“They Were Looked Upon As Selfish And Defiant” – Jim Ross On WrestleMania X Ladder Match
‘Good Ol’ JR’ Jim Ross has opened up about the legendary Ladder Match at WrestleMania X which was said to have gone drastically over time.
Heralded as one of the greatest Ladder Matches of all-time, Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon to crown an undisputed WWF Intercontinental Champion was arguably ahead of its time with its pacing and layout and what both men managed to accomplish for the time period it occurred.
However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows behind the scenes. Standing at 18:47, the clash ran drastically over time which in turn caused a 10-Man Tag Team Match – which would have seen The Headshrinkers, IRS, Jeff Jarrett and Rick ‘The Model’ Martel battle 123 Kid, Tatanka, Bob ‘Spark Plugg’ Holly and The Smoking Gunns – to be completely removed from the show and instead thrown on Monday Night Raw the following evening.
In his autobiography, ‘The Hardcore Truth’, Bob Holly spoke of said encounter and orated that even though the backstage crew instructed the referee’s to end the bout several times, both Shawn and Razor ignored their pleas and carried on.
Now, Jim Ross has taken to his Grilling JR Podcast in order to talk about the bout going longer than its designated time and how that was looked upon backstage by those who were cost their spot:
“Guys got bumped from the biggest match of their lives. Of course you’re going to get upset. So here’s the deal. That match, they just had spots laid out, they meaning Shawn and Razor. They wanted to get them in, they thought the spots that were building to the end of the match were imperative. So with that said, they torpedoed and steered the course and they went long, they went so long that I guess […] well I was on one of my famous hiatuses at WrestleMania X, I wasn’t there, I wasn’t at the garden, I watched it on television if that helps anything but I was kind of in limbo so I’m not as up on WrestleMania X activities as I would normally be if I were there. But it’s just…you can’t justify getting a whole match bunked ‘cus two guys re excited, ‘We’re going to go over to hell with it.’
And I thought that was, once I read that – I’d forgotten about that – it’s just not good. You can’t justify it being good. If it were them and they were in an advertised match that got cut completely, they’d still be yelling and screaming, raising hell. It was a good match but it would have been good on time. Just as good. And I thought that they stayed a little long but in any event it was a negative experience that didn’t do any favours for Shawn and Razor whatsoever. They were looked upon as selfish and just defiant.”
The famous bout in question came to a dramatic conclusion when Shawn became entangled in the ropes which allowed Ramon to ascend the rungs and claim both WWF Intercontinental Championships.
Credit for the interview: Grilling JR