WrestleMania X8 in 2002 marked the downturn for the WWE. The previous year at Mania 17 had continued the Attitude Era WWF trend of increasing buyrates year on year (see later in list), but Mania X8 was the drop back to reality, the beginning of a decline. The weak main event is partly to blame, Chris Jericho failed to get over as the defending Undisputed Champion, helped in no part by the creative who made him appear secondary to his manager Stephanie McMahon and opponent Triple H. The perceived main event was Hulk Hogan vs The Rock, icon vs icon, which has to account for the majority of those 880,000 buys. The reaction of those in attendance to Hogan was spectacular, one of the loudest and most sustained cheers you will ever hear. It made a star of Hogan again and he went on to become the WWE champion the next month. Really this show was a low point for WWE despite it ranking on this list. Steve Austin was booked in a midcard irrelevant match with Scott Hall and would leave the company shortly after - an era of success truly was over.
