The Chicago wrestling scene received a boost in the early 1900s by hosting a premier matchup: "Russian Lion" George Hackenschmidt vs. Frank Gotch.
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Tickets for their Sept. 4, 1911 bout, held at Comiskey Park, ranged between $1 and $10. It drew a live gate of more than $87,000, wrestling's biggest gate up to that point.
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Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher helped define Chicago's rough-and-tumble ring style. Their unorthodox workout regimen purportedly consisted of lugging beer kegs up and down Halsted Street.
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On the other end of the stylistic spectrum were Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair, who twice competed against each other in pay-per-view main events held in Chi-Town.
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Hall of Fame Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton served as Razor Ramon's corner man at SummerSlam 1994. The event was billed as the then-nascent United Center's first event.
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Payton helped to neutralize Shawn Michaels, who was in the corner of Ramon's opponent, Diesel.
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SummerSlam 1994 was also the site Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart inside a steel cage.
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"Hit Man's" rivalry with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin reached new heights at WrestleMania 13.
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Austin's gutsy performance earned the respect of the hardboiled Chicagoans.
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Following their clash, neither Hart nor Austin's relationship with WWE fans would ever be quite the same.
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The Road Warriors, who were billed from The Windy City, teamed with Ahmed Johnson in a Chicago Street Fight, also at WrestleMania 13.
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Two iconic WWE debuts occurred in Illinois. First, Chris Jericho in 1999...
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... and then John Cena in 2002.
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Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., a stone's throw from Chicago, hosted WrestleMania 22.
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Mick Foley and Edge turned The Grandest Stage of Them All into an extreme wonderland.
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Before his hometown crowd, The Second City Superstar famously challenged WWE Champion John Cena in the main event of Money in the Bank 2011.
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Brock Lesnar made his in-ring return to WWE at Extreme Rules 2012 against John Cena at the Allstate Arena.
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Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper had a Chicago Street Fight at Extreme Rules 2015.
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Their brawl took them out of the arena and literally onto the streets...
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... before brutally finishing their conflict in front of the Allstate Arena faithful.