1. The Rock vs. Steve Austin - Vince McMahon And Stone Cold Steve Austin Shake Hands
Event: Wrestlemania 17 The Finish: After an epic match with a ton of build up, Vince McMahon saunters down to the ring and aligns himself with his one mortal enemy, Stone Cold Steve Austin, as Austin's shakes Vince's hand andproceeds to win the world title via a series of brutal chair shots. The Impact: Wide-reaching and ultimately irreversible. In hindsight, obviously this didn't end as planned, but it was a great idea at the time.The idea of Stone Cold turning on his fans, his personal ethics, and 'The Attitude' he helped create, in a attempt to get the championship gold one last time - is a captivating and enthralling idea. On paper. In reality this moment stunted Stone Cold Steve Austin, as folks simply didn't want to boo the guy, so he went needlessly over the top with heel tactics like beating up Lita with a steel chair, turning on Good Ole' Jr, and resorting to a strange, parody-esque character where he would play a guitar and act like a bumbling fool. All things fans did NOT want to see from Stone Cold. This one moment, coupled with Vince's complete and utter domination in his own match in the very same card, ushered in a new era in WWE where attitude came second to success. Stone Cold was willing to side with the man who made his life a living hell for the guarantee he would be world champion again. Stone Cold said on his DVD that if he could do it differently he would have done everything exactly the same at Wrestlemania X7, but stunned Vince right after the handshake, and that added element could have been enough to change the outcome of wrestling forever. Instead we ended up with a poorly executed and not very inventive - at all - 'Invasion' storyline where somehow two WWE mainstays - Stone Cold and Kurt Angle, were fighting for WCW and WWE respectively. It was strange. This moment gets number one as it was a good idea that had massive and mostly bad long-term results - like that girl from the bar that one night. You know the one. The good news is that the WWE will be a-okay, and with up and coming stars, an entire developmental program down in Florida, and hours of television to fill every week, fans can rest assured that the next inventive moment that makes you stand up and cheer with surprise can't be that far around the corner.
