10 WWE Matches That Delivered On Their Massive Hype
4. The Rock Vs. Steve Austin - WrestleMania X-Seven
Often held aloft as the greatest video vignette the WWF ever produced, the magic of this pre-match promo was such that it elevated Limp Bizkit to mythical status. Even for those nu-metal kids who have long since grown out of baggy pants, the song in this context remains something truly emotive.
Fred Durst's "Yeah!", in the song, is a cheap, nasally way of getting to the chorus. In the promo, it's a powerful rallying cry readying you for the biggest match of a generation.
The match itself, of course, retroactively lends that promo its power; for nearly a full half hour, The Rock and Steve Austin perfected the Attitude Era popcorn brawl in a bloody, blistering and brutal performance in which they simply could not be separated via conventional means. Both men were the man; both were equally over to a stratospheric extent, both had an answer for the other's arsenal; both had stolen and perfected the other's...
Austin's heel turn, though a long-term catastrophe, was the only way logical way to separate them, at least in the storyline context of the match. For a half hour alone, it was a creative triumph.