WWE.com has updated the situation surrounding WWE Champion CM Punk, as it pertains to the knee surgery he underwent Tuesday afternoon.

It now appears as if Punk will no longer defend the WWE Championship at the upcoming TLC pay-per-view. Instead a six-man tag team match will replace the former ladder match main event. It will feature Ryback teaming up with the WWE Tag Team champions, Kane and Daniel Bryan, as they take on the Shield.

Unless they are given a match on next week's Monday Night Raw or Smackdown, their contest at TLC will mark the first ever WWE sanctioned match for the NXT trio of Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.

According to a letter supposedly written by Vince McMahon, the six-man match will still be a Tables, Ladders and Chairs contest, although for the first time ever it will be fought under pinfall and submission rules. The letter also says that Ryback is still in line for another WWE Championship match, and it will take place "in the very near future".