WWE TLC 2011: 5 Best Ladder Matches in WWE History

WWE's annual TLC pay-per-view is just one week away. While the build for the show has been lacking, to say the least, whenever there are ladders involved the shows always seem to be better. 

That's because of all the gimmick matches that WWE has created over the years, the one that has always stood the test of time is the Ladder Match. It seems to bring out the best in the wrestlers involved in the match for some reason. 

Of course, the expectations for the ladder match on this show should be lowered considerably since it involves the relics known as Kevin Nash and Triple H. To say that something disastrous is going to happen with those two and a ladder is a bit of an understatement. 

But we don't need to think about that train wreck right now. What we do need to concern ourselves with is the past. 

Specifically, the best ladder matches in WWE history. It has been almost 20 years since the first ladder match in company history involving Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, and it seems that each one has that one moment that every wrestling fan can remember. 

That is not to say that all ladder matches are winners, but they always leave us with something to talk about. 

Enough rambling about what the matches mean, we want to know what the best in WWE history are. 

Without further ado, here are the five best ladder matches in WWE history. 

(Note: Since Money In the Bank matches are just ladder matches with a different name, they are eligible for this list.)

5. WrestleMania 21: Money in the Bank

The concept was genius, the competitors -- Edge, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Shelton Benjamin, Kane, Christian -- were all at their peaks, and the WrestleMania stage only made it feel that much more important. 

By now, the Money In the Bank match is known to every wrestling fan around the world. But, as is often the case with these kinds of gimmick matches, if the first one fails, it is very hard to go back to the well a second time. 

Thankfully, this match at WrestleMania 21 was like poetry in motion. There were some clunky spots, which you will find in virtually every ladder match, but the six wrestlers involved put on a show that would spawn an entire pay-per-view a few short years later. 

Edge won the briefcase, and he carried the momentum from this victory to superstardom before being forced to retire in 2011 due to various injuries sustained in matches like this. 

4. No Mercy 2008: Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels for World Heavyweight Title

A big part of the problem with WWE in 2011 is that there are no feuds that really seem to matter. The creative team has no idea how to work a proper wrestling feud, and the wrestlers just seem so annoyed at having to tell these lame stories that no one gets interested in who wins and who loses. 

In 2008, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels had a feud that would be turn out to be one of the best that the company has done in the last decade, and probably one of the best that it will ever do looking back on it. And the irony of the whole thing is that they were only supposed to work together for one month. 

It started early in the year, with Jericho accusing Michaels of faking an injury to defeat Batista in a match. Jericho called the fans out for being hypocrites since they were cheering for a man who cheated his way to a victory. He made his heel turn by shoving Michaels through the Jeritron 5000, and the two never looked back. 

Everything came to a head at No Mercy in a fantastic back and forth match that saw both men put their bodies through hell. And that is not an understatement. There are some ladder matches where you can tell they are being safe, but that was definitely not the case here. 

The match ended with a fantastic tug of war on top of the ladder. Jericho hit Michaels with a headbutt and fell to the ground to retain the championship. 

3. Royal Rumble 2001: Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit

Looking back on it, 2001 should have been the best year in WWE history. The talent roster was as deep as it had ever been, WCW was dead and Vince McMahon had an Invasion angle that should have made him more money than he had ever seen before in his life. 

But a number of godawful booking decisions -- turning Steve Austin heel, the Two-Man Power Trip, making WCW stars look inferior to WWE stars every way possible, among others -- derailed everything in a hurry. 

Still, the beginning of the year was as good as WWE has ever been. It started with a fantastic Royal Rumble show that may have ended with Austin winning his third Rumble match, but it was Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit that stole the show on this night. 

Say what you want about Benoit today, and all of it is deserved, but in the ring there were few wrestlers in WWE that could keep up with him. 

Jericho, at least at that point in his WWE run, had never been given the proper respect from the creative team that he deserved considering how over he was.

But that didn't matter on this night. The only thing that mattered is these two went out there for 20 minutes and made magic. And they were doing all of this for the Intercontinental title. 

Think about that now: You had two wrestlers like Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho battling in a ladder match for the Intercontinental title. I miss when that belt used to mean something. 

2. SummerSlam 1998: Triple H vs. The Rock

Believe it or not, there was a time when The Rock was not the mega-star that he is now. In fact, there were a lot of doubts about whether or not he would make it as a star in WWE, much less become a legitimate movie star. 

After a rough start to his career, that actually saw the fans chant "Die, Rocky, Die," The Rock reinvented himself once he joined the Nation of Domination. During his time with that faction, he proved to the fans that he could talk with the best of them.

But he still didn't have that one signature match to make him a superstar. 

Enter: Triple H. 

Triple H was also at a point where there were questions about how much of a star he would be in WWE. He was looking for that one big moment to take him from being a great worker to a legitimate superstar. 

This is the rarest of matches: It didn't matter who won or lost, because both Triple H and The Rock proved that they could have great matches on the biggest stage that WWE has to offer. 

A few months back, Rock released a YouTube video in which he told John Cena that he would be returning at the Survivor Series in Madison Square Garden, the place where he made his name in his first match back in 1996. 

He was partly right. He did make his name in that arena, but it didn't happen until August 30, 1998. 

1. WrestleMania 10: Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon

It may be boring and cliche to pick Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon from WrestleMania 10 to be the best Ladder Match in WWE history because everyone always points to it anytime a ladder match gets brought up. 

In fact, it has been argued that by today's standards with wrestlers flying off ladders through tables and doing all of these wacky spots that this match doesn't hold up well. To those people, I would say that you are missing what wrestling really is. 

Anyone can do a high spot that gets a crowd reaction. It takes real talent to just put two wrestlers in the ring together and tell them to use a ladder without getting too insane or taking a stupid chance that could have serious long-term health ramifications. 

Not to discredit Razor's part in this match, because it does take two to make a match great, but Michaels earned the title of "Mr. WrestleMania" thanks to what he did in this match. 

At this point in his career, Michaels was a great worker, one of the best in the business. He did not need this match in order to become what he would eventually grow into. But the fact that he did just helped speed up the process. 

I think it was Triple H who said that Michaels just went out there for 20 minutes and had a five-star match with a ladder. That might be the simplest way of describing this match, but it is also the truest way. 

I won't say that nothing will ever top it, because we know that anything can happen and a match could just catch lightning in a bottle. But it would take a hell of a performance for anything or anyone to ever best what Michaels and Razor were able to do. 

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