In the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer (subscription required), Dave Meltzer reveals what his sources are telling him about the state of WWE TLC and why there aren’t any matches being advertised despite the show occurring in just ten days. Reportedly, Vince McMahon currently sees PPVs purely as vehicles to sell WWE Network subscriptions and doesn’t care about the shrinking PPV market or the live attendance numbers.
The belief based on patterns of sign-ups is that they are big the last day of the show, and not before. So unlike ticket sales, which come a month or more in advance, and PPV parties, which get arranged days if not a week plus out, the dynamic is completely different and there is no need to rush anything.
WWE has provided TLC’s venue with three matches to advertise in advance, and all of them are still on the books behind the scenes. You can expect to see Bobby Lashley vs. Rusev, Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin, and the Kabuki Warriors defending their tag belts against Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. However, some aspects are still up in the air. “As of last word, Reigns vs. Corbin will be a stipulation match while Rusev vs. Lashley won’t, but that can all change.”
The main event of the evening should be a WWE Championship match between The Fiend and Daniel Bryan. This is also up in the air as of now because there’s some talk of Miz stepping up to a title match to further the Bryan storyline. As Meltzer rightly notes, this wouldn’t make much sense storywise. “They just had him do a promo talking about why people shouldn’t face Fiend because it ruins them, this coming after Miz told Bryan the opposite because for their children The Fiend had to be stopped. Poor guy must dread the new scripts.”
Additional matches being considered include the following, although Dave notes that none of the bottom four are a lock:
- Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy
- Viking Raiders vs. Gallows and Anderson for the RAW Tag Team Titles
- New Day vs. Roode and Ziggler for the SD Tag Team Titles
- Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Braun Strowman for the IC Title
- Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles
- Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens.
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