WWE TLC 2011: The Forgotten Ladder Match in WWE History

With the Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view coming on December 18th, the ladder match will make its 41st appearance at a WWE event after a rich history of amazing matches with everything from the WWE championship to full control of the company hanging high above the ring.

While most WWE fans remember the classic encounter between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon from Wrestlemania X as the first ladder match, the concept match actually made its debut two years earlier with Bret Hart defending his WWE Intercontinental title against the Heartbreak Kid on the now defunct WWE Wrestling Challenge.

However, before Hart made it to the WWE and competed in the company's first ladder match, the Hitman was actually a part of a ladder match in his father Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling organization. That match took place in 1983, nearly a decade before the match with HBK in 1992.

When Hart was in the WWE, he was the one to push the idea of the match to Vince McMahon. The contest rose to great popularity during the 1990s and eventually took on different forms, including the TLC match and the King of the Mountain match (in TNA). Furthermore, different items could be hung over the ring, such as the stun gun in the Goldberg/Scott Hall match from WCW in 1999.

In the later moments of the match between Michaels and Hart, the Hitman dropkicked the ladder, tipping the metal frame and sending HBK from almost the top rung to the floor.

Hart was then able to set up the ladder with ease as Michaels was face down and out, retrieving his Intercontinental Championship at the event.

Despite the fact that this ladder match encounter is not in the memories of most WWE fans these days, the classic match between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart should be remembered as one of the great showdowns in ladder match history and in the rivalry between the Hitman and the Heartbreak Kid.