Natalya became the number one contender for the Raw Women’s title after she won a gauntlet match last night on Raw.
A total of eight women participated in this match with Bayley defeating Alicia Fox and then Dana Brooke. Mickie James defeated Bayley but Ember Moon then came out next and pinned her. Natalya then cleaned house, defeating Ember Moon, Ruby Riott, and Sasha Banks in the final match with the sharpshooter.
The Raw Women’s champion Ronda Rousey then came out to congratulate her friend Natalya. The two shook hands and hugged before leaving the ring together.
The gauntlet match was the main event of Raw, making it two nights in a row that the women main evented a WWE show following the TLC match last night on pay-per-view.
Natalya will take on Ronda Rousey on next week’s Christmas Eve episode of Raw which was taped last night.
WWE and SKY in New Zealand announced that they will extend their partnership into its 19th year with a new agreement to continue broadcasting WWE programming live in the country, including WWE’s flagship shows Raw and Smackdown as well as all of WWE’s live monthly special events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series and Royal Rumble.
SKY 5 will continue airing Raw live at 2PM on Tuesdays with replays at 1:30PM on Sundays, Smackdown Live at 2PM on Wednesdays with replays at 4:15PM on Sundays, and Main Even at 6PM on Sundays. These shows will also be available for catch-up viewing on SKY On Demand.
Additionally, Prime, SKY’s free-to-air channel, will televise one-hour versions of Raw and Smackdown on Fridays beginning in 2019. Fans can order all of WWE’s live monthly special events on SKY pay-per-view channel, SKY Arena.
“SKY shares our vision and passion for engaging and entertaining our fans, and we are proud to extend our long-standing partnership with them,” said Michelle Wilson, WWE Co-President. “This agreement allows us to continue showcasing our unique blend of action-packed, family friendly entertainment live in New Zealand.”
“For almost 20 years we’ve given passionate WWE fans in New Zealand the ability to watch their favourite Superstars and we’re thrilled to extend this relationship,” said Rachel Thomson, SKY’s Manager of General Entertainment Channels. “With our live coverage, fans won’t miss a minute of Raw and SmackDown each week, and they also have the option of watching WWE’s exciting live monthly specials on SKY Arena. We are also pleased to offer WWE content to more Kiwis with condensed versions of Raw and SmackDown on our free-to-air channel, Prime.”
As part of the “shake up” that WWE promised yesterday, the company announced five call-ups from NXT. The five individuals promoted to the main roster are EC3, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross, and Heavy Machinery.
EC3, the former Impact champion, returned to WWE earlier this year at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia. He made his NXT debut in March, keeping his Impact name and has been involved in some pretty good matches ever since then. EC3 worked for TNA/Impact for four years prior to his return to WWE. He previously had one stint with WWE as part of Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT as Derrick Bateman.
Lacey Evans has been signed to a WWE deal since April 2016. Prior to joining WWE, she was a U.S. Marine and a member of the Marine Corps Special Reaction Team where she served for five years.
The Scottish Nikki Cross has been part of NXT since April 2016 and joined SAnitY a few months later. She’s been part of NXT Women’s division ever since and last month she made her main roster debut during Smackdown Live wrestling Becky Lynch after she answered the open challenge. Cross returned to NXT but is now heading back permanently to the main roster.
Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic, collectively known as Heavy Machinery, formed the tag team in July 2016. Knight has been signed to a WWE deal since 2013 and Dozovic since 2016.
It was not announced who is going to which roster yet and when the move will happen. The five will join Lars Sullivan who is also joining the main roster.
Change is coming…or so the McMahons have promised.
Kicking off Monday Night Raw, Vince McMahon quickly introduced his two children Stephanie and Shane and son-in-law Triple H to address the audience.
Taking the mic first, Stephanie admitted that the product is failing and they haven’t been doing a very good job at what they do best.
Triple H added that the four of them would be “taking back” both Raw and Smackdown and will give the fans what they want.
Steph continued saying that they will be empowering their Superstars and fans and giving the audience something fresh and new matches and feuds over the next few weeks. Triple H even went as far to say that the fans are now “the authority.”
The last time an out-of-character announcement like this happened was back in 1997 when Vince McMahon appeared in a video opening Raw saying they don’t want to insult everyone’s intelligence anymore and launching the Attitude Era to battle WCW.
If this announcement leads to real change remains to be seen.
It’s December 14th, and New Japan is on the Road to Wrestle Kingdom. Today, the road brings it home, to Korakuen Hall, in Tokyo. Tonight, it should be an eight man main event as Team Tanahashi faces Team Omega in the main event.
1. Tomoaki Honma, Jushin “Thunder” Liger, Tiger Mask & Kushida vs Toa Henare, Ayato Yoshida, Ren Narita & Yuya Uemura.
Wow, Kushida in the opening match. Also, not sure what’s up with this Honma vs Henare feud. Narita ended up taking most of the damage for the middle portion of the match. Honma does a diving headbutt and Tiger Mask a tiger bomb on Uemura for the pin. Henare exchanges angry words with Honma afterwards.
2. Shingo Takagi vs Shota Umino
Another surprise. Takagi is usually not in the Young Lion (read: jobber) matches. This was definitely a major coming out by Umino, he shined throughout the match, as was intended. Takagi did eventually pin him with a Last of the Dragon (pumphandle driver), but then offered a handshake. Umino slapped it away out of anger.
Goto shoulderblocked Iizuka into a Romero roll-up for a bit of an upset. Feels like Suzuki hasn’t won in a while.
4. Tomohiro Ishii & Roppongi 3K vs Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado (with Miho Abe)
Miho comes out in a beautiful Christmas outfit. Kanemaru dominates Ishii for a while until a lariat and a brainbuster ends in a pin. Confrontation between the two tag teams and the two singles wrestlers after the bell.
5. Bad Luck Fale, Guerillas of Destiny & Taiji Ishimori (with Jado) vs Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, Sanada & Bushi
It’s interesting that Fale and Naito are heating things up, going into Naito’s title challenge against Jericho. Possible interference in that match, but I don’t see Jericho winning and then Naito feuding with Fale. This got very good, very very fast, and stayed that way, all after Naito simply took the bumps for the first five-ten minutes or so. Jado nailed Bushi with his singapore cane to the back, and GoD pinned Bushi after a super bomb for the win. Worth checking out.
6. Kazuchika Okada vs Gedo
So, Gedo comes out doing his best Shawn Michaels impression, left hand in sling, and limping. Ricky Romero, at announcers’ table and Gedo, exchange words. Gedo laughs at Romero, and keeps walking to the ring. He says that he is hurt, and the match is therefore cancelled. Before he can finish his speech, you can hear the coins falling and Okada comes out. Okada comes out and says Gedo is faking it. He pretends to hit him, and Gedo raises his arm and steps back, revealing his lie. But, that was only part 1. Before the ref can ring the bell, Gedo pepper-sprays Okada, nails him and goes for the pin. It’s a 2 count. Gedo takes Okada out and beats him all over the building, crushing his back with several chairs. This is right in front of where Romero is sitting, so he is forced to watch. He stands up, but doesn’t act. Gedo, after destroying Okada, returns him to the ring. During an Irish Whip, Okada comes alive and reverses it. It’s all his show now. Gedo tries to cheat in every way possible, but it doesn’t do him much good. Jado comes down to help, distracts ref, allowing a low blow to happen, but Okada still nails a tombstone. He goes for the pin, but the ref is down. Jay White runs in. He destroys Okada. Romero runs in, and he is successful for a while but his Sliced Bread #2 is turned into Blade Runner. Now he tries to Blade Runner Okada, but Kazuchika escapes and destroys White. One Rainmaker later, he gets a three. Okada sits up Gedo and makes a slashing motion across his throat. This sends Jay White running into the ring, he gets beat up, but eventually nails a dragon suplex, and… that’s where it ends for today.
7. Golden Lovers, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens vs Hiroshi Tanahashi Will Ospreay, Togi Makabe & Toru Yano
So, I am a little lost, as there are two Chaos members on Tanahashi’s team. Wonder if there was an angle about an alliance not just between the two leaders, but the two camps. This match was awesome. You won’t get five star ratings for an eight-man match, and this one was way too short to merit a serious appraisal, but man, were the featured players at their best, actually, everybody except maybe Yujiro & Chase, who weren’t supposed to be. The match did a great job of both building up to the Wrestle Kingdom and providing a sneak peek of how good the two matches were going to be. How did it end? Well, Chase went for packaged piledriver on Ospreay, but got a superkick, and Tanahashi ran in with a sling blade, while Yano was holding the Golden Lovers on the outside, and Makabe ran it at one point and after the usual rope running, ducked under and lariated both Ibushi and Omega, and Ospreay finally pinned Owens with a Stormbreaker. This took place in seconds. Whew!
You know when the boss is showing up, something’s gonna go down! And tonight, live on Raw from Sacramento, Vince McMahon will be in the house to “shake things up.”
Whatever that means we do not know yet but it’s obvious that the recent ratings slump has contributed to McMahon appearing on the show tonight. While there are several wild theories going around on what his appearance might lead to, it’s impossible to pinpoint exactly what will happen as it could also turn out to be a disappointment.
Sometimes, the hype is too big for the reveal and there have been previous announcements which fell way short of what was expected. This will be Vince’s first time on TV since the Smackdown 1000 episode back in October. His last appearance on Raw was in March, suspending Roman Reigns.
Apart from the fallout from the TLC pay-per-view, there’s only one match announced for the show so far featuring Finn Balor taking on Dolph Ziggler. The road to the Royal Rumble also starts tonight.
More often than not, it’s painful to sit through three hours of Raw. If you’re one of the unfortunate individuals attending Raw tonight in Sacramento, California, you will have to endure nearly five hours of Raw as WWE will be taping two episodes tonight, one of which will air on Christmas Eve.
Unlike last year, WWE gave its Superstars and crew the holidays off so they can spend them with their family rather than in the ring. While they are taping New Year’s Eve Raw and New Year’s Day Smackdown a few days before, the Christmas editions of these shows will be taped back-to-back. Raw tonight goes live first and with the show being on the West Coast, it’s a 5PM start time for those in attendance. After the live broadcast goes off the air, preparations will start for taping number two.
The second taping won’t last three more hours as obviously they would not have to wait for commercial breaks to be over since it’s just a taping although there will be some breaks in between segments. But commercial breaks or not, this will be a very long night for those in Sacramento.
The New Year’s Eve episode of Raw is being taped this Friday at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit while the New Year’s Day Smackdown is taped on Saturday at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Braun Strowman was obviously not ready to compete yesterday but he still won his match against Baron Corbin, thanks to the help of some friends who had been burnt by Corbin as acting Raw General Manager.
The stipulation was that if Strowman wins, he would be receiving a Universal title shot at the Royal Rumble against Brock Lesnar and last night, this match became the first official one for the always highly-anticipated pay-per-view.
This will not be their first encounter as both have been part of multiple matches, some one on one and some multi-man matches. Strowman has been unsuccessful in all four attempts to win the Universal title where Lesnar has been champion so far, having lost in a fatal 4-way match at SummerSlam that included Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe, lost a one-on-one against Lesnar at No Mercy, lost in a triple threat match at the Royal Rumble which also included Kane, and lost another one-on-one against Lesnar for the vacant title at Crown Jewel.
The decision to have Lesnar win at Crown Jewel raised some eyebrows considering he rarely appears on WWE television but the champ has signed a deal for a few more matches, including the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania.
Before the main event at TLC yesterday started, Raw Women’s champion Ronda Rousey proclaimed that payback is a bitch, and she’s the biggest one on the planet.
That was a hint of what’s to come later in the night as Rousey, who had problems with both Lynch and Flair over the past month, went for her revenge and eventually cost both the title, helping Asuka score her first Smackdown Women’s title.
As the main event was nearing its end, both Charlotte and Becky were on the top of a ladder trading blows. Out came Rousey, walking with a purpose. She stepped in the ring, walked underneath the other nearby ladder, looked up, and tipped over the ladder which had Charlotte and Becky, who both came crashing down. Asuka, who had been on the mat next to the other ladder, slowly climbed up and with no one fighting her off, she clinched the Smackdown Women’s title.
Rousey received a beating from Lynch on the Raw before the Survivor Series but eventually Lynch had to be taken out of the match because of a concussion and a broken nose. Her replacement, Charlotte, left quite a few marks on Rousey at the pay-per-view, beating the Raw Women’s champion with a kendo stick into oblivion.
Here are the results from the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2018 pay-per-view which took place from the SAP Center in San Jose, California.
Buddy Murphy defeated Cedric Alexander to retain the Cruiserweight title in the Kickoff match; Elias defeated Lashley in a ladder match in the Kickoff match; R-Truth and Carmella defeated Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox to win the Mixed Match Challenge tournament; The Bar defeated The New Day and The Usos in a triple threat match to retain the Smackdown Tag Team titles; Braun Strowman defeated Baron Corbin in a TLC match; Natalya defeated Ruby Riott in a tables match; Finn Balor defeated Drew McIntyre; Rey Mysterio defeated Randy Orton; Ronda Rousey defeated Nia Jax to retain the Raw Women’s title; Daniel Bryan defeated AJ Styles to retain the WWE title; Dean Ambrose defeated Seth Rollins to become the new Intercontinental champion; Asuka defeated Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a TLC match to become the new Smackdown Women’s champion.
Hey everybody! @TheMagnumDA here, and YES it’s the last WWE PPV Pick’em of 2018 – Tables, Ladders, and Chairs! I wouldn’t expect to see a lot of Tender Love and Care this evening! Haha…as many of you know, we’ve been keeping track of our scores throughout the entire year. Here’s a recap of those scores:
There’s going to be a huge bonus for this special occasion – There are up to three bonus points for each match involving a Table, Ladder, or a Chair. So for example, the Chairs Match with Orton vs. Mysterio is 2 points (one bonus point for having a Chair added to the match). As you can probably guess by now, the TLC matches are worth a heaping FOUR POINTS. So yeah, anyone can still take this.
Tom and Don will consolidate their picks in an attempt to take the crown as co-champions! Who is going to win the prestigious Captain Lou Albano Cup?! LET’S FIND OUT.
Mixed Match Challenge Finals – Winners get the #30 Spot in the Men’s and Women’s 2019 Royal Rumble.
Fabulous Truth (R-Truth and Carmella) vs. Mahalicia (Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox)
Magnum: I honestly don’t think any of these four people will win the Royal Rumble. What I could see? A dance break at the end of one of the two Rumbles. Maybe both! Give me the Fabulous Truth to win it.
Tom & Don: Of the people in the match, we could see them pushing Carmella again. Of the men, we think they could push Jinder again. But of those two options and because people like them, we see R-Truth and Carmella getting the win.
Colin: Who would’ve thought these two teams would be in the final when all the teams were announced!? Mind you, the only reason they are is because most of the others are tied up in a match on the show. If they had done the finals on Tuesday, I bet things would look different. But anyway, I’m rooting for Carmella and Truth. They have been very entertaining lately and they’ve stepped up. So kudos to them.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose
Magnum: This has been a feud built on the bond that was The Shield. Dean apparently wants to go his own path, but along the way he’s said some pretty stupid things, most notably about Roman Reigns. I like Seth here, but it’s going to be an all-out dogfight.
Tom & Don: This story has been so strange and we don’t like them pulling in Roman’s real illness. To see this end and them create a new top babyface, we predict Dean wins and becomes the IC champ.
Colin: There are rumors that Rollins will be in a higher-profile match towards WrestleMania season. For this to work, he needs to drop the Intercontinental title. And to make Ambrose’s return meaningful, he needs to win the title. #AndNew
TLC Match – Strowman’s #1 Contender vs. Baron Corbin’s Job (Four Points!)
Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin
Magnum: This could be the impetus for Strowman to take some time off to clean up the elbow, and then he can enter the Rumble at #29 and cause hell. Because there’s no pinfall at stake, I think they could have Corbin win, while still keeping Braun strong. I’ll take Corbin in a huge upset.
Tom & Don: Unless Braun is more injured than that elbow surgery that they had him fix, we don’t see him losing. They can’t make him into the Big Show flip flopping face and heel and losing more than win. Strowman for the win.
Colin: This will be interesting. Since they haven’t announced anything, I’m expecting Strowman to win. Corbin as a GM doesn’t cut it. He’s boring. If anyone could benefit from a gimmick change it’s him. Plus Angle is booked for Raw the next night which makes me think Strowman gets this.
WWE Women’s Championship – Raw
Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Nia Jax
Magnum: Before we get to WrestleMania, Ronda’s going to have her first loss. I think it happens tonight. I think Nia could walk into WrestleMania XXXV as the Raw Women’s Champion, where she will face…well, we’ll talk about that later. 😉
Tom & Don: After injuring Becky, we don’t see any way Nia wins unless it is a DQ. But we won’t predict the second Rousey vs Jax ending in a DQ again. Rousey to tap out Jax and retain.
Colin: I don’t think anyone is taking that title away from Ronda Rousey until it’s time for WrestleMania. It would be stupid to do so and such a monumental loss (for her) has to happen on the biggest stage of them all. Rousey to win.
Finn Bálor vs. Drew McIntyre
Magnum: Drew’s getting the push. What more do you need to know? McIntyre wins.
Tom & Don: There is no way that they are stopping McIntyre’s push. So no demon tonight and a win for Drew.
Colin: Drew could be a monster main event player. Too bad it’s at Balor’s expense this time around. Drew wins.
Guitar on a Ladder Match(Yes, you read that right – Two Points!) Elias vs. Bobby Lashley
Magnum: This could be WrestleCrap material, if we’re not careful. I think Lashley gets a push before the Rumble, so he’ll win big here with a little help from his friend Lio Rush.
Tom & Don: Since we picked Drew to win the last match, we don’t see them having Lashley win. Also, his character is just not over. Elias to win and shut up Lio Rush.
Colin: Elias is over, no doubt about that. But Lashley needs a good victory here. His partnership with Lio Rush is great and this version of Lashley is better than the boring face Lashley. Give me Lashley for the win.
Triple Threat – WWE Tag Team Championship
The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) (c) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and/or Xavier Woods) vs. The Usos (Jimmy & Jey)
Magnum: Some things in life, you can’t un-see. That’s how I felt about ‘Ice Ice Shamy’. Shameful. Ironically, they’re holding on to the belts. The Bar retains.
Tom & Don: This will be the tag team match of the night and only second to AJ vs. Bryan. And just for the Ice Ice Shamy rap, The Bar wins tonight.
Colin: Now if this was a TLC match, it would have been 100% better. I like The Usos, but will they take the titles away from The Bar this soon? I’m sick of The New Day to be honest and overall sick of seeing all these teams wrestling each other every week. So I don’t know… I see The Bar retaining.
Tables Match (Two Points!)
Natalya vs. Ruby Riott
Magnum: This could be a good one-on-one match, but we’ve got a gimmick thing going. Plus, it’s another feud with tasteless remarks that I won’t even go into. I’ll take Natalya to win and avenge her father’s name.
Tom & Don: For some reason we thought we read Natalya was injured. If she was or wasn’t, we see them pushing Ruby Riott so she will beat Nattie tonight.
Colin: Surprised that they used Jim Neidhart here? Nope, not me. Natalya needs to get revenge on Riott so I predict pink and black will reign supreme tonight.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Cedric Alexander
Magnum: This was a fantastic bout at the Super Show-Down. I could see another four-star affair tonight. Give me Buddy to retain the crown.
Tom & Don: We think they will bring up some new, good competition for 205 Live soon. Buddy to win and to go into 2019 as the champ.
Colin: My interest in the Cruiserweights remain at the level it was last month, and the month before, and the month before that…minimal. Buddy Murphy retains.
Chairs Match (Two Points!)
Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton
Magnum: This is one of those matches where Rey could win, and then Randy will destroy him after the bell. Hell, I think I just spoiled the finish. Rey wins!
Tom & Don: Rey’s contract is not for a long time. WWE is getting the most out of him until he resigns or contract is done. Since there is time, we see Rey getting the win and moving onto some new challenges with wrestlers he has not been in the ring with yet.
Colin: Match #1,859,362 between these two! LOL! My God! Orton hasn’t been used much lately on pay-per-views. He was overlooked at the Survivor Series strangely enough. But anyway, I give this match to The Viper Randy Orton.
WWE Championship
‘The New’ Daniel Bryan (c) vs. AJ Styles
Magnum: Ohh man. I love me some “New” Daniel Bryan. He’s just an angry little man…and when you’re the best in the world, and you go dirty…well, you’ll do anything to hold on to the title. I think Bryan will retain, but I also believe that AJ Styles could win the match, too. Hmm. This is tough. Give me Bryan.
Tom & Don: AJ has been pulling a lot of weight as champ for a long time. While we want him to win, he could use a little break. Also, it would seem to kill a new angle to do anything else. A low blow or something leading Daniel Bryan to retain. (If it is a low blow AJ needs to get a cup to protect his crown jewels.)
Colin: It’s amazing what a turn of events with Bryan. Everybody loved him but then he came back and…okay, nothing happened. The “Yes” movement was literally dying a slow death. Loving his new gimmick. The “white meat babyface” is now a credible heel. Don’t see a reason why he should drop it for now, so Bryan wins.
TLC Match – WWE Women’s Championship (Smackdown Live – Four Points!)
“The Man” Becky Lynch (c) vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka
Magnum: I’ve been loving “The Man” as much as the “New” Daniel Bryan. I think Becky should make that song by The Killers her new theme song. That’d be bad-ass. I think they’re going with Charlotte vs. Ronda and Becky vs. Jax at WrestleMania, so I will take Charlotte to win here and put an end to the Chapter between her and Becky.
Tom & Don: Tough one. We like Becky and her character as of recent. But I wonder how healed and healthy she is. We’d bet that most of the match and bumps are done by Flair and Asuka. We are saying on this night, neither was ready for Asuka, as Asuka climbs the ladder for the Smackdown championship.
Colin: One of the most anticipated matches of the card. If not the most. Wonder if this will close the show. If I were booking this show, I’d have Asuka win this. Wait, what? Yes, Becky NEEDS to win the Royal Rumble to face Ronda Rousey. She can’t win the Rumble being a champion. Plus Asuka is long overdue for a title run. She was “robbed” at Mania last year I think. Taking the title off Becky and make her chase it is much more interesting. Plus she doesn’t have to take the pinfall to lose it. I think this would be the more compelling scenario personally.
Wow! Without question, there won’t be a tie tonight. These picks have been crazy different! It’s been an awesome year doing the Pick’em report for Wrestling-Online. I’m not sure what the future holds, but I know Magnum wants to come back to WO in 2019. I hope Colin’s ready, because I’ll be bringing the Captain Lou Cup with me!! From all of us at the Pick’em Crew, HAPPY NEW YEAR and we will see you very soon! @TheMagnumDA, signing off.
The Mixed Match Challenge final match takes place tonight at TLC, bringing a close to a tournament which lasted 13 weeks. Up until today, all the matches took place exclusively on Facebook Watch, the home of the Mixed Match Challenge for the past two seasons.
The tournament this season was marred with injuries and replacements, with six WWE Superstars replaced during the course of the past 13 weeks. Five teams out of ten all had new members sometime throughout the show and out of all six replacements, only one was non-injury related which was AJ Styles.
The unfortunate ones who had to bow out of the competition this year were Alexa Bliss, Sasha Banks, Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Braun Strowman, and Finn Balor. Their replacements were Ember Moon, Mickie James, Bobby Roode, Jeff Hardy, Curt Hawkins, and Apollo Crews respectively. One team which was announced at the beginning of the show – Bliss and Strowman – even ended up with two new members.
Last season there were just three changes, with Samoa Joe, Enzo Amore, and Alicia Fox getting replaced by Elias, Apollo Crews, and Mandy Rose. Charlotte Flair was replaced for just one match by Becky Lynch.
The winners of tonight’s final will earn the #30 spot in the two Royal Rumble matches and an “all-expensive paid trip anywhere in the world.”
With a few hours away from the TLC pay-per-view, we take a look at the latest odds of all the 12 matches. Please note that odds are most likely to change as bell time gets closer.
WWE champion Daniel Bryan remains the favorite to walk out of TLC still with the gold around his waist as he is 2/9 to retain while Styles is at 3/1 to win.
Ronda Rousey’s odds to win continued to get bigger as she is now 1/12 to keep the Raw Women’s title and Nia Jax slipped to 13/2 for the big upset. Meanwhile over at the Smackdown Women’s TLC title match, both Becky Lynch and Asuka have the same 11/8 odds to win while Charlotte Flair slipped to 11/4.
Dean Ambrose is favorite to win the Intercontinental title with odds at 1/2 while the champ Seth Rollins is at 6/4 to retain. Smackdown Tag Team champions The Bar are 13/8 to win and not the favorites as The Usos are now 1/1 to regain the titles while The New Day are at 10/30. In the last title match of the night, Buddy Murphy is 2/5 to retain the Cruiserweight title over Cedric Alexander who is 7/4.
Braun Strowman is 1/3 to defeat Baron Corbin in their TLC match. Corbin is at 9/4 to retain his Raw GM job. Drew McIntyre is 1/6 against Finn Balor who is at a distant 7/2. The ladder match between Lashley and Elias has Lashley the favorite at 8/15 while Elias is at 11/8. Natalya is at 1/4 favorite to defeat Ruby Riott who is at 11/4, Randy Orton is 1/2 favorite against Rey Mysterio who is 6/4, and in the Mixed Match Challenge final, R-Truth and Carmella look like they are bookies’ favorites with 2/5 to win the tournament while Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox are at 7/4.
Live from the SAP Center in San Jose, California, WWE presents TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2018 on WWE Network and pay-per-view. The full card is as follows:
Daniel Bryan vs AJ Styles for the WWE title; Ronda Rousey vs Nia Jax for the Raw Women’s title; Becky Lynch vs Asuka vs Charlotte Flair in a TLC triple threat match for the Smackdown Women’s title; Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental title; The Bar vs The New Day vs The Usos in a triple threat tag team match for the Smackdown Tag Team titles; Buddy Murphy vs Cedric Alexander for the Cruiserweight title; Rey Mysterio vs Randy Orton in a chairs match; Elias vs Bobby Lashley in a guitar ladder match; Natalya vs Ruby Riott; Finn Balor vs Drew McIntyre; Braun Strowman vs Baron Corbin; and R-Truth and Carmella vs Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox in the Mixed Match Challenge final.
TLC is free for first-time subscribers to the WWE Network. You can start your 30-day trial at http://w-o.it/wwentwrk.
NXT star Fabian Aichner lost his EVOLVE Championship last night at EVOLVE 117.
Aichner unsuccessfully defended the title in the main event in a three-way match against fellow NXT star and Tag Team champion Roderick Strong and Austin Theory. Theory won the match after he pinned Aichner. Aichner won the title by defeating Shane Strickland in late October at EVOLVE 114.
EVOLVE 117 also featured its tag team champions and NXT stars The Street Profits against JD Drake and Anthony Henry. The match ended in a no contest so Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford held on to the straps while Kassius Ohno defeated Darby Allin.
Johnny Gargano was announced to be participating at the upcoming EVOLVE show in Brooklyn, New York on January 18, 2019.
On this week’s NXT episode on the WWE Network, former NXT star Tyler Breeze made a surprise return to challenge Ricochet for the NXT North American title.
Breeze has showed up here and there at NXT non-televised events a couple of times this year but this was his first televised return since he was called up to the main roster in October 2015.
WWE cameras captured all the behind-the-scenes that happened before Breeze walked out in front of the Full Sail University fans, capturing his arrival at the arena in the afternoon, going through rehearsals, his entrance, and post-match comments.
Breeze was one of the main guys in NXT back at the time despite never winning a title. His main roster run has not really been a major success so far and his tag team partner Fandango is currently out injured, keeping Breeze on the sidelines automatically as well.
In a story that will appear in the December 17-24 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine, 16-time world champion John Cena admits that his time as the top guy in WWE is up as his wrestling career continues to diminish.
Cena, who has wrestled for WWE since 2001 as a developmental wrestler, has spent most of his time in the company as a main eventer ever since he defeated JBL to win the WWE title at WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles. Long seen as one of the hardest-working individuals in the company, his time in WWE is getting shorter and shorter as he continues to follow the footsteps of fellow Superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson into Hollywood.
Cena told Sports Illustrated that his job now is to do whatever is necessary to establish his successor in the WWE as the new face of the company, admitting that it’s a “giant relay race” where he’s just handing the stick off. “My time is up,” Cena said, a take on his WWE theme song which says “my time is now.” Cena continued, “Someone else’s time is now.”
But even if his in-ring career comes to a close, the popular Cena said that there are no plans to halt his philanthropic work that mainly comes due to his WWE work. “I’m not even close to done,” he concluded.
Cena will be back in WWE starting on December 26 for a dozen dates before he returns to filming a new movie.
The last WWE pay-per-view of the year is upon us as WWE presents TLC tomorrow night. Today we take a look at the betting lines of the top three matches of the show. A full update will be published tomorrow a few hours before the show.
In the WWE title match, Daniel Bryan is looking in pole position to retain the championship with his odds at 2/9 while AJ Styles, who carried the title for a full year, stands at 3/1 to win.
Ronda Rousey is the overwhelming favorite in her match against Nia Jax. Rousey stands at 1/10 to retain while Nia Jax is at 11/2 for the huge upset. This is the second wrestling match between the two following their match at Money In The Bank earlier this year.
And perhaps in the most anticipated match of the night, the Empress of Tomorrow Asuka is the slight favorite to walk out with the Smackdown Women’s title with her odds at 6/4. The current champ Becky Lynch is closely behind with 13/8 odds and Charlotte Flair is at 2/1. All three are very close to each other in terms of odds but for now, Asuka has the lead. This is the first-ever women’s TLC match.
Impact this week drew 140,000 viewers, up 24,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. This was the best number the show did ever since moving to the 10PM time slot. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
With ratings reaching record lows and no end in sight, WWE today announced that Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon will be appearing on Monday Night Raw next week to “shake things up.”
More often than not, the audience turns up when Vince McMahon is announced for Raw although they quickly leave when his segment is over. WWE has not elaborated on what “shaking things up” mean this time around, obviously not announcing anything to get eyeballs on the show.
Raw has endured a pretty horrible year when it comes to numbers as viewers keep decreasing every week. Over the past two weeks alone, Raw has pulled in the worst numbers in modern-day era, with some of the hours barely breaking the two million viewer mark. Smackdown has also suffered with the show not even getting two million viewers over the past two weeks.
Vince McMahon last appeared on WWE television on the Smackdown 1000 episode.
