WWE TLC: WWE Title Match & 4 Other Things We Learned from Raw

WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs is on December 18th, but we only have one match scheduled.

That match was the SmackDown main event for the World Heavyweight Championship as Mark Henry would defend against the Big Show.

Tonight on Monday Night Raw WWE gave us two of Raw’s matches as well as a possible third.

We may only have 3-4 matches for the pay-per-view right now, but the show is looking pretty good.

Here are five things we learned about the show from tonight's Raw.

Kevin Nash vs. Triple H: Ladder Match

Kevin Nash made his WWE return at SummerSlam when he screwed CM Punk out of the WWE Championship. Ever since then he has become a major thorn in the side to his former best friend, Triple H.

As Nash started to get out of control, Triple H fired him. That didn’t stop Big Sexy from interfering with Monday Night Raw, though.

A few weeks ago, Nash took out the Game with a sledgehammer. Instead of being punished for assault as he wasn’t an employee, John Laurinaitis signed him to a WWE contract.

Triple H has been missing ever since.

All we’ve seen of this feud was Kevin Nash heading to the ring and boring us all on the mic and speaking of the past. With WWE’s young audience, they probably didn’t have a clue what he was talking about it.

Tonight we finally got an update on Triple H. According to David Otunga,  he could be cleared to wrestle for the TLC PPV.

Carlton Banks then informed Nash that they’d be having a ladder match at the show. This was going to be a special ladder match, though. Hanging above the ring will be a sledgehammer, and the first to grab it will have the legal right to use it.

As soon as Otunga said that, the first thought that came to mind was, “Oh no, it’s basically a sledgehammer on a pole match!”

I’m not sure what to think of this match. Kevin Nash is way past his prime and has no business being in something like a ladder match.

He’ll probably climb one step and tear his quad or blow out his knee.

No matter what happens, I just hope that this ends their feud, and Nash will just go away.

The Mask Is On; Will Kane Play a Role in the Mark Henry/Big Show Match?

Kane has been gone for a couple of months now. The reason he’s been gone is the World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry.

Henry took out the Big Red Monster, and soon went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been seeing videos hyping his return. The one thing that has been catching everyone’s eye was Kane’s mask engulfed in flames at the end of the video.

Did that mean Kane was returning with his mask on?

Tonight we were treated to another video and it was much different than the others. This time Kane held the mask in his hand and slowly put it up to his face.

The final shot was a close up of Kane’s eye as he peered at us through his mask.

Kane is returning resurrected, and we could see him return at the TLC PPV.

Odds are we’ll be seeing Mark Henry retain his title against the Big Show. Who’s to say the lights won’t go out as he’s celebrating? As the fire bursts out of the ring posts, Kane could be standing behind him and strike.

The Big Red Monster is returning, and to me, all the signs point to him coming back at TLC.

John Cena Dropped out of the WWE Title Match to Give Zack Ryder Another Chance

At the beginning of the show, John Laurinaitis made some matches to determine who will get to challenge CM Punk at the TLC PPV. One of those matches was John Cena vs. Zack Ryder.

In the match, if Cena won he’d get into the WWE Title match, but if Ryder won then he’d get a shot at the US Championship.

The two had a pretty good match, but Cena ultimately defeated the Long Island Iced Z.

Afterwards backstage Cena went off on Laurinaitis saying that Ryder deserved another chance. Laurinaitis said that he could under one condition. That condition was that Cena had to drop out of the title match.

Cena decided that he was a 10-time champion because he was given an opportunity and that Ryder deserved the same chance.

So Cena agreed and now he doesn’t have a match at TLC.

Even though I know this was all storyline, I got a lot of respect for John Cena because of this. Cena is stepping aside so that new faces have a chance to shine.

I said last week that Piper’s Pit was going to be the catalyst of a new John Cena. I believe we got a glimpse of that last night.

Zack Ryder vs. Dolph Ziggler: United States Championship

Zack Ryder has been trying for quite some time to take the United States Championship away from Dolph Ziggler.

The Long Island Iced Z has defeated Ziggler many times in non-title matches but has always come up short in the title match.

He started an online petition which has garnered over 20,000 signatures. John Laurinaitis finally took notice of it tonight and gave Zack Ryder his shot, as long as he could defeat John Cena.

Cena won of course, but he did something that no one expected him to do.

John Cena gave up his title shot at TLC to give Zack Ryder another chance.

Laurinaitis booked Ryder in another match, this time against Mark Henry. Being a no disqualification match, I figured that Big Show would be out, but Cena came out instead and gave an Attitude Adjustment to the World’s Slowest Champion.

Ryder got the win and will be facing Ziggler for the United States Championship. Laurinaitis never said the match would be at TLC, but we can assume that it will be.

Later on in the night, Ryder cost Ziggler a match against Sheamus. As the champion was getting up, Ryder delivered the Rough Rider.

The fans are really getting behind Zack Ryder. I think the TLC PPV will be Ryder’s time.

We’ll see him win the US Championship and then Dolph Ziggler will move into the main event picture.

CM Punk vs. the Miz vs. Alberto Del Rio: TLC Match for the WWE Championship

Last week CM Punk defeated Alberto Del Rio to retain the WWE Championship. That left the champion without a challenger for the TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chair pay-per-view.

As the show opened, we heard John Cena, Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler and the Miz all plead their case for a title shot.

John Laurinaitis then came out and announced that each one in the ring would face a SmackDown superstar except for John Cena. If they won their match, they’d make it into the WWE Championship match at the PPV.

As the night progressed Miz defeated Randy Orton, Del Rio defeated Daniel Bryan and John Cena defeated Zack Ryder. The match was now a fatal-four way match, but could it become a five-way?

John Cena then dropped out of the match as I described in a previous slide leaving the match a triple threat.

When Ziggler failed to defeat Sheamus the match stayed as it was.

As the show neared its end, we got the ever-exciting contract signing. Each superstar got in their say while CM Punk made fun of them.

It ended when they all signed and Punk put Del Rio through a table and gave a GTS to Miz.

A triple threat TLC match for the WWE Championship is now scheduled for the TLC PPV.

This is going to be a huge test for Punk, who has stated many times that the title was staying with him for a long time.

I’m glad to see Miz back in the title hunt and I got a feeling that this will be Alberto Del Rio’s final shot before being moved to the mid-card.

It will be interesting to see what happens on next week’s three-hour Slammy Awards special.