10 Genius Wrestling Decisions Made Up On The Fly
9. The Rock Vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan (WWE WrestleMania X8)
The Rock squaring up against Hollywood Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8 in their classic "Icon vs. Icon" encounter drew one of the loudest reactions ever for a pro wrestling match.
But what’s fascinating about the match is Rock entered as the beloved biggest babyface in the company, and Hogan came to the ring as the vile villain who casually tried murdering The People’s Champion on a Raw prior to ‘Mania by driving a truck into him. Yet, as the match played out, and a rush of nostalgia came over the audience for seeing their childhood hero Hogan on a WrestleMania card for the first time in nearly 10 years, the crowd turned on Rock and started cheering The Hulkster without interruption.
Hogan threw Rock to the mat at one point, with Rock’s gut telling him to sell it like a heel and as if he had been hugely embarrassed in front of 68,000 people. Rock and Hogan, two of the best ever to listen to a live audience, knew instinctively what to do and immediately swapped roles in the match.
Rock on a Q&A video posted to YouTube spoke of that moment:
“What that decision did, it gave 68,000 people the runway and the platform to not be conflicted in that moment, they went, ohhh, and you can hear 68,000 people go, ahhhh, because what it did, it immediately identified, great, Rock is the bad guy, Hulk Hogan is the good guy, it’s OK that I cheer for Hulk Hogan because of how Rock just reacted.”