Shawn Michaels vs Razor Ramon - WrestleMania X Ladder Match

[The Crock]

At WrestleMania X, we witnessed history. In one of the most iconic WrestleMania matches of all time, Razor Ramon faced off against Shawn Michaels to determine just who the TRUE Intercontinental Champion was. Often recognized as one of the best matches of all time, this match touts many accolades. It was rated 5 Stars and received Match of the Year honors in 1994. Although it has received all these honors, the match has its doubters. It has been said before that this match was basically "Shawn Michaels versus a ladder" and that Razor Ramon just happened to be there. So, what do you think?

Personally, I tend to disagree. While Michaels carried the match for stretches and set the tempo, Ramon added another wrinkle to it. "The Bad Guy" was one of the highest and fastest rising stars in all of wrestling at the time. He was quickly becoming a legitimate contender in the WWF, a mega star. He deserved to be there with Shawn. His style was the perfect contrast to Shawn's style. He was the more powerful of the two, more focused on brutality and brawling, while Michaels used his speed and high risk maneuvers to do whatever he could. In the end, Razor Ramon ended up winning the match. That right there basically disproves it for me. He earned it, people shouldn't discredit his influence on that match.

 

[Kiefer-Zeus]

Il be honest, im the biggest HBK fan you will know, but i also am a Razor Ramon/Scott Hall fan and at this point in time between 94-95 i though Ramon worked his ass of in every match he had so i feel although Shawn took the big bumps and had maybe 65% of this match in his favour i feel Razor did his job and carried the other 35% perfectly!!!

 

[byrnside]

I've seen this argument before and aside from some internet fans the only person I've really ever heard say "Shawn went out and had a match against a ladder" was Ric Flair. Not to discount Flair on anything, because let's face it, he is one of the best ever, I just don't think he likes Scott Hall. I think Razor Ramon deserves to be acknowledged in this discussion because as was said before Razor Ramon was a superstar who was rapidly gaining popularity in 1994. I'd say that he probably fits in better with the likes of say a John Cena [as far as in ring talent is concerned] he was/is slightly limited in terms of catch-as-catch-can abilities, but that shouldn't discredit his performance in the match. I don't think it's his fault that Shawn was such an innovator in gimmick matches.

 

[Theo Mays]

Am I the only that thought the match was a borefest? I truly couldn't get into and I've seen the match a good handful of times and it still hasn't changed my mind on the subject. Sticking to the topic at hand though, I too disagree that it was Shawn vs. a ladder. I mean for crying out loud Razor Ramon won the gosh darn match so that means something right? WWE was trying to turn Razor into a superstar and this was a start in that process. It was a big time win for him and put him into more spotlight. People seem to forget Razor actually won the match (my brother and best friend both argued with me that Shawn was victorious). This was a stepping stone to launch Razor to stardom and put HBK on the map as Mr. Wrestlemania.

 

[LSN80]

It truly takes two to make a match, Ive always had that philosophy, regardless of the match. I tend to think that Scott Hall/Razor Ramon was underrated as a performer in some aspects, and he showed them here. He took alot of bumps, and he bumped properly for HBK. When it became time for him to dish out punishment to Michaels, he did so convincingly. The 4 or 5 "false finishes" at the end were laid out nicely by both men. Hall was the perfect "foil", so to speak, for Michaels in that his size and strength perfectly worked as a nice contrast to Michaels' speed and agility.

Im a mark for great storytelling, and while this didnt have the innovative spots or high risk maneuvers that future ladder matches have and are expected to this day, it did have tremendous psychology. I truly bought into the desire to see HBK win the match more and more as it went on, and they suckered me in with each mistep. Much of this credit has to be given to Hall, because the man knew how to work a crowd, which is a tremendous part of entertainment. Both Hall and Michaels were phenomenal here in every way.

This match is quite arguably the most important match in the history of WrestleMania. This match began to usher in a whole new style of pro wrestling and influenced some of the biggest stars in WWE history. Beyond the match, people generally forget about the great storyline behind it. The feud between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels dated back to the fall of 1993, when the WWF commissioner, whose name eludes me, announced that he was stripping Michaels of the Intercontinental Championship for not defending the title often enough. But the defiant Michaels absolutely refused to acknowledge the title change after Hall had won it in a battle royal, and continued to call himself the true IC Champ. He then had IRS steal Ramon's patented gold chains, which lead to the feud becoming personal, and the belt being held up until the ladder match.

As I said earlier, it takes two men to make a match great. This match isnt universally regarded as perhaps the greatest ladder match of all time just because of Shawn Michaels and the ladder, it was because of the tremendous chemistry HBK and Hall showed together, as well as their fantastic usage of the ladder. Michaels double stomp on the ladder with Hall under it comes to mind specifically. But in the end, Hall crotched Michaels off the ladder for the win. Both men deserve, dare I say it, equal credit for the success of this match. Its universally regarded as a ***** star match, which is a little much to me, but it was a least ****.5. Fantastic stuff by both men.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

It truly takes two to make a match, Ive always had that philosophy, regardless of the match. I tend to think that Scott Hall/Razor Ramon was underrated as a performer in some aspects, and he showed them here. He took alot of bumps, and he bumped properly for HBK. When it became time for him to dish out punishment to Michaels, he did so convincingly. The 4 or 5 "false finishes" at the end were laid out nicely by both men. Hall was the perfect "foil", so to speak, for Michaels in that his size and strength perfectly worked as a nice contrast to Michaels' speed and agility.

Im a mark for great storytelling, and while this didnt have the innovative spots or high risk maneuvers that future ladder matches have and are expected to this day, it did have tremendous psychology. I truly bought into the desire to see HBK win the match more and more as it went on, and they suckered me in with each mistep. Much of this credit has to be given to Hall, because the man knew how to work a crowd, which is a tremendous part of entertainment. Both Hall and Michaels were phenomenal here in every way.

I think LSN nailed it right here. You almost always need two men to perform to make a match great, and that is what happened here. Shawn may get the plaudits because he took the biggest bumps, he took the risks and he was more spectacular, but you cannot ignore Razor's contribuitution to the match.

Razor was not a high-flying performer like Shawn, so he played to his strengths and used more of a brawling style that was also used by The Rock and Triple H in their great ladder match in 1998. Razor showed that you do not need to fly to be a success in ladder matches, and while I do think Shawn added more to the match than Ramon did, he definitely is underrated when it comes to peoples opinion of this match

At his best, Scott Hall was a really, really good wrestler. He had pretty much everything you needed to get to the top, and at this point he had just as much chance of becoming a megastar as Shawn Michaels did. This match benefitted both men hugely, but Michaels just made the most of his opportunity better than Hall did. Hall may have won, but Shawn got more of the attention due to the bumps he took.

If I had to say, I would give it 65% to HBK and 35% to Razor, but he damm sure made the 35% count, and did it well. History will forget Razor's contributions, which is a shame as he was ALMOST as important to this match as HBK. Without a performer of Hall's calibre, this match would not have been as good, HBK couldn't have done it by himself, noone could.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Razor Ramon certainly kept up his part of the bargain in the ladder match. Shawn took the more spectacular bumps in this match but then it makes sense for him to do so. Razor was a powerful wrestler and so it made sense for him to toss Michaels all around the ring like he did.

Another reason why this match is looked upon as a Shawn vs Ladder match is because it was mostly Michaels who used the ladder as a weapon. Once again, that makes sense. Let us not forget that it was the first ever televised ladder match and there had been very few such matches even in house shows. HBK was a heel here and considerably inferior in strength to Ramon. So he had to use the ladder to even out matters. Ramon being a strong face was using his strength to put HBK away and then ascend the ladder. We just cannot compare that match to the matches we are used to seeing today. In those days heels were the ones portrayed as geniuses and faces were portrayed as the guys who would try to play fair at all costs. They rarely used weapons first even in those type of matches where the usage of weapons was allowed. So that is one more justificction of Shawn using the ladder.

All being said, Ramon certainly performed credibly in the match. Let us not forget that he took most of the high flying moves from HBK in the match and as any wrestler will tell you, high flying moves are the worst moves to be at the receiving end of. One of my favorite spots in the match is that of HBK ascending the top rope ad splashing onto Ramon with the ladder in front of him. I have always wondered how much that would hurt. Ramon also won the match but even if you do not take the result into the equation, he performed just as well as Shawn did.

So the Shawn vs Ladder is mostly a myth that the IWC has done well to spread. It has more to do with how the individual careers of both HBK and Ramon have fared after this match rather than how each individual has performed in the match. Ramon's defecting to WCW also did not help him out much.