EVERY LADDER MATCH IN WWE HISTORY, RANKED
Ever since HBK and Razor Ramon exploded my little six year old brain in 1994, the ladder match has been near and dear to my heart. Not every WWE ladder match is great, or even good. More often than not though, WWE nails their ladder matches. The amount of planning, thought, rehearsal, and care that go into these productions is usually quite clear to even the most casual observer. The threat of real danger and violence in the air produces a certain excitement that quite simply isn’t present in every match. It’s an entire match built around falling, with style! Ladder matches are far from foolproof, but a good one is tremendous.
This list includes last night’s WWE Money in the Bank 2017 show, and any other standalone Ladder, TLC or MITB match that aired on WWE TV or later on a DVD/VHS release. So, HBK/Bret Hart from 1992, aka the first ever WWE ladder match? On the list. It has been released numerous times. Goldust/HBK from some house show? Not on the list. If the ladder match is part of a 2/3 falls match, it is not on the list. So no Angle/Benoit, no HHH/HBK. This leaves us with 86 matches total.
Also, while I’m explaining the crap out of stuff, here is a quick breakdown of the old star rating scale, and what star ratings even are and why I am bothering. Go ahead and skip to the picture of ladders if you want to just read the list.
THE STAR RATINGS SCALE AKA Somehow, he’s single AKA I swear I’m not taking this too seriously guys follow me on Twertsergram and Facebonk:
I mean at their core, ratings are meant to be a way to see, at a quick glance, how a certain reviewer felt about a certain thing. I don’t mean this to be rude or to put my opinions on a pedestal at all, I’ve just seen way too much fuckin’ wrestling in my life and I feel like I should quantify it if I’m gonna review this stuff. Here’s the basic, 5-star scale that I/many other nerdlingers use on rasslin matches:
5 * — An all-time classic, flawless, unquestionable match of the year contender, will be talked about for years. Once it’s over, there’s no doubt about it.
4.75 * — An incredible, classic match, that didn’t connect quite at the level of an all-timer, or an almost perfect match with a minor flaw that slightly detracted from an otherwise flawless performance (*sniffs own farts for hours*)
4.5* — Borderline-classic, should be talked about more, celebrated, watched at various nerdy social gatherings of wrestling fans, etc.
4.25* — A 4.5 star match but a little bit worse, or maybe a 4 star match but a little bit better
4* — Clearly above average, really solid, good and memorable match.
3.5 * — somewhere between 4* and 3* ?
3* — Above average. A good, fun, or surprisingly fun or good match.
2.5* — Average, plain, run-of-the-mill rasslin battle
2* — Slightly below average
1* — Muchly below average
DUD — An awful and unwatchable wrestling match that I don’t want to watch again
-5* — An affront to the professional wrestling business
Quarter Stars and negative stars are handed out on a case-by-case basis, I guess?
EVERY LADDER MATCH IN WWE HISTORY RANKED 86–1
86. Vince & Shane McMahon v. Steve Austin — Ladder Match for custody of the WWF — King of the Ring 27.06.99
DUD
This match is like the second season of Twin Peaks: it’s long, boring, it ends on a cliffhanger that never gets solved, and all the fans hate it.
In a nutshell: the winner (s) becomes the boss (es) of the company, so they need a way for Stone Cold to lose. Stone Cold is in fact about to win, but as he reaches for the briefcase, it mysteriously raises up towards the ceiling away from him. Austin eventually falls down somehow and Vince and Shane win, or something.
BUT WAIT, WHO RAISED THE BRIEFC-(*long, extended fart noise*)
We never officially find out who did it, although many fans on the wrestling web seem to remember that the Big Boss Man did it? This is actually a point of contention for many wrestling fans: I for one do not remember any proof of that theory ever airing on WWE television, yet for some reason, I do remember that being the theory since 1999.
Anyway, the most interesting part of this match is the illogical cop-out ending. A horrendous, dire match. Do not watch this, even to form fan theories.
— —
85. Mankind v. Big Boss Man— Ladder Match — Hardcore Title — WWF Raw is War 30.11.98
1*
84. Mankind v. The Rock — Ladder Match - WWF Title — Raw is War 15.02.99
1*
Mick Foley slowly gets slammed off of a bunch of ladders and loses via interference. I mean, these are not good wrestling matches, but they hearken back to a time when stuff happened on Monday Night Raw. It wasn’t always technically sound, but boy howdy did that plot advance.
— —
83. Sabu v. Rob Van Dam — Ladder Match for #1 Contender to ECW Title @ Summerslam — ECW 15.08.06
1.5*
Slightly below slightly below average. To quote Bryan Alvarez: God bless em, they try to turn back the clock to 1996 and have an old school ECW war. Unfortunately this is very much the botchy, splotchy, hard to watch-y WWE knockoff version of ECW that we all hated and wanted to go away.
— —
82. Rob Van Dam v. Big Show — “Ladder Match For An Opportunity For An ECW Title Match” Match — ECW 24.10.06
2*
81. Dolph Ziggler v. Kofi Kingston v. Jack Swagger — Ladder Match — IC Title - TLC 19.12.10
2*
80. Raw MITB — MITB 2012 — John Cena v. Kane v. Chris Jericho v. The Miz, v. Big Show
2*
Don’t go back and watch these. It’s pretty hard to screw up ladder matches in WWE (as I said previously, they generally are kept pretty neat and tidy, they are rehearsed, the production is great, commentary is on point, etc) but these three matches are the only three in WWE history that I would call “slightly below average”. Not good, but not even bad enough to be fun. Included in this muck are a Big Show Ladder Match that Cena wins, another Big Show Ladder Match that RVD wins (see #73&74), and Dolph winning the Dolph-est match in the Dolph-est way of all time — Kofi and Swagger drop the belt and Dolph picks it up off the ground and runs away. None of these matches are very good.
— —
79. Triple H v. Kevin Nash — SLEDGEHAMMER LADDER MATCH — TLC 18.12.11
2.5*
This one actually starts off surprisingly well. It’s a pretty clever and realistic way to get a ladder match out of Nash (slowly incorporate the ladder, slowly incorporate a table, build to one Nash bump off the ladder through the table — inside the ring of course, for maximum safety — leading to HHH getting the hammer, leading to one hammer shot and 1–2–3 it’s over thanks for coming. Great!).
The finish falls off the rails though. There is way too much overdramatic YOU USED TO BE MY FRIEND stuff, and Nash botches the first pedigree pretty bad, which the audience audibly groans at.
Good little match in a lot of ways, but weird, You probably don’t need to see it. I maybe would have gone 3* though before the finish. Did not expect to like this one as much as I did.
78. Dolph Ziggler v. John Cena — ONE ON 1NE MONEY IN THE BANK LADDAR MATCH! -TLC 16.12.12
2.5*
Also a weird match. This is in the middle of the AJ/Cena/Ziggler/Big E Langston Love Rhombus. AJ costs Cena the title because Swerve.
There’s a universe where this match ended up being pretty good, but between the length, the shoehorning in of the angle, and the eventual swerve on the angle, it ends up less than the sum of its parts.
— —
77. Kurt Angle v. Mike Haywood — Ladder Match for Kurt’s Olympic Gold Medals -SmackDown 10.03.05
3*
This is a squash, it goes maybe 3 minutes, and one of the participants is an absolute jobby jobberstein who gets demolished, never to be seen again. It’s also a perfect exhibition of Kurt Angle’s talents and a brilliant cog in the classic HBK/Kurt Angle feud from early 2005 (post-match, Angle cuts an awesome promo from atop the ladder and challenges Marty Janetty, leading to Angle v Jannetty, one of the great lost wrestling matches of the 2000s). Kurt Angle might be the most underrated Goofball Squasher in the history of wrestling. Angle beating the tar out of jobberoos was just delightful and I could watch it every single week. I refuse to waiver from this rating.
76. The Hardy Boyz v. Edge Christian — Ladder Match — Tag Team Titles — Raw is War 25.09.00
3*
A really good and intense 20+ minute ladder match that they had to cram into around 10 minutes. E, C and the two H’s whizz through some pretty spectacular spots as fast as possible to celebrate the fact that Raw switched networks in September 2000. “New network eh? let’s send the kids out there to kill themselves so it feels special”.
Good match though, outside of one hilarious spot where Christian grabs a ladder, walks it over, sets it up nicely, realizes everybody else is selling and nobody can stop him, and slowly falls to the mat so he can sell too. He literally has a clear path to win the match, but instead keels over as though he passed out. It’s either so bad it’s good, or the single worst thing I’ve ever seen in a ladder match. I still don’t know how to feel about it, but see for yourself, about 7:00 in:
Having said that, this match achieved what it set out to do: it explicitly implanted an idea in the viewer’s mind that you don’t miss Monday Night Raw, because shit fucking happens when you watch Monday Night Raw. Could you imagine?
75. Rob Van Dam v. Jeff Hardy — Ladder Match — IC & European Title Unification — Raw 22.07.02
3*
Like the previous match but a little better, the Diet Pepsi to RVD/Hardy Summerslam 2001’s robust, cola flavour. They race through all of the spots of their previous match in order to produce a memorable moment on Monday Night Raw. RVD and Hardy have better matches, but there’s nothing particularly wrong with this one other than the fact that it barely has time to breathe.
Also notable because this was in the middle of a gimmick where RVD unified all the midcard titles, (having just beaten Tommy Dreamer to retire the Hardcore title) growing his star almost to unseen heights in the WWE, where he would promptly lose a match and all of his momentum to early 00’s heel HHH. An AWFUL lot of wrestlers lost their heat to early 00’s HHH and never recovered. RVD, Booker T and Goldberg chief among them.
74. D-Generation X (Triple H & Shawn Michaels) v. Jeri-Show (Chris Jericho & Big Show) — Unified Tag Team Titles — TLC Match — TLC 13.12.09
3*
73. SD MITB — MITB 2010 — Big Show v. Christian v. Matt Hardy v. Kane v. Kofi Kingston v. Cody Rhodes v. Dolph Ziggler v. Drew McIntyre
3*
These two are the same match, IE The Big Show Ladder Match. You see, Big Show is indeed a Big Big Show, so his opponents tend to focus on taking him out of the match. Big Show breaks the rungs off of a ladder by accident, Big Show finds and uses a giant ladder, Big Show gets buried under smaller ladders, Big Show emerges from said pile of ladders, Big Show has a goose that lays golden eggs. It is the law of diminishing returns with Big Show in a ladder match, once you’ve seen it you’ve seen it, but the first time around it’s pretty fun.
72. Christian v. Shelton Benjamin — Ladder Match — ECW Title — TLC 13.12.09
3*
Very strange one here. They openly and loudly talk to each other the entire time, in maybe the most distracting way I have ever seen in a wrestling match. They botch a lot. The match is stopped in the first few minutes because of blood. There is zero psychology or any rhyme or reason to anything, it’s just spot, spot, spot bang bang bang. But having said all that, I would still call it slightly above average. It was exciting and I would consider watching it again, but wouldn’t be heartbroken if I forgot it existed at all. Does that make any sense? There’s no way that makes sense.
71. Women’s MITB — MITB 2017 — Natalya v. Tamina v. Charlotte v. Becky v. Carmella w/ James Ellsworth
3*
This happened last night. Two schools of thought on this one:
a) This starts off as a really hot, exciting match. That big match feel, “threat of violence” thing is genuinely in the air, because it’s the first time we’ve seen women in this environment in WWE. The crowd is with this match literally the entire time until the finish, and they even are right there with Ellsworth his whole way up the ladder. It really felt like they wanted it to happen, until it happened.
b) A man wins the first ever women’s ladder match for his woman.
I personally don’t mind the finish, except that it was flat, and the crowd didn’t know what to do with themselves once WWE actually went through with it. The first part of the match was really quite good however, and the crowd totally bought into it. I think it was a pretty decent match all things considered… but if you’re a woman who listened to WWE’s narrative about this ladder match being historic and all that jazz, and after all this revolution talk, a man wins the first ever women’s ladder match? I 10000000000% understand why you would never ever watch this shit again.
70. The Miz v. Jerry Lawler — WWE Title — TLC Match — Raw 29.11.10
3*
69. AJ Styles v. James Ellsworth — Ladder Match for James’ WWE contract — SmackDown 22.11.16
3*
Very similar, yet very very different matches. Established wrestler vs non-wrestler in a ladder match (one gigantic difference is that the wrestler carries AJ v Ellsworth, and the non-wrestler carries Lawler v Miz). Both are surprisingly good and fun matches that have become a tad overrated by their biggest supporters. Other than that, they don’t have a ton in common with each other. AJ Styles takes an insane bump in his match, which is basically like saying Kevin Nash flips his hair and throws a side slam in the HHH match. Of course he did, I didn’t have to say that, you knew it already.
68. The Hardys v. Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin — Ladder Match — Raw Tag Team Titles — One Night Stand 03.06.07
3*
Kinda forget the specifics of this one to be honest? I’m sorry, I’ve watched 86 of these things recently. Like a slightly better and more rewarding version of Christian v Shelton, but not by much.
67. The Miz v. Dolph Ziggler — Ladder Match — IC Title — TLC 04.12.16
3*
66. Edge v. Christian — Ladder Match — IC Title — No Mercy 21.10.01
3*
65. Chris Jericho v. Christian — Ladder Match — IC Title — Unforgiven 12.09.04
3*
64. Randy Orton v. John Cena — WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TWO TITLES — TLC 15.12.13
3*
63. MITB VI — Mania 26 — Christian v. Kane v. Shelton Benjamin v. Matt Hardy v. MVP v. Evan Bourne v. Dolph Ziggler v. Jack Swagger v. Drew McIntyre
3*
62. Raw MITB — MITB 2010 — Edge v. Randy Orton v. Chris Jericho v. John Morrison v. Ted DiBiase Jr. v. Evan Bourne v. Miz v. Mark Henry
3*
61. SD MITB — MITB 2012 — Damian Sandow v. Dolph Ziggler v. Santino Marella v. Christian v. Tensai v. Cody Rhodes v. Sin Cara v. Tyson Kidd
3*
60. Raw MITB — MITB 2011 — Alberto Del Rio v. Rey Mysterio v. Kofi Kingston v. R-Truth v. The Miz v. Jack Swagger v. Evan Bourne v. Alex Riley
3*
— —
59. Bray Wyatt v. Dean Ambrose — TLC 12.12.14
3.25*
This is a 4.25 * match with a -1* ending. These two guys beat the shit out of each other in a really fun, awesome, clearly above average, hard hitting match. Wyatt and Ambrose get put in the main event of a PPV, and they really deliver.
Then a TV explodes in Dean Ambrose’s face.
This is probably the moment that ended Dean Ambrose’s prospects as a main eventer once and for all. The entire Ambrose v. Wyatt feud was pretty damaging for Dean (the build to this match featured Dean being taken to the hospital only to return in the Ambulance that he stole, and many other cheesy tidbits that slowly changed his career from “dangerous” to “goofy”) but the exploding TV was a level of silliness that Ambrose has never truly recovered from. It wouldn’t be long before Dean Ambrose was more of a comedy wrestler than a serious threat, dressing up in various wacky costumes and fighting almost exclusively for the IC title.
— —
58. El Torito v. Hornswoggle — WWE L C !~ — Extreme Rules 04.05.14
3.5*
Fuckin WEE L C, man. If every professional wrestling match was like this, wrestling would be too wacky, but every once in a while, a good bit of fun is just that. This is very much some good rasslin fun.
Fun fact: current WWE champion Jinder Mahal factors majorly into this comedy ladder match between two little people.
57. Bret Hart v. Shawn Michaels — Ladder Match — IC Title — WWF Wrestling Challenge 21.07.92
3.5*
You know what? This match is pretty dang good. It’s very smart (well, except for fucking fucking Lord fucking Alfred Hayes on commentary) and worked like a real fight. There are zero slow climb spots, even at the end. Bret’s dramatic climb to victory actually looks the way a human would do it. On the 1992 WWF House Show scale, this is a banger.
56. Edge Vs. Kane v. Alberto Del Rio v. Rey Mysterio — World Heavyweight Title — TLC 19.12.10
Good, but almost paint by numbers version of a TLC match. Sure they go through a lot of tables and ladders, but where’s the heart??
In a lot of ways this match is a tragedy bordering on Holmes/Ali, in that Edge takes a fucking thousand bumps here at the end of his career. Somehow the guy who retires about a week and a half after this match ends up taking all the bumps. Maybe I was just being oversensitive because I am Canadian and therefore love Edge, but dude didn’t need to be doing this TLC match. You can almost see how little he wants to be there in his eyes. Not in a bad way, but like he’s thinking “lord, get me through this”. Might be projecting an awful lot there, I’m not sure.
Still, good one, worth watching if you really love either of these 4 guys, but nothing that set the planet on fire or that needed to happen at all, really.
55. MITB 2017 — Baron Corbin v. Nakamura v. Styles v. Owens v. Zayn v. Ziggler
3.5*
This also happened last night. It was good. It really didn’t set the world on fire, didn’t truly get going until Sami’s ladder powerbomb, but it was a very fine and good match still. Wrong guy won, though. Loved Nakamura/AJ and the crowd finally just singing Nak’s theme after getting robbed of it twice. Give me Nakamura vs AJ at Wrestlemania or give me death.
54. John Cena v. Alberto Del Rio v. Kane v. Sheamus v. Cesaro v. Bray Wyatt v. Roman Reigns v. Randy Orton — Vacant WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TWO TITLES — Money in the Bank 29.06.14
3.5*
Better than I remembered, but not good enough that I remember any specific thing about it other than this ladder contraption up there ^
It took me about five minutes to remember who even won this thing. Crazy wild spoiler alert- it was Cena.
53. Paul London & Brian Kendrick v. William Regal & Dave Taylor v. MNM v. The Hardys -Smackdown Tag Team Titles — Armageddon 17.12.06
3.5*
52. Jeff Hardy v. Johnny Nitro — Ladder Match — IC Title — Raw 20.11.06
3.5*
51. MITB 2016 — Dean Ambrose v. Alberto Del Rio v. Cesaro v. Chris Jericho v. Kevin Owens v. Sami Zayn
3.5*
50. MITB 2015 — Ziggler v. Kane v. Kofi v. Neville v. Orton v. Roman Reigns v. Sheamus
3.5*
49. Sheamus v. Roman Reigns — WWE World Heavyweight Championshapppee — TLC 13.12.15
3.5*
— —
48. Finn Bálor v. Kevin Owens — Ladder Match — NXT Title — NXT Takeover Brooklyn 22.08.15
3.75*
47. John Cena v. Edge — TLC Match — WWE Title — Unforgiven 17.09.06
3.75*
— —
46. Cesaro & Sheamus v. The Hardys v. Gallows & Anderson v. Enzo and Cass — Raw Tag Team Titles — WrestleMania 33 02.04.17
4*
45. MITB V — Mania 25 — Kane v. Kofi Kingston v. CM Punk v. Shelton Benjamin v. MVP v. Fit Finlay v. Christian v. Mark Henry
4*
44. DIY v. Authors of Pain — NXT Tag Team Titles — NXT Chicago
4*
43. Dolph Ziggler v. Luke Harper — Ladder Match — IC Title — TLC 14.12.14
4*
42. Triple H v. The Rock — Ladder Match — IC Title — SummerSlam 30.08.98
4*
41. Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri v Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin — Ladder Match — Smackdown Tag Team Titles — Judgment Day 18.05.03
4*
40. Edge v. Jeff Hardy — World Heavyweight Championship — Extreme Rules 07.06.09
4*
39. Edge v. Matt Hardy — Ladder Match — Loser Leaves Raw, Winner Recieves Money In The Bank — Raw Homecoming 03.10.05
4*
38. Daniel Bryan v. Bad News Barrett v,. R-Truth v. Dean Ambrose v. Dolph Ziggler v. Luke Harper v. Stardust — 7 Man IC Title Match — WrestleMania 31 29.03.15
4*
37. Raw MITB — MITB 2013 — Randy Orton v. Rob Van Dam v. Christian v. Daniel Bryan v. C.M. Punk v. Sheamus
4*
36. CM Punk Vs. Ryback — WWE Title — TLC — Raw 07.01.13
4*
35. Jeff Hardy v. Carlito — IC Title — Ladder Match — Raw 15th Anniversary — 10.12.07
4*
34. CM Punk v. Jeff Hardy — WWE Title — TLC — SummerSlam 23.08.09
4*
— —
33. Seth Rollins v. Dean Ambrose — Ladder Match — WWE Title— Money in the Bank 14.06.15
4.25*
32. AJ Styles v. Dean Ambrose —TLC Match - WWE Title — TLC 04.12.16
4.25*
31. Edge v. Ric Flair — TLC — WWE Title — Raw 16.01.06
4.25*
30. MITB IV — Mania 24 — CM Punk v. Mr. Kennedy v. Shelton Benjamin v. Chris Jericho v. Matt Hardy v. MVP v. Carlito
4.25*
29. Dolph Ziggler v. Miz v. Sami Zayn v. Kevin Owens v. Zack Ryder v. Stardust v. Sin Cara — I.C Title 7 Man Ladder Match — WrestleMania 32 03.04.16
4.25*
28. MITB II — Mania 22 — Shelton Benjamin v. RVD v. Ric Flair v. Fit Finlay v. Bobby Lashley v. Matt Hardy
4.25*
Just an awesome, fast paced, 14 minute war. No egregious slow climbs. No overly stupid spots. Just a straight-up war, with real stakes, that 6 guys really wanted to win. Most underrated MITB match out there, probably.
27. Rob Van Dam v. Jeff Hardy — Ladder Match — Hardcore Title — SummerSlam 19.08.01
4.25*
26. Rob Van Dam v. Eddie Guerrero — Ladder Match — IC Title — Raw 27.05.02
4.25*
25. Edge v. The Undertaker — World Heavyweight Title — If Undertaker Loses, He Leaves WWE — One Night Stand 01.06.08
4.25*
24. Chris Jericho v. Shawn Michaels — Ladder Match — World Heavyweight Title -No Mercy 05.10.08
4.25*
23. John Morrison v. Sheamus — #1 Contender for WWE Title — TLC 19.12.10
4.25*
22. CM Punk v. The Miz v. Alberto Del Rio — WWE Title — TLC 18.12.11
4.25*
21. MITB 2014 — Dean Ambrose v. Seth Rollins v. Jack Swagger v. Rob Van Dam, Kofi Kingston v. Dolph Ziggler
4.25*
20. SD MITB — MITB 2013 — Dean Ambrose v. Fandango v. Jack Swagger v. Antonio Cesaro v. Cody Rhodes v. Damien Sandow v. Wade Barrett
4.25*
19. Rey Mysterio v. Eddy Guerrero — Ladder Match for custody of a human child- SummerSlam 21.08.05
4.25*
18. SD MITB — MITB 2011 — Kane v. Daniel Bryan v. Wade Barrett v. Heath Slater v. Justin Gabriel v. Cody Rhodes v. Sin Cara v. Sheamus
4.25*
— —
17. Christian v. Alberto Del Rio — Ladder Match — World Heavyweight Championship — Extreme Rules 01.05.11
4.5*
16. The Undertaker v. Jeff Hardy — Ladder Match — WWE Undisputed Title — Raw 01.07.02
4.5*
15. Rob Van Dam v. Christian — Ladder Match — IC Title — Raw 29.09.03
4.5*
14. Adrian Neville v. Bo Dallas — Ladder Match — NXT Title — NXT Arrival 27.02.14
4.5*
Two forgotten gems here.
A perfect TV ladder match, RVD/Christian goes the exact right length of time, features an incredible JR/King performance, is a war that both guys really want to win, is visually stunning and entertaining, and is the TV main event, sending the crowd home happy and giving the viewers reason to tune in next week. Christian and Van Dam are really on their A game here. Great stuff.
Dallas/Neville is almost the evolutionary version of the first: a match that just checks all the boxes of what you want a ladder match to be: it feels like a dangerous fight, the moves are all fancy and crisp, the crowd is great, the commentary is great, the moments are great, and we get a good, decisive finish. A couple of really fine matches here, this is the reason why I bother doing lists like this at all. Watch these wrestling matches if you haven’t seen them in a while.
13. Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit v. Edge & Christian v. Dudley Boyz v. Hardy Boyz — TLC III — Tag Team Titles — SmackDown 24.05.01
4.5*
12. Kane (minus The Hurricane) v. Dudley Boyz v. Christian & Chris Jericho v. Jeff Hardy & Rob Van Dam — TLC IV — Tag Team Titles — Raw 07.10.02
4.5*
11. Edge & Christian v. Hardy Boyz v. Dudley Boyz — Triangle Ladder Match -Tag Team Titles — WrestleMania 2000 02.04.00
4.5*
10. Edge & Christian v. Hardy Boyz v. Dudley Boyz — TLC I — Tag Team Titles — SummerSlam 27.08.00
4.5*
These ones are basically all tied, you could rank them wherever you want. I like TLC I over the Mania 2000 match just because it’s in North Carolina and the Hardys are especially insane, and I like TLC IV over TLC III because IV came on the Raw Roulette episode of Raw from Oct 2002, one of the great episodes of Raw ever. Can’t go wrong here though. TLC II will also appear later on this list. If you want to tell me TLC I, III, IV, or it’s sister match TLC 0 from Mania 2000 is your favorite ladder match ever, I wouldn’t have any reason to argue.
9. New Brood v. Edge & Christian — Ladder Match for Terri Runnels aka the Terri Invitational Tournament aka the last idea Vince Russo ever drew a dime with — No Mercy 17.10.99
4.5*
In terms of the ladder matches that occured in the late 90’s, the record book will show that we went from Rock v HHH Summerslam 1998, to the two 1* Mick Foley matches, to this match. This match doesn’t get the credit it deserves anymore. Just know that Edge and Christian breaking out in a ladder match vs the Hardys in 1999 is something that couldn’t be duplicated now, if for no other reason than all the hot young talent sits in NXT until it’s no longer hot or young. And don’t get me wrong, I love NXT, but it’s just what happens when you use the developmental model that WWE currently uses.
This match was a solid young midcarder, an IC title level guy who has been around for about a year (Edge) and his storyline little brother (Christian), taking on two glorified jobbers whose only wins were presented as total flukes (Hardys), in a spectacular gimmick match that was rarely seen at the time. A match that really felt important, this felt like a rare instance where a match was booked specifically to bump the participants up a level in the eyes of the fans, and truly succeeded in doing so.
Another big factor at play here: the WWF’s in-ring product was ABYSMAL in 1999. The roster for WWF Wrestlemania 2000 on N64 tells you everything you need to know — Blue Meanie, Droz, Meat, Mideon, Viscera level guys all the time on every show. It was grim. Try to watch this match from that perspective. Ground breaking, mind-blowing, really top notch stuff at the time.
8. Chris Jericho v. Chris Benoit — IC Title — Ladder Match — Royal Rumble 21.01.01
4.5*
Hard to talk about Benoit matches even still, as we come up on the 10 year anniversary of the tragedies. This is a very good, physical, sexy beast of a ladder match that was even more beastly when it happened in 2001. But, Chris Benoit eats some disgusting shots to the head and then goes on to murder his wife, child, and self. So yeah your mileage may vary here. If you can stomach Benoit, this is a top 3–5 must watch Chris Benoit match from WWE.
7. MITB I — Mania 21 — Chris Benoit v. Edge v. Chris Jericho v. Shelton Benjamin v. Christian v. Kane
4.5*
6. MITB III — Mania 23 — Ken Kennedy v. Edge v. CM Punk v. King Booker v. Jeff Hardy v. Matt Hardy v. Fit Finlay v. Randy Orton
4.5*
— —
5. Shawn Michaels v. Razor Ramon — Ladder Match — IC Title — SummerSlam 27.08.95
4.75*
4. New Day v. The Usos v. The Lucha Dragons — Ladder Match — Tag Team Titles — TLC 13.12.15
4.75*
Famous for the Kalisto spot, this match is absolutely wild from start to finish. It’s nearly perfect. Mayyybe we could use a touch less JBL on commentary? A minor complaint though. All 6 guys in the match are tremendous, all the spots are really crazy and inventive for a WWE ladder match, Xavier submits a hall of fame color commentary AND managerial performance on the outside. Absolutely check this one out if you haven’t.
3. The Shield v. Daniel Bryan, Kane & Ryback — TLC 16.12.12
4.75*
One of the great debuts in the history of pro wrestling, full stop. The Shield win their first ever match, and go on to not lose a tag team match for over a year. A great, exciting, back and forth war of a match — all six guys come out looking better than they did when they came in, the losers are not hurt in the slightest by dropping a match to three nobodies, and the nobodies, through the sheer awesomeness of the match, are instantly made into somebodies. WWE has struggled to make dynamic characters/groups as of late, but they really knocked it out of the park with The Shield.
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2. Razor Ramon v. Shawn Michaels — Ladder Match — IC Title — WrestleMania X 20.03.94
5*
1. Edge and Christian v. Hardy Boyz v. Dudley Boyz — TLC II — Tag Team Titles — WrestleMania X-Seven 01.04.01
5*
Just on influence alone, these are two of the most important matches in the history of professional wrestling. In 1994, Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon blew the ceiling off of the ladder match. In 2001, the Hardys, Dudleys and E & C took the bar and raised it to new heights. It sounds trite or cliche to say things in that manner, but these are pretty well inarguable facts that the last 20+ years have borne out in front of us.
You could argue (for better or worse) that we have these two matches to thank for the way the business is today. The Young Bucks certainly wouldn’t be here if not for TLC II. The Hardy Boyz wouldn’t have been here if not for Razor v HBK.
Really, there’s nothing I can say about these two matches that hasn’t been said a thousand times on a hundred message boards. These are displays of professional wrestling than can hook anybody, from a diehard to a casual fan to someone who hates wrestling and doesn’t quite “get” it.
TLC II is the Godfather II of wrestling matches. Simply put, it’s up there with the greatest rematches ever, and maybe the best example in wrestling history of the sequel topping the original. Everything in TLC II had been done before. Not just the 6 guys having matches for the last 2.5 years, but nearly every individual spot in that match had been seen before in previous matches. The powerbombs through the tables, the swantons, the big fall out of the ring through a stack of tables, even Edge’s famous spear on Dangling Jeff Hardy off of the ladder happened previously (in the Edge & Christian v Hardys ladder match from Sep 2000, #76 on this list). The thing is, these spots didn’t happen on the biggest stage, with those announcers, with those stakes. Mania 2000 was still Wrestlemania yes, but these guys were doing it in front of 20,000 people in a hockey arena, not 65,000+ in a baseball stadium. TLC II is on the most famous show in WWE history (Wrestlemania X-7, Rock vs Austin) and in my estimation, has always been the match of the show.
