Not many names have surpassed the fame levels of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Stone Cold Steve Austin when it comes to WWE.
The two titans were cornerstones of the sport at its height of popularity and supplied the greatest rivalry in a generation.
WrestleMania 17 was arguably when the popularity of wrestling hit its peak, and it saw two of the biggest wrestlers of all time settle their feud in front of 67,000 fans at the Texas Astrodome.
With such a grand event, WrestleMania 17 sold itself as the biggest event ever and who could forget the unbelievable promo WWE made for The Rock's clash with Stone Cold?
The famous promo saw the timeline of events leading up to the bout accompanied by Limp Bizkit’s ‘My Way’ with the bout dubbed as ‘The match where both men have to win and neither man can afford to lose’ by Paul Heyman.
The star-studded lineup also included household names such as Triple H, The Undertaker, Vince and Shane McMahon.
It seemed that the promo had sold the match completely and offered to show the climax of the ‘wrestling boom’, an era that brought two of the biggest box-office draws in the Rock and Austin since Hulk Hogan.
Yet, the main event is what makes WrestleMania 17, one of, if not the, greatest of all time.
The Rock vs Austin. The most popular, most talented and highest-grossing wrestlers, pitted against each other, with no excessive storyline, just an all out grudge match.
Both men had dominated the WWE Championship scene in the late 90s and early 2000s and were now about to settle it all.
The next 23 minutes saw the crowd erupt, reacting to every move. An interruption by Vince McMahon only escalated the stakes with The Rock being dominated by both Austin and the chairman.
The feud between McMahon and Austin had started the era of mainstream wrestling and their teamwork on this night came as one of the biggest shocks ever.
Commentator Jim Ross summed it up with the line ‘things will never be the same' and with an event that was years in the making, nothing else quite reached this peak.