10 Moments That Literally Stopped WWE Wrestling Matches

1. Toronto Brings WrestleMania X8 To A Standstill

John Cena ECW One Night Stand 2006
WWE.com

It was billed as Icon vs. Icon, with the heroic People's Champion going up against the nefarious, villainous Hollywood.

WrestleMania X8 was a special, special night in wrestling history. You may have not been a long-time fan of Hulk Hogan - lord knows, your scribe here certainly never was, brother - but there's no questioning that Hogan and the Rock delivered something magical at Toronto's SkyDome on 17 March 2002.

Thanks to the electricity of the Toronto crowd, this contest came to a halt at several points during the early goings of Hogan vs. Rock. Once the bell sounded, the 68,000+ fans in attendance lapped up everything that these two legends served up.

With the crowd clearly leaning towards Hollywood here, an early lock-up saw those fans explode as Hogan outpowered the Rock. It was here that time stood still, with the match put on hold as the SkyDome went nuts and Hollywood pulled out the classic Hogan poses of his heyday.

Both men knew that they were in the middle of something wonderfully unique, taking in the atmosphere, reading the room and changing things up from here-on out - with Hogan clearly now the babyface, while the Rock happily took on the role of heel.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.