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TLC marks the end of the PPV year for WWE. Almost every title will be defended on the card except for the Raw Tag Team Titles and the United States Championship.
Both seem to be on par with importance in WWE's championship hierarchy, so it's not a surprise that either isn't being defended in a match on the PPV. That could change, however, as the match between Finn Balor and Drew McIntyre may not happen due to Balor's recent illness issues.
The Universal Championship will also be missing from the show, but we all know why it will be. The TLC match between Braun Strowman and Baron Corbin is also in some jeopardy. Braun hasn't technically been cleared by doctors, so he could certainly show up but be allowed to only do so much.
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The card is stacked with 12 matches in total.
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Here's the final card for the PPV:
Mixed Match Challenge Finals: Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox vs. R-Truth and Carmella
Cruiserweight Championship Match: Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Cedric Alexander
Tables Match: Natalya vs. Ruby Riott
Chairs Match: Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio
Finn Balor vs. Drew McIntyre
Guitar on a Ladder Match: Elias vs. Bobby Lashley
Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match: The Bar (c) vs. The New Day vs. The Usos
Intercontinental Championship Match: Set Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose
Raw Women's Championship Match: Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Nia Jax
Smackdown Women's Championship TLC Match: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka
WWE Championship Match: Daniel Bryan (c) vs. AJ Styles
Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match: Baron Corbin vs. Braun Strowman
Mixed Match Challenge Finals: Alicia Fox and Jinder Mahal vs Carmella and R-Truth
Like the picture says above, whichever team prevails in the Mixed Match Challenge Finals gets the #30 entrant spot in both Royal Rumble matches. None of these four wrestlers is going to win either Rumble match, but the potential for shenanigans exists in a win by the Fabulous Truth.
Truth and Carmella have been hilarious any time they've been on Smackdown and you can never have enough dance breaks. Maybe Carmella should try a different dance during the dance breaks, though.
This will probably be on the pre-show or one of the calm-down spots before a main-PPV match, but should have some comedic spots. There's also the potential of R-Truth entering the ladies' rumble at #30 because he was confused which Rumble he should be part of.
Prediction: Carmella and R-Truth win.
Cruiserweight Championship Match: Buddy Murphy (c) vs Cedric Alexander
Cedric Alexander lost his Cruiserweight Title to Buddy Murphy at Super Showdown in the early fall. Both men have had good reigns as champions of a show that doesn't get enough spotlight as it potentially could.
Lio Rush, Drake Maverick and Mustafa Ali have all recently been integrated into Raw and Smackdown in one form or fashion, so maybe it's a sign of things to come for 205 Live. These two blew the roof off of the building in Australia and will likely do so again.
It's probably going to be on the pre-show, but that shouldn't relate to its quality as a match. Expect both guys to pull out all the stops in order to win.
Murphy just recently won the title after Alexander held it since last April, so I cannot see them taking the belt off of Murphy so soon.
Prediction: Buddy Murphy wins.
Tables Match: Natalya vs Ruby Riott
Riott
for mocking her late father?
Man, poor Natalya.
Her 'best friend' is the Raw Women's Champion and she's heading into TLC against basically three women in the Riott Squad. She's heading into the match already at a disadvantage and the commentators will likely play up her emotional state.
Since Riott waltzed out with a table containing a big picture of her father on Raw, it's hard to think they'd have Natalya go through it. The Hart family has taken a lot of crap from the McMahons, so maybe they do have Riott win.
It would make sense with the clear numbers' disadvantage, but conspicuously absent from the PPV are Bayley and Sasha Banks. Don't be surprised if they show up to help even the odds.
Riott needs the win more to help build her as a credible threat down the road, but the cathartic win should go to Natalya. Riott can still save face by not being pinned and still losing.
Prediction: Natalya wins and burns the Riott Squad's beanies.
Chairs Match: Randy Orton vs Rey Mysterio
It almost seems like part of the reason they brought Rey Mysterio back was to keep Randy Orton busy between assaults on Jeff Hardy. Both former stars have been victims of Orton since they returned to Smackdown.
The stipulation seems to favour Orton more so than Mysterio, but anyone can swing a chair. Mysterio would have a bigger advantage if this were a ladder match, but alas, it carries the tables stipulation. Orton is always one of the stars who is usually protected throughout the year, especially when the WWE heads into Wrestlemania season.
I'm expecting there to be some high-stakes spot to set Mysterio up to take an 'RKO Outta Nowhere."
Note to the commentators - if we can telegraph when the RKO is coming, it's not out of nowhere.
Prediction: Randy Orton wins.
SmackDown Live Tag Team Title Match: The Bar (c) vs the Usos vs the New Day
I honestly have no idea which team is walking out of this with the titles. All three teams are 'made men' in terms of the tag team hierarchy in WWE, so any of the three teams could feasibly win at TLC.
The Bar probably needs the win the most to be taken seriously as threats, though. They just won the titles at Smackdown 1,000 in October, so it would be a waste to have them lose them exactly two months later.
The New Day is super over with the crowd and won't lose anything by failing on Sunday. Same goes with the Usos.
That's what happens when those two teams have faced each other so much and swapped the titles back and forth as much as they have over the last few years. The match should be one of the best of the night, but one thing that would freshen things up may or may not happen.
Turning the New Day heel probably won't happen, but a double turn would swap the dynamics around. It's one way for the WWE to justify the constant pairings of the Usos and the New Day and the New Day.
Would WWE do that since the New Day is so great at selling merch for the company?
Probably not, but anything can happen.
Prediction: The Bar retains and hopefully wears their tracksuits out to the ring.
Guitar on a Ladder Match: Elias vs Bobby Lashley
This one could be really good or really bad. Lashley doesn't seem like someone who would flourish in a ladder match, but he's flanked by Lio Rush. Rush is certainly someone more suited for that type of stipulation.
Elias will likely have to fend off interference from Rush throughout the match. Whomever retrieves the guitar might not necessarily be the one to wield it. Maybe having the ladder involved isn't the best use of the TLC gimmick.
They could have just as easily had guitars hang from all four ring posts instead, thus ensuring maximum guitar carnage. Elias has carried this feud on the mic but when things have become physical, Lashley has had the upper hand.
I expect that to continue, especially since the winner will be by pinfall.
Prediction: Lashley wins and proceeds to speak to the crowd a la Ace Ventura.
Finn Balor vs Drew McIntyre
If Finn Balor is not sick and is able to go, it will only be so that he can lose to Drew McIntyre. Balor has been the whipping boy lately as Corbin and Co. have constantly targeted Balor, Elias and anyone else who has opposed them.
Balor could still out-wrestle most people even if he was at 75%, but McIntyre is clearly being built up for bigger things down the road. He was rumored to be one of the first challengers for Roman Reigns once he won the Universal Championship, but we all know how things have played out.
McIntyre is clearly someone that the boys backstage love, so he's not likely losing too many matches. Some people seem to think that Finn will bring out the Demon, but WWE has usually hyped it when he has.
McIntyre is on too much of a roll as a dominant heel on Raw, so I don't think that will change at TLC.
Prediction: Drew McIntyre wins after former 3MB mate Heath Slater makes the three count.
Intercontinental Championship Match: Seth Rollins (c) vs Dean Ambrose
This is one of the matches that would have been better suited as a ladder match, but perhaps they didn't want to pull out all of the stops right away for this feud. There's a tangible prize at stake and both men have good history in ladder matches.
This is also only the first match in a rivalry that will clearly keep going into the new year, so don't expect this to be one and done. Ambrose hasn't had a PPV match since turning on Rollins, so will they have him lose his first match as a heel?
It won't make much sense but both guys are already bulletproof in booking terms. Rollins has either held or been chasing the title throughout the year, so he's going to lose the Intercontinental Championship at some point in the near future.
I expect him to be chasing some other gold next year. They can have the requisite rematch at the Royal Rumble, thus potentially ending the feud.
Prediction: Bane Ambrose wins the Intercontinental Championship.
TLC Match for Smackdown Women's Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka
Since this is another case of a first-ever type of match, it should be the one to close the show. What's the point of constantly making note of how things are 'historic' if they don't get spots that warrant it? It may not close the show, but it should be one of the best bouts of the night.
Any three of the women could conceivably walk out with the gold. Vince is obsessed with Charlotte and you know he wants her to break her father's record of 16 title reigns. It's why she was booked to viciously attack both Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series and Asuka on Tuesday's Smackdown.
And it was why she was gifted another shot at the Smackdown Women's Title. Becky Lynch should conceivably hold onto the gold until a potential showdown at WrestleMania, but her having two belts wouldn't help out the show she'd be leaving (Smackdown).
If the plan is for her to face Ronda at WrestleMania 35, it would be better as a hotshot challenger rather than a match between two champions. It would be worthy of a main event slot even if both women aren't holding gold, but it wouldn't offer up much for the other women in WWE to do at WrestleMania.
And then there's Asuka. She was added to the match a couple of weeks ago presumably to help carry the match so that Lynch can be somewhat protected in her return.
It'll be hard to do though in a match as physical as a TLC match. Reports also suggested that Vince 'was surprised that the crowd didn't cheer louder for Flair' when Becky chose her replacement at Survivor Series.
The crowd was clearly rooting for Asuka to take Becky's place. WWE will pull out almost all of the stops in this match because of its historic nature. My heart and my mind are telling me two different things, but neither have Lynch retaining.
I'm on board with her as the red-hot champion, but her losing opens her up to 1) have her rematch at the Royal Rumble and 2) potentially win the Rumble so that she can challenge Ronda at WrestleMania.
So that leaves Flair and Asuka.
Flair doesn't need yet another reign as champion, but Vince loves her. She was atop the hierarchy of the women in WWE until Rousey showed up. She might walk out with the title because Vince simply wants it. Regarding Asuka winning, it could be a bad sign for her that she was left standing tall at the end of Smackdown.
The performers who usually do that on the go-home shows usually don't win their matches at the PPVs. But when WWE has had either replacements in matches or added a third person, the person added has often won the match.
I'm hoping for the latter to happen.
The crowd might loudly boo if Charlotte wins the title (again) at the expense of the two most popular women on Smackdown.
Prediction: Asuka deservedly wins and starts her first reign as Smackdown Women's Champion
WWE Championship Match: Daniel Bryan (c) vs AJ Styles
Daniel Bryan's new character just screams like he eats avocado toast while wearing a handmade scarf made from hemp. He's still growing into his role as the heel champion of the blue brand ever since kicking Styles in the family jewels.
Poor AJ, most of his 2018 has been defined by two things - a long title reign and repeated shots to the groin. Styles has been one of the best performers in WWE period, but he's been on top for most of the last year.
Him winning the title back so soon would do more damage to the burgeoning title reign of 'the New' Daniel Bryan. Also, expect their to be a few low blows or at least attempts at low blows in the match. Since this match is for the top title in WWE, it should conceivably close the show. But will it with the first-ever TLC match for the women?
Or could Strowman/Corbin do the honors?
The match should be great but expect the Prius to beat the muddy 1970s Chevy Truck.
Prediction: Daniel Bryan retains his title and calls the crowd fickle for 10 minutes after.
Raw Women's Championship Match: Ronda Rouse (c) vs Nia Jax
Anything that leads to less talking by Nia Jax is better than what we've suffered through on the last two episodes of Raw. I personally would have rather had Alexa Bliss speak raspily then listen to Jax prattle on and on while staring at her fist as Tamina looks on. Her last promo on Raw was somewhere between a body-positive message and a love letter to her right hand.
At least Jax is a heel in the feud and hasn't been quickly turned back to a 'sort of face'. Since Tamina is likely to be at ringside, expect some attempted interference from the 'Monolithic Mute'. Maybe Ember Moon either accompanies Ronda down to the ring or shows up after multiple attempts to interfere by Tamina.
I just hope Nia doesn't accidentally hurt another of WWE's top female performers. Maybe Vince will have her come out and punch Corbin into oblivion on Raw. Rousey should hold the Raw Women's Title until a possible showdown with the Man in April.
Prediction: Rousey retains her belt and adds two more arms to her collection
TLC Match: Braun Strowman vs Baron Corbin
This is one of the matches that could be a spectacular failure or a resounding success.
It just depends on how healthy Strowman is and what he is allowed to do. Corbin will probably strut down to the ring and have Heath Slater act as official. If/When Strowman shows up, Corbin will probably berate Slater at every turn in order to become permanent GM of Raw.
The outcome depends on what direction Vince will take Raw in after the TLC PPV. Will they have loads of interference from the likes of Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley and perhaps a debuting monster with exceptionally large hands? Or will they simply have Corbin fall through a table and have Strowman stand on top of Corbin for the one, two, three.
If Corbin wins, it will likely be due to crazy interference or due to a replacement for Strowman not being Strowman. It might also just be awarded to him via forfeit. If someone like Dolph Ziggler or Kurt Angle wrestles in Strowman's place, Corbin will likely win.
He could still conceivably be fired the next night on Raw by Vince simply because the low ratings are Corbin's fault. Even AOP could somehow interfere on Corbin's behalf. Whatever happens, expect this one to be nuts in one manner or another.
Prediction: Strowman wins.
