It began over 5,000 years ago when civilization was young…
Every major culture, Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, Japan, studied it, practiced it, perfected it to a fine art
They admired its Olympian demands: strength, speed, agility, skill, grace and courage.
They did it to honor their gods…
They did it to honor their kings…
They did it to train their soldiers…
They did it to compete…
and they did it for fun…
It has come down through the ages to us today…
It is…
DRS2EBRaSAGG

I may have made a mistake here. Nostalgia and all that stuff may have led to a rose colored glasses situation. I can remember heading to the local VHS rental establishment and being so excited to see the newest Coliseum Video. These were the days of Superstars and Wrestling Challenge and all their squash matches being the only wrestling I got. The only time actually stars wrestled was on Pay Per View four times a year. I remember first seeing the ladder match reviewed herein in clips during the Making Some Noise music video they made for Bret Hart after he won the WWF Championship. It shows Shawn being slingshotted into the ladder. I had no idea what was going on there. Being 7 years old at the time I desperately needed to find out what was going in here. Fast forward a bit and low and behold I run across a WWF Tape in the Toys R Us on Route 4 in Paramus New Jersey. On the cover of the video are Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels fighting on a ladder.

Well watching these many years later is sorta like watching Voltron or Thundercats. My memories are a lot better than what things actually are. Although the ladder match is quite good. Best match of the bunch here. The only good match reviewed here. The rest are house show matches worked at marathon tapings where the wrestlers work more than once. The first and last matches are the biggest offenders there. Not much happens. Very short to begin with then adding long arm bars and chinlocks. Getting a little outside interference from Sherri and Diesel respectively and that is all you get. The second match is basically the exact same as the first. You have the same exact arm work. The same spot of Sherri nailing Bret with a forearm to the throat. The same comeback by Bret getting the feet up in the corner out of a wacky Shawn Michaels pirouette and hitting him with a second rope clothesline. That spot makes it into every single match. 

What sets the second match apart from the first is the extra 5 minutes it gets. As boring as the first 8 minutes are the last 5 are quite great. The finish is long and great sequence of pinfalls and reversals. Small packages and backslides and schoolboys and whatnot until Shawn drops Bret with the reverse crescent kick. This leads to a awesome reversal of the Teardrop Suplex, which really is an awful looking thing, into a sunset flip. This outrages Sensational Sherri who jumps up on the apron, but in a shocking twist Bret moves out of the way and Shawn runs into her leaving him open to a schoolboy and the lost. That is also the finish of the tag match. A dream tag match looking at the names involved. Not that good. Bret is barely in it. Shawn sorta meanders and Flair is doing his Flair act. The guy who does his damnedest to save it is Macho Man Randy Savage, but even as great as he is that was not enough.

The ladder match was booked as a proof of concept, and it shows. They work a ton harder in this match than in any of the others. The idea was that if Summerslam 1992 was in England, as it was, the IC Title match would be Bret vs Bulldog. If not it would be Bret vs Shawn. Bret pitched a ladder match for Summerslam if it was with Shawn and this match was booked to prove to Vince McMahon that it could work. There is a lot here that would wind up in the Shawn vs Razor match at Wrestlemania X. Like the finish for instance and the consternation of Bret Hart. What is especially good about this match and great in the Mania X match is the psychology. These days you have guys taking 20 minutes just to set up tables or ladder bridges for ridiculous Rube Goldberg-esque spots instead of trying to actual win the match. Novel concept right? This match is all about beating your man down and the second you see an opportunity scramble up the ladder and grab the belt. It is old school and refreshing all at the same time. Of a somewhat similar interest is the cage match. The cage match is not particularly good, but there are spots that find their way into the great Bret vs Owen cage match. Most notably the finish is recycled much like the ladder match.

Mike McGuirk! That woman’s hair. And clothes. And everything about her. It is just so wacky. Also wacky are the announcing teams. You got Gorilla and Ross. Ross and Heenan. Hayes and Mooney. Gorilla and Hayes. Gorilla and Lane. And the best announce team Gorilla Monsoon and Johnny “Don’t Call Me Raven” Polo. I have seen Coliseum Video matches where they are the announce team before. Always surreal. However, the cage match takes the cake. Whether it be Gorilla trying to pry the secret of Johnny Polo’s Philadelphia Phillies fandom out. Or Polo and Monsoon discussing what rules in wrestling they want to see changed. Or Polo forgetting that he managed the Quebecers and burying Canada and then trying to walk it back. It was just awesome and helped prop up a boring match. A boring cage match. Between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Sigh, Coliseum Video. I feel like my childhood was raped. Damn you George Lucas.

And there you have. A trip to my youth. Now it is time for a trip to when I became a teenager. A time where I would stay up until the wee hours on a Friday night to watch a wrestling show. A wrestling show that was rebellious. A wrestling show that was extreme. It is time to add ECW to the list of promotions covered. Next: Rob Van Dam vs Jerry Lynn