10 Times WrestleMania Genuinely Surprised Us
7. Linda McMahon’s Finest Hour
The piles of money and political influence aside, Linda McMahon hasn’t gotten all that much out of pro wrestling. She’s delivered some wooden promos, escorted Mick Foley to WrestleMania 2000, and (badly) taken a few finishers. For a McMahon, it has been a remarkably unexciting life.
She’ll always have WrestleMania X-Seven, though. The single biggest pop of the night came not from hometown hero Stone Cold, nor a plunge from a 20 foot ladder. What sent the Texan crowd truly crazy was a 52 year old woman standing up from a wheelchair and kicking her husband square in the balls.
There’s context to that, of course, but it’s a long story not worth getting into. When it comes to the Attitude Era, you’ve got to roll with it, and on that night in 2001, there was nothing the WWE universe wanted to see more than Vince McMahon getting his comeuppance at the hands (or, indeed, foot) of his put-upon wife.
For anyone to garner a roar like that is a surprise to say the least. For a fundamentally uncharismatic middle aged politician to do so is remarkable.