1. Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs. The Rock - No Holds Barred For WWF Title (WrestleMania X-7)
The greatest match of the Attitude Era also signalled its end for some wrestling fans. The main event of one of the best wrestling events of all time, The Rock versus Stone Cold Steve Austin had been years-in-the-making. Austin versus The Rock was the match in 2001 and WrestleMania was the only justifiable location for such an epic collision. The story going into the match was simple: Austin wins the Rumble, Rock wins the WWF Championship, Rumble winner meets Champion in the main event of WrestleMania. Both men want to win. Boom, job done. WWE tried to meddle with a proven formula by adding a silly storyline with Austin's wife Debra becoming The Rock's manager but they quickly abandoned it. The hype video for this match, set to Limp Bizkit's My Way is still the best one that the WWE has ever done. The reaction to Austin's music hitting was also one of the loudest ever heard on a WWE event. The match was a classic and then Vince McMahon interfered, giving Austin a chair to use against The Rock. After the heart-stopping nearfalls at the end of the match, the finish - Austin obliterating Rock with chair shots - seemed a bit anticlimactic but it doesn't take anything away form the match. It was all the greatest hits from two of the era's biggest stars, played before a frantic sold-out crowd. Even the ending, with an apparently heel Austin and McMahon sharing a beer together, couldn't deflate the crowd who realised they had witnessed something very special indeed. Five stars.
