More than two decades after The Undertaker faced Jeff Hardy in their iconic Undisputed Championship Ladder Match on the July 1, 2002 edition of WWE Raw, Jim Ross has reflected on the bout and explained why it became such a defining moment in both men’s careers.
Speaking during a reading from his book on Grilling JR, Ross said the match was built around the idea that great performers must be willing to step outside their comfort zones. “If you get stuck in your comfort zone, you begin to die. It’s true of life. It’s also true of wrestling,” Ross said. “The best talents are always pushing themselves out of their comfort zone to stay as far ahead of the game as they possibly can for as long as they can.”
At the time, WWE had split The Hardy Boyz and was looking to establish Jeff Hardy as a singles star. According to Ross, The Undertaker volunteered to help make that happen—even if it meant competing in a match he had no interest in.
“WWE was interested in seeing if Jeff could become a star in the singles division, but had no idea how to get him there. So up stepped The Undertaker,” Ross said. “I don’t know how many six foot ten, 300 pound men like to climb, wrestle on, or fall off a 16 foot ladder, but Undertaker was not one of those men. He hated doing this match so much that it was his only ladder match in a 35 year career, but he knew it was the optimal setting to highlight Jeff’s more flashy daredevil style. So a ladder match it was.”
Ross recalled knowing almost immediately that The Undertaker had played a major role in constructing the match because of the deliberate pacing and storytelling. “I like to know as little as possible before a show, so my reactions out there are real and unrehearsed. But when the bell rang, I could tell immediately that Undertaker had a hand in laying out the match itself,” Ross said. “I could tell he was involved mostly because of the story they were telling. It was deliberate building and pacing in a way that made the audience wait as long as possible without ever losing them before hitting the higher gears.”
Ross said the match perfectly demonstrated one of professional wrestling’s oldest storytelling principles. “In pro wrestling, there’s usually a winner and a loser, but when you control the outcome for both guys, you can have the loser leave more elevated in the fans’ eyes than when he walked in,” Ross said. “One takes the victory, and one takes victory in defeat. Or one goes over, one gets over. It’s hard as hell to pull off unless you’re an egoless veteran who can pull all the levers that are necessary in a skillful and timely manner.”
Ross admitted that the emotion and physicality of the match completely drew him in as it unfolded. “Through hellacious bumps and stiff chair shots, Hardy and Taker made the audience believe. They made me believe too,” Ross said. “I felt every second of that match, the passion of it, the will to win.”
He pointed to the now-famous post-match moment, where Jeff Hardy declared he was not beaten before The Undertaker ultimately showed him respect by raising his hand, as the true turning point. “With that little piece of business, the story was told,” Ross said. “The challenger, now broken out of his tag team only mode, was suddenly seen as a main event player.”
Jeff Hardy would later go on to win six world championships across multiple wrestling promotions, while Ross believes The Undertaker’s willingness to elevate younger talent was one of the defining reasons for his legendary career. “This is why Mark had such an amazing career with just one character in WWE. He was able to adjust and overcome all the fads, changes and eras to keep his work fresh, varied and always at the top of the card,” Ross said. “In my view, he’s WWE’s greatest character ever.”
Looking back, Ross said the match remains one of his favorite memories. “That’s a great match. That was a great match, man,” he said. “It’s a really exciting day at work. Those are the days that you want to replicate. It was one of my finer moments, between two guys that I had a lot of appreciation and respect for.”
