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00:00I've never seen anything like this in my life.
00:06The ladder match.
00:07One of WWE's most brutal and death defying spectacles.
00:12Anything else?
00:13No pitfalls or submissions.
00:15And there's the prize, hanging in the center of the ring.
00:17In this match, competitors must climb rung by rung
00:20to retrieve their ultimate prize.
00:22Zap's got the title! Zap wins the championship!
00:25But be careful, because the long way down
00:27of the canvas is more than precarious.
00:30Look at the card, he's absolutely similar!
00:32Today we look back at some of the best ladder matches
00:35in WWE history.
00:36This is WWE's Greatest Moments.
00:41Praise for the love of God!
00:42Oh my God!
00:45He's just so mad!
00:47Oh my God, what the hell are you doing?
00:51Absolutely unbelievable!
00:52Welcome, baby!
01:01Welcome to WWE's Greatest Moments.
01:03I'm Michael Cole.
01:04And on this edition, we're looking back at the wildest
01:07and most memorable ladder matches in WWE history.
01:10It's real simple.
01:11You get the ladder, you climb it, and you are the man.
01:15The ladder match's origins can be traced back
01:18to Stampede Wrestling in the 1970s,
01:21a promotion founded by the legendary Stu Hart.
01:23It's called a ladder match, yes sir!
01:27Stu's son Brett would compete in several ladder matches
01:30within Stampede Wrestling.
01:31And when he ultimately arrived in WWE,
01:34he would bring the unique match type with him.
01:37In 1992, WWE would have its first ever ladder match.
01:42Bret Hart would take on the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels,
01:45with the Hitman's Intercontinental Championship
01:48suspended high above the canvas.
01:53What a match-up this is gonna be!
01:56The only thing that counts is get on that ladder,
01:58climb up to the very top, and get the ball.
02:02For that moment in time, it was fantastic.
02:05I thought it was monumental, Bret and I,
02:07going out there and doing that match.
02:09Shawn Michaels would love nothing better
02:11than to get his hands on the Intercontinental title.
02:14Wow, what a last-minute save!
02:17Pretty quick how easy the match was to sell to the fans,
02:20like they understood right away.
02:22It actually turned out to be a pretty good match.
02:25Talk about unusual matches!
02:27We've got it for you right here!
02:30It was the opportunity for us, personally,
02:32I think the first time everybody might have looked at me
02:35as a guy that could carry a main event.
02:47It was just the right time, and the right audience,
02:51and the right night, and everything.
02:52You know, it was always one of my great matches
02:54that I was most proud of.
02:57Everyone certainly will remember this latter night
03:00for quite some time to come.
03:04Perhaps no superstar has showcased greater resilience
03:07in the face of adversity than the unpredictable Mick Foley.
03:10Not for a split second did I think about calling it quits.
03:13In 1999, Foley, as his fiendish alter-ego Mankind,
03:17was the WWE Champion
03:19and embroiled in one of the most heated rivalries in WWE history
03:23with the great one, The Rock.
03:25Mankind, The Rock plans on making your death wish come true.
03:30Mankind and The Rock could come to blows one more time
03:33in a hard-hitting ladder match on Raw.
03:38Mankind, The Rock, WWE title, ladder match, climb the ladder,
03:43make the championship belt down, you win the title.
03:45You didn't get a chance to see a ladder match on Raw all that often.
03:49It was a really unique situation that had everybody watching
03:51at the edge of their seat.
03:54This one won't be pretty.
03:56Both of these men have dished out a tremendous amount of punishment
03:59against each other in recent weeks.
04:02Rock still talks on the stiff ramp.
04:04I was pretty banged up, but we still had a good match.
04:06Like, we couldn't help it. We had the chemistry there.
04:10Oh, my God!
04:11Oh, no!
04:13Man, oh, man! Look out!
04:15Mick was always wanting to do something
04:17that was going to be great for the match,
04:19great for you, and great for him.
04:22This whole run with Rock was so entertaining.
04:26The talk delivers Mr. Elbow!
04:28The rivalry that I had with Mick Foley was very special.
04:32That was one of the most incredible nights I've ever had.
04:36Mankind is tied up in the ropes!
04:39And The Rock, climbing the ladder!
04:41The Rock has the championship belt!
04:43It was a really physical match.
04:46I'd be hurting for quite a while after that.
04:49Mick Foley would do anything for the audience.
04:52He had everybody's respect.
04:54That may be as good as I've ever seen right there!
04:58There is no daredevil in WWE history
05:01quite like the charismatic enigma, Jeff Hardy.
05:04Oh, my God!
05:06Over the course of his career,
05:08the audacious superstar established himself
05:10as the master of the ladder match.
05:12Perilous and jaw-dropping stunts aplenty.
05:16But while Hardy impressed with his courageous offense,
05:19there was always an opportunist ready to strike.
05:22The Rated-R Superstar Edge proved he was no slouch
05:25when it came to ladder matches.
05:27Oftentimes doing anything it takes to reach glory.
05:30Jeff Hardy is not World Heavyweight Championship material.
05:34In Extreme Rules 2009,
05:37these two would collide for Edge's World Heavyweight Championship.
05:42Two greatest ladder match competitors
05:45are about to square off for the first time ever
05:47one-on-one, and this will fire.
05:49We knew it was gonna be violent,
05:51but it was gonna be something people didn't forget.
05:53These ladders are just not going to give.
05:56Jeff Hardy willing to crash and burn,
05:58willing to climb higher,
06:00fall further than any opponent.
06:02The world loves an underdog story.
06:04When I think about that match,
06:05I always think about us falling off the ladder,
06:08breaking another ladder.
06:09Oh, God!
06:10The ladder!
06:11Oh, my God!
06:13Bodies and ladders are broken!
06:17Oh, look at this!
06:19Edge pulled between the rungs of the ladder!
06:21When Edge was trapped in the ladder,
06:23this was kind of genius.
06:24Hardy's climbing!
06:25Edge is hung up!
06:26He can't go!
06:27Hardy's climbing!
06:29Jeff Hardy!
06:30The end of the world title was the singles compared.
06:32Hardy knew I was to say
06:33that's my favorite moment of all time.
06:35A Hardy Party has started!
06:40Still to come.
06:41Oh, my!
06:43Have you ever seen a move like this, they are?
06:45The championship's been a hook!
06:47It's a tug of war!
06:49Two must-see athletes of the early 2000s were undoubtedly Rob Van Dam and Eddie Guerrera.
06:56RVD and Latino Heat took WWE by storm.
07:00I am gonna show you who is the better wrestler!
07:05Their greatest asset may have been their show-stopping big match performances.
07:09No contest proves the sentiment greater than Van Dam and Guerrero's battle on a 2002 episode of Raw for the
07:16Intercontinental Championship.
07:17The ladder match is extremely dangerous.
07:20For the Intercontinental Championship, it's worth it.
07:26Intercontinental title hanging above the ring.
07:29The ladder will come to the play obviously.
07:31What made the match so special was the chemistry that we have.
07:36We're like-minded in the right ways.
07:38Oh!
07:39Oh, buddy!
07:39Have you ever seen a move like that, JR?
07:42Oh, my God!
07:44When you're in a match like that, you need to be using that weapon, that prop, to the best of
07:48your ability, and that's exactly what they did.
07:50And now Van Dam!
07:51Look at this!
07:54Syntax into the ladder!
07:57And he did a senton over the ladder.
07:59Oh!
08:00Oh, my God!
08:01Did you see that?
08:02That was a punishment!
08:03And it moved one of my ribs.
08:05And no matter how many, uh, chiropractors and doctors I went to see, we were never able to move it
08:10back in.
08:11He's teetering!
08:12Can he do it?
08:13Van Dam's trying to get the title!
08:14And he's done it!
08:15Van Dam has done it!
08:17It felt amazing winning the Intercontinental title.
08:20Still, everybody still remembers that match.
08:22You know, the fans still talk to me about it.
08:25Best days, and that's something that is a different kind of honor.
08:28And Van Dam is the new Intercontinental Champion!
08:34In 2008, the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels was at the end of his illustrious career, but looked to win championship
08:40gold one final time.
08:41In his way was the arrogant World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho.
08:45Shawn Michaels told me about a month ago that I would never be him, and he was right.
08:50I'm better.
08:51And I'm also the new World Heavyweight Champion.
08:55Throughout the year, HBK and Y2J have been engaged in a rivalry defined by viciousness and brutality.
09:04At no mercy, it is gonna be the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels versus Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship
09:13in a ladder match!
09:21Months and months of these two men embroiled in a personal rivalry has come down to their seat for the
09:26World Heavyweight Championship.
09:28Me and Jericho having a ladder match, that is a match that people have wanted to see.
09:33These ladder matches can be so brutal. Look, the disfiguring has already begun.
09:38I think some of the best work of both of our careers, people got into it so much and thought
09:43it was real.
09:44Oh!
09:46Oh!
09:46Jericho pinned Shawn Michaels onto that ladder!
09:48Sometimes ladder matches are fun, people jumping all over the place.
09:51This was brutal.
09:51These are two guys who don't like each other.
09:54Jericho!
09:55Realize it is a choice!
09:56Look at the strings!
09:57To Jericho!
09:59Oh my God!
10:00The psychology, the storytelling, getting somebody like Chris to be able to do that with, made our matches fantastic from
10:08the get-go.
10:09Jericho on one way, climbing the ladder. It's Shawn Michaels on the defensive. It's a race to the top!
10:15They're both up there, top of the ladder, both grabbing at the side of the same time. Teeter-totter, teeter
10:20-totter.
10:20The championship's gonna hook!
10:22It's a tug of war!
10:23Hey, he's in the bow!
10:24Oh, the marbles!
10:25What a dramatic moment!
10:28That's it!
10:29Jericho contains the championship!
10:33My gosh, what a war!
10:37Still to come.
10:38By the ladder, kid!
10:41Alabama slam!
10:45In the summer of 1998, Triple H, backed by D-Generation X, and the people's champ, The Rock, with the
10:53nation of domination in tow,
10:54were in a heated rivalry over the Intercontinental Championship.
10:58Oh, Rock is the best damn Intercontinental champ there ever was!
11:04Rock, you wanna bring ladders into the ring? Let's bring the ladder to Madison Square Garden.
11:10And let's see who the real man is, Rock!
11:23The Intercontinental title was a title that was very, very important to the both of us, to me and Hunter.
11:30Both of us wanted that belt, both of us wanted that spot.
11:32Well, two of the great young athletes are gonna strike their stuff here.
11:38There was no competition in pro wrestling that rivaled The Rock and Triple H at that time.
11:45I don't think I've ever seen any more intense competition!
11:48They were literally fighting to see who was gonna be the guy in this company.
11:53We needed to be the best at all times, and I think that just pushed us to be better.
11:59Triple H, did he find it? Yes! He did it! He did it! Triple H did it!
12:07It was our big moment.
12:09That certainly was one of the most outstanding ladder matches.
12:12Putting that match on at an event as big as SummerSlam, it projected both of us into that main event
12:18tier.
12:21The Undertaker is without question one of the greatest superstars in WWE history.
12:26The Undertaker is the WWE Undisputed Champion!
12:30And while the American Badass found unparalleled success in most match types, he had never competed in a ladder match.
12:38But during his Undisputed WWE Championship reign in 2002, The Undertaker would tread into uncharted territory.
12:45Never looked like Jeff Hardy, but I leave that ring tonight, he won't be able to stand up.
12:50On Monday Night Raw, he would defend his title against one of the greatest ladder match performers in WWE history,
12:56Jeff Hardy.
13:01The younger talent was very intimidated working with me because they were watching me when they were kids.
13:08Jeff Hardy giving up size and strength and power.
13:10It was such a beautiful story of the underdog versus the legend.
13:17Man, I beat him like he owed me money.
13:20Oh no!
13:23They're breaking this kid in hand!
13:25Like he took eight ass kicking during that match.
13:29This is getting sick!
13:30The biggest story of that match is to never give up because I kept getting up.
13:34Turn down to the new party!
13:37He's gonna have to do everything he's got!
13:38Jeff Hardy running back!
13:41Time to let her get!
13:43Make yourself famous!
13:44One more step!
13:45One more step!
13:47Oh my god!
13:49Oh god no!
13:50No no no no no!
13:51That two failed!
13:53On the top of the ladder!
13:55And The Undertaker has won one hell of a fight!
13:59One of my favorite things about that match is me saying at the end,
14:03I'm still standing!
14:06Kind of just get chills thinking about it and so proud of that match for Undertaker that he gave me
14:11that opportunity.
14:13He earned a amount of respect of The Undertaker!
14:18In 2024, undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes was in the midst of the greatest run of his professional wrestling career.
14:26But Rhodes' dream year would become a nightmare when he was brutally attacked and temporarily sidelined by the dangerous and
14:33uncontrollable Kevin Owens.
14:35Kevin, no!
14:36KO aimed to take everything from Rhodes, including the title he held so proudly.
14:41And Owens did just that, stealing the championship from Cody Rhodes, who in retro form was defending the famed winged
14:48eagle title.
14:49What the hell is wrong with you?
14:52I am the true WWE Champion!
14:56Kevin Owens, ladder match!
14:59The American Nightmare challenged KO to a ladder match at the 2025 Royal Rumble, with both titles suspended high above
15:06the ring.
15:12Indianapolis wants to see these two beat the hell out of each other!
15:16The winged eagle title is a big deal to fans and to wrestlers.
15:21So, me walking around with that title, Cody walking around with his version of the title, just led to a
15:25perfect storm for the ladder match.
15:27They promised to punish one another here tonight!
15:30Just having ladders as part of it too is obviously going to add another level of intensity and risk and
15:35more ways for us to hurt each other.
15:37I had seen ladder matches before, but never to the extent like those two used it.
15:43He's taking a beating tonight!
15:45There's going to be those matches that require you to do something that scares you to death.
15:51Bone versus Steel. There's only ever one winner.
15:57Nothing more real than that.
16:01Alabama slam!
16:04Exploded through the honor!
16:06Kevin Owens, turned inside out!
16:09Cody Rhodes is near the top!
16:11I reveled in that moment.
16:13One title, Rhodes takes down another!
16:17Cody Rhodes wins!
16:19An unbelievable battle!
16:21An incredible win for the American Nightmare!
16:26Up next is our final two moments in the countdown.
16:29What will take the number one spot?
16:31Oh, my God!
16:34Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
16:37What the hell?!
16:39In the late 1990s, the WWE Tag Team Division was on fire.
16:43But no two teams broke out stronger than the death-defying Hardy Boys and the Cerebral Edge and Christian.
16:51These tandems would naturally lock horns, eager to establish themselves as the top team on the totem pole.
16:57Oh, my God!
16:59And in No Mercy 1999, the Hardys and Edge and Christian would look to settle their score in the first
17:05ever Tag Team Ladder Match.
17:09The first team to climb the ladders and get the bag hanging from the top is the winner of the
17:14$100,000.
17:16Whenever people ask us who is your favorite opponents in the ring as a tag team, it's always Edge and
17:20Christian.
17:22Oh, my God!
17:23This is gonna get interesting, because if they think that's something, we got a lot more in store.
17:30I got a feeling we're gonna see it all in this match, JR. These guys are gonna do everything in
17:34their power to get that money.
17:37That was the moment that we became the latter competitors in wrestling matches.
17:42Look at this! Oh! What the heck?!
17:45Jeff Hardy, the left hitter!
17:49He can't get it, he got it!
17:51Oh, my God! The Hardys have won the match!
17:54Christian and Edge have nothing to be ashamed of. What a magnificent effort.
17:59We'd never received a standing ovation before.
18:02That all blew me away.
18:04It was a defining point for all four of us, because we all went from WWE wrestlers to WWE superstars.
18:09What an amazing display!
18:13We've now reached our number one moment. And buckle your seatbelts, because it's about to get bumpy.
18:19By the mid-1990s, a new generation of WWE superstars had emerged in the direction of sports entertainment, was headed
18:26towards showcasing technical skill in the ring.
18:29Two massive contributors of this new generation were the heartbreak kid Shawn Michaels, and the bad guy, Razor Ramon.
18:37Say hello, Razor Ramon.
18:39In late 1993, HBK was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship, and Ramon would win the vacant title.
18:46Yet the combative Michaels refused to acknowledge the bad guy as the true champion.
18:51The World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental Champion is back in town.
18:57Challenged him to a ladder match at the historic WrestleMania 10.
19:01Both titles would be suspended high above Madison Square Garden, and only one superstar would walk away as the rightful
19:09Intercontinental Champion.
19:12For the first time ever at a WrestleMania, a ladder match!
19:17We were confident that even if things went wrong, we'd still tear the house down.
19:21Scott was a very talented wrestler, and Shawn could have a great match with a broomstick.
19:27Shawn's not using the ladder to get the belt, he's using it to destroy Razor Ramon!
19:32It may be the best ladder match.
19:35Shawn Michaels, from high above!
19:40You don't know that that's going to be a picture that's gonna be shown forever.
19:44It took my showbiz to another level where you get to walk, you know, you're crawling up the ladder, and
19:50you know, it's just to do it with a guy who's a dear friend.
19:53Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
19:56We were young and having no idea that it was going to be some monumental thing from that point forward.
20:02I mean, it was one of the best matches.
20:04because they set the bar for what a ladder match would become.
20:09That may have been the greatest thing I've ever seen!
20:13Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon defined what the ladder match could be on that night,
20:18laying the foundation to one of WWE's most iconic matches.
20:22To this day, the ladder match is one of the most exciting and innovative matches audiences can witness.
20:27Well, that'll do it for this edition of WWE's Greatest Moments.
20:31We hope you enjoyed this look back at some of the best ladder matches in WWE history.
20:36We'll see you next week.
20:38We'll see you next week.
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