4. The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - WrestleMania 17
Wrestlemania 17 is seen by many as the greatest Wrestlemania of all time, even the greatest PPV of all time. And a large part of its appeal and fanfare is down to the main event of the show. The Rock had defeated Kurt Angle at No Way Out to win his sixth WWE Championship and Stone Cold won the 2001 Royal Rumble to put the two superstars on a collision course. Both babyfaces, the build up to the Mania match was phenomenally done and was only added to further by Limp Bizkits memorable My Way. The stage was set: the companys two biggest heroes were set to duke it out at the Showcase of the Immortals to see who was the very best. Given the tense build and the back and forth match, you sensed something special was going to happen for there to be a decisive outcome. So it proved, as Vince McMahon would interfere to lead to a chairshot-heavy victory for the Texas Rattlesnake. Austin had aligned himself with the Devil, and the next night on Raw would see him also align with Triple H to form the Two Man Power Trip. From here, the direction of the WWE took a massive shift. The Rock went on hiatus to pursue his film career, the other top face, as in Austin, was now a heel, and you had the coalition of Austin, Hunter and Vince running through the roster. Whilst familiar faces like Kane and The Undertaker would stand up to this new power group, the change in direction for the company would also lead to more time in the main event scene for the likes of Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and even Team Xtreme. These new faces in the main event picture were great to see. Occasionally Jericho and Benoit had been in the main event scene for a cup of coffee but now they were getting actual solid feuds with Austin and HHH. This new heel triumvirate of Austin, Triple H and McMahon, along with Rock's departure, lent itself to allowing fresh babyfaces to move up to the next level. Key to all of this was what transpired at the WWF Title match at Wrestlemania 17.