John Morrison defeated – and that’s putting it very generously – both Jimmy Uso and Kofi Kingston in a triple threat ladder match on Saturday night at WrestleMania 36, retaining the Smackdown Tag Team Championships for him and The Miz.

The finish was not without controversy. An absolutely wild ladder match ended with all three men fighting on the top of multiple ladders, each with a hand on the metal rung containing both titles. Morrison then fell to the floor, holding the titles, while his opponents were left holding the rung and a stunned look on their faces.

Technically, the rules of the match state that the winner must take down the metal rung to win the match. All three did so, but because Morrison ended up with the belts, apparently that was enough for the referee to declare him champion.

The match was changed from its original state as a triple threat tag team match, after The Miz was pulled from last week’s WrestleMania tapings at the Performance Center. WWE had to undergo strict pre-screening for everyone allowed into the building, and anyone who was sick or showing signs of any symptoms was immediately sent home.

The following results are from ProWrestling.com’s exclusive live coverage of night one of WrestleMania 36, courtesy of Matthew Wilkinson:

WWE SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS LADDER MATCH
JOHN MORRISON vs JIMMY USO vs KOFI KINGSTON

Straight away all three men show their athleticism and have a stalemate and then immediately head out of the ring to get a ladder each. They all set the ladders up and scale to the top, and Jimmy Uso goes crashing down straight away.

He comes back and pulls John Morrison down and Kofi then catches Jimmy straight away with a crossbody off the ladder. Kofi then looked for the SOS onto a ladder with Morrison, and the two of them keep reversing each other.

While that happens, Jimmy Uso begins scaling the ladder and tries to steal it but Kofi meets him and hits a headbutt to send the Uso down. Morrison then grabs Kofi to stop him and they brawl at the top of the ladder, eventually getting up on his own until Jimmy returns.

He pulls him down and connects with a big uppercut as the two men then begin trading blows. Kofi tries to fly through a ladder to take them out, however, they just catch him and then dump him out of the ring. Jey sends Morrison towards the ladder, but he baseball slides underneath the middle section and then launches the ladder right back at Jimmy, smashing his face.

Morrison then sets up a ladder in the corner of the ring on the middle ropes. However, it doesn’t work out for him as Jimmy bounces his head off of it and then balances on the ladder looking to suplex Morrison, but he reverses and dumps Jimmy onto the ladder.

He then stands on top of the ring post and flips off, landing onto Jimmy on the ladder. Morrison then sets up the ladder and slowly scales it until Kofi springboards onto him and then hits a hurricanrana to Morrison, sending him out of the ring.

Kingston then dives over the top rope, taking out Morrison again, who happened to have a ladder in hand. Jimmy Uso then tries to walk the barricade to dive off but instead, Kofi just launches a ladder at him and drops him. Kingston then sets a ladder between the barricade and the apron, placing Jimmy on, but while that happens, Morrison tries to get involved only for Kofi to run interference on that.

However, as Kingston gets to the top turnbuckle, he is met by Morrison who tight ropes across to meet him and hits a Spanish Fly from the top rope. However, Morrison has no time to relax as he is crushed by a huge frog splash from Uso.

Kofi then scales to the top but he’s met by John Morrison and they brawl while trying to get the ladder, and Kofi comes out on top. However, Morrison returns again only for Kofi to hit a huge stomp from the ladder to take him down once and for all.

Jimmy then pushes in a ladder and a bridge is made between the ladder and the second rope, which Kofi uses to dive off, only for Jimmy to hit him with a kick to the chest as he then launches him headfirst into the bridged ladder.

Morrison then tries to leap off that bridge but eats a superkick and gets set up on the ladder. Jimmy sets another ladder and tries to use it to dive onto Morisson, but the champion instead pushes him and dumps Jimmy to the floor.

Alone in the ring, Morrison then scales to the top but Kofi somehow meets him at the top. They brawl as Jimmy Uso sets up another ladder next to them and he joins them at the top as they all brawl and trade shots. All three men have their hand on the golden hook and they fight over it until Morrison falls, adding on the bridged ladder.

However, the titles fall with him and he retains the titles!

Winner (And Still Tag Team Champion): John Morrison