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The 411 Wrestling Top 5: Top 5 TLC Matches

November 29, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

The 411 Wrestling Top 5: Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. We take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to participate and give us their Top 5 on said topic. So, onto this week’s topic…

Week 328 – Top 5 TLC Matches

Name your top five TLC matches.

Kevin Pantoja
Note: Did not want to include any repeat matches so I left off the SummerSlam 2000 TLC. It was incredible but I preferred TLC II to it.

5. WWE Championship: Edge (c) vs. John Cena – Unforgiven 2006 – 2006 was highlighted by a bitter rivalry between Edge and John Cena. It started on the first Pay-Per-View of the year, New Year’s Revolution, when Edge shocked the world and cashed in Money in the Bank on Cena. Their battled would take place at the Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Raw and finally culminate in this match. Unforgiven was held in Edge’s hometown of Toronto, giving this an extra special feel. The crowd was so firmly behind him that the champion had tears in his eyes during his introduction. Edge shook that off to put on a great performance. John Cena meanwhile, is at his very best in hostile territory, and showed that once again here. After a series of big matches, they saved their best for last and put on one of the best TLC matches in history. Cena would win the title after an FU off a ladder through two tables, kick starting a year long run with the gold.

4. World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. CM Punk – SummerSlam 2009 – The best rivalry of a certain year again featured a big TLC match. It also started with a Money in the Bank cash in, as CM Punk cashed in his on Jeff Hardy after a grueling ladder match at Extreme Rules. These two met at the Bash and Night of Champions, where Hardy regained the belt, setting the stage for this encounter at SummerSlam. On a show that featured two of the WWE’s biggest stars facing off, John Cena and Randy Orton, these two were given the main event slot and absolutely delivered. During the feud, Punk slowly turned heel and was at his best here with the turn complete. It’s such a well worked match that they didn’t need to bust out tons of massive spots. Punk won back the title just before Jeff would leave the WWE for good. This is a phenomenal match that honestly gets overlooked for some reason.

3. Team Hell No and Ryback vs. The Shield – TLC 2012 – At the tail end of 2012, the Shield made their debut and took out Ryback during a WWE Title match at Survivor Series. For nearly a month, the Shield wreaked havoc but didn’t have an official match until the TLC Pay-Per-View. On that night, they would face Ryback and the Tag Team Champions, Team Hell No in a TLC match. That’s kind of a big deal for your debut match. It was also the first and only six man tag TLC match. There were no titles or prizes on the line, making it the only TLC match on this list to end via pinfall. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns had a ton of pressure going into this but they blew away expectations. All six men went to war and Seth took a massive bump through a table in the most memorable spot. The Shield would win a classic match and prove that they not only belonged in the WWE, but that they belonged on top. Matches like this showed the world that the three men would be mega stars for years to come and, three years later, that’s the case.

2. WWF Tag Team Championship: Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho (c) vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian – Smackdown May 24th, 2001 – The teams of Edge and Christian, the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz are not only synonymous with each other, but with the TLC match in general. They had two great ones at SummerSlam 2000 and WrestleMania X-Seven. However, less than two months after the second one, they had a third with a fourth team thrown in. Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho, fresh off of beating the Two Man Power Trip for the Tag Team Titles were punished and put into this match. Adding two guys like Benoit and Jericho was fantastic because they can both go and it added something different to the feel of these matches. This was given away for free on Smackdown in what I consider to be the best match in Smackdown history (with Edge vs. Eddie Guerrero a close second). Benoit and Jericho retained after a fantastic match that you should go out of your way to see.

1. WWF Tag Team Championship: The Dudley Boyz (c) vs. Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz – WrestleMania X-Seven – Yea the Smackdown TLC III was amazing and the original at SummerSlam 2000 was insane but my personal favorite was TLCII. To this day it remains the only TLC match that I’ve ever given the full five stars to. They took the exceptional matches they had in the past (including the Triangle Ladder Match at WrestleMania 2000) and built upon it, adding things. They took some of the bigger spots and upped the ante. Edge spearing Jeff while he dangled from the belts is easily one of the most visually stunning and breathtaking moments in WrestleMania and actually, wrestling history in general. The six men were all incredible but I also loved the additions of Spike Dudley, Rhyno and Lita. They added something for each team that wasn’t really there previously (except for Lita). This match stole the show on arguably the greatest WrestleMania and Pay-Per-View of all time.

 photo WM 17 TLC_zpslkblpigk.jpg

Chad Perry
5. Dudley Boyz vs Edge & Christian vs Hardy Boyz – WrestleMania X-Seven – WrestleMania 17 will always hold a special place in my heart as it was the first live PPV that I watched as a fan. I had become a fan just a few months prior and, like most children, was fully immersed in all of it! My friend love the Hardyz, so being the antagonist that I was I decided to pull for Edge & Christian. I had heard the hype with them talking about the first TLC match from the year before and was so excited for this one. They definitely delivered in a big way. I enjoyed that there were extra players (Rhyno, Lita & Spike Dudley) included in the match to freshen things up. JR calling Edge a son-of-a-bitch after the spear on Lita and his subsequent exchange with King remains one of my favorite calls for some reason.

4. Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs Dudley Boyz vs Edge & Christian vs Hardy Boyz – SmackDown 5/24/01 – Recently while listening to The Dudley Boyz on Talk Is Jericho I learned that this match was an absolute last minute call. The wrestlers were on a short day schedule because of being on the west coast and did not learn of the match until around noon, having to perform around 6PM. Of course the sudden booking change was because Triple H had gone down the night before with a quad injury. You would think that the having 6 of these men being the same 6 as the first 2 (plus the triangle ladder match) would be tiresome but it still wasn’t. This match stands as a shining example of what an amazing worker Chris Benoit was and his versatility. I would say that 14 years later this still may be the best match in SmackDown history (at least my personal favorite).

3. Edge vs John Cena – Unforgiven 2006 – The hype and build up to this match was huge. These two had been feuding since January, exchanged wins and more importantly the WWE Title. The month before Edge had pinned Cena in Boston, now it was Cena’s turn to get revenge in Edge’s home town of Toronto. If Cena lost the contest he would be going to SmackDown. That was one nice thing with the brand split, this actually seemed like it could happen. Of course it wouldn’t and Cena would win after an awesome Attitude Adjustment spot off the ladder through tables. This was
the first singles TLC match on PPV (Edge vs. Flair from Raw 1/16/06 was the first overall).

2. Daniel Bryan, Kane & Ryback vs The Shield – TLC 2012 – Now THIS is how you make a debut! I had some serious contemplations about putting this in the number one spot as it is such an insanely awesome match. However I still find the idea of a TLC match that is won by pinfalls to be silly and the number one is just an absolute classic that defined the genre. This was originally going to be Punk vs Ryback, but that would be delayed until the first Raw of 2013 and we got this masterpiece instead. The Shield got to come in and make a huge impact and we had instant knowledge that Seth was going to be a star with some of the crazy stunts he pulled off

1. Dudley Boyz vs Edge & Christian vs Hardy Boyz – SummerSlam 2000 – The first official TLC match still remains the best of them all after 16 matches in 15 years. The spot of Jeff missing the Swanton off the top of the BIG ladder is a spot that has found it’s way into countless highlight reels, and “don’t try this at home” video packages. Then there is the spot with Bubba Ray being pushed off the ladder and crashing into a pile of tables on the outside that is so scary to watch, but is executed perfectly. These six men deserve a lot of credit for the work they did with their series of matches involving tables, ladders and chairs from 1999-2001. I am attending TLC next month and if WWE wanted to they could put on a helluva Tag Team title match involving the Dudleyz, one last time.

 photo SS2000 TLC_zps4qteabwa.jpg

Ryan Byers
Honorable Mention – Jun Kasai vs. Yuko Miyamoto – FREEDOMS 5th Anniversary Show (10/20/15) – I can’t honestly include this match in the top five because I haven’t seen it yet (and I honestly don’t know if it’s surfaced anywhere for viewing), but I wanted to get word out there to TLC fans that deathmatch master Jun Kasai had what looks like a hellacious battle against Yuko Miyamoto last month. In addition to normal TLC rules, there were also light tubes available for use, and the canvas and padding had been removed from the ring, leaving just exposed plywood. At one point, some of the plywood is pulled up and Kasai is piledriven through the resulting hole in the center of the ring to the floor. Again, I haven’t seen it yet and am therefore not officially “ranking” it, but I wanted to put it on everyone’s radar, because it’s probably awesome given the two guys involved.
5. The Miz vs. Jerry Lawler – Monday Night Raw (11/29/10) – I have a confession to make: I really don’t like WWE ladder matches all that much, including TLC matches. They all seem repetitive and blend together to me. Thus, in order to make my list, the match has to have something that causes it to stand out from what I consider to be the standard, formulaic TLC approach. That’s exactly what we had when Jerry Lawler of all people challenged for the WWE Championship against Mike the Miz in late 2010 in Philadelphia. Obviously, the King wasn’t going to be bumping around the ring like he was a Hardy Boy, but the pair relied upon Lawler’s smarts accumulated during forty years in the professional wrestling business to put on an encounter that was just as exciting and just as emotional as any match that features constant, massive table and ladder highspots. When a straight right hand by a 60 year old man gets just as much of a reaction as Edge damn near breaking his neck, you know you’re doing something right.

4. El Generico vs. Isami Kodaka – Union Pro at Korakuen Hall (3/1/12) – I’m cheating a little bit here, because, even though this was billed as a “TLC” match, the “T” actually stood for “Tonkachi” and not the traditional American “Tables.” (Tonkachi, for those not in the know, is the Japanese word for “hammer.”) However, these two still wrestled an excellent match with all of the usual gimmicks and props, all with Generico’s DDT Extreme Championship on the line. Like something out of a mid-1990s e-fed, the rules for the Extreme Championship at the time were that the title would always be defended in a gimmick match and that the champion was the one who got to decide the type of match used in each of his defenses. Here, El Generico, no strangers to matches involving ladders, thought that this sort of battle would be the best option to retain the strap against the hot young challenger Kodaka. Unfortunately for him, that proved to be false, as Isami was the better man on that particular evening. It did, however, continue Generico’s insane hot streak during 2012, in which he had the single best match on just about every show he wrestled on.

3. Edge vs. Ric Flair – Monday Night Raw (1/16/06) – Ric Flair did a lot of things that made me question his sanity circa 2006, and this match is at the top of the list. At time of this encounter, the Nature Boy was about a month shy of what most people consider to be his 57th birthday (recall that nobody knows when Flair was actually born), but he still went out there and gave it his all as though it were still the 1970s. Like the Miz vs. Lawler match earlier on the list, this bout benefited greatly from having one of the true masters in it who knew how to pace the encounter well and to use true psychology in order to get more reaction out of doing less hard work. However, where this diverges a bit from the Lawler/Miz battle is that Flair was willing and able to do a little bit more in terms of modern bumping than the King was. Most notable among those bumps are a superplex off of the top of a ladder set up in the corner and the finish, which, though it doesn’t look as great as it could, is essentially a face-first “Flair flop” off the rungs during a climbing sequence. Add to that the fact that this match included what may have been the last great bladejob of Slick Ric’s storied career, and you’ve got yourself a strong effort from a man who had critics saying that he should retire twenty years earlier. Plus, in an added bonus for modern women’s wrestling fans, Flair’s daughter Ashley – now known as Charlotte – is sitting at ringside showing concern for her father, trying to do her best impression of five year old Noelle Foley in Beyond the Mat.

2. Daniel Bryan, Kane, & The Ryback vs. The Shield – TLC 2012 – I have another confession to make: When it comes to ladder matches, nine times out of ten I prefer matches in which the ladders are there to primarily be used as weapons as opposed to being necessary for grabbing an object suspended from the ceiling to win the match. Don’t get me wrong, some of the “climb to win” matches have been great – that’s why there are some on this list – but building the match around pinfalls as opposed to climbing makes it feel more like the old school pro wrestling brawls that were the mark of an intense feud when I was growing up as opposed to the elaborate stunt shows of today that seem slapped on to cards for pure “entertainment” purposes. That’s one of the reasons that I appreciated the Hell No/Ryback vs. Shield match from a few years ago so much. Yes, there were some insane ladder bumps that fans these days seem to need in order to truly get into a match, but the majority of the encounter felt as much like a street fight from another era as you’re going to get in this day and age where certain acts are deemed “too violent” for pro wrestling matches and where the entire product is overproduced to hell. Plus, if you want a real sign of how great this one is, let me just point out one quick fact: This is an enjoyable match, even though it features The Ryback. What more of a testament to its quality do you need?

 photo TLC 2012_zps833omtgp.jpg

1. Edge & Christian vs. The Dudley Boys vs. The Hardy Boys – Summerslam 2000 – There is something to be said for innovation. Technically, I would call the triangle ladder match between these three teams at the preceding WrestleMania the first true TLC match and would accordingly put it at the top of this list, but the criteria that we were given for this list strictly said that our choices needed to be billed as TLC matches. Therefore, the somewhat less famous Summerslam encounter between E&C, the Duds, and the Hardys tops my list for kicking off the genre. Oftentimes, when you’re the first to do something, your effort is more memorable and therefore feels better than something that comes later, even though a fan who didn’t see the original first may feel that the latter match is technically better. However, I was a teenager during the wrestling boom that created the series of matches between these three teams, and therefore they will always feel more important and therefore “better” than anything else that comes after them, unless and until there is another performance that can truly be said to revolutionize the genre as this one did. Fifteen years later, I’m still waiting for that to come along.

YOUR TURN KNOW IT ALLS

List your Top Five for this week’s topic in the comment section using the following format:

5. CHOICE: Explanation
4. CHOICE: Explanation
3. CHOICE: Explanation
2. CHOICE: Explanation
1. CHOICE: Explanation