Top five most iconic WWE moments at Madison Square Garden

MSG is one of the most iconic live entertainment venues in history

Madison Square Garden, located in New York’s historic Manhattan borough, is one of the most iconic live entertainment venues in history. From basketball to boxing to Billy Joel, The Garden has hosted everyone throughout its illustrious history. MSG is many things to many people, but to wrestling fans, it is only one thing: WWE’s spiritual home.

The Garden has hosted WWE events since the company’s inception, including the end of Bruno Sammartino’s world title reign and the inaugural WrestleMania. So, MSG and WWE go way back and their connection is deeper than ever. The most recent memory would be Paul Heyman getting destroyed by The Bloodline.

So, here are the five most iconic WWE moments at Madison Square Garden:

5. Hardcore Championship gets retired

Founded in 1998, the Hardcore Championship provided many wonderful experiences for wrestling fans throughout the Attitude Era. Whether it was Gerald Brisco pinning a sleeping Crash Holly, Mighty Molly clattering The Hurricane with a frying pan, or Shane McMahon plummeting to his demise at SummerSlam 2000, the championship has scores of famous moments associated with it, and its final moment occurred at Madison Square Garden.

Tommy Dreamer, the then-Hardcore Champion, challenged Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam to a winner-take-all match in August 2002. On this edition of Raw, these two ECW superstars put on a hell of a match, but it was Mr. Monday Night who emerged victorious, pinning Dreamer to unify the belts and permanently retire the Hardcore championship.

4. The Rock’s return in 2011

After a nine-year hiatus, the Survivor Series returned to Madison Square Garden on November 20th, 2011. However, this was not the only WWE mainstay making a reappearance. Dwayne “Rocky Maivia” “The Rock” Johnson’s first WWE bout since 2004 took place nearly fifteen years to the day after his WWE debut (and in the same building).

For the first time since WrestleMania XX, The Rock fought in a WWE ring, teaming up with John Cena to face The Miz and R-Truth. We would want to suggest they were larger deals in 2011, but they weren’t.

The match wasn’t very memorable, and The Rock and Cena won, but it wasn’t the end of The Rock’s WWE career. His homecoming tour would feature two WrestleMania main events as well as a WWE championship run, which sadly ended CM Punk’s record-breaking tenure with the gold. Now as “The Final Boss” we might get to see more of him.

3. John Cena makes his return at Royal Rumble 2008

The Royal Rumble has only been hosted twice in The Garden, which is a pity because the arena’s layout is ideal for the match. The entry ramp faces the hard cam, allowing spectators to observe someone make their approach to the ring without requiring a cut. Also, those MSG doors are famous, and few people have ever walked out to a more enthusiastic greeting than John Cena did in 2008.

Cena returned to the Rumble match at Number 30 after being out of action for over four months due to an injured pectoral muscle, but fans did not anticipate Big Match John to return for another few months. This was “Super Cena” at his pinnacle, and even though fan sentiment was mostly negative at the time, he received a huge pop as he returned.

2. Kane unmasked for the first time

In a moment that many expected to happen on Pay-Per-View (if at all), Kane removed his famed mask for the first time on an edition of Raw in June 2003.

Following Kane’s loss to Triple H in a mask vs. title match, the fans at MSG that night were the first to see the demon’s face in person – unless you include the hundreds of people who have already seen Glenn Jacobs as Isaac Yankem or Fake Diesel.

After years of hearing that Kane was covered in horrendous scars from head to toe, viewers were disappointed to see that his face was just slightly unclean and that the most distressing thing about him was his haircut. It was a bit of a fizzle, to be honest, but the event itself is still very significant.

1. Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit raise the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships

It’s a sight that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking: confetti falling on two guys holding the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships aloft, real tears on their faces. This is the picture that finished WrestleMania XX, and it will never appear in an official WWE capacity again.

WrestleMania I and X were both held in The Garden, thus it stands to reason that XX would be there as well. The evening was a resounding success, owing in large part to Eddie Guerrero versus Kurt Angle’s dual world championship battles and a triple threat starring Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit. Guerrero successfully defended his WWE Championship against Angle before Benoit won a thrilling main match with the Crippler Crossface.

After winning the huge gold belt, Benoit was joined in the arena by his real-life closest buddy and fellow world champion. The two workhorses embraced and celebrated their accomplishments together in a scene that many expected to be featured in highlight packages for years to come. As we all know, this was not the case, yet many admirers still adore this prohibited photograph, despite its frightening connotations.

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