BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) CHRIS JERICHO vs. SHAWN MICHAELS
10/5/2008 – NO MERCY – PORTLAND, OR
This was part of what many, including myself considered the “feud of the year” in 2008. I’m even going to go as far as saying that this feud may have been the last great feud WWE has had. I honestly can’t think of anything since this rivalry that measured up to this level of all around awesomeness. The Michaels/Undertaker feud had the potential to pull it off, but had too many stale weeks in between blow offs. For a good chunk of 2008 Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels put on a clinic on the terms “wrestling”, “promos”, and “ring presence”. If either man were on TV during this time you better believe they had our attention. For this specific match, the two went back and forth about whose Ladder Match resume was better. Unlike a lot of Ladder Matches, this one didn’t have as many high spots as you’d expect from two smaller guys like Jericho or Michaels. Instead, it was a bit more grueling and they beat the hell out of each other like a legit battle. The finish was unique as they played tug-a-war with the belt and in the end, it was basically a desperate act of luck by Jericho that kept the title on him that night. Because this match didn’t have any very memorable moments, I think people sleep on it. A very well done and intense as can be match is forgotten because they used a steel ladder as a weapon instead of a toy is retard-diculous. For me, it showed what a ladder match should be, a war.
(THREE) REY MYSTERIO vs. EDDIE GUERRERO
8/21/2005 – SUMMERSLAM – WASHINGTON, D.C.
This is another one that would probably not be anywhere near this high on someone’s favorite list. For me, it came at a time when I was fully appreciating the work of Eddie Guerrero. His time would sadly come to an end a few months down the line, but at this point no one knew it was coming and it was “business as usual”. For Eddie Guerrero the term “business as usual” meant to be putting on great matches, putting an unique twist on simple concerts, and being very entertaining. Watching Eddie work in his later days was like watching an iconic rockstar. He was so good, natural, and fluid in his work that you’d almost confuse it for confidence. And if it was, rightfully freakin’ so. Then you put his friend Rey-Rey in a program with him at this time? Wow. To me Rey has always been hit or miss, but mainly “hit” when working with Eddie. This was no different. For months on Smackdown, Eddie and Rey had a feud going over family and even took it as far as Eddie claiming that Rey’s son Dominick was really his. It was a tangled web of soap opera like stories, but they made it work. This match, as you’d expect with Rey involved, had a lot of high spots. The crowd ate it up as these two friends beat the crap out of eachother. In the end the drama ruled the scene as Vicki held Eddie back from destroying Rey, Dominick shook the ladder, and the good guy won.
(TWO) UNDERTAKER vs. JEFF HARDY
7/1/2002 – RAW – MANCHESTER, NH
Let me start off by saying that Jeff Hardy is one of my least favorite wrestlers of all time. I can see why he’s popular, the looks, Hot Topic packaging, the flippy spots, and he jumped off a lot of tall stuff in his time. And I still thought this was a great match. Undertaker is barely watchable the past few years, but on this night in 2002 he was on his A-Game. Jeff Hardy was getting a lot of pops at this time and was getting a pretty large midcard feud. In order to I guess “test the waters”, they put Jeff up against the well established Champion in the “American Bad Ass” version of Undertaker. What they did here was pretty different compared to most other Ladder Matches; they pulled out a “underdog” story. Taker is obviously a bigger guy, and at the time way higher up in the food chain than the smaller post-Hardy Boyz paint drinker. They fought back and forth for a short period, but the entire match was Undertaker beating the life out of Hardy and then Hardy coming back. Each time more dramatic, each time more painful to Hardy. There were even points where you’d be forced to dispend belief as you thought maybe, just maybe Jeff Hardy could come out of the match with Taker’s belt. Of course Undertaker won the match, but it really established Jeff Hardy as a future star. The end of the match saw the normal a-motive Undertaker show remorse and respect for the relentless Hardy as he shook his hand. Good stuff.
(ONE) RAZOR RAMON vs. SHAWN MICHAELS
3/20/1994 – WRESTLEMANIA X – NEW YORK, NY
This is still my favorite match of all time. Watching it as a ten year old on Pay Per View in a room full of friends was a childhood highlight. The match had a huge impact on me and without seeing it I can’t say for sure if I’d of ever been as huge of a fan as I grew to be, that alone get involved in the business during my late teens and early 20s. At the time, Razor Ramon(later nWo’s Scott Hall) was the Intercontential Champion after winning a Battle Royal-slash-match months before. He won it because it was vacated by then Champ Shawn Michaels. Michaels was “on vacation” at the time and came back and refused to acknowledge Razor as the new champ. So each of them had their own IC Title and for this match BOTH belts would hang above the ring and the man to get them down would be the winner. What happened between the sounding of each bell was downright beautiful. The ladder match is credited to this match as its origin, but anyone with an internet connection can reveal this was not the first Ladder Match. Not even the first WWF/WWE Ladder Match for that matter. None the less, this is the match that defined what the Ladder Match is, could, and should be. It was perfect in every sense for a match in 1994. They used the ladder as a weapon, as a catapult, as a third man in the ring. The simple leaps from the top taken by Michaels onto Razor are and will always be iconic images of a time period where professional wrestling still mattered. In the end, Razor Ramon may have left with both belts but it was the fans who were the real winners here.
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