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Vince McMahon Focusing On WWE Network Sign-Ups
WWE TLC is less than two weeks away, and the company has yet to announce any official matches for the card.
Three matches were announced via local advertising to the Minneapolis market, including Bobby Lashley vs. Rusev, The Kabuki vs. Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch in a TLC match for the women’s tag team titles, and Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin.
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, these three matches are still scheduled for the TLC PPV, but the reason nothing has been solidified on television is due to Vince McMahon not making his final decisions yet.
Vince McMahon has a new philosophy where WWE Network sign-ups are a key metric for the company. The belief is the pattern of sign-ups are larger right up to the day of the show, and not weeks in advance. Unlike ticket sales, which demand comes much sooner, the thought process behind announcing matches late is due to not needing to rush anything.
McMahon has also had second thoughts on the match card several times. The most current internal plan has Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin in a stipulation(advertised as a tables match locally), and Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley being a normal singles match. Like anything with WWE, this can all change.
As far as the WWE Universal Championship, based on the buildup on television, The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan is the direction planned and currently penciled in for the show. There is said to be a chance the match would be held off, and done at a later time. If they decide to hold off on the match, The Fiend vs. The Miz would be a placeholder match for TLC.
Several other matches are also penciled in, including The Viking Raiders vs. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, The New Day vs. Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler, and Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles. None of the matches have been officially confirmed yet.
Here’s the current internal match card, which can always change leading into the event.
WWE TLC – Internal Match Card
- WWE Universal Championship: The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan (or Miz)
- Tables Match: Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin
- WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles TLC Match: Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch vs. The Kabuki Warriors
- WWE RAW Tag Team Titles: The Viking Raiders vs. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows
- WWE Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Braun Strowman
- WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship: The New Day vs. Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler
- Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles
- Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens
- Buddy Murphy vs. Aleister Black
WWE TLC will take place at The Target Center on 12/15.