Hulk Hogan. The Rock. Sixty-eight thousand screaming fans in Toronto. And somehow… a broomstick gets involved.

This week on Grapple City Rewind, Bradley Palermo and Aaron Fink head back to WWF WrestleMania X8 (2002) — the strange transitional moment where the Attitude Era crashes head-first into nostalgia. The nWo has arrived, Limp Bizkit is blasting through the arena, and the WWF is suddenly leaning hard on legends again.

But nothing on this show matters more than Icon vs Icon:
Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs The Rock.

What starts as a simple dream match quickly turns into one of the loudest crowd reactions in wrestling history, with Toronto hijacking the entire narrative and accidentally resurrecting Hulkamania in real time.

Along the way we also get:

• Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Scott Hall in a beer-soaked brawl with the nWo lurking
• Ric Flair bleeding buckets against The Undertaker in a brutal fight for the Streak
• Kurt Angle and Kane throwing each other around like refrigerators
• The chaotic Hardcore Championship insanity
• Nu-metal everywhere you look
• And one of the weirdest tonal WrestleManias WWE ever produced

It’s legends, blood, nostalgia, and a crowd that refuses to follow the script.

Because sometimes WrestleMania history isn’t written by the booking.

Sometimes the crowd decides.

🎙️ Grapple City Rewind — where we revisit the wildest, weirdest, and most unforgettable wrestling pay-per-views of the VHS era.

This episode brought to you by Weber4Law - your tag team partner when life body-slams you out of nowhere. Call (818) 502-9200 or visit https://weber4law.com/

(626) 657-SLAM

Email: Grapplecitypod@gmail.com

IG: @grapplecitypod

X: @grapplecitypod

TikTok: @grapplecitypod

Threads: @grapplecitypod

Music by Bradley Palermo & The Shadow Queens.

Created by Bradley Palermo & Aaron Fink.

Grapple City Rewind heads back to the gritty ECW Arena in February 1996 for CyberSlam 96, Bradley Palermo and Aaron Fink break down the chaotic compilation-style event featuring Taz squashes, a completely unhinged Brian Pillman segment, dancing babyface Bubba Ray Dudley, triple dog collar madness, and the only true wrestling clinic of the night Too Cold Scorpio vs Sabu, we debate whether ECW’s wild run-in heavy style still holds up, question Meltzer’s dud-heavy ratings, revisit Cactus Jack vs Shane Douglas in a brutal chair shot spectacle, compare modern crowd energy after attending AEW Dynamite live, and discuss The Smashing Machine and how MMA crossover stories shaped the aura of workers like Taz during the 90s

This episode brought to you by Weber4Law - your tag team partner when life body-slams you out of nowhere. Call (818) 502-9200 or visit https://weber4law.com/

(626) 657-SLAM

Email: Grapplecitypod@gmail.com

IG: @grapplecitypod

X: @grapplecitypod

TikTok: @grapplecitypod

Threads: @grapplecitypod

Music by Bradley Palermo & The Shadow Queens.

Created by Bradley Palermo & Aaron Fink.

Grapple City Rewind heads to No Way Out 2000 as Bradley Palermo and Aaron Fink break down Kurt Angle vs Chris Jericho, Dudleys vs New Age Outlaws, the infamous Mae Young pregnancy storyline with Mark Henry, Kane vs X-Pac chaos, Too Cool vs The Radicalz, Big Show vs The Rock controversy, and the brutal Hell in a Cell main event between Triple H and Cactus Jack. Was this Attitude Era PPV a hidden gem or just main-event dependent? We give it our Fast Forward, Play, or Rewind rating and debate whether the Foley vs Triple H war saves the show.

This episode brought to you by Weber4Law - your tag team partner when life body-slams you out of nowhere. Call (818) 502-9200 or visit https://weber4law.com/

(626) 657-SLAM

Email: Grapplecitypod@gmail.com

IG: @grapplecitypod

X: @grapplecitypod

TikTok: @grapplecitypod

Threads: @grapplecitypod

Music by Bradley Palermo & The Shadow Queens.

Created by Bradley Palermo & Aaron Fink.