This review was commissioned by CJ over on my Ko-fi account.
There’s two aspects of the disco ladder match. Let’s start with the ladder match. It’s exactly as you know it—there’s an object hanging over the ring, and the first man to climb the ladder to grab it wins the day. In this case, it’s a golden vinyl record and the ladder is covered in golden tinsel, showing that World of Sport was decades ahead of its time with actual themed weapon props. Eat your heart out, Vince McMahon.
As far as a ladder match goes, it’s a pretty primordial thing. It does work to move through an escalating sense of violence, with the initial moments being played out in the classic World of Sport chain wrestling style before moving towards floor brawling and more direct violence in general. There’s even some fun use of the ladder here as a surface to bash one’s opponent against and even a great bump from Clive Myers off the ladder when Nagasaki knocks it from under his feet. All in all, nothing that anyone need go out of their way far as far as the wrestling portion of this goes.
But then, there’s the second aspect of the match: disco.
About thirty seconds into the bout, commentary lets us know that the “disco portion” of tonight’s performance is about to begin. Several moving light fixtures start dazzling above the ring, and for some reason, classical starts to play to underscore the match. I wonder if it was an issue of licensing or copyright but for 80% of this match, the “disco ladder match” has nothing playing even remotely resembling disco and instead utilizes a string of public domain classics. Or perhaps British discos in the late 80s made a habit of playing Tchaikovsky for all the working class lads to get down too. Maybe! Who knows?
Either way, I died laughing watching the insanity of it all. Again, World of Sport feels decades ahead of their time as this comes across as one of the most TikTok-pilled matches I’ve ever seen. Bright lights and loud music basically overwhelm the in-ring action. I genuinely struggled to process any of the work here, except for those brief moments when the action seemed to magically sync up with the mood of the music. It’s a lot of very bold and dramatic music at the start, and it matches well with brief moments like Nagasaki choking Myers on the ropes.
The classical music makes it even funnier when they play the first song that actually sounds vaguely disco-esque for only the last two minutes of the match. And even then, Nagasaki wins the damn thing before it finishes! Truly the ultimate heel move.
Kana/Meiko this is not, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy seeing it.
Rating: Disco never died, it’s just hanging above the ring and it’s up to us to grab it and save it.
(Also, it’s better than 6/3/94)
