What Was Their Moment 1

[RedRegan1005]

So this is the first of a series of threads I wanna do that ask what was the moment of a wrestlers career that stands out as the instance where they "Arrived". The break out moment or match where the world realized Okay this guy can go. He has IT, and is going to be a big time star in the industry. It could even be a series of matches if you wanted to go that route. An example would be when Stone Cold faced Bret Hart at WM13, at least that was his break out moment for me. You can put either the time when you personally realized that or when it seemed the rest of the world realized that, or both. Up to you.

For this thread the superstar at hand will be The Rock. One of the biggest stars of the attitude Era, and Stone Cold Steve Austins greatest in ring rival. So lets hear it, what was The Peoples Champ's breakout moment or match?

My choice may come later than most peoples. For me it was his match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 15. The Rock started to get hot and the people wanted him as a face and then just when they were gonna give the people The Rock as a face WWE Champ, BOOM they turn him and align him with the WWE Devil Himself, Mr. McMahon and the Corporation. However in the match with Austin at mania, you saw the crowd give some responses to the rock at times that showed they still really wanted to cheer him as a face. For me it was this match that showed me the rock could go with the top dogs in the ring, and could stand face to face with the top guy, Austin, and be seen as an equal challenger. I loved the match, and think him losing gave him just as much as it did Austin. It opened the door for his face turn and the rest is history.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Breakout Match: The Ladder Match with Triple H at Summerslam 1998.

Halfway through the match, the fans sided with The Rock. You can count this as Triple H's breakout match too. Both guys stole the show and tore the house down in MSG. It was this match where you knew both guys would go on to become big stars in the future. They had solid chemistry, a great rivalry, and rose up from mid-card to main event together. After this match, Rock began teaming up with Austin on occassions to take on The Undertaker & Kane in tag team matches.

Breakout Moment: The Peoples Elbow to Ken Shamrock & Mankind at Breakdown 1998.

There's a moment during The Rock's Triple Threat Steel Cage match with Shamrock & Mankind where The Rock bodyslams Shamrock and Mankind to the mat and he sets them both up for a Double People's Elbow at the same time and the crowd is popping like crazy and the building is even shaking. The only other time I'd ever seen the building shake was when Bret was stomping the hell out of Austin during the 10-Man Tag at Canadian Stampede. You know when you get a reaction like that, that you have definitely arrived. I believe The Rock was still with The Nation at the time of this match though he was slowly drifting away from the group, but the crowd still chanted and cheered for him the entire match.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

Breakout Moment: The Peoples Elbow to Ken Shamrock & Mankind at Breakdown 1998.

There's a moment during The Rock's Triple Threat Steel Cage match with Shamrock & Mankind where The Rock bodyslams Shamrock and Mankind to the mat and he sets them both up for a Double People's Elbow at the same time and the crowd is popping like crazy and the building is even shaking. The only other time I'd ever seen the building shake was when Bret was stomping the hell out of Austin during the 10-Man Tag at Canadian Stampede. You know when you get a reaction like that, that you have definitely arrived. I believe The Rock was still with The Nation at the time of this match though he was slowly drifting away from the group, but the crowd still chanted and cheered for him the entire match.

I was actually in the building for that match. Very cool moment indeed... although for me the cooler moment was looking one section over at the start of the show and wondering who the big guy in the pirate shirt was standing by the back gate was (it was Christian right before he made his debut). I don't remember the building shaking though.

That moment with the Rock for me was his Wrestlemania 14 interview with Gennifer Flowers (chick that banged Clinton once and got sort of famous for it). I was watching the show with a bunch of friends, and the Rock was so on that night we were all killing ourselves laughing. It was the first time he used "if you smell what the Rock is cooking". From that moment on, I stopped seeing the guy who used to be Rocky Maivia, and started seeing this new guy "The Rock".

 

[OYDK]

The Rock's breakout moment imo is his first promo after joining the Nation of Domination. Before this, The Rock's career was stalled and it looked like he was going nowhere. No matter how hard the WWE tried to push him, the fans just didn't seem to take to him as a babyface. Que the heel turn. It was this first heel promo where Rocky Maivia literally transformed into The Rock in front of everybody's eyes. This was the moment people really started to take an interest in The Rock and see him as a true cornerstone for the future of the WWE.

 

[Wolf Pac]

I was actually in the building for that match. Very cool moment indeed... although for me the cooler moment was looking one section over at the start of the show and wondering who the big guy in the pirate shirt was standing by the back gate was (it was Christian right before he made his debut). I don't remember the building shaking though.

I just watched it back, the hard camera was moving about a little, guess I mistook that for the building shaking. Still remains his breakout moment for me though.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

The Rock is a difficult one. He doesn't have an obvious moment like Austin's blood pouring down his face while in the sharpshooter, or the 3:16 promo.

There are three moments/matches I can think of:

1. SummerSlam 1998 Ladder Match for the IC strap vs Triple H
Like others had mentioned, this was a great feud and a big time match that started turning The Rock into a babyface. This was a great match, which really did make Triple H as a breakout performer as well, but reactions The Rock was getting after this match proved that this was a turning point for The Great One.

2. Survivor Series 1998 Deadly Games Final vs Mankind
I'm not listing this because it was his first title win. I'm listing this because of the great swerve of him joining The Corporation. It was a very nice, long angle between Vince and Foley, and the swerve of the very new babyface The People's Champ turning into The Corporate Champ really cemented The Rock at the top or near top of the card. I think this moment showed the world that The Rock's time has arrived.

3. Royal Rumble 1999 I Quit Match vs Mankind
So they turned him heel, aligned him with the biggest heel in the company, but he's still young and green. Can he really pull off these main events? This match at The Royal Rumble was absolutely brutal and showcased how nasty, cruel yet entertaining The Rock could be. In fact he was so entertaining that no matter how heelish he acted he eventually would turn face a few months later. But in the middle of a vicious feud with Foley, this feud really made both guys. And in my opinion, this match was the height of the feud.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

I just watched it back, the hard camera was moving about a little, guess I mistook that for the building shaking. Still remains his breakout moment for me though.

Haha it's all good.

Truthfully, you probably saw that moment better than I did being there live. The one problem with watching a show live compared to on TV... is that it's harder to see some of the really cool stuff sometimes.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I thought Randy Savage's emergence as a mega-star took place in a match he lost....to Ricky Steamboat for the Intercontinental title in 1987.

I was 8 years old and Savage scared the hell out of me; yes, I knew about bad guys, but I had never seen anyone remotely like Savage.....I thought he was half-animal. At the same time, even at that young age, I could appreciate the brilliance of Ricky Steamboat. Their contest at WMIII, with tons of near-pinfalls and amazing agility & strength shown by both men, was the most exciting match I ever witnessed at that point of my life.

In the two years Macho Man had been in WWE, he had been fighting people like George Steele and Tito Santana; that was all well and good, but it was his series against Steamboat that cemented Savage's star power. It was that step up that turned him into a superstar.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

This is kind of lame but for me the moment it clicked that The Rock was or was going to be a break out star was the first time he uttered the phrase, "this isn't sing along with The Rock". He was a heel but the fans loved to play along and he still found a way to stay heel, be original, and entertain despite the lack of fan cooperation. He got a laugh but stuck to his role. His objection to the fans behavior just egged them on more and got them further behind him. It was simple but smart.

 

[HBsam31]

I was actually in the building for that match. Very cool moment indeed... although for me the cooler moment was looking one section over at the start of the show and wondering who the big guy in the pirate shirt was standing by the back gate was (it was Christian right before he made his debut). I don't remember the building shaking though.

That moment with the Rock for me was his Wrestlemania 14 interview with Gennifer Flowers (chick that banged Clinton once and got sort of famous for it). I was watching the show with a bunch of friends, and the Rock was so on that night we were all killing ourselves laughing. It was the first time he used "if you smell what the Rock is cooking". From that moment on, I stopped seeing the guy who used to be Rocky Maivia, and started seeing this new guy "The Rock".

This moment right here. I was also sitting around watching with a bunch of friends, and the laughter never stopped. It was the first time he really went all out "Rock" in an interview. From then on everything he did just got better and better.

 

[Wrestlingfan100]

to jumpstart his career it was IWA midsouth, his match with AJ styles that he claims put him on the map, he lost the match though. you can find it on youtube in 2004. in 2007 he had a match with Kevin Steen that was amazing with humor and great creative spots, and Steen called Sydal one of the best.




4 years later Cyber Sunday he would face Matt Hardy for the ecw championship after a fan voting system gave him very high votes over Mark Henry, he had great matches showing off he was a highflier with a technical background and great strikes and apparently there was a last minute change( which happened to Punk a lot too) where he wasn't going to get the belt. ( fun fact, Vince still wasn't happy with that ending the show and had Tommy Dreamer( who left the company a few days before to come back).
In 2009 he had matches with John Morrison that were amazing, in 2010 he feuded with Jericho and had amazing matches and even was one of the guys John Cena vouched for ( see Zack Ryder) and even got to main event Raw

He's never really had a bad match, he never botches, he's a great seller,
he's technically sound enough to not be a spot monkey and is a 14 year veteran

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The Rock's was definitely the interview at Mania 14 where he first used the "Smell" line, that was when you KNEW he was going to be massive.

A lot of guys never really have that "moment" but my most memorable ones are:-

Big Bossman: When he took the nightstick to Dusty Rhodes while cuffed to the ropes... a brutal moment but one that set Bossman up to be a major player... he was an NWA guy, battering a former NWA champion, in that moment you knew Bossman was now a WWF guy and going to be pushed big time.

Kurt Angle: Ironically his first loss to Tazz at the Rumble... that was the moment you knew that not only could he tell a great story outside of his win streak but could really "go" rather than the squashes he'd been given.

John Morrison: Ironically it was the injury to Joey Mercury, at that moment you knew that Morrison or Nitro as he was then was going to have to go it alone eventually and would get that push.

Matt Hardy: Beating Rey Mysterio for the Cruiserweight title... that was when Matt was at his peak and was showing he could not only handle singles titles but be damned entertaining.