WWE Royal Rumble: 5 singles or tag classics you may have forgotten

#2 The Rock v Ken Shamrock - 1998

The Rock v Ken Shamrock

There's probably no greater mark of progress for The Rock's WWE career - and more specifically his rapid ascent to the top - than this bout with Ken Shamrock.

What I mean by that is, take a look back at the previous slide and you'll have seen the Rock 12 months on from the Shamrock match of 1998 as WWE Champion, the face of the company and arguably the most charismatic sports entertainer on the planet.

That's not to say the 1998 model of The Great One was too shabby, either. Then Intercontinental champ, the Florida native had dubbed himself The People's Champion and rubbed everyone up the wrong way - not least his fellow Nation of Domination leader at the time, Faarooq.

Here's a fact you might have forgotten - Ken Shamrock did actually win this match and celebrated with the intercontinental championship; only to have it cruelly stripped away from him moments later after the scheming Rock had managed to convince the referee that the challenger had only toppled him with the use of brass knuckles.

Of course, no such skullduggery had taken place, but the champ cared little - he made it out of San Jose, California, with his precious IC title intact. The match was a great watch for anyone wanting to see the loudmouth Rock get a good beating for a while, even if him retaining, in the end, was, ultimately, the right way to go.