The Ladder Match
From Calgary to Money in the Bank. The ladder match started in Calgary in 1972 and became a WWE staple through WrestleMania X, TLC and the yearly Money in the Bank match.
A ladder match: Randall Chancellor, CC BY-SA 2.0
How it works
In a ladder match a championship belt, a briefcase or another prize hangs high above the ring. Nobody can win by pin or submission: the winner is the first wrestler to climb a ladder and pull the prize down. That simple goal creates endless drama, because a wrestler is most vulnerable at the very top.
Origins
The idea is usually traced to Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, where Dan Kroffat and Tor Kamata had a ladder match in 1972 for a bag of money. Bret Hart, who grew up in that promotion, suggested it to the WWF, and he and Shawn Michaels had a ladder match in 1992 that was not shown on television at the time.
The match became famous at WrestleMania X in 1994, when Michaels and Razor Ramon fought over the Intercontinental title. Their match won awards and showed how a ladder could be used creatively.
TLC and the tag team boom
Around 2000, Edge and Christian, the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz turned ladder matches into spectacular tag team contests. SummerSlam 2000 had the first Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, and the three teams' matches at WrestleMania 2000 and WrestleMania X-Seven are still cited for their daring falls.
Money in the Bank
At WrestleMania 21 in 2005, WWE introduced Money in the Bank: several wrestlers climb for a briefcase that holds a contract for a world title match, which the winner can cash in at any time within a year. Edge won the first one. It now has its own yearly event for men and women and is one of WWE's best tools for creating new champions. Ladder matches are risky, and modern companies use them sparingly to keep them special.
Watching a good ladder match is about more than big falls. The best ones use the ladder as a storytelling tool: wrestlers race to set it up, block each other from climbing, and use near misses at the top to build drama. Because the risks are high, performers rehearse the most dangerous moments carefully and rely on the experience of everyone involved to keep each other safe.
- A ladder match: Randall Chancellor, CC BY-SA 2.0
Text written by Entertainment Wrestling World.
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