WWE: Top 10 Moments on the Road To WrestleMania

4. The Toughest S.O.B meets The Baddest Man on the Planet

The nineties were a great time to be a fan of sports. Legendary future Hall of Famers was holding down the NFL, NBA, and other team sports respectively. However, it was also a time that pro-wrestling was getting edgier and arguably in the greatest period of wrestling history: The Attitude Era. Badasses like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and the radical degenerates of D-Generation X had changed the world of wrestling.

However, there was another badass fighter that was changing the world as well. “Iron” Mike Tyson made his name as “The Baddest Man on the Planet” by knocking out everybody in his way during the eighties. In the nineties, Tyson’s career became a little rocky but the “character” of Mike Tyson was just beginning. Many people believed that Tyson was unstoppable until the moment that he met Evander Holyfield. Within two years, Tyson picked up two tough losses to Evander and a tremendous loss to his pride.

In the second fight, Tyson made history by bitting Evander’s ear nearly off. Afterward, Tyson was temporarily suspended from boxing. While Tyson needed something to do with his time, he found himself in a wrestling ring live on Monday Night Raw. A place that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin didn’t believe that Mike Tyson should be. On January 19th, 1998, Mike Tyson and Steve Austin stood across the ring from each other for the first time ever. It wasn’t long until everybody could tell that these two massive egos were going to clash.

Despite Tyson claiming he was a fan of Austin, Stone Cold wasn’t a fan of his. After an exchanging of words and two fingers to Tyson’s face, Mike shoved Austin and the brawl was on. All these years later, people still remember the two being torn apart with Mr. McMahon shouting at Austin that he had ruined everything. Mike Tyson went on to be a ringside official for Austin’s match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania. Tyson shocked the world by swerving Michaels and helping Austin win the world championship.

3. Andre rips off Hogan’s cross

For the majority of Andre The Giant’s career, he played the lovable babyface role. He was a big lovable giant that the fans loved but terrified anybody that stepped inside the ring against him. That all changed on February 7th, 1987. On an episode of Piper’s Pit, Andre The Giant walked onto the set with the most despised manager of his time and arguably of all time, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. That was all Andre had to do for everyone watching to know that things just changed.

Hogan went into hysterics questioning what Andre was doing out there with Heenan. He pleaded for Andre to change his mind. Hogan tried to remind Andre what he meant to him and to all of the fans. Unfortunately, it was already too late, The Brain had already gotten inside The Giant’s mind. Andre proceeded to berate Hogan for never offering him a shot at his world championship and challenging him to give him a shot at WrestleMania III. Although, what happened next is what everybody still talks about all these years later.

Andre grabbed Hogan’s shirt to rip it off of his chest. What he didn’t expect was for Hogan’s cross necklace to be ripped off as well. Andre tossed the shirt and the cross onto the ground and left with Heenan. Hogan dropped to his knees confused about what just happened and heartbroken by the man he considered a role model and a friend. His chest was bleeding from the necklace and that blood was boiling from the point forward.

This moment started the road to possibly the most important moment in WrestleMania’s early success. Hogan went on to WrestleMania III and made WWE history when he slammed Andre and ended his “fifteen-year undefeated streak.” The moment of Hogan picking up Andre is still one of the most replayed moments in wrestling history and continues to be played during every WrestleMania season.