10 Biggest Wrestling Hometown Pops Ever
When hometown heroes get their due.
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00:00 The pop is one of the most important things in wrestling.
00:02 For bookers and writers, it can show them how their work is being received, and for
00:06 performers it's the adulation that they strive for.
00:09 Naturally, the chances of a star getting an even better crowd reaction is a matter of
00:13 timing.
00:14 Pairing a key storyline moment with the perfect location creates atmospheres that transcend
00:18 most others.
00:19 I'm Si for WhatCulture.com, and these are the 10 biggest wrestling hometown pops ever.
00:24 10.
00:25 Trish Stratus in Toronto - Unforgiven 2006
00:28 You don't get a memorable pop without a strong emotion behind it.
00:31 The reaction of a live crowd is the greatest demonstration of emotional investment in this
00:35 soap opera with superkicks and spandex.
00:38 Trish Stratus is quite rightfully lauded as one of the most important women in sports
00:42 entertainment history, and as such she had a connection with the WWE audience.
00:46 In August 2006, long-time rival Lita kayfabe leaked Stratus' intentions to retire, which
00:52 Stratus confirmed.
00:53 The time was right for Trish, as in the next month, the WWE were heading to Canada for
00:57 the Unforgiven pay-per-view.
00:59 There, Trish and Lita had their final showdown for the Women's Championship.
01:03 Whilst they only had 11 minutes with which to work, the Toronto crowd was invested throughout.
01:08 Ebbing and flowing, the bout ended with Trish cinching in a sharp-shooter, prompting certainly
01:12 the loudest cheer during a women's match to that point.
01:16 Stratus left Toronto and the WWE for the time being, claiming the prize for the seventh
01:20 time, and fans were truly stratus-fied.
01:22 9.
01:23 John Cena in Boston - Survivor Series 2008
01:27 Cena's ability to routinely come back from devastating injuries in half the predicted
01:32 time or less is legendary.
01:33 The first time this occurred was October 2007 with a torn pectoral muscle.
01:38 Cena had been predicted to be out for six months to a year, returning instead in three
01:41 months at the Royal Rumble to the sound of jaws hitting the floor.
01:45 In August of 2008, Cena was put on the shelf with a herniated disc.
01:49 Again, WWE's statement said that he'd be out of action for a year, so naturally
01:53 he was back in less than three months at Survivor Series.
01:57 Cena had already spent a few years dividing fans as he was catapulted into the position
02:01 of the face of the brand.
02:02 Here, however, in front of the red-hot Boston crowd, he was given a superhero's welcome.
02:07 Survivor Series 2008 is remembered as an extremely lacklustre event, but the highlight is certainly
02:12 the adulation of the crowd for the super athlete winning his first ever World Heavyweight Championship.
02:17 8.
02:18 Taz in New York City - Royal Rumble 2000
02:21 As the first man to instigate a tap-out in wrestling, the creator of the Extreme Championship
02:26 Wrestling logo, and a wrestler of lesser stature in the era of giants, Taz truly has
02:30 left his mark on the business.
02:32 It's these things, and his long-serving loyalty to Paul Heyman's counterculture
02:36 that made his debut elsewhere such a big deal.
02:39 Taz began his career in ECW before it was Extreme, under the original banner of Eastern
02:44 Championship Wrestling.
02:46 Over the course of 13 years, he became a fixture of the show, rising to the top of the card
02:49 before finally looking for greener pastures at the turn of the millennium.
02:53 In December 1999, teasers of Taz's incoming to WWE were dropped, through his trademark
02:58 orange lighting and his logo appearing on the Tron.
03:01 Royal Rumble in 2000 emanated from Madison Square Garden, just 30 minutes away from his
03:06 home at Red Hook, Brooklyn.
03:07 Here he filled the unannounced opponent slot for the oblivious heel Kurt Angle to a roaring
03:12 crowd that got even louder when he tore the towel off his head to stare down the Olympic
03:16 gold medallist.
03:17 The match was short, vicious and shocking as the Human Suplex Machine ended Angle's
03:22 thus far undefeated streak in front of an elated home crowd.
03:25 7.
03:26 Shawn Michaels in San Antonio - Royal Rumble 1997
03:30 Michaels' time with the belt in 1996 wasn't as big of a success as the WWE hoped.
03:35 As such, Vince and company decided to have their top babyface drop the belt to Psycho
03:39 Sid.
03:40 This way, he could return once more to the scrappy underdog role and eventually reclaim
03:44 it.
03:45 To make this even more special, this redemption would occur at the Royal Rumble in Michaels'
03:48 home of San Antonio, Texas.
03:51 San Antonio showed up in their droves with a reported attendance of 60,000 fans that
03:55 were more than ready to lose their minds for the heartbreak kid.
03:58 The Hebner Special Super Slow-Mo Count created a pregnant tension that released a cacophony
04:03 of crowd noise when Michaels scored the three counts.
04:06 6.
04:07 Sami Zayn in Montreal - SmackDown 2023
04:10 When Sami Zayn answered John Cena's United States title open challenge in 2015 in his
04:15 home province, the ovation was massive.
04:17 Furthermore, Zayn put in an incredible showing despite blowing out his shoulder soaking in
04:22 the atmosphere before the bell.
04:23 Sadly, in the years since then, his WWE career has tended to be rather up and down, as it
04:28 can be in the company's midcard.
04:30 However, starting from April 2022, Zayn began to align himself with Roman Reigns and the
04:35 Bloodline, bringing us eventually to our most recent moment on this list.
04:39 Sami Zayn on SmackDown in Montreal wasn't a revolutionary moment.
04:43 This wasn't a debut, a return or even a great match.
04:46 He cut a simple promo, that is, after five minutes of constant crowd noise.
04:51 However, it's in the wider context.
04:53 Just a few weeks previous, Zayn had finally turned on his supposed allies by intervening
04:57 on their attack on Kevin Owens, putting the target on himself.
05:01 In the weeks leading up to this moment, he had minimal TV time, but the year-long story
05:05 was so well built that it was all anyone could talk about.
05:08 As such, walking out in front of a raucous Montreal crowd just 24 hours before Elimination
05:13 Chamber and the biggest match of his career against Roman Reigns, Zayn was vindicated.
05:18 For a moment, the underdog from the underground was the hottest commodity in wrestling, and
05:23 Montreal made sure he felt that way.
05:25 5.
05:26 Steve Austin in Houston - WrestleMania 17
05:29 When talking about huge crowd reactions, something would be amiss without the mention of Stone
05:33 Cold Steve Austin.
05:34 Austin absolutely wasn't the only person of his era with a sort of front bumper at
05:38 the start of his music, but the sound of glass shattering is so iconic.
05:42 It is surely the reason almost all theme songs today in WWE start with something designed
05:46 to immediately generate a reaction.
05:49 Because quite simply, that sound routinely sent shockwaves throughout audiences, with
05:53 Austin's biggest hometown reaction coming at WrestleMania 17.
05:57 As he stepped out for the night's main event, Austin's music was drowned out by the hometown
06:01 Houston crowd reacting to the sound of breaking glass.
06:04 The midpoint of the Rock and Austin WrestleMania trilogy is often called the best, but it's
06:08 not just about match quality.
06:10 The coming together of the two biggest stars in the world and the undeniably perfect pairing
06:14 with Limp Bizkit's My Way video package made this the culmination of an era.
06:19 Fans in the Atrodome audibly relished their part to play in wrestling history.
06:23 4.
06:24 CM Punk - Money in the Bank 2011
06:26 Ever since the WWE kicked off the Attitude Era and gave themselves a counterculture slant,
06:30 it's been hard to come back from.
06:32 As such, fans who stick with the sport are also drawn to underdogs, dark horses and alternatives.
06:38 So when the company cements a clean-cut babyface like John Cena as their pride and joy, it
06:42 stars like CM Punk who find themselves as the voice of the voiceless.
06:46 This was the perfect backdrop to the Summer of Punk 2011, a storyline which saw the Second
06:51 City Saint cut through the pristine PG product of WWE to work shoot a break in the story.
06:57 Punk threatened to win the company's top prize and walk out the door with it, capturing
07:00 the imagination of fans who were disillusioned with WWE's tired product.
07:05 First of all, he would do this in front of his home crowd of Chicago, who were 100% on
07:09 Punk's side.
07:11 This blurred the line of reality further and added an atmosphere that has made the match
07:14 one of the best of its decade.
07:16 The roar of the crowd from his first steps onto the stage to him skirting over the barricade
07:20 to leave never let up, exploding like a grenade when their hero claimed the belt.
07:25 3.
07:26 British Bulldog - London SummerSlam 1992
07:29 The United Kingdom is a country with a starving wrestling audience who often know how to make
07:33 their presence felt.
07:34 Across the late 90s and early 2000s, UK fans were positively spoiled by today's standards
07:39 with annual or even twice annual WWE pay-per-view events.
07:43 As such, many UK fans have fond memories of the likes of Rebellion and the Crime Against
07:48 English Dictionaries Everywhere Insurrection.
07:50 However, SummerSlam 1992 remains the high point of the company's events in all blighty.
07:56 Like a domino effect, the WWE's growing popularity in the UK led to moving the event
08:01 from the US to London.
08:03 In turn, the excitement of the promotion's first major event outside of North America
08:07 meant a huge crowd all too keen to fill out Wembley Stadium.
08:11 And at the top of the card, Davey Boy Smith competed for the Intercontinental Championship.
08:15 From Bulldog's entrance to the finish, the capacity crowd got hotter and hotter throughout
08:19 a match that is the personal favourite of both workers and thousands of fans.
08:24 When the three count finally came, Wembley erupted.
08:26 Brilliantly, Smith's music doesn't play, instead his victory is marked with one of
08:30 the loudest pops in WWE history.
08:33 2.
08:34 The Hart Foundation in Calgary - In Your House Canadian Stampede
08:38 It's one thing to get deafening cheers as an over-babyface, but to get one of the biggest
08:42 positive reactions of the year as a heel is something else entirely.
08:46 WrestleMania 13 famously featured almost certainly the greatest double turn in the business.
08:51 It swapped the alignment of Stone Cold, allowing him to begin his ascent to the top, and Bret
08:55 Hart whose act needed a refresh.
08:57 Later that year, the Hitman adopted an anti-American persona as part of the Hart Foundation stable.
09:03 Every week, Hart would talk smack about the United States and bathe in the booze.
09:07 However, he was still and would always be Canada's Golden Boy, and the WWE knew it.
09:12 So when In Your House Canadian Stampede rolled around, they lent into it.
09:16 A video package starts the event discussing the company's shades of grey characters
09:20 and the paradox this show would represent.
09:23 Embraced as hometown heroes, every member of the Hart Foundation - Bret, Owen, Nightheart,
09:27 Davey Boy and Pillman - was met with main-eventer level cheers.
09:31 The Hitman's entrance in particular was deafening, and it continued into the 5 vs.
09:36 5 tag match against various American superstars.
09:39 Bret never badmouthed his home country, and this - and Calgary in particular being the
09:43 home of the Harts - meant that the crowd had no reason not to cheer so loud that the hard
09:47 cam shook.
09:48 1.
09:49 CM Punk in Chicago - A.W.
09:51 Rampage - The First Dance There are few wrestlers quite so evenly divisive
09:56 as CM Punk.
09:57 On the one hand, some fans simply can't see the appeal of the man's work and style,
10:01 and are turned off by his demeanour that can sometimes charitably be described as sour.
10:05 But those that love him, love him, and again, Chicago has made their devotion to the Voice
10:10 of the Voiceless known to such a degree that it was impossible not to include two specific
10:14 moments on this list.
10:16 After spectacularly burning his bridges with WWE and going into relative hiding, it felt
10:20 like a CM Punk return would feasibly never happen.
10:23 In 2021, the rumour mill began to turn, and even as A.W. named an August edition of Rampage
10:29 The First Dance, itself a Chicago reference to spell things out, there was still a certain
10:33 degree of apprehension that it was actually happening.
10:36 Cue a pop that was one part excitement and one part collective sigh of relief as the
10:41 second City Saint finally walked onto the ramp.
10:43 An emotional Punk and an equally emotional home crowd made that moment something incredibly
10:48 special.
10:49 It felt like time stopped as the audience hung on his every word.
10:52 Though the future of the Chicago native is still a mystery, his return to wrestling has
10:56 become one of the most unifying moments in history.
10:59 And that's the list!
11:00 Let us know what you thought of this video down in the comments below, which of these
11:03 hometown pops is your favourite, and of course let us know of any others that we didn't
11:08 include.
11:09 Make sure you like this video, share it with your friends, subscribe and hit that notification
11:12 bell, head over to whatculture.com for more content every day, I've been Si for What
11:16 Culture, and have a good week!
11:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]