WWE: Ladder Match 2 - Crash & Burn Blu-ray offers solid video and audio in this overall recommended Blu-ray release
It s the veritable definition of high risk, high reward in sports entertainment a rich reward hangs high above the ring and a superstar must climb a ladder to win the match and retrieve the prize. But the falls from the ladders can be devastating and the punishment one can inflict when using the cold steel ladders as weapons can be brutal. The first Ladder Match DVD in 2007 was one of the biggest-selling DVDs in WWE History, and now the Ladder Match is back with an all-new collection of memorable bouts from WWE, WCW, ECW, and more in The Ladder Match 2: Crash & Burn.
It sounds almost ridiculously simple. Step into the ring, climb a ladder, and earn a WWE championship belt. Yeah, right, tough guy. Good luck. Try
that with Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, The Rock, Steve Austin, Edge, The Undertaker, or Randy Orton in the ring, too, each and every one of them
physical specimens who can dish out the pain as well as they can take it, freaks of nature all of them who have spent their professional lives training
for and hating on their opponents, dreaming of that one opportunity at glory, of ascending that ladder with their opponent face-down on the mat,
bloodied and broken, unable to do anything about that high reach into the sky and sweet, sweet victory, the securing of a much-deserved piece of
sports entertainment hardware and a spot in the WWE history books. WWE: Ladder Match 2 -- Crash & Burn is a compilation piece that
features the best full-length battles of the past two decades, battles pitting WWE superstars in match-ups for the ages where anything goes,
anything can happen, and anyone can win.
Ladder Man.
WWE superstar Christian hosts WWE: Ladder Match 2 -- Crash & Burn. Christian, who himself appears in no less than four of the included
ladder matches, briefly introduces his audience to the history of the ladder match and periodically chimes in between events to offer further history
and provide introductions for the coming bout. Ladder matches were first introduced in Canada (for all the haters, yes, blame Canada) in the early
1970s. It would be about a decade before the now-famous exercise in hard-hitting WWE punishment and spectacular sports entertainment staple
would be
introduced stateside by the legendary wrestling figure Bret "The Hitman" Hart. The first nationwide introduction of the ladder match -- following
Hart's victory over rival Shawn Michaels in the ladder match's debut -- took place at the world-famous Madison Square Garden on March 20, 1994 in
an epic battle, this one also
featuring Michaels, the mullet-sporting lady's man that time matched up against Razor Ramon in what is still considered the definitive ladder
match in the history of the WWE, though it's hard to overlook the legendary matches from the late 1990s featuring the likes of The Rock, Mankind,
and Steve Austin.
Yes, it's all fake, but yes, it's also extremely entertaining. Most novels are works of fiction, most movies are works of fiction, and so what if
everything in the WWE is staged, choreographed, and scripted? The matches are fun, the cadence contagious, the personalities hilarious, the
phoniness
evident, but Vince McMahon and his band of merry well-oiled hulks sure do know how to put on a show. The ladder match has become a signature
event, as much a part of the wrestling landscape as the dive off the ropes, the smacking of opponents with folding chairs, the trash talk before,
during, and after the matches. These are perhaps the most awe-inspiring events in all of sports entertainment, for as scripted and rehearsed as the
matches may be, there's still an element of danger, a sense that something could go wrong, a feeling that for as well-prepared as the wrestlers may
be, there's absolutely no way they don't leave the fight both badly beaten and mentally drained. These are professional actors and daredevil athletes
both who know how to land a
punch without making hard contact, who have the timing down just so to make the stage shake with the power of a stomp correlating exactly with
the
"impact" of a heavy blow. They need to be always on script, in the right part of the arena -- inside the ring or out of it -- and ready to sacrifice
themselves in the name of satisfying the fans who just want to watch some of the world's top athletes compete against not one another, but
themselves in a test of endurance that would challenge even the finest athletes in the history of sport.
But the best ladder matches aren't always at big WWE events and they certainly don't always feature the best and the brightest internationally
renowned WWE superstars. Match two on WWE: Ladder Match 2 - Crash & Burn features a down home, small town, good old boy, rebel
yell, beer chugging, twangy ladder match for the ages that takes place in what looks like a high school basketball gym. It exudes cheapness -- it's a
match for an envelope full of cash held up on a line by a clothes pin -- but the dedication of the athletes and their ability to positively sell the physical
and emotional pain of the match is above reproach. WWE: Ladder Match 2 - Crash & Burn delivers more than twenty full-length ladder
matches spanning two decades of wrestling excellence. There are no corners cut, no edits, not even cuts of the opening wrestler introductions and
the match's closing comments. This is the full ladder match experience, and this home video set also serves as something of a veritable history
of the
WWE. It features many of the sport's biggest names, and it's a pleasure to bear witness to the sport's twenty-year progression, not only in terms of
how the ladder match has changed but the evolution of the television presentation, the stars, and the running script. It's twenty years of wonderful
sports entertainment whittled down to six or seven hours that serve as a wildly entertaining crash course in WWE ladder matches and superstars.
Awesome.
The following matches are included in their entirety:
Disc One:
Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon: Ladder Match for the Undisputed Intercontinental Championship. WrestleMania X -- March 20,
1994.
Tracy Smothers vs. Chris Candino: Ladder Match. Smoky Mountain Wrestling -- March 1994.
Eddie Guerrero vs. Syxx: Ladder Match for the WCW United States Championship. n.W.o. Souled Out -- January 25, 1997.
Mankind vs. Big Boss Man: Ladder Match for the Hardcore Championship. RAW -- November 20, 1998.
The Rock vs. Mankind: Ladder Match for the WWE Championship. RAW -- February 15, 1999.
Mr. McMahon & Shane McMahon vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin: Handicap Ladder Match for Control of the WWE. King of the Ring -- June
27, 1999.
3 Count vs. Jung Dragons: Ladder Match. New Blood Rising -- August 13, 2000.
Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz: Ladder Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. RAW -- September 25, 2000.
Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy: Ladder Match to Unify the Intercontinental & European Championships. RAW -- July 22, 2002.
Team Angle vs. Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri: Ladder Match for the WWE Tag Team Tournament. Judgment Day -- May 18, 2003.
Christian vs. Rob Van Dam: Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship. RAW -- September 29, 2003.
Katie Lea vs. Beth Phoenix: Ladder Match for the Undisputed OVW Women's Championship. OVW -- December 23, 2006.
Mr. Kennedy vs. CM Punk vs. Edge vs. Finlay vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy vs. King Booker vs. Randy Orton: Money in the Bank
Ladder Match. WrestleMania 23 -- April 1, 2007.
The Hardys vs. The World's Greatest Tag Team: Ladder Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. One Night Stand -- June 3,
2007.
Jeff Hardy vs. Carlito: Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship. RAW -- December 10, 2007.
Disc Two:
Undertaker vs. Edge.: TLC Match for the Heavyweight Championship. One Night Stand -- June 1, 2008.
Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels: Ladder Match for the Heavyweight Championship. No Mercy -- October 5, 2008.
CM Punk vs. Kane vs. Mark Henry vs. MVP vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Finlay vs. Christian: Money in the Bank Ladder
Match. 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania -- April 5, 2009.
The Miz vs. Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho vs. Evan Bourne vs. Ted DiBiase vs. John Morrison vs. Edge vs. Mark Henry: Money in the
Bank Ladder Match. Money in the Bank -- July 18, 2010.
John Morrison vs. Sheamus: #1 Contender's Ladder Match for the WWE Championship. WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs --
December 19, 2010.
Christian vs. Alberto del Rio: Ladder Match for the Vacant World Heavyweight Championship. WWE Extreme Rules -- May 1, 2011.
WWE: Ladder Match 2 - Crash & Burn features a 1080i transfer that's typical of an era-spanning WWE release. It delivers a mixture of HD and
SD footage, the former presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio and the latter in a 4:3 window that's flanked by WWE "ladder match"-themed "black bars."
The SD material holds up relatively well. It obviously comes up short in terms of color saturation, fine detail, clarity, and sharpness, but for material shot
10 or 20 years ago, the results aren't bad. The lower-grade matches outside of the WWE look downright awful, soft and fuzzy and yielding a myriad of
technical flaws, but as always, the raw elements that comprise the SD sources don't factor into the overall score. The newer HD footage is razor-sharp
and yields good colors and stable details. It's crisp all around, bright and relatively free of any excess compression flaws, with nothing being so
overwhelming as to ruin the presentation. The relatively static shots of Christian guiding viewers through the program yield a slight bit of visible aliasing,
but are otherwise stable and feature good facial and clothing details. This is much the same as the typical UFC Blu-ray release: seen one, seen 'em all.
It looks as good as, if not better than, the TV broadcasts from whichever era, from the early 1990s all the way to within the last year. In essence, this is
a straight recreation of the OTA SD and HD broadcasts, with the former gaining some much-appreciated stability on Blu-ray.
WWE: Ladder Match 2 - Crash & Burn features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that's in many ways much like the video presentation. It's bland
but adequate with the older matches, and much more potent and active as the years progress. The opening footage yields strong surround use and
excellent front-stage spacing. It's energetic and exciting, a nice stage-setter for the material. Guitar riffs nicely slice through the listening area, and a
fair low end gives some needed heft to the proceedings. It comes up short in terms of absolute clarity and total immersion, however, but for a lossy
track and one found on a compilation WWE specialty video at that, the results aren't half bad. The only downside is that the music sometimes gets in
the way of ringside commentary, an issue that disappears during the matches where no music plays during the actual fight for the title. Speaking of,
commentator and wrestler speech is clear as a bell and firmly grounded in the center channel throughout. The older matches fail to escape the confines
of the center channel and sound rather small and cramped as a result, but they still yield adequate clarity in speech, music, and wrestling sound effects
(i.e., stomping the mat, smacking opponents with the ladder). The newer material -- even some of the SD matches from the late 1990s -- enjoy a far
wider soundstage, boosted clarity, and heightened surround implementation that helps place the listener in the crowd. The newer matches are more
than satisfying, again doing well to at worst recreate the WWE-on-TV experience, and at best enhancing the material slightly. It's not the finest audio
track ever committed to Blu-ray, but wrestling fans should be pleased enough and the presentation isn't such that it should scare any comers away.
WWE: Ladder Match 2 - Crash & Burn is a fantastic no-frills release that's basically a one-after-another string of some of the WWE's finest ladder
matches of the past two decades. Superstar Christian chimes in from time to time to set the stage and provide a history of this unique and entertaining
aspect of the professional wrestling world, but this is primarily a meat and potatoes sort of release that delivers hours of nearly nonstop WWE ladder
match
action. It's also something of a history lesson, the matches bearing witness to twenty years worth of WWE evolution. It's a blast, no doubt about it, and
its unique combination of history and full-length matches makes it ideal for both casual and dedicated wrestling fans alike.
WWE's Blu-ray release of WWE: Ladder Match 2 - Crash & Burn features stable video and audio along with four Blu-ray exclusive ladder
matches. Highly recommended.
