Breaking news: Kurt Angle will return to action and replace Roman Reigns at WWE TLC; AJ Styles to battle Finn Balor

[cero2k]

Source: wwe.com

Due to medical issues impacting two WWE Superstars scheduled to appear at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, streaming live on WWE Network this Sunday, the special event will now feature Kurt Angle competing in a WWE ring for the first time in more than 11 years, as he replaces Roman Reigns. In addition, former WWE Champion AJ Styles will replace Bray Wyatt and face “The Demon” Finn Bálor.

A WWE Hall of Famer and the current General Manager of Raw, Angle will join forces with Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose to battle the daunting combination of Braun Strowman, Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus and The Big Red Machine Kane in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs 5-on-3 Handicap Match.

The showdown between “The Demon” and Styles is one that the WWE Universe has been wanting for a long time and promises to be one of the most exciting matches of 2017.

Check back with WWE.com as more information becomes available. Don’t miss a moment of WWE TLC, streaming live on WWE Network, this Sunday at 8 ET/5 PT.

[KILLdozer]

Well then.

[cero2k]

Logical writer: hey, let's replace Reigns with Balor....

Vince: no, get me Angle and Styles on the phone.

Bryan is now the only GM not to get a chance to wrestle, even over the dude that once got let go from WWE because they thought he was gonna die in the ring.

And Balor vs Styles, with no build up, no story, on a random network special

F.U.C.K.T.H.I.S.C.O.M.P.A.N.Y.

[NWK2000]

Logical writer: hey, let's replace Reigns with Balor....

Vince: no, get me Angle and Styles on the phone.

Bryan is now the only GM not to get a chance to wrestle, even over the dude that once got let go from WWE because they thought he was gonna die in the ring.

And Balor vs Styles, with no build up, no story, on a random network special

F.U.C.K.T.H.I.S.C.O.M.P.A.N.Y.

Are you fucking serious? These are emergency alterations to a card because wrestlers are too sick to compete and you're honestly complaining about lack of build up? Come the fuck on, you're better than that.

[KILLdozer]

Logical writer: hey, let's replace Reigns with Balor....

Vince: no, get me Angle and Styles on the phone.

Bryan is now the only GM not to get a chance to wrestle, even over the dude that once got let go from WWE because they thought he was gonna die in the ring.

And Balor vs Styles, with no build up, no story, on a random network special

F.U.C.K.T.H.I.S.C.O.M.P.A.N.Y.

Are you fucking serious? These are emergency alterations to a card because wrestlers are too sick to compete and you're honestly complaining about lack of build up? Come the fuck on, you're better than that.

Woah woah, a tough guy right over here lol.

It seems to me if nothing else they just tried to go all the way to make up for the card change at the last second.

[cero2k]

meh dude, zero respect for a company that just throws around the gold they have because they know they don't need to try because they already got your money. They KNEW Bray was sick almost a month ago and they still went and booked that shit feud that is only killing Balor. if Bo, Jojo, and Bray were gone weeks ago AND it was public, why wasn't everyone tested on the spot? so emergency my ass, and then out of everyone they go for Angle because they know they can have the fans eating from the palm of their hands because fans just wanna mark out. call it a petty complain, i honestly couldn't give a shit about WWE shit effortless product.

they already have everyone's money, they could replace Reigns with Balor, everyone would mark out anyway and you get to keep two HUUUUGE matches in your pocket for those with hindsight. They have zero confidence in their own product.

[Serujuunin]

I am upset that these changes came about this way, but I’m not going to pretend I didn’t want Angle in the ring, or AJ v Balor either. Sure it had no build and it’s kind of a waste, but I’ll like it better anyway.

Try to find the silver lining here guys. No Bray!

[KILLdozer]

I am upset that these changes came about this way, but I’m not going to pretend I didn’t want Angle in the ring, or AJ v Balor either. Sure it had no build and it’s kind of a waste, but I’ll like it better anyway.

Try to find the silver lining here guys. No Bray!

That's why I said "ah crap..."

Got dang it, that guy won't be there lol.

[Big Red Machine]

meh dude, zero respect for a company that just throws around the gold they have because they know they don't need to try because they already got your money. They KNEW Bray was sick almost a month ago and they still went and booked that shit feud that is only killing Balor. if Bo, Jojo, and Bray were gone weeks ago AND it was public, why wasn't everyone tested on the spot? so emergency my ass, and then out of everyone they go for Angle because they know they can have the fans eating from the palm of their hands because fans just wanna mark out. call it a petty complain, i honestly couldn't give a shit about WWE shit effortless product.

they already have everyone's money, they could replace Reigns with Balor, everyone would mark out anyway and you get to keep two HUUUUGE matches in your pocket for those with hindsight. They have zero confidence in their own product.

They also did a similar thing with Bray and Orton last year where they knew Randy had a concussion but still booked the show and promoted the match as if it was going to happen up right up until the show started even though Randy had never been cleared.

[Big Red Machine]

I have sympathy for both points of view. The fan of the art in me finds it silly that they are practically burning large piles of money (and that they couldn't find a Raw guy to use instead of a Smackdown guy), but the fan of being a fan in me finds it hard to get angry at them when they throwing away so much money for the purpose of ensuring that they can give the fans an acceptable make-good for them having to make changes to the two top matches on the card (and, quite frankly, two of the only three matches whose build doesn't feel completely rushed).

You're right that they could have just put Balor in Reigns' spot (and hopefully give a bunch of time to Mickie vs. Alexa, or to Emma vs. Asuka if their plan isn't for that to be a squash) and solved their problem neatly, but (and here is something that only I would ever think up)...

If their big idea is to do a Shield reunion and put them over by having them win against these ridiculous odds, then just replacing Roman with someone else and having them win actually hurts the story they're trying to tell. And if you are using a replacement, the best way to tell the story is to have the replacement be the guy to get pinned. And if the rumors of Brock vs. Balor for December or the Rumble are true, they obviously don't want to beat him, so he couldn't be the guy to come in here and get pinned.
So what if Kurt is in here to take the pin? You save your Shield reunion and the story of them overcoming the odds (and arguably even add to it by having The Shield win against odds that even Rollins, Ambrose and Kurt Angle couldn't overcome), plus you can either put someone like Braun over a bit by letting him pin Kurt (the 5-on-3 nature of the match doens't make it that impressive to me), or you could even have Miz been Kurt to play into his angle with Jason Jordan (Miz is definitely the kind of guy who would brag about pinning someone in a 5-on-3 match).





I highly doubt they'll do it, of course, but the pieces would all fit together perfectly if WWE wanted to go that way.

[cero2k]

there is a sense that this PPV kinda became a house show because the two big matches of the show became throwaway non-storyline stuff were the fans get to go home happy

[Big Red Machine]

there is a sense that this PPV kinda became a house show because the two big matches of the show became throwaway non-storyline stuff were the fans get to go home happy

Well then they're stupid because it's a f*cking PPV and you can't treat it like a house show.

[KILLdozer]

What I'm really interested in knowing is, what does and is this AJ Styles V Balor gonna mean going forward within Mahal V AJ Styles. He appeared on a RAW ppv. That seemingly certainly can't be swept under the rug lol.

[Big Red Machine]

What I'm really interested in knowing is, what does and is this AJ Styles V Balor gonna mean going forward within Mahal V AJ Styles. He appeared on a RAW ppv. That seemingly certainly can't be swept under the rug lol.

Alvarez said last night that their original plans for Survivor Series were for them to be on opposite sides of a Survivor Series team and that is still the plan as of now, so my guess is that they gave Balor the win now so AJ can get the win back at Survivor Series leading to him challenging Jinder in December. Which is dumb because they're once again filling Survivor Series with matches that no one gives a sh*t about.

[cero2k]

What I'm really interested in knowing is, what does and is this AJ Styles V Balor gonna mean going forward within Mahal V AJ Styles. He appeared on a RAW ppv. That seemingly certainly can't be swept under the rug lol.

Alvarez said last night that their original plans for Survivor Series were for them to be on opposite sides of a Survivor Series team and that is still the plan as of now, so my guess is that they gave Balor the win now so AJ can get the win back at Survivor Series leading to him challenging Jinder in December. Which is dumb because they're once again filling Survivor Series with matches that no one gives a sh*t about.

COUGH JINDERvsLESNAR COUGH

[Big Red Machine]

What I'm really interested in knowing is, what does and is this AJ Styles V Balor gonna mean going forward within Mahal V AJ Styles. He appeared on a RAW ppv. That seemingly certainly can't be swept under the rug lol.

Alvarez said last night that their original plans for Survivor Series were for them to be on opposite sides of a Survivor Series team and that is still the plan as of now, so my guess is that they gave Balor the win now so AJ can get the win back at Survivor Series leading to him challenging Jinder in December. Which is dumb because they're once again filling Survivor Series with matches that no one gives a sh*t about.

COUGH JINDERvsLESNAR COUGH

And all of the other Raw vs. SD matches with zero consequences that they're going to do. They'll use Survivor Series to put off putting the belt on Asuka and doing the Nattie vs. Charlotte blow-off for another month, and the already completely stalled tag team divisions will also go nowhere. Also, I'll bet that the only reason they gave Enzo that group of heels that helped him beat Kalisto and Ali down on Raw was so they could do a Survivor Series match for the Cruiserweights as well, and they don't actually have any real plans for that group.