WWE: 10 Failed Attempts At Re-Creating WrestleMania Magic

7. The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan (No Way Out 2003)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68k-LnD_-1Q When Hulk Hogan performed at his first WrestleMania in over nine years to face The Rock, it was a dream match that had the WWE fans going nuts. It was the headline match of WrestleMania 18 that even enveloped the Triple H/Chris Jericho World Title match. At the time, Hogan was running with the NWO and did just about ever dastardly deed that a heel could do in order to get the crowd to hate him. He even went so far as to drive a bus into an ambulance that Rock happened to be in from a previous injury. Yet no matter what happened, the fans continued to show their undying love for the man who helped make the concept of WrestleMania such a huge success. Once the match began, the fans showed complete support for Hogan and abandoned The Rock. The people had turned on The People's Champ which forced the two grapplers to make an impromptu switch in the direction of the match. Rock had to switch to being a heel while Hogan became the hero with the fans backing him up. In the end, Rock defeated Hogan, but both wrestlers showed their respect for one another and left the ring together. Fast forward to No Way Out 2003, and now we get a WrestleMania rematch between Hogan and Rock with Rock now a full fledged heel and Hogan the babyface icon. The ending to the rematch became yet another screw job finish that would set the wheels in motion for a feud between Hogan and McMahon. The match itself was more of the same, except the magic that came with the sudden switch in roles wasn't there. It was a moment that couldn't be duplicated.