WWE TLC 2015: Worst Matches in History of PPV

A single look at the six-year history of the TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view suggests it is traditionally one of World Wrestling Entertainment's best events. And why would it not be? Fans love gimmick matches, and the Superstars involved typically break out their creativity when injecting high spots into their performances.

Even that combination is not enough to save every match from the depths of sucktitude, as the great Edge and Christian would put it.

The 2014 event proved as much, but it was not the only instance of matches failing to live up to the lofty expectations of fans.

A closer examination of the 51 matches wrestled since the very first TLC pay-per-view back in 2009 reveals quite a few lackluster and, in some cases, truly awful matches.

With a TLC match pitting Roman Reigns against Sheamus for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship set to headline this year's WWE Network presentation, the main event seems certain to match the quality of past bouts, saving it from one day joining this notorious list of stinkers.

Credit: WWE.com

WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov vs. Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater

Sometimes, a match is at the mercy of booking. That was certainly the case in 2010 when the comedic duo of Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov defended the WWE Tag Team Championships against Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater, formerly of Nexus.

The contest was but a background for Wade Barrett to further assert himself as a major threat in WWE and the undisputed leader of Nexus.

And the match never pretended to be more than that.

Though Santino did a fine job of firing up the crowd, the action was lethargic, and the match never advanced beyond mindless schlock designed to initiate a midcard angle that ultimately went nowhere.

Credit: WWE.com

The Miz, Alberto Del Rio and The Brooklyn Brawler vs. 3MB

The 2011 edition of TLC saw Alberto Del Rio and The Miz challenge CM Punk for the WWE Championship in the night's main event. One year later, those two stars were left off of the card, with no real direction or purpose.

By the time the show arrived, live from Brooklyn's Barclays Center, the decision was made to inexplicably turn both babyface with little rhyme or reason for doing so. Worse yet, the emphasis for their sudden switch was a one-off match against 3MB, a trio that was little more than comic relief doubling for enhancement talent.

With The Brooklyn Brawler making up the remaining portion of the babyface team, the two teams sprinted through their match, leaving very little in the way of an impression on the audience.

The babyfaces won, The Brawler got his moment in the sun and both Del Rio and Miz bombed miserably as heroes, making the whole shebang an exercise in failure.

Credit: WWE.com

Steel Stairs Match: Erick Rowan vs. The Big Show

Not only did this match necessitate the altering of the 2014 edition of the pay-per-view's name to TLC: Tables, Ladders, Chairs and Stairs, it was also a horrendously boring contest pitting an aging veteran against a green heavyweight still finding his footing as a singles worker.

The two never really established anything even remotely close to chemistry between the ropes, and the result was a bout that put fans to sleep following what was a fantastic opening Ladder match between Dolph Ziggler and Luke Harper.

Any push Rowan had prior to the bout was extinguished, and the screams for the giant's retirement grew even louder than they previously had been.

Credit: WWE.com

Chairs Match: Ryback vs. Kane

As if the 2014 edition of TLC was not unlucky enough to have the Rowan-Big Show debacle on its card, it also featured the non-classic pitting Ryback and Kane against each other in a Chairs match.

The Big Guy was on the verge of a renewed push, having returned to join Team Cena at the previous month's Survivor Series, but someone within WWE Creative thought the best way for him to achieve success was to pair him up with the lethargic, slow and boring Kane in the worst of the show's gimmick bouts.

Ryback was clearly motivated, but Kane was in no shape or position to give him the match he needed to get over the hump. The result was a plodding contest that failed to use chairs interestingly or even effectively and led to yet another stalled push for the hungriest star on the roster.