WWE: Ranking The Rock's 10 WrestleMania Matches - From Worst To Best

3. WM18 2002 vs. Hulk Hogan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHoIm72F9Nc If you want to talk about The Rock's most famous matches ever, this might actually be first. It can certainly be argued because whenever people think of him they usually remember this match. Why? Because Rock and Hogan in front of 65,000 people in the Toronto Skydome was wrestling magic. It was only two hours from me, but I didn't go. I regret missing out on it. In terms of reaction and emotion it was as good as pro wrestling gets, really. I guess if you watched it on mute you'd have a different feeling regarding the match. The crowd played such a big part in the match. In terms of crowd reaction, emotion and drama it's one of the better matches you will ever see. In case you forgot, Rock won after 17 minutes following a Rock Bottom and People's Elbow. Rock was tremendous in this match. As the younger guy that was in the prime of his career, he had to do a lot of the work to make the older Hogan look like he could compete with him. He had become such a good big match performer at this point in his career. The post match action was special too. Hogan extended his hand. Rock shook it. Rock's music played as Hogan told him to pose for the fans. When Hall and Nash came out to double team Hogan, Rock came back. He clotheslined Nash out of the ring and Hogan threw Hall out of the ring. Hogan was going to leave, but Rock told him to stay to do his poses. Hogan did his ear cupping and his other poses. The announcers put it over as a huge moment because that's exactly what it was. Is it technically a great match? No. Hogan was 48 years old and it showed as he was grabbing his ribs the entire match because he looked hurt. However, they did such an amazing job of interacting with the crowd and telling a story that it worked wonderfully well. Looking back, WWE likely regrets not ending the show with this match. The women's match (Trish vs. Jazz vs. Lita) and Unified Championship match (Jericho vs. HHH) had a really tough act to follow. In WWE's defense, I don't think they expected the crowd to be as hot as they were. It was a surreal night in a lot of ways.