10 WWE Matches That Changed EVERYTHING
8. The Rock Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin (WrestleMania X-7)
Two generational talents at the peak of their powers, meeting for a much-anticipated, brilliantly built-up clash in the main event of the greatest WrestleMania ever. It doesn’t sound like the match that destroyed WWE’s fortunes, but in a way, it was.
Well, you could make that argument, anyway. Rock and Austin had fought before and fought after, but this was to be their greatest fight, the two kings of the Attitude Era settling a red hot programme in front of a baying Texas crowd. The action was frantic, the atmosphere electric - and then Stone Cold Steve Austin shook hands with Vince McMahon, and things were never the same again.
Austin’s collaboration with his long time foe is still thought of by many as a terrible mistake, and when you look at the viewing figures, which were seldom the same after, it’s an easy argument to be made.
There were many other factors at stake - the lack of competition post-WCW causing a dip in quality control, for example - but that handshake calling time on the outlaw Attitude Era can certainly be seen as a contributing factor.