The Rock: The 10 Defining Moments of The People’s Champion

3. Icon vs Icon

Despite going back and forth to Hollywood The Rock remained apart of the WWE which allowed fans to see this once in a lifetime match. When Hogan came back in 2002 there were few matches he could have had bigger than this. Some would say it should have been Austin I disagree because injuries had left Austin not at his peak while the Rock was in his prime and could put the best possible match with an ageing Hogan.

This is a match that could only happen at Mania. The atmosphere was unbelievable with the crowd favouring the heel Hogan over the Rock. Not a technical classic but it  was never going to be nor did it need to be. The downside is that they burned out the crowd for the rest of the show.

2. Hollywood Heel

Over time are large portion of the fans resented the Rock for seemingly putting Hollywood ahead of them. No more was this evident than at SummerSlam 2002 when Rock was booed out of the building. He left after that show and decided to take that hatred and run with it. He returned in early 2003 as this big shot Hollywood asshole.

While this run was short it was full with memorable moments featuring some of his best promos where refused to allow fans to say his catchphrases along with him. He seemed up for anything during this time whether it was closing his rivalry with Austin at WrestleMania 19 to helping get over lower card character the Hurricane.

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