Before Hell in the Cell, before the Inferno Matches, before the First Blood Matches, one match set the stage. One match set the standard. That match was the classic battle between "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels and Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall at the historic WrestleMania 10 show from Madison Square Garden.

Fans had never witnessed a match of such magnitude. It didn't take either man blading gallons of blood or beating each other to death with a trash can to make this a classic. With both Shawn Michaels and Scott Hall in the primes of their careers, they etched their names into the history books with their ladder match.

The match in itself is a story, but so much more came from it. It wasn't just a great match. It raised the standard for what a "good match" was. This match opened the door for high flying spot fests and hard-core brawling, two styles that soared in popularity in the second half of the 90's. Nobody had ever seen a match like the first Shawn Michaels/Razor Ramon Ladder match, and after they did, they wanted more and still want more today.

The classic bout also established Shawn Michaels as a superstar. After his historic encounter with Hall, Michaels went on to become the only Grand Slam winner in WWF history (meaning he held the World, Intercontinental, European, and Tag Team Titles) and one of the most entertaining in-ring workers in the history of wrestling. The Ladder match also became a real life path to the top. Since WrestleMania 10, the Ladder match has been used to push many wrestlers to main events, including today's megastar, The Rock.

Others have tried to top what HBK and Razor did in 1994, including HBK and Razor, but nobody has, and perhaps nobody ever will. Both Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon have since been dubbed the "kings" of the ladder match. No match in the 90's raised the standards like this one. Forget Hell in the Cell, forget the Iron Man Match, the Michaels/Hall Ladder Match from WrestleMania 10 defined the wrestling match in the 1990s, and what a great match to represent an exciting decade of matches.