Breaking: CM Punk Removed from TLC Main Event; Replacement Match Announced
It’s pretty rare these days that a major pay-per-view main event gets changed pretty much out of the blue with just over a week until the event, but that’s exactly what’s happening with the WWE TLC main event of CM Punk vs. Ryback. Word began making the rounds yesterday that CM Punk had knee surgery following Monday’s attack by Ryback. Of course, that was a storyline excuse to explain the surgery, but prior to this, there wasn’t really any talk of Punk being injured or needing surgery. Either the injury and surgery were kept under wraps or it’s a very clever way to keep the WWE Title on Punk another month so he makes it to his showdown with The Rock at the Royal Rumble.
Nevertheless, the TLC main event of Ryback vs. CM Punk is off, and the new main event will now feature Team Hell No and Ryback vs. The Shield. Obviously, this was all set up throughout RAW this week with The Shield attacking Kane and Daniel Bryan and the duo later getting revenge on The Shield at the end of the show. It’s a bold move to put a new group like The Shield in such a big position main eventing a pay-per-view even though the group has been a focal point for the last month. Now the big question will be if WWE will keep The Shield strong coming out of this match and not kill their momentum by having them get destroyed in this match since obviously, Ryback has to stay strong here as well.
Punk is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for the Rumble. His match with The Rock should be the biggest story in WWE in the coming weeks and will dictate what the WWE Title picture will look like going into WrestleMania. Maybe this injury will end up working out for the best since Punk would somehow have to creatively get around Ryback again in order to retain until the Rumble, and eventually, Ryback is going to start looking a bit weak after all these title shots and no win. It should be interesting to see how WWE books this match and who they aim to protect. Could we see more Shield members get involved and make the group even stronger? We will find out on December 16th at WWE TLC.
