TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2013)

TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs
Promotional poster depicting tables, ladders and chairs and a rose bouquet split in half.
Promotion	WWE
Date	December 15, 2013
City	Houston, Texas
Venue	Toyota Center
Attendance	14,120
Buy rate	181,000[1]
Tagline(s)	It's Not Tender, Loving Care...It's Tables, Ladders and Chairs
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous Survivor Series Next → Royal Rumble
TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs chronology
← Previous 2012 Next → 2014

The 2013 TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs was the fifth annual TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on December 15, 2013, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. It was the last TLC to air exclusively via PPV, as in 2014, the events also became available on WWE's online streaming service, the WWE Network, which launched in February that year.

Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. The main event saw WWE Champion Randy Orton defeat World Heavyweight Champion John Cena in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to unify the titles as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The unified title continued the lineage of the WWE Championship while the World Heavyweight Championship was retired.

Production[]

Background[]

TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs was an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV), produced every December by WWE since 2009. The concept of the show was based on the primary matches of the card each containing a stipulation using tables, ladders, and chairs as legal weapons, with the main event generally being a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match.^[2][3] The 2013 event was the fifth event under the TLC chronology. It was scheduled to take place on December 15, 2013, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.^[4]

In December 2014, CM Punk revealed in his podcast interview with Colt Cabana that he requested the day of the event off to attend C. J. Wilson's wedding; however, the company failed to fulfill his request. As a result, he and his girlfriend at the time (now wife) AJ Lee's matches went first and second so they could leave on time and attend the wedding in California the same day.^[5]

Storylines[]

The professional wrestling matches at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.^[6][7]

The main rivalry heading into TLC featured the World Heavyweight Champion John Cena, and the WWE Champion Randy Orton, over who was the proverbial "face of the WWE". Ever since SummerSlam in August, Orton had been engaged in a feud with Daniel Bryan over the WWE Championship, and owing to his alliance with The Authority (Triple H and Stephanie McMahon), finally settled his rivalry with Bryan at the Hell in a Cell event, defeating him in a Hell in a Cell match to win the WWE title for the eighth time. However, over time, The Authority started showing doubt over Orton's ability to win matches on his own accord. To prove he still was their chosen "face of the WWE", Orton was made to defend his championship against the anti-Authority Big Show at Survivor Series in November, who Orton defeated to retain his title, but only after Big Show was distracted by Triple H. Concurrently, Cena defeated Alberto Del Rio at Survivor Series to retain his World Heavyweight Championship in a rematch from the Hell in a Cell event, where Cena returned from an elbow injury seemingly before schedule, yet still defeated Del Rio to win the title for the third time. After Orton's victory at Survivor Series, Cena came down to the ring with his title, and celebrated with the crowd as The Authority looked on, much to Orton's chagrin. The next night, on the November 25 episode of Raw, after another confrontation between the two world champions, Triple H announced that Orton would face Cena in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, with both the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship on the line, at the TLC pay-per-view, with the winner becoming the "Champion of Champions".

Another championship match at the TLC pay-per-view saw AJ Lee defending the WWE Divas Championship against Natalya. At Survivor Series, Natalya, along with Nikki Bella, were the "Survivors" after making AJ submit in a seven-on-seven Survivor Series elimination match between the "True Divas" and the Total Divas. On the December 2 episode of Raw, Natalya pinned AJ, to secure a victory for her team in a six-Diva tag team match. After this string of non-title wins, Natalya was officially announced to challenge AJ for the Divas Championship at the TLC event.

Since late October, both CM Punk and Daniel Bryan had been assaulted by the Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan), which led to a tag team match at Survivor Series in November with Punk and Bryan going up against - and defeating - Harper and Rowan. The next night, on the November 25 episode of Raw, Bryan was (kayfabe) "abducted" by the Wyatt Family, while Punk was ambushed by The Shield, another notorious three-man faction consisting of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns. On the December 2 episode of Raw, Punk tried tracing back the reason for the attack on him to Triple H, believing he called for Punk to be taken out for the latter's rebellious comments against The Authority. After these allegations were rebuked by Triple H's wife, Stephanie McMahon, WWE's (kayfabe) Director of Operations, Kane, also came out to support The Authority, and after being insulted by Punk, announced a three-on-one handicap match at the TLC event, pitting Punk against all three members of The Shield. Also, on the same night, after defeating Erick Rowan, Bryan too was put in a three-on-one handicap match by Kane - much like Punk - to face all three members of the Wyatt Family at the TLC pay-per-view.

Also, on the December 9 edition of Raw, Damien Sandow defeated Santino Marella to earn the right to face Big E Langston for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at the TLC event.

Also, on the December 13 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that Cody Rhodes and Goldust would defend the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Real Americans (Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro), RybAxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel), and Big Show and Rey Mysterio in a Fatal Four Way tag team match at the pay-per-view.^[8]

The TLC Kickoff pre-show featured Fandango squaring off against Dolph Ziggler. This match was announced at the 2013 Slammy Awards edition of Raw on December 9, 2013.

Kofi Kingston and The Miz teamed together to face The Real Americans on the October 21 episode of "Raw", but at the end of the match, Miz turned on Kingston. This led to a match on the Survivor Series Kickoff pre-show, which Miz won. The feud continued and culminated in a no disqualifications match between Kofi Kingston and the Miz at the TLC event.

Event[]

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Results[]

Fatal Four Way tag team elimination match[]

References[]

External links[]

• Official TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs website
• TLC 2013 at ProFightDB.com