It’s summer blockbuster season again. We fans are being treated to the greatest in action spectacles and violence — and it’s pretty great. But action-adventure epics aren’t limited to the silver screen, and Transformers won’t be the only thing I’ll be watching this weekend that’s full of car wrecks.
WWE Money in the Bank, the leading professional wrestling company’s annual demolition derby, airs Sunday on pay-per-view and WWE Network. The event will feature two multiple-person ladder matches with huge prizes — the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is on the line in one, and an opportunity to fight for that championship at any time is up for grabs in the other. Within the context of sports entertainment storylines, there are few matches that hold more importance to a pro wrestler’s career.
But the Money in the Bank ladder match is just the newest incarnation of a match that dates back over 40 years and has featured some of the greatest action ever seen on screen — all without the benefit of special effects. The ladder match, quite simply, is the greatest gimmick match in professional wrestling. And if you aren’t a pro wrestling fan, I promise: even you will be entertained by a good ladder match. The best of the ladder matches have included some of the most absurd and risky maneuvers ever performed by any human being for any reason. See exhibit A:
In case you don’t have time to click on that video, the clip is of one man tackling another man in the middle of the air. There are about a million ways this could have gone wrong, yet both men were able to get up and walk away after the match. Neither practiced this stunt, and neither got paid extra for coming so close to death. The two performers simply wanted to put on a show that would get them attention, even if that meant risking their lives. And ultimately, it worked: both men are former WWE World Champions — something that only about 40 men in the last 50 years can say.
The ladder match, however, did not begin as a smash-mouth, high-octane, Michael Bay movie in a 20′-by-20′ ring. Its origins are much more humble and date back to 1972, when jumping through tables was unheard of in the sport of pro wrestling.
WWE fans are often told that the first ladder match ever took place in 1994 at WrestleMania X. That, however, is untrue. The match wasn’t even the first in WWE history.
The first recorded ladder match was held two decades earlier in a company called Stampede Wrestling. Stampede ran out of Calgary, Canada, and was known for its innovation and use of international pro wrestling stars. In September 1972, Stampede tried out a new gimmick which saw two men compete to climb a ladder to the ceiling, where a wad of cash was awaiting the victor. The match saw Dan Kroffat defeat Tor Kamata.
Stampede didn’t revisit the match again for seven years, when it pitted Junkyard Dog against Jake “The Snake” Roberts. The match, which can be seen on WWE’s first ladder match DVD compilation, is pretty unbearable to watch and looks nothing like the violent metal-fest we know and love today.
Stampede Wrestling was run by legendary professional wrestling promoter and patriarch Stu Hart, who often used his many sons as top stars in the territory. His son Bret, whom you may have heard of, competed in another early ladder match in Stampede against Bad News Brown.
Bret “The Hitman” Hart, as you may know, later joined Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation (today’s WWE) and suggested that the company adopt the ladder match stipulation. McMahon, who had never heard of such a thing, eventually agreed to let Bret show him what a ladder match was all about. The Hitman was given the opportunity to influence McMahon at an untelevised house show in Portland, Maine, against an opponent of his choosing: Shawn Michaels.
The Michaels/Hart match was more in line with the ladder match of today, but with the match never airing on television, it was not able to gain the attention of pro wrestling fans around the world. Incidentally, it didn’t capture the attention of McMahon either. According to Hart, McMahon never actually bothered to watch WWE’s first ladder match.
With Michaels’ experience with Hart tucked away in his mind, “The Heartbreak Kid” suggested the match to McMahon again, but on a very different stage. Michaels, who had been suspended from the company for failing a drug test, was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship. While he was away, Razor Ramon was named the new champion, but when Michaels returned, he still had the old belt. And so, the first nationally televised ladder match was booked for the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania X, with both Intercontinental titles hanging above the ring, waiting for one man to capture the undisputed championship.
Michaels and Ramon put on a spectacular show, full of violence and risk-taking unheard of in WWF in the early 1990s. When Michaels dove off the ladder onto Ramon, he cemented his legacy in the minds of professional wrestling fans.
The match changed the direction of pro wrestling from a display of mat skills and a competition of strong men to an entertainment form defined by spectacle and risk. Sure, muscle heads continue to have their place in WWE, but smaller, more athletically gifted pro wrestlers are no longer ignored completely in favor of bodybuilders. In fact, Michaels set the stage for the ladder match to be the professional springboard for smaller pro wrestlers, paving the way for men like Rob Van Dam, Jeff Hardy, and Eddie Guerrero.
The WrestleMania ladder match set the standard by which all subsequent ladder matches would be judged. And in the late 90s and early 2000s, three tag teams raised the bar to a height that can never again be reached — and probably shouldn’t be.
In 1999, The Hardy Boyz faced Edge and Christian in the first-ever tag-team ladder match. The Hardys, who had been inspired by Michaels and considered the WrestleMania X contest among the best matches of all time, set out to prove what they could do with the match that HBK made famous. Edge and Christian, still new to WWE at the time, were more than willing to do their parts to make the tag team match stand out. The four competitors tore down the house with innovative violence and spectacular, suicidal maneuvers. All four men received a standing ovation and caught the attention of the decision makers in WWE.
Six months after their ladder match encounter, the two teams were joined by The Dudley Boyz in a three-team ladder match, proceeding to steal the show at WrestleMania 2000. With this match and their Tables, Ladders, and Chairs rematches at SummerSlam and the next year’s WrestleMania X-Seven, the three teams cemented their statuses as pro wrestling legends with some of the most risky, incredible performances ever seen from any professional athletes.
Unfortunately, this type of match is incredibly dangerous, and the spectacles that took place featuring those six men can never — and should never — be duplicated. The men involved took too many risks and raised the bar too high. In 2011, Edge, who has competed in dozens of ladder matches, had to retire while seemingly in his prime due to neck damage sustained after years of brutal competition.
In order to maintain the aura of the ladder match, WWE has made sure to use multiple athletes in most of these contests so the risks can be dispersed. While singles matches still take place with a ladder, the vast majority of ladder matches today are Money-in-the-Bank style, featuring between six and 10 competitors.
Still, some of the risks taken in Money in the Bank matches take a fan’s breath away. Shelton Benjamin in particular has used the Money in the Bank match to leave his legacy in the world of professional wrestling. Some of his more daring moves will be seen on highlight reels for decades:
We all know professional wrestling features predetermined outcomes and scripted segments, but much of what the performers do in the ring is determined by those involved. Many of the moves hurt. But the ladder match brought to the mainstream a more painful ring style that defined pro wrestling in the 90s and can still be seen today. We have to remember that the performers are people, too, and that we can’t have the bloodlust we had in the 90s if we expect our favorite pro wrestlers to live long and healthy lives.
Still, the spectacle is one of the best in the world, and fans love the matches for a reason. The ladder match has a storied history in professional wrestling, and will continue to be the maker of superstars.
WWE Money in the Bank has raised the status of the ladder match to the main event. The match often displays the talent of WWE’s next top stars and acts as a proving ground for those who want the world’s attention. Who will rise to the occasion this Sunday? I don’t know about you, but I look forward to finding out.