Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian

[9.0] "A fantastic, hard hitting back and forth match with an incredible ending. Christian, nearly 15 years into his career, finally wins the World Heavyweight title. Did he win it because Edge got hurt? Probably. Did he lose it days later to Randy Orton? Yes. Despite that, this was an excellent match and Christian deserved the win here."

[10.0] "Usually anything with ADR in it is gonna score low in my book, both because I never liked him and also because now he's weighed down with a ton of baggage in hindsight, but nothing can dampen my love of this match. Christian has just a brilliant showing and it's so satisfying to see him finally win a world title the WWE, even an obviously secondary one. And yes, ADR actually does a good job, one of his better showings."

[7.0] "Genuine feel good moment when Edge honks that horn allowing Christian to finally win the big gold. They used the ladders well without doing anything spectacular with them and made the close calls on top of the ladders believable."

[7.0] "[7, 50/10, 0] Honestly, it left me a little cold. I mean, I liked it, I think it was a remarkable match, but maybe I just wasn't as excited as some others were. The match had several creative spots and they used the ladders well; it wasn't bad at all."

[6.0] "Christian finally winning world title for the first time is what most will remember about this match and it's a great moment. Match itself was decent with a few cool moments but nothing to write home about. Never really went into high gear to make it standout."

[6.0] "This was... alright? Neither guy's fault, both were perfectly good in this, but it was just a very PG Era take on a stipulation that's already hit-or-miss at the best of times. Didn't find much to sink my teeth into here. Christian is my boy but my good feelings around this run are less about the moment of him winning the Big Gold and more about the aftermath of him simply getting to work an extended world title program cranking out one great high-profile match after another. For an individual cathartic moment of Christian fandom, I take his first NWA title win any day. Still nice to see the crowd strongly invested in the face/heel dynamics in this and there's a couple good bits. [***]"

[8.0] "This match was very good. Of course the fact that it is Christian winning his first world title in WWE and that it was right after Edge retired helps bring a nice emotional boost to the match, but outside of that, it is still very good. The ladder match as a whole is a fun stipulation and Christian's experience in them shows and makes the match better. You can tell watching it back Christian had the fans behind him and it almost felt like it was all hope that he would win as WWE clearly billed Del Rio as their next big heel. Ultimately, I think the end of the match kind of messes it up a little bit. If you change the way Brodus Clay comes out I think the match is even better but the way it happens knocks it down a little bit. I also think the way Edge was just honking at the end to distract Del Rio was a little bit goofy, but it was still good. Plus, Ricardo Rodriguez makes any match infinitely better."

[5.0] "I feel like the high rating for this depends only on the happiness of seeing Christian becoming world champions. And I'm sorry, I really like Christian but this was not a worth match for this occasion. There's nothing to remember about this, not a single manouver, not a single moment. Some ladder placements were just ridicolous, you already knew the match was not going to finish. Del Rio was non confident with the ladder. The flow never changed, it became boring after a while. The thing I liked the most is Edge returning and helping his best friend. Christian deserved more for his great moment."

[5.0] "I'm sorry, but I have to be honest. The quality of this match was probably worth 4 points, but I generously raised it to 5 points due to how great a moment the ending was. My feelings about Christian have always been that the man will never give you a bad match, but he has also only had a literal handful of great singles matches in his career too, and this was not one of them. Nothing happens in this match. The entire match is just a series of minor abuses with the ladders. Over and over and over again. There's very little in terms of drama to this match. No moments beyond the obviously scripted ones where it feels like a win might be coming. There's also no serious ladder bumps either. No moments where there are big slams or throws off the ladder. Now, ladder matches certainly don't need to be spot fests, but when you're not using the gimmick of the match for drama, and you're not using it for spectacle, you literally have nothing. You have two guys playing around setting up ladders and using them for generic hits and spots where they get whipped into it, or get tugged off. The whole bout was shockingly underwhelming, and I'll be perfectly honest and tell you that it's one of the worst ladder matches I've ever seen. Ladder matches need to go one of two ways, as mentioned. They need to be filled with drama and tension in terms of trying to reach the belt, or they need to be car-crash matches if they don't use that. This had neither. I 100% believe that if this match wasn't Christian's first big world title win after Edge's (at the time) retirement, and this was for a mid-card title or something like it, this match would not be rated as it is. The fact that he loses it almost immediately after this match makes it worse. A shame of a match that doesn't deliver anything besides good feelings at the end."

[9.0] "Probably Christian's best moment of his entire WWE solo career. Memorable spots and action all throughout, Del Rio and Christian have surprisingly great chemistry. That cross armbreaker counter into the killswitch counter into Christian landing the back body drop then hitting Del Rio with a flapjack on the ladder, amazing sequence. Good story of Del Rio focusing on Christian's right arm to make it harder for him to climb the ladder, that armbar/knee (idk what that moves called tbh) spot off the cute little stepladder looked crunchy af. Loved Christian using the spear, gets a massive pop from the crowd and looks a tiny bit better than Edge's ngl. Speaking of Edge, he shows up at the end (doesn't wave like in 2K15 that was kinda disappointing) for the coronation of his best friend and it's the most wholesome shit. Amazing moment, shame Christian would lose the title on the next smackdown but you can't take the moment away from him. ****1/4"

[8.0] "A very good ladder match between Christian and Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Title. There was a lot of good story going into this, with Edge's recent retirement being involved. There were plenty of inventive spots throughout this match (including the stuff with the small ladder, which I've never seen before). Del Rio took a really nasty bump onto the ladder when it was on the outside at one point. The ending was a little goofy, with Edge distracting Del Rio with a car horn, but it was interesting at least. The ending was a great feel-good moment with Edge and Christian celebrating together. Great match."

[6.0] "I was really expecting a bit more out of this, but it's alright I guess. Beginning of the match just felt a bit flat to me and it was just missing something that most great ladder matches have personally."

[9.0] "Realistically, this match is an 8, but simply for the moment at the end I have to give this a 9. Christian is a king of ladder matches and he proves it here, in a great one against Alberto Del Rio."

[9.0] "This was a great ladder match with some great spots and the ending of the match was really good and the title win for christian was so good. ****1/2"

[9.0] "Arguably one of the all-time greatest title wins in history. A highly emotional match where one of the most underrated stars of the modern era finally won the prize he rightfully earned. Apart from the high emotion, the action was also top-notch. Some innovative stuff with the ladder, and some fun outside shenanigans. Edge coming out near the end was awesome, a marked out moment. Sure, the title reign ended up being a massive disappointment and ultimately way too short, but you can't deny that this was an absolutely beautiful match/moment. [****1/2]"

[10.0] "If we ignore Benoit and Eddie at Mania 20, this has my pick for the best babyface title win ever (though a look at my name would betray my bias admittedly). One of the greats who has been undermined and sabotaged his whole career finally reaching the pinnacle against all odds. Just beautiful."

[9.0] "it was a good Ladder-Match where, there were some ladder spots, Christian had perhaps the unique opportunity to win the World Heavyweight Championship and Alberto Del Rio also had the chance to show that he can win the World Title for the first time. and the result was very good with Christian finally becoming the Word Havyweight Champion. **** 1/2."

[9.0] "This was an awesome match. This is probably one of the best Ladder match in history, the action is fantastic and the storytelling is great. They really put their bodies on the line in the stiffest way possible, they took some hard bumps and made some great spots. This match was big spot after big spot and I can't even say which one I liked so much I liked everything about it. Del Rio was a brilliant heel and surely had one of the best performances of his career here, doing a vicious job on Christian's arm. Christian was a perfect babyface, touching the hearts of the fans and having the crowd in the palm of his hand. You could clearly feel his ladder experience here and it's always good to remember that he's an awesome performer, this kind of performance proves it. Underdog stories are always beautiful when they're well told, and here it was, probably one of the most beautiful title wins of the last decade. Look at Christian's reaction when he won the title, look at Edge's reaction, look at that crowd's reaction, this was crazy and it was so deserved for Christian. Maybe there was a little bit of unnecessary overbooking at the end of the match but that doesn't spoil the quality of this superb bout between Del Rio and Christian. Edge coming to congratulate Christian was a fantastic touch. Amazing stuff."

[8.0] "Such a satisfying moment here, seeing Christian finally achieve the success he always deserved, but Vince didn't see in him. Of course, WWE would throw that away within 48 hours by having him drop the belt to Randy Orton, but that rivalry did give us a load of great matches at least. Anyway, this match was great and ended in the exact way the fans wanted it to."

[4.0] "Okay match. Great moment but it didn? t help the match which was lacking that spark. Christian? s selling was too inconsistent and Del Rio doesn't really work in ladder matches. The finish was too telegraphed. The match didn? t have much intensity to it. Both guys can do much better. Christian especially. **1/4"

[10.0] "This was really great. I liked how they didn't use the ladder as a weapon a whole lot early on. They focused on beating each other down with wrestling moves early on. Del Rio looked really good and in control for a lot of it. He worked very well and looked apt for a ladder match despite only being in one previously before this match. Christian also looked well showing his experience in ladder matches. I liked the way Del Rio worked over Christian's arm as well as using the ladder while doing it like when he used the step ladder to hit an arm breaker, slamming his arm into the ladder, and applying an armbreaker with the ladder on Christian for examples. Christian did well to sell his arm for example when he hit the Spear. I liked how Christian was quick to get to the top of the ladder after Del Rio missed the elbow drop to the outside. The ending was good with Edge coming out to distract Del Rio and Christian knocking him off the ladder allowing him to win the World title. A well deserved win."

[6.0] "I gave this match *** 1/4 stars out of 5. Alberto and Christian put on a good performance, but like most ladder matches... I always feel underwhelmed. Good match, great moment."

[9.0] "What an amazing ladder match. First of all this was very emotional. Edge had just retired and Christian was going for his first (WWE) World Heavyweight Championship. These 2 put on a great match, and Christian winning is one of the greatest moments in WWE history. ****1/4."

[9.0] "This was a good ladder match in and of itself, but this match will really be remembered for being that match that saw Christian FINALLY won a world title in WWE. Yes, he is a former NWA World Champion, but we all know that means virtually nothing in WWE. Christian has been a hard worker for years and has always managed to stay out of trouble. He's the kind of guy that we root for because he's the perpetual underdog that always had the talent to be something more. This is how we would have felt if Matt Hardy had won a world title instead of, you know, going completely bat-shit crazy. I'd love to see Christian get a lengthy championship reign, but that possibility is somewhat in doubt now that Randy Orton has moved to Smackdown. Christian will never be as big a star as Orton (as least in the mind of WWE management), and so Orton will inevitably ascend to the top of the card sooner or later. However, I'm guessing that Christian will hold on to the belt for at least a few months before Orton takes his shot at SummerSlam ****1/4"

[7.0] "I liked the limb work and the emotional end of the match. Unfortunately big parts of the match felt rehearsed and Sel Rio seemed really afraid to take any big bump (even landing on the ladder butt first). Probably around 4 stars"