1. Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant - WrestleMania 3
Wrestlemania III may be one of the most significant moments of the history of not just the WWF, but pro wrestling overall. Aside from Dusty Rhodes, Andre the Giant WAS PRO WRESTLING for a generation of people worldwide. Of course, savvy wrestling observers knew that a greener Hogan had wrestled Andre at Shea Stadium in 1980, but by 1987, there were probably 10 times as many fans who knew nothing about that match but knew that Andre as a bad guy could easily kick Hulk Hogan's a**. The match itself is simple. Hogan goes to slam Andre early, but can't. Hogan sells the back, makes a comeback, pins Andre. However, it's the statement the match makes that's more important. The idea that the man who WAS pro wrestling lost to the man who at that point IS pro wrestling had occurred. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-o9-CqovKM A passing of the torch, Andre losing to Hogan allowed for Vince McMahon to a) have control of arguably the literal face of pro wrestling, and b) now create an entire new crew of heels who could attempt to take Hogan down as the one man that those who were wrestling fans in the past had loved had been defeated.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
