Counterfeit Pennies 03.03.03: Top 5 Most Memorable N. American Wrestling Moments

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Counterfeit Pennies 03.03.03: Top Five Most Memorable North American Pro Wrestling Moments

5) The immortal Hulk Hogan squares off against The Rock at WrestleMania X-8: Just another instant classic from two icons who defined the sports entertainment aspect of two different prosperous eras in the WWF.

4) The Undertaker locks The Ultimate Warrior inside an airtight casket: This was one of my earlier wrestling memories, which occurred when The Undertaker first came into the WWF. This was a storyline arc that really f*cked me up (I still thought wrestling was somewhat real at the time) because I thought The Ultimate Warrior, my first real wrestling hero, was going to die. And that Paul Bearer … how creepy!

3) HBK is born: Shawn Michaels throws Marty Jannetty through a plate glass window: It was supposed to be a glorious reaffirmation during Brutus Beefcake’s Barbershop segment, and instead Shawn Michaels flipped the script and said goodbye to Marty Jannetty, thereby ending The Rockers’ WWF tag team run. I don’t know what made me feel worse: Marty’s fateful fall through the plate glass window, or WWF’s decision to create “The New Rockers” some years later, featuring Marty and Leif Cassidy (one of Al Snow’s horribly failed gimmicks). Either way, Marty and Shawn will always have a special place in WWF barbershop lore.

2) Mankind wins the WWF title from The Rock on Raw: There is nothing like seeing your favorite wrestler capture the biggest prize in the business. Mick Foley was my wrestling hero (my personal equivalent to Lenny Dykstra in baseball when I was a kid), and I was just so happy to see someone who wasn’t a cookie-cutter WWF superstar – Mick was honest, passionate and completely unorthodox – get to the top of his industry. On a side note, the aftermath of this match – when D-Generation celebrated Mick’s win by raising him up on their shoulders – marks the very last time that Triple H ever willingly carried another WWF/E superstar to victory.

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My number one memorable wrestling moment is actually two moments that go hand-in-hand, so I thought it was only fair to pair them together as numbers 1a and 1b.

1a) Vince McMahon uses the infamous real-life Bret Hart screw job to develop a storyline that resurrects the WWF fan-base: I think that Vince McMahon proved that he truly was an arrogant and shrewd marketing genius when he and his creative team decided to use the Bret Hart screw job from Survivor Series 1997 as the foundation for a storyline that would change WWF forever. When Vince took himself out of the announcing booth and threw himself into the soap opera mix as WWF owner “Mr. McMahon”, the casual fan suddenly had a compelling reason to tune into WWF programming for the first time in years. Luckily, Stone Cold Steve Austin was able step in perfectly to play the role of the “working class” adversary to Mr. McMahon’s domineering, manipulative persona, and what ensued of course was a high-stakes game of one-upmanship that we all bought into. To me, this was such a memorable occurrence because it took a struggling WWF and gave it a real buzz that hadn’t been around since Hulkamania was born in the 1980s. In retrospect, I think the reason this is still memorable today is because it was the last time that Vince McMahon was actually able to correctly gauge the pulse of popular culture for a significant period of time.

1b) Stone Cold Steve Austin drives a beer truck into the arena and hoses down The Corporation: I’ll never forget when Stone Cold was at the top of his game, because it was a time when WWF would basically try to get away with anything … and would succeed in doing so. The Rattlesnake spraying beer all over Vince McMahon, The Rock and the rest of The Corporation is something I will never forget as long as I live, just like I will never forget Stone Cold laying Vince out with his own bedpan or the time when he poured cement into his brand new sports car. Yup, those were some very memorable times, and I still laugh hysterically whenever I pop in my tape of Austin-McMahon: The Whole Entire Story.

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Some honorable mentions are as follows:

Paul Heyman and former ECW wrestlers turn heel and join WCW’s Invasion: Unfortunately, this “Holy Shit” swerve was completely wasted.

Hulk Hogan turns his back on the Red and Yellow and forms the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash: A fading Hogan mustered up enough juice to reinvent himself as a despised traitor to the fans. Absolutely classic.

The “Perfect” vignettes: Still some of the best clips ever produced. They were absolutely, positively, perfect.

Owen Hart falls: Memorable for all the wrong reasons. I bet, however, that Owen and Mr. Perfect are putting on a wrestling clinic right now for everyone upstairs.

Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock sing Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville”: Pointlessness aside, it just doesn’t get any funnier than this.

Tell me, what are your five favorite professional wrestling moments? Let me know by sending your emails to chris411wrestling@yahoo.com; some of your responses will be posted right here as part of my next column.

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Chris Biscuiti presents Personal messages to persons of note:

To Patrick Ewing: You’ve always been a warrior on the court and your work ethic has always inspired me. It’s a shame the only time you were truly able to have great players surrounding you is when your jersey was raised to the rafters of Madison Square Garden. I can only imagine the respect you might have received had Bernard King been retained early in your career, or if John Starks makes that three-pointer in Game 6 against Houston. Don’t worry, not everyone judges you on whether or not someone else’s jump shot rattles in or out. Thank you for your blood, sweat and tears, and 15 memorable years.

To Martin Sheen: Even though you play the part on TV, you are not really the President of the United States. Just making sure someone clues you in before you start preparing to debate Sadaam Hussein or something.

To Claire Danes: I used to have a crush on you when you dyed your hair red on My So-Called Life. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

To Jeff B. Cohen: You are the best character actor of all-time. Oh, wait, my mistake, that’s John C. Reilly. You rocked in The Goonies though!

That’s all for now … PEACE.

“I write because it’s not there.”
-Thomas Berger, def poet

Aside from his weekly musings on 411Mania, Chris Biscuiti is a regular pop culture, political and pro wrestling contributor to moodspins.com.

CB is an Editor for Pulse Wrestling and an original member of the Inside Pulse writing team covering the spectrum of pop culture including pro wrestling, sports, movies, music, radio and television.