TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs (2014)

Background

TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs... and Stairs featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds or storylines that played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown. Wrestlers portrayed heroes or villains as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

At Survivor Series, Bray Wyatt defeated Dean Ambrose by disqualification when Ambrose hit Wyatt with a chair. After the match, Ambrose drove Wyatt through a table, threw chairs on him and stood on top of a ladder. Shortly afterwards, it was announced that Ambrose would face Wyatt in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match at TLC.

At Survivor Series, Nikki Bella defeated AJ Lee for the WWE Divas Championship. On the December 8 edition of Raw, it was announced that AJ would invoke her rematch clause to face Nikki for the title at TLC.

On the November 24 edition of Raw, Daniel Bryan returned as a special guest manager and put former Director of Operations Kane in charge of food concessions. Ryback attacked Kane after Kane threw a hot dog at Ryback. On the November 28 edition of Smackdown, Kane attacked Ryback during his match with Seth Rollins and attacked Ryback with a chair after the match. Later in the night, Bryan (who was also the guest manager that night) announced that Ryback would face Kane in a Chairs match at TLC.

On the December 1 edition of Raw, Seth Rollins attempted to persuade John Cena to bring the The Authority back into power, but they were interrupted by the Anonymous Raw General Manager, who announced that Cena and Rollins would face off in a Tables match at TLC and added that if Cena loses, he will no longer be the #1 contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

On the December 1 edition of Raw, The Usos won a Tag Team Turmoil match to face WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz and Damien Mizdow for the titles at TLC.

At Survivor Series, Big Show turned on Team Cena by knocking out John Cena during their match, prompting Seth Rollins to pin and eliminate Cena. On the November 24 edition of Raw, Team Cena member Erick Rowan confronted Big Show and attacked him. On the December 1 edition of Raw, Rowan defeated Big Show by disqualification after Big Show attacked Rowan with steel steps, but later in the show, Rowan would knock out Big Show with steel steps with the help of Cena, Dolph Ziggler, and Ryback. On the December 2 episode of Main Event, it was announced that Rowan will face Big Show in a Steel Stairs match at TLC. Additionally, the PPV was renamed "WWE Tables, Ladders, Chairs… and Stairs" in recognition of the stairs match.

On the November 17 edition of Raw, Luke Harper defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the Intercontinental Championship with the help of Seth Rollins, Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury. After Survivor Series, Harper would be forced to defend the title against Ziggler on the November 28th and December 5 editions of Smackdown, but Harper would lose via countout and disqualification respectively to retain the title. After Harper retained the title for the second time against Ziggler, Harper attempted to attack Ziggler with a ladder, but Ziggler countered and attacked Harper, prompting Santino Marella to announce a ladder match between the two for the title at TLC.

On the November 28 edition of Smackdown, The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) made their debut. On the December 1 edition of Raw, Big E and Kingston eliminated Gold and Stardust from the Tag Team Turmoil match, but Gold and Stardust later distracted The New Day and caused them to be eliminated from the bout. On the December 8 edition of Raw, it was announced that Big E and Kingston would face Gold and Stardust on the TLC Kickoff Show.

On the December 1 edition of Raw, Jack Swagger found his mentor, Zeb Colter, beaten up in a corridor. United States Champion Rusev admitted to have attacked Colter, which resulted in Swagger attacking Rusev. On the December 8 edition of Raw, it was announced that Rusev would defend the championship against Swagger at TLC.

Event

The pre-show included the Kickoff panel of Renee Young, Booker T, Paul Heyman, and Alex Riley previewing the matches. Also on the Kickoff show, The New Day defeated Gold and Stardust in a tag team match.

Miscellaneous

The English commentators were Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield while there were also Spanish and German commentators at ringside. Lilian Garcia and Eden Stiles were ring announcers.

Preliminary matches

The event opened with Luke Harper defending the Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler in a Ladder match. During the match, Harper performed a Catapult Hangman into a Ladder on Ziggler, causing Ziggler to bleed. Harper pulled Ziggler off a ladder but Ziggler performed a DDT on Harper. Ziggler attacked Harper with a ladder, causing Harper to fall onto a ladder bridged between the ring apron and a broadcast table. In the end, Harper climbed a ladder but Ziggler performed a Superkick on Harper, causing Harper to fall off the Ladder. Ziggler retrieved the belt to win the title.

Next, The Miz and Damien Mizdow defended the Tag Team Championship against The Usos. The match ended when The Miz hit Jimmy with a Slammy Award, resulting in The Usos winning by disqualification.

After that, Erick Rowan faced Big Show in a Steel Stairs match. The end came when Big Show performed a Chokeslam onto the Steel Stairs on Rowan, followed by a KO Punch. Big Show used the Steel Stairs to pin Rowan for the victory.

In the fourth match, John Cena faced Seth Rollins in a Tables match. During the match, Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury repeatedly interfered in the match. Cena attacked Rollins, Noble and Mercury with a metal barrier, performing a Suplex onto the metal barrier on Noble. Rollins and Mercury ran towards Cena with a table but Cena moved, causing the table to break against the ring post, and performed an Attitude Adjustment on Mercury into the timekeeper's area. Whilst Cena fought with Rollins, the referee was knocked down. Cena performed a Super Attitude Adjustment through a table on Rollins, but as the referee was down, Noble and Mercury were able to remove the broken table. Cena took out Noble and Mercury with a double Attitude Adjustment through a table. After Rollins and Cena both fell through tables, the match was restarted. Cena performed an Attitude Adjustment onto a broadcast table on Rollins but the table did not break. Big Show came down to the ring, attacking Cena until Roman Reigns' came down to the ring, attacking Big Show. Reigns executed a Spear through a table on Big Show and a Superman Punch on Rollins. Cena performed an Attitude Adjustment on Rollins through the table on Rollins to win the match.

Next, Nikki Bella defended the Divas Championship against AJ Lee. In the end, Nikki sprayed AJ with an unknown substance whilst Brie Bella distracted the referee. Nikki executed a Rack Attack on AJ to retain the title.

After that, Ryback faced Kane in a Chairs Match. The match ended when Ryback executed Shell Shocked on Kane for the victory.

Later, Rusev defended the United States Championship against Jack Swagger. Rusev forced Swagger to submit to The Accolade to retain the title.

Main event

In the main event, Dean Ambrose faced Bray Wyatt in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. At the start of the match, Ambrose used kendo sticks and chairs to attack Wyatt. Ambrose climbed to the top rope but Wyatt attacked Ambrose, causing him to fall through a table. Wyatt hit Ambrose with a piece of the table and pinned Ambrose for a near-fall. Wyatt performed a Running Senton on Ambrose while he was laying on a ladder for a near-fall. Ambrose executed a Guillotine Leg Drop onto a chair on Wyatt for a near-fall. Ambrose and Wyatt fought up the entrance ramp, where Ambrose put Wyatt through two tables in succession with Diving Elbow Drops off a ladder. Wyatt performed Sister Abigail on Ambrose for a near-fall. Ambrose performed Dirty Deeds on Wyatt for a near-fall. Ambrose put Wyatt through a broadcast table with a Diving Elbow Drop off a ladder. In the end, Ambrose retrieved a TV monitor, but it exploded, blinding Ambrose. Wyatt executed Sister Abigail on Ambrose to win the match.

Aftermath

The following night on Raw, guest general manager Chris Jericho made a rematch between Cena and Rollins in a Steel Cage Match. Near the end of the match, Brock Lesnar returned and attacked Cena, resulting in Rollins to win the match by walking out of the cage. On SmackDown, Rollins revealed that he orchestrated the attack. The next edition of Raw, another rematch of the two took place, with Cena winning. On the December 29 episode of Raw, hosted by Edge and Christian, Rollins threatened Edge's neck (which was at a high risk of fracture that could lead to potential paralysis) unless Cena gave in and brought The Authority back, which Cena did in order to protect Edge. Big Show and Rollins attacked Cena, after which The Authority came out to celebrate. Also on December 29, Daniel Bryan returned to talk about his future in WWE. Although he teased the idea that his career may be over, he instead announced he was medically cleared to compete again, and declared he would participate in the Royal Rumble.

On the January 5 episode of Raw, The Authority booked a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the Intercontinental Championship, which saw Ziggler lose the championship to Bad News Barrett. Also, Erick Rowan lost his match against Luke Harper and Ryback was defeated by Rollins and Kane in a Handicap Match. By the end of the episode, Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan were all fired due to their involvement in Team Cena at Survivor Series. On the January 19th edition of Raw, John Cena, with the help of Sting, defeated Big Show, Kane and Seth Rollins to get the jobs back of Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan.