Ranking All 30 WWE SummerSlam Main Events

21. 2005 – Hogan Vs. Michaels

brock lesnar john cena summerslam 2014
WWE.com

Yep, it’s that match.

Although it was billed as Icon vs. Icon, it ended up being Ego vs. Ego. Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels finally met in singles action, fueled by an awesome heel turn by HBK (which disappeared as quickly as it came about). Originally envisioned as multiple matches, Hogan balked at losing, which led Michaels to stage his own version of a protest: overselling nearly every power move in the match.

Michaels bounced around like the proverbial pinball for Hogan, to comical effect. He somersaulted backward out of the ring off a shoulderblock and proceeded to sell Hogan’s '80s offense like he was being shot. The highlight (or is it lowlight?) was Michaels popping up after Hogan’s big boot, flailing around in a circle before collapsing in position for the legdrop. Bad match, tremendous trainwreck.

The next night, Hogan was gone, Michaels turned back to face, and everyone just moved on. Given that it basically has become an ignored part of WWE history, this match gets bonus points for the sheer spectacle of it all.

Contributor
Contributor

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.