Choke's WWE TLC 2014 Mega Preview: Trade Window Talk, Smackdown Preview, TLC Predictions and more!
Posted by: choke Dec 12, 2014 | 1605 views | 4 comments
Sorry for my absense in writing stories everyone, had some job opportunity stuff which has dominated my time. What did we all miss? Not much unfortunately. While I think I enjoyed Survivor Series more than most, the weeks since and leading up to TLC this Sunday have left a lot to be desired. I thought the WWE would have a strong GM followup to the Authority being removed from power, and not back to the Anonymous GM/Guest GM of the week deal. What I envisioned was Paul Heyman getting control and wreaking havoc to the point that John Cena would be forced months down the line to bring back Trips and Steph to overthrow Heyman. Surely that's better than Santino?
Smackdown Preview
Let's take a quick look at tonight's Smackdown. This preview is from www.prowrestling.net, and does not have spoilers (these are my predictions, I do not know the actual results)
1. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd vs the Usos: Can I just say I love the Cesaro/Kidd team and I hope they actually go somewhere with them in the future. Here they of course will just enhance the Usos before their title shot this Sunday.
2. Nikki Bella vs Alicia Fox in a non-title match: Enhancement match for Nikki (apropos, amirite?) before the title match on Sunday. Though I wouldnt put it beyond the WWE to have her lose to Alicia via AJ interference. The WWE doesn't really seem to be bothered by having mid-card champs lose to people who will never get title shots in the future as a result.
3. Jack Swagger vs Titus O Neil: you guessed it, enhancement match for Swagger leading into Sunday. BTW can we talk about how ridiculous it is they're feeding us Swagger vs Rusev again? a) we all know Swagger doesn't have a shot b) there are about 20 others who could be in this position instead. Boggles my mind.
4. Big E vs Goldust: a little hype for New Day vs Stardust/Goldust. I think since everyone will figure New Day will win Sunday, they might give Goldie the win here. How bad has the New Day act been? This better all be leading up to some big swerve/heel turn, otherwise they've made some already lackluster gimmicks even more lackluster. This is the best they could come up with?!
5. John Cena promo with Seth Rollins: Since the odds on favorite to win is Cena, and since he seemingly is the only one having something to lose, I look for Rollins to somehow get the upperhand and send us into the PPV thinking Cena's title shot might be in danger.
Pretty brutal lineup overall. Get your Jameson ready!
Trade Window Discussion
I always think the trade window the Friday prior to a PPV is the best trade window of the month. You can pick up some real sleepers in guys who have matches scheduled who you otherwise might not be interested in.
Rising
1. The New Day (Kofi/Big E/Xavier Woods): Personally I like Kofi the most of the 3 as he seems to have been involved in every tag match. They have a match on the pre-show and I'd think are the favorites to win. Don't miss out on some potential free points!
2. Big Show: Hasn't been a strong point getter this season, and I think he's probably the underdog this Sunday, but if he does pull an upset, you'll be mad he was sitting in the free agent market while you're sitting on Paul Heyman
3. Jack Swagger: I don't think he has a chance. You don't think he has a chance. But WHAT IF GUYS?
4. Goldust/Stardust: These two might have been dropped (and rightfully so) after dropping the tags to Miz and Mizdow. Well, they have a match scheduled that they could win, so they're probably a better option than someone you might have like say Paige or Fandango who as of yet are unbooked.
Falling:
1. Paige: From Divas champ and on the show every week, to an afterthought in the current Divas storyline. Certainly doesn't seem like its worth holding onto for this last show
2. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd: For the future, yes, but for the PPV they're not going to do anything for you (seemingly)
3. Sting: if, for some reason, you picked him up
TLC Predictions
I'll make these quick
Preshow: The New Day vs Gold and Stardust: They're trying to build hype for New Day, and losing to the former tag champs on the pre-show wouldn't exactly accomplish that. I think as new faces they need to get on a bit of a roll, so I see the New Day winning.
1. Luke Harper vs Dolph Ziggler in a Ladder Match for the IC title: Seems too early to take it from Harper for my liking, and Dolph seems like he could go onto bigger and better things with the momentum from Survivor Series. Harper Retains
2. Erick Rowan vs Big Show in a Stairs match: Stairs match? Is this a thing now? Let's not have this become a thing. This is a tough one. On one hand I feel you have to push Rowan with a win, but on the other if they want to try to push Big Show as the big monstrous heel for the 200th time (and it never happens), him losing in his first big match in months isn't going to help. Also, let's not make "Big Red" work for Rowan's nickname either. I gotta go with history repeating itself and Big Show jobbing to Rowan
3. Nikki Bella vs AJ Lee for the Divas championship: Is it me or is AJ seemingly on her way out? I don't want it to happen, but it just FEELS that way. Even if I'm wrong, it's too early to remove the title from Nikki.
4. Ryback vs Kane in a Chairs match: Gotta go with Ryback in what feels like a meaningless match
5. The Miz and Damien Mizdow vs the Usos for the Tag Team Titles: Looking forward to this one. Miz and Mizdow are still hilarious to me, and all 4 of these guys can put on a great match at any time. Guessing we'll see some Naomi interference costing the Usos the match inadvertently (OR MAYBE NOT SO INADVERTENTLY). Miz/Mizdown retain
6. Jack Swagger vs Rusev for the US Championship: I've already discussed how terrible it is that they're giving us this feud again so quickly. Swagger seemingly has no chance, and that's one of many things wrong with it.
7. Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt in a Tables Ladders Chairs match: Been really digging the buildup to their matches, and that's been one of the only bright spots from the shows the last several weeks. I feel like Bray still needs the win more so I think he takes it
8. Seth Rollins vs John Cena in a Tables match (if Cena loses he loses the #1 Contender). I hate when the WWE throws in a stip that makes the match so obvious! Now of course they can wriggle their way out of anything, but putting that stip makes it pretty clear John Cena walks away the winner.
Overall: I'm excited about the potential for Royal Rumble. Finally seeing Brock defend the title again, the looming possibility of a Rollins cash-in, potential returns for Reigns and/or Bryan, and a wide open field to win the Rumble. Unfortunately this TLC show leaves us with very little in the way of intrigue. The WWE has been known to pull out some surprises on this very PPV, so I'm hoping I'm dead wrong.
Hope you had a great Fantasy season! See you in a few weeks for the Grandaddy of all seasons..... WRESTLEMANIA!