Tables, ladders, and chairs match

The match originates around the tag teams of The Dudley Boyz, The Hardy Boyz, and Edge and Christian. The particular weapons of tables, ladders and chairs were seen as unique to each team's style. The Hardys were seen as high-flying daredevils with a penchant for using ladders, the Dudley Boyz would often use tables as weapons, and Edge and Christian became notable for using steel chairs in tandem against opponents.

World Wrestling Federation created and adapted the matches to make it known today as a TLC match. The idea of the TLC match in WWF 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 Hardy and Jeff Hardy), at No Mercy 1999 during the Attitude Era, with the audience 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 Dudley and D-Von Dudley) at the Royal Rumble 2000, in a violent and chaotic tag-team Tables match, where ladders and chairs were used as much as tables, 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 Powerbombed or Death Dropped their opponents through tables during or after matches (usually brought out by Bubba Ray telling D-Von to "get the tables"); the Hardy Boyz, in singles matches, challenged 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", which involved the two hitting an opponent's head simultaneously, on opposite sides, with chairs. Eventually, the three teams were brought together in a triangle ladder match at WrestleMania 2000, in what was the forerunner of the TLC in terms of the spots involved (tables were involved in some of the major spots, including Jeff's big Swanton Bomb on Bubba Ray far from the ring, even though it was technically a ladder match).

The first official TLC match was contested between these three teams using the weapons that they had made famous at SummerSlam 2000. These matches frequently involved members of these three teams, and are largely remembered for the dangerous stunts, object destruction, chaotic pace, injuries and length.

The second TLC match happened at WrestleMania X-Seven, with each of the three teams joined by a third member who tried to help their team win the match (Matt and Jeff were joined by Lita, who had also been with them for the SummerSlam bout, Bubba Ray and D-Von were joined by their half-brother Spike, and Edge and Christian were joined by Rhyno). Lita hit Spike Dudley with a chair shot to the head, Christian and D-Von Dudley hung 20 feet in the air, Bubba Ray Dudley and Matt Hardy jumped off a toppling ladder (pushed over by Rhyno) and crashed through 4 stacked tables on ringside, and Edge speared a hanging Jeff Hardy by jumping off a 20-ft ladder. After TLC I and II, every subsequent TLC match was toned down to reduce the high risks and dangers they posed.

Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches

Extreme Championship Wrestling

In other promotions, the TLC match has quite the following, appealing to a niche market within professional wrestling. Predating the TLC matches, two "Tables and Ladders matches" took place. These were traditional matches 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, New York, involving Steve Corino, Justin Credible, and The Sandman.

Tables and Ladders/Tables, Ladders, Chairs and Canes matches

TNA Wrestling

TNA Wrestling (TNA), known as Impact Wrestling from 2017 to 2024, promotes their own modified version of the TLC match called Full Metal Mayhem.

The inaugural Full Metal Mayhem match featured Jeff Hardy vs. Abyss at Against All Odds 2005. Abyss defeated 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!.

There have been 19 Full Metal Mayhem matches held in TNA.

Full Metal Mayhem matches

Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide

Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches