AJ Styles, Asuka and Biggest Wild Cards at WWE TLC 2017

The TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view card was thrown into disarray Friday afternoon, when it was announced that Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt would no longer appear on the show, forcing changes to the night's top two matches.

It also created a few wild cards who will have an effect on Sunday's broadcast and a sense of excitement for a show that may otherwise have lacked as much.

From Kurt Angle and AJ Styles, neither of whom was originally scheduled for the show, to Mickie James and Asuka, the Superstars who will have an undisputed effect on the overall quality of the show run a spectrum of sports entertainment's best.

Find out why those four Superstars figure so prominently into Sunday's show and, ultimately, why they will determine its success.

AJ Styles

AJ Styles is one of the best wrestlers in the world, and the TLC will be an infinitely better pay-per-view for having him involved.

The Phenomenal One, a last-minute addition to the card following the Bray Wyatt's scratch, will battle Finn Balor in the first-time-ever match between former Bullet Club members.

Styles, a SmackDown Live performer, is taking the match on limited notice with no story or background to speak of. While that would adversely affect some matches, that will not be the case Sunday night. Styles and Balor are immensely talented professional wrestlers with strong fanbases that will be red-hot for the match, regardless of whether there is some convoluted reasoning for them to work together.

Styles, on loan from the blue brand, will deliver a superb performance that hoists TLC out of the doldrums of C-level mediocrity and into respectability among other WWE offerings in 2017.

Asuka

The Empress of Tomorrow will make her main-roster debut Sunday night, as she battles Emma in a rematch of their strong effort at TakeOver: London in December 2015.

Emma may be the best opponent for Asuka in her first WWE match, and the company has certainly done a quality job of presenting the former NXT women's champion as a special and unique performer. Now it is time for WWE Creative to come through, to book her in a convincing fashion Sunday night that announces to the world she is the face of women's wrestling on the red brand for the foreseeable future.

An undefeated monster of a competitor who has unleashed fury on those unfortunate enough to oppose her, she is a buzz saw worthy of the hype.

If, for some reason, her performance fails to live up to expectations, the show could take a major hit given how much a part of the hype she has been.

Mickie James

There are three women's matches on Sunday's card, including one on the Kickoff Show.

Perhaps no female talent will be under more scrutiny than Mickie James, who will compete in her highest-profile match since returning to WWE in 2016.

The six-time women's champion will challenge Alexa Bliss for the opportunity to pad her resume in one of the better-built matches on the card. Is she too old to succeed at a high level of competition, as Bliss claims, or will James pull out another extraordinary performance and remind fans why she was, at one time, one of the best workers on the roster?

It is a question bears watching and one that will be at the heart of the women's division Sunday night.

If she falters, do not be surprised to see WWE Creative revert to leaning on Bayley and Sasha Banks to anchor the division rather than taking risks with other women in fresh, interesting storylines.

Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle's sudden involvement in the Tables, Ladders and Chairs match Sunday night creates a ton of questions.

Yes, Roman Reigns is Raw's biggest star and nearly impossible to replace, but did WWE really need to waste Angle's return to the ring on a throwaway match altered at the last minute to rescue a C-level pay-per-view that did not have a ton of buzz about it in the first place?

Factor in the danger that exists in a match involving so many weapons and high-risk spots, along with Angle's considerable history of neck injuries, and you have a scenario that is far from ideal for the Olympic gold medalist.

With that said, Angle is a big-match performer unlike most. When pressure is on, he has thrived in several matches of varying types. When the lights are the brightest, he is at his best. In his first WWE match in 11 years, expect Angle to deliver a performer that awes fans and helps boost the pay-per-view's stature.