The Rock Makes His Pick for Most Important WWE Match of All Time

The @WWEonFOX Twitter account posed an important question on Monday — what is the most important match in WWE history? Plenty of fans gave their two cents on the topic, naming classic matchups like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin v. Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant and The Undertaker vs. Mankind inside Hell in a Cell. But when Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson saw the topic, he took things in a different direction. His pick was Hulk Hogan vs. The Iron Sheik at Madison Square on Jan. 23, 1984.

“Hogan vs Sheik. NYC. Garden. 1984. (seminal match with historic implications and a legit bounty thrown in the mix),” Johnson wrote, citing how the match kicked off Hogan’s first reign with the WWF Championship. That reign would last more than 1,400 days and put Hogan at the forefront of the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Era, often seen as the first golden age of what is now the WWE.

Johnson took to Instagram late last month to reflect on his own WWE career, sharing a particularly painful table spot involving Triple H on an early episode of SmackDown.

“Just came across this clip and man it brought back grateful memories,” Johnson wrote. “Long before becoming the business man I am today ~ I cut my teeth and made my bones in another kind of business. The business of throwing around 300lb men for a living or getting my ass kicked, my bell rung 🔔 and concussed thru tables. As wild as this looks (and at times very painful) I look back at very specific invaluable business lessons I took with me from this fanatical industry.

“This nightly hardcore nature forced me to become savvy. Forced me to always listen. Ears open, mouth shut. Always taking care of my number #1 boss, the audience. The people. My violent friend here @tripleh (legitimately we’re very good friends today;) went on to become one of the GOATs and Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development for the WWE. This was a very special time in pro wrestling 🔥 and I’ll be proud of my roots. And yes, this violence was all designed to lead up to a HUGE PPV where we could GUARANTEE two things will happen. The Rock will deliver payback hell to Triple H. And all the people will go home happy!”