Five Matches Added To WWE TLC Lineup Following Last Night’s SmackDown Live
World Wrestling Entertainment’s next pay-per-view event following Survivor Series will be TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on Sunday, December 4 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. This is a Smackdown exclusive pay-per-view and will be the eighth TLC pay-per-view in the company’s history.
The main event for TLC was announced three weeks ago when Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan stated on the Talking Smack show post-Smackdown that AJ Styles would be defending his WWE World Championship against Dean Ambrose in a TLC Match.
This was the only match announced for the pay-per-view until last night’s edition of Smackdown. The Miz and Dolph Ziggler will once again be competing with each other over the Intercontinental Championship. However, this time it will be in a Ladder Match. Also, Bryan stated that no matter who wins or losses at TLC, Ziggler and Miz will finally go their separate ways.
Becky Lynch will be defending her Smackdown Women’s Title against Alexa Bliss at TLC. The impetus for this match comes from Lynch and Bliss’ last Smackdown Women’s Title match ending in controversy. Their match was on the November 8 edition of Smackdown from Glasgow, Scotland. Bliss tapped to Lynch’s Dis-arm-her submission move, but the submission hold should have been broken up by the referee since Bliss had her foot on the rope. The referee was not in position to see Bliss’ foot, so when Bliss tapped out Lynch was declared the winner.
Nikki Bella will be taking on “The Princess of Staten Island” Carmella in a No Disqualification Match at TLC. Nikki suggested on Smackdown that this would be the end of their long-standing feud that has been going on since Nikki’s return from a neck injury this past August.
Baron Corbin will go one-on-one with Kalisto in a Chairs Match at TLC. Corbin and Kalisto’s rivalry began in August when unleashed a couple of backstage attacks on Kalisto for costing him an opportunity at the Intercontinental Championship. Kalisto then spent some time on the shelf as he was dealing with a back injury. Since returning to action, Corbin ruined Kalisto’s chance to win the Cruiserweight Title from (The) Brian Kendrick at Survivor Series and the Intercontinental Championship from The Miz on last night’s Smackdown. In return, Kalisto attacked Corbin last night during his match with Kane.
Next week’s edition of Smackdown will also see American Alpha take on the team of Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton to determine who will face Heath Slater and Rhyno for their Smackdown Tag Team Championships at TLC.
With TLC just 11 days away, the following is the current lineup for the event.
Please note that (c) refers to the champion/s heading into the match.
TLC Match for the WWE World Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Dean Ambrose
Smackdown Women’s Championship Match: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship: The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match: Heath Slater & Rhyno (c) vs. either American Alpha or Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton
No Disqualification Match: Nikki Bella vs. Carmella
Chairs Match: Baron Corbin vs. Kalisto
That’s six matches so far. Excluding the pre-show matches, Smackdown’s last two pay-per-views, Backlash and No Mercy, had 7 matches. Therefore, maybe we see one more match added to the main card over the next week and a half.
Picture used above is courtesy of WWE.com.