[Paranoid Rattlesnake]

9) Hogan/Rock at WrestleMania X-8


This was one of the wrestling industry’s truly great encounters, with it being the only one ever to produce a pop spanning the entire duration of the match. It was also the first wrestling pop ever to be heard in space.


Why? Well, Sir Hulk of Hogan made a triumphant return to the company he helped to propel to the forefront of North-American, British and Ugandan culture to clash with the Scorpion Rock in a bonafide battle of the ages. Widely-acclaimed as a six-star match (******), the contest saw some of the best posturing and pointing ever to grace the squared circle.


It was finished with the seventh-best People’s Elbow that the Rock has ever executed.



8) The Undertaker returns at Judgement Day 2000


Prior to returning to save the Rock from a D-Generation X/McMahon beat-down after his Iron Man Match with Triple H, The Undertaker was last seen as the demonic Dead man, leader of the Ministry of Darkness and scourge of all babyfaces. He had a pointy beard, long black hair and was really mean.


So when he appeared with no beard and long brown/gingery hair on a motorcycle before kicking some heel butt, the fans were pleasantly surprised and popped accordingly. ‘Hooray! He’s on a bike!’ ‘Gadzooks! He’s wearing denim!’ ‘Lorks a lordy! No more make-up!’ – the fans probably said things like that, one could imagine. It was something worth marking out for, especially as the Undertaker was a character most synonymous with my early years as a wrestling fan, as he was for many other people of my generation.


I think the reason that this moment sticks out so prominently in my mind is because of the rumours that ‘the gimmick’ will return in early 2004. There have been so many fans who have wanted the Undertaker to exhume the Dead Man role for years now and it looks like a genuine possibility at this moment in time, so I instinctively recalled what it felt to witness ‘Taker adopt a biker image. We were all so curious to see a more ‘real’ Undertaker in spring 2000 - and when we got one, it didn’t take long before we got bored of it.


I guess the moral to this rambling is this – never eat before you swim.



7) Edge & Christian/Hardy Boyz Ladder Match- No Mercy 1999


Think back to a time before Matt Hardy was the Sensei of Mattitude; before Jeff Hardy coloured himself in and got fired; before Christian had ‘peeps’ and before Edge did that ridiculous ‘face-plant’ move.


They were two fledgling young tag teams striving to catch a break and get over. So rare an occurrence is it in wrestling that you can precisely pinpoint the moment when someone ‘makes it’ in the business; for Test, it was when he got his foot spectacularly caught in the ring-ropes at WrestleMania X-7. For these four young bucks it occurred at the No Mercy pay-per-view on October 17th 1999, when they put on a breathtaking bump-and-stunt shenani-fest that made the fans sit up and take notice of them (more so in the case of the Hardyz) for the first time.


It makes for almost shocking viewing when you watch over the tape and listen to the sound of indifference that greets the arrival of the Hardy Boyz, who, in little more than a year after this match, had established themselves as one of the most popular tag teams in WWF/E history. It was not only the match itself but the reaction that the two teams received the next night on Raw that marked their arrival on the big stage; after a brief confrontation in the ring, all four milked the applause from an appreciative crowd who rose to their feet in unison. The heart-felt gratitude and respect that the fans gave the two teams was an all too rare moment of ‘realism’ in a business that frequently neglects it. What more could you ask for in a pop?



6) Vincent Roy McMahon


WWWF/WWF/WWE/XFL impresario McMahon is one of wrestling’s truly great ‘Pops’.


Yes, the self-proclaimed (i.e., no-one agrees with him) ‘Genetic Jackhammer’ has spawned three magnificent children. His son is Shane and, coincidentally, they share the same surname. Quite possibly the best suit-wearer that the business has ever seen, Shane has made many appearances on pay-per-view events, 74% of which have involved him either falling from great heights or being frowned at.


His daughter Stephanie, meanwhile, is just as successful. Having been involved in television for many years, she has written plenty of compelling and dramatic storylines. And when all of the inevitable flaws are ironed out, some of these may even feature on WWE programming before the end of 2005. Until then, fans will have to make-do with her understandably below-par offerings while she concentrates on her marriage to Triple H.


Vince’s third child is, of course, Ronaldo.



5) Mankind/Undertaker Hell in a Cell at King of the Ring 1998


It is all too easy to remember this match for Mankind being thrown off, or through, the cell, but I have always seen far more to this match than that.


Listen to the collective ‘OOH!’ as part of the roof gives way or the fevered anticipation as Foley teeters precariously on the edge of the cell. Take notice of the crescendo of shock as Foley staggers back to his feet and dares ‘Taker to meet him at the top for another duel or the almost-sympathetic groans as Foley is sent hurtling into hundreds of thumbtacks. This is more than the two-bump match that some make it out to be.


It also has Terry Funk losing his shoe.



4) Chris Jericho debuts in the WWF – August 1999


Harking back to the phenomenal pop that Chris Jericho received when he appeared on RAW for the very first time; it’s hard to imagine a more instantly impressive WWF/E debut than that. So there probably isn’t one.


The fans in attendance were all too ready to forgive the fact that the non-Sid ‘Millennium Man’ was unveiling himself in the middle of August, and cheered their silly little faces off when the lights dimmed during a Rock promo. After a quick blast of pyro, some music hit to accompany the Titantron video that boldly flashed the name ‘JERICHO’ for the world to see. The words “Welcome to Raw Is Jericho!” were uttered for the first time, and the rest, as they say, is geography.



3) Mick Foley’s first WWF Championship win –December 1998


Mick Foley was told he would never win the WWF championship and why should he have? Let’s face it – he was fat, hairy and ugly. But people liked him, and that’s what mattered. ]


But at the time of this title match on RAW in late 1998, WWF fans liked someone more than Foley – Val Venis. They also liked Steve Austin rather a lot too, so the crowd were only too happy to whoop with delight when Austin ran in to aid Foley as he battled the Rock and his evil Vince McMahon-led Corporation buddies. There was a second huge pop just moments later when Foley got the match-winning pin and subsequently captured the gold.


Nobody popped when he celebrated by saying: “Yo Adrian! Big Daddy-O did it!’ though. That was just plain silly.



2) Brock Lesnar/Big Show ring collapse – May 2003


This was the peak of a purple patch for Show, whose only previous experience with ‘patches’ in his WWE career had been those under his armpits.


Deciding that they’d had enough of their $10 million investment doing little else but clogging up the mid-card scene as he does his arteries with cholesterol, WWE suits decided to maximize his potential by getting back to basics; Big Show was to take some bumps whilst still being made to look legitimately unbeatable – and it worked. Suddenly thrust into a feud with WWE champion Lesnar, Show proceeded to take more bumps in the following twelve months than he had during his entire WWF/E career beforehand. Last week, he even took a back bump from a John Cena clothesline. Well done Paul. Well done.


With the 500 pound and 45 litre Big Show perched on the top rope during a match on SmackDown, Lesnar subdued him just enough to wrangle into position for a superplex. Hoisting Show over his head the two men went hurtling to the canvas, festooning the front row with an intoxicating mist of man-sweat, to a thunderous roar of appreciation and shock.


It made for one of the best in-ring visuals of modern times, barring the time when Lance Storm super kicked a midget.



1) Triple H's return from injury – January 2002


As someone that wasn't there in person when it took place, I'm in as good a position as any to comment on one of the biggest ovations that has ever been given to a wrestler with the word 'Triple' in his name.


The injury was well-documented - after tearing a quadriceps muscle clean from the bone during a May 2001 tag match pitting him and partner Steve Austin against Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, he managed to struggle through the remainder of the match, which saw him take the Walls of Jericho from wrestling’s best beard-monger.


After an eight-month lay-off, the hype for Mr. H’s comeback began to escalate courtesy of some vignettes where he mimed to songs from Irish tunesmiths U2. With his vocal powers at their peak, he returned to cut a promo that was, quite literally, slightly good.


Incidentally, research since January 7 2002 into the phenomenon that was this insanely-loud pop for Triple H, has discovered the show was attended largely by disgruntled Internet smart marks who, in their prophetic brilliance, foresaw the slump in form that Helmsley was due to embark upon, and wanted to give him one last hearty cheer before they proceeded to rip apart everything he ever did thereafter.