Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialSuperstars Missing from WWE Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2018 Card

Superstars Missing from WWE Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2018 Card

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With TLC 2018 coming up this Sunday night, the go-home shows of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live have given us an indication of what talent is booked for the pay-per-view and who is not currently scheduled. Of course, the card is always subject to change and WWE may end up making alterations to this lineup, but at the moment, the men and women in this breakdown are not currently advertised as being part of this event.

In some cases, this may be justified, or even a purposeful plan to set up a surprise. In other cases, it may be ridiculous. That is up to you to decide as we take a look at which superstars aren’t being promoted for this show.

From the Raw Men’s Singles Division

— Apollo Crews: For a brief minute there, I thought Crews was going to be factored into the story with Baron Corbin and would offset Jinder Mahal on the heel team. That quickly dissipated, though. Then, Crews had a shot to get into the Mixed Match Challenge finals, but lost.

— Bray Wyatt: There had been a chance that Wyatt would make his return to do something involving Corbin, as the two fought each other at Starrcade, but WWE must have decided that that didn’t really factor into their plans.

— Brock Lesnar: Of course Lesnar isn’t on the card and the universal title is MIA. That’s what happens with him all the time. Don’t be surprised.

— Curt Hawkins: Given his over 200+ losing streak, it makes sense when Hawkins is always skipped over for spots on pay-per-views. I still maintain that they could do much more with that story, though, and it’s a shame it’s going to waste on Main Event.

— Dolph Ziggler: I’m still not entirely sold that Ziggler isn’t going to replace Braun Strowman in a certain sense by WWE merging matches together to avoid Strowman’s and Balor’s injuries. Ziggler being on the opposite end of McIntyre would make sense, even if he isn’t a full-fledged babyface yet.

— Goldust: Injury (knees). There is no set timetable for his return.

— Heath Slater: Apparently, Slater is a referee now, according to the storyline. I’m really hoping we actually see that idea executed at TLC with Slater acting as the referee to Corbin’s match or something.

— Jason Jordan: Injury (neck). There is no set timetable for his return, if it ever happens.

— Kevin Owens: Injury (knee). He is expected back possibly sometime around WrestleMania season.

— Mojo Rawley: Jobber status. He hasn’t been involved in anything recently, so why would he compete here?

— No Way Jose: Jobber status rules effect him as well.

— Roman Reigns: The Big Dog will remain out of action for quite some time as he is suffering from leukemia. There is no timetable for his return.

— Sami Zayn: Injury (two torn rotator cuffs). He is expected back possibly sometime around WrestleMania season.

— Titus O’Neil: Since Titus Worldwide split, Titus O’Neil has spent more time being a WWE ambassador than an in-ring competitor. That is one of the reasons why he’s nowhere to be seen for the TLC card, on top of just not being a priority character.

— Zack Ryder: Long Island Iced Z seems relegated entirely to Main Event these days, which is a shame. I’d really like to see him reform his tag team with Curt Hawkins and do something in the tag team division, but I’m not holding my breath.

From the Raw Women’s Division

— Alexa Bliss: While out with her injuries, Bliss has been moved to an authority figure position. This very well might mean that she will make an appearance at TLC in that capacity, rather than wrestling, as it’s still unclear when she’ll be able to step back into the ring.

— Bayley: She and Apollo Crews lost their Mixed Match Challenge match, rendering Bayley a no-go for this event. That’s as good of an excuse as any.

— Dana Brooke: When does Dana Brooke ever compete on a card? Come on now.

— Ember Moon: Moon has been used as a stepping stone to put Nia Jax over during this feud with Ronda Rousey. They might pick that up once TLC is over, but that was basically her job the past month or so, rather than to build to something for this card.

— Mickie James: Mickie’s simply not been doing anything other than joining in on the attacks on Bayley and Sasha Banks, which aren’t of much substance and certainly not deserving of a spot on this show.

— Sasha Banks: The Boss simply has nothing going on right now, unless WWE were to set up another one of those awful Q&A segments. Please, no.

— Tamina Snuka: While she’s technically not advertised as part of the card, it’s pretty safe to assume Tamina will be ringside for Nia Jax’s match against Ronda Rousey.

From the Raw Tag Team Division

— The Ascension: Jobbers don’t get tables, ladders and chairs. They only get the scraps that fall off the tables.

— The Authors of Pain / Chad Gable and Bobby Roode: WWE sure pissed all over this feud, didn’t they? (Sorry, I had to.) The lack of importance going on with the primary Raw Tag Team Championship feud right now not being on this card just goes to show how little Vince McMahon cares about that division and how even two big guys like AOP aren’t enough to make him pay attention and invest. A random title change doesn’t make up for everything that came before it, as Roode and Gable aren’t the most dynamic tag team to begin with. It’s cheap.

— The B-Team: Well, at least they haven’t gotten split up like Heath Slater and Rhyno did, right? That’s one thing. Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas got lucky with a joke title reign earlier this year and that was their highlight for all of 2018 and I’m sure all of 2019. The next time we’ll see them on a pay-per-view is likely WrestleMania’s Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

— Breezango: Fandango remains out due to a shoulder injury, but he was spotted recently working his way through his recovery, which is good. Tyler Breeze is stuck in jobber limbo and even went down to NXT for a North American Championship title shot.

— The Lucha House Party / The Revival: This feud is a Raw TV program and not something that is big enough to justify putting on a pay-per-view that could have bigger matches on it, but is already out of room.

From the SmackDown Men’s Singles Division

— Aiden English: I assume English is off singing a sad melody somewhere, since he hasn’t been on SmackDown for long enough now that I can’t remember the last time he popped up, but I do know it was just to look like a fool.

— Andrade “Cien” Almas: How has this guy fallen off the radar after putting on so many good performances? Why can’t WWE focus on more than two things at a time without losing track of the roster? Almas has been without a feud for months and that’s just ridiculous, as he’s someone who should be fighting for the United States Championship at this point and either winning or defending it on this card.

— Big Show: With one punch in a rushed and uneventful backstage segment, Big Show washed his hands of The Bar, putting that odd storyline to a dud of an ending. Supposedly, he might be dealing with an injury. Maybe WWE just decided to cut that angle and they have nothing else for Big Show to do. Either way, he was probably just going to hang around ringside anyway, so it’s no big loss.

— Jeff Hardy / Samoa Joe: There was simply too many other matches on this card to find room for this, as the feud isn’t exactly the hottest thing going right now that would take priority.

— The Miz: After failing to win the Mixed Match Challenge semifinals, not being able to convince Shane McMahon to be his partner, and not being inserted into the Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles feud (with good cause, as that wasn’t necessary), there wasn’t anything else left for The Miz to do on this card.

— Rusev / Shinsuke Nakamura: Of course these two weren’t booked for the card. Shinsuke Nakamura has been on the ignore list for months, even as champion. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?

— Shelton Benjamin: The Gold Standard is one of those backup players that WWE doesn’t seem to want to use more than a handful of times here and there. His talents are going to waste outside of the house show circuit.

— Sin Cara: Sin Cara has been out of action from knee surgery, but his injury appears to be almost healed up as reports have indicated he may be back soon. I’d expect him at the Royal Rumble if they have a spot for him there, or at least on SmackDown episodes around that time. TLC was too short notice to try to do anything and he wouldn’t have been prioritized anyway.

— Tye Dillinger: A hand injury has put The Perfect 10 on the shelf for the time being.

From the SmackDown Women’s Division

— The IIconics: Billie Kay and Peyton Royce seemingly suffer from the NXT call-up problem where they had stuck around long enough down there that they pretty much had to go up to the main roster, or it would have looked bad, but WWE clearly didn’t want to use them much, so they’re just hovering around with nothing to do all the time.

— Lana: Once Lana was taken off the Mixed Match Challenge tournament, she was pretty much set for being off this card. The only other thing she would have done would have been to accompany Rusev to the ring for a match against Shinsuke Nakamura, but WWE has put such little time into the United States title over the past few months that that was a certainty not to happen, too.

— Mandy Rose / Sonya Deville: These two have been used more prominently in the past few weeks than they have been most of the year, which is good, but they were still stepping stones to further push the SmackDown Women’s Championship match more than anything else.

— Zelina Vega: When Andrade “Cien” Almas is doing nothing, Vega is right behind him doing just as little. It’s a shame. Hopefully, they turn this around soon, as both are talented as hell and it would be great to see them do more.

From the SmackDown Tag Team Division

— The Bludgeon Brothers: Both Luke Harper and Erick Rowan remain on the injured list.

— The Colons: Primo and Epico sure got a big boost from that spot at Survivor Series, didn’t they? Yeesh. These guys have accomplished a grand total of something like five losses this year and nothing else. It’s a wonder they haven’t left WWE long ago.

— The Good Brothers: Another month, another situation where Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows have been doing absolutely nothing. I’m not surprised, are you?

— SAnitY: Oh yeah, the same thing applies to SAnitY as The Good Brothers. They’ve just been completely MIA. Since moving up to the main roster, they’ve been a total bust, and it’s a shame. It’s just assumed now that they won’t have anything going on for an event, rather than how they arguably should be in the position The Bar is in right now, if not just for something different.

From the 205 Live Cruiserweight Division

— Nearly Everybody: Thankfully, the Cruiserweight Championship is being defended, which puts Buddy Murphy and Cedric Alexander on the card. But everybody else on the 205 Live roster doesn’t get the same treatment. Hey, at least that’s something, though.

Do you think these men and women or any others not on this list should have been booked on the card in some fashion? How would you have utilized them if given the opportunity? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

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