Kane’s knee and buzzsaw kicks him; he knocks Del Rio off the apron then tries a springboard crossbody that Kane cuts off with an throat uppercut. Kane feeds Rey to Del Rio on the floor and then Kane, while Edge accidently has the referee distracted, whips Rey into the guardrail upside down. Back in the ring the Rey beat down ensues. Del Rio adds a kick to the kidney for two; Alberto hits the fireman’s gutbuster. Del Rio applies a body scissors and almost pulls Rey’s mask off. Mysterio comes out but runs into the 360 backbreaker. Kane comes in and backbreakers Rey and holds him on the knee. Mysterio fights out and boots Kane in the corner; Rey counters the sidewalk slam into a diving reverse DDT and tags Edge. Del Rio comes in as well but Edge clobbers him and flapjacks him. Edge tires the Edge-O-Matic on Alberto but Del Rio counters into a fireman’s carry that Edge turns into the Impaler DDT. Edge lines up for the spear but runs into a chokeslam attempt; Rey low bridges Kane to the floor and Edge baseball slides into him. Rey springboard hurracanranas Del Rio into a 619 followed by the spear for three. 7/10 Fun tag team match Del Rio and Edge had some fun exchanges in the end there; Alberto should segue into a feud with Edge for the title.
Back at the party, Chavo Guerrero tries to hit on Kaitlyn by sucking a helium balloon, but there is no helium in it. Elsewhere, Chris Masters and Hornswoggle compare pectorals. Big Show warns Kelly Kelly about Drew McIntyre. Cody Rhodes and Big Show almost get into an argument but Teddy Long cuts it off. Long books, for next week, Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto Del Rio in a two out of three falls match and Kane vs. Edge for the World title in a last man standing match.
WWE Diva’s Champion Natalya & Beth Phoenix vs. Laycool: Nattie and Beth now have matching pink on their attire. Beth womanhandles Michelle with an armbar lift. Natalya comes in and takes Michelle down by the shoulder. Michelle tries the Faith Breaker but Natalya grabs the rope and flips onto the apron but McCool kicks her head off. Back from commercial Layla has Natalya in a body scissors. Natalya tries to slam her and she collapses. Matt Striker admits, on commentary, that his two cats are named after the Midnight Express (the Dennis Condrey version), for some reason I find that awesome and I believe him. Beth gets a hot tag but that fire is cut off quick as McCool opens the top and middle ropes up spilling Beth Phoenix to the floor. Michelle gets the tag and flings Beth into the apron; she chokes her. Michelle stomps Beth in the corner; and they choke while the referee is distracted. Layla applies a stretch reverse chinlock; Beth quickly flips out of that and tags Natalya. Hart Attack clothesline followed by a slam for two; Layla counters the Sharpshooter. Natalya grabs the leg and rolls through and applies the Sharpshooter, similar to Bret Hart at Summerslam ’91. Michelle illegally kicks her head off to counter, and then she drags Layla into the corner to tag. Natalya backdrops and tags Beth Phoenix who drops Michelle into the Glam Slam for three. 6.5/10 That was a pretty good match; the middle portion was a little slow when Layla was on offense but the rest was entertaining.
Back at the party Teddy Long jinxes his party admitting it was the first party in WWE history that did not break out into a huge brawl. Chavo Guerrero complains about how lame the party is so Big Show pours punch all over him. Chavo shoves Hornswoggle’s face into a cake and a food fight ensues.
Raw Rebound involves the John Cena, CM Punk and Nexus storyline where Punk took over leadership of Nexus; for the rest of the show check out “On the Marc” 12/27/2010 Monday Night Raw Review.
WWE Intercontinental Championship Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. Jack Swagger vs. Kofi Kingston triple threat: This is billed as the final main event of 2010. Matt Striker calls Vickie “Haystacks” Guerrero; that was funny. They all triangle battle until the heels team up against Kofi; Ziggler stomps away and Swagger rubs Kingston’s face in the mat. Kofi fires back but gets kicked in the head and the double teaming continues. They continue the beat down; someone please hurry up and go for a pin so Ziggler and Swagger can turn on each other and make this match entertaining. All that is going on is double team sledging and stomping; they do manage a double suplex. Josh Matthews admits on commentary that this is killing the crowd; Kingston counters a double backdrop attempt and begins to fire back, he monkey flips Swagger and mounts the buckles against Ziggler. Kingston sends Ziggler to the floor and low bridges Swagger; Kofi follows up with a topé. Back from commercial Kofi keylocks Swagger as Dolph recovers on the floor. Kofi begins to run but Ziggler trips him up from the floor and clotheslines him on the concrete. Swagger tries to drag Dolph back in but he counters with a hotshot and then charges back in to nail the Fameasser for two. Swagger rolls to the floor. Kofi reenters and Ziggler drops him with a neckbreaker. Dolph applies a rear chinlock. Swagger tries to head back in but Ziggler knocks him off the apron and reapplies a headlock. Ziggler misses a Stinger splash and Kofi sledges him a few times. Kingston begins to fire up and lands the Boom drop. Swagger returns as Kofi spins for the Trouble in Paradise… Swagger catches him in a German suplex taking out Ziggler as well in the process. Swagger covers Dolph… for two! Swagger covers Kofi… for two! Swagger and Kofi battle on the top rope; Kofi flings Swagger off but Ziggler meets him up top now. They battle up there until Swagger arrives for a Tower of Doom, but Kingston hangs on as Ziggler is powerbombed. Swagger is looking around for Kofi unaware that he is still on the top rope; a frog-crossbody by Kingston gets a REALLY HOT nearfall. Swagger counters the Ranhei into a whip where he missiles Kingston’s knee; Kofi counters the ankle lock into a Trouble in Paradise that MISSES… Swagger grabs an ankle lock but Dolph returns just in time and lands a Zigzag on Swagger for… Kofi breaks up the certain three. Swagger and Kofi struggle to their feet and wearily slug away. Kofi jumps off the second rope into a whiplash DDT on Swagger; Vickie interferes and places Swagger’s leg on the rope, in full view of the referee. Michael Cole calls it legal because apparently there are no DQs in a triple threat match; I’ve been watching wrestling for thirty years, I guess (somewhere along the lines) I must have missed that rule. Anyway Kingston flips out of a Doctor Bomb and nails Trouble in Paradise but Ziggler rolls up Kofi before he can pin Swagger for three and retains the title. 8.5/10 Fun great match to close WWE’s 2010. This was really slow in the start but built to a very exciting crescendo. Good main event.
OVERALL 7/10 Two very fun exciting main events and a good diva’s tag match make the final WWE show in 2010 a fun and entertaining one. Happy New Year’s everyone… now, as with Syfy tradition, it’s time to travel into another dimension; it’s time for the Twilight Zone marathon!
