7. The Rock vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan WrestleMania 18 (X-8)
When WWF bought WCW in March 2001, wrestling fans were giddy at the thought of all the dream matchups that were possible. In reality, WCWs biggest stars had guaranteed contracts and no incentive to give them up to wrestle for WWF. As a result, some of those bouts had to wait. In early 2002, WWF brought in the original members of the New World Order. Putting an awful storyline aside, the move brought Hulk Hogan back to WWF for the first time in nearly nine years. He engaged in a feud with the Rock, arguably the biggest star in WWF at the time, and certainly the wrestler with the most crossover appeal since Hogan (and would shortly eclipse Hogan). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYmiD4QaBJw While their match was well short of a technical masterpiece, the fact is this was a matchup you only see once or twice a generation. The Toronto fans were so happy to see Hogan back in action (he hadnt wrestled for WCW since mid-2000) that they turned a guy who tried to commit vehicular manslaughter weeks earlier into a face. The reaction and mini-rebirth of Hulkamania led to one last run on top for Hulk and a final world title reign before he rode off into semi-retirement.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
