WWE TLC - Matches

Sheamus vs Big Show for World Heavyweight Championship - Chairs Match

After turning in back-to-back contenders for “Match of the Year” in their first two meetings at Hell in a Cell and Survivor Series – in addition to brawling in an English pub and a parking lot – World Heavyweight Champion Big Show and Sheamus will battle for the illustrious World Title for a third time in a Chairs Match at WWE’s final pay-per-view of 2012, WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs.

Following Big Show’s World Heavyweight Title victory over Sheamus at Hell in a Cell on Oct. 28 in an incredibly intense contest that ended after, not one, but two KO Punches, it was clear that the competition between the two was just heating up.

That proved true as Show assaulted Sheamus and William Regal at an English pub during WWE’s recent European tour, leaving Regal battered. The vitriol between the massive new champion and The Celtic Warrior then exploded in a parking lot slugfest on the Nov. 16 edition of SmackDown. But, the most shocking sequence of events yet would emerge from their epic rematch at Survivor Series.

When Big Show sensed the possibility of defeat in the climatic final moments of their showdown, the World Champion suddenly pulled referee Scott Armstrong in front of the Brogue Kick, before hitting a distracted Celtic Warrior with the KO Punch. Because The World’s Largest Athlete lost by disqualification, he was able to hold onto his priceless title. But that wouldn’t stop Sheamus from unleashing his own brand of retribution.

Picking up a steel chair, Sheamus attacked The World’s Largest Athlete in one of the most extreme assaults in recent years. Repeatedly blasting the gigantic titleholder, Sheamus tossed away his weapon only after Show repeatedly appealed for him to stop. Discarding the chair was not a compassionate decision, though, as the Irish Superstar put the painful icing on the cake with the earth-shattering Brogue Kick.

In the wake of Big Show’s controversial title defense and Sheamus’ brutal chair assault, SmackDown General Manager Booker T made the announcement on the Nov. 23 episode of SmackDown: Big Show will defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Sheamus at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on Sunday, Dec. 16. But Booker’s proclamation included a twist.

Most likely based upon Sheamus’ savage chair attack, this World Heavyweight Championship clash will be a Chairs Match, which is sure to add a wrinkle to the proceedings. Sheamus has gotten the best of the giant once with a chair already, so the match stipulation could help The Celtic Warrior.

For Big Show, however, both the chair and the upcoming pay-per-view hold a dark place in his heart.  After all, at the WWE TLC event one year ago, the giant lost his newly captured World Title after only 45 seconds when Daniel Bryan cashed in his Money in the Bank Contract seconds after his Chairs Match against Mark Henry.

Complicating matters even further, current Mr. Money in the Bank Dolph Ziggler is always waiting in the wings for the opportunity to cash in his own contract on the champion. If he does choose WWE TLC as moment to seize his opportunity, the question is: Who will the champion be?

With two instant-classic matches as a blueprint, the WWE Universe has an idea of what to expect when these behemoths collide: high-impact, high-intensity action between two of WWE’s biggest and most powerful Superstars. With each battle, with each war of words, this grudge has only grown more barbaric. Can either Sheamus or Big Show survive another show down?

WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs emanates from Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Barclays Center Sunday, Dec. 16, at 8/7 CT. Don’t miss out on WWE’s final – and possibly most intense – pay-per-view of the year! 

Wade Barrett vs Kofi Kingston for Intercontinental Championship

The road to WWE TLC: Tables Ladders & Chairs really began, in a way, in 2011, when Wade Barrett defeated Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Championship. It was a marquee moment for the English pugilist, his first title reign in WWE and a harbinger of the career that awaited him. It was also a crushing defeat for Kingston, who had been enjoying a dominant run with the storied championship that was cut prematurely short by Barrett’s barrage.

In time, of course, the two men went their separate ways. But the road has come ’round again. Kofi is champion. Barrett has an issue with that. And despite the similarities in situation, the stakes have changed dramatically.

Now, for Kofi, validation is on the line: an affirmation and a cementing of Kingston’s legacy as a top-tier Superstar, one worthy of a fourth reign with the storied Intercontinental Championship. That when he took the title from The Miz last month on WWE Main Event, it wasn’t a fluke win as The Awesome One had then intimated. It was a statement that he is worthy of the title’s prestigious history and his multiple runs with the title gold around his waist.

For Barrett, TLC is all about making a statement: that The Barrett Barrage (which had been gaining momentum before Barrett himself was cut down with an elbow injury in February) is as dangerous as ever. Barrett wants to prove he can repeat what he accomplished in 2011 by beating Kingston for the title, because only a beating will do at this point. It is also about completing his reinvention from a sophisticated leader of men to a lone-wolf warrior who answers to no man and fears none, too. It is about sealing his reinvention with a championship reign, one worthy of only the elite Superstars in WWE. It is about taking what he believes is his.

There won’t be any tables, ladders or chairs in this contest. In a way, there don’t need to be. Barrett will bring his fists and his wits; “The Wildcat” will use his unpredictable aerial ability. Almost two years have passed, but Kofi Kingston and Wade Barrett have found themselves back in each other’s sights, with a chance to right a wrong and cement a legacy in equal measure. May the best man win.

Team Hell No & Ryback vs The Shield - TLC Match

By order of WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon, the ultra-intense Ryback will join forces with WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No to battle The Shield at WWE TLC — in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match that could prove to be the ultimate showdown of pure destruction the like of which the squared circle has not seen in some time.

The stage was originally set for WWE Champion CM Punk to go one-on-one with Ryback, putting the illustrious title he’s held for more than a year on the line in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match against the eternally hungry No. 1 contender.

That all came to a crashing halt, however, on the Dec. 3 edition of Raw when Ryback put The Second City Saint through a table. Less than 24 hours later, Punk would undergo surgery for the injury, putting the titleholder on the shelf temporarily and leaving a huge void in the upcoming pay-per-view picture.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances that will hold up a Punk vs. Ryback showdown, the new Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match that Mr. McMahon announced via an official statement and that will be decided for the first-time-ever by pinfall or submission was, in a way, fate. After all, in a pay-per-view dedicated to pain and unpredictability, who better to headline the event than six Superstars hell-bent on complete and utter destruction?

For weeks now, the combination of Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollinshave been running wild, launching seemingly unwarranted attacks on competitor after competitor in the name of “justice.” Through it all, three of their favorite targets have been none other than Ryback, Daniel Bryan and Kane.

In fact, the first time the trio assaulted Ryback at Survivor Series, it effectively cost him the WWE Title and left him hungry for retribution. “Feed [him] more!”

The Shield assaulted the dangerous WWE Tag Team Champions on both the Nov. 26 and Dec 3 editions of Raw, allowing the previously reluctant partners to find a whole new reason to be unified. When Kane & Bryan sought retribution against the mysterious trio, it was Ryback who emerged to add to their cause.

Ryback represents the perfect force-of-nature to take on the brutal faction. Since he emerged in WWE last year, the furious Superstar unleashed a non-stop onslaught on everyone in sight.  And no one can dispute Kane & Bryan as two of the most ruthless competitors on the roster today.

But as intimidating as they are, time will tell whether it will be enough to overcome their virtually unknown adversaries who have shown, time and time again, they are capably of strategic anarchy. Find out who will emerge victorious when Ryback and Team Hell No lock horns with The Shield at WWE TLC — Sunday Dec. 16 at 8/5 PT, only on pay-per-view.

Dolph Ziggler vs John Cena - Ladder Match for MITB briefcase

With history on the line, how much would you be willing to sacrifice? What lengths would you be willing to go to? How far, how fast and how hard would you climb to etch your name in the annals of WWE legend?

It’s a question John Cena and Dolph Ziggler will have to answer at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, when The Showoff will put his most prized possession on the line (no, not his abs) against the Cenation leader in a Ladder Match: the Money in the Bank contract for the World Heavyweight Championship. (WATCH VICKIE MAKE THE MATCH)

And no, “history-making” is not hyperbole in this case. Cena is the only Superstar in WWE history to cash in his own Money in the Bank contract and fail to win a World Title as a result (he redeemed a WWE Championship contract at Raw 1,000 and beat WWE Champion CM Punk by disqualification, earning him the victory but denying him the prize). And only one Superstar in history has ever lost his Money in the Bank contract in a one-on-one match. So for Cena, TLC represents an opportunity no other Superstar has ever had: a second chance and, more importantly, an opportunity to rectify his failure at Raw 1,000 and end 2012 with the World Heavyweight Title firmly in his sights.

For Ziggler, however, the stakes are higher. The Showoff had to fight and claw to get his hands on the contract in the first place, and minus some early almost-attempts at redeeming the prize, Ziggler has proven quite stingy in his willingness to cash in. But while The Showoff has left the incumbent titleholder Big Show to his own devices against Sheamus, he’s very quietly become a force to be reckoned with. In the last month alone, Ziggler has amassed a series of impressive wins over Randy Orton, including one in a Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match in which Ziggler emerged as the sole survivor. He’s also taken Cena to the limit in a one-on-one match on Raw, a surge indicating The Showoff’s time to seize the prize is likely fast approaching.

But now, he may not get the chance. While Ziggler is reaching his apex, Cena has been operating at his own for some time. As a previous Money in the Bank winner and a two-time World Heavyweight Champion himself, the Cenation leader will find himself in a very familiar, very comfortable position at TLC. Ziggler, on the other hand, is in a precarious one. The Showoff is all momentum at this point, and there’s no Superstar who can take that away faster than Cena. Granted, this is not the same Ziggler who wheeled and dealed his way to a tainted World Title victory in 2011. This is not even the same Ziggler who won the Money in the Bank contract this past July. This is something far tougher than that. Something much closer to the top-tier wrestler he has always claimed to be.

But is it enough? History looms large for both Superstars. One can rewrite it, and one can avoid ending up on the wrong side of it. Only one question now remains: What are they prepared to do?