A Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, often abbreviated as a TLC, is a type of professional wrestling match originated within WWE, but can be seen under different variations in other wrestling promotions.
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The TLC match is a variation of a ladder match, which is modified to include two other weapons, tables and chairs. The goal is to acquire the item (usually championship belts) which starts the match suspended above the ring. A 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.
| No. | Match | Stipulations | Event | Date and Location | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edge & Christian (c) defeated The Hardy Boyz (Jeff & Matt) and The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray & D-Von) | Triple Threat TLC Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship | SummerSlam (2000) | August 27, 2000 Raleigh, NC |
14:51 |
| 2 | Edge & Christian defeated The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz (c) | Triple Threat TLC Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship | WrestleMania X-Seven | April 1, 2001 Houston, TX |
15:53 |
| 3 | Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit (c) defeated Edge & Christian, The Dudley Boyz, and The Hardy Boyz | Fatal 4-Way TLC Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship | WWF SmackDown | May 24, 2001 Anaheim, CA |
21:00 |
| 4 | Kane & The Hurricane (c) defeated The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray & Spike), Christian & Chris Jericho, and Jeff Hardy & Rob Van Dam | Fatal 4-Way TLC Match for the World Tag Team Championship | WWE Raw Roulette | October 7, 2002 Las Vegas, NV |
25:08 |
| 5 | Edge (c) defeated Ric Flair | Singles TLC Match for the WWE Championship | WWE Raw | January 16, 2006 Raleigh, NC |
16:40 |
| 6 | John Cena defeated Edge (c) | Singles TLC Match for the WWE Championship | Unforgiven (2006) | September 17, 2006 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
25:28 |
| 7 | Edge defeated The Undertaker | Singles TLC Match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship | One Night Stand (2008) | June 1, 2008 San Diego, CA |
23:50 |
| 8 | CM Punk defeated Jeff Hardy (c) | Singles TLC Match for the World Heavyweight Championship | SummerSlam (2009) | August 23, 2009 Los Angeles, CA |
21:42 |
| 9 | D-Generation X (Triple H & Shawn Michaels) defeated Jeri-Show (Chris Jericho & Big Show) (c) | Tag Team TLC Match for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2009) | December 13, 2009 San Antonio, TX |
22:32 |
| 10 | The Miz (c) defeated Jerry Lawler | Singles TLC Match for the WWE Championship | WWE Raw | November 29, 2010 Philadelphia, PA |
11:52 |
| 11 | Edge defeated Kane (c), Alberto Del Rio, and Rey Mysterio | Fatal 4-Way TLC Match for the World Heavyweight Championship | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2010) | December 19, 2010 Houston, TX |
22:17 |
| 12 | CM Punk (c) defeated The Miz and Alberto Del Rio | Triple Threat TLC Match for the WWE Championship | TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2011) | December 18, 2011 Baltimore, MD |
18:25 |
WWE created and adapted the matches to make it known today as a TLC match. 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, Matt and Jeff, 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 following months had the Hardy Boyz face the Dudley Boyz, Bubba Ray and D-Von, in a tag-team Tables match, which had similar success.
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 (as they were both high-flyers, they specialized with high spots, and doing them off the top of ladders amplified their effectiveness); while Edge and Christian developed the "Con-Chair-To" finishing move, which involved the two hitting an opponent's head simultaneously, on opposite sides, with chairs. 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 match was called a Triangle Ladder Match.
The first TLC match (that was officially called a "TLC" by the World Wrestling Federation) 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. 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. Chairs were reduced to their former roles as a mainstay form of interference and disqualification in wrestling matches, while ladders and Ladder matches are now used sporadically.
The second TLC match occurred at WrestleMania X-Seven the following year, which also sprung the infamous Swanton Bomb off a 16 ft ladder by Jeff Hardy on Rhyno and Spike Dudley. These matches involved the three aforementioned teams, with each having Edge and Christian winning.
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 a weekly TV show rather than a pay-per-view event. Clear evidence of this is shown to the hype of TLC VI where Edge continually stated that to John Cena, TLC was "A match you never had, and a match I never lost." The match was the first TLC match to air on broadcast television as well as the first one to involve four tag teams.
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 who were at the Smackdown brand at that time due to being drafted early that year. Before the match, The Hurricane was assaulted backstage, leaving Kane completely alone in the match. Despite this, Kane managed to retain the titles.
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). This also marked the second time there was a TLC match in Raleigh, North Carolina.
TLC VI was held at Unforgiven on September 17, 2006, where John Cena won the WWE Championship from Edge in his first TLC match.
TLC VII was held at One Night Stand on June 1, 2008, where Edge won the vacated World Heavyweight Championship, defeating The Undertaker and (kayfabe) banishing him from WWE.
TLC VIII was held at SummerSlam on August 23, 2009, where CM Punk won the World Heavyweight Championship from TLC veteran Jeff Hardy. This marked the first time Jeff Hardy had participated in a singles TLC match.
The first six TLC matches are included on the Ladder Match DVD that was released in June 2007.
The seventh TLC match was included on the Edge: A Decade of Decadence DVD that was released in December 2008.
So far, following the TLC, every subsequent TLC match until the 2010 match between The Miz and Jerry "The King" Lawler featured at least one TLC veteran.
The WWE's newest pay-per-view event for December 2009 was titled TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs where main events were a table match, a ladder match, a match where chairs are legal as weapons and the last match on the card was a TLC match. TLC IX in the 2009 event featured Chris Jericho and The Big Show against D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship. This event has replaced WWE Armageddon on the PPV calendar. This was the first TLC match to not feature a member from either Edge & Christian, The Hardyz or The Dudleyz.
A year later at TLC 2010 the TLC match returned and, for the first time, was a Fatal 4-Way. The match was between Edge, Kane, Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship. In the end, Edge won the match and became World Heavyweight Champion. This would also be Edge's last TLC match because of his retirement in early April.
The next year at TLC 2011 CM Punk defended his WWE Championship in a first ever Triple Threat TLC match against Alberto Del Rio and The Miz. Punk retained his Championship, and it marked the second time Punk had competed in a TLC match.
In other promotions, the TLC match has quite the following, appealing to a niche market within professional wrestling. Predating the TLC matches, The Eliminators defeated Rob Van Dam and Sabu on February 22, 1997 for the ECW Tag Team titles in a "tables and ladders" match where chairs were also used as weapons. This was however a traditional match won by pinfall or submission, not by climbing the ladder for the belts. 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. The first and only TLC match was at Guilty as Charged on January 7, 2001 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, involving Steve Corino, Justin Credible, and The Sandman.
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. In reality, anything is legal; it's just that TNA provides tables, ladders, chairs and chains.
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!. Abyss was never granted such title shot, and the story was retconned to state he lost his title shot to A.J. Styles at Lockdown, even though the shot Styles won was used at Hard Justice and not on Impact!, though Abyss would later get title shots at Slammiversary and No Surrender that year.
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. Cage defeated Abyss to retain the championship.
It made its third appearance at Victory Road in 2008, in a 6-man tag team match featuring Christian Cage, A.J. Styles and Rhino against Kurt Angle and Team 3D, where Angle pinned Styles to win the match for his team.
TNA held the fourth "Full Metal Mayhem" match at Bound for Glory 2009, in which four tag teams (The British Invasion, Team 3D, Scott Steiner and Booker T and Beer Money, Inc.) competed for both the TNA World Tag Team Championship and the IWGP Tag Team Championship. The British Invasion grabbed the TNA World Tag Team Championships whilst Team 3D got the IWGP Tag Team Championships.
On December 5, 2010, at Final Resolution, The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) defeated Generation Me (Max and Jeremy Buck) to successfully retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship in the fifth "Full Metal Mayhem" match.
On October 16, 2011, at Bound for Glory, Rob Van Dam defeated Jerry Lynn in the sixth "Full Metal Mayhem" match.