On the latest episode of Bret Hart's podcast, The Sharpshooter Show, the WWE Hall of Famer recapped WrestleMania 32. Perhaps a bit surprisingly (but perhaps not), the match he was most negative about was the well-received Intercontinental Championship ladder match that ended with Zack Ryder's WrestleMania moment.
"It's just a prop match. That's all it was. Just a bunch of stupid spots with the ladders where people are hitting each other and doing stupid stuff with the spots. I know there's a lot of hard bumps in there. I never thought any of it made any sense. There were times when guys were walking up the ladder, climbing up the ladder, like at a snail's pace waiting for someone to come pull them down. Then of course when Zack Ryder won it he just whips up the ladder like it's nothing. I was really disappointed with the whole thing.
"When I think about what the ladder match means to me and some of the great ladder matches I had, not so much in WWF but up here in Stampede Wrestling with my Dad. I would say it's easily the best match on the card, really good ladder match but it's become a farce. I remember when I came to Chief Jay Strongbow years ago when I was in WWF. When I first started I said, 'I have this idea for a ladder match and I'd like to talk to Vince about it.' I remember Chief Jay goes, 'What is that? A Tennessee Town Killer Match?' I said, 'No, it's a really good idea.' I remember telling him the whole idea and he said, 'That's a Tennessee Town Killer Match.' You know what? That's what that match I watched at WrestleMania was. It was a Tennessee Town Killer Match."
Hart has long had talking points about WWE ladder matches, of course. He and Shawn Michaels had the first ladder match in the company in 1992 for the Intercontinental Championship. According to Hart, Michaels then politicked to get his classic WrestleMania X ladder match against Razor Ramon and gets the lion's share of the credit for what Hart claims is his innovation.
(Thanks to NoDQ for the transcript)