10 Best Opening 60 Seconds Of Wrestling Matches Ever
1. The Rock Vs. Hollywood Hogan - WWF WrestleMania X8
Everything before the bell was amazing. You remember it well.
A vista of fans going apesh*t as the men they watched forever, albeit separately, went nose to nose and surveyed an entire furnace of a stadium to acknowledge just how special the moment was.
Everything after the bell was phenomenal too. This wasn't a basic match that everybody loved because it was worked by two legendary megastars; it was a beautifully simplistic match that everybody loved because it was worked in the universal language of a magical form.
When the bell rang, they locked up with a collar-and-elbow tie-up. They milked it, as they should have, conveying the idea that each were as strong as the other and neither was willing to give an inch. In an awesome spot, the Rock had no choice. This was perfect. With just one move - an almighty throw across the breadth of the ring, for which Rock took the perfect bump - Hogan turned back into something larger than life all over again, the memories of F.U.N.B and baggy trousers entirely erased.
He then struck a bodybuilding pose that accentuated his traps to a stupendous degree, roaring like a beast of a heel. But he received an even more monstrous babyface reception. The sheer delight of validation plastered on his face really was something. The Rock meanwhile squinted, suffering from something as human as stress and anxiety for the first time in his life.
The absolute epitome of crowd psychology.