Wrestling was in a state of flux in 1987 and Kendo Nagasaki had a slightly faulty vision for how All-Star Wrestling could compete with the glitz and glamour of the WWE.

If one word could describe Joint Promotions’s presentation, it might be ‘traditionalist’. Indeed, its conservative approach saw few real characters, white meat goodies take on black trunk baddies and a heavy focus on the grappling component.

With this in mind, the infamous All-Star Wrestling’s Disco Ladder match, the main event of their first TV slot in 1987, looked positively otherworldly!

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A first for British audiences, it is thought the ladder match was brought over by Nagasaki, who had wrestled in Canada’s Stampede Wrestling at the same time as the first-known ladder match.

In this sense, Britain outdid America, which did not have a nationally televised ladder match until WrestleMania X in 1994.

The ladder match in Britain was more limited, with the wrestlers using a one-sided step ladder and thus ruling out fights atop of the ladder. Both men would try to retrieve a charity golden record.

As it was Christmas time, the golden record was secured with gold tinsel. Notably, the match would not air until January 3rd – well after Christmas Day – and was recorded on the 27th.

An addition to the ladder concept was the disco element in which a light and music show would accompany the action in the ring.

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Elsewhere, respected wrestling journalist David Bixenspan added: “I’m not sure if anyone knows how Brian Dixon’s brain decided to book this, but it’s one of the strangest matches in the history of wrestling and a lot of fun to watch.”

The match