WWE TLC 2015: Looking Back at the First TLC Match

With the WWE TLC pay-per-view just around the corner we take a look at the first ever TLC match.

A little over 15 years ago, SummerSlam 2000 to be precise, we saw one of the most legendary match types in WWE history make its debut. It not only spawned some of the most talked about matches ever presented in WWE, it also took 6 men to the next level in the company and wrote them into wrestling folklore.

It all started out as The Hardy Boys, The Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian took turns to interfere in each others matches. The Hardys had attacked Edge and Christian after their tag title match against the Dudleys on an episode of SmackDown, taking out Christian with a ladder. At the same time the Dudleys put Edge through a table, a three-way feud was born that would change all 6 men’s lives.

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Following those attacks Edge and Christian looked to gain their own slice of revenge, taking out Matt and Jeff Hardy with steel chairs after their match with Right to Censor on Raw. Later that night, Commissioner Mick Foley announced a three-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs match would take place at SummerSlam for the Tag Team Titles that Edge and Christian were holding. The match was a continuation of the triangle ladder match that the three teams had contested at WrestleMania 16, and what a way it was to top the lot.

On a night that had already seen Chyna win the Intercontinental Title (in a convoluted intergender match also including Eddie Gurerrero, Val Venis and Trish Stratus), had seen Shane McMahon fall from the top of the SummerSlam set in his losing effort for the Hardcore title against Steve Blackman, and Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit do their best to destroy each other in a 2 out of 3 falls match, the pressure was well and truly on.

All three teams came out to a thunderous response from the crowd, this was at the peak of  popularity for WWE, crowds were rarely anything but red-hot. The match started off hot, with the chairs immediately coming into action. The Hardys took advantage until Bubba smashed Jeff in the face with the steel. In the early going we saw the chairs used, a drop toe hold onto one always makes me wince with pain. The ladder was the next prop to be introduced, Edge bringing it in before he would be hit with it by Bubba. Bubba would be the first to attempt to get the tag belts hanging above the ring, only to be powerbmbed by the Hardys. Edge would take out both D-Von and Jeff Hardy with a Russian leg sweep from the ladder. Only minutes in this looked like a match that would take it’s toll on all six men. A Bubba Bomb from the top of the ladder on Christian would leave them all laying.

The following few minutes would see all manner of ridiculousness. A seesawing ladder would take out Matt and Jeff simultaneously courtesy of Edge, Bubba would play human battering ram with a ladder, the Wassup from atop the ladder on Edge would lead to the first table being introduced which would see Christian get driven through with the 3D. Seeing Bubba and D-Von setting up a stack of tables at ringside you knew this would feature in the finish of the match in some way. Edge takes advantage with some sick sounding chair shots on the Dudleys before Matt makes his mark, taking down Edge then hitting a leg drop from the ladder before Jeff hits a leap-frog leg drop over the same ladder on the prone Canadian.

Edge gets sandwiched between a ladder, then throwing Christian onto him, this match is living up to the pre match hype in the biggest way possible. On the outside Jeff had managed to incapacitate Bubba and get him laid out on a table, this lead to one of the iconic images of this era of wrestling. Jeff stood atop a 20 foot ladder, arms outstretched with Bubba on the table below. What followed was a moment that could define the career of Jeff Hardy, the ultimate high spot guy who could crash and burn just as easily as put on a chin lock. As Jeff dived for his patented Swanton bomb, Bubba dived out of the way to see Jeff go through the table himself and take himself out of the match.

Matt would set up that massive ladder underneath the tag gold hanging from the roof. Bubba would eat another big chair shot. Edge and Christian would take out Matt and D-Von from the ladder to leave them in the driving seat. Bubba would prove to be the first man up and would make his ascent up the ladder for the gold. This wouldn’t end well though, the champs would make their way back to their feet and push Bubba off the ladder and through the tables he’s previously set up at ringside. As he flew through the air you knew this would go down as a moment that would be replayed over and over for years to come.

Edge and Christian would look to be on the way to victory, only for Lita to push them from the ladder and take them out of the action. Matt Hardy and D-Von would begin to climb, only for D-Von to push the ladder over with Matt atop it, through more tables stacked at ringside. As Lita looked to help her friend Matt she would be speared by Edge, this match was pushing every limit. That left Jeff Hardy and D-Von to climb the giant ladder in the ring, they would both touch the belts and be left hanging from the gold as Edge pushed away the ladder. D-Von would fall as Edge and Christian would set up a ladder in the corner. With Jeff dangling they would throw a ladder up to knock him down, set up another ladder and claim their belts to win the match.

This entire match was one of the best that you’ll ever see. A car crash at times, it inexplicably changed the lives, careers and fortunes of the six men involved. The TLC match has now gone on to be ingrained in the history of the WWE, if it hadn’t been for this match we’d not have seen some of the even more epic stuff it spawned afterwards. Only a few months later they would go on to face each other in TLC 2 at WrestleMania X7 less than a year later, a match that would end up involving Rhyno, Lita and Spike Dudley.

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It’s very rare that a match of such epic proportions plays out in the way we expect it to, there have been many examples of new gimmick matches falling flat on their faces but this is one match that, without doubt, brought the best out of these six men. They would face each other so many times more in the following years, as they had previously, but this will always be the match that sums up their careers. When they are all eventually inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, it will be this match that is the one that everyone remembers and talks about forever.

In the words of Mick Foley….Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Oh My!