Rasslin’ Roundtable for WWE TLC 2018

Columns, Top Story

Check out our full preview!

Mixed Match Challenge final match
Alicia Fox & Jinder Mahal vs. Carmella & R-Truth

Each member of the winning team will be the last entrant of their respective Royal Rumble matches at the 2019 Royal Rumble

Jake Ziegler: R-Truth & Carmella will be fun at #30. Fox and Mahal are fun never.
Winners – R-Truth & Carmella

JT: I must admit that I’ve pretty much skipped the whole Mixed Match Challenge, but I’ve been hearing some good things about the oddball team of Carmella & R-Truth. On the other hand, Jinder is still super-ripped, so who knows?
Winners: Carmella & R-Truth

Widro: Can you imagine these are wrestlers getting PPV slots in 2018?
Winners: Carmella & R-Truth

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose

Jake Ziegler: I think this one is going to continue, so I see some kind of DQ or non-finish.
Winner – Seth Rollins

JT: How is it possible that Dean Ambrose has aged 20 years since joining WWE and Seth Rollins has stayed the same age? Clearly the rigors of being on the road don’t suit Ambrose, and the further he gets from memories of The Shield, the less likely he seems to win a title.
Winner: Seth Rollins

Widro: The feud has essentially no heat and Dean’s turn has been a fiasco. Awful booking but maybe the match can be good. The title needs to come off Seth.
Winner: Ambrose

Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match
Baron Corbin vs. Braun Strowman
If Strowman wins, Corbin will be stripped of all authoritative power and Strowman will receive a Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble
If Corbin wins, he will become the full-time general manager of Raw

Jake Ziegler: Ugh, since they have nothing else going on, I imagine they’ll have Corbin win somehow here and then figure out how to get Braun his title shot at the Royal Rumble some other way.
Winner – Baron Corbin

JT: I have always been mystified by the appeal of Baron Corbin and his weird-ass bellybutton. The TLC stipulation doesn’t seem to favor either participant, as TLC matches are generally best when they’re between two high flyers, rather than a man-beast and an ex-footballer. Corbin may win for storyline purposes, but that just means more fast-forwarding for me…
Winner: Braun Strowman

Widro: Baron Corbin needs to go so I think he will win here and keep going.
Winner: Corbin

WWE Raw Women’s Championship
Ronda Rousey (c) vs. Nia Jax

Jake Ziegler: Easy pick here.
Winner – Ronda Rousey

JT: Ronda Rousey has made a big impact since arriving in WWE, and has confounded many critics with her ability to put on a decent match. Nia Jax, on the other hand, seems to be something of a mother figure to the younger female wrestlers, but has developed a reputation for injuring her opponents in the ring. Hopefully that won’t happen in this match, because there’s no way they’re taking the title off Ronda after this short a run…
Winner: Ronda Rousey

Winner: Nia is another wrestler who should not have a main roster slot in 2018.
Winner: Rousey

WWE Championship
Daniel Bryan (c) vs. AJ Styles

Jake Ziegler: Should be an awesome match, and I dig the new Daniel Bryan. Not quite time to take the belt off him yet.
Winner – Daniel Bryan

JT: I can’t help thinking that this match would have been awesome 5 to 10 years ago, but it should still be very entertaining, with the potential to be the match of the night. Heel Bryan is an interesting character, and it seems a collision with Brock Lesnar is on the cards, so I expect the Bryan to retain the title via shenanigans.
Winner: Daniel Bryan

Widro: Every major AJ Styles match has been ruined in 2018 with low blows and other garbage so I expect this to be a garbage finish which ruins the match.
Winner: Styles by DQ

Triple threat Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka

Jake Ziegler: I think they want Becky and Charlotte in the women’s Royal Rumble, which clears the way for a surprise Asuka win.
Winner – Asuka

JT: This should be a good match. Lynch and Flair’s rivalry has been bubbling along well, and the introduction of Asuka adds a nice wildcard to the proceedings. Once again I hope that all participants walk away without any major injuries, but I think Flair and Asuka might take each other out leading to Lynch retaining.
Winner: Becky Lynch

Widro: Should be a killer match, I think they want the title off Becky and Charlotte to build something in the Rumble and mania with Ronda.
Winner: Asuka

Finn Bálor vs. Drew McIntyre

Jake Ziegler: I like Finn, but McIntyre shouldn’t lose again for a while. He never should’ve lost to Ziggler in the first place.
Winner – Drew McIntyre

JT: I just hope they don’t bury Finn Balor in this match. Sure, Drew is the great white hope of the company, but Finn is an amazing worker who has been frequently derailed by bad luck. The fact that this isn’t a title match doesn’t detract from my anticipation – I’m hoping this match will catapult both men to greater things.
Winner: Drew McIntyre

Widro: On paper should be a tremendous match, I hope Balor isn’t squashed.
Winner: Drew

Ladder match
Elias vs. Bobby Lashley
A guitar will be suspended above the ring and the first to retrieve it can use it as a weapon

Jake Ziegler: Doesn’t Elias need to win once in a while?
Winner – Elias

JT: Hahahahaha. Didn’t Jeff Jarrett do this match about 20 years ago? Elias has grown on me a little since his NXT days, and has a physique that Vince drools over, while Lashley is as interesting as a three-hour dissertation on economics in pre-revolutionary Russia. But he’s got Lio Rush on his side, which has to mean something, right?
Winner: Elias, I guess. I really couldn’t care less.

Widro: Elias is a dud and Lashley can’t do WWE for some reason.
Winner: Lashley

Triple threat tag team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) (c) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and/or Xavier Woods) vs. The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso)

Jake Ziegler: This should be good, though it seems totally thrown together.
Winner – The Bar

JT: Hey, it’s clusterf**k time! Here we have a bunch of super-talented workers all trying to get their spots in and tell a story, but the multi-man stipulation suggests a shambles at best.
Winners: The Bar until someone better comes along

Widro: On paper should be good but we’ve seen it so many times.
Winner: Usos

Tables match
Natalya vs. Ruby Riott (with Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan)

Jake Ziegler: Nice to see women’s feuds revolving around something besides the belt.
Winner – Ruby Riott

JT: Pretty poor taste in using the death of Nattie’s old man in this feud, WWE. Classy as ever.
Winner: Natalya

Widro: One of many poor taste angles in WWE in 2018. Given how they think, I think Natalya loses and then slow turns on Ronda.
Winner: Ruby

WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Cedric Alexander

Jake Ziegler: Murphy is the greatest.
Winner – Buddy Murphy

Widro: I don’t follow this too much but putting the title back on Cedric seems like a booking step back.
Winner: Buddy Murphy

Chairs Match
Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton

Jake Ziegler: Orton may be facing AJ Styles at WrestleMania, so he’ll probably be kept strong.
Winner – Randy Orton

Widro: These guys must just be laughing and laughing at making all this money to be in nothing feuds and nothing matches where both could be used so much better.
Winner: Rey

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs