A ladder match is one of the most brutal matches present in the WWE – Every wrestler going in to the match faces an uphill task because of the standard set more than one decade and a half by Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz in their hellacious tag team encounters.
The ladder is not only used to climb and reach a title suspended above the ring, it has been used as an effective weapon as well.
This list takes a look at the five times the ladder was used as an accessory in the ring, to devastating effects
1. Joey Mercury breaks his nose
It is incomprehensible how the WWE would retain the concept of the ladder match after seeing the above episode.
It was Armageddon 2006 and the usual suspects Matt and Jeff Hardy were battling MNM, Kendrick & London and Regal & Taylor in a fatal four way ladder match for the tag team titles. The match had a spot where Matt held both members of MNM and Jeff jumped on to a ladder positioned beneath the duo. The ladder sprang up and caught Joey Mercury right on the nose.
The spectacle was gruesome – Mercury broke his orbital bone and was bleeding profusely from his nose.
“I happened to be looking up, so it hit me in the throat. But Mercury was looking straight at it and it hit him square in the nose and the orbital bone. It really could have been any one of us. I was just lucky that the ladder hit him first.” – John Morrison after the incident.
2. Edge and Jeff Hardy gets taken out
WrestleMania 23 had the most star-studded Money in the Bank match ever. The ladder match featured the likes of Edge, Randy Orton and the Hardy Boyz all vying to capture the briefcase.
The match had a spot where Matt Hardy would place Edge on a ladder outside the ring and implore his brother Jeff who was on top of a ladder inside the ring to finish Edge off.
Jeff did the suicide dive and both him and Edge broke the ladder and had to be taken out of the match – if two ladder match experts like Edge and Hardy gets taken out in one move, that would be one great spot!!!
3. Christian’s frog splash breaks the ladder
Christian was at last booked properly as a singles competitor after his return to the WWE in the late 2000s and he started a rivalry with Shelton Benjamin in ECW.
Their rivalry would result in a PPV match where Christian proved that he was just as dangerous as any one with a ladder. Captain Charisma placed Benjamin on a ladder outside the ring and delivered his Frog Splash on to Benjamin, decimating the ladder.
Try watching the video without saying ‘Ouch’.
4. Edge spears Jeff Hardy atop a ladder
The most iconic moment in those three way matches involving the Hardys, the Dudleys and E&C has to be that Spear.
Jeff Hardy would be on a ladder,seconds away from taking down the tag team titles when Edge would climb another ladder and deliver a devastating Spear in mid-air 15 feet above the ring.
The spot was arguably the most dangerous high flying move seen in the WWE till that time and has now become a cult classic.
5. John Morrison’s moonsault with the ladder
If there is one man who can match Jeff Hardy for his dare devil acts, it might just be John Morrison. The former Johny Nitro had a WrestleMania moment with a ladder as well..
It happened in a Money in the Bank match as Morrison readied himself for a reverse moonsault from the top tope on to the outside. He brought along a ladder for company – and the results, well – you have to see it to admire it properly!!!
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