Voodoo's Reflections: No. 5-1 of the 15 Best Storyline Payoffs in History

So here we are: the end of the road.

What is the greatest payoff in the history of professional wrestling, you ask? Well, read on and you'll find out.

Today, we celebrate the best of the best. The top five on this list are there because they were powerful, emotional events that made us cheer, but also hugely impacted the history of the sport—they were game-changers, if you will.

If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 of this series, feel free to catch up using the links provided.

As always, leave feedback! Oh, and enjoy.

5: The Boyhood Dream Comes True

Shawn Michaels is one of the all-time greats—a Hall of Fame performer who is one of those rare people that is as good in the ring as he is on the microphone. He was one of the best heels ever and one of the best faces ever. He put on some of the greatest matches in WWE history and earned the nicknames of “The Showstopper” and “Mr. WrestleMania."

But, once upon a time, Shawn Michaels was just one half of The Rockers tag team with Marty Jannetty; once he split from Jannetty in one of the most infamous moments in WWE history, he started his long climb to the main event, in the process becoming the first man to win the Royal Rumble from the No. 1 position, then going back a year later and becoming the second guy to ever win more than one Rumble (the first being Hulk Hogan.)

In order to fulfill what was obviously going to be his destiny and become one of the all-time greats, though, Shawn Michaels would need that signature moment to define him. He got that moment at WrestleMania XII.

At WrestleMania XII, after teasing a concussion angle with Owen Hart and having to re-earn his WrestleMania spot, he defeated Bret Hart in the first ever Iron Man match.

The merits of this match have been hotly debated over time—some people think it’s one of the greatest matches ever, some think it’s somewhat overrated—but the fact is that, prior to HBK-Hart, there had never really been a modern-day WWE match in which two guys wrestled each other for an hour; not only that, but they had to go into overtime to settle the score.

The idea of two people fighting for that long may have seemed preposterous at first, but Michaels and Hart (two of the all-time great performers in the history of professional wrestling) pulled it off and looked like a million bucks doing it.

Perhaps the aftermath of the match left a bitter taste in Bret’s mouth and began his long-standing real life feud with Michaels (Michaels, after the match, told Bret to “get the f*** out of my ring” so he could celebrate), but the moment itself was a beautiful thing.

This particular payoff was so effective on numerous levels. Not only did it end a wonderfully executed angle (Michaels overcoming his concussion and achieving his “boyhood dream” of winning the title), but it was the conclusion to Michaels’ long-time odyssey of rising to the top of the wrestling world.

From coming short in big moments (i.e. King of the Ring 1995, WrestleMania XI, previous title matches vs. Hart) to headlining WrestleMania and winning, the time had  finally come for Shawn Michaels; from there, HBK would launch one of the most iconic, successful runs as a highlight-reel showstopper in WWE.

4: The Third Member Is Revealed, the NWO Is Formed

Anyone who knows about the history of professional wrestling can probably narrate this whole thing by heart, but let’s take a trip down memory lane once again:

On May 27, 1996, Scott Hall (who had been competing as Razor Ramon in WWE) showed up on WCW Monday Nitro unannounced and with no prior fanfare. He jumped the railing, took a mic, got in the ring, and began the Monday Night Wars. He asked if WCW wanted a war, and that—ready or not—here it came.

When his buddy Kevin Nash (aka WWE’s Diesel) showed up soon afterwards, the two took to calling themselves The Outsiders, and they were here to take over WCW; however, they had a third member of their group, and he would reveal himself at Bash at the Beach 1996. For weeks and weeks, people were speculating: who was the third man going to be? The Outsiders certainly weren’t telling.

So, at Bash at the Beach, WCW sent its three representatives—Sting, Lex Luger and Randy Savage—out to face the three Outsiders. One problem: only Hall and Nash showed up.

Nevertheless, Hall and Nash cleaned house, knocking out Lex Luger and causing the announce team to beg for someone to come out and help WCW. Help indeed came, in the form of Hulk Hogan…who proceeded to give all those watching what was arguably the most shocking moment in the history of professional wrestling.

Hulk Hogan turned heel.

After the match “ended,” people showered the ring with garbage as Hogan cut a scathing worked shoot promo on the crowd explaining his actions. The New World Order had arrived. To call this moment shocking would have been an understatement, really: Hogan had been the All-American, red-and-yellow good guy for what had seemed like forever.

Here was the guy who had stood up to anyone and every in WWE, defended his country and was a role model to children everywhere. He was Mr. Nanny, for heaven’s sake!

And now…he was a heel? Now we were supposed to boo him? It was, indeed, an unprecedented moment in the history of professional wrestling, and while it was not explicitly the payoff to a major angle (it would turn into the nWo storyline, which would take over WCW’s programming for essentially the rest of its existence), it ended the “who is the third man?” storyline in the most jaw-dropping way imaginable.

Even to this day, the Hogan heel turn still gets mileage when people like Bill Simmons compared LeBron James leaving Cleveland to “take his talents to South Beach” to Hogan’s heel turn. It’s been over 15 years, and this is still one of the most legendary, shocking moments in the history of professional wrestling.

Now that’s how you finish a storyline!

3: Austin 3:16 Says 'I Just Got 5 Stars'

A long-term, emotionally charged, venom-filled feud builds up to a boiling point and ends in what is widely considered to be the single greatest match in WWE history, one that leads to the launch of one of the greatest careers in the history of professional wrestling.

How much better can you do than that?

Steve Austin, the antagonistic heel, had targeted long-time good guy Bret Hart (who took a leave of absence after dropping the title to HBK after WrestleMania XII), insulting him and trying to goad him into coming back and facing him. Eventually, Hart relented and defeated Austin in a great match at Survivor Series. The two of them weren’t finished, though.

At Royal Rumble 1997, Austin won by last eliminating Hart…except for the tiny little fact that Austin had already been eliminated but snuck back in before the officials could notice. The war went on and on until the two squared off in a wild, unbelievable Submission Match at WrestleMania 13.

Hart technically won the match, even though Austin never submitted to the Sharpshooter (special referee Ken Shamrock called it on account of Austin losing a lot of blood and subsequently passing out).

Hart, after refusing to stop assaulting Austin (as well as cutting a promo insulting American fans the next night on Raw), would turn heel for the first time in many years; Austin, as a result of showing so much determination and grit (as well as the fact that his anti-social, butt-kicking loudmouth routine was starting to get over with the fans), turned face and begin his journey to the top of WWE.

A year later, Austin would win the WWE Title from Shawn Michaels, and begin his run as the top dog in WWE, and eventually in all of wrestling. His rise to prominence, combined with the antics of D-Generation X, launched the WWE into the Attitude Era, and ultimately ahead of WCW in the Monday Night Wars.

However, while Austin’s match with Hart (and his ascension to the top of the company) was a big moment in the Monday Night Wars, it was only the first shot; however, there was more work to be done before WWE would win the war. As Michael Jordan famously put it: “It’s not how hard you’ve pushed along the way. It’s having something in you to finish.”

So, after a long battle, WWE needed something to finish off its arch-rival WCW. A year or so later, it would get exactly that.

2: Mick Foley Puts Your Butt in That Seat

WCW, during its heyday, was known for doing many dastardly things; one of the most infamous things that Turner’s boys did was give away results from WWE’s Monday Night Raw in an attempt to show how inferior the other product was.

So, on Jan. 4, 1999, Tony Schiavone revealed that in Raw’s main event, former WCW employee Mick Foley (WCW’s Cactus Jack, WWE’s Mankind) would be winning the WWE Title by defeating The Rock, adding: "That'll put some butts in the seats."

You know what they say: keep your words soft and sweet, because you might have to eat them later. And eat them WCW did.

Nielsen ratings from that night would show that over half a million people switched from watching WCW Nitro (which would be headlined by a WCW Title Match between Kevin Nash and the returning Hollywood Hulk Hogan) to Raw to see the beloved underdog Mankind win his first ever world title.

Mankind, of course, did win the title after a run-in by Steve Austin. If you’ve never seen the ending to this match, click the link provided in the previous sentence; I’ve watched this video easily 100 times, and I still get chills every time the glass shatters.

Do you know why? It’s the same reason that the crowd absolutely explodes when Austin’s music hits (probably the single biggest pop in the history of pro wrestling): the crowd was about to see one of the all-time most beloved performers, a career underdog and feel-good story, finally finish his long journey to the top of the mountain and be able to call himself a champion.

What about those who stuck around to see WCW? They saw exactly what they’d been seeing for years: unlike WWE and Foley, WCW refused to ever put anyone new into the top slot. Hogan regained the title from Nash in the infamous “Fingerpoke of Doom,” leading to yet another reunion of the nWo, which was now beyond stale.

WCW was losing the Monday Night Wars, and the reason for it was because they refused to give the fans what they wanted and push new people; WWE—by elevating guys like Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Triple H (all former WCW guys, by the way,) and The Rock—was giving the fans new performers to root for.

WCW would never regain their lead in the Monday Night War. In 2001, WCW would be sold to WWE, all because on one night in 1999, Mick Foley put your butt in that seat.

So, with the short-term result of Foley’s win (a phenomenal feel-good moment for the fans, an emotional and cathartic payoff to Foley’s months-long feud with The Rock and his year-long journey to the world championship) and the long-term effects (the end of the Monday Night Wars), why isn’t this in the No.1 slot?

Because there would be no “Monday Night Wars” to fight (and end) if pro wrestling weren’t a national phenomenon.

And wrestling would never have become a national phenomenon if it weren’t for our No.1 payoff...

1: Hogan and Andre Turn Pro Wrestling into a National Spectacle

Before I go on, I know that I need to address one little thing about this particular moment: from an in-ring standpoint, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III was awful. But in the grand scheme of things, that didn’t really matter because if it weren’t for Hogan-Andre, then pro wrestling would not be where it is today.

It should be noted that many of the great moments in sports history, specifically the ones that enabled a certain sport to rise to prominence, were not great from a performance standpoint. For example, the first few Super Bowls were terrible; Green Bay absolutely obliterated both Kansas City and Oakland in Super Bowls I and II, respectively.

Even Super Bowl III, with Joe Namath’s legendary guarantee that his 18-point underdog Jets would defeat the Colts (they did), was not as close as its final score of 16-7 would lead you to assume.

Vince McMahon’s initial foray into the national spectacle of WrestleMania was actually quite similar to the NFL’s first few attempts at the Super Bowl. WrestleMania I and II were lavish productions, scored big hits in the ratings, drew tons of money, and were horrible with regards as in-ring content.

But like with Namath and Super Bowl III, Vince would gamble that the third time would be his charm as well, putting as his main event a long-awaited showdown of the Immovable Object and the Irresistible Force: Andre the Giant, he of the 15-year undefeated streak, would fight Hulk Hogan, the company’s champion for the past three years, for the WWE Title.

Talk about intrigue.

People would watch, Vince was sure; the first two WrestleManias were proof of that. But this time, the most anticipated match in the history of pro wrestling would take place. Could Hogan finally defeat Andre? Or would Andre’s reign of dominance continue?

Of course, we all know how it turned out. Hogan bodyslammed Andre (the “bodyslam heard round the world”) and pinned him with the legdrop to retain the WWE title.

WrestleMania III established that pro wrestling could, in fact, thrive at the national level: the event set the indoor sports attendance record (93,173, though that number has been disputed), which stood until the 2010 NBA All-Star game. The event drew over $10 million in PPV revenues.

Not only did this match close the books on the Andre-Hogan feud for the time being (it re-opened in time for the build to WrestleMania IV), but it also was the payoff to a real-life angle: could pro wrestling, long a regional phenomenon, make it on a national level? Andre-Hogan showed us that yes, it could. 

And that, my friends, is why it is the greatest payoff in pro-wrestling history.