17 years ago today, WrestleMania 18 emanated from Toronto’s Skydome, now known as Rogers Center. The main event of the show was Chris Jericho defending the WWE Undisputed championship against Triple H. The match most remember WrestleMania 18 for, however, was Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs the Rock. It marked Hogan’s return to WrestleMania for the first time in almost a decade.
Chris Jericho on WrestleMania 18
Jericho spoke to Inside the Ropes about having to follow such an iconic match at WrestleMania.
“Let’s be honest, [it was] a main event in the fact that it was on last, but the main event of the show was Hogan and Rock and I knew it,” Jericho admitted. “And I was actually most people to be pitching have their match on last. I was pitching [for Triple H and I] not to go on last because I said, ‘How do you follow Hogan and Rock?’ And Triple H, and probably rightfully so, was fighting for the title match to be last but we couldn’t follow it. We just couldn’t and you could just see the air go out of the room. That’s a match, I’ve never watched it back I remember being kind of disappointed in it, main event at WrestleMania?”
The program Jericho was in at the time involved him being the first to win the Undisputed championship. With Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall being brought back into the company at the time, Jericho’s title reign was arguably not the featured storyline on RAW or Smackdown most weeks.
“It was more of a forgotten thing, so, the buildup for the [WrestleMania]match wasn’t great, the positioning of the match wasn’t great, and in my opinion, the match wasn’t great, but, I can say I was in the main event of WrestleMania, so, there you go,” Jericho continued.
Transcripts via Wrestling Inc, Interview below:
