10 Most Important Episodes In WWE SmackDown History

7. August 8, 2002

There has never been a bigger or more successful push of a new star in WWE than Brock Lesnar’s first run in 2002. Need proof? He beat one of the biggest stars of all time within five months of debuting. 

The date was August 8. Lesnar was on one side of the ring, whilst his opponent was none other than Hulk Hogan. Lesnar didn’t just beat Hogan, he obliterated him. 

The Next Big Thing took the Immortal One to the cleaners, knocking him around so badly it’s a miracle his moustache didn’t come clean off. After 10 minutes of domination, Brock locked in a Bear Hug to win via technical submission, a dominating end to an impressive performance.

Hogan had played politics to get out of doing jobs for some of the industry’s biggest stars, and yet here was some 25-year-old kid who walked all over him like a red and yellow doormat.

A surreal moment to say the least.