Book WM18 with Lesnar and HBK in it

[Irishock]

So let's say the Federation had brought Lesnar up to the big leagues a year earlier, as well as HBK having agreed to work WM18. You now have the most star-studded event in Pro Wrestling history.

Main event: Hogan vs Austin
-I don't give a damn about their personal issues with each other. Lock them in a room and have them agree to work this match. Maybe have a rematch at Backlash with the loser at WM18 going over. It's the two biggest stars in the history of the industry, for god's sake!

DX (HBK, HHH) vs nWo (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash)
-LOL, come on. This is the perfect follow-up to the MSG curtain call. Maybe throw Waltman in there with the nWo. Then have HHH turn on Michaels and begin their build up to Summerslam 02.

World heavyweight title: Rock vs Jericho
-These two have amazing in-ring chemistry, as well as mic chemistry. Would work much better than the shit HHH/Jericho build up that we got.

Taker vs Flair
-Keep everything the same. I loved the build-up and the match itself. Great story-telling by both men.

Under/midcard matches:

Angle vs Edge
Lesnar vs a well-booked DDP
Hardys vs Dudleys
filler

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Umm, Lesnar vs. HBK? Solid option for Lesnar if he's new to the roster.

If WWE couldn't book Hogan vs. Austin, then I can't either. The rest of the card stays the same. Terrible show. Glad I've moved on with my life.

 

[Da Solo]

I'd throw HBK in to have DX vs. NWO as someone above stated. Reasonable feud, can be built well and could take HHH out of the main event, which needed to be done since we know how well that turned out.

Lesnar vs. any midcarder at the time could have worked out, really. Doesn't bother me too much that he wasn't on the card seeing as how he wasn't really as big as he is now.

Everything else I'd keep the same (yes, I'm in the minority who thinks Rock/Hogan is and was a better idea than Austin/Hogan)

 

[BestThereEverWillBe]

WWE Title: Hogan vs. Austin--- As monumental of a match that Rock & Hogan had, I always felt it should've been Austin's match vs. Hogan. In my opinion, Austin was 1A and Rock was 1B at the time.

Rock vs. Ric Flair--- With the proper buildup, this could've been one of the most entertaining feuds ever. In the 80's it was Hogan and Flair, in the 90's it was Austin & Rock.

HHH vs. HBK--- Same feud just bumped up to Wrestlemania instead of Summerslam.

Tag Titles: Brothers of Destruction vs. Outsiders--- I always felt Undertaker should have teamed with Kane for at least one Wrestlemania match. They would be the perfect gatekeepers for the WWE to fend off the Outsiders.

Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar--- I would've started the Kurt Angle invitational earlier and had Brock debut at WM defeating Angle there.

Hardcore Title Scramble (Hardcore Championship): Big Show, RVD, APA, Dudley Boys, Hardy Boys, Goldust, Raven--- Your over the top gimmick match to get everyone involved. All of these wrestlers boast experience in hardcore matches. Lots of huge spots can make this one to remember.

Other matches:
IC Title: Chris Jericho vs. Edge

Women's Title Lumberjill match: Trish Stratus vs. Jazz

4 on 4 match: UnAmericans vs. DDP, Booker T, Jerry Lawler, Mr. Perfect (Christian/Regal/Storm/Test align earlier in the year--Lawler gets his 1 WM match so no one has to suffer through him vs. Michael Cole 9 years later.)


DARK MATCH*Cruiserweight Title Gauntlet Match: X-Pac vs. Tajiri vs. The Hurricane vs. Jamie Noble vs. Billy Kidman vs. Chavo Guerrero


(Benoit out with neck surgery, Eddie returned after WM otherwise they would've been given matches.)

 

[Rabbid Wolverine]

Rock vs Hogan was a classic...ppl who want Austin vs hogan... i get it but I think hogan/rock had excellent chemistry with each other there was no guarantee with Austin/hogan....there was already tension from WCW between the 2.

As for Lesnar...him and austin may have had a good fued for WM.

HBK vs Nash...If Nash wins HBK joins NWO kinda deal

 

[Wolf Pac]

Like Jake said, if they couldn't book Hogan vs. Austin then I can't either. Let's be realistic here.

HBK should obviously team with HHH to take on Nash and Hall, so that leaves Austin and you can put Lesnar with Austin for the WWE Championship. Simple. And before anyone brings it up, no, I don't think the Invasion storyline would've prevented him from becoming big in his first year. WWE still could've found a way to make Lesnar big by WM X8 during and after the storyline.

I also thought Angle should've faced Perfect, what a classic they could've put on. That leaves Kane and you can just put him against Big Show who didn't have a match at the PPV. And if I recall, Kane did eliminate Show from the Rumble match.

Oh, forgot Jericho. Him vs. RVD for the IC Title could've been a better opener than Regal vs. RVD, so yeah. And Regal could take place Perfect's place on the pre-show or he could've faced DDP for the European Title and Christian could take Perfect's place on the pre-show, teaming with his fellow canadians Lance Storm and Test. I think I would've went with Regal vs. DDP and Christian on the pre-show.

The rest of the card can stay the same.

Heat - Rikishi, Scotty 2 Hotty, Albert vs. Christian, Storm, Test

RVD vs. Jericho - IC Title

DDP vs. Regal - Euro Title

Maven vs. Goldust - Hardcore Title

Angle vs. Perfect

Taker vs. Flair

Edge vs. Booker

Billy & Chuck vs. Dudleyz vs. APA vs. Hardyz - Tag Team Titles

Austin vs. Lesnar - WWE Championship

DX vs. nWo

Jazz vs. Lita vs. Trish - Womens Championship

Rock vs. Hogan

 

[Spencesc11]

What should have been the card with those 2 in as well.

Undisputed Championship
HHH vs. Chris Jericho (leave this alone the storyline was great)

The Rock vs. Hollywood Hogan
This match setup perfect for Hogan's face turn

Stone Cold and The Undertaker vs. Hall and Nash
crowd would've been way into this one.

Brock Lesnar vs. Stevan Regal for the I-C Title
would've been a great way to start the beast with a title run

Edge vs. Shawn Michaels
could've been a great match

 

[HBKperfect23]

RVD vs Regal IC

4 Way Tag titles (same)

Taker vs Flair

Edge vs Christian

Lesnar vs Kane (Make Lesnar have a real strong debut by over powering Kane, considered Lesnar beating Perfect in his debut but I think Angle/Perfect would be best)

Angle vs Mr Perfect

Kevin Nash vs Steve Austin (Pretty much the same match as Austin/Hall had)

Shawn Michaels vs Scott Hall (Didnt want to disrupt the great build of HHH to the title or it would be HBK/HHH. Shawn/Scott always had good matches, the storyline could write itself)

HHH vs Jericho world title

Trish vs Lita

Rock vs Hulk Hogan (close show)

 

[shafe_41]

Yeah that's pretty much what I would have done as well.

Lesnar/Michaels would have been a fantastic match. Solidifies Lesnar with a huge early win to catapult him to the top so early in his career. Done.

 

[rge2010]

Rock was way bigger than Austin in 2002. Austin was off the back of that horrendous heel run he had and never fully regained his momentum. Rock was starting off in hollywood and was the number 1 guy in the company. Rock vs Hogan was icon vs icon and stays.

As for Lesnar, if I remember correctly he showed up the night after Wrestlemania 18. I would have had him do a run in after the RVD and Regal match and destroy RVD.

HBK is tougher. He didnt return until 5 months after Mania. Maybe he could have teamed with Austin against Hall and Nash. Or be the special guest refree to keep 'big Sexy' in check.

 

[justtxyank]

I think Nash was injured wasn't he? Isn't that why they didn't do an Outsiders tag team match to begin with?

Put me in the camp that would have left Hogan/Rock the way it was, even though Austin was the bigger star vs Rock. The match worked and Rock was more the type of wrestler that could work a Hogan match at that point.

 

[King Patrick Star]

This is very interesting. Having both Shawn Michaels and Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania X8 would definitely change the first 3 PPVs of 2002 up a bit. My card would look like this.

Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar
A loss for Lesnar this early in his career would not have hurt a thing. I think, even if Brock Lesnar loses to Undertaker here, Lesnar’s career would have still reached the heights it did during his WWE run. Plus this frees up Ric Flair for a better match later in the card.

6-Man Tag Team match
New World Order (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Big Show) vs. D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and X-Pac)
In order to include X-Pac, I think the 4th member of the N. W. O., The Big Show, should have joined sooner than he actually did. After the finish, I would have loved to have seen the “MSG Curtain Call” play out on TV, forming the New D-Generation X World Order!!

Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair
I never really liked the idea of Ric Flair being ½ owner of the WWF. I would have rather had Flair run Raw or Smackdown as the General Manager, and then have Hogan as the General Manager of the other show. In this match, it’s Raw GM vs. Smackdown GM. Plus, with the NDXWO to worry about, this would be the opportune time for Flair to put the 4s up. I’m thinking, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, and the Undisputed WWF WCW Champion, Chris Jericho, with Ric Flair as the manager of the new Four Horsemen.

Undisputed WWF WCW Championship Triple Threat match
Chris Jericho vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock
This would require the Royal Rumble winner, in this case, Triple H, to cash in his win at No Way Out instead of WrestleMania X8, and lose due to interference from the N. W. O., which in turn would start the N. W. O. vs. DX storyline above. With the help of the new 4 Horsemen, Jericho retains...it’s my Dream Card, was there ever any doubt??

Everything else can stay the same.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I don't think you need to change the card around all that much.

I do like the idea of introducing Shawn Michaels and Triple H into the nWo angle. Though, Triple H was in the middle of his big "WrestleMania moment" babyface comeback. So I'm not sure he'd go along with being taken out of the main event of 'Mania and becoming the Undisputed Champion.

But I do like the idea... Swap a few of the players around and run your three co-main events like this:

Icon vs Icon
The Rock vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan

I agree with the notion that if WWE couldn't book Austin vs Hogan, than I can't either. And honestly, The Rock vs Hogan was just as big of a match at that point as The Rock had really started to take off into mainstream superstardom.

Undisputed World Championship
Chris Jericho 'C' vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Since we're moving Triple H into the 'kliq' feud, the only other big opponent for the Undisputed title would be Austin. I think they fought at the Royal Rumble that year, but obviously that would need some tweaking. Maybe Jericho goes over The Rock at the Rumble, Triple H at No Way Out (with n.W.o interference), saving Austin for 'Mania. I might even book Jericho to go over, depending on what the plans were for the rest of the year.

D-X vs. n.W.o
Triple H & Shawn Michaels vs. Kevin Nash & Scott Hall

I don't know if this would work since all four guys and both stables were known for shooting and saying a lot of inside stuff. And obviously they were all friends. I guess The Outsiders screw Triple H out of the title at No Way Out and then Triple H recruits Shawn and they have a "which members of the kliq / which stable is better" angle.

As for Brock Lesnar, this would basically be his introduction to the WWE. So he doesn't need to be in a prominent match. But he needs to go over in a big and convincing way. My pick for him would be Kane. Defeating another big monster in your WrestleMania debut puts him on the map as a big player. It could even be a glorified squash match with them putting over how they'd never seen Kane manhandled like that before. Wouldn't really hurt Kane in the long run.

The rest of the card:
- Brock Lesnar vs Kane
- Undertaker vs Ric Flair
- Diamond Dallas Page vs Kurt Angle
- Booker T vs Edge

 

[Stinger]

My only real disappointment about WrestleMania 18, other than Hogan and Hall losing (I was a WCW fan, so I cheered for the nWo in the WWF) was that Sting didn't wrestle Kurt Angle like he was reportedly going to do had he signed with the WWF. That would have made the card even more stacked.

A match between Rob Van Dam and Shawn Michaels would have been pretty cool to see on the same card, but RVD wasn't nearly a big enough star to take on someone like Michaels at the time.

 

[MCMG]

There are so many dream matches that it is very difficult, especially when adding Brock and HBK, but:

Hulk Hogan vs Steve Austin - Arguably the two biggest guys in the history of the company and they simply had to fight. The groundwork was already there: Austin was feuding with the NWO but they should have had this match. I understand that Rock/Hogan was magical in terms of the spectacle but the match was a B at best. Austin and Hogan could have worked a different match that could have been a lot better.

The Rock vs Ric Flair - This is similar to above. A dream match that would fit for so many reasons. The charisma and potential for incredibly entertaining promos is unthinkable.

Undisputed Title - Chris Jericho (c) vs Kurt Angle - These two could put on a classic. Angle was pretty integral to the Invasion storyline so this would have made sense. (If Benoit wasn't injured this would be a Triple Threat)

The Undertaker vs Booker T - The WWE misused Booker T when he first joined and this match would of been of a high quality and that utilised both.

HHH and HBK vs Nash and Hall - This is an obvious one.

RVD vs DDP - If I remember correctly the Intercontinental Championship and European Titles were unified just a year or so after. They could have done that sooner. DDP was massive in WCW and RVD was probably at his peak during this time period. Let them face of and unify the titles.

Kane vs Brock Lesnar - Brock could have been brought up a few months earlier with a similar debut but after beating a series of jobbers he gets Kane who obviously makes him look good.

Womens Title - Trish vs Lita - I don't think they ever had a singles match at WM. Take out Jazz and just let them have a singles match.

Tag Team Titles - meh, keep the four corners match. Billy + Chuck vs Dudleys vs Hardeys vs APA.

That leaves spare guys like Edge, Christian, William Regal and the Hardcore Title but to be honest, that card looks pretty perfect to me.