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| A forgotten competitor in the first unofficial ladder match in WWE history Photo Credit: WWE.com |
While I think the artistry of the matches is improving on the whole with recent efforts from the Money in the Bank pay-per-views from the past couple of years, I still think there’s something to be said for gimmick matches being used as a logical endpoint rather than as an environment in which to randomly place competitors as though they were characters in a video game.
Which brings us to July of 1992 and a bit of a strange duck in the pantheon of WWE ladder matches between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. Obviously more than enough has been said about the Michaels and Hart rivalry inside and outside of the ring and there’s really not much I can add to it, outside of my opinion that their work in 1992 is the most fun of their rivalry because of the absence of the baggage that would come to define it five years later.
I don’t know much about the context of the match. I believe it was something that was taped for Coliseum at the time and wasn’t aired on WWF television, thus, never taking place in WWF reality of the day. I believe that for a while the Michaels/Razor Ramon ladder match at WrestleMania X was accepted as the first official WWF version at the time and that this was only added to canon with the advent of the expanded WWE universe reflected in the company’s DVD offerings. Regardless, I don’t remember any type of build for the match on weekly WWF programming of the time and even when watching it now it’s hard to connect it to the history of either wrestler or the ladder match as a whole. It seems to exist on an island of it’s own, which I like as it reminds me of the days when 12 year old me would find a tape at Video Galaxy of an event full of matches that seemed to exist only to give that particular video tape a reason for being.
Before the match the viewing audience is treated to a bevy of WWF nostalgia with Mike McGuirk handling ring introductions, Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes providing commentary and most jarringly, Shawn Michaels entering to the version of “Sexy Boy” with Sensational Sherri on lead vocals. Sherry was his manager at the time and she played a big part in getting his original HBK character over. As Bret made his entrance the camera lingered on a sign that some kid brought to the show which is made up of small pictures of Hart taped to a piece of posterboard and it’s a quaint reminder of how different things were 20 years ago.
As the match started, Gorilla did a great job of establishing the rules of a match unfamiliar to fans of the day. Yes, there had been earlier incarnations in other territories, but as a first for WWE the match presented here is remarkable in how close it resembled the current set up. It seems like a formula they’ve done very little to change outside of the number of men competing in any given contest.
Hart and Michaels went to a lock up to start the action with Michaels quickly turning things into a slugfest, whipping Hart to the ropes, but the Hitman blocked whatever was coming his way and fired back with clotheslines, punches and a backdrop. Fast start as both guys not surprisingly had their work boots on.
More corner punches from Hart were followed by an Irish whip and then a stomp to a prone Michaels’ gut. Hart kept up the intensity with a series of headbutts and a really nasty European uppercut showing off a crisp and fluid moveset. Michaels blocked Hart’s first attempt to leave the ring to retrieve the ladder, showing some strategy and a legitimate concern of the gimmick that has been lost in most of the modern versions of this match. Michaels stomped away on Hart as Gorilla and His Lordship use the opportunity to oddly and abruptly levy an attack on Sherri’s weight and appearance. The more things change I guess, although they also make mention of her penchant for interfering on Shawn’s behalf so at least they provided some context for her character beyond “Ew, fat”.
A knee to the gut floored The Hitman as Michaels made his first play for the ladder, which was sort of hilariously set up about 80 feet up the aisle from the ring. True to form, HBK sold the weight of the ladder as he seemed barely able to drag it back to the ring. Hart cut him off, however, and posted Michaels. Again, this match took place long before the real life dislike between these two was made common knowledge, but there was a tightness and a sense of urgency to everything that either shows that some real animosity had already taken root or that this match just happens to feature two of the five or ten best wrestlers in the world at the time who were more than happy to try and live up to that billing when given the opportunity.
Hart chucked HBK back into the ring and followed up with another series of headbutts and then hit his nifty knee drop to keep the challenger down. The Hitman then made a play for the ladder only to have the commentary from earlier pay off when Sherri grabbed the ladder, distracting Hart. Stupidly he turned his full attention to the valet providing Michaels with an opportunity to steal the ladder for himself and make the first attempt at grabbing the title. Hart ran in to make the save and the crowd is already completely sold on the gimmick, losing it for a two-rung climb by the heel. It’s no wonder the next time we would see this match would be at the biggest show of 1994.
Another slugfest broke out as Hayes freaked out about the danger inherent in both guys brawling around a ladder in the ring again enforcing the gimmick as the star of the show. Another play was made for the belt, this time by Hart, but Michaels stopped him, knocking him off the ladder and stomping away. It’d been a brawl from the opening bell in high contrast to their later work together, but both guys look so crisp on offence and when selling that the audience barely had a chance to miss the more dynamic match these two would normally put on.
Once again tossed to the corner Hart was helpless to defend himself as Michaels made the first use of the ladder as a weapon, slamming it into Hart’s gut as Gorilla watched on in disbelief. HBK tried again, but Bret dodged. Michaels reset the ladder in the corner and kicked away at the champion, following up with an elbow, and an Irish whip. However, Hart sniffed out HBK’s telegraphed back body drop and gave Michaels a kick to the chops for his troubles.
Far from out of it, Michaels reversed Hart’s Irish whip and tossed the champ back first into the ladder, which Hart sold like a gunshot. Setting up the ladder once again, Michaels made another attempt at the title belt, but Hart grabbed a foot out of desperation, interrupting the climb. Michaels' response was to casually stomp him back down to the ground.
HBK began to climb again and this time the Hitman decided not to screw around and simply dumped the ladder, dropping HBK to the mat. Michaels cut off Hart’s attempt at the belt by grabbing his foot, then following Hart up the ladder and smashing his head into the steel. Both guys hit the mat and to Hayes’ eyes the match was over right there. His hyperbolic sell of a relatively tame move by today’s standards is a fun reminder of the WWE family tree of terrible announcing that Michael Cole is simply the latest branch of.
More stomps from HBK to Hart and once again he reset the ladder for a try at the title. Some miscommunication occurred while both guys were fighting over the ladder at this point, but it was relatively minor and they recovered nicely when Michaels rammed Hart into the ladder once again in the corner. HBK charged for a Stinger Splash, but the Hitman got his boot up and cut Michaels off. The Excellence of Execution then went up for an elbow off the second rope, which Shawn sold hard. He then used a slingshot into the ladder to really get the crowd into things as both guys prepared to take this one home.
On the outside Sherri completely lost it as Hart continued through the Five Moves of Doom, dropping Michaels with a backbreaker. He once again made an irritatingly slow climb up the ladder (another example of how some things never change) and HBK was barely able to stop him again. Another slugfest took place and they hit a double KO spot off of the ropes. After recovering, they both made their way up separate sides of the ladder, tipping it as they continued their brawl on top. The less-is-more street-fight style of this match (in place of the “can you top this” spotfests we’ve come to expect) is really a pleasure to watch and it helps with the illusion of two guys having a real fight.
Michaels grabbed the upper hand sending Hart to the ropes and absolutely drilled him coming off with the as-yet-to-be-named Sweet Chin Music. A few years later and the Hitman would have been legally dead. Come to think of it, had Sweet Chin Music been a rope assist move all along it could have gotten even more over as a MurderDeathKill move and the only thing we would have been deprived of would have been the tuning up of the band. Dolph Ziggler or something like that should give that a try as a finisher.
Anticlimactically, Michaels hit his finisher du jour, the teardrop suplex, which did nothing for the crowd, even with the benefit of post-production. Another slow climb lead to Hart’s final desperate, last gasp move as he dropkicked the ladder, sending it toppling and depositing HBK crotch first on the top rope, much to Sherri’s terror. Michaels tumbled to the outside as the Champion was able to finally climb the ladder and retrieve his Intercontental Championship.
Now that is a fun little ladder match, where both guys are absolutely invested in the outcome and they use the gimmick to enhance the story rather than to simply prop it up. Of course, this match also had the luxury of existing in a time and place where the bar had yet to be set on this type of match and there was very little to compare it to, so for fans of the day it was going to be appreciated simply from a novelty perspective. However, this is also a terrific window into an era of the company and the industry when things were on the verge of changing radically and it’s a lot of fun to go back and see two of the best in the world playing with the formula that they were just years away from being such a huge part of transforming forever. Both in that context and existing on it’s own island for no other reason it’s a fun match to watch and an easy one to enjoy.