Guest Author - Vance R. Rowe
The Ladder Match
There are a lot of dangerous matches in professional wrestling and the ladder match has to be in the top five. A ladder match is where something is suspended above the ring, normally a title belt, and the winner is the person who climbs the ladder and retrieves whatever is hanging there.
The very first ladder match happened in 1972 in Stampede Wrestling in Canada. A big wad of cash was hung above the ring and the participants of the match were Dan Kroffat and Tor Kamata with Dan Kroffat coming out the victor.
In 1983, Bret Hart fought Bad News Brown and beat him in a ladder match in Stampede Wrestling and later joined the WWE, then the WWF. He mentioned this type of match to Vince McMahon and the WWE had their first ladder match in 1992, with Bret Hart taking on Shawn Michaels and defeating him to retain the Intercontinental title at a house show. The next ladder match was in 1994 at Wrestlemania X and it again involved Shawn Michaels vying for the Intercontinental title. Again Shawn Michaels lost the match and it was to Razor Ramon.
Eventually the other wrestling organizations jumped on this dangerous band wagon as well. The now defunct World Championship Wrestling organization held their first ladder match in 1997 as the late, great Eddie Guerrero defeated Syxx to retain the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship.
TNA held their first ladder match at their fifth weekly pay-per-view which saw Sabu defeat Malice and the following week Sabu and Ken Shamrock fought to a no-contest in a ladder match as well.
The first ever Ladies ladder match happened in Ohio Valley Wrestling or OVW as it is commonly known as and featured now WWE Woman’s champ, Beth Phoenix defeat Katie Lea for the undisputed OVW Women’s championship. This was also OVW’s very first ladder match as well.
Other variations of the ladder match include:
The King of the Mountain match and happened in TNA where the winner of the match is the person who climbs the ladder and hangs the object of desire above the ring instead of removing it and it is usually a title belt.
There is one known as the Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match or simply TLC Match where tables and chairs are used as weapons as well as the ladder.
ECW had the Stairway to Hell Ladder Match when a weapon was suspended above the ring and is used by the person who grabs it and you still have to win the match by pin fall or submission.
As of late, one of the most popular ladder matches happens in the WWE and is called the Money in the Bank match where a briefcase is hung above the ring and whoever retrieves the briefcase can use it at any time within a year to challenge a champion for a title shot.
This is an extremely dangerous match because the ladder is used as a weapon and you can be pushed off of the ladder which is normally twenty feet tall, but is very exciting to watch and that is the bottom line in Sports Entertainment today.
