Worst in the World: The Big Show vs Erick Rowan-TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs 2014

Next week, I'll be celebrating my 25th birthday, which also means that I just recently crossed the anniversary of the first professional wrestling pay-per-view I ever attended. That would be the 2014 edition of TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs, which I got tickets to as a birthday present for my 18th birthday. So obviously, this show holds a place in my heart as the first pay-per-view I've ever been to. That being said, I can fully acknowledge that this show is kind of ass. It wasn't all bad, of course. Fellow Clevelander Dolph Ziggler and the late Luke Harper stole the show in their Intercontinental Championship ladder match opener (which up until literally two weeks ago was the best match I've seen live), Seth Rollins & John Cena had a fun tables match, and Dean Ambrose & Bray Wyatt were having a big, chaotic TLC match before the finish. But there was a lot of bad on this show. The Miz & Damien Mizdow vs The Usos was fine, but a lackluster finish hurt the match. Nikki Bella vs AJ Lee and Rusev vs Jack Swagger were pretty uneventful, and the less said about Ryback & Kane's chairs match, the better. Also, going back to the main event, this happened:

Man, Jon Moxley just can't win with explosions, can he? But easily the worst match of the night was the third match on the card; the Big Show vs Erick Rowan. And which of the stipulations did these two get saddled with? Did they get to batter each other with steel chairs? Did they try to put each other through a wooden table? Did they have to climb a ladder to success? Or did they get all three weapons in the show's namesake? If you answered "YES" to any of those four, you'd be wrong. Instead, for this year only, WWE decided to add on one more letter to TLC; an S...for stairs. Yep...this is a Stairs match. It's a no disqualifications match...except they can only use the ringside steel stairs as weapons. Unsurprisingly, the Stairs match was not a raving success, and joined the Kennel from Hell and the House of Horrors match firmly in the F-tier of WWE gimmick matches, with the F standing for "Fuck no, we are never doing this again." Fun fact, while this is the only Stairs match that WWE has ever put on, it's not the only one to ever take place. There is one other recorded Stairs match, taking place in 2017 at the Conquest event held by the Ecuadorian promotion Wrestling Alliance Revolution. I guess whoever runs WAR was so inspired by this match that they thought they had to get in on the action. But now, onto the match at hand.

Rowan takes the fight to Big Show as soon as the bell rings, quickly splashing him twice in the corner before hitting a spinning heel kick, sending Show to the outside. Rowan follows him out, only to get a kick to the gut followed by a bodyslam on the outside. Show throws Rowan into a set of steel stairs before throwing him back into the ring. Show tries to bring a set of stairs into the ring, but Rowan dropkicks them into Show's face. Rowan follows up by hitting Show with the stairs before building a wall with the stairs in the entranceway. However, Show stops him from using the wall, instead throwing him into the ring post. Show then opens up Rowan's boilersuit to chop his bare chest before tossing him over the barricade and into the timekeeper's area. Rowan tries to fight back as Show throws a set of stairs into the ring, but his comeback is quickly snuffed out when Show tosses him into another set of stairs. Show hits Rowan with the stairs again before throwing Rowan back into the ring. Show smashes Rowan across the back with the steps before wedging them in the corner and tossing Rowan into them twice. So far the match hasn't been terrible, but it's been pretty uneventful

Show follows up with a clothesline and tries to chokeslam Rowan, but Rowan blocks it and slams Show on top of the bottom half of the stairs. Rowan takes the top half out of the corner and goes to the top rope. Show is supposed to move at this point, but he very clearly doesn't in time and the steps catch his side when Rowan dives at him. Both men roll out of the ring before Show spears Rowan through the stair wall Rowan built. Show throws Rowan back in the ring and grabs a set of stairs, but Rowan delivers a big boot, sending the stairs into Show's face. Rowan fires up, only to walk right into a chokeslam onto the bottom half of the stairs. I've never seen a babyface comeback get snuffed out that fast. Big Show follows up with the K.O. Punch before grabbing a set of stairs and setting them on top of Rowan.

Even though his arms are not restrained at all, Rowan visibly struggles and can't lift his shoulders up as Big Show gets the three and the win.

The Verdict

It's pretty hard to make a match with weapons dull. This match succeeds at that. Granted, I think a big problem with this match is the stipulation, and not just that it's a stairs match. Matches where only one weapon is allowed need the right weapon & objective to stay interesting. Ladder & tables matches work so well because, along with the match requiring the use of the weapon to finish it, there's a variety of ways you can use them. On the opposite ends, weapons like chairs, kendo sticks/Singapore canes, or in this case, stairs, really limit what the wrestlers can do with them. There's only so much you can do with them; hit someone with them, or slam someone on them. And on top of that, the weapon doesn't even have to play into the finish. This match ended with a KO Punch and Show trying & failing to pin Rowan's shoulder under the stairs. It's almost like he did that because it's the gimmick and it needs to feel like it was important. The actual match doesn't help the gimmick either. Show & Rowan put on a very sluggish, boring affair. Maybe this match could've worked better with more athletic wrestlers involved, but I wouldn't put money on that. All and all, this match is a bore, and it's no surprise that the event isn't called TLCS now.

The Rankings (Worst to Best)

1. Tommy Dreamer vs Bully Ray-Victory Road 2011
2. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
3. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
4. Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
5. Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
6. Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
7. The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
8. Hernandez vs Matt Morgan-Victory Road 2011
9. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
10. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
11. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
12. The Women's Tag Team Turmoil-WrestleMania 37 (Night 1)
13. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
14. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
15. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
16. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
17. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
18. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
19. Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
20. Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
21. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
22. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
23. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
24. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
25. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
26. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
27. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata vs Daniel & Rolles Gracie-Wrestle Kingdom 8
28. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
29. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
30. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
31. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
32. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
33. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
34. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
35. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
36. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
37. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
38. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
39. Team RAW vs Team SmackDown Men's Elimination Match-Survivor Series 2017
40. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
41. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
42. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
43. Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
44. Damian Priest vs The Miz-WrestleMania Backlash
45. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
46. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
47. Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
48. The Extreme Elimination Chamber-December to Dismember 2006
49. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
50. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
51. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
52. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
53. Mr. Anderson vs Rob Van Dam-Victory Road 2011
54. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
55. El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
56. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
57. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
58. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
59. The Hurt Business vs RETRIBUTION-WWE Monday Night RAW (10/26/2020)
60. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
61. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
62. Vince Russo vs Ric Flair-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
63. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
64. Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
65. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
66. The Big Show vs Erick Rowan-TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs 2014
67. British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
68. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
69. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
70. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
71. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
72. Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
73. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
74. Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
75. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
76. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
77. The New Blood Gauntlet-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
78. Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
79. Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
80. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
81. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
82. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
83. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
84. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
85. The Golden Truth vs Breezango-Money in the Bank 2016
86. The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
87. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
88. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
89. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
90. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
91. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
92. Rosita & Sarita vs Angelina Love & Winter-Victory Road 2011
93. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
94. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
95. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
96. Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
97. Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
98. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
99. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
100. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
101. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
102. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
103. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
104. Sting vs Hollywood Hogan-Starrcade 1997
105.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
106. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
107. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
108. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
109. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
110. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
111. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
112. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
113. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
114. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
115. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
116. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
117. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
118. The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25
119. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
120. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
121. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
122. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
123. Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
124. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
125. Randy Orton vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 37 (Night 2)
126. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
127. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
128. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
129. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
130. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
131. Vince Russo vs Booker T-WCW Monday Nitro (9/25/2000)
132. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-WWE Monday Night RAW (7/8/2002)
133. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
134. Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
135. Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
136. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
137. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
138. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
139. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
140. The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
141. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
142. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
143. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
144. The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
145. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
146. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
147. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
148. WarGames 2000: Russo's Revenge-WCW Monday Nitro (9/4/2000)
149. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
150. Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
151. Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
152. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
153. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
154. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
155. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
156. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
157. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
158. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
159. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
160. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
161. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
162. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
163. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
164. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
165. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
166. Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
167. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
168. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
169. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
170. Akira Maeda vs Andre the Giant-NJPW Big Fighter Series 1986 (Day 15)

Thanks for reading! Be sure to share if you enjoy and leave any suggestions for matches you'd like to see covered in the Worst in the World in the comments. Next week, since it's another anniversary of a bad match, I'll be sticking with TLC and looking at one of the weirder matches to come out of the Summer of Punk in 2011. Until then...