The WWE Tag Team Championship will be on the line at SummerSlam in a six-way TLC match.
As announced during the closing segment of Friday’s SmackDown, The Wyatt Sicks will defend the WWE Tag titles against five other teams in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at SummerSlam set for August 2 and August 3.
A chaotic brawl broke out between the six teams following a Wyatt Sicks vs. Andrade and Rey Fenix title match in the SmackDown main event, leading to GM Nick Aldis announcing the TLC bout. It was not specified which night of SummerSlam the TLC match will take place on.
Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez defend against Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss
World Heavyweight Champion Gunther defends against CM Punk
Randy Orton & Jelly Roll vs. Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul
Roman Reigns & Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed
WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton defends against Jade Cargill
Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross
Night two (Sunday, August 3):
Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio defends against AJ Styles
Street fight: Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena defends against Cody Rhodes
Steel cage match: United States Champion Solo Sikoa defends against Jacob Fatu
No DQ match: Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch defends against Lyra Valkyria (if Lynch retains, Valkyria cannot challenge for the title again while Lynch is champion)
Women’s World Champion Naomi defends against IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat match
Night TBA
WWE Tag Team Championship TLC match: Wyatt Sicks (Joe Gacy & Dexter Lumis) defend against The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins), DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa), Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin), Andrade & Rey Fenix, Fraxiom (Nathan Frazer & Axiom)
WWE is set to return to Saudi Arabia this September
WWE will be making its return to Saudi Arabia for a pay-per-view event this September, with it being indicated to us that the PPV will likely be TLC (Tables, Ladders & Chairs) 2022. This comes from the same source that indicated the first WWE pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia this year would be the Elimination Chamber. A specific date for the show has not been confirmed. This would be the first TLC PPV since 2020, as no TLC event was held in 2021.
A previously reported PPV event taking place in the United Kingdom during Labor Day weekend in September is also still happening.
WWE last was in Saudi Arabia this February, where the company held its Elimination Chamber PPV. On that show, Brock Lesnar won the WWE Championship in an Elimination Chamber match. Lesnar will put the WWE Championship on the line at WrestleMania 38 this Sunday when he takes on Roman Reigns to unify the WWE and Universal Championship titles.
September’s event will be the eighth WWE show to be held in Saudi Arabia since the company’s 10-year deal with the Saudi government began in 2018.
WWE’s final pay-per-view year is set as TLC is scheduled for Sunday, December 19th at a yet-to-be announced location.
PWInsider first reported the news. WWE currently has a Des Moines, Iowa, supershow listed for the 19th, but tickets have yet to go on sale.
WWE’s calendar originally had a pay-per-view scheduled for Sunday, December 12th in Chicago at the Allstate Arena, but PWInsider said that is not listed internally.
In a bit of a shuffle, the Allstate Arena now has SmackDown on the schedule for Friday, December 17th but tickets have not gone on sale yet. WWE.com still has that show taking place in St. Paul, Minnesota.
However, St. Paul will instead get Raw on Monday, December 13th. That show was originally set for Green Bay, Wisconsin, which no longer lists any WWE events coming up.
Held nearly every year in December except one, this will be the thirteenth TLC in WWE history. Last year’s show was held in the ThunderDome in Tampa’s Tropicana Field, headlined by The Fiend vs. Randy Orton in a Firefly Inferno match.
The Bryan & Vinny & Craig Show is back today with our full recap of the WWE TLC PPV, a match where everyone involved worked really hard and the matches were good and the booking was hilariously appalling as is often the case. And a man was BURNT TO A CRISP. A fun show as always so check it out~!
We look at New Japan’s road to the Tokyo Dome and the first group of major shows in 2021 as the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We look at the realities of business, the set up, the announced matches, and the last few shows leading up to the Dome events. We also have complete coverage from the Budokan Hall show and Super J Cup.
The new issue also covers:
TLC show, Smackdown live and taped shows, new television shows being considered, WWE Network special offer, Bill Goldberg talks who he’d like to wrestle, details on a new contract negotiation, more about wrestlers being sent for regular training, upcoming NXT matches, Hall of Fame, injury updates, new signing, new TV show, international ratings, how WWE & AEW fare compared to sports programming, new TV character identified, WWE market value and the most-watched shows on the WWE Network.
UFC monopoly lawsuit and its ramifications on both the MMA and pro wrestling business regarding competition, ability to hold people to long-term contracts, and competitor pay, and the kind of money we are talking about and why.
A bio of Dr. Alfonso Morales, the legendary Lucha Libre and boxing announcer, who passed away this past week. We look at his background and legacy and why he became so good at what he did.
Major lawsuit involving Lucha Underground and AAA and money figures for streaming content that AAA has received.
UFC 256, with the background of the show, match-by-match coverage and the stories behind the show.
TripleMania, with business notes, popularity, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and the story behind the show.
Tokyo Sports awards for 2020 covering Japanese wrestling, as well as a history for some of the major awards.
Television business, looking at stats not available elsewhere to get the deepest read into how shows are doing, what categories are doing well and how shows compare with previous weeks and one year ago.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering TLC and the latest wrestling news. You can also send email questions to the show to [email protected]
For those interested in updated front lines info on COVID and how it affects sports and the next few months of our real lives, Dr. Alex Patel joined us on Friday night as part of a show with Garrett Gonzalez and me, plus we talked a lot of wrestling news. We’ve gotten a great deal of feedback from people both in and out of wrestling on this episode. It’s not necessarily the best news, but it’s best to have honest news from someone in the front lines.
TLC starts today at 6 p.m. Eastern with the preshow and 7 p.m. for the main show. Just announced is a pre show match with Daniel Bryan & Big E & Otis & Chad Gable vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro & Sami Zayn & King Corbin.
Drew McIntyre vs. A.J. Styles in a TLC match for the WWE title. McIntyre has delivered every time out of late and while damaging, WWE has a very good track record of TLC matches being strong, and Styles is one of the best out there. Five Dimes has the odds at -565 favoring McIntyre to retain.
Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens in a TLC match for the Universal title. Owens has gotten destroyed in every angle. I don’t know if that’s reverse psychology making you think they can’t be beating him down this much and him losing at the PPV, since going in nobody expects him to win. Owens is likely going in “injured” for all the beatings, which could help the drama aspect. Reigns is at -1500 (a 15-to-1 favorite).
Randy Orton vs. The Fiend. They are doing a gimmick match called a Fire Fly Fun House Inferno match. What that actually entails has been kept secret. Fiend had been heavily favored all week, and still is but the odds are down to -195.
Sasha Banks vs. Carmella for the Smackdown women’s title. Banks is a -305 favorite.
There are no odds listed for New Day defending the Raw tag titles against Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin. It should be a good match, however. They’ve had so many matches without changing the titles that one would think it’s at least possible. There has also been a tease of Alexander vs Benjamin, but that feels way too early to happen here and looks like something a long ways down the road
There were no odds on Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax vs. Asuka & ? for the women’s tag title. As noted earlier today, unless there is a late change, Charlotte Flair will be the partner. I could see a tag title change. Flair’s return should have impact.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show as well as Friday’s ROH Final Battle show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected]
Ben-K suffered a concussion and was knocked out cold in his Open the Dream Gate title match with Shun Skywalker earlier today. The match kept going with him just laying there and he took several moves while knocked out. This wasn’t handled well at all. He is said to be okay.
The Canelo Alvarez vs. Callum Smith boxing match last night did 1.2 million Google searches. UFC’s show last night was No. 13 with 100,000. The only other combat sports related thing to chart over the past week was Conor McGregor at No. 4 on Monday with 200,000 for his keeping a gym in Ireland alive for at least a few more years where he knew the owner and due to COVID and expenses was going to have to shut its doors.
Charlotte Flair was secretly training in Los Angeles this past week.
New Japan World has a live show tomorrow morning at 4:30 a.m. from Korakuen Hall:
Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd
Juice Robinson & Toa Henare vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
Zack Sabre Jr & Taichi & Douki vs Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Chase Owens
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada & Tomoaki Honma vs. Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb & Great O’Khan
Tetsuya Naito & Sanada & Bushi vs. Jay White & Evil & Dick Togo
Looking at this card, I can see them start focusing on a KENTA vs. Robinson direction, likely for the Tokyo Dome, now that they’ve gotten the KENTA vs. Brody King match out of the way.
Jake Paul claimed to TMZ that he’s got $50 million in backing to offer Conor McGregor for a boxing match. Paul claims that McGregor has been radio silent since they made him an offer. There’s also been talk in recent days regarding Paul vs. Michael Bisping.
WWE
A story on Zachary Green (formerly Zachary Wentz) from the Lima News on his WWE signing. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions with Drew McIntyre debuts after the PPV today.
UFC
Stephen Thompson suffered a knee injury in last night’s win over Geoff Neal but still was able to win the fifth round and the fight. He came to the press conference in crutches but didn’t know the extent of the damage.
Raoni Barcelos vs Raphael Assuncao in a bantamweight fight is set for the 2/27 show according to a report from Sherdog.
OTHER NEWS NOTES
Stardom had a PPV show earlier today from the Edion Arena in Osaka: Saya Iida won the Future of Stardom title over Maika and Saya Kamitani, Natsuko Tora & Konami b Riho & Ruaka, Himeka & Natsupoi b Bea Priestley & Saki Kashima, AZM b Mei Hoshizuki to keep the High Speed title, Tam Nakano & Mina Shirakawa & Sayaka Unagi b Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid & Gokigen Death to retain the Artists of Stardom title in an elimination match, Giulia d Syuri in as Wonder of Stardom vs SWA title match with it ending as a 30:00 draw and neither title changing hands, Utami Hayashishita b Momo Watanabe to retain the World of Stardom title (thanks to Shannon Walsh and Pro Sports Extra)
A story on Ty Evans, whose father was a pro wrestler, who is now playing football at Ball State University. (thanks to Barry Werner)
Future Wrestling Alliance in Sydney was going to run Friday night, but Sydney got an uptick in cases. Early Friday the promotion said they were still running but asked anyone who had been in the Northern Beach districts to stay away, as that area is going through a localized lockdown. Then they announced later in the day that they were not allowing fans. Then at 7 p.m. they announced the show was off because two of the wrestlers had informed them they had contact with people in that area which was a COVID cluster.
BCW on Saturday night in Melbourne, Australia: Cletus b Ritchie Taylor, Sketch b Zhan Wen, Mick Moretti d Adam Brooks 30:00 draw, Gore b Tome Filip, Gabriel Wolfe b Mad Dog in a hardcore match. Apparently the main event had a big problem. Mad Dog tried to do a leg drop on a flaming table but his leg caught fire and Wolfe didn’t notice and tried to keep the match going. but they ended up just stopping the match and awarding it to Wolfe. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Kevin Sullivan, Justin Credible, Jimmy Hart, The Nasty Boys, Afa Jr. Alofa, Amber Nova, Teal Piper and others who were advertised on the NAWA show last night in Daytona Beach at the Ocean Center did not appear for a variety of reasons. They announced another set of shows on 2/13 and 3/21 at Dorton Arena in Raleigh.
Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling from last night: Jenna Lynn b Danni Bee, Promise Braxton won Diamonds Division title over Rock-C and Hyan (thanks to Shannon Walsh and Pro Sports Extra)
KSW results from Lodz, Poland last night:
Phil De Fries (19-6) b Michal Kita (20-12-1) via TKO from punches at 1:00 of the second round to keep the heavyweight title
Marian Siolkowski (22-8-1) b Roman Szymanski (13-6) via knockout from a liver kick at 1:04 of the fourth round for the vacant lightweight title
Borys Manikowski (22-8-1) b Artur Sowinski (21-12) via decision on scores of 30-26,k 30-25, 29-27
Antun Racic (25-8-1) b Bruno Santos (9-2) via straight 48-47 scores to keep the bantamweight title.
Charlotte Flair is in St. Petersburg, FL, and, at this moment, is scheduled to be Asuka’s partner in tonight’s Women’s Tag Team Title match against the champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler at WWE TLC.
She had been considered the favorite for the mystery partner spot since the talk was earlier that she would return at the Royal Rumble to lead to WrestleMania.
They had spent weeks building up Lana & Asuka as a team for tonight before taking Lana out with a worked injury. The storyline had been planned for a few weeks for Lana to be injured, leading to Flair’s return.
Flair has been out of action since June 22nd when they rushed her into a title match with Asuka on Raw and did an injury angle with Jax afterward. She had taken time off for surgery and to pursue some acting gigs, which included recently filming an episode of the remake of Punky Brewster alongside fellow WWE star Alexa Bliss.
Sasha Banks is set to defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Carmella at WWE TLC. Banks challenged Carmella to the match on tonight’s Friday Night SmackDown. WWE later made the offcial match announcement on WWE.com.
The personal issue between Banks and Carmella began when the challenger laid out Banks with a superkick following Banks’ first successful title defense against Bayley. Carmella would again attack Banks the following week.
Banks got a measure of revenge on last week’s SmackDown, attacking Carmella during a backstage promo.
On this week’s SmackDown, the two participated from separate backstage locations in an interview segment conducted by Michael Cole.
Banks is in the midst of her first reign with the SmackDown Women’s Championship after winning the title from Bayley at Hell in a Cell on October 25th.
Carmella has had one prior run with the same title, holding it from April 10th to August 19th of 2018.
WWE TLC airs Sunday, December 20th at 7 p.m.Eastern time. Here is the full card so far:
WWE Universal Championship TLC match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Kevin Owens
WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. AJ Styles
SmackDown Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Carmella
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax (c) vs. Asuka & Lana
A triple threat match that will determine the next challenger for the WWE championship has been set for next week’s Raw.
AJ Styles, Riddle, and Keith Lee will meet on Raw next week. The winner will face Drew McIntyre for the championship.
Tonight’s show had Styles, Riddle, Lee, Sheamus, Randy Orton, and Bobby Lashley all make their claims to facing McIntyre next. WWE official Adam Pearce later announced three singles matches, with the winners of those matches advancing to next week’s triple threat match.
Braun Strowman also said that he wanted the next title match. However, he was escorted from the building after he attacked Pearce in the opening segment. Dave Meltzer reported this afternoon that Strowman is scheduled to be McIntyre’s opponent at TLC.
Riddle was able to beat Sheamus by cradling him as Sheamus applied a cloverleaf. Lee won his match against Lashley by DQ after MVP ran in and attacked Lee, with the idea that he was protecting Lashley from being pinned.
In the main event, Randy Orton faced AJ Styles. The Fiend Bray Wyatt made an appearance, distracting Orton in the process. This allowed Styles to pin Orton following the Phenomenal forearm.
WWE took a step forward this past weekend by resolving their situations with a few wrestlers who wanted out of the company.
In quick succession on Sunday, WWE announced that Luke Harper, Sin Cara, and The Ascension had been released: “WWE has come to terms on the releases of Jonathan Huber (Luke Harper), Sin Cara, and Ryan Parmeter (Konnor) and Eric Thompson (Viktor) of The Ascension. WWE wishes them all the best in their future endeavors.”
Harper’s release saga was nearly eight months long. He went public with his request via a statement he posted online on April 16. He spent the next five months off of television before then returning in a pretty significant angle at Clash of Champions, helping Erick Rowan defeat Roman Reigns in their no disqualification match.
Our biggest issue of the year, the 2019 Hall of Fame issue is out with complete balloting results, breakdowns by category, bios of the new entrants, comparisons with how everyone did last year, as well as who will be on next year’s ballot who will be removed from next year’s ballot, breakdowns on how each new inductee did in different groups and a look back at a lot of stellar careers. We also talk about the future of the Hall of Fame.
Feature on the development of pro wrestling in France at the turn of the previous century and the wrestler generally considered most responsible for establishing pro wrestling in that country.
The two Tokyo Dome shows, as well as New Japan’s last three events of 2019. We look at the good and bad aspects of the lineups and the comparisons with last year. We look at the retirement of Jushin Liger, the signing of Dragon Lee and his change to Ryu Lee and talk about the different titles at stake.
Drug test suspensions of Robert Roode and Primo Colon and why guys can look the way they look with drug testing and how WWE’s testing greatly differs from others, a look at the releases of Luke Harper, The Ascension and Sin Cara, major change for Miz & Mrs., WWE star hints leaving, Canadian ratings, signing of Oney Lorcan, Tribute to the Troops coverage, Lana death threats, Ronda Rousey talks potential return, current plans for holiday shows, celebrity training for a WWE stint, a rundown on the different people at the last tryout camp including a former MMA champion, the boyfriend of a reality show star and a number of high level women athletes including a former WNBA player, an incident at a house show, value of WWE stock, most-watched show on the WWE Network as well as a rundown of all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week with business notes , results and highlights.
2019 Tokyo Sports awards, including what wrestles historically have had the most MVP trophies and the most match of the year trophies.
TLC PPV including the changes in the show and the ticket demand.
Next Wednesday ratings battle and why it is the most interesting in several weeks.
Dave Bautista’s career, the NWO, and look back at the program that made Bautista’s career and the good and the bad of the NWO.
New Japan tag team tournament, whether the changes in format worked, the business of the final night, standings, match-by-match coverage and star ratings of the last night.
Saturday’s UFC show from D.C. with the business notes on the show and match-by-match coverage.
Look back at the life of Andy Robin, a U.K. star who was one of the greatest performers in the history of pro wrestling in Scotland.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, Wednesday night, Kairi Sane and the rest of the news with Wrestling Observer Radio. You can also send questions to the show to [email protected].
We’re taking polls on the UFC show last night, ROH show Friday night, NWA show yesterday and TLC from WWE tonight, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with the best and worst matches to [email protected]”>[email protected]. With two shows being taped tonight in Des Moines, IA, because they don’t have a live show on Monday, we’re looking for reports from Des Moines with anything not on the live show to [email protected] The only thing announced at this point is A.J. Styles vs. Randy Orton. We’re also looking for reports from the NWA TV tapings in Atlanta.
Regarding last night, Kairi Sane’s situation as far as the extent and nature of her injuries has been kept quiet although there has been talk of a concussion. The only thing we’ve been told regarding last night is that Sane is not cleared for tonight’s show.
Neither Vince McMahon nor Paul Levesque were in Minneapolis yesterday. They were conferenced in on the meeting and the show was put together the way Vince wanted it to. but he was not in Gorilla nor producing the announcers during the show. We were told that Paul Heyman was in charge of the Raw matches (which would include the main event) and Bruce Prichard in charge of Smackdown matches.
It’s pretty much universally agreed that last night was handled poorly. It’s no one person, but many. Ultimately, a doctor should have been sent out (see Cody vs Chris Jericho) with the power to stop the match if needed, or they could have gone right to the finish, sent out a partner, taken Sane away and made it a handicap match (the problem is obviously they weren’t changing the title and Asuka lone beating both Flair & Lynch could have been done but it would have required many changes in the plans. We’ll talk more about it tonight, but what happened last night was very disappointing and dangerous in how things were handled.
Aleister Black is cleared to perform tonight. He appeared to suffer a broken nose in his match with Buddy Murphy.
TLC was the 20th most searched topic on Google with 100,000 searches. That’s low end of normal for a PPV like that.
WWE
Tonight’s NFL game is the Indianapolis Colts vs. New Orleans Saints. Ratings should be up slightly due to the PPV being yesterday.
There will be no 205 Live tapings the next two weeks, only Smackdown on Friday. The next two Fridays will be Best of Shows on the WWE Network.
NXT United will have a wrestling figure toy drive on Wednesday before the show in Winter Park, FL. Fans are encouraged to bring unwrapped wrestling figures to the donation spot next to the NXT merchandise truck between 5:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. All figures collected will be dropped off at Orlando’s Toys for Tots headquarters on Thursday. NXT United is the support group for NXT and they host pre-show and post-show activities related to NXT shows.
The Detroit Pistons have announced WWE Night on 2/20 at the Little Caesar Arena. There will be WWE star or stars doing autographs plus a WWE related Pistons T-shirt available.
UFC
Megan Anderson vs. Norma Dumnt has been added to the 2/29 show in Norfolk, VA. Anderson also today went public with her battles with depression and how serious they were with Ariel Helwani.
MISCELLANEOUS
Marty Scurll will be doing an interview regarding his future on the NWA Powerrr show tomorrow night.
AEW announced they surpassed the 100,000 ticket sold mark for 16 shows in 2019 and future shows in 2020. The official sold number as of Monday was 105,303. The paid total puts them at 5701 for 2019 events thus far.
FITE TV will be carrying both the 1/4 and 1/5 Tokyo Dome shows in addition to New Japan World. They are also doing the 1/6 New Year’s Dash show. The shows are $24.99 each on FITE.
Lineup for Impact TV tomorrow night
Jordynne Grace vs. Tenille Dashwood
TJP vs. Daga
Ace Romero vs. Joey Ryan
Ace Austin vs. Petey Williams for the X title
Rich Swann vs. Ethan Page
IPW New Zealand on 12/14 in Auckland before 250 fans: Liam Fury b Falcon Kid, Charlie Roberts won over Danny Jacobs, Matty Short, Will Cutting, Liger and Sir Mr. Burns, Alfred Valentine & James Shaw won over Will Stone & Alex Savage ad TKD & TED to keep the New Zealand tag titles, Ringo Ryan b Marcus Kool, Kingi & Te Tahi Vinny Dun & Reuben de Jong b Adam Avalanche & Ben Mana & Toa Henare, Candy Lee b Kellyanne to keep the women’s title, Jamie Tagataese b Jake Shehaan to keep the New Zealand title (thanks to Bradley Fisher and Steve Ogilvie)
Shine from Saturday night Chicago: Avery Taylor b Nadi, Lindsay Snow b Stormie Lee, Natalia Markova b Double D Rose, Brandi Lauren b Aja Perera, Natalia Markova b Avery Taylor, Lindsay Snow b Brandi Lauren, Jenna Van Muscles won over Candy Cartwright, Jay Raves & Rosa Negra & Rahne Victoria & Vipress, Natalia Markova b Lindsay Snow to win the tournament for the Nova title, Ivelisse b Mercedes Martinez to win the Shine title (thanks to Leonard Brand)
Riot City Wrestling in Adelaide, Australia yesterday: Dean Brady b Downunder, Steve Miller & Jimmy C b Rosenthal & Havok, Barren b Codie Tre, Matt Basso b Jonathan Corvidae, Jett Armstrong b Nick Armstrong, Chris Basso & Matt Hayter won three-way over Gabriel Aeros & Eli Theseus and Zak Sabbath & Mike Boomer, Adam Brooks b Royce Chamber, Rocky Menaro b Brodie Marshall (thanks to Andrew Conley)
This is a gigantic weekend for major shows, maybe the busiest of the year:
Smackdown tonight in Milwaukee
ROH Final Battle at 8 p.m. Eastern from Baltimore on Honor Club and PPV headlined by Rush vs. PCO for the ROH title, Briscoes vs. Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham for the tag titles ad Shane Taylor vs. Dragon Lee for the TV title
Warrior Wrestling tonight at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago on FITE TV at 8 p.m. with Will Ospreay & Rocky Romero & Amazing Red vs. Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel, Brian Cage vs. El Phantasmo for the Warrior title, Minoru Suzuki vs. Tom Lawlor, Lance Archer vs. Brian Pillman Jr. and many others including Michael Elgin, Drago, Black Taurus, Jake Atlas, Ace Austin and Templario. This is one of the most loaded indie shows of the year.
Tonight at 9:30 p.m. has CMLL at Arena Mexico on the CMLL You Tube Page headlined by Caristico & Negro Casas & Valiente vs. Soberano Jr. & Euforia & Ultimo Guerrero
UFC 245 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas:
Prelims at 6:15 p.m. Eastern
Oskar Piechota (186) vs. Punahele Soriano (185.5)
Jessica Eye (131) vs..Viviane Araujo (126)
Kai Kara France (125.5) vs. Brandon Moreno (125.5)
Chase Hooper (144.5) vs. Daniel Teymur (145.5)
ESPN 2 at 8 p.m.
Matt Brown (171) vs. Ben Saunders (170)
Omari Akhmedov (185.5) vs. Ian Heinisch (185.5)
Irene Aldana (135.5) vs. Ketlen Vieira (136)
Geoff Neal (170) vs. Mike Perry (170.5)
PPV at 10 p.m.
Urijah Faber (135.5) vs. Petr Yan (135.5)
Jose Aldo (136) vs. Marlon Moraes (135.5)
Amanda Nunes (136) vs. Germaine de Randamie (134.5) for the women’s bantamweight title
Max Holloway (145) vs. Alexander Volkanovski (144.5) for the featherweight title
Kamaru Usman (170) vs. Colby Covington (170) for the welterweight title
*Eye missed weight by a full five pounds. She was fined 30 percent of her purse. On Twitter, Eye said she had no excuse and was thankful the fight was still happening.
NWA at 6:05 p.m. Eastern on PPV from Atlanta with Nick Aldis vs. James Storm for the NWA title 2/3 falls with Tim Storm and Brian Hebner as referees plus Rock & Roll Express vs. WildCard for the NWA tag titles.
Guerra de Titanes from AAA in Ciudad Madero will be on the AAA Twitch channel featuring Big Mami vs. Lady Maravilla in a hair vs. hair match, plus a no DQ main event with Psycho Clown & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Drago vs. Blue Demon Jr.& Bestia Del Ring & Rush, Pentagon Jr. & Fenix defend the AAA tag titles in a three-way against Australia Suicide & ? and El Hijo del Vikingo & ?, and Brian Cage & Puma King & Murder Clown & Pagano vs. Killer Kross & Black Taurus & El Texano Jr. & Chessman.
WWE TLC from the Target Center in Minneapolis:
Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin TLC match
Asuka & Kairi Sane vs. Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch TLC match for women’s tag title
Bray Wyatt (not The Fiend) vs. The Miz non-title
Bobby Lashley vs. Rusev tables match
New Day vs. Revival Smackdown tag titles in a ladder match
Viking Raiders open challenge for Raw tag titles
Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy
As for other stuff, A.J. Styles vs. Randy Orton hasn’t been announced but was on the lineup earlier in the week. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Braun Strowman was scheduled but has been pulled since Strowman hasn’t been cleared unless something changes today. Bayley vs. Lacey Evans was listed last week but as of earlier today it was called not expected and they were not planning to hold that match off until the Royal Rumble. As of earlier today, a kickoff match was being added and that would be the only other match, but this is WWE and they could add matches on Sunday.
We’ll be taking polls this week for the ROH, NWA, UFC and WWE big shows, thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
We’re also looking for reports on these weekend shows:
Warrior Wrestling tonight from Chicago
Smackdown tonight from Milwaukee with the dark matches
NXT tonight in Visalia, CA
WWE Saturday night in Cedar Rapids, IA which is a joint branded show with Roman Reigns, Baron Corbin, Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch, Bray Wyatt and others.
Raw on Monday will be from Des Moines, IA. They will be doing a five plus hour taping with all the matches for the 12/23 Raw also being taped. Smackdown will be live every week but they aren’t running a live show between Friday 12/20 and the return on 12/26.
WWE took a step forward this past weekend by resolving their situations with a few wrestlers who wanted out of the company.
In quick succession on Sunday, WWE announced that Luke Harper, Sin Cara, and The Ascension had been released: “WWE has come to terms on the releases of Jonathan Huber (Luke Harper), Sin Cara, and Ryan Parmeter (Konnor) and Eric Thompson (Viktor) of The Ascension. WWE wishes them all the best in their future endeavors.”
Harper’s release saga was nearly eight months long. He went public with his request via a statement he posted online on April 16. He spent the next five months off of television before then returning in a pretty significant angle at Clash of Champions, helping Erick Rowan defeat Roman Reigns in their no disqualification match.
Our biggest issue of the year, the 2019 Hall of Fame issue is out with complete balloting results, breakdowns by category, bios of the new entrants, comparisons with how everyone did last year, as well as who will be on next year’s ballot who will be removed from next year’s ballot, breakdowns on how each new inductee did in different groups and a look back at a lot of stellar careers. We also talk about the future of the Hall of Fame.
Feature on the development of pro wrestling in France at the turn of the previous century and the wrestler generally considered most responsible for establishing pro wrestling in that country.
The two Tokyo Dome shows, as well as New Japan’s last three events of 2019. We look at the good and bad aspects of the lineups and the comparisons with last year. We look at the retirement of Jushin Liger, the signing of Dragon Lee and his change to Ryu Lee and talk about the different titles at stake.
Drug test suspensions of Robert Roode and Primo Colon and why guys can look the way they look with drug testing and how WWE’s testing greatly differs from others, a look at the releases of Luke Harper, The Ascension and Sin Cara, major change for Miz & Mrs., WWE star hints leaving, Canadian ratings, signing of Oney Lorcan, Tribute to the Troops coverage, Lana death threats, Ronda Rousey talks potential return, current plans for holiday shows, celebrity training for a WWE stint, a rundown on the different people at the last tryout camp including a former MMA champion, the boyfriend of a reality show star and a number of high level women athletes including a former WNBA player, an incident at a house show, value of WWE stock, most-watched show on the WWE Network as well as a rundown of all the WWE and NXT arena events over the past week with business notes , results and highlights.
2019 Tokyo Sports awards, including what wrestles historically have had the most MVP trophies and the most match of the year trophies.
TLC PPV including the changes in the show and the ticket demand.
Next Wednesday ratings battle and why it is the most interesting in several weeks.
Dave Bautista’s career, the NWO, and look back at the program that made Bautista’s career and the good and the bad of the NWO.
New Japan tag team tournament, whether the changes in format worked, the business of the final night, standings, match-by-match coverage and star ratings of the last night.
Saturday’s UFC show from D.C. with the business notes on the show and match-by-match coverage.
Look back at the life of Andy Robin, a U.K. star who was one of the greatest performers in the history of pro wrestling in Scotland.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
We will have shows for the next four nights with tonight’s show on Smackdown and the ROH show, plus Hall of Fame, Wednesday ratings, and UFC preview and a lot more.
Regarding the ratings, the actual final numbers for same day were NXT at 778,300 if you include the overrun and 771,400 head-to-head. AEW did 778,000. Head-to-head in the numbers the TV industry cares, which is 18-49, NXT had 367,000 viewers and NXT had 301,100, and if you factor in the overrun, 306,300.
Piper Niven (Kimberly Benson) aka Viper of WWE U.K. noted today that she had a case of Bell’s Palsy, a facial paralysis malady best known in wrestling because of Jim Ross’ repeated issues with it over the last 25 years. She seems to be in good spirits.
WWN has announced it will be holding its WrestleMania week events in Tampa at the Brian Glazer Family JCC, which is the former location of the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory, which had all those incredible matches every Tuesday night in the 60s and 70s with every major wrestling star of that era. There will be a multi-promotional tournament, Progress, WNN Supershow, Shimmer Kaiju Big Battel, Evolve and wXw shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of Mania week.
The New Day, The Usos and Naomi will be appearing on season 14 of Nick Cannon’s Improv comedy show “Wild N Out” on VH-1. The first episode is 1/7 at 8 p.m.
Some odds for Sunday from BetOnline.ag
Bray Wyatt -1500 vs. The Miz +575
Kabuki Warriors -200 vs. Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch +150
Roman Reigns -500 vs. King Corbin +300
Rusev -150 vs. Bobby Lashley +110
Aleister Black -500 vs. Buddy Murphy +300
A web series about the Japanese food culture in New York had Asuka this week talking about sushi, how she started wrestling and eating on the road.
BT is launching a new monthly sports pass for ÂŁ25 per month in the UK. Its includes 4K HDR streaming for Premier League, Champions League games, WWE and other sports. (thanks to Jose Gonzalez)
UFC
UFC has announced a 2/29 show in Norfolk which goes head-to-head with AEW’s Revolution PPV show.
UFC is working on a big heavyweight bout where the winner will almost surely get a title shot between Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Francis Ngannou for 3/28 in Columbus, OH. Another fight being worked on is Cody Garbrandt vs. Raphael Assuncao.
UFC has reached a deal with Snapchat where UFC will have at least 200 pieces of content to the Discover page including UFC Pulse three times a week, Embedded before the biggest shows and other story shows revolving around the major events.
Tickets for the 2/8 PPV show from the Toyota Center in Houston went on sale today with Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes for the light heavyweight title and Valentina Shevchenko vs. Katlyn Chookagian for the women’s flyweight title.
MISCELLANEOUS
A final promo piece for the Nick Aldis vs. James Storm NWA title match tomorrow.
The movie “Mob Town” which features David Arquette premiers today in select theaters along with Video on Demand, Amazon Prime and more. NEW promoter Michael Lombardi also had an appearance in the movie.
Eve runs tomorrow at the Resistance Gallery in London with Rhia O’Reilly vs. Jetta for the Eve championship in the main event.
MLW returns to Chicago on 4/18 at Cicero Stadium. They also have tickets on sale for a 7/16 return to New York at the Melrose Ballroom.
Cheeseburger from ROH is taking bookings through Bill Behrens at [email protected] Behrens also noted that he no longer represents Ryback or Flip Gordon on bookings.
Future of Honor tomorrow night in Joppa,MD at the MCW Arena with Rhett Titus vs. Jonathan Gresham as the main event.
MCW on 12/27 in Baltimore at Perry High School with Ricky Morton, Robert Gibson and Private Party.
Evolve has announced a recruitment camp 1/3 to 1/5 in Port Richey, FL. Guest coaches will include Terry Taylor, Steve Corino, Norman Smiley, Sean Hayes, Jeremy Borash, referee D.A,. Brewer and Gabe Sapolsky who all work for WWE. There will also be NXT roster members coaching and those in the camp will get to on the last day do a PPV like show. For more info go to www.WWNLive.com and look for the Seminar/Tryout section.
559 Fights tomorrow night in Fresno at the Rainbow Ballroom.
IPW in New Zealand at 1 a.m. Eastern ha an iPPV on FITE featuring Toa Henare.
PWA/Fale Dojo on Saturday in Sydney has Jushin Liger & Robbie Eagles vs. Jack Bonza & Bad Luck Fale plus Mick Moretti, Madison Eagles, Jessica Troy, Michael Richards and others on OvoPlay.
AAW Windy City Classic on 12/28 at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park, IL with Josh Alexander vs. Jacob Fatu for the AAW title, Jessicka Havok (Impact) vs. Kris Statlander (AEW) for the women’s title, Paco vs. Hakim Zane for the Heritage title, Jimmy Jacobs vs. Good Brother #3 in a dog collar chain match and Eddie Kingston & David Starr vs.; Curt Stallion & Jake Something in a street fight.
Combate Americas on 1/25 Arena Coliseo in San Juan, PR featuring boxing champion Amanda Serrano (37-1-1 with 27 knockouts in boxing, 1-0-1 in MMA) vs. boxing rival Dahianna Santana (36-12, 15 knockouts in boxing, 0-0 in MMA) in a 130-pound fight under MMA rules. Serrano beat Santana in 2017 at the Barclays Center.
Combate Americas runs tonight on AXS TV from Stockton, CA headlined by Horacio Gutierrez (6-3) vs. Marlon Gonzales (15-4).
Maki Itoh, Tokyo Joshi Pro International champion, faces Session Moth Martina for Eve on 1/1 in London at Wrestle Queendom 3.
WrestleRock from today in Melbourne, Australia: Hartley Jackson b Ritchie Taylor, Xena b Nick Bury to win the women’s title, Caveman Ugg b Mitch Waterman, Ritchie Taylor won Rumble, Toni Storm b Avary (this got a real good reaction), CK Dowie b Mad Dog to keep WrestleRock title, Ritchie Taylor b CK Dowie to win WrestleRock title (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
The Miz and Bray Wyatt will face one another at WWE TLC.
The match was announced on tonight’s edition of SmackDown. It was emphasized that it is Bray Wyatt and not The Fiend that will be facing The Miz. It was not announced whether or not it would be for Wyatt’s Universal championship.
The Miz started SmackDown tonight by talking about what happened the previous week when The Fiend came up from under the ring and dragged Daniel Bryan to the floor, seemingly ripping the hair off of his scalp.
Wyatt then appeared on the Firefly Funhouse set and said he was interested in a match with Miz. The Miz wasn’t, but that changed when Wyatt showed Miz a picture of him with his wife Maryse and their two children. The Miz went backstage and started to leave the arena when he stopped by an open door. He went inside and found the same picture of his family Wyatt had earlier. Wyatt then jumped him from behind and laid him out with the Sister Abigail.
WWE TLC will take place on December 15 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Alexander was announced as Murphy’s next challenger on last week’s episode of 205 Live. On the November 28 episode of the show, Alexander teamed with Mustafa Ali and pinned Murphy during a match where Murphy teamed with Tony Nese.
Murphy vs. Noam Dar in a non-title match and Alexander vs. Nese are set for this week’s 205 Live.
Murphy won the Cruiserweight title from Alexander at Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia this October. Murphy then retained the title against Ali at Survivor Series last month.
Here’s the updated card for TLC:
WWE Champion Daniel Bryan defending against AJ Styles
Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins defending against Dean Ambrose
If Braun Strowman is able to wrestle at the PPV: Strowman vs. Baron Corbin in a tables, ladders, and chairs match (Strowman will challenge for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble if he defeats Corbin. If Corbin wins, he’ll become the permanent general manager of Raw. Corbin will lose all of his GM power if Strowman wins)
Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey defending against Nia Jax
SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Charlotte Flair and Asuka in a triple threat tables, ladders, and chairs match
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus defending against The Usos and The New Day in a triple threat match
Natalya vs. Ruby Riott in a tables match
Finn Balor vs. Drew McIntyre
Elias vs. Bobby Lashley
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy defending against Cedric Alexander
A.J. Styles suffered what WWE officials called a minor ankle injury last night in his TLC main event with Dean Ambrose in Dallas, TX.
Styles did get medical attention in the ring after the show was over. He was also being attended to after the match.
Styles retained his WWE title over Ambrose due to interference from James Ellsworth, which was to set up a Styles vs. Ellsworth title match on tomorrow night’s SmackDown tapings in Houston. Ellsworth’s interference was framed as a strategic decision because he thinks he has Styles’ number after getting three fluke wins over him.
It is not clear at this point how Styles’ injury will play into the match, or if he will be able to wrestle, or be limited in the match since it would likely have been more of an angle than a serious main event style match, or his status as far as house shows since he’s the key star of the brand right now.
Tonight, SmackDown presents WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.
The pay-per-view will be headlined by a TLC match for the WWE World Championship with AJ Styles defending his title against Dean Ambrose. This could be the blow off match for a feud that started back in the summer.
Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss will face off once again for the Women’s Championship, this time in a tables match. This could be Bliss’ final chance at the title after already losing to Lynch in Glasgow.
Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton have a chance at the Tag Team Championship as they take on Heath Slater & Rhyno. The Miz will defend his Intercontinental title against Dolph Ziggler for the final time — this time in a ladder match. Finally, Nikki Bella takes on Carmella in a no DQ match, and Baron Corbin faces Kalisto in a chairs match.
***
10-man tag match: Apollo Crews, American Alpha & The Hype Bros defeated Curt Hawkins, The Ascension & The Vaudevillains
This is the pre-show match. Mauro Ranallo, JBL and David Otunga are on commentary. Tom Phillips is backstage, for now.
The first few minutes was a showcase for the good guys until they did a comedy spot where each guy took turns tossing one of their opponents out of the ring. The heels worked over Chad Gable after a network commercial break until Jason Jordan made a hot tag and ran wild. He hit an Olympic Slam, leading to a Kurt Angle reference by Ranallo. The faces all hit moves to clear the ring allowing American Alpha to pick up the win with Grand Amplitude on Simon Gotch. Match was about 12 minutes.
Renee Young plugged John Cena as an upcoming host of SNL and called it a huge career milestone.
Time for the main show. Tom Phillips has joined commentary.
WWE Tag Team Championships: Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton (w/Luke Harper) defeated Heath Slater & Rhyno
Big cheers and “Randy” chants for the Wyatt Family. Rhyno started the match and Ranallo mentioned this was the first time this team has started that way. Slater tagged in and the Wyatts quickly took control. After Rhyno made the hot tag, Orton saved Bray from a shoulder tackle, and Harper saved Orton from a Gore. Bray distracted Rhyno with the crab walk and Orton suddenly hit an RKO for the win. Wyatt Family are the new tag champs. Big crowd pop. Match was only about 6 minutes. (Edit: Should mention that Orton and Wyatt let Harper hold the belts after the match, and they all seem to be on the same page.)
Backstage, Dean Ambrose told Dasha Fuentes that James Ellsworth is resting at home keeping his chin up. Or maybe his spirits. Ambrose would like to say it’s an honour getting into the ring with AJ Styles, but Styles likes to take the easy way out, and there’s nothing easy about getting hit with a ladder or crashing through a table. Ambrose likes the violent nature of TLC, and like a good friend of his once said, tonight will be hard times.
Elsewhere, AJ Styles told Renee Young he knows exactly what to expect tonight. He admitted Ambrose can be hard to keep down, but Ambrose will stay down long enough to watch Styles pull down his WWE Championship. (Both guys received mixed reactions from the crowd.)
No DQ Match: Nikki Bella defeated Carmella
Nikki won in 7-8 minutes with the Rack Attack 2.0. Not much of a match but they had good crowd heat. Nikki used a disaster kick off the barricade and sprayed a fire extinguisher at Carmella leading up to the Rack Attack.
Afterwards, Carmella informed Nikki that she wasn’t the one who attacked her at Survivor Series, but rather, it was Nikki’s friend from Total Divas, Natalya. The commentators didn’t believe it. JBL figured it was someone from Raw.
Funny enough, this was followed by a commercial featuring Natalya helping a fan pick out an engagement ring for his ladyfriend.
Backstage, Fuentes asked Daniel Bryan about the upcoming IC title match, and said Bryan must want Miz to lose. Bryan said that was true, and the crowd laughed. Bryan said it’s simply because Ziggler is a better representative of the championship. Miz interrupted. He wished it was Bryan in the ring tonight instead so he could push Bryan off the ladder. He told Bryan to enjoy the match.
Intercontinental Title Ladder Match: The Miz (w/Maryse) defeated Dolph Ziggler
Maryse remained at ringside but never got involved. Otunga repeated his line about Miz having the same athletic ability as Justin Bieber. There were dueling chants of “Let’s Go Ziggler” and “Let’s go Miz.”
Miz placed a ladder on Ziggler in the corner and did the Bryan running dropkicks, but Ziggler tossed the ladder at him. Miz smashed Ziggler’s knee into the ladder a few times, then wrapped his leg around the ladder and applied the Figure Four. Ziggler actually tapped but of course it doesn’t matter.
Ziggler fought back and tried a superkick, but his leg gave out and Miz hit a skull crushing finale into the ladder. Miz went up the ladder to grab the title, but Ziggler pulled the ladder out and Miz was left hanging. Ziggler then smashed the ladder into Miz, who fell down awkwardly on his leg.
A one-legged Ziggler tried hopping up the ladder, but Miz caught him and hit a slingshot powerbomb onto a ladder (which was placed between the ropes in the corner of the ring). They set up two ladders side-by-side and each guy climbed up. Ziggler headbutted Miz off the ladder and seemingly had the match won, but Miz jumped up and ran back up the ladder to kick Ziggler twice in the nuts. Ziggler collapsed and Miz grabbed the belt. Miz retains. Nothing spectacular, but a perfectly fine match that went about 24 minutes.
Immediately afterwards, Miz dedicated his victory to Daniel Bryan and wanted to give Ziggler a participation award. He called Ziggler and everyone in Texas a loser. “I win.”
Chairs Match: Baron Corbin defeated Kalisto
Corbin won in 12-13 minutes. Kalisto wears short trunks now instead of tights. Corbin had been wearing a t-shirt to wrestle the last few weeks, but not tonight. Corbin set up a bunch of chairs in the ring, which led to Kalisto hitting a seated senton on Corbin onto the chairs. Kalisto tried a dive to the outside, but Corbin countered into a Deep Six. Kalisto came back by hitting a hurricanrana off the barricade and a running dropkick into the barricade. Kalisto tried a move off the top, but Corbin smoked him with a chair and hit End of Days on a pile of chairs for the win. Corbin yelled at the announcers afterwards.
Backstage, Fuentes asked Natalya about Carmella’s accusation. Natalya wished Becky Lynch luck on her match tonight, calling her a great representative of the division. She blew off Carmella’s accusation and called her a liar.
Phillips quickly plugged Roadblock (a Raw show) and then plugged the Royal Rumble.
Bliss won the title in a 15 minute match. The crowd liked Lynch, but it wasn’t much of a match thanks to the table gimmick. They fought on the apron, when Bliss slipped out and powerbombed Lynch through a table on the outside. Fuentes tried to interview Lynch afterwards, but Lynch told her she didn’t appreciate having a microphone shoved in her face right now. She didn’t blame the interviewer, she was upset at herself.
WWE Championship TLC Match: AJ Styles defeated Dean Ambrose
Both guys got strong mixed reactions, but Styles comes off like a superstar. There was a point during the match where Styles worked over Ambrose and an “A.J.” chant broke out.
AJ Styles retained in about 31 minutes with help from James Ellsworth.
Among the highlights were Ambrose suplexing Styles on top a bunch of chairs, where Styles took a crazy flip bump, and Ambrose putting a ladder on top of the announce table to hit a diving elbow on Styles through another announce table.
Before any of that happened, a hole ripped in Styles’ tights in an unfortunate area. Ambrose went up the ladder but Styles nailed him with a Phenomenal forearm. They fought back and forth until Ambrose used an airplane spin to splat Styles into the ladder.
With Ambrose outside the ring, Styles followed by somehow hitting a moonsault reverse DDT to off the apron. Styles placed Ambrose on a table outside the ring and proceeded to hit a crazy springboard 450 splash through the table.
Styles began climbing the ladder, when zombie James Ellsworth (wearing a neckbrace) began walking to the ring. Styles immediately attacked him and set up for Styles Clash off the steel steps, but Ambrose intercepted and hit Styles with Dirty Deeds on the steps.
Ambrose had the match won. He knocked Styles off the ladder and had his hand on the belt, when Ellsworth suddenly pushed the ladder and Ambrose crashed through two tables on the outside. Styles slowly climbed the ladder and grabbed the belt for the win. Great match.
The last SmackDown PPV of the year takes place this evening, live at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX.
The theme of the show is Tables, Ladders and Chairs, so we will see all of those represented in four different matches. Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss will square off in a tables match for the SmackDown Women’s title. Dolph Ziggler and the Miz will battle it out in a ladder match for the Intercontinental title. Baron Corbin and Kalisto will face off in a chairs match, and in the main event all three weapons will be in use as AJ Styles defends the WWE World title against Dean Ambrose in a TLC match.
Unfortunately, those who were hoping that the beloved stairs match would return are in for deep disappointment as it’s not here.
We round off the card with another stipulation match, as well as a title match as Nikki Bella battles Carmella in a no DQ match and Heath Slater and Rhyno defend the SmackDown Tag Team titles against Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton.
Current tallies:
Kyle S. Johnson: (Columnist) (70 points)
Steve Khan: (WWE SmackDown Live recapper) (67 points)
Bryan Rose: (New Japan/205 Live reporter) (67 points)
James Cox: (WWE Main Event recapper & WWE DVD reviewer) (62 points)
Jeremy Peeples: (Lucha Underground recapper) (48 points)
Brian Hoops: (Daily Pro Wrestling History) (48 points)
PeachMachine: (University of Phoenix Online Mascot) (17 points)
JJ Williams: (NXT reporter) (6 points)
Chairs Match: Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin
Bryan Rose: I am very excited for the CHAIRS match. Corbin wins because he is tall.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Brian Hoops: Baron Corbin is a future title contender, Kalisto is not
Winner: Baron Corbin
James Cox: After all they’ve done, there’s no way it’s not Corbin here.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Steve Khan: They will probably need a new contender for Miz’s IC title, and Kalisto could be that guy. But I just don’t see him winning here after already making Corbin look like a punk, whether or not they still have big plans for Corbin.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Paul Fontaine: I’ve proven to be pretty terrible at predictions this year but I can say with absolute certainty that Corbin is winning here.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Kyle S. Johnson: Baron Corbin is big. Kalisto does lucha things. This is WWE. Big wins.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Ryan Frederick: I don’t see how they don’t put over Corbin unless they’ve given up on him.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Jeremy Peeples: Corbin is big and tall — so he’s winning this one.
Winner: Baron Corbin
No Disqualification Match: Carmella vs. Nikki Bella
Bryan Rose: Tough, but I guess Nikki wins to avenge John Cena or something.
Winner: Nikki Bella
Brian Hoops: No DQ is Nikki’s specialty match.
Winner: Nikki
James Cox: Strange storyline that needs telling properly. Nikki shouldn’t be losing, regardless.
Winner: Nikki Bella
Steve Khan: It’s hard to care about this at all, but it’s even harder knowing Carmella isn’t the one who attacked Nikki. Nikki could win to keep her strong, or whoever did attack her could get involved here and help Carmella win. However, Carmella has beaten Nikki so often already, I’ll go with Nikki and hopefully that’s the end of this.
Winner: Nikki Bella
Paul Fontaine: This match could be ugly. That’s the portion of the prediction that I’m confident in. As for the winner….well, I think it’s Nikki’s turn to get her win back.
Winner: Nikki Bella
Kyle S. Johnson: Nikki wins here to blow off this feud and perhaps gets beaten down post-match by Natalya to set up the next one.
Winner: Nikki Bella
Ryan Frederick: This one has been done to death and hopefully this is the end. Nikki should be the winner since she’s moving on to something else, but I wouldn’t be surprised at an interference ending with Carmella winning. I’ll flip the coin on this.
Winner: Nikki Bella
Jeremy Peeples: With it being a no DQ match, I can see Carmella getting a heel win here — but I don’t see Nikki losing the blow off match.
Winner: Nikki Bella
Ladder Match for the Intercontinental title: The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Bryan Rose: This feud has gone on for so long I kind of don’t care, even though this will probably be a great match. Miz has become a really solid worker in this role and Dolph will take a bunch of crazy bumps. Too soon to do another title change (at least, in my opinion) so I feel Miz takes this one.
Winner: The Miz
Brian Hoops: Could be one of the better matches of the night.
Winner: Miz retains in a great match.
James Cox: The Miz retains. He’s been excellent in 2016.
Winner: The Miz
Steve Khan: Miz is on a nice run and Ziggler is a total nothing. The only thing going against Miz is there aren’t a lot of babyface contenders, but that doesn’t mean he should lose.
Winner: The Miz
Paul Fontaine: Miz is consistently one of the favorite things for me on SmackDown. I think that whatever’s going to be happening for him leading into Mania probably gets set up here.
Winner: The Miz
Kyle S. Johnson: This should be a fun little car crash. Miz has been on a tremendous roll this year, and it only makes sense to have him continue to push on into 2017 with a win over the nearly-lifeless Ziggler.
Winner: The Miz
Ryan Frederick: Miz has been one of the best guys in the company this year and I enjoy him. I don’t see how you switch the title again so soon, or even at all, at least with Ziggler. I think this will be a great match.
Winner: The Miz
Jeremy Peeples: Miz has been a shining star for everything SD-related for months now and he should retain here. Poor Dolph has been killed by stop and start pushes, and another nothing IC title win wouldn’t help him — so Miz should win this.
Winner: The Miz
SmackDown Tag Team Championship: Heath Slater & Rhyno (c) vs. Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt
Bryan Rose: Slater and Rhyno’s shelf life felt like it peaked ages ago. Orton and Wyatt win to continue whatever they are building towards.
Winners: Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt
Brian Hoops: Orton and Wyatt winning the belts would elevate the titles.
Winners: Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt
James Cox: This is a no contest, on paper and in storyline. Quite the interesting tag team champions and I look forward to them.
Winners: Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt
Steve Khan: Wyatt & Orton suddenly have a good thing going and they should win the titles. The tag division needs all the help it can get, and Wyatt & Orton being on top allows the potential for other new teams to get involved. Also, losing the titles doesn’t have to spell the end for Slater & Rhyno, who the crowd seem to like.
Winners: Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton
Paul Fontaine: I’m going against the grain here and predicting the champs retain. Either dissension within the Wyatts (although I think it’s a little too soon for that) or someone interferes, setting up a program for them.
Winners: Heath Slater & Rhyno
Kyle S. Johnson: What makes sense here is having Bray and Randy win the titles, allowing Randy to further sow seeds of dissension between Wyatt and Harper. This would lead to an eventual split, Randy would then turn on Bray having accomplished his goal of isolating Wyatt, and we would get the blow off match between the two at WrestleMania since neither seem to have any larger long-term plans.
Given that it is WWE, I would not at all be surprised if they hot-shotted the rest of the program into one show and just had Randy turn on Bray at TLC, but it would make so much more sense for these two to carry the belts for the while and drop them onto American Alpha at a later point that I’ll presume that this is what happens.
Winners: Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton
Ryan Frederick: I’ve enjoyed Heath Slater and Rhyno as champs, but I see that reign ending here. Orton and Wyatt winning is a set up, but a necessary set up to further the story where Randy eventually turns on Bray. Winning the belts here advances that.
Winners: Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton
Jeremy Peeples: It’s amazing to think of how little they’ve done with Rhyno and Heath over the past month — so they just feel like guys with belts as opposed to the champions. Randy and Bray made for fairly dreadful opponents, but are outstanding allies and a tag title run should freshen them up.
Winners: Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton
Tables Match for the SmackDown Women’s title: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
Bryan Rose: I say Bliss wins this, but in such a manner that the win is cheap and they go for the rubber match where Lynch quickly regains the title.
Winner: Alexa Bliss
Brian Hoops: Bliss is not ready to hold the title.
Winner: Becky Lynch
James Cox: I don’t know whether the title will change hands but I think this feud will continue. These two are good together.
Winner: Alexa Bliss
Steve Khan: I wouldn’t say this has gotten old yet, but it will if it doesn’t end soon. Lynch should win and she likely will after going through a table already on SmackDown. Bliss is a good performer, but she’s not ready yet to be champion (not that it matters).
Winner: Becky Lynch
Paul Fontaine: Bliss is the best woman on the SmackDown roster, in my opinion. Logic would state that if Nikki is winning over Carmella that the heel win here. But this is WWE. I think Bliss wins but does not win the title. I’m calling the shot early and saying Bliss wins the title at the Rumble.
Winner: Alexa Bliss
Kyle S. Johnson: This is still Becky’s division, and it should remain her title. Given WWE logic, it’s entirely possible that she’ll segue into a feud with Carmella despite her likely losing to Nikki Bella on this same show.
Winner: Becky Lynch
Ryan Frederick: Alexa isn’t ready to hold the title just yet. She should win a program over either Naomi or Nikki next to springboard back into winning the title. She’ll eventually get it, but I like the shine they’re giving to Becky. Not sure where Becky goes from here, but she should retain.
Winner: Becky Lynch
Jeremy Peeples: Becky and Alexa have shined when given the chance on SmackDown, and Becky is a solid champion. Alexa could win this, but she got the better of Becky on the go-home show, so Becky should retain.
Winner: Becky Lynch
TLC Match for the WWE World title: AJ Styles (c) vs. Dean Ambrose
Bryan Rose: I don’t see Ambrose regaining the title. Styles is the best choice for champion right now, and this should be a really good bout if given time. I think as long as it doesn’t have a really weak finish this could be the match of the show.
Winner: AJ Styles
Brian Hoops: Should be an outstanding match, never get tired of seeing Styles beat Ambrose.
Winner: AJ Styles
James Cox: AJ Styles is the best thing on and about the main roster. Should be a very good match.
Winner: AJ Styles
Steve Khan: I’m a big Ambrose fan, but it’s probably unanimous that Styles should and will win. Either guy could face Undertaker (or Cena) next, assuming that’s the direction, but having Ambrose as champion for a month accomplishes nothing. Styles is the man right now and should win.
Winner: AJ Styles
Paul Fontaine: This is the last PPV that AJ is going to hold his title through as I’ve been convinced since he won it that he’d hold it until the Rumble, where Cena would beat him for it. I expect this to be the best match on the show but it should be a decisive win for AJ. James Ellsworth could cost Ambrose the match if they’re going for a screwjob.
Winner: AJ Styles
Kyle S. Johnson: AJ Styles will close out 2016 as the WWE Champion. Had you told me this one year ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. Somehow, the best wrestler on the planet continues to defy and exceed expectations.
Winner: AJ Styles
Ryan Frederick: AJ Styles is the best wrestler in the world, and he should be rewarded with holding onto that title for longer. He’s the most complete performer on the roster and I think this will be a hell of a match. As much as I like Ambrose, he shouldn’t be beating Styles for the title, unless there is a double turn involved. I really don’t hope they involve James Ellsworth in the finish, even though he is super over.
Winner: AJ Styles
Jeremy Peeples: AJ feels like “the man” on SD, while Dean’s stock has dropped quite a bit. AJ should win this and send Dean maybe into the IC title picture for a bit. AJ vs. Cena is a good plan for the future and to get there, Dean needs to lose this one.
