10 Worst WWE PPV Gimmick Matches
7. Big Show Vs. Erick Rowan: Stairs Match (12/14/14)
It's mystifying that WWE actually amended the official TLC pay-per-view name to "TLC&S" in deference to the "Stairs" match. Were they hoping to spin it off into its own pay-per-view down the line, with a women's Stairs match, tag team Stairs match, Stairs on a Pole matches, and so forth?
The time allotted to the pre-match video package explaining the science behind a set of ring-steps could have been used in more productive ways, like showing Michael Cole counting his pocket change.
The match itself was just as insipid, with the crowd not buying into Rowan ("But he's a vintner now!"). The spot where Rowan stacked up a wall of stairs featured a less-than-thrilling payoff, and the match basically played out as an extended squash. The failure of the Stairs match is probably what doomed plans for future matches of its ilk, like the Guardrail match, the Turnbuckle Pad match, and the dreaded Bulky Outdated Ringside Monitor match.