12 Best WWE Table Matches Of All Time
Throughout WWE history, some match types and stipulations have been engraved in fans' minds and hold a special place in their hearts. Matches with weapons or cages or ladders are most of the time well received by the WWE audience, but there is one match type that does not receive the same love and recognition it deserves: The Tables match.
Sometimes perceived as a less entertaining version of the TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, the Tables match has been quietly disappearing from WWE TV ever since its introduction almost 23 years ago. And while a TLC match may have more elements to it, a straight up Tables match is still to this day a great way to further a story along and a guaranteed crowd pop. For good reason, too, as some of the most legendary moments, some of the loudest pops have come from Tables match.
With that in mind, get those "We Want Tables" chants ready as we take a look at the 12 best table matches in WWE history.
12. CM Punk and the ECW Originals (The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer) vs. The New Breed (Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von, and Matt Striker), One Night Stand 2007
We kick the list off with one of those rare hidden gems from the not-so-fondly remembered revival of the land of the extreme.
Back in 2007, a couple of months after a very similar match to this one took place at WrestleMania, this lengthy feud between the two groups came to a head when the two groups faced off in a Tables match after Marcus Cor Von put CM Punk trough a table on "ECW TV."
When it comes to the match itself, it makes its way onto our list mainly thanks to the pace that CM Punk brought and the sheer star quality of both Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von, who felt like a couple of superstars about to blow up. The match also features a couple of scary bumps, a piledriver, and a pretty fun table spot to finish the match and claim its position as WWE's 12th best Tables match in history.
11. Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston), Extreme Rules 2020
During the recent unprecedented run of WWE shows held with no real crowd from April 2020 to July 2021, only two tables matches took place. The other one was Lana vs. Nia Jax, so don't expect so see that one on this list.
While this match clearly suffers from having WWE personnel as crowd members, which was the norm before the introduction of the "Thunderdome," all four participants perfectly compensate by bringing the intensity and physicality that you would expect from a regular Pay-Per-View match. The match was also significantly enhanced by the risks Kofi Kingston in particular was willing to take.
This match falls also into the shorter side, which is mainly why it ranks so low on our list, but it is a really good, hard-hitting quick 10 minute match. It serves as a reminder that some flat out good matches actually came from the Performance Center era.
10. John Cena vs Randy Orton, Raw September 13th, 2010
For the first time in nearly three years the "Raw" Roulette made its way back into "Monday Night Raw." The "Raw" Roulette is similar to a regular casino roulette, but instead of having numbers on it, it has match stipulations. These stipulations include a special guest referee, falls count anywhere, or even a pillow fight were featured on the roulette. This time fate, or most likely WWE creative, had decided on a Tables match for the main event between John Cena and Randy Orton.
Cena and Orton were having a good, solid match, as you would expect from them, when a sudden run-in by all Nexus members — and later on, Sheamus, Edge and Chris Jericho — would turn the match on its head. As a WWE Championship match was set to take place that weekend between Cena, Orton and Wade Barrett, this match served as the final battleground for all five contenders to inflict some damage on one another.
In the end, the match turned into what Jim Ross would call a "human demolition derby" as bodies and broken tables laid everywhere around ringside. While the actual match Cena and Orton were having around all that interference was not bad, the match mostly deserves to be re-watched based on some terrific bumps some members of Nexus took and the chaos that followed the interference.
9. Beth Phoenix and Natalya vs. LayCool (Layla and Michelle McCool), Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2010
For the first match featuring women in our list we have the first ever women's Tables match. Just around a month after the on-screen friendship of Natalya and Beth Phoenix started and around four months before the legendary LayCool tag team would eventually collapse, the two teams faced for this history-making encounter.
The actual match turned out to be a pretty good bout, which included a scary fall to the outside of the ring by Beth Phoenix, and Natalya having to jump off the top rope because Layla and Michelle did not break the table with their fall. It also featured the first ever double Sharpshooter applied by Natalya, as she was able to lock both members of LayCool in the iconic hold for the very first time in her WWE career.
While the match may not hold the same pace or high risks as others in this list, all four competitors worked at their highest rate and without a doubt delivered an enjoyable match and an important chapter in the history of women's wrestling.
Natalya herself even called the match "the highlight of my career" during an episode of "WWE: Behind the Match."
8. The Dudley Boyz vs. Christian and Edge vs. Kane & Undertaker, No Way Out 2001
On paper, this match may seem like a slam dunk for the Top 5 or even Top 3 on this list, especially since it takes place only a month before the now iconic Tables, Ladders and Chairs match involving two thirds of the participants here. In reality, it falls perfectly on the eight spot.
The addition of the Brothers of Destruction to the existing tag team title feud between the Dudleys and Edge and Christian made for a much more physical match but it also made for a much slower match compared to what the other teams had been delivering. Plus, interference from Rikishi and Haku targeting 'Taker and Kane only helped bringing down the pace of the match. The Dudleys eventually took advantage of the distraction and put Christian trough a table to retain the titles.
It was a perfectly good and entertaining match from three of the best tag teams WWE had to offer. but the lack of high spots and false finishes makes it hard to rank this match any higher on the list.
7. Edge vs. Chris Benoit, Raw May 30th, 2005
In 2005, Edge was put into a Tables match against Chris Benoit. It was a part of then "Raw" General Manager Eric Bischoff's crusade against ECW to teach the pro-ECW Benoit a lesson.
In what was Edge's first match involving tables since a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match on "SmackDown" over four years before, Benoit dominated most of the match but as you might expect, Lita functioned as an equalizer by constantly interfering. Close to the finish of the match, Eric Bischoff emerged from the commentary table to signal Maven and Tyson Tomko to run out and beat Benoit up, and later brought out Gene Snitsky to assist them after the "Rabid Wolverine" got the upper hand again.
To sum up, there was a perfectly good Tables match going on before Uncle Eric decided to ruin it with his lower mid-card army to send a message to ECW ahead of the first ever One Night Stand event. Either way, Edge and Benoit's work prior to the run-ins is more than enough to secure its spot on the all timer list.
6. The Dudley Boyz and Trish Stratus vs. Chris Jericho, Christian, and Victoria, Raw December 9th, 2002
Just six days before the heel team of women's champion Victoria and tag team champions Chris Jericho and Christian were set to defend their respective titles at Armageddon, they faced the team made of some of their upcoming challengers in the Dudley Boyz and Trish Stratus.
In yet another match in our list to feature a plethora of outside interference, Steven Richards, Spike Dudley, Lance Storm, William Regal, Booker T, and Goldust all showed up, so for a few minutes the match became an all out brawl between all four teams set to wrestle for the tag team gold on Sunday.
The almost excessive amount of interference did not really hurt the match. In fact, it ended being one of the bests parts of the match, along with the intergender characteristic of that particular point in time in WWE. Instead, the match is seriously brought down by tags being enforced by Earl Hebner during most of the match, which he then suddenly stopped doing, and by a couple of scary bumps, particularly one by Victoria that looked like it could have ended far worse.
5. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins, Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2014
Back in the Authority days in WWE, a little after Sting helped getting rid of them and just before John Cena allowed them to come back, the leader of the Cenation faced the Architect in a Tables match. The winner would face Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble for the Beast's WWE Championship.
This is another example of a match being improved by outside interference, as the bumps Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble took, the classic Big Show heel beatdown to get heat from the crowd, and the surprise return by Roman Reigns — the biggest crowd reaction of his career to that point — made up for the match's slow start and John Cena's lackluster trademark offense.
But the interference was not the only positive in the match, as a version of the 2005 Royal Rumble false finish is performed: Seth and John both go trough a table at the same time causing several referees to come out and discuss a decision before eventually restarting the match. This, alongside particularly Seth Rollins' performance, added layers to the match that helped make this match an all-time, top five Tables match.
Cena and Rollins would both go on to challenge Lesnar for the title at the Royal Rumble in a losing effort, where the Beast retained.
4. Bubba Ray Dudley and Spike Dudley vs. Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, Vengeance 2002
Fresh off a 13-month absence after suffering a neck injury, Chris Benoit made his way back to WWE and turned heel and aligning himself with Eddie Guerrero. Meanwhile, Bubba Ray Dudley was in the middle of his first singles run and had only recently gone back to tag team matches, this time alongside Spike.
The match is an awesome 15-minute all timer by two of the best in-ring workers of all time and two flat out table match experts. It also gets an upper hand on some matches in this list by being an elimination match and by not enforcing tags during the entirety of the fight. Another factor in making this match the fourth best in company history is the high-energy, fast-paced offense the team of Benoit and Guerrero displayed, making every moment of the match a can't-miss moment.
3. Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus, Extreme Rules 2011
Back in 2011, coming off his time as "King Sheamus," the Celtic Warrior won the United States Championship and went on an uber-American phase to the point of his gear now featured red, white, and blue. After just being drafted to "SmackDown" two days before this event, Teddy Long would inform Sheamus on the spot that his first challenger would be Kofi Kingston in a Tables match.
The impromptu match absolutely delivered, taking advantage of every second in the nine minutes they were given by hitting hard, moving fast, and doing really good false finishes. As should be expected, the match featured plenty of Kofi Kingston's crazy athleticism in those false finishes. In addition to this, the finish of the match — which featured Kofi doing an amazing jump from the ringpost — will rightfully be replayed in perpetuity in WWE's video packages, as it is one of the most legendary table moments in WWE history.
2. Jeff Hardy, Bubba Ray Dudley and Spike Dudley vs. Rico and Three Minute Warning, Survivor Series 2002
Bubba and Spike Dudley were part of yet another all-time great Tables match, this time alongside Jeff Hardy to take on the team of former stylist Rico Constantino and Three Minute Warning (Rosey, who was the real life brother of Roman Reigns, and Jamal, who would later portray the Samoan Bulldozer, Umaga).
This one is massively improved upon other entries in this list by having no tags between the teams and focusing on individual eliminations, therefore guarantying at the very least five table spots in the match.
Other factors that make this match an absolute must-watch include Jeff Hardy recreating his iconic jump from the balcony at Madison Square Garden from almost three years before, Spike getting rag-dolled like only he can, and Rosey running through a table face first. Not even a couple of very noticeable errors during the match, one of them prompting the crowd to chant "You f****d up!" at Rosey, and another (which has been edited from the Network) which saw Rico standing on the top rope yelling at Jeff Hardy to hit his cue, could derail this match from being one of the top three in WWE history.
The final touch for this match came before the finish as D-Von Dudley ran out to help Bubba, Spike and Jeff secure the victory. The ovation D-Von received from the New York City crowd makes this match a must-watch by itself.
1. The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz, Royal Rumble 2000
Here it is. The best Tables match in WWE history, and perhaps coincidentally it is the first ever Tables match in WWE history. The Ladder triple threat tag team match a couple of months after this one at WrestleMania 2000 is usually considered the first ever Tables, Ladders and Chairs match before such match existed, but truth be told, this is probably a closer candidate to the inspiration of the TLC match.
This match features as many chair shots, table breaks, and jumps off ladders as you should probably expect from these two teams in the year 2000. All four participants were on top of their game on this night, and created a perfect first chapter in what would be a historic series of matches.
This match is truly incredible, but its most astonishing quality is how safely all four wrestlers were able to execute highly dangerous moves and spots throughout the match. The one and only "Stone Cold" Steve Austin agrees with this sentiment, as he told Bubba Ray during their interview on the "Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions": "Here is what I love about you guys. With all the high-risk stuff, with all the destruction, very precise, very calculated, eliminating as much risk as you can from a high risk situation. You guys with all the s**t you did, you guys were very careful."