WWE鈥檚 TLC tonight
A pair of world title matches headline WWE鈥檚 last PPV of 2020 tonight, TLC, on the WWE Network.
WWE champion Drew McIntyre puts the WWE championship on the line against AJ Styles while Universal champion Roman Reigns faces Kevin Owens with both being Tables, Ladders and Chairs (TLC) matches.
It doesn鈥檛 appear either champion will lose their titles tonight, although Styles heading into WrestleMania season as WWE champion is an intriguing thought.
Both McIntyre and Reigns will more than likely keep their reigns going into, and through, the Royal Rumble next month.
Other title matches include Sasha Banks defending her Smackdown title against Carmella, The New Day defends the Raw tag titles against The Hurt Business and the duo of Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax put their WWE women鈥檚 tag titles on the line against Asuka and a partner to be determined.
Could Charlotte Flair make her long-awaited return tonight if she hasn鈥檛 already this weekend?
More on Charlotte in a bit.
Could Nikki Cross or a returning Naomi be inserted into the match as Asuka鈥檚 partner?
Timmy from Charleroi made a solid prediction that Baszler and Jax will lay out Asuka before the match leading to Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke being inserted into the match and then winning the belts.
Also on the card, 鈥淭he Fiend鈥� Bray Wyatt faces Randy Orton in a Firefly Inferno match.
The match could be a cinematic match, but if it takes place in the ring, it will be the fifth Inferno match in WWE history.
This is one of those matches where both men need to win and neither can afford to lose.
WWE has to be careful with Wyatt as he is dangerously close to the point of being built up too many times and then having the rug pulled out from under him.
On the other hand, Orton was on pace for one of the strongest years in recent memory but after defeating McIntyre for the WWE title, he lost it back much quicker than expected.
If the rumored Mania rematch of Orton versus a returning Edge is to take place, Orton has to pick up a few important wins.
The show begins at 7 p.m.
AEW drops, NXT rises
As expected, the second week after Sting鈥檚 AEW debut saw Dynamite take a big hit.
It drew a TV audience of 995,000 fans on the December 9 edition but dropped to 806,000 this past Wednesday.
NXT, on the other hand, drew 766,000 Wednesday, up from 659,000 the week before.
Both shows are offering themes for the next few weeks so it will be interesting to see how things go.
Raw鈥檚 dip, falls behind AEW
The Dec. 14 edition of Raw drew 1,527,000 views, down 210,000 viewers from the week before.
Alarmingly for WWE, Raw did a 0.41 rating in the 18-49 demographic, down from a 0.51 rating on Dec. 7.
In the same demo for AEW Dynamite on Dec. 9, AEW drew a 0.45.
AEW only drew a 0.32 this past week and it is a guarantee that if it drew higher than Raw in that demographic in the same week, AEW would have let the world know that it outdrew Raw.
AEW v. Impact to continue
The storyline between AEW and Impact will continue including AEW champion Kenny Omega wrestling on Impact鈥檚 PPV card in January.
On Tuesday, Omega once again appeared on Impact Wrestling but the shows number dropped significantly as it had 177,000 TV viewers, down from the 221,000 from the prior week.
For a better comparison, the Dec. 1 edition of Impact Wrestling drew 166,000 viewers which means Omega, and AEW, brought in an extra 11,000 viewers.
More on the working arrangement next week.
WWE announcement slips?
As a guest on ESPN鈥檚 The Jump, Rachel Nichols interviewed Ric Flair and he said that a physical WWE Hall of Fame building is being built but that it is delayed because of the pandemic.
Flair broached the subject when he explained that WWE had purchased one of his robes for permanent display at the eventual Hall.
However, Mike Johnson of www.pwinsiderelite.com reported Wednesday that he spoke to several people who stated there was no developing news on top of what has been discussed publicly in the past.
WWE adjusts TV tapings
On Tuesday, WWE announced its taping schedule around the holidays for Raw, Smackdown and NXT.
Raw and NXT will record live on their normal days while the Christmas night edition of Smackdown will be taped three days earlier.
The New Year鈥檚 night edition of Smackdown will be live.
This week鈥檚 question
When will Charlotte return? Donnie Tylka, from Connellsville.
Buzz is starting to build around Charlotte鈥檚 return to the ring and while word had been she would return at the Royal Rumble, she could be back even sooner.
As discussed earlier in the column, she could be Asuka鈥檚 mystery partner in the WWE women鈥檚 tag title match tonight at TLC.
She technically could have returned as early as Friday night鈥檚 edition of Smackdown, but the deadline for this column was before the show aired.
Email questions/comments to powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to @BillHughes_III.