John John Florence, Kelly Slater and Caio Ibelli will be back in action from December 8-20 when the biggest event of the year, the Pipe Masters, takes place on the Queen of the Waves on Oahu's North Shore.

John John missed all events in the second half of the year after injuring his knee in Bali, Slater has been carrying a foot injury for over a year and finally Ibelli also suffered an injury to his right foot that kept him out of the water for six months.

Kelly will enter the water in heat 1 of the Pipe Masters against Jordy Smith (ZAF) and Frederico Morais (PRT), Ibelli will face Filipe Toledo and Matt Wilkinson and John John will have a tough heat against Griffin Colapinto and Wade Carmichael.

These three surfers are the ones who will be asking for an injury wildcard next year (if they don't make it into the qualifying zone at Pipe). Since there are two wildcard spots, it will be an interesting situation for the WSL to go through to determine the wildcards.

The WSL also confirmed that Adriano de Souza will not be at the tournament due to the injury he suffered in Portugal and will be replaced by Brazilian Miguel Pupo.

They also reported that the trials, to be held before the start, will qualify two surfers.

These are the scenarios for the definition of the title:
-If Medina places first or second, the title is guaranteed.
-If Medina places third, Wilson and Toledo need to win the championship
-If Medina places fifth or worse, Wilson and Toledo need to get into the grand final.

The complete Pipe Masters series
Series 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Frederico Morais (PRT), Kelly Slater (USA)
Series 2: Owen Wright (AUS), Yago Dora (BRA), Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Series 3: Italo Ferreira (BRA), Joan Duru (FRA), Keanu Asing (HAW)
Series 4: Filipe Toledo (BRA), Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Caio Ibelli (BRA)
Series 5: Julian Wilson (AUS), Tomas Hermes (BRA), Wildcard
Series 6: Gabriel Medina (BRA), Connor O'Leary (AUS), Wildcard
Series 7: Wade Carmichael (AUS), Griffin Colapinto (USA), John John Florence (HAW)
Series 8: Kanoa Igarashi (JPN), Sebastian Zietz (HAW), Michael February (ZAF)
Series 9: Michel Bourez (PYF), Ezekiel Lau (HAW), Ian Gouveia (BRA)
Series 10: Conner Coffin (USA), Jeremy Flores (FRA), Jesse Mendes (BRA)
Series 11: Kolohe Andino (USA), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Joel Parkinson (AUS)
Series 12: Willian Cardoso (BRA), Michael Rodrigues (BRA), Patrick Gudauskas (USA)