Razor vs HBK - Ladder Match WM X
"Hall's claim to fame was being in the ring whilst Shawn Michaels wrestled a ladder" - Ric Flair
Oh nature boy, how wrong could you be?
I'm a huge fan of character intergration into match ups and this one starts out with two prime examples, the arrogant self obsessed pretty boy Shawn Michaels feigns going under the ladder but before he does he wags his finger and walks round, he'll spit in the face of tradition but won't let these people see it as it's what they want. Razor comes out and goes straight under for a big pop, it's the little things which sell a characters whole direction and Ramone going straight through sums his in your face babyface persona just as well as Shawn's fake did his. The match starts out with the two exchanging holds before Razor gets the upperhand and hits a big chokeslam uranagi, it's a solid intro then Hall takes his first big bump of the night being tossed through the middle rope by Michaels before being decked by Big Daddy Cool with a clothesline, this leads to Hebner throwing Diesel out to be a big pop. I'm pleased with the tempo at the start, how they didn't use the ladder straight away to avoid it being a crutch and the removing of Diesel so he doesn't overshadow these two.
The ladder is then brought into play and we see some of the most iconic spots hit by Shawn including the bareass elbow ( :gusta: ), the splash and the ladder fall. However what's often overshadowed is the fact they beat eachother with the ladder but it was in ways that fit their characters, Shawn's was about getting the iconic pictures while Razor was all about just kicking the crap out of Shawn, this is why Razor is often overshadowed in this match, it was structured almost too well and many just remember Shawn but it fits from a psychological standpoint. Anyway the spots were solid and well paced so it wasn't just bouncing between them a story was told in between them, plus Shawn's selling was top notch as always.
The ending of the match again fits the persona's Shawn is portraying, look at how he refuses to move Razor rather placing the ladder over his fallen body and climbing, this allows Razor to get back to his feet and topple Shawn onto the ropes, sadly the ending was botched as Shawn had to alter his footing after landing to get it caught up. It was the only botch I can recall but justn ruined the flow slightly. Razor collapses after clutching the titles to sell he's been in a war.
My rating? *** 3/4* - It's a well paced psychological classic which is more than the eye tends to see, the little parts aren't noticable as they are but if they aren't present you'd miss them a lot. It has solid spots but avoids being spotty.
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