Ranking The Rock's WWE WrestleMania Matches From Worst To Best

Over the years, some contrarians have taken it upon themselves to disparage this match. The in-ring work’s not great, they say. The two guys don’t do a whole lot; play it on mute, and it’s a C+ tops. That may be true - but sit down and watch this match (not on mute, obviously), and just try and stop yourself from getting absorbed.

Seldom has a crowd been so invested, so consistently for a professional wrestling bout. From the moment the two lock eyes to the post-match Hogan face turn, they’re on the hook, and the two men play to the fans expertly.

Immense credit is due to The Rock here who entered the venue the ostensible face, saw that the audience was 99% pro-Hogan, and switched on a dime to heel mode. He does everything he can for his childhood hero, selling the Hulk ups, the punches, the boot. Hogan’s hardly a lithe performer, but as a showman he’s without peer, and he’s energised and swept along by the sheer noise.

It’s a match so good it basically ruins the rest of the WrestleMania, totally wiping out the fans. It was well worth it. This is a spectacle only wrestling could present, perfectly fusing reality and fiction, performers and fans, to form something incredible, whatever the quality of the in-ring graft.