Starting this thread early due to the news that Roman and Bray are off the show, I guess due to the meningitis. AJ Styles will take Bray's spot against Balor, and Roman's spot will be filled by...Kurt Angle? That's right, the recovering drug addict in his mid-forties with a bad neck is coming back in a TLC match, on two days notice with zero build. Besides the obvious worry about Roman's (and Bray/JoJo/Bo's) health, I was personally hoping to see The Shield back in action. I guess they felt like they had to replace it with an equally anticipated re-debut?

Feels literally insane to bring Angle in this way. Last time he was wrestling, he was turning an alarming shade of purple. So of course he goes into the car crash match. I feel like there has to be some trick to keep him out of harm's way, but after announcing it like this how can they pull back on it now?

Angle ? In a TLC match ? Seriously ? Wow. I wonder how that makes Daniel Bryan feel... AJ Styles vs Balor = sleeper match of the card now. This card suddenly looks more *interesting*.

If I could be a fly on the wall when Bryan calls Vince about this.

Weird point. Bryan is on Smackdown and would not be working this show anyway.

 

Edit: Never mind - just realized Smackdown's AJ is working the show too. So, yeah...

This whole situation seems similar to GAB 06 but here they are throwing out huge matches.

 

Now I know this is being done to save the card and without aj comming over and someone not filling in Romans space would be disastrous but did it really need to be angle? With his history a tlc match. Which while in itself very dangerous opens him up to future matches. If he can wrestle in a tlc match then why cannot he wrestle more regularly? That is a very dangerous path to go down.

 

On top of this it is two big matches and one huge moment for wwe fans with angles return that are being put out there with no build up. Yes they have two days but with no TV (that anyone watches at least) it seems like a waste.

 

There has been talk that angle may be in this match due to him Wrestling at survivor series so he already had a medical done but who knows.

Weird point. Bryan is on Smackdown and would not be working this show anyway.

 

Just referring to the fact that Angle, who's probably more beat up than Bryan, is being booked for a match and Bryan can't even post videos of himself doing bumps.

Have to hope Angle just does some suplexes and then takes a safe chair shot and lays on the floor for most of it or something like that.

That seems to be a huge waste of Angle, doing this with no build. Joe is reportedly cleared to return now, and there are a bunch of other guys on Smackdown they could have borrowed to replace Reigns rather than Angle. I figured we'd be seeing him at some point, but not like this.

 

As far as Wyatt, as much as I loved the other matches he and Balor had on PPV already, and as much as I was looking forward to the debut of his cross-dressing Sister Abagail, the important thing is that he stays healthy. I guess we can make do with Balor vs. Styles in the meantime.

 

This show has gone from "no way I'm watching this crap" to "mildly interesting" on the TTK scale.

I was only into the main event, but Finn-Styles should be very good.

I will say that, ignoring the morality of Angle wrestling, I really admire WWE for pulling out all the stops to put on a worthy show for the people who bought tickets for this one. Taking a family of 4 and sitting lower deck will run you about $500 nowadays. So for all the talk of WWE not respecting their fans, props to them for trying to make things right.

I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on the internet, but isn't viral meningitis contagious? Like super contagious? I remember there being an outbreak at a college around here and the whole town was basically shut down.

I will say that, ignoring the morality of Angle wrestling, I really admire WWE for pulling out all the stops to put on a worthy show for the people who bought tickets for this one. Taking a family of 4 and sitting lower deck will run you about $500 nowadays. So for all the talk of WWE not respecting their fans, props to them for trying to make things right.

 

Yeah, other than bringing Bryan back (which they're (probably correctly) dead-set on not doing) there's no one other than Angle who would fit the bill if Roman can't go. It would be cool if they threw Itami or Hero in, but it wouldn't make the same impact for the regular fan I guess.

Come on. Where's Savio Vega when you need him ?

Bryan just retweeted WWEs announcement of Angles return with Interesting and the hand-on-chin emoji. On one had hes been openly trolling the company about keeping him on ice, but on the other it seems to help his case that Angle got cleared with all his documented issues.

Man this is scary. Viral meningitis is pretty damn serious. Although wrestling inc is reporting this is a mumps break out

Or as someone on Deadspin's comment section called it, "kayfabies"

Might actually get me to re-start my Network sub.

Like others have said, I'm not going to applaud the WWE for putting Angle back in the ring, in a TLC match, on short notice, but...

 

I also have to say that this is actually kind of brilliant booking.

 

1) AJ on your show is always a +1 point. Him and Balor should be fun.

 

2) One issue I read coming into the show was that there was a feeling that the finish of the TLC match was a bit of a toss-up. If Shield wins, they've now beaten their 5 biggest opponents in one match and there's really nowhere to go for Survivor Series. If Shield loses, the argument is that you've chilled your hottest act in their comeback match (I don't believe that, but the sentiment is out there). This way, you can really have "the Shield" lose without The Shield losing. Plus, Angle is going to get a massive pop, so its not like the crowd is getting screwed and will turn on the match.

 

3) From a business standpoint, I feel like this is a great test for brand awareness in the social media landscape. Angle's return should be a big deal, but the WWE now has only two days to hype it. A decade-and-a-half ago, maybe just a decade ago, this would be practically impossible, but now? With Twitter, Youtube, the Network, Reddit, wrestling-devoted podcasts, etc., this news will travel faster than ever before. I don't know about ticket sales (walk up sales might go up?), but Network viewership (numbers they keep pretty close to the vest, I think) will be an interesting indicator for the company to see - for better or worse. I'm not sure we'll ever know the answer to whether this rushed return will work or not, but if it does, I think the WWE could learn from the experience and maybe try a "planned substitution" strategy in the future - I mean, it works for the Rumble doesn't it?

Can you imagine the discussion that must have taken place today? "So the shit hit the fan today, let's put the guy we fired so he wouldn't die on our watch into the main event TLC match in two days".

 

Even if you're confident he has his substance issues under control, which is well...y'know, there's still the concern that his neck is so bad his arms have atrophied to such a state I'd be concerned if I was his opponent that he might lose me during a move. So even if he's going to be protected to not take any crazy bumps, having him be the one to initiate them could be just as scary.

I will say that, ignoring the morality of Angle wrestling, I really admire WWE for pulling out all the stops to put on a worthy show for the people who bought tickets for this one. Taking a family of 4 and sitting lower deck will run you about $500 nowadays. So for all the talk of WWE not respecting their fans, props to them for trying to make things right.

 

They fucked us over in Chile for SD's house show by taking out AJ Styles. I was his first time here ever. Guess our money doesn't matter as much

Man this is scary. Viral meningitis is pretty damn serious. Although wrestling inc is reporting this is a mumps break out

 

Yeah, but complications of mumps can turn into viral meningitis. So, it might have started as mumps but no longer the case now.

I wonder if Nias leave of absence and Tom Phillips being off Smackdown allegedly on assignment are connected to this.

Starting this thread early due to the news that Roman and Bray are off the show, I guess due to the meningitis. AJ Styles will take Bray's spot against Balor, and Roman's spot will be filled by...Kurt Angle? That's right, the recovering drug addict in his mid-forties with a bad neck is coming back in a TLC match, on two days notice with zero build. Besides the obvious worry about Roman's (and Bray/JoJo/Bo's) health, I was personally hoping to see The Shield back in action. I guess they felt like they had to replace it with an equally anticipated re-debut?

 

I would have saved his in ring return for a Wrestlemania or Summerslam PPV not a C PPV show like TLC.

 

I will say that, ignoring the morality of Angle wrestling, I really admire WWE for pulling out all the stops to put on a worthy show for the people who bought tickets for this one. Taking a family of 4 and sitting lower deck will run you about $500 nowadays. So for all the talk of WWE not respecting their fans, props to them for trying to make things right.

 

Yeah, other than bringing Bryan back (which they're (probably correctly) dead-set on not doing) there's no one other than Angle who would fit the bill if Roman can't go. It would be cool if they threw Itami or Hero in, but it wouldn't make the same impact for the regular fan I guess.

 

Hero would be funny considering that CM Punk (according to his interview with Cabana) initially suggested Ambrose, Rollins and Hero when he (again, according to himself) came up with The Shield.