The Ladder Match

Literally taking the daredevil factor of wrestling to new heights, the ladder match has become a staple arguably equal to the cage match in terms of whetting the fans' appetites for spectacle and mayhem. And with 21 matches included in WWE's new 3-Disc set The Ladder Match, there should be more than enough foolhardy (clever, ain't I) flips, dives, crashes, and near-misses for even the most desensitized viewer.

Naturally, a great many of the matches included herein originate from the past decade or so of WWE and involve some combination of Dudleys, Hardys, Edge and/or Christian and the letters TLC. As Paul Heyman memorably put it during Wrestlemainia X-7's TLC II "Everyone is a victim in Tables, Ladders and Chairs!" and rest assured these legendary show-stealers are as scintillating as ever. However, there are also some more obscure matches as well, such as a young JYD (then known as Big Daddy Ritter) against an even younger Jake Roberts from Stampede Wrestling circa 1979, and the rarely seen Bret Hart/HBK Intercontinental title ladder match from 1992. In addition, the lone WCW selection is the 6-man ladder match from Starrcade 2000 which features such currently well-know WWE performers as Chavo Jr., "Sugar" Shane (Gregory) Helms, your boy Jimmy "Wang" Yang, and Jamie Noble (oh yeah, and Shannon Moore).

Of course, a number of the remainder of the matches on this set are classics in their own right. Who could ever forget the likes of RVD vs. Eddie from Raw in May 2002, or The Undertaker's brutal Undisputed Championship defense against Jeff Hardy? More recently, there's been Ric Flair's superhuman effort versus Edge, and the 4-way Tag team Championship match from Armageddon '06 - you know, the one where Joey Mercury's face got busted like Paris Hilton (actually, pulverized is more like it, but I digress).

The only shortcoming of this package lays in the interstitial segments featuring everyone's least favorite man-child Todd Grisham clumsily cuing observations and recollections from a variety of the participants in these matches. Aside from that admittedly insignificant flaw, this is an otherwise wonderfully produced - and at around $20 retail, affordable - compilation. Obviously this isn't the sort of program you'll want to sit and watch for hours at a time since things get fairly redundant by Disc 3, but if you're looking to bolster your collection of Edge and Christian or Hardys matches (Edge makes 9 appearances, Christian and Jeff Hardy each have 8, and Matt Hardy gets 7), or just want to watch dudes fall off of and into stuff over and over, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, fulfill your destiny, and whatever other J.R.-ism you'd prefer and go buy The Ladder Match.

9/10