Fantasy Booking: TLC – Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2016

This Sunday Smackdown is gonna Creep, just keep it on the down low… they’re gonna chase waterfalls and no scrubs are welcome because TLC is gonna make you feel so damn unpretty.

Yes that’s right this Sunday is the Smackdown Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view so let’s see what we have to look forward to.



MATCH #1 – Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin in a Chairs Match

Kalisto – The only lucha wrestler on the main roster that matters (but keep your eyes on 205 Live for many other greats).

Baron Corbin – He’s like a weird biker guy? Once I saw him live and my friend kept making fun of him for being bald… I have no evidence that he heard us but I think I saw him crying that day.

WHO IS GOING TO WIN:
Matt – This one is pretty tough to call because both of these guys are so down on the card it feels. If there was any of these matches that had a risk of getting knocked into the pre-show, it’s this one. That’s how unimportant these guys have become.

If I had to pick (and I do) than I’m gonna go with Baron. It feels like Smackdown could use another solid mid-card heel and Corbin can be that.

Derek – I’m so sick of the ‘We need to crush this little bug” storyline. And Kalisto’s incredibly quick, super-flippy Lucha things often lead to some of the most entertaining matches in the WWE. Also I find Baron super boring at this point, so… Kalisto better take it

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – Kalisto will probably flounder a bit longer before they move him into the 205 Live roster where he’ll be able to truly shine. Baron will continue to have some good feuds while they try to build him into a bigger and badder threat. No longer in a tag team (more on that later) I could see Heath Slater being a good early opponent to give Baron and little more of a push upward.

Derek – Baron Corbin has another boring rivalry with someone else, and Kalisto continues to not get enough screen time. Or he goes to Raw to hang with the Cruiserweights.

MATCH #2 – NIkki Bella vs. Carmella in a No DQ Match

Nikki Bella – She’s married to John Cena and is the star of two popular reality shows on E! for this reason WWE loves her.

Carmella – The Baddest Bitch out of New Jersey, also she can moonwalk like a motherfucking G

WHO IS GOING TO WIN:
Matt – Carmella. It will be doing this match that Natalya reveals that she’s the one who attacked Nikki at Survivor series. She will interfere and allow for Carmella to take the victory.

Derek – I’m really looking forward to this one. The short-ish rivalry between Nikki and Carmella has led to some brutal attacks, and some brutal moves inside the ring. Whether or not Carmella attacked Nikki prior to Survivor Series remains to be seen (at the time of this writing), but even if Carmella didn’t do it, she certainly didn’t look upset about it.

This has been Nikki’s biggest rivalry since her recent return, and with Carmella’s “You’re only successful because of John” comments, I think Nikki takes this one in order to prove Carmella wrong.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – Nikki Bella will begin feuding with Natalya while Carmella feuds with Becky Lynch and will remain heel until Royal Rumble. I have a strong belief that at the Rumble she will reunite with her “boys” Enzo and Cass backstage and they will bring her back to reality (although Enzo’s been walking around backstage naked and slut shaming a bunch lately so that’s kinda heelish but this is WWE where sexual harassment actually makes you the biggest face in the company).

Derek – Natalya was totally the one who attacked Nikki, and their rivalry is next.

MATCH #3 – The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler in a Ladders Match

Dolph Ziggler – If Skid Row fell in a vat of toxic waste and emerged as one man who loves Shawn Michaels … it’d be Ziggler

The Miz – Imagine if a reality show star suddenly became a movie star who wrestled and … well that’s actually his origins for real.

WHO IS GOING TO WIN:

Matt – The Miz has elevated the I.C. belt in ways no one could have ever expected, that isn’t stopping just yet.

Derek – This is going to be awesome. As someone who has only started watching WWE in the past year, and The Miz vs. Ziggler at No Mercy was probably the best match I’ve seen thus far.

Now it’s the two of them again, but with a ladder added to the mix? Amazing.

Ziggler has lost to Miz many times throughout this rivalry, so I think it’s again Dolph’s turn to take home the gold… especially after that scream-at-the-tv finish of Smackdown 900.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – Unfortunately I’m running out of ideas for Dolph Ziggler. Maybe he turns heel and has some matches with Apollo Crews to give his character direction? He definitely helped making Corbin matter for a hot minute. 

As for Miz? What I’d love to see is the surprise debut of Tye Dillinger and he challenges The Miz and shocks with world with a first match win against The Miz. Establish him as someone important right out the gate since it took approximately 5 years for WWE to realize his talents.

Derek – I… really don’t know. I just hope it’s not more Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin

MATCH #4 – Beauty and The ManBeast vs. The Wyatt Family

Beauty and the ManBeast – Basically a Redneck joke that has overstayed it’s welcome

The Wyatt Family – If Captain Howdy possessed … a redneck joke that overstayed it’s welcome.

WHO IS GOING TO WIN:

Matt – The Wyatts. I know it seems crazy and I feel like every month I’m predicting WWE finally booking the Wyatts correctly but for the first time in years it feels like they got it. Between the surprise Wyatt victory at Survivor Series, the addition of Orton to their ranks and now Tuesday’s victory over American Alpha I think it’s time the Wyatts are genuine threat.

Derek – I am loving Beauty and the Man Beast. Heath Slater’s ‘I GOT KIDS I NEED THIS JOB’ gimmick is hilarious, and possibly made him the most interesting character I’ve seen in my year of watching WWE. I was beyond excited to see the duo claim the Smackdown tag titles, but I don’t think that there’s any chance they’re leaving TLC with the belts. I don’t know a lot about Orton, and I haven’t seen Wyatt (or mostly the family) be anything but annoying in nearly every match since I began watching WWE (last year’s TLC being my first PPV), but their pairing is interesting, and as two of Smackdown’s biggest superstars, they’re either taking the titles, or Luke Harper is going to interfere and ruin the match.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:

Matt – Heath and Rhyno go their separate ways. They should have never been tagging for this long. That wasn’t where that story should have lead to begin with. Heath will return to the mid-card where he’ll be a beloved goof-ball and feuding with people like Baron Corbin and the Miz. The Wyatts will be a dominate heel tag team champions for a few months until they lose to American Alpha at Wrestlemania when Randy Orton turns on Bray.

Derek – As Bray’s former right-hand man, Harper can’t be pleased about this new partnership. I expect that things will blow up between the trio pretty quickly, if it doesn’t happen at TLC.

MATCH #5 – Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss in a Tables Match

Becky Lynch – She’s like that hot girl at the convention who’s SUPER into Steam Punk

Alexa Bliss – She’s like that hot girl at the convention who’s SUPER into cos-play

WHO IS GOING TO WIN:

Matt – I’m going with the unpopular pick and say Alexa Bliss. I think she’s the most deserving person to dethrone Becky and while it seems really early for Lynch to lose the belt this quickly some characters are best used as the chaser instead of the chased. That’s the case with Becky.

Derek – As much as I’d like to see Becky be champion forever, her last match with Alexa, the tension between them at Survivor Series, and the seemingly huge push that it seems like Alexa has been receiving over the past few months makes me think that, at least for a short time, we’ll see Alexa as the Smackdown woman’s champion.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:

Matt – Alexa Bliss will be champion for a while. She’ll get challenge by Becky Lynch first (obviously) followed by perhaps Nikki Bella and then Naomi but it won’t be until the dangerous Auska comes to the Smackdown women’s division that Bliss loss the belt.

Becky will feud with Carmella after losing her rematch withe Bliss. She will remain pretty important to the women’s division but they’re going to be using her more in “Four Horsemen fatal fourways” at Combined pay-per-views more than anything.

Derek – I think that the feud will continue and that Becky will have the title back within a few weeks (which will make Alexa even angrier)… or that Eva Marie will return and soon be woman’s champion.

Yeah… that last one may be unlikely, but it’d be about as unexpected as that Goldberg / Lesnar match two weeks ago.

MATCH #6 AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match

A.J. Styles – Ain’t Nobody breaking this Redneck

Dean Ambrose – He’s a lunatic according to his nick name

WHO WILL WIN:
Matt – A.J. Styles will win this one but there’s a lot that I think could happen. There’s the Undertaker, who promised to get whoever fucks up things at Survivor Series. Does he get involved with this match? What about Elsworth? Does he get involved? There’s so many possibilities but I don’t think any of them end with Dean leaving with that belt.

Derek – I kind of find AJ and his soccer-mom hairstyle irritating (especially the exorbitant smugness he’s displayed since becoming the WWE World Champion a few PPV’s ago). Because of this, I’d love to see Dean take the title back, as his short run (and his obvious lack of caring) was a hilarious and refreshing break from the usually intense drama.

But… Styles wins. He’s too popular to use it at this point, and if the Styles / Undertaker rumours are true, that rivalry will have more weight if the Deadman is facing a champion.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
Matt – A.J. Styles continues to be the Champ that runs the camp until Wrestlemania. There’s only one thing that could make me change that prediction and that’s if Undertaker gets a title shot against A.J. Styles. If that happens then I think it’s possible Taker wins the belt for John Cena to dethrone in a retirement match for the belt at WrestleMania. 

As for Dean who knows really. I’d be down for some Dean vs. Corbin maybe?

Derek – I think there has to be some truth to the Styles / Undertaker rumours. I just hope that it’s because ‘Taker wants some more time in the ring, and not because they don’t think he’ll be able to perform at Wrestlemania.