[1996-08-24-WWF-Toronto, ONT] Shawn Michaels vs Goldust (Ladder)

[PeteF3]

They give a PPV effort, with all of the big bumps you'd expect from a televised ladder match. Goldust doesn't feel out of place at all. There's some clipping after about the fifteen-minute mark, as the camera's battery starts to run out, and even then it's kind of fun listening to the guy freak out hoping that he can get the end on tape. In terms of both style and quality, this probably falls between the Razor-Shawn ladder matches and the Bret-Shawn one. It's pretty cool to see a ladder match for the WWF title at this point.

 

[PeteF3]

Interestingly, this opens the same way that Dustin-Vader Clash match did, with Dustin in the Vader role spitting on Shawn in the corner and then eating a spear and a flurry of punches. Shawn in particular works pretty balls-out here, taking some trademark bumps, while Goldust gets to show some uncharacteristic aggressiveness. This is short on shtick and stalling on long on Dustin beating the fuck out of Shawn, with some punches that look awesome even from the stands, and also focusing on HBK's back. There aren't a ton of super high-end ladder spots, but they do use it effectively and in some creative ways, particularly Goldust dropping Shawn with a bulldog across it, and the finish where Shawn uses the ladder as a springboard to flip out of the Curtain Call and hit the superkick. The cameraman has to stop the tape a bunch of times down the stretch to preserve the battery so we miss a transition or two, but I agree with Gregor that with a little more time this easily could have fit onto a PPV of the time period. Good effort and maybe the first truly good Goldust match in the WWF.