Change Any One PPV Match Winner In History

[Galvatron]

If you could change the winner of any one pay per view match in history, what would it be? You can pick any wrestling company and era you want as long as it took place on pay per view. No need to explain what happens after because changing the winner of some matches would take forever to explain the aftermath.

So pick a match and explain why you would change the winner.


Mine would be having Jericho defeat Triple H at Wrestlemania 18. Triple H lost the title to Hogan 1 month later anyway so it wouldn't even change history too much. To be honest, Jericho is my favorite wrestler ever so that's why I would change it. It was obvious to everybody at the time that Triple H's comeback and Rumble win was leading to him winning the Undisputed Championship at Wrestlemania 18. I could be wrong but I always thought Jericho only got the Undisputed Championship because HHH blew out his quad breaking up the Walls of Jericho so he was picked for HHH to beat at Wrestlemania.

 

[Jimmy Carter]

Mine would be having Jericho defeat Triple H at Wrestlemania 18. Triple H lost the title to Hogan 1 month later anyway so it wouldn't even change history too much. To be honest, Jericho is my favorite wrestler ever so that's why I would change it. It was obvious to everybody at the time that Triple H's comeback and Rumble win was leading to him winning the Undisputed Championship at Wrestlemania 18. I could be wrong but I always thought Jericho only got the Undisputed Championship because HHH blew out his quad breaking up the Walls of Jericho so he was picked for HHH to beat at Wrestlemania.

This immediately jumped to mind as I read the topic title. Hunter's Royal Rumble victory and shot as a main event good guy was a dull, forced, unnecessary, puerile and ultimately pointless fiasco that seemed laid out like a transparent welcome present after his quad injury. No doubt Jericho retaining would have been the better outcome, not to mention several superior options for the main event challenger at the time, from Stone Cold to Angle to Booker T.

How about X-Pac winning the final bout of King of the Ring 1999? Pretty entertaining brackets to begin with, but Billy Gunn's victory led to a mediocre singles push that soon fizzled before returning to tag matches. Having X-Pac win the whole deal would have ignited a series of fresh programs, not to mention more fuel for his prematurely terminated rivalry with HHH. If anything the ground was set for a feud with deeply personal undertones not unlike Rock vs. Mankind, in which two rising superstars solidified themselves into the main event scene through a series of brutally competitive matches and pivotal title changes. X-Pac was getting immense reactions around this time, so why not capitalize?

 

[Agent_of_Anarchy]

Good suggestion with X-Pac winning KOTR.

I'd like to be able to change the outcome of ECW's wrestlepalooza 98 main event and have Al Snow beat Shane Douglas for the gold. Snow was massively over with the ECW crowd and had developed a very interesting and quite unique gimmick. His promos prior to the match are some of his best to date and the actual match itself was very good also, but had Al gone over Douglas that night it could very well have been the beginng of a long and storied rivalry and they would no doubt have had many more great matches.

 

[TheCookieMonster]

I would have had Wade Barrett defeat Randy Orton at Survivor Series 2010, although as a result of John Cena not counting Orton's pin on Barrett, allowing Barrett to win, John Cena to become heel and part of the Nexus. It would have created a really interesting dynamic, and completely changed the landscape of WWE.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I tried, but I couldn't do just one. There's three major matches in history I think should have been changed.

1 - As already mentioned, Chris Jericho should have defeated Triple H at WrestleMania 18. Despite what WWE thinks, sometimes the heel winning is the best way to go.

2 - Eddie Guerrero should have beaten Rey Mysterio at every one of their PPV matches in 2005. The storyline with Guerrero being incapable of defeating Mysterio was absurd, and ruined what turned out to be the last few months of Eddie's career and life. A former WWE Champion who could outwrestle anyone on the roster, and he loses to Mysterio a total of 7 straight matches if I recall correctly, on TV and PPV. It destroyed Eddie's main event credibility beyond repair.

And the biggest one in my book...

3 - Edge should have won the Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 25. Babyfaces won every single match on that card except for the Hardy vs. Hardy match, there was NO reason for Edge to lose the title at that time. Having Cena win the title at WrestleMania only to lose it back to Edge at Backlash was absurd, and not even remotely needed for a "WrestleMania feel-good moment", since faces dominated the entire show.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Booker going over Triple H at Wrestlemania XIX. Booker was the hottest superstar on Raw since the brand split, and Triple H just killed all his momentum and buried him. Booker could've always lost the title back to HHH at Bad Blood in Hell in a Cell before he started up his feud with Goldberg. Booker would be out of action after Bad Blood anyway.

Good shout out with Al Snow at Wrestlepalooza 98. What the hell was Paul Heyman thinking not giving Al the belt, he was crazy over.

 

[Redrum]

Easy for me i would have Goldberg go over Nash at Starrcade as to avoid the next nights finger poke of doom and maybe,just maybe save WCW.

 

[Pedigree1]

Wow so many to mention but I think that Randy Orton should have gone over at WM25! The incredible buildup to that feud between Orton and HHH was written brilliantly! Truly,stuff of legends. But the match in itself was bland and very much a letdown. HHH while didnt dominate the match killed his momentum for several years IMO! Randy needed that match and should have gone over in that match

 

[The Brain]

Such an easy answer for me. John Cena should have beaten The Rock at WrestleMania 28. The match was set up so perfectly for a Cena win. The Rock shows up after a seven year absence and completely runs down the guy that’s been carrying the company during that time. He bullied Cena and made fun of him and his fans during a time when WWE was very much encouraging people to accept others for being themselves. He insulted the current generation implying that the product today is no good. He ten goes on to prove that by winning before leaving again for Hollywood while we’re left to watch an inferior wrestler. Common sense says the guy that is going to be on tv every week for the current product should have gotten the win. The Rock should have lost and then shook hands with Cena to endorse him just like Hogan did for The Rock ten years earlier. In a past vs. present match the present should always win. Hogan lost to Rock in a past vs. present match in 2002 so in 2012 Rock should have done the same for Cena.

It was a complete joke that Rock won that match. WM28 was fantastic but the wrong result in the main event hurt the show. Had Cena won it could have been one of the best manias ever and also saved us from a lackluster main event at WM29.

 

[lil bitch Kid]

All the HHH hate, wow.

No, Jericho shouldn't have beaten H at Mania. HHH was coming back from one of the most well documented injuries in wrestling history, and he needed to win to complete the story.

As for HHH losing to Booker, well, BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That would have killed the title. Booker got the title in the weakest days of WCW because they were getting sued for racism, and needed to put a visible minority on top. Booker didn't deserve to be on top, and wasn't the best choice, but he fit the category that WCW needed the most. That being said, his run going for the title in the E was a joke and got treated with the level of push it deserved....you know, no where near the top of the Mania card.

Now which match should have had a different finish.....hmmmmm, I'd have to say there are a couple:

- Bulldogs and Tito should have gotten some heat back vs the Harts and Davis at 3 and the Bulldogs and Koko should have gotten heat back against the Islanders and Heenan. Nothing was gained by Davis and Heenan getting ins.

- I would have also had Steamboat gooder Valentine at Mania 4 in the tournament to have the re-match between Savage and Steamboat. The most believed match in early Mania history should have seen a face vs face rematch during the tournament. I get that the F didn't do matches like that with face vs face, but a 15 minute match that let Savage get the win back would have been better than Valentine vs Savage since Valentine didn't get anything from advancing in the tournament,

 

[legendkiller1979]

I would have had the legion of doom when the number one contenders battle royal in 1991 and had them face the hart foundation instead of the nasty boys. Nobody believed the nasty boys were going to win either match. The hart foundation and the legion of doom had a great match in the summer of 91. Instead we got the nasty boys in a ridiculous upset at wrestlemania and the legion of doom winning the titles and a glorified squash at Summerslam.

 

[Da Solo]

All the HHH hate, wow.

No, Jericho shouldn't have beaten H at Mania. HHH was coming back from one of the most well documented injuries in wrestling history, and he needed to win to complete the story.

As for HHH losing to Booker, well, BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That would have killed the title. Booker got the title in the weakest days of WCW because they were getting sued for racism, and needed to put a visible minority on top. Booker didn't deserve to be on top, and wasn't the best choice, but he fit the category that WCW needed the most. That being said, his run going for the title in the E was a joke and got treated with the level of push it deserved....you know, no where near the top of the Mania card.

Are you kidding me? Booker winning would have hurt the title? Are you on that Walter White type dope or something? Booker was playing the quintessential road to glory character! His win would have propelled him and the title to new bounds. NO ONE was rising hotter on RAW than Booker at the time, not a one. The WCW star who got buried once his company went under who finally gets the big shot after being called all kinds of racist things? That was gold. Instead we get the BS that really did happen, HHH winning for some bullshit with Kevin Nash.

As for Y2J... No, HHH needed that win. But Y2J winning it back wouldn't have been too bad either.

OT: As you can guess, my pick was Booker to go over HHH because everyone with any sense at all was disappointed as shit with the way HHH not only won the match, but waited enough time after the last pedigree for the viewers at home to make one hell of a bomb ass sandwich before pinning Booker. But since I bet that will be the popular choice, my next bet would be Rock going over HHH at WM 16, because what the fuck business did anyone who wasn't Rock have winning that match? He still never had his WM title win, and instead they delayed it to Backlash for reasons yet to be seen.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

I like the creative premise of this thread, but I can hardly only pick one. I did immediately think of Booker though. Triple H had no business winning that match after saying all those racist things. i believe there could have been a way that Triple H's win felt right, nut after all that b.s., it was clear that the story should have only resulted in Booker's triumph and nothing short of that. It was a colossal storytelling failure.

Here are a few others off the top of my head:
John Cena over Batista and Jericho over Edge at WM26- I am a firm believer these wins only happened because Batista was one step out the door. The story was that Cena couldnt beat Batista and he was legitimately doubting himself. He was supposed to lose, cut a bullshit promo about hanging it up and then try again at ER. Batista would then cheat to win with the ducttape crap which was clearly not meant to be a face move, and Cena would then triumph in the I Quit match. But Batista pissed them off enough to change it up into a story that made it seem like Cena bullied him and cheated to keep the title.

Likewise, Edge's return was to set up a big Mania win and maybe drop the title to Swagger. Batista leaving made them change it up so both heels/champs didnt lose and they had Swagger cash in on Jericho to a big pop. I have no proof of this, but I story-wise, it just seems like what actually happened.

Others would be: Orton over Bryan at SS, Austin over Rock at WM17, Undertakr over Punk at HiaC, Triple H over Orton at Unforgiven, Cena over Lashley at e GAB, a few Rumbles: Del Rio, Sheamus, Luger, Vince, and much more really.

 

[CrunKSinatrA]

I smell HHH bashing, Am I too late to join?

What about his match versus CM Punk at Night of Champions? Any momentum Punk/WWE had towards making CM Punk into the new Stone Cold died on that day. And not even a year long reign as champion was able to get Punk to where he was before this match.

Or his match against Scott Steiner at No Way Out 03. Steiner was only brought to the WWE to make HHH look good at his expense. The following month HHH beat Booker T because burying the last two WCW champions was the only way make sure people knew the WWE > WCW.

Enough about HHH, now let's get to Cena. The Rock/Cena tag team should've lost to Miz/Truth at Survivor Series. They could've built for the Wrestlemania by having Rock and Cena constantly in each other's way and at each other's throats by costing each other the match. Also, either the Miz and/or R-Truth might still be relevant today with a win that night. Of course, this is assuming Cena didn't beat Miz/Truth in a handicap match by himself the week before.

 

[justinept]

Easy for me i would have Goldberg go over Nash at Starrcade as to avoid the next nights finger poke of doom and maybe,just maybe save WCW.

Since this would've been my top choice, I'm going to add a few more to the mix:

1) John Cena vs Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules 2012. A lot of people questioned this decision at the time, and I remember those defending this outcome say that we should give it time to see how it played out. Well, Cena was pinned by John Laurinaitis a month later and continued to come up short in big matches for the rest of the year. Cena's "rough year" played into the story line for his WrestleMania 29 re-match with The Rock - as if Cena struggles started due to the letdown after his loss at WrestleMania 28. Not only would a Lesnar win have maintained Lesnar's "invincibility," but it also would've played in better with the Cena/Rock program.

2) Lex Luger vs Hulk Hogan. World Heavyweight Title Match. WCW Nitro. August 4, 1997. WCW had been building up a Sting/Hogan showdown for nearly at year at this point. With Sting in the rafters, fans were just waiting for Sting to enter the ring again and be WCW's savior. Instead, Luger became the savior - dropping Hogan on a random episode of WCW Nitro only to give the title back to Hogan six days later at Road Wild. For my money, it would've been better had Hogan never dropped the title. He would've entered Starcade 97 against Sting with a 16-month title reign, a little more invincibility, and Sting's win could've been viewed as a true turning point in WCW's war against the NWO. Of course, my opinion also comes with the contingency that WCW didn't f*ck up the Sting/Hogan finish. Ugh. Can someone make a thread where we keep the winner, but change the finish!?

3) Shawn Michaels vs British Bulldog. European Title Match at One Night Only. September 20, 1997. The logic behind Michaels winning was clear. It came two months after Vince McMahon told Bret Hart he might have to restructure his contract and just two days before Vince gave Bret permission to negotiate with WCW. With the understanding that WCW was about to have two of the only three Triple-Crown Champions in WWF history on their roster, Vince crushed the Triple Crown moniker by making Shawn Michaels the first ever Grand Slam winner. So I get why they did it - but it still would've been better if Michaels hadn't won the belt. At this point in time, the European Title was fresh and had a chance of becoming something meaningful. The tournament to crown the inaugural champion was superb and the finale between Owen Hart and The Bulldog was nothing short of amazing. But by making Michaels the second-ever champion in September 1997, the title became meaningless because he was too entwined with Bret Hart and The Undertaker to defend the title even once.

 

[Pepper Lewis]

CLEARLY has to be the ending of Wrestlemaina 2000 ( This one was pretty bad to begin with, but THE ROCK HAD TO HAVE ONE THAT ONE!) HHH winning ended a very weak and boring WM!

 

[Dagger Dias]

Such an easy answer for me. John Cena should have beaten The Rock at WrestleMania 28.

I agree with your entire post.

The original Cena VS Rock match result was what I thought of immediately when I saw this thread topic. Wrestlemania 28 was ultimately tarnished by The Rock winning this match. There was absolutely no reason for him to win. None. Cena had everything to gain from winning. A year long hype for a bogus result? Not cool. Wrestlemania 29 may have had a lower quality match overall, but it had the right outcome. A dream match years in the making between two generational icons.... Whoever decided that The Rock should win at Wrestlemania 28 deserves to be fired. They ruined what should have been Cena's biggest match of his career and what should have otherwise been a Wrestlemania worthy of setting a new record for WWE PPV event purchases. I will never be able to look back on the event very fondly due to that idiotic ending.

 

[ThePhenomLives]

CM Punk should've beat The Rock, no question about it. I'm a massive Punk fan (when he's a heel) and seeing a fantastic reign end to the "actor" who did nothing with the title, only to set up one of the worst main events in WM history, was truly awful. Also the way it happened was shocking.

 

[Redemption-2012]

John Cena vs The Rock@ WrestleMania 28. It felt like the WWE were setting Cena up for the big win at WrestleMania, having lost to The Miz at WM27 and what do WWE do? they have Dwayne go over the top guy in the company for the past decade!!!

Not to mention the fact that we had to endure a rematch for the main event at WrestleMania 29 which did nothing for me as a fan. I wanted to see The Rock vs Brock Lesnar and John Cena vs The Undertaker or hell, even Lesnar vs The Undertaker. Had Cena won this bout, we would have avoided the lackluster rematch/main event and probably would of got a great WrestleMania. I was not a fan of Rock going over in this match and feel if I could go back and change history, I would have Cena go over Rock.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Mine is Summerslam 1990 - Rick Rude defeats the Ultimate Warrior for the WWF title.

There was no need for Slaughter to have the belt, so losing it to him was pointless for Warrior. Rude was a hot heel,had the best manager of his time and there was plenty of scope for it to not be a clean win, even in the cage... My personal choice - Randy Savage climbs the cage from the outside and hits an elbow on Warrior, putting Rude on top for the title win.

Survivor Series 1990 sees the much vaunted "final Survivor" match, which sees Rude emerge as sole survivor after a miscommunication leads Savage to being pinned. This sets the stage for a 3 way title feud headed into WM7 with Savage and Warrior facing off in their career ending match and the winner facing Rude for the belt. The turning point of the first match is when Savage refuses to take advantage when the Undertaker attacks Warrior and takes the fight to the deadman... Sherri is livid and turns on him with a vicious lowblow, leading to Elizabeth's shock return... Reluctantly Savage takes the pin on Warrior, who chases Undertaker out of the ring, accepting Savage didn't cheat.

The now face Savage takes on Rude in the Main Event of Mania 7 in an epic match that sees him come extremely close to winning the belt when all are barred from ringside by Jack Tunney. He comes up just short, with Rude using a pair of knuckle dusters to win... but Savage is once again established as the top face of the company. Rude holds the belt through the summer and finally loses the belt when Curt Hennig turns on him, having finally lost patience with being in his shadow. Rude is now a bonafide main event heel, elevates Hennig and later works with Flair, Bret and Davey Boy Smith in title feuds.

Warrior had reached his sell by date by the time Summerslam 90 had rolled around, he wasn't working as champion and sacrificing their strongest heel of the time in favour of a shoddy Iraq angle designed to salve Hogan and Warrior's egos at not being champion was a massive mistake. Rude winning the belt at that time leads to a viable way to elevate Hennig, Bret, Davey and even Flair to the top face position in the company. They ended up giving Savage the belt a year later anyway, so no harm in having him built as the big face by the time he gets there.

It's a tie for 2nd choice between Barrett and Orton, it's still criminal they wasted Barrett's potential at that time by not going all the way with it. and Davey Boy Smith vs Shawn Michaels at King Of The Ring 96.

Yes Shawn was the new champ, but it was clear he was already struggling and with Hall having just appeared on Nitro, Davey Boy who was at the time WWE's best heel winning the title from Shawn rather than that ridiculous double pin would have led to more interest from the fans. Bad guys were selling at that time, bland "boyhood dreamers" weren't... Davey deserved at least one month as the champion... probably a bit longer, he could have lost it at Summerslam to Shawn or even Vader and turned face... bit Shawn was already a lame duck champ, losing it to Sid was a joke when Davey had a far better shot at getting over with the belt.

 

[The Perfect Max]

While I didn't say this at the time, John Cena should have beaten The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII. Why? Well, it would have avoided the rematch at WrestleMania 29 and would have provided WWE larger opportunities at the event. That's the big picture anyway.

Regardless of WWE's own gain, having The Rock defeat John Cena somewhat tells the crowd your face of the company, the best guy in the business today, lost to a man who hasn't competed in a one-on-one match since Backlash 2003 against Goldberg, suggesting your current guys just don't cut it. Yeah, I can see why that pisses people off. The real life result was a wet dream for all watching and in Sun Life Stadium at the time, but realistically, it didn't benefit anybody whatsoever. I think if we had avoided the rematch in 2013, I wouldn't have been so bothered.

The main event of WrestleMania should benefit all involved somehow. This main event did not, and because of that, John Cena should have won. I dislike Cena's character, but I do have respect for him. I usually would say Super Crazy deserves to go over John Cena, but on this occasion, he should have won.

 

[Headman]

Cena losing to the Rock at WM 28. Cena should have won the first match and it should have ended there. The build up to the original match was a year long. Stretching the feud to two years was a bit too much.

 

[lil bitch Kid]

It's easy for people to piss and moan about HHH, Cena and Rock, but nothing you really said has that big of an impact, nor does it make much sense for business. Cena hadn't held the strap for a long time, so by having Rock beat him, it gives a reason for a re-match. If Cena beats Rock the first time, then anytime he goes for the title, it becomes predictable.

Booker and Steiner beating HHH is pure nonsense. Steiner could barely walk without tearing something and Booker is the biggest example of mediocrity being exponentially amplified by rose colored glasses.

As for Punk losing to Rock, without it happening, we get robbed of Taker vs Punk, so it was the right call.

A couple of others that could have changed:

- Rude should have beaten Warrior at SS in the cage. Rude had already carried a feud with warrior and deserved a shot on top.

- HBK should have gotten one final run on top and beating Cena at Mania would have been te way to go.

- Orton should not have been hot shotted to the title against Benoit. Chris should have held the title, and Orton still could have been dropped by Evolution.

 

[Ross421]

Mine would have been CM Punk vs The Rock at the Royal Rumble

Personally, I would have had CM Punk win at RR to prove that he can hang with a legend, and give him a big, marquee moment to his reign. If WWE was hellbent on Rock-Cena II at WM 29, then The Rock could have won at Elimination Chamber and still set up that match.

Besides, having The Rock lose to CM Punk via Shield interference would have been a huge heat magnet on Punk/Heyman/The Shield

 

[keith hall]

Batista beats taker at wm23...

why?

taker wanted the streak to end anyway...why not put over Batista at Wm...it would've MADE Batista...

plus taker actually didn't need the win...