Shawn Michaels v Razor Ramon (Ladder Match) (Summerslam, 8/27/95)
Troops, I think I might kind of love this. I don't even think I liked it much the last time I saw it, which was probably about 10 years ago, but I thought it was mostly great this time. There's that anecdote about Vince not allowing them to do spots where they actively hit each other with the ladder, so, in a bit of a META sense, it means we, the internet wrestling fan viewers who are in on the whole thing to begin with, get a few bits where one of them will half feign doing it accidentally and, even though we all know it's on purpose, in this instance the workers aren't simply trying to work the audience, they're working the boss of the whole company! WE'RE BREAKIN' THE FOURTH WALL, BOYS! It basically translates to this in-ring story of them starting out sporting and friendly but becoming increasingly more hostile towards one another as the match goes on. And you can just tell that Vince is livid on commentary and staring a hole through them the way your granny used to when you'd feed your broccoli to the dog under the table. The first time Shawn hits Razor with the ladder he sells it like he genuinely didn't mean it, but then goes fuck it and tries to climb it anyhow. Later on Razor just drops it, very clearly intentionally, on Shawn's leg, then smiles and shrugs while a very large section of the male audience eat it up with a giant spoon. Vince: "Well...I don't know how much of an accident THAT was." First few minutes are really fun as they both tease hitting their finisher and do some decent babyface parity stuff, then get a wee bit chippy. Michaels takes one of the all-time screwball suplex from inside the ring to the floor bumps, though unfortunately they don't really play up the effects of it as much as you'd like. Middle part of the match with Razor going after the leg is like 10/10 stuff. Shawn doesn't really sell it much after he makes his comeback, so it doesn't have the lasting impact it could've, but in isolation it was awesome stuff. The initial spot where he about rips his ACL to bits getting tangled in the ladder looked brutal, then all of Razor's leg work hit perfectly. I know ladder matches have become an entirely different thing now and I'm probably veering into old man hurling abuse at clouds territory, but I'd love it if somebody just stripped everything back during a ladder match today and worked it closer to the middle of this match. Razor nonchalantly slamming Michaels leg-first on the ladder, slamming the ladder shut on the leg, picking him up and dropping the knee on the ladder, all of it was simple enough but it was rough as fuck, looked like it hurt like a bastard and Michaels sold it in the moment like it absolutely did. I'll also forever be a sucker for someone with a gammy leg being Irish whipped and just crumbling in a heap. And Razor working as subtle heel was fun in general. It of course endeared him to the sections of the audience you expect, so it made for a cool split crowd dynamic, especially after Michaels bares his arse from atop the ladder and the wimmenfolk go ballistic. That man would be a gay icon in WWE today and I so very wish we could transplant him into 2020 but I digress. After Michaels' comeback the match dips a level, but nothing drastic and they roll out some really cool stuff down the stretch, including a Michaels moonsault followed by an awesome missed crossbody. It all had a nice sense of escalation to it as well, both of them selling exhaustion well, some stuff looking ugly in the best way possible. Shawn superkicking Razor off the ladder would've been a pretty great finish if the belt wasn't hanging dang near off the roof. Both guys even said at the start it was too high. So I guess the finish is flubbed a bit and obviously we get one of the more famous Michaels temper tantrums, but I don't really care. Is this also the first ladder match where a second ladder is produced from under the ring? Nowadays there's literally dozens of them lying around the place so it's neat that Razor dragging out a second one felt like a big moment. Vince even questions the legality of it! Hot damn this ruled.
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