The 2020 TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 12th annual and final TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs and took place on December 20, 2020, from the WWE ThunderDome, a bio-secure bubble that at the time was hosted at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The concept of the show was based around the primary matches of the card each utilizing tables, ladders, and chairs as legal weapons.

The event was reportedly planned to be held at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was moved to the ThunderDome at Tropicana Field. This was WWE's first PPV and livestreaming event to present the ThunderDome from Tropicana Field, following a four-month residency at Orlando's Amway Center. The 2020 event would in turn be the final TLC event as the following year, it was canceled in favor of an event called Day 1. This would also be the last main roster PPV and livestreaming event held in December until Wrestlepalooza in 2026.

Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Randy Orton defeated The Fiend in a Firefly Inferno match. In the penultimate match, Roman Reigns defeated Kevin Owens in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs (TLC) match to retain SmackDown's Universal Championship. In other prominent matches, Asuka and the returning Charlotte Flair defeated Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler to win the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship—subsequently making Flair WWE's fifth Women's Triple Crown Champion and fourth Women's Grand Slam Champion—and in the opening bout, Drew McIntyre defeated AJ Styles and The Miz in a triple threat TLC match to retain Raw's WWE Championship; The Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract during the scheduled match between McIntyre and Styles, although this cash-in was later nullified as Miz's tag team partner, John Morrison, cashed in the contract on behalf of Miz (only the contract holder can cash in the contract).

Production

Background TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs was an annual professional wrestling event generally produced every December by WWE since 2009. It was originally broadcast exclusively via pay-per-view (PPV) before it began simultaneously livestreaming on the WWE Network in 2014. The concept of the event 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. Announced on September 1, 2020, the 12th TLC event was scheduled to be held on December 20 and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

According to WrestleVotes, the 2020 TLC event was planned to be held at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that began affecting the industry in mid-March, WWE had to present the majority of its programming from a behind closed doors set. Initially, Raw and SmackDown's shows were done at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. A limited number of Performance Center trainees and friends and family members of the wrestlers were later utilized to serve as the live audience. In late August, these programs were moved to a bio-secure bubble called the WWE ThunderDome, which at the time was hosted at Orlando's Amway Center. The select live audience was no longer utilized as the bubble allowed fans to attend the events virtually for free and be seen on the nearly 1,000 LED boards within the arena. Additionally, the ThunderDome utilized various special effects to further enhance wrestlers' entrances, and arena audio was mixed with that of the chants from the virtual fans.

Due to the expiration of their residency contract with the Amway Center, on November 19, WWE announced that the ThunderDome would be relocated to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, beginning with the December 11 episode of Friday Night SmackDown. This move was also done due to the start of the 2020–21 ECHL and NBA seasons as the Amway Center is the shared home of the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL) and the Orlando Magic (NBA). Subsequently, the 2020 TLC event was WWE's first PPV and livestreaming event presented from the ThunderDome at Tropicana Field.

Storylines The event comprised seven matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

At Survivor Series, Team Raw (AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, and Riddle) defeated Team SmackDown in the men's 5-on-5 Survivor Series match without any member of their team being eliminated. The following night on Raw, WWE official Adam Pearce said that one of Team Raw's members would get a WWE Championship match against Drew McIntyre at TLC and allowed each to state their case. Last was Strowman, who became enraged over Pearce's use of the phrase "last but not least" and attacked Pearce; Strowman was suspended indefinitely. Former WWE Champion Randy Orton, who wanted a rematch after losing the title to McIntyre on Raw the previous week, and United States Champion Bobby Lashley, who was the only Raw champion to win their Champion vs. Champion match at Survivor Series, each individually confronted Pearce backstage and also stated their cases. Pearce scheduled three singles matches for that night, with the winners of each facing off in a triple threat match the following week to determine the number one contender. Riddle, Lee, and Styles advanced to the triple threat match by defeating Sheamus, Lashley, and Orton, respectively. Styles subsequently won the triple threat match to face McIntyre for the WWE Championship at TLC in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match.

After winning the WWE Championship from Drew McIntyre at Hell in a Cell on October 25, Randy Orton appeared on Alexa Bliss's talk show "A Moment of Bliss" on the following night's Raw—several weeks beforehand, Bliss aligned herself with Bray Wyatt and his alter-ego The Fiend. During the segment, Bliss referenced Orton's past rivalry with Wyatt at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. McIntyre then came out and attacked Orton until the lights went out. When they returned, The Fiend was standing behind Orton on the entrance ramp while McIntyre stood in the ring. McIntyre continued to brawl with Orton while The Fiend departed. The Fiend would continue to threaten and attack Orton over the next few weeks; after Orton lost the WWE Championship back to McIntyre on the November 16 episode of Raw, The Fiend caused Orton to lose an opportunity to regain the title the following week. Orton then appeared once again on "A Moment of Bliss", claiming to know The Fiend's weakness as Bliss herself. Orton was subsequently scheduled to face The Fiend at TLC. Before the event on the December 14 episode of Raw, Orton challenged Wyatt's cheery Firefly Fun House persona to a game of hide-and-seek that ended in a backstage brawl where Orton locked Wyatt inside of a wooden crate and set it ablaze. The Fiend then emerged from the flaming box and attacked Orton. Their match at TLC was then made a Firefly Inferno match.

On the September 14 episode of Raw, after the team of Lana and Natalya lost a tag team match, WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler appeared and Jax performed a Samoan drop on Lana through an announce table. Over the next nine weeks, Jax repeatedly put Lana through an announce table. Also during this time, Natalya ceased teaming with Lana. On the October 12 episode, Lana won a battle royal by last eliminating Natalya to earn a Raw Women's Championship match against Asuka. The title match took place the following week, which Lana lost. Following the match, Jax put Lana through an announce table once more. On the October 26 episode, Lana won a fatal four-way match to win a spot on the women's team for Team Raw at Survivor Series, where Lana emerged as the sole survivor after being ordered to not take part in the match by her teammates, which included Jax and Baszler. The following night on Raw, Lana was granted another Raw Women's Championship match against Asuka, but the match ended in a no-contest after Jax and Baszler interfered. This resulted in an impromptu non-title tag team match where Lana and Asuka defeated Jax and Baszler. The following week, Lana and Asuka defeated the champions once more in another non-title match. Jax and Baszler were subsequently scheduled to defend the Women's Tag Team Championship against Lana and Asuka at TLC. However, after Lana defeated Jax on the December 14 episode of Raw, an irate Jax and Baszler attacked the leg of Lana causing an injury, resulting in her removal from the championship match at TLC, requiring Asuka to find a new partner.

Ever since making his return to WWE and winning the Universal Championship at Payback, Roman Reigns began referring to himself as the "Tribal Chief" and the "Head of The Table" of the Anoaʻi family. Reigns's cousin Jey Uso joined Reigns after Reigns defeated him at Hell in a Cell. Differences then grew between Jey and Kevin Owens, who had both earned a spot on the men's team for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series; Team SmackDown ultimately lost. On the following SmackDown, Reigns lambasted Jey for the loss, stating that the other members of Team SmackDown did not respect Jey, and in turn, they did not respect Reigns or their family. This enraged Jey and during that episode's main event match between himself and Owens, Jey intentionally disqualified himself by attacking Owens with a steel chair. Owens retaliated and performed multiple Stunners on Jey and then called out Reigns. The following week, Owens challenged Reigns to a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the Universal Championship at TLC, which Reigns accepted.

For several weeks, vignettes of a mystery woman claiming to be "untouchable" were shown on episodes of SmackDown. Following a five-month hiatus, Carmella was revealed as the mystery woman on the October 2 episode and reverted to being a heel. She did not have any physical confrontations until the November 6 episode when she appeared and attacked SmackDown Women's Champion Sasha Banks after Banks had successfully defended her title. Over the next two weeks, Carmella continued her attacks on Banks, who returned the favor on the November 27 episode by attacking Carmella during her backstage vignette. The following week, a title match between the two was scheduled for TLC. Before the event, the two faced each other in an impromptu championship match on the December 11 episode of SmackDown where Banks was disqualified after continuously attacking Carmella in the corner past the referee's five-count; although Carmella won, Banks retained as titles do not change hands by disqualification unless stipulated.

On the November 16 episode of Raw, The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) defeated The Hurt Business (Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin) to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship. A rematch the following week ended in a double countout, but when the match restarted, The New Day were able to retain. On the November 30 episode, Alexander defeated Woods. The following week, Kingston defeated Benjamin, but was defeated by Alexander immediately afterwards. On December 10, another title match between the two teams was scheduled for TLC.

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