From the Bowery: WWE Countdown: Craziest Ladder Matches

From the Bowery: WWE Countdown: Craziest Ladder Matches

-The Pens just choked in the playoffs once again, and I’m not in the best of moods so let’s just get on with the Countdown this week.

-Talking heads discuss the concept of the ladder match and how they have become a special attraction. Dean Ambrose brings the awesome as he says it comes down to a climbing contest and unless you are a fireman it is new territory. Everyone else discusses the brutality and they show Joey Mercury getting his face destroyed. That is still sickening to watch. They make it clear that this countdown also includes TLC matches and not just strictly ladder matches. This opening montage with the various highlights is pretty awesome and shows a lot of memorable moments.

10: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho: No Mercy 2008

-This is for the World Heavyweight Title and is during the 2nd feud between these two. At SummerSlam 2008 Shawn teased retiring with his wife by his side, and Jericho interrupts and accidently cold cocks Shawn’s wife. For those curious, no they don’t show it here as they only show Jericho rearing back, then the screen goes black, and we see Shawn’s wife on the mat. I can understand why they edited things there. That leads to two great PPV matches between them and here we cover the kick ass ladder match for Jericho’s World Title. A lot of folks thought they should have ridden this story out to Mania and blown things off there with Shawn winning the title, but we got Undertaker vs. Shawn instead, so no complaints. They discuss how Shawn made the ladder match famous, but Jericho was involved in a lot of ladder matches himself. Jericho wins the match and Shawn says he was very proud of the match.

9: The Rock vs. HHH: SummerSlam 1998

-The Nation had a war with DX and The Rock and HHH were the leaders of each faction. They cover the DX parody of the Nation and things escalated from there as the Rock used a ladder to beat the piss out of HHH. That leads to SummerSlam 1998 at MSG and they make each other with a show stealing match. The Rock knows they had to be different than previous ladder matches, so they made things more physical. They show the People’s Elbow on the ladder that nearly brought the house down, but Chyna is the deciding factor as she hits Rock in the boulders and HHH wins the IC Title. Ambrose says he knew that after watching the match that each man was going to be around for a long time. Rock and HHH each say the same thing and that’s what makes a great match: when both men get each other over no matter the outcome.

8: Rob Van Dam vs. Eddie Guerrero

-This is for the IC Title and was on an edition of RAW. Heyman says that RVD still had the stigma of an ECW guy and Guerrero the stigma of a cruiserweight, so this was the chance for each man to break through that perceived level. RVD pops up and says that this was Eddie’s first ladder match which is not true as he faced Syxx in a Ladder Match at n.W.o Souled Out (watch it on the Network Rob). As for this match it was pretty damn brutal and then a fan jumps in the ring and tries to knock Eddie off the ladder. Eddie lands on his feet and punches the fan in the face which cracks Santino up. Ambrose says he hopes that never happens to him, but his deliver is awesome as you know he would be thrilled if a fan tried that on him so he could knock his teeth down this throat. RVD wins the match and become the new IC Champ and Vicki stops by to say she loves having Rob back in the WWE because every time he does the Frog Splash she is reminded of Eddie.

7: T.I.T Finals: Tag Team Ladder Match: Hardyz vs. Edge and Christian: No Mercy 1999

-This is criminally low as this is the match that made all 4 of these men stars and reinvented the ladder match concept. Santino cracks me up as he realizes Terri Invitation Tournament spells tit. Old footage of the Hardyz discussing the match and they knew it was their chance to make a name for themselves. Just too much crazy shit in this match and Edge mentions they received a standing ovation from the crowd. Rey says that in a time where Taker, Rock, Austin, and HHH were dominating, it was great to see 4 young guys steal the show and then run with it.

6: WrestleMania XXIV: Money in the Bank Ladder Match

-CM Punk may not be here as one of the talking heads, but damn right he will still show up on this countdown in some manner. This match featured: MVP, Punk, Kennedy, Jericho, Morrison, Benjamin and Carlito. Jeff Hardy was supposed to be in this as well, but he was suspended, and instead of filling his spot they just rolled with these 7 guys. Oh shit, I guess I was wrong as they do have Punk show up and he is still called a WWE Superstar instead of a Former WWE Superstar like others. I assume its older footage, but still great to have him on here. They discuss Morrison doing a moonsault with the ladder off the top to the floor and how it could only come from the mind of someone like him. Benjamin bumps his ass off like usual, and Punk wins the match after tripping up Jericho. Rollins puts over how huge it was seeing Punk win the match as you didn’t think it could happen and AJ Lee says the same (nice to have her back on here as well). Jericho says the match put Punk on the map in the WWE and Punk says he knew the pressure was on him to make it now. I think things turned out fine for him!

-Recap of things to this point.

5: Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero: SummerSlam 2005

-Oh man, I can’t believe this one is actually cracking the list. Everyone reads from Eddie’s Bedtime Stories book and it’s fucking hilarious. The story was that Eddie was banging chicks all over the place and Rey was shooting blanks, so he gave one of his babies to Rey and his wife. Vicki says that her daughters were even questioning things. David Otunga, as our resident lawyer, mentions a custody dispute being settled in a ladder match probably isn’t legal, but this is the WWE we are talking about. Okerlund seems disgusted by the match, but can’t please everyone. The match itself was good, but I don’t know if it was Top 5 of all time ladder matches good. Rey mentions it was his first ever ladder match in the WWE and he wanted to deliver. Cesaro is awesome as he says he thought Dominic may be hanging from a cage above the ring. That would have made the match even better I think. Vicki betrays Eddie (late on her run in) and Rey wins. Everyone says the angle was fun and that Eddie and Rey would still be laughing about it today.

4: Jeff Hardy vs. The Undertaker: RAW 2002

-Taker was the Undisputed WWE Champion and Jeff was given this shot on RAW after putting up a hell of fight in a non title match. He asks for a shot a week later for the title in a ladder match and Taker agrees. This is the match that proved Jeff had the chops for a Main Event singles run and if not for personal demons it would have happened sooner than it eventually did. The Undertaker delivered a hell of a beating, but the story of Hardy never giving up and nearly reaching the title is rather awesome. They legit had the crowd believing Hardy could beat Taker for the title, but in the end he gets choke slammed off the ladder and Taker retains. Jeff talks about the ending and how Taker came back down to the ring and raised his hand. Heyman says that once you get the respect of The Undertaker you are well on your way.

-We take a break to discuss the first every ladder match in WWE history and thankfully they are talking about Shawn vs. Bret and not Shawn vs. Razor. Rey didn’t know Bret/Shawn had the first ladder match and Rollins says he only knew because of Bret’s book. Man, what kind of fans were they? Bret brought the idea of the match to Vince and he was lukewarm to the idea, but told Bret to pick an opponent and see what happens. Bret picks Shawn and the rest is history. I am just happy they have finally laid to rest that Razor vs. Shawn happened first. Vince tells Bret after the match that he didn’t get a chance to see it, and Bret seems a tad bitter that Shawn and Razor stole his idea.

3: TLC: John Cena vs. Edge: Unforgiven 2006

-This is for the WWE Title and is the match that ended their lengthy feud the first time (rekindled later in 2010 in which Edge won the final PPV contest between the two). Edge says he had fun going to Cena’s parent’s house and slapping his dad. Nice! Edge picks the TLC match because it is his specialty and the match was also in his hometown of Toronto. Cena admits he hates Ladder matches and is afraid of heights. Kofi says that home field advantage is everything. Yeah, tell that to my Penguins who just choked once again on their home ice. Piss! Thanks Kofi! I was slowly getting over that and now you have me flustered once again. Rollins says he was interested to see if Cena could hang in that kind of environment. He could! Lita runs interference in the match and Cena takes a manly bump off the ladder, to the floor and through a table. Edge then takes a crazy ass bump as well to the floor. The end sees Cena hitting the FU off the ladder and putting Edge through a stack of tables. Damn! You can tell Rollins was a fan of the match as he is the one talking about it the most. It was a great match, but again, not sure if it belong this high

2: Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon: WrestleMania X

-I am absolutely floored that this match wasn’t ranked number 1. That can only leave one of the tag TLC matches at the top spot I would assume. You should all know the story about this match by now and how influential it has been on every ladder match since. Shawn was the IC Champ, but had it stripped and Razor won the vacated title. Shawn came back with his title, so both were hung above the ring and ladder match hit mainstream at Mania X at MSG (screw you Rangers). Shawn discusses having his pants pulled down and AJ says she was too young to see that at the time. Santino continues to be hilarious as I guess he will be the new guy I appreciate hearing on these things since Punk is gone. Nearly 20 years later people still talk about the match which shows how awesome it still is. I do prefer the rematch at SummerSlam (from Pittsburgh, so screw you NY, we at least win something).

1:TLC II: WrestleMania X-7

-I can see why this was voted #1 and it is probably one of the favorite matches of all time. Heyman calls the match unnerving and Hayes says they made him nervous as well. Ryder says that Tag Wrestling was dead until those 3 teams brought about a new golden age. Heyman again, as he saw the first TLC and was scared as he knew the 6 men would do whatever they could to top themselves. They were willing to sacrifice years off their career and they did that in spades at Mania. They talk about how each team had someone run interference for them: Rhyno, Spike, and Lita. The crack production crew has a table counter and we see that 8 tables were broken during the match. Nice feature! The craziest moment of course is the super spear of death from Edge to Jeff. Bryan mentions those are the types of things that cause terrible injuries (sadly, Bryan has his own injury to deal with now). Tremendously fun match that damn near stole the show at the Greatest Mania and possibly greatest PPV of all time.

-The Super Spear of Death is shown one more time as the show ends.

The 411: Another fun show and I guess the covered the more important matches in the genre. The big ones forgotten were TLC I, Shawn/Razor II, and MITB I (no Benoit so I understand). Also would have been nice to at least give a nod to the crazy shit 3 Count and the Young Dragons were doing in the end years of WCW. Still, show brought back a lot of memories and now with the WWE Network you can find these matches and watch them again (well, I guess the 2 RAW matches will be up one day).

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]  legend