Sabu vs. Sandman - Stairway To Hell match - ECW House Party (1998)
Even ECW had their own variation to a simple ladder match going in the late 90's to early 00's. The match was called a "Stairway To Hell" match and was much more like a pole match than a ladder match as the object was to retrieve a weapon hanging above the ring for use, but the retrieval did not end the match. The weapon of choice, of course, was a big ball of barbed wire.
This is ECW's first Stairway To Hell featuring the cane wielding, beer drinking, cigarette smoking, Sandman versus the homicidal, genocidal, and incredibility suicidal, Sabu.
Abyss & Chessman vs. Extreme Tiger & Jack Evans - AAA Tag Titles TLC match - AAA Heroes Immortales (2011)
Here's a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match from AAA in Mexico. It's Chessman (not "Cheeseman") and TNA's Abyss taking on the masked high-flyer, Extreme Tiger and the "P-Town" homeboy, Jack Evans. Tiger & Evans are the champs while Abyss & Chessman are the challengers. Enjoy!
Ric Flair vs. Edge - TLC match for the WWE Championship - Raw (2006)
While maybe overlooked by wrestlers such as Shawn Michaels and The Hardy Boyz when it comes to who's who of ladder matches, Edge is definitely a pioneer of the ladder match in his own right. He was in the very first tag team ladder match, the first ever triangle ladder match, the first three TLC tag team matches, seen here in the first ever singles TLC match, participated and won the first ever Money in the Bank ladder match, and has (as of right now) been in more TLC matches than anyone else. Looking at it that way, Edge should definitely not be overlooked when it comes to ladders and wrestling. His opponent in this first ever TLC match for the WWE title on the other hand, had never been in a TLC match, let alone a ladder match. Edge's opponent was familiar with one thing in this match of firsts however, and that was championship gold... his opponent was the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair after all, a 16 time World Champion. And it was also Flair's home state of North Carolina.
This match between Edge and Ric Flair is a PPV quality match that replaced the death-defying spots that the tag team TLC matches were praised for with pure brutality. I almost forget this match is even a ladder match until at least 10 minutes in. Someone eventually climbs the ladder and retrieves the title, but who?
Fun fact: This is the only TLC match where someone blades... You'll never guess which one did that *Cough* Flair *Cough*.
Since it's the month of TLC, WWE's PPV dedicated to Tables, Ladders, and Chairs-related matches, it's only fitting that this week's theme be anything to do with those three things. Anything goes as longs as there's either a ladder, table, chair, combination of those three, or all three weapons used in a match.
The Motor City Machine Guys vs. Generation Me - TNA Final Resolution (2010)
From what it looks like here, TNA almost had a real X division and tag team division as they once did in the early days of NWA:TNA. Of course, they had to take a page out of WWF's tag team division circa 2000 with the TLC match to end a somewhat decent feud and display some sweet spots to get the job done.
2010 was TNA's biggest turning point (the literal sense of the word not the PPV) as Hulk Hogan took over along with Eric Bishoff who decided to get rid of the six-sided ring and kickstart the X division again. 2010 was also the year The Young Bucks were signed to a TNA contract and went by Generation Me or Gen. Me.
Shorting after upsetting The MCMG's to win their debut match, they would than again take on Shelley and Sabin in a match at Final Resolution. Along with the chance to capture the World Tag Team titles, The Young Bucks, now named Jeremy and Max Buck, also had the chance to show everyone that TNA had actually picked up a damn good tag team. A young team that resembled another brother group that once dominated the tag team division with aerial maneuvers and ladders, The Hardy Boys.
Oh yeah, did I mention that this was a "Full Metal Mayhem match" - TNA's version of the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs oh my! match but putting much more emphasis on things made of metal? Well it was...
Despite this match/feud actually being one of TNA's better moments at this time, Gen. Me didn't stick around for much too long after this match ended and their tag team days started to look numbered. These two talented brothers didn't want to put up with the terrible storylines they would have had to go through rather than just wrestling and keeping the good name (cough cough) of TNA's tag team division and X division alive.
