Matt Hardy Names WWE Match That Inspired Him & Jeff: 'Never Seen Anything Like It'

Matt and Jeff Hardy broke into pro wrestling in the 1990s, after getting their start as backyard wrestlers. They've been closely associated with ladder matches throughout their respective careers, and speaking on his podcast, Matt explained the extent to which they were inspired by the ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon (AKA Scott Hall) at WWE WrestleMania X.

"That match had a hold on us," Matt said. "It made us want to experiment with ladders. ... We'd never seen anything like it."

Hardy explained that his brother Jeff worked for a landscaping company and would continually buy ladders, only to destroy them during matches and then go out to buy new ones to replace the broken ladders. This confused their father, but Matt mused that it wound up working out for them.

"We thought the concept was so cool," Matt said regarding ladder matches. "There's a belt hanging, you have to climb up the ladder to get it, the way they used the ladder as a weapon, the way that they would go up the ladder and get shoved off. And then Shawn took a couple bumps."

Although ladder matches have earned a reputation for being built around spots, Hardy shared his belief that the first big ladder match used lots of psychology, centered on the ladder as both a weapon and the means to win the title.

"They did a lot of really cool, innovative stuff, and it's something that we saw and it resonated with us, and we were like, 'Whoa, I want to do something like that!'"

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.