Johnny Nitro defeated Jeff Hardy to retain the Intercontinental Title. Hardy, complete with braided hair, gets the better of a rather ho-hum beginning to the bout, as he grounds Nitro with 3 deep arm-drags. Business picks up on the outside as Jeff gets in some aerial action. The momentum then swings to the champ though, when he dropkicks the legs out from Hardy while the challenger was on the top-rope. Nitro proceeds to target the left leg of his opponent with a variety of moves that Jeff sells rather well. A missed corkscrew moonsault opens the door for Hardy, but a top-rope Whisper In The Wind only gets a 2 count. He then blocks a hurracanrana & hits the Swanton Bomb, but the champ gets his foot on the rope at 2. Some solid back & forth action follows, with Nitro pleasingly remembering to go back to the leg. But then it all ends rather cheaply at the 18 minute mark with Melina hitting Hardy in the head with her stiletto boots to get her man the pinfall. Solid opener that probably took the majority of fans by surprise with the way it was performed & the time it got. Because of this, I can’t say that the bout reached the heights that it should have, but I think such a performance served these 2 well in the future, especially Nitro who was only in his second year with the WWE at the time, and since then has gotten a name/face change and held the ECW World Title 
***
Umaga and Kane wrestled to a double count out. The first 2 minutes is a very good, action-packed & physical encounter with both men getting in some good shots & keeping the pace rather brisk. But following a trip to ringside, the pace slows down a fair bit, even if the impact doesn’t. Some back & forth action follows as the 2 head to ringside once more. They then venture into the crowd which a little disappointingly leads to a double countout at the 7 minute mark. * 1/2
The Spirit Squad defeated The Highlanders to retain the Tag Titles. The Highlanders get the better of the opening, as numerous tags result in Mikey’s arm being targeted. Kenny doesn’t have much more luck as the Scottish duo continue the swift tagging & double-team maneuvers. The tide turns when Robbie misses a suicide dive & the extra numbers of The Squad lay into him. Kenny & Mikey both follow up with some nice offense, but the crowd sit silent & make the hot tag to Rory seem rather anti-climactic. The Highlanders then hit their springboard reverse suplex, but Kenny breaks up the count. In the resultant mayhem, Johnny interferes with his Johnny-Go-Round kick & Mikey follows up with a face-plant for the pinfall at the 10 minute mark. **
Triple H and Shawn Michaels defeated Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon and The Big Show in a Hell In the Cell Handicap Match of DOOOOOOOOOM!!! DX literally kick things off with a double low-blow to The Big Show, which allow them to dominate the McMahons. It takes Shane all of 90 seconds to be flung into the cage & get busted open. The same happens to Vince less than a minute later, as TBS is cleverly left reeling in the ring after another double kick to the groin. H finds a screwdriver to make Vince bleed further, but a subsequent pinfall attempt gets interrupted by a finally vertical Big Show. The 3 heels then take turns in isolating & brutalizing DX, with a nice powerbomb type of move busting HBK open & a Shane-O-Mac Van Terminator doing the same to Triple H. A slingshot into the cage makes H bleed further, as TBS hits all his finishers on HBK, only to have Vince lift Michaels up at a 2 count on 2 separate occasions. This allows Triple H to re-enter the fray & a stalemate results with all 5 men down. An a$$-kiss to Vince is teased, but a miscued splash from TBS takes Vince out & DX follows up by crotching the ECW Champ against the ringpost. A top-rope elbow drop onto a chair-choked Shane removes him from the bout & a Sweet Chin Music hangs TBS up on the top-rope. DX then pop the crowd big time by pulling the big man’s tights down & shoving a bloodied Vince deep into his crack! A Sweet Chin Music & huge sledgehammer shot then knocks out Vince for the pinfall at the 25 minute mark. Entertaining & sufficiently brutal match that wasn’t perfectly structured, but worked rather well around the numbers & personnel involved. ***
Trish defeated Lita to win the Women's Title. A “Thank-You Trish†chant fittingly greets Stratus to the ring & the crowd fuel her energy to open the bout up with a flurry of energetic offense. Lita understandably slows the pace down, but a series of chops by the challenger leads to an intense battle of fists up on the top-rope. After a dangerous (but effective) landing at ringside, the 2 head back up, where Lita initially wins the battle, but misses a moonsault. Trish goes for her Stratusfaction finisher, but gets hurled over the top-rope to another awkward landing on the outside. Lita then increases the heel factor as she uses a decent combination of moves in attempting to finish off Trish. But Stratus digs deep & the comeback sees a chick-kick get a close 2 count. The finish that follows appears to be a little awkward, but is actually very cleverly booked that way in order to emphasize the crowd-popping end to the bout as Trish locks on the SharpShooter for the submission victory at the 12 minute mark. Terrific stuff that proves how effective a women’s match can be when it’s booked well & performed with a little more risk & gusto! *** 1/2
Randy Orton defeated Carlito. Not long after the opening lockup, Carlito spits in the face of his opponent to get the bout off to an intense sort of start. Carlito then gains the upper hand with successive controlled aerial moves that remind me a great deal of Chris Jericho. One of the moves opens a cut around Orton’s mouth, but Randy fights back with a dropkick of his own. Orton then locks in a resthold before setting up his patented RKO, but Carlito counters with the back-cracker. Unable to capitalize immediately, the face heads to the top-rope looking for some sort of athletic springboard maneuver. But it’s amazingly countered into an RKO for the pinfall victory to Orton at the 9 minute mark. ** 1/2
John Cena beat Edge in a TLC match to win the Raw World Title. Edge predictably gets a favorable reaction in his hometown (that clearly gets him a little emotional), while poor John Cena is once more greeted by a chorus of boos. A rather methodical beginning sees Cena get the better of the offense. Edge works his way into the bout though & is first to bring some weapons into action. He drops Cena back-first through 2 chairs & then dropkicks a ladder into his face! A hip-toss counter onto a ladder gets the challenger back into the bout, although he fails to F-U or superplex the champ through a table. Following what appears to be a botched sunset-flip into a powerbomb spot, Edge makes Cena pay by power-slamming him through a table & then riskily runs up a ladder & hurls himself onto Cena at ringside. A chairshot follows, but Cena counters a conchairto attempt & squashes Edge with the ladder. He then locks on the STF-U while Edge is caught in the ladder, but Edge tapping out means nothing in this type of bout. Cena remains in control with a ladder shot & a 5 Knuckle Shuffle off of a ladder, but while setting up a table, falls victim to an absolutely wicked chairshot to the head (that may have legitimately knocked him a little loopy)! But Cena fights back promptly & heads for the super-tall ladder in attempting to retrieve the title. Edge recovers however & spears Cena from off of another ladder. Edge’s climb towards the title also gets halted though & Cena capitalizes with a powerbomb & Chairshot. With his hands literally on the title, Cena has the match seemingly stolen from him by an interfering Lita who pushes the ladder over resulting in a huge crash landing through a table at ringside! It should have been academic from there, but a Lita chairshot inadvertently knocks Cena into the ladder resulting in Edge taking a similar fall through a table at ringside! Edge then unrealistically gets up quickly to duke it out with Cena at the top of the ladder, but his reward is a huge F-U from the top of the ladder through 2 tables set up in the ring!!! A rather solemn-looking Cena then grabs the title to end the match at the 25 minute mark. While not always successful, kudos should be given to Cena for playing the role of a wrestler taking part in his first TLC match very well. His mixture of getting carried away with weapons & then sense of regret added to the bout in my opinion. In conclusion, this was a terrific main-event & one of the best matches, if not the best, of the year so far. *****
***Umaga and Kane wrestled to a double count out. The first 2 minutes is a very good, action-packed & physical encounter with both men getting in some good shots & keeping the pace rather brisk. But following a trip to ringside, the pace slows down a fair bit, even if the impact doesn’t. Some back & forth action follows as the 2 head to ringside once more. They then venture into the crowd which a little disappointingly leads to a double countout at the 7 minute mark. * 1/2
The Spirit Squad defeated The Highlanders to retain the Tag Titles. The Highlanders get the better of the opening, as numerous tags result in Mikey’s arm being targeted. Kenny doesn’t have much more luck as the Scottish duo continue the swift tagging & double-team maneuvers. The tide turns when Robbie misses a suicide dive & the extra numbers of The Squad lay into him. Kenny & Mikey both follow up with some nice offense, but the crowd sit silent & make the hot tag to Rory seem rather anti-climactic. The Highlanders then hit their springboard reverse suplex, but Kenny breaks up the count. In the resultant mayhem, Johnny interferes with his Johnny-Go-Round kick & Mikey follows up with a face-plant for the pinfall at the 10 minute mark. **
Triple H and Shawn Michaels defeated Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon and The Big Show in a Hell In the Cell Handicap Match of DOOOOOOOOOM!!! DX literally kick things off with a double low-blow to The Big Show, which allow them to dominate the McMahons. It takes Shane all of 90 seconds to be flung into the cage & get busted open. The same happens to Vince less than a minute later, as TBS is cleverly left reeling in the ring after another double kick to the groin. H finds a screwdriver to make Vince bleed further, but a subsequent pinfall attempt gets interrupted by a finally vertical Big Show. The 3 heels then take turns in isolating & brutalizing DX, with a nice powerbomb type of move busting HBK open & a Shane-O-Mac Van Terminator doing the same to Triple H. A slingshot into the cage makes H bleed further, as TBS hits all his finishers on HBK, only to have Vince lift Michaels up at a 2 count on 2 separate occasions. This allows Triple H to re-enter the fray & a stalemate results with all 5 men down. An a$$-kiss to Vince is teased, but a miscued splash from TBS takes Vince out & DX follows up by crotching the ECW Champ against the ringpost. A top-rope elbow drop onto a chair-choked Shane removes him from the bout & a Sweet Chin Music hangs TBS up on the top-rope. DX then pop the crowd big time by pulling the big man’s tights down & shoving a bloodied Vince deep into his crack! A Sweet Chin Music & huge sledgehammer shot then knocks out Vince for the pinfall at the 25 minute mark. Entertaining & sufficiently brutal match that wasn’t perfectly structured, but worked rather well around the numbers & personnel involved. ***
Trish defeated Lita to win the Women's Title. A “Thank-You Trish†chant fittingly greets Stratus to the ring & the crowd fuel her energy to open the bout up with a flurry of energetic offense. Lita understandably slows the pace down, but a series of chops by the challenger leads to an intense battle of fists up on the top-rope. After a dangerous (but effective) landing at ringside, the 2 head back up, where Lita initially wins the battle, but misses a moonsault. Trish goes for her Stratusfaction finisher, but gets hurled over the top-rope to another awkward landing on the outside. Lita then increases the heel factor as she uses a decent combination of moves in attempting to finish off Trish. But Stratus digs deep & the comeback sees a chick-kick get a close 2 count. The finish that follows appears to be a little awkward, but is actually very cleverly booked that way in order to emphasize the crowd-popping end to the bout as Trish locks on the SharpShooter for the submission victory at the 12 minute mark. Terrific stuff that proves how effective a women’s match can be when it’s booked well & performed with a little more risk & gusto! *** 1/2
Randy Orton defeated Carlito. Not long after the opening lockup, Carlito spits in the face of his opponent to get the bout off to an intense sort of start. Carlito then gains the upper hand with successive controlled aerial moves that remind me a great deal of Chris Jericho. One of the moves opens a cut around Orton’s mouth, but Randy fights back with a dropkick of his own. Orton then locks in a resthold before setting up his patented RKO, but Carlito counters with the back-cracker. Unable to capitalize immediately, the face heads to the top-rope looking for some sort of athletic springboard maneuver. But it’s amazingly countered into an RKO for the pinfall victory to Orton at the 9 minute mark. ** 1/2
John Cena beat Edge in a TLC match to win the Raw World Title. Edge predictably gets a favorable reaction in his hometown (that clearly gets him a little emotional), while poor John Cena is once more greeted by a chorus of boos. A rather methodical beginning sees Cena get the better of the offense. Edge works his way into the bout though & is first to bring some weapons into action. He drops Cena back-first through 2 chairs & then dropkicks a ladder into his face! A hip-toss counter onto a ladder gets the challenger back into the bout, although he fails to F-U or superplex the champ through a table. Following what appears to be a botched sunset-flip into a powerbomb spot, Edge makes Cena pay by power-slamming him through a table & then riskily runs up a ladder & hurls himself onto Cena at ringside. A chairshot follows, but Cena counters a conchairto attempt & squashes Edge with the ladder. He then locks on the STF-U while Edge is caught in the ladder, but Edge tapping out means nothing in this type of bout. Cena remains in control with a ladder shot & a 5 Knuckle Shuffle off of a ladder, but while setting up a table, falls victim to an absolutely wicked chairshot to the head (that may have legitimately knocked him a little loopy)! But Cena fights back promptly & heads for the super-tall ladder in attempting to retrieve the title. Edge recovers however & spears Cena from off of another ladder. Edge’s climb towards the title also gets halted though & Cena capitalizes with a powerbomb & Chairshot. With his hands literally on the title, Cena has the match seemingly stolen from him by an interfering Lita who pushes the ladder over resulting in a huge crash landing through a table at ringside! It should have been academic from there, but a Lita chairshot inadvertently knocks Cena into the ladder resulting in Edge taking a similar fall through a table at ringside! Edge then unrealistically gets up quickly to duke it out with Cena at the top of the ladder, but his reward is a huge F-U from the top of the ladder through 2 tables set up in the ring!!! A rather solemn-looking Cena then grabs the title to end the match at the 25 minute mark. While not always successful, kudos should be given to Cena for playing the role of a wrestler taking part in his first TLC match very well. His mixture of getting carried away with weapons & then sense of regret added to the bout in my opinion. In conclusion, this was a terrific main-event & one of the best matches, if not the best, of the year so far. *****
