This Sunday, it's one of the most dangerous nights of the year as the WWE presents TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs (and stairs) live from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland in the final pay-per-view of 2014.
Though this airs just three weeks after the Survivor Series, the WWE has managed to weave several interesting storylines and pack nine bouts into the event, which will air on pay-per-view and the WWE Network.
The show is headlined by a Tables Match pitting John Cena against Seth Rollins with the stipulation that if the "Cenation" leader loses to "Mr. Money in the Bank," he will no longer be the No. 1 contender for Brock Lesnar's WWE World Heavyweight Championship. A TLC clash between Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt is another must-see contest.
TLC is also highlighted by several other specialty matches and four title bouts.
Here are the latest predictions, rumors and possible spoilers for Sunday's TLC in the projected order that the matches may go in on the card:
Pre-Show Tag Team Match-A New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) w/ Xavier Woods vs. Goldust & Stardust: The WWE has continued to try its best to repair the beleaguered tag division and it's nice to see a midcard tag feud that doesn't involve the titles and will hopefully continue the evolution of the division.
Gold & Stardust just lost the Tag Team Championships at the Survivor Series and could use a win here, but since A New Day is a relatively new concept, it is likely that the WWE will give them the win to establish some credibility for the stable.
The Pick: A New Day
Kofi Kingston defeated Wade Barrett to retain the Intercontinental Championship in 2012:
WWE Tag Team Championships: The Miz and Damien Mizdow (c) vs. The Usos: The WWE added an extra layer to this feud by having The Miz get involved with Jimmy Uso's wife Naomi to add another wrinkle to this feud.
The Usos won a tag team turmoil match to become the No. 1 contenders for the gold while The Miz and Mizdow just won them last month in a Fatal 4 Way at the Survivor Series. This would make for a hot-opener as the high-flying Usos are fun to watch while Miz/Sandow have been comedic gold.
The WWE could plant the seeds for a breakup of MizDow here, but the crowd has really bought into the Miz and his stunt double storyline, so it's likely the company will continue to milk the success of that while having Miz take credit for all of the team's victories leading to the inevitable split down the line.
With The Usos having recently held the gold and Miz/Sandow just winning the belts and being off to a good start, the winner here seems obvious. Now, we just have to hope for a good match.
The Pick: The Miz and Damien Mizdow
D-Generation X defeated Jeri-Show in a TLC match for the tag gold in 2009:
Steel Stairs Match-The Big Show vs. Erick Rowan: First, let me exhale a sigh of relief that we're not headed for the expected Big Show vs. John Cena feud that seemed to be in the making after Show's turn at Survivor Series which caused me to predict a Show-Cena bout for this event in my last column. This match caused the WWE to alter the name of the event to include the stairs stipulation and could be fun if both big men just whale away on each other with the huge weapon.
I'm not expecting this one to contend for match of the night, but as long as Show and Rowan come through in big spots, it could be entertaining if kept to the right length.
As for a winner, it seems like The Big Show should be used to make other guys look good at this point in his career and Rowan could use a good jumping-off point for his singles career, especially with his former partner Luke Harper already winning the Intercontinental Championship.
The Pick: Erick Rowan
The Big Show defeated Sheamus in a Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Championship at the 2012 event:
Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match-Luke Harper (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler: This has potential to be one of the best matches of the night, especially if Ziggler is able to put on a good show as he usually does.
The WWE did something great last month at Survivor Series by having Ziggler shine in the main event. Ziggler came back from a 3-on-1 deficit in the Team Cena vs. Team Authority main event and last pinned Seth Rollins with the help of Sting to ensure The Authority lost power.
With that momentum, it almost seems as though Ziggler should go over here, but Harper just won the title last month which begs the question of why the WWE took the title off of Ziggler in the first place.
The absence of long-term booking in the WWE is astounding as Ziggler could have still been IC champion at Survivor Series, causing his heroics to not only legitimize the "Showoff" but the title as well.
Instead, the WWE made an on-the-fly booking decision to dethrone Ziggler and now they'll either have to stunt the growth of his push by having him lose here or cut Harper's momentum by ending his title reign in less than a month.
The title used to be a stepping stone to the Heavyweight Championship, but the WWE shows how it feels about it by throwing it on Harper the minute he became a singles wrestler. Nothing against Harper, I like him, but it made no sense to give him a singles title right off the bat.
Between Aug. 17 and Nov. 17, the title changed hands three times going from Ziggler to Miz, back to Ziggler and then to Harper. The WWE could very well change it four times before Dec. 17 even hits.
It would make sense for Ziggler to have come in and retained the belt in this match, but instead it seems like some sort of outside interference will help Harper escape with his reign intact. It's the only ending I can see that would keep both Ziggler and Harper strong while not making the belt a joke by having it change hands yet again.
The Pick: Luke Harper
Dolph Ziggler defeated Kofi Kingston and Jack Swagger in a Triple Threat Ladder Match to retain the Intercontinental Championship at the 2010 event:
Chairs Match-Ryback vs. Kane: Like the stairs match, this bout has Vince McMahon written all over it as two of the biggest guys in the promotion are going one-on-one. Ryback has had a lot of momentum since returning and the WWE seems high on him, which would probably drive CM Punk mad if he were still a part of the organization.
Like I said above with Show, Kane is at the point in his career where he should be putting over guys and while Ryback isn't a new budding singles star, it would make sense for him to win if the WWE wants to keep him looking unstoppable.
This could prove to be a decent match, but I don't have the highest of hopes for it.
The Pick: Ryback
Ryback and Kane teamed up with Daniel Bryan in one of the better TLC matches in recent memory when they battled The Shield at the 2012 event:
United States Championship Match-Rusev (c) w/ Lana vs. Jack Swagger: This is the old school type of feud pitting the unstoppable foreign Superstar against the American patriot and while the formula has been done to death this should still be a decent match.
The WWE is very much behind Rusev and if his rumored match against John Cena at WrestleMania 31 comes to fruition, he'll likely continue to be booked as an unstoppable beast up until the Show of Shows. The WWE even protected him with his countout elimination at the Survivor Series last month.
Not sure what the deal is with Zeb Colter, but it appears as though he underwent an actual procedure and will miss some time, leaving Swagger manager-less for this bout. The ending is obvious, as the mighty Russian will bulldoze the "All American American" en route to retaining his gold.
The Pick: Rusev
Zack Ryder won the U.S. Championship from Dolph Ziggler at the 2011 event:
Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match-Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose: This will undoubtedly win Match of the Night honors and should tear the roof off of the Quicken Loans Arena on Sunday in Cleveland.
I'm still upset that the WWE didn't preserve this feud for later so that we could get an actual conclusion to the Seth Rollins/Ambrose rivalry, but perhaps we have many more years to look forward to that one rekindling.
This feud has of course been brewing since Wyatt interrupted the Rollins vs. Ambrose cell match at October's Hell in a Cell. The two had one of the best matches of the night at the Survivor Series, but it was hampered with a DQ finish in order to set this one up.
Still, if these two had such great chemistry in a standard match, they're likely to bring the goods when tables, ladders and chairs are added to the mix.
As far as a winner, it appears as though the "Lunatic Fringe" should get his revenge here while the WWE may want to keep the "Eater of Worlds" looking strong if he is in fact going to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania 31, which is the latest rumor.
It's hard to place a finger on a winner for this match, but it seems to have the babyface revenge factor tied to it. As long as it's a back-and-forth affair with great spots and these two are on their A-game, then the WWE Universe will really be the ones to win.
The Pick: Dean Ambrose
The Wyatt Family defeated Daniel Bryan in a 3-on-1 handicap match at last year's TLC:
WWE Divas Championship-Brie Bella w/ Nikki Bella vs. AJ Lee: Disregarding the rumors that AJ Lee could be leaving the WWE at the height of the awkwardness that is her husband bashing the company on Colt Cabana's podcast and subsequently joining the UFC, it still doesn't seem like Lee will win this match.
These same departure rumors popped up last month at the Survivor Series, but they didn't end up being true. It would make sense for Lee to leave now that she and Punk are married and due to the awkwardness that has to exist due to her relationship to him, but we'll cast that aside for now.
The WWE has hitched its wagon to Bella being the next top Diva and will continue to plug her on Total Divas, so it's doubtful she'll drop the gold in just one month after winning it at Survivor Series, no matter how good Lee can be in the ring.
The Pick: Nikki Bella.
Lee defeated Natalya at last year's event to retain the Divas Championship:
Tables Match-John Cena vs. Seth Rollins *If Cena loses, he is no longer No. 1 contender for Brock Lesnar's WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Like Ambrose vs. Wyatt and Ziggler vs. Harper, this one should be one of the better matches of the night as long as it isn't an overbooked mess with several run-ins and the like.
The WWE has unfortunately pretty much given away the outcome as attaching the stipulation makes it appear as though Cena can't possibly lose, especially if he is expected to battle Lesnar at the Royal Rumble for the gold next month in Philadelphia.
The WWE can always pull a swerve like having Triple H or someone get involved, but it's doubtful that the "Cenation" leader will be losing this bout.
Lesnar is rumored to go over Cena next month and eventually drop the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31 in March, making it appear as though Cena will be putting Rollins through a table Sunday night.
Rollins has been a breath of fresh air as the top heel in the WWE and a loss to Cena won't do any damage to his legitimacy, but I just hope the WWE makes him look good and makes it seem like he has a chance if he does end up doing the job.
It seems as though this match is destined to see the return of Randy Orton, who may very well cost Rollins the match as revenge for The Authority beating him down to write him off of television so he could film a WWE Studios movie.
Don't count out the return of Roman Reigns either, as the Superstar of the Year Award winner should be creeping closer to a return and could very well finally get some revenge on his former Shield stablemate as well.
Lesnar is a long-shot for this match, though he is booked for the following night's RAW. Still, it is doubtful the WWE will waste one of his appearances on this event if he isn't booked to wrestle.
While we got a great moment with Steve "Sting" Borden debuting last month at Survivor Series, it's unlikely anything as awesome as that will happen in this contest.
With the stipulation, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that the WWE will have Cena overcome Rollins at this event, but they've swerved us before.
The Pick: John Cena
Cena and Randy Orton unified the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships at last year's event in a TLC match:
The WWE presents TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs live this Sunday from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. With a jam-packed card and the potential for a lot of matches to steal the show, TLC could prove to be the perfect holiday gift to end the PPV year for the WWE Universe.
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