WWE: 12 "Can't Miss" Matches From 2013

11. John Cena vs. Randy Orton (TLC, December 15th)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4A5ZGcm-ok Though much debate has already been spent on the star rating, there is no denying the historical importance of the unification match for the World Heavyweight and WWE Championships. John Cena and Randy Orton were the perfect representations of the brand split era and their Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to make two titles into one was a more official end to that era than Triple H casually announcing in the fall of 2011 that Smackdown stars would begin to appear regularly again on Raw. The match created interest from fans of all types and helped get the Road to WrestleMania started a few weeks earlier than usual, as the buyrates for TLC should reflect when released next month. The critical acclaim €“ or lack thereof €“ really matters not to the long-term historical context of this match (assuming that the titles remain unified this go round €“ and there's not currently a reason to think otherwise). So, one could argue that this deserves to be much higher up the list. The problem is that, though it was worth a single viewing on the night of, it was not the type of match that offered a memorable enough viewing experience to get excited about watching again or recommending to someone else. It was a monumentally important night in wrestling lore on the one hand, but on the other it was not a classic match. What it winds up feeling like is that football match that the entire world saw while you were working; you DVRed it, but someone told you the result and you went forward with reading about it. When the general opinion of it was that it was not all that it was built up to be, you decided to delete the recording. That was how the TLC match felt. No doubt a relevant happening for 2013 and, in that respect, it was "can't miss." However, it goes to show that "can't miss" is not exactly equal to "must see."