Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC) matches are among the most entertaining and extreme match types in professional wrestling. This variation of a ladder match places significant emphasis on the usage of tables and chairs as weapons.
The goal of a TLC match is similar to that of a ladder match: to retrieve an object (usually championship belts) suspended above the ring. The match is modified to co-emphasize two other weapons: tables and chairs. The TLC match can be seen as a more complicated ladder match, where tables and chairs, along with ladders, can also be used as legal foreign objects.
The match concept was originally conceptualized around the tag teams of the Dudley Boyz, the Hardy Boyz, and Edge and Christian. The particular weapons of tables, ladders and chairs were, respectively, seen as unique to each team’s style. The Hardy’s were seen as high-flying daredevils, and a key element to the Dudley Boyz gimmick was their flagrant use of tables as weapons. Edge and Christian became notable for using steel chairs in tandem against opponents.
The idea of the TLC match in WWE had its origins in a tag team ladder match for the managerial services of Terri Runnels between Edge and Christian and The Hardy Boyz at No Mercy 1999, with audiences giving all four wrestlers a standing ovation at the end of the match. The move catapulted both tag teams to the top of the tag team world.
The three teams would be known for their three respective foreign objects, as well as the hardcore wrestling styles associated therein: the Dudley Boyz often had a spot in their tag team matches where Bubba Ray Dudley would say "D-Von, get the tables!" when a table spot was imminent; the Hardy Boyz, in singles matches, would challenge main-event singles wrestlers (such as The Undertaker) in Ladder matches, considered at that time to be the "signature match" of the team; while Edge and Christian developed the "Con-Chair-To" finishing move, which involved the two hitting an opponent's head simultaneously with chairs.
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Eventually, the three teams were brought together in a Triple Threat Ladder match in WrestleMania 2000, in what would be the forerunner of the TLC in terms of the spots involved (tables were involved in some of the major spots, even though it was technically a Ladder match). It is incorrectly referred to by some fans as the first TLC match.
The first TLC match was contested between these three teams using the weapons (and to a lesser extent, the type of match) that they had made famous at SummerSlam 2000. These TLC matches frequently involved members of these three teams, and are largely remembered for the dangerous stunts, injuries, and length.
Here is a chronological list of all the TLC matches that have taken place in WWE history:
- Edge and Christian vs The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) vs The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) - Event: Summerslam (2000)
- The first-ever TLC Match took place at Summerslam in 2000.
- This was a triple threat for the WWF Tag Team Championships.
- Edge and Christian went on to win after a fun match.
- Edge and Christian vs The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) vs The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) - Event: Wrestlemania X-Seven (2001)
- The second ever TLC match took place at Wrestlemania X-Seven.
- These three teams put on another great match for the WWF Tag Team Championships.
- Edge and Chrisitan ended up winning again.
- Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit vs Edge and Christian vs The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) vs The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) - Event: Smackdown (May 24, 2001)
- The third TLC match took place on the May 24th, 2001 episode of Smackdown.
- The team of Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho joined the mix of TLC regulars and ended up winning the match.
- Kane vs The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and Spike Dudley) vs Christian and Chris Jericho vs Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam - Event: RAW (October 7, 2002)
- The Hurricane was injured prior to this match, forcing Kane to fight alone.
- He ended up still winning the match by himself to retain the World Tag Team Championships.
- Edge vs Ric Flair - Event: RAW (January 16, 2006)
- After a four year absence from TLC matches, it returned in 2006.
- Edge and Ric Flair ended up facing off in the first-ever singles TLC match in WWE history.
- Edge won to retain the WWE Championship.
- John Cena vs Edge - Event: Unforgiven (2006)
- Edge and John Cena faced off in the main event of Unforgiven 2006.
- This was a TLC match for the WWE Championship.
- Had Cena lost, he would have had to leave Raw for SmackDown.
- Cena ended up winning the Title.
- Edge vs The Undertaker - Event: One Night Stand (2008)
- Edge and the Undertaker faced off in a TLC match at One Night Stand in 2008.
- This was for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship.
- Edge went on to win the match and the Title.
- CM Punk vs Jeff Hardy - Event: Summerslam (2009)
- The main event of Summerslam 2009 was between Jeff Hardy and CM Punk.
- This was a TLC match for the World Heavyweight Championship.
- Punk ended up defeating Jeff to win the Title.
- D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) vs Jeri-Show (Chris Jericho and Big Show) - Event: TLC (2009)
- TLC became its own PPV event in 2009.
- The main event was between D-Generation X and Jeri-Show for the WWE Tag Team Championship.
- Triple H and Shawn went on to win the match and the Titles.
- The Miz vs Jerry Lawler - Event: RAW (November 29, 2010)
- The Miz and Jerry Lawler faced off in a TLC match on RAW in November of 2010.
- This was for the Miz’s WWE Championship.
- The Miz ended up retaining.
- Edge vs Kane vs Alberto Del Rio vs Rey Mysterio - Event: TLC (2010)
- TLC 2010 featured a Fatal 4-Way TLC Match for the World Heavyweight Championship.
- Edge ended up winning the match and the Title.
- CM Punk vs The Miz vs Alberto Del Rio - Event: TLC (2011)
- The main event of TLC in 2011 was a Triple Threat TLC Match for the WWE Championship.
- CM Punk faced off against the Miz and Alberto Del Rio.
- Punk won the match to retain his Title.
- The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns) vs Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) and Ryback - Event: TLC (2012)
- TLC 2012 featured a 6-man tag team TLC match.
- The Shield defeated Team Hell No and Ryback.
- CM Punk vs Ryback - Event: RAW (January 7, 2013)
- On a January 2013 episode of RAW, Punk and Ryback faced off in a TLC match for the WWE Championship.
- Punk retained after about 18 minutes.
- Randy Orton vs John Cena - Event: TLC (2013)
- Randy Orton and John Cena faced off in a Champion vs Champion TLC match.
- This was to unify the World Heavyweight (Cena) and WWE Championship (Orton).
- Orton won the match to unify the belts.
- El Torito vs Hornswoggle - Event: Extreme Rules (2014)
- The first and only WeeLc match took place at Extreme Rules in 2014.
- El Torito defeated Hornswoggle.
- Bray Wyatt vs Dean Ambrose - Event: TLC (2014)
- Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose faced off in a TLC match in 2014.
- Wyatt went on to win after over 25 minutes.
- Sheamus vs Roman Reigns - Event: TLC (2015)
- In 2015, Roman Reigns and Sheamus faced off in a TLC Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
- Sheamus would go on to win after about 23 minutes.
- AJ Styles vs Dean Ambrose - Event: TLC (2016)
- The main event of TLC 2016 was between Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles.
- This was for the WWE World Championship.
- Styles won the match after about 30 minutes.
- Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Kurt Angle vs The Miz, Braun Strowman, Kane and Cesaro, and Sheamus - Event: TLC (2017)
- Due to sickness, Roman Reigns had to be pulled from this match.
- As a result, he was replaced by Kurt Angle.
- This was a 5 on 3 handicap TLC match.
- Ambrose, Rollins, and Angle ended up winning after the other team imploded.
- Seth Rollins vs Baron Corbin - Event: RAW (December 10, 2018)
- Seth Rollins faced off against Baron Corbin in TLC match on RAW for the Intercontinental Championship.
- This was the first TLC match on RAW in 6 years.
- Rollins would go on to retain his Title.
- Baron Corbin vs Braun Strowman - Event: TLC (2018)
- This technically counts.
- Wasn’t really much of a match though.
- Asuka vs Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair - Event: TLC (2018)
- Becky, Asuka, and Charlotte put on an awesome TLC match for the Smackdown Women’s Championship.
- Asuka won the Title after Ronda Rousey took out both Charlotte and Becky.
- King Corbin vs Roman Reigns - Event: TLC (2019)
- Roman Reigns and King Corbin faced off at the TLC event in 2019.
- Asuka and Kairi Sane vs Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair - Event: TLC (2019)
- Asuka and Kairia Sane faced off against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair at TLC in 2019.
- This was for the Women’s Tag Team Championships.
- Io Shirai vs Candice LeRae - Event: NXT Halloween Havoc (2020)
- Io Shirai and Candice LeRae faced off at Halloween Havoc in 2022.
- This was a Tables, Ladders, and Scares match for the NXT Women’s Championship.
- Drew McIntyre vs AJ Styles vs The Miz - Event: TLC (2020)
- The 2020 TLC PPV featured a triple threat match for the WWE Championship.
- This was Drew McIntyre vs AJ Styles vs The Miz.
- Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens - Event: TLC (2020)
- The 2020 TLC event featured a second TLC match.
- This was Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship.
- Brutus Creed and Julius Creed vs Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo - Event: NXT Halloween Havoc (2023)
- The 2023 edition of Halloween Havoc featured a Tables Ladders and Scares match.
The TLC matches slowly met its end, however, when Edge and Christian broke up and Jeff Hardy was released. Additionally, the matches that have incorporated more weapons created an overall trend of increased concussions and neck injuries that plagued the WWE roster, and as a result, led to the return of a more traditional mat-based style of matches.
Although the tables remain, to this day, a Dudley Boyz (now known as Team 3D) gimmick, Team 3D is virtually the only tag team to use it, and thus table matches are now few and far between.
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Jeff Hardy about to perform the Swanton Bomb on Spike Dudley and Rhyno in TLC II.
The second TLC match occurred at WrestleMania X-Seven the following year. It is considered by many to be the best one. It featured the infamous Swanton Bomb off a 16 ft ladder by Jeff Hardy on Rhyno and Spike Dudley. It also featured the spear on Jeff Hardy from Edge, 20 ft in the air.
TLC III occurred on the May 24, 2001 edition of WWF SmackDown! when the tag team of Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit had to face the usual other three tag teams in order to retain their tag team championship, which they did. This TLC is sometimes referred to as the Forgotten TLC due to the fact that there was no hype prior to the match and it was on TV.
The fourth TLC match, TLC IV, occurred on the October 7, 2002 edition of Raw, where four tag teams had drawn, as a result of "Raw Roulette" (where the match type of every match of the card was determined by spinning a wheel), a TLC match. The match saw defending champions Kane and The Hurricane putting their World Tag Team Titles up against the teams of Christian and Chris Jericho, Bubba Ray Dudley and Spike Dudley, and Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam.
Being the veterans that they were to the match itself, general manager Eric Bischoff allowed Jeff, Christian and Bubba Ray to choose their own partners, as their former parters Matt Hardy, Edge, and D-Von Dudley were absent from the Raw brand at the time. Before the match, The Hurricane was assaulted backstage, leaving Kane completely alone in the match.
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On the January 16, 2006 edition of Raw, WWE had its fifth TLC match, the first in over three years. Edge successfully defended his WWE Championship against Ric Flair. It was the first TLC match to be held in singles competition and the first to have the WWE Championship on the line. It also marked the first (and only to this point) TLC match where a wrestler has "bladed" (Ric Flair bladed).
TLC VIII was held at SummerSlam on August 23, 2009, where TLC veteran Jeff Hardy lost his World Heavyweight Championship to TLC first timer CM Punk.
In December 2009, WWE introduced TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs as a new pay-per-view event. The concept of this pay-per-view was that the main event matches were generally contested as a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, while the undercard matches would typically feature tables matches, ladder matches, and chairs matches.
At the 2010 event, every match except one involved tables, ladders, or chairs. In a tables match, the only way to win is for a wrestler to put their opponent through a table. In a ladder match, the only way to win is to climb a ladder and retrieve an item hanging above the center of the ring (for example, a championship belt). In a chairs match, only chairs can be used as legal weapons, but the only way to win is by pinfall or submission in the ring.
With the event's TLC theme, some of the TLC matches over the event's history were notable for the company as a whole. Following the dissolution of the first brand extension in August 2011, the company no longer had a need for two world championships. After two years, this matter would be settled at the 2013 TLC event. In the main event, reigning WWE Champion Randy Orton faced reigning World Heavyweight Champion John Cena in a title unification match that was contested as a TLC match. Orton won to become the first WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
At Extreme Rules (2014), a "WeeLC match" was contested between El Torito and Hornswoggle, the first TLC match to involve midget wrestlers and the second to be decided by pinfall or submission.
TLC 2017 marked the 20th TLC Match. Originally scheduled to feature the reunited Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns) against the team of The Miz, Braun Strowman, Kane and Cesaro and Sheamus, Reigns was removed from the match due to a legitimate illness. Kurt Angle replaced Reigns, making the match Angle's first in WWE since 2006. This was the first handicap TLC Match and the fourth decided by pinfall or submission.
On the December 10, 2018 episode of Raw Seth Rollins defended the Intercontinental Championship in a TLC match against Baron Corbin.
A few days later, TLC 2018 marked the first women's TLC Match, as Becky Lynch lost the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship to Asuka in a match also involving Charlotte Flair.
10 OMG TLC Match moments
On the NXT: Halloween Havoc special on October 28, 2020, Io Shirai retained the NXT Women's Championship against Candice LeRae in a renamed TLC match-a "Tables, Ladders and Scares match"-renamed to fit the social celebration of Halloween. This match used ladders painted black and orange, and tables painted asphalt black with body chalk outlines on them.
Champion vs. St. ^ This match was not a traditional TLC ladder match, rather, it was a traditional tag team tornado match won by pinfall, countout or submission where tables, ladders and chairs were the only legal weapons. ^ The match started as it was originally scheduled in which Drew McIntyre was defending the WWE Championship against AJ Styles in a singles TLC match, but midway through, The Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, converting the match into a Triple Threat.
In other promotions, the TLC match has quite the following, appealing to a niche market within professional wrestling. However, the term "TLC" itself was trademarked by WWE, thus other promotions give different names to these types of matches despite having an identical setup. In more hardcore-style promotions, the chairs were often replaced, or were used alongside, chains.
One example of a variation of the TLC match is the Tables, Ladders, Chairs, and Canes match. This match is a TLC match with the addition of Singapore Canes.
TNA Wrestling used a variation of the TLC match called "Full Metal Mayhem" as a bout between Jeff Hardy and Abyss at Against All Odds 2005. The added stipulation to the match was that "anything metal is legal", though this only included the use of Abyss' trademark chain and bag of tacks. Abyss defeated Jeff Hardy by climbing the ladder to retrieve a contract for a shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on a future episode of TNA Impact!.
TNA used the "Full Metal Mayhem" match again at Sacrifice 2006 on May 14, 2006 when Abyss went one on one with Christian Cage for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. At Victory Road in 2008, there was a 6-man tag team match featuring Christian Cage, A.J.
In the SmackDown vs. Raw video games, TLC matches are different than their WWE Programming counterparts. Tables, Ladders, and Chairs are placed outside the ring and can be used as weapons (though other weapons can be retrieved from below the ring). To win you cannot retrieve the belt, (because there is no belt there) or make your opponent give up, you must either KO your opponent or pin them in the ring.
The WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, a Connecticut-based promotion. It was broadcast live and available only through pay-per-view (PPV) and the WWE Network. The event was established in 2009, replacing Armageddon in the December slot of WWE's pay-per-view calendar.
The 2013 TLC event was notable as it saw the unification of the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship (2002-2013 version), where Randy Orton defeated John Cena in a TLC match to unify the titles as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship; the lineage of the World Heavyweight Championship was retired as the unified title continued the lineage of the WWE Championship, and following the 2016 event, the title reverted to the shortened name.
From 1999 to 2008 (except in 2001), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, which became an orphaned initialism in 2011) ran a pay-per-view (PPV) event titled Armageddon, and it was held in December. In 2009, the company decided to replace Armageddon with a new PPV. In 2014, WWE launched their online streaming service, the WWE Network, and in addition to traditional PPV, these events also began to air on the streaming service.
The 2014 event also had an alternative title of "Tables, Ladders, Chairs... and Stairs" as the event contained a Steel Stairs match in addition to the event's themed matches. In 2017, the event was moved to the October slot of WWE's PPV calendar, however, it returned to December in 2018 due to the cancellation of that year's Clash of Champions event.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that began affecting the industry in March 2020, WWE had to hold its events behind closed doors. The 2020 event was in turn held in WWE's bio-secure bubble called the WWE ThunderDome, hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The 2021 TLC was canceled due to the scheduling of an event titled Day 1 that took place on January 1, 2022.
The concept of this pay-per-view was that the main event matches were generally contested as a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, while the undercard matches would typically feature tables matches, ladder matches, and chairs matches.
Tables of TLC Pay-Per-View Events
| Year | Main Event Match |
|---|---|
| 2009 | Jeri-Show (Big Show and Chris Jericho) (c) vs. D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) |
| 2010 | Edge vs. Kane (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio |
| 2011 | CM Punk (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. The Miz |
| 2012 | John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler (contract holder) |
| 2013 | Randy Orton (WWE Champion) vs. John Cena (World Heavyweight Champion) |
| 2014 | Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose |
| 2015 | Sheamus (c) vs. Roman Reigns |
| 2016 | AJ Styles (c) vs. Dean Ambrose |
| 2017 | Dean Ambrose, Kurt Angle, and Seth Rollins vs. The Miz, Braun Strowman, Kane, Cesaro, and Sheamus |
| 2018 | Becky Lynch (c) vs. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair |
| 2019 | Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin and The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane) (c) vs. Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair |
| 2020 | Roman Reigns (c) vs. Kevin Owens and Drew McIntyre vs. AJ Styles vs. The Miz |