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EditorialWWE TLC 2015: 3 ECW Originals to Team With The Dudley Boyz...

WWE TLC 2015: 3 ECW Originals to Team With The Dudley Boyz vs. The Wyatt Family

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On last night’s edition of WWE Raw, The Dudley Boyz brought Tommy Dreamer back into the fold to help even the odds against The Wyatt Family for as yet unconfirmed but essentially guaranteed tables match at TLC 2015. That’s all well and good, but there’s a big problem that’s being ignored for one reason or another: that’s still 4-on-3.

Granted, WWE might be doing this on purpose and just hoping that nobody notices. Why? Because it gives them an out for the ending of the match. If The Dudley Boyz and Tommy Dreamer are officially facing Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, they can win the match without devaluing Braun Strowman. Alternatively, Strowman can interfere and be that outside factor that results in a win for The Wyatt Family.

However, let’s just pretend that WWE didn’t have either of those plans in mind and instead of doing another copout like what happened at Survivor Series, they wanted to do something closer to a fair fight with 4 members on each team. Who should be that other person to fight alongside Bubba Ray, Devon and Tommy Dreamer?

I think it’s safe to say we can rule out any current roster members, as they just don’t fit the bill. Neville doesn’t appear to have any feuds in the works for TLC, but could you really buy him meshing well with his teammates? There’s no way someone like The Miz is turning babyface and jumping into this feud. Big Show has yet to be seen in this build and would be a bit of a stretch to get involved, and while it could make sense for Kane to be that fourth person and continue his feud with The Wyatt Family, people would be wondering where The Undertaker is.

WWE needs to look elsewhere to find that fourth member, and they should capitalize on the one-time-only feel by going with another ECW original. That being said, most of them are too old and beaten up to retire, work for other companies, or have unfortunately passed away. Are there really any viable options?

Sandman

This is the unlikeliest of the three names I’m going to suggest, for pretty obvious reasons. Sandman doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to reliability. In fact, a better word to describe him would be “liability” due to his problems. Still, if he’s cleaned his act up and enough people vouch for him, it could happen. Sandman is one of the icons of ECW and he could easily be the one to take the fall to lose the match, protecting the credibility of The Dudley Boyz and even Tommy Dreamer for future events.

I wouldn’t suggest betting even a dime on this happening, but if it does, it could be a lot of fun for fans of the old product.

Stevie Richards

A much more reliable name who has made appearances in House of Hardcore and comes from an ECW background is Big Stevie Cool. As far as I’m aware, Richards doesn’t have any commitments to TNA, Ring of Honor, Global Force Wrestling or anywhere else that would prevent him from being able to appear on a few television episodes and at the TLC pay-per-view itself. Also, the last time I had seen him was a while back, but I remember him being in decent shape. I’d imagine he can still go in the ring well enough to justify putting him in this match without having to worry all that much about his performance. After all, it’s a tables match, not a technical wrestling seminar.

Admittedly, Richards could be a bit underwhelming. He was a big star in ECW, but was never the big star even in that small pond. There’s no way he would get anywhere near the pop Tommy Dreamer received, and even that wasn’t huge. In the end, though, this fourth person is not much more than a placeholder, and Richards has excelled at similar roles in the past.

Rhyno

Here’s the big gun. If anybody is going to be added into this match, I would be confident in saying it’s Rhyno. There are so many factors working in his favor over any other ECW original, but the most prominent one is that he’s already been working with WWE for quite some time in NXT. There’s nothing that states that he can’t be brought up to the main roster for a quick feud. His matches with Baron Corbin and company have expired and he isn’t so intricately tied to a particular young star that he needs to stay down there in developmental to feud with just that person. With the roster being so thin for talent right now, moving him up is a smart move. If the fans are as receptive to him as they were with his NXT return, perhaps Rhyno can even make some more appearances in the midcard. The Dudley Boyz, Tommy Dreamer and Rhyno can move on from their feud with The Wyatt Family to go up against The League of Nations, for instance.

Rhyno has the clout to back up his position on this team, along with the power. Sure, he’s going to be dwarfed by Braun Strowman, but wouldn’t that just make Strowman look even more dominant when he puts him through a table? This monster of a man took down someone who used to be a wrecking ball, so what else can he do? I have faith that if The Wyatt Family were beating down this trio and Rhyno made the save, running to the ring to give Luke Harper or Erick Rowan a Gorge, the crowd would definitely pop and be sold even more on the match.

This is all speculation that could amount to absolutely nothing, but crazier things have happened. Most people would have never imagined Tommy Dreamer showing up on this past Raw, and since he has ties with all three of these men not only in ECW, but also in his House of Hardcore federation, I wouldn’t go ruling this out 100% just yet.

Who would you like to see team up with The Dudley Boyz and Tommy Dreamer? Do you have any other suggestions from the names I mentioned above? Do you think WWE is just going to say “screw it” and have a 4-on-3 match or something similar?

Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

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