Gimmick Some Lovin': The Ladder Match (Monday Night RAW: July 1, 2002)

In each edition of Gimmick Some Lovin', we take a look at one iteration of a gimmick match available on the WWE Network. Some are iconic for their success, others for the extent to which they flopped, and some just... happened.We defined a &quot;gimmick match&quot; as, in any way, adding a rule/stipulation to or removing a rule from a match, changing the physical environment of a match, changing the conditions which define a &quot;win&quot;, or in any way moving past the simple requirement of two men/women/teams whose contest must end via a single pinfall, submission, count out, or disqualification.Monday night, on RAW, WWE viewers were treated to the first official glimpse of Broken 'Woken' Matt Hardy, a rebirth of the character Hardy made famous (or infamous) during his final days in TNA. Fans had been clamouring for the character to debut since Hardy, alongside his brother, Jeff, made a surprise return at Wrestlemania 33 in April (and had been salivating over the occasional teases of the pair's absurd Broken catchphrases).The promo wherein Hardy resurrected this persona to face Bray Wyatt in a battle of free-association promised a return to the utter insanity and theatre-of-the-absurd performances that defined the latter days of the brothers' TNA tenure, and is being heralded as one of the best moments of an above-average edition of the WWE's flagship show.To honour this moment, we're looking back at another time a Hardy closed out RAW, a contest considered one of the best matches on &quot;free television&quot; pitting Jeff Hardy against WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker in a ladder match.The Undisputed ChampionshipThe last we checked in with Big Evil, he'd been demolishing &quot;The Nature Boy&quot; Ric Flair in a Wrestlemania X8 street fight featuring one of the most macabre (but also coolest) images of The Dead Man's career.Leather pants + epic bladejob + Tombstone Piledriver = a crazy pool of blood that's as amazing as it is unsettling.That same show, Triple H defeated first-ever Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho, taking home both the WWF and [former] WCW Championships in a Foregone Conclusion Match (HHH and Jericho in a high-profile match almost never turn out well for the Fozzy frontman).The two championships would be consolidated into quite possibly the best-looking version of the WWF/E Championship of all time, which &quot;The Game&quot; would hold for roughly a month before losing it to Hulk Hogan after interference from The Undertaker at Backlash.This is easily the second-worst WWF moment we Kansas City fans have been forced to witness in person.Hogan's reign would be as short-lived as Helmsley's, with The Undertaker claiming the strap via lightly pushing Hogan down by the throat chokeslam at Judgment Day in May. Taker won the opportunity to challenge for this title after defeating Steve Austin for a title shot at Backlash in a matchup featuring Flair as a special guest referee utterly incapable of seeing Austin's foot on the ropes during the deciding pinfall.Big Evil's conquest of the recently-renamed WWE complete, he began a campaign of reminding every single competitor on both rosters just whose yard the ring really was (spoiler alert: it's his).

Gimmick Some Lovin': The Ladder Match (Monday Night RAW: July 1, 2002)

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