10 Best Matches From B-Level WWE Pay Per Views
9. Shawn Michaels Vs. Chris Jericho - No Mercy 2008
CM Punk was infamously stripped of the World Heavyweight Title, at Unforgiven 2008, without the dignity of actually defending it. He was told that Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels "needed" it to put their blood feud over the top, and on this evidence alone, the counterproductive decision at least had a stunning payoff.
It was a totally different ladder match to which WWE fans had become accustomed. It wasn’t used as a contrived platform for some daredevil stunt work; it was organically woven into the narrative. The spots were almost consciously ugly to tap into the deeply personal nature of the feud.
Jericho didn’t leap from the top rung to create a flashbulb moment. He used it as a battering ram in an attempt to cave Michaels’ chest in. Michaels, in response, tried to dislocate Jericho’s knee by upending the ladder when Jericho was trapped between its rungs. It was a method of both strategically stopping Jericho from climbing and avenging the diabolical behaviour he had inflicted on him. The spot looked far more painful than it did spectacular - but the match wasn’t a highlight reel to fill but a personal war to win.
Michaels then damaged Jericho’s knee further by positioning the ladder by the turnbuckle and sending Jericho into it with a sickening knee breaker. Then, in a choice spot, Jericho restored parity by shaking free of the subsequent figure four and dropkicking the ladder (still in position - it wasn’t hauled gracelessly and obviously to facilitate the next move) into Michaels’ bum eye.
Michaels and Jericho didn’t just restore storytelling to the ladder genre; they used the apparatus as a callback to the source of their discord in a bout that rewarded those paying strict attention.