The first-ever ladder match in professional wrestling history is attributed to Stampede Wrestling, where Dan Kroffat and Tor Kamata waged hardware-based combat over a sum of money in 1972. After that, the stipulation was used a few times a year until 1994, when WWE staged its first televised ladder match in a classic bout between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X.
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Since then, ladder matches have become a common match type in pro wrestling, and even WWE’s competitor World Championship Wrestling did several over the course of its existence. There are 11 total ladder matches from WCW, so let’s run through all of them, starting with the dirt worst.
11 Bret Hart vs. Goldberg vs. Scott Hall vs. Sid Vicious (Monday Nitro, 11/8/1999)
Given that this group of four stars were competing for the United States Title on the main event of Nitro, you might be surprised that such a pay-per-view caliber match is ranked as the very worst. But once you realize that this happened during the Vince Russo era of WCW, it makes way more sense. For some reason it was decided that a four-way ladder match should last less than five minutes, so it’s not even remotely satisfying.
10 The Filthy Animals vs. The Boogie Knights (Monday Nitro, 10/2/2000)
Here’s another Vince Russo era ladder match that lasts like four minutes. This opener to an early October Nitro -- the one with the ridiculous-but-also-kind-of-awesome 49ers Match -- had Konnan and Rey Mysterio Jr. taking on Alex Wright and Disqo (a.k.a. Disco Inferno) not for any title, but rather for Disqo’s plastic duck, dubbed The Disqo Duck. In other words, it’s a stealth variation on Russo’s favorite match type: the “___ on a Pole” match.
9 Jung Dragons vs. 3-Count (Tuesday Nitro, 7/18/2000)
Jung Dragons and 3-Count were unsung heroes of late-period WCW, putting on awesome, spot-heavy cruiserweight matches on the undercard while basically being a pair of joke acts. They’re MVPs of WCW’s ladder matches, but this Nitro effort is the worst of them. It’s criminally short at three minutes. For some fans, the overall sloppiness of the match is unacceptable, but the amount of times somebody messes up in a given minute does add an infectiously frenzied energy. Ultimately, however, they’ve had infinitely better matches than this.
8 Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Benoit (Monday Nitro, 12/20/1999)
Chris Benoit defeated Jeff Jarrett in a ladder match for the United States Championship at Starrcade 24 hours prior, so they had a rematch with the same stipulation the very next night.
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Taken on its own, this bout is a fine match, with the requisite Jarrett chicanery -- you better believe he bashes Benoit with a guitar -- feeling especially appropriate for a TV bout. But in context, Benoit losing his title after a day in a repeat of the previous night’s match is a little too grating for many fans.
7 Eddie Guerrero vs. Syxx (Souled Out 1/25/1997)
Another match that one might think would rank higher than it does, Syxx (a.k.a. X-Pac) challenged Eddie Guerrero for the United States Title in a ladder match. It’s funny how many of WCW’s ladder matches were for the US belt. It’s a solid effort from both competitors, with Guerrero ultimately retaining, but the lack of exciting ladder spots resulted in this bout not clicking with fans. As one of the first major ladder matches since WrestleMania X, it simply pales in comparison.
6 Goldberg vs. Scott Hall (Souled Out, 1/17/1999)
Scott Hall used a taser to interfere in Goldberg’s World Title defense against Kevin Nash, ending Goldberg’s legendary streak, so the two had a ladder match where the goal was to climb the ladder, grab a taser, and zap your opponent with it. Scott Hall is, for many fans, the godfather of the ladder match, and Goldberg is simultaneously underrated and overrated at the same time, so the resulting match is actually better than some might think.
5 Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard (Great American Bash, 7/18/1987)
In the Summer of 1987, Jim Crockett Promotions was a few months away from its first actual PPV, Starrcade ‘87, and any big event prior to that was broadcast via the precursor to pay-per-view, closed circuit television. JCP aired a few such events during its 1987 Great American Bash tour, the most notable of which featured the first-ever WarGames bout. One of the other main events had Dusty Rhodes taking on Tully Blanchard in a “Lights Out” ladder match for $100,000. It’s a great bout if you can scour the Internet for it, with barbed wire ropes adding to the good old fashioned Southern wrasslin’ violence.
4 Scott Hall vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Monday Nitro, 1/25/1999)
Goldberg might have his moments, but Bam Bam Bigelow unequivocally ruled, so his stun gun ladder match against Scott Hall -- a week after the aforementioned Souled Out affair -- is decidedly the superior of the two.
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Hall and Bigelow are both seasoned pros, and work well together, setting up some great spots in this 13-minute bout. The only real thing to complain about with this match is that it ends in a "no contest" thanks to a run-in from Goldberg.
3 3-Count vs. Jung Dragons (New Blood Rising, 8/13/2000)
The goofball cruiserweights of 3-Count and Jung Dragons put on a number of secretly awesome matches in the final years of WCW, and this New Blood Rising six-man ladder match was the boys’ first really great PPV opener. This was a DOUBLE LADDER match, where the goal was to grab a contract and a gold record suspended above the ring, with 3-Count’s future as recording artists at stake. It’s silly stuff made sillier by the presence of Tank Abbott as a 3-Count superfan, but it’s a total blast.
2 Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett (Starrcade, 12/19/1999)
One of the few great WCW ladder matches to not involve boy bands or Jamie Noble pretending to be Asian, at Starrcade ‘99, Chris Benoit was awarded the United States Title due to sustaining a knee injury but demanded an actual match so he could win it fair and square. Out came Jeff Jarrett, and the ensuing bout, running at a relatively short 10 minutes, is an underrated gem loaded with intensity. It's a shame that Benoit fought so hard for something he’d lose a day later.
1 Evan Karagias & Jamie Knoble vs. 3-Count vs. The Jung Dragons (Starrcade, 12/17/2000)
This set-up for WCW’s greatest ladder match is typically nonsensical, as it’s a three-way tag team match to become #1 Contender to the Cruiserweight Championship, which is a singles title. But that doesn’t matter, because the match itself is ridiculously fun, full of insane spots by some of the most underrated cruiserweights ever. At 13 minutes, it’s also the longest match at Starrcade 2000, but even if it wasn’t, it would still easily top the rest of the card which consists of stuff like Scott Steiner vs. Sid Vicious in the main event.
