TLC – IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE TO HAVE A GOOD ‘CHAIR MATCH’

Since its inception as a Pay Per View (PPV), Tables, Ladders and Chairs (TLC), has been one of the better performed PPV’s for the WWE.  We have seen Randy Orton defeating John Cena in a WWE World Heavyweight unification match in 2013, Edge defeating Kane (c), Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio in 2010 and in 2012 we witness The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) defeated Team Hell No(Daniel Bryan and Kane) and Ryback, and this year witness a great triple threat tag team ladder match. But the one thing we have not seen since the PPV commenced in 2009 is a really good or memorable chairs match.

 


 

adr vs swagger

Here is a list of ALL the chair matches since 2009, and I challenge you to think if any of the matches ‘stole’ the show at their respective PPV:

2009 – The Undertaker vs. Batista (for the World Heavyweight Championship)

2010 – John Cena vs Wade Barrett

2011 – The Big Show vs. Mark Henry (for the World Heavyweight Championship)

2012 – The Big Show vs. Sheamus (for the World Heavyweight Championship)

2013 –  No chair match

2014 – Ryback vs Kane

2015 – Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger (for the US Title)

 

Besides a giant prop chair (Big Show 2012) and John Cena dropping hanging chairs on Wade Barrett (who  was under a pallet that protected him), there is nothing about these 6 matches that are that memorable, which is a real shame considering 4 of them were for a major championship. Up against TLC matches, ladder matches and table matches, chair matches fail to hold the audience due to the lack of ‘spot’ opportunities. How many times can you hit your opponent in the back with a chair before it gets boring.

Show_chair

The problem chair matches have failed to impress the WWE audiences include:

  • The WWE has booked it with their larger athletes in these matches, which has resulted in all matches feeling very similar, in fact 2 year in a row The Big Show had the chair match at the TLC PPV, which is why the giant chair was used in his match against Sheamus as otherwise it was nearly a repeat to his match against Mark Henry a year earlier. (And then they placed him in a steel stair match a year later!) Having the WWE larger athletes swinging chairs at each other is no longer appealing to the WWE fans.
  • The WWE safety policy of protecting their wrestlers by banning chair head shots. Protecting athletes is contact sports (such as football) is a major issue, and whether we agree or disagree with the WWE on this policy, it is here to stay.
  • This year they tried a few new things, but unfortunately booking a lower card wrestler such as Jack Swagger in this match didn’t help, besides the crowd participation in the “We the People” chants, the rest of the match the crowd was dead as they didn’t care about the two wrestlers in the match.

So how does the WWE make an exciting chairs match??? Well if you are of my heritage, the most memorable match involving chairs was the 1999 Royal Rumble match between The Rock and Mankind. The Rock connected with 11 chair shots to Mankind (many to the head), in front of his screaming kids. Mankind eventually collapse (and controversially) said I quit ending the match.

 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-vSWRNCqFc[/youtube]

So with that match in mind, next year how about the WWE combine these 2 types of matches…an ‘I Quit / Charis match’, where you have to beat your opponent with a chair until they say I quit. This would add in some more brutality to a chairs match, brutality lost with banning head shots, as well as involve crowd counting participation as the crowd counts how many chair shots a wrestler makes….also make sure the match hardcore style wrestlers such as Dean Ambrose, Keven Owens, Seth Rollins or Bray Wyatt!

 

Hooroo and see you next week

Craig Higham

 

http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Telling-Its-Fake-Wrestling/dp/1489585508

https://www.facebook.com/authorCraigHigham/?ref=hl

 

 

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