The 2012 TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs was the fourth annual TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on December 16, 2012, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It was the first professional wrestling event to be held at the Barclays Center and WWE's first event held in Brooklyn.

Ten matches were contested at the event, with two matches contested on the pre-show. In the main event, Dolph Ziggler defeated John Cena in a Ladder match to retain the World Heavyweight Money in the Bank contract. In other prominent matches, The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins) defeated Ryback and WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) in a Six-man tag team Tables, Ladders and Chairs match which was also The Shield's debut match as a stable and Big Show defeated Sheamus in a Chairs match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

The event received 175,000 pay-per-view buys, down from 179,000 buys the previous year.

TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) produced every December by WWE since 2009. 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. The 2012 event was the fourth TLC and was scheduled to take place on December 16, 2012, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It would in turn be the first professional wrestling event held at the Barclays Center and subsequently WWE's first event held in Brooklyn. In addition to the event, winners of several categories of the WWE Slammy Awards were announced on the pre-show.

The professional wrestling matches at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown.

The major rivalry going into TLC was between the reigning WWE Champion CM Punk and Ryback. Having been denied the title at Hell in a Cell by 'rogue official' Brad Maddox, Ryback along with John Cena competed in a triple threat match for Punk's title at Survivor Series. However, Punk was able to retain the title again when the debuting trio of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns interfered and powerbombed Ryback through a table as he was closing in on victory. The trio followed this up by putting Ryback through a table once again the next night on Raw, and, calling themselves The Shield, continued to attack a myriad of superstars over the following weeks including repeated assaults on the WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane), who vowed to put aside the personal differences which had marred their title reign and become united as a result. Having been denied the chance to win the WWE Championship at Survivor Series, Ryback was granted another opportunity at the title in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match against Punk. However, the following week during a brawl involving The Shield, Team Hell No and The Miz, Ryback assaulted Punk with a chair and a ladder before powerbombing him through a table. The next day, Punk underwent surgery for a (legit) knee injury, and so was removed from the card. Instead, Ryback would team with Team Hell No against Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns in a six-man tag team TLC match. This match (which was announced via a press release by WWE chairman Vince McMahon) differed from standard TLC matches as it would be decided via pinfall or submission. However, the original TLC match between CM Punk and Ryback was rescheduled for the first Raw of 2013.

On October 28, 2012, at Hell in a Cell, Big Show won the World Heavyweight Championship after defeating Sheamus. The conflict between both men intensified after the match, leading to Big Show's attack on Sheamus and William Regal while the two were visiting an English pub during WWE's European tour. Another fight broke out between the two of them in a parking lot during the November 16 episode of SmackDown. The conflict reached its worst during their rematch at Survivor Series: the Big Show used a referee to shield himself from the Brogue Kick and managed to deliver a knockout punch (WMD) while Sheamus was checking on the downed referee. This foul play ultimately caused the Big Show to be disqualified from the match, thus retaining his title. Shortly after failing to regain the title, Sheamus attacked Big Show with a steel chair while the Big Show pleaded for a cessation of the attacks. Sheamus relented, but followed up the beating by performing his finishing move, the Brogue Kick, on the Big Show. Therefore, a chairs match between Big Show and Sheamus was first announced on the November 23 episode of SmackDown by General Manager Booker T. TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs events have been an emotional point for Big Show as he both gained and then lost his title during the last event held in 2011 in a record of 45 seconds, as a result of Bryan Danielson cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase after Mark Henry knocked out Show post-match.

Leading up to Survivor Series, Wade Barrett replaced The Miz as the final entrant of Team Ziggler, matching up with Kofi Kingston. During the Survivor Series tag team match between Team Foley and Team Ziggler, Barrett managed to pin Kingston and eliminate him. On the November 19 episode of Raw, Barrett defeated Kingston in a non-title match. During the November 26 episode, Barrett was granted a match to vie for Kingston's Intercontinental Championship at the TLC event.