Matches which should have headlined Wrestlemania

[cornerdon26]

Hindsight is a beautiful thing. Looking at back there have been many mistakes at Wrestlemania, however the standard of booking has definitely improved over time. Whilst my knowledge of certain errors, I am going to suggest which main events (as in the final match, not secondary main events which they like to describe now)were the wrong call and which matches should have replaced them. Will be interesting to see if you agree

I - Hulk Hogan & Mr.T vs Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff
2 - Mr. T vs Roddy Piper / Hulk Hogan (C) vs King Kong Bundy 1 Wrestlemania, Hulk Hogan (C) vs Roddy Piper
III - Hulk Hogan (C) vs Andre the Giant
IV - Randy Savage vs Ted DiBiase
V - Randy Savage (C) vs Hulk Hogan
VI - Hulk Hogan (C) vs Ultimate Warrior (C)
VII - Sgt Slaughter (C) vs Hulk Hogan
VIII - Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair. This is the biggest missed opportunity in Wrestlemania history
IX - Bret Hart (C) vs Yokozuna / Yokozuna (C) vs Hulk HoganThis should have finished with Bret vs Yokozuna, or gone face vs face in Bret Hart vs Hulk Hogan. The second match was stupid and illogical
X - Yokozuna (C) vs Bret Hart
XI - Lawrence Taylor vs Bam Bam Bigelow Diesel vs Shawn Michaels should have closed this show
XII - Bret Hart (C) vs Shawn Michaels
13 - Sycho Sid (C) vs The Undertaker I typically like the Championship to be the headline, and there was nobody other than Bret Hart who was a realistic opponent for Taker. Austin vs Bret Hart may have been a better headliner though
XIV - Shawn Michaels (C) vs Stone Cold
XV - The Rock (C) vs Stone Cold
2000 - Triple H (C) vs The Rock vs Big Show vs Mick Foley Why on earth was this not Triple H vs The Rock in a single match. Another massive Wrestlemania mistaker
X-Seven - The Rock (C) vs Stone Cold
X8 - Chris Jericho (C) vs Triple H This just cannot follow The Rock vs Hogan. Whilst I love Jericho, let Hogan vs The Rock close it or Stone Cold vs Triple H may have been a better match
XIX - Kurt Angle (C) vs Brock Lesnar
XX - Triple H (C) vs Shawn Michaels vs Chris Benoit
21 - Triple H (C) vs Batista
22 - John Cena (C) vs Triple H
23 - John Cena (C) vs Shawn Michaels
XXIV - Edge (C) vs The Undertaker
XXV - Triple H (C) vs Randy Orton
XXVI - The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
XXVII - The Miz (C) vs John Cena Cena vs The Undertaker. It would have added another level to the streak.
XXVIII - The Rock vs John Cena
29 - The Rock (C) vs John Cena
XXX - Randy Orton (C) vs Batista vs Daniel Bryan Daniel Bryan (C) vs CM Punk. This should have been like Wrestlemania XX, and the start of a new era of wrestling. I would have liked an Evolution triple threat match in the undercard though.
31 - Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar Mixed views on this one. If the whole year had been booked differently, Cena/Orton vs Lesnar may have been a good headliner. By this I mean not Cena vs Lesnar matches, except maybe at Summerslam. Reigns seems a little forced


Do you agree with my comments? Are there any other main events that they missed out on? This does mean using wrestlers who were in the company and competing at the ti,e.

 

[FlairFan2003]

RE: WM 18 - I get having HHH's return & The World Title Match as the main event....the problem wasn't the actual match, it was the crowd reaction coming right after the emotional Rock-Hogan Match. if R-HH wasn't your headliner, you had to stick in the mid card somewhere with a blow off match immediately afterwards, other wise you risk the audience being blown out and not being able to get into the next match.

Usually Mania scripts this way....Matches are not shown in their true level of importance, they are arranged by expectation of crowd reaction with the idea that a really important match typically doesn't directly precede another very important match, especially if the audience is going to be drained at the 1st match's conclusion, bouts are arranged like singer arranges his set list for a concert, mixing well known hits around lesser known material, then ending with the main event, aka ""the biggest hit". HHH-Jericho was a deserving Main Event, especially with The World Title at stake, but the audience was spent after HH-Rock and they couldn't get them back into it that quick.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

RE: WM 18 - I get having HHH's return & The World Title Match as the main event....the problem wasn't the actual match, it was the crowd reaction coming right after the emotional Rock-Hogan Match. if R-HH wasn't your headliner, you had to stick in the mid card somewhere with a blow off match immediately afterwards, other wise you risk the audience being blown out and not being able to get into the next match.

Usually Mania scripts this way....Matches are not shown in their true level of importance, they are arranged by expectation of crowd reaction with the idea that a really important match typically doesn't directly precede another very important match, especially if the audience is going to be drained at the 1st match's conclusion, bouts are arranged like singer arranges his set list for a concert, mixing well known hits around lesser known material, then ending with the main event, aka ""the biggest hit". HHH-Jericho was a deserving Main Event, especially with The World Title at stake, but the audience was spent after HH-Rock and they couldn't get them back into it that quick.

They had the Women's Championship match in between, but they could have probably also put the Four Corners Tag Team Championship match in between as well.

This is all in hindsight though. You can't forget that fact that no one expected Hogan/Rock to be as dramatic as it actually was. It was always going to be big - but Toronto made it really special. Also - they don't always have "break" matches in between co-main events. They didn't the previous year or the following year.

One change specific to WrestleMania X-8 I would have done was swapped Chris Jericho for Stone Cold Steve Austin. As big of a Jerichoholic that I am, Austin was still very hot and deserved to be in one of these two main events. He had held the WWF Championship for about 9 straight months almost and they had the built in Two Man Power Trip storyline with Triple H returning at the Royal Rumble.

I think Austin / HHH and Hogan / Rock is the best one-two punch they could have delivered for WrestleMania that year.

Oh - I also disagree with WM29.
The Rock vs John Cena II was predictable and the feud was stale already at this point. I would have gone with CM Punk 'C' vs The Undertaker - title vs streak. The added mystery of "would they really put the title on Taker at this point" is a good way to sell it and make it believable CM Punk might actually win. Especially if he went over The Rock at the Royal Rumble - maybe due to inadvertent John Cena interference.

 

[mcfly2012]

Regarding mania 13. Bret v Austin (my personal best wrestlemania match of all time). I guess they didn't realise how great and historic that match was going to be. Also in general I'm a traditionalist in that the premier wwf/wwe title should go on last regardless. Except a couple of time where a special attraction match is so huge it should go on last. Rock v Hogan definitely and Rock v Cena part 1.

But like mentioned before. Hindsight is a great thing.

 

[Khalifa]

HHH and Jericho both wanted to actually not main event that night as they thought the crowd would be dead after Hogan/Rock which was pretty much true. So I won't count that one.

For me one that sticks out is Miz/Cena. I just don't think Miz is main event mania quality. I understand the reasoning behind it and obviously John Cena is your top guy and you want you start promoting Rock vs Cena but yeah just really not sure about Miz. I think really Edge and Del Rio could have easily been last, especially now looking in hindsight. Even HHH vs Taker could of been last. Takers streak is a big portion of WrestleMania history so having him main event with the game wouldn't be bad, although the IWC would complain for sure but not me.

Another one is obviously Hulk and Sid at WM8. You bring in Ric Flair and put all this hype around him. Seeing who would face him etc etc and you throw these two guys in the main event. Savage and Flair match would be a lot different if it was the main event and had an extra 3-4 minutes.

If we are talking about matches we could of made up, just go with Cena vs Taker at every WM since 24 bar the Rock ones.

 

[HBKperfect23]

8: Hogan vs Flair. Ideally there is no WCW lawsuit and it's WWf champ Hogan vs Real Worlds champ Flair to unify the titles. Although if this happens it takes away a lot of good tv in the royal rumble match, flair/savage build, SNME Feb92. But the magnitude of this main event may be worth it.
16: h/Rock one on one.
30: Daniel Bryan (World Champion) vs CM Punk (WWE Champion) to unify the titles. They could have waited another 4 months to do this at the biggest show of the year. It's a 4 man tournament to unify the titles. Orton drops the WWE title to CM Punk(elimination chamber match winner for final spot in the tournament). Batista beats Cena for the world title at the rumble and drops it Bryan(rumble winner) at mania. Bryan goes over Punk to unify the titles. This one is a little fantasy booking. I'm OK with the main event as it went down but this could have been awesome.

 

[Kyphael]

I - Hulk Hogan (C) w/ Mr. T vs Roddy Piper believes Mr. T cost him the title setting up their co-main event one year later.
2 - Mr. T vs Roddy Piper / Hulk Hogan (C) vs King Kong Bundy 1 Wrestlemania, Hulk Hogan (C) vs Bruno Sammartino Sammartino had made a return to the ring around this time, was still in good condition and still selling out arenas. Face vs. face.
III - Hulk Hogan (C) vs Andre the Giant
IV - Randy Savage vs Ted DiBiase
V - Randy Savage (C) vs Hulk Hogan
VI - Hulk Hogan (C) vs Ultimate Warrior (C)
VII - Sgt Slaughter (C) vs Hulk Hogan The Ultimate Warrior (C) vs. Mr. Perfect Hogan vs. Slaughter still happens, and is still for patriotism and whatnot, but title doesn't need to be involved. Warrior never had to lose the title, and while his match with Savage was a classic, the retirement angle was dumb and never meant to stick and it didn't. I'd have put the strap on Perfect to build a future star and a program with Warrior would have been great. Savage/Warrior could have happened at Summerslam after Savage cost Warrior the title after Warrior refused to give Savage a shot. Savage could have wrestled Jake Roberts instead and Rick Martel could have wrestled The Big Bossman.
VIII - Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair. This is the biggest missed opportunity in Wrestlemania history
IX - Bret Hart (C) vs Yokozuna / Yokozuna (C) vs Hulk Hogan Bret Hart vs Hulk Hogan. Yokozuna could have wrestled Undertaker that night instead and lost clean, please get Gonzales out of this card.
X - Yokozuna (C) vs Bret Hart
XI - Lawrence Taylor vs Bam Bam Bigelow Diesel vs Shawn Michaels should have closed this show
XII - Bret Hart (C) vs Shawn Michaels
13 - Vader (C) vs The Undertaker I would have given Sid's monster push to Vader instead... I mean, wtf!? Vader was a worldwide recognized monster and former WCW Champion and Sid sucked!
XIV - Shawn Michaels (C) vs Stone Cold
XV - The Rock (C) vs Stone Cold The Rock (C) vs Stone Cold vs. The Undertaker I know what you'll say, blasphemy, The Rock vs. Stone Cold for the first time can't be changed! Truth is, this match kind of sucked, and Taker was in a terrible match with Bossman earlier, I'd have left Bossman off Wrestlemania, and put Taker in this making it the 3 biggest stars of the Attitude Era. Now when Austin and Rock face off later it'll be even more special because it'll be their first time in Houston one on one.
2000 - Triple H (C) vs The Rock vs Mankind Mankind/Foley was super over, I'd have left the retirement angle off for Wrestlemania 2000, and that would have been his way into the match. "If I lose, I retire." HHH retains, and Mankind/Foley retires as planned.
X-Seven - The Rock (C) vs Stone Cold
X8 - Chris Jericho (C) vs Triple H
XIX - Kurt Angle (C) vs Brock Lesnar Stone Cold vs. Hulk Hogan. This is the only time it could have happened, we didn't need Austin/Rock III, especially with Austin's neck.
XX - Triple H (C) vs Shawn Michaels vs Chris Benoit Goldberg (C) vs. Chris Benoit I'd have kept the title on Goldberg, giving him a long run and have Benoit go over Goldberg. Lesnar/Goldberg sucked. People would have cheered Benoit making Goldberg tap. HHH/HBK could have their final one on one match. Lesnar could have put Batista over on his way out while Orton/Flair wrestled Rock/Foley.
21 - Triple H (C) vs Batista
22 - John Cena (C) vs Triple H
23 - John Cena (C) vs Shawn Michaels I would have had Kennedy cash in his MITB the same night on Cena after he beat Michaels. Kennedy was hot at the time and he never got his push due to the injury scare/politics. They invested so much time in a character that went nowhere due to BS.
XXIV - Edge (C) vs The Undertaker
XXV - Triple H (C) vs Randy Orton
XXVI - The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
XXVII - The Miz (C) vs John Cena John Cena vs CM Punk (C)
XXVIII - The Rock vs John Cena
29 - The Rock (C) vs John Cena The Rock (C) vs John Cena vs. CM Punk Punk never got his rematch and I don't know how they didn't justify this. Jericho could have fought Taker for the streak and keep the three old guys off the card.
XXX - Randy Orton (C) vs Batista vs Daniel Bryan Daniel Bryan (C) vs CM Punk. This should have been like Wrestlemania XX, and the start of a new era of wrestling. I would have liked an Evolution triple threat match in the undercard though. I like this, a lot, well thought out.
31 - Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar It should still be Bryan vs. Lesnar, or even Orton vs. Lesnar, Reigns isn't ready and should beat Rusev for the US title. We all know Rusev won't go anywhere, he's the next Umaga. Impressive in the ring but can't cut it on the mic. Lana is no Paul Heyman and cannot carry him through any title reign, they're too cartoonish together.

 

[Double S]

1. Fine as it is, no one knew what it's be so having the tag is fine

2. Wwe championship, piper (c) vs hogan (piper wins the belt July the previous year in dubious style, this is hogans big win to regain the belt)

3. Perfect

4. Fine, top 2 non hogan guys fighting for the belt is cool, maybe shorten the tournament by 1 round

5. Perfect

6. Perfect

7. Wwe championship: Perfect (c)vs hogan (Perfect takes slaughters role, instead of an Iraq vs us storyline it's hogan trying to stop Germans guy)

8. Wwe title: flair (c) vs savage (perfect as it was, just needed to be last on, hogan had no right closing this show)

9: wwe title hart (c) vs savage (bret wins to bring in the new generation, yoko can fave taker, hogan was fine in his role as he wouldn't have put hart over so savage was next best)

10. Ideal

11. WWE title: diesel vs shawn (have the LT match then a meaningless then the title, that'd be fine)

12. WWE title: Bret vs shawn singles match (it can be an hour, just the ironman thing dragged for me, an hour singles match is fine though as you'd never know when it'd end)

13. WWE title undertaker (c) vs bret (taker wins the vacated title the month before in a 4 way with vader Sid and fake diesel the other ones in the ring after Austin was eliminated in the rumble, and bret the 'true' rumble winner faces scsa as usual for the chance to face taker later in the main event, the legendary match happens with bret doing double duty

14. Perfect

15. The rock (c) vs mankind (this is the Austin vs Vince cage match, and the first meeting of foley and Rock since the rumble, foley wins the belt)

16. Hhh (c) vs rock (as it should be, big show can face Kane with the whole card altering to include more singles matches)

17. Perfect

18. Fine as it was, it was just a lackluster build, I'd have stone cold fave Nash not hall as he's the bigger name and make Jericho a bigger threat, not stephs bitch

19. Perfect

20. At the time I hated shawn in it, hindsight says I'm wrong it's perfect

21. Perfect

22. Fine, this made Cena

23. World Heavyweight Championship: Batista vs undertaker (deserved it more)

24. Loved this match keep it

25. World Heavyweight Championship: edge (c) vs John cena (great feud deserved 1 vs 1 here, as cena was winning Id give them the main event as the hhh win was just anticlimactic and orton should have won)

26. Perfect

27. John Cena (c) vs Randy Orton (Id have cena screw orton at survivor series, take the title off Barrett at the rumble and orton on a warpath at the situation, orton got very over the previous year this could be huge)

28. Perfect

29. WWE Title CM Punk (c) vs John Cena (rematch from year before was boring, this was the best matchup they had as proven on feb 25 raw)

30. Perfect

 

[MMK]

WM1: Hogan vs Piper
(Mr.T is in Hogans corner to watch Hulks back seeing as how Orton would be in Piper's corner and Mr.Wonderful may attempt to interfere)

From Wrestlemania 2-Wrestlemania 6 I wouldn't make any changes to the main event. They basically nailed it. One of the reasons why it was the best period in WWF history. WM2: Hogan vs Bundy/ WM3: Hogan vs Andre/ WM4: Savage vs DiBiase/ WM5: Hogan vs Savage/ WM6: Hogan vs Warrior

WM7: Warrior vs Savage
(Slaughter/Hogan didn't need the title. It was a personal vendetta. Main event sees Warrior put his title on the line against Savages career. End the show with Liz/Randy reuniting. Storybook ending)

WM8: Hogan vs Flair
(Mr.Perfect interferes resulting in Hogan winning by DQ. Flair keeps the title, but Hogan gets the win. As Perfect and Flair double team Hogan after the match, Warrior returns to make the save. Tell me again why this would not have been possible?)

WM9: Bret Hitman Hart vs Macho Man OR Hulk Hogan vs Yokozuna
(I have no problem with either Bret or Yoko main eventing. Just not against each other. Two totally different styles that didn't mesh well for me. Yoko and Savage were the final 2 men in that years Rumble. If Savage wins, then he should face Bret in a technical classic and officially pass the torch to the Hitman. If Yoko is going to Mania on the other hand, I would have had him win the title against Bret at the Rumble and brought Hogan back early to win the Rumble. Hulk gets his one last main event at Mania, but loses. Yokozuna kills Hulkamania at Wrestlemania. It happened at KOTR, but should have happened at Mania.)

WMX: Bret Hart vs Lex Luger

WM11: Bret Hart vs Undertaker
(Undertaker should have won the Royal Rumble that year. Hitman vs Deadman. Face vs Face. A Taker title run would have been a helluva lot more interesting than having Diesel shoved down our throats. Shawn vs Diesel should have been for the IC title.)

WM12: Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels: Iron Man
The only change I'd make is I would have Shawn win only the 1996 Royal Rumble and not the 1995 Royal Rumble. Save the storyline of him entering at #1 and winning it all for the 96 Rumble. That way he would have lasted 60 minutes in the Rumble and that would have led to him referring to himself as the Iron man of the WWF which prompts Bret to say "prove it." Thus the 60 minute Mania match is set up perfectly

WM13: Bret Hart Vs Steve Austin
(Austin won the Rumble and rightfully should have main evented Mania. Bret was screwed out of that same Rumble, along with Taker and Vader. Therefore the Fatal 4 Way that occured in February should have been a triple threat for the vacant WWF Title that Shawn had recently vacated due to "injury". Bret wins the triple threat against Taker and Vader thus setting up Bret vs Austin at Mania.

Much like in the late 80's, by the late 90's WWF had figured things out once again and was booking Mania perfectly. Which is one of the reasons why those two era's were so successful. No reason to make any changes to WM14,15,& 17 WM14: Austin vs Shawn/ WM15 and 17: Austin vs Rock

WM16: Rock vs Triple H
(Forget the fatal 4 way. Maybe a triple threat with Mankind involved. But Big Show certainly didn't need to be in this main event. )

WM18: Hulk vs Rock
(It's baffling why this wasn't the main event. The idea that anyone in WWF thought fans were more excited about Triple H winning the title than seeing Hulk Hogan back at mania against the Rock is a level of tone deaf I can't even comprehend)

(After the attitude era ended I could care less what happens at Mania so I'll stop there.)

 

[Elchicano15]

Excellent topic.

Wrestlemania 1. Hulk Hogan vs Piper for the WWF Championship. After all it was the first one so I would have made it a 1 on 1 for the championship. Piper was a top heel at the time.
Wrestlemania 2 Hulk Hogan vs King Kong Bundy. I'd keep it the same.
Wrestlemania 3 I'd keep the same
Wrestlemania 4 I'd keep the same but perhaps make Dibiase champion going in against Macho Man.
Wrestlemania 5 No Change
Wrestlemania 6 "
Wrestlemania 7 "
Wrestlemania 8 Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair for the WWF Championship
Wrestlemania 9 Hulk Hogan vs Yokozuna for the WWF Championship
Wrestlemania 10 Lex Luger vs Bret Hart vs Yokozuna triple threat for the WWF Championship
Wrestlemania 11 Diesel vs Shawn Michaels should have closed the show.
Wrestlemania 12 No change
Wrestlemania 13 "
Wrestlemania 14 "
Wrestlemania 15 "
Wrestlemania 16 Triple H vs The Rock for the WWF Championship
Wrestlemania 17 No change
Wrestlemania 18 Hollywood Hogan vs The Rock
Wrestlemania 19 No change
Wrestlemania 20 "
Wrestlemania 21 "
Wrestlemania 22 John Cena vs Randy Orton for the WWE CHampionship
Wrestlemania 23 Undertaker vs Batista for the world heavyweight championship
Wrestlemania 24 No Change
Wrestlemania 25 Undertaker vs HBK
Wrestlemania 26 No change
Wrestlemania 27 CM Punk vs Edge (c) for the World Heavyweight Title
Wrestlemania 28 No change
Wrestlemania 29 John Cena vs CM Punk for the WWE Championship
Wrestlemania 30 Daniel Bryan vs CM Punk (c) for the WWE Championship. I agree, on this milestone usher in a new era in wrestling, and had this been booked I'm sure Punk would still be around
Wrestlemania 31 Lesnar vs Randy Orton for the championship. I was really hoping Orton would make that surprise entry at the rumble, clean house and win it to go face Lesnar. One thing's for sure the Philly crowd would have appreciated it.

 

[roipdh123]

WrestleMania 1: Keep it the same.
WrestleMania 2: Hulk Hogan {C} vs Bruno Sammartino for the WWF Championship - bruno was at the show anyway so why not have him wrestle in the ME and put over Hogan big.
WrestleMania 3:Keep it the same.
WrestleMania 4:Keep it the same {have the same match just with Dibiase entering as the champion with no vacant title tournament}.
WrestleMania 5:"
WrestleMania 6:"
WrestleMania 7:have Warrior vs Savage close the show.
WrestleMania 8: Hogan {C} vs Flair {C} to decide the real world champion for the WWF Championship.
WrestleMania 9: Bret {C} vs Hogan - WWF Championship
WrestleMania 10:Luger {C} vs Bret - WWF Championship.
WrestleMania 11:have Michaels vs Diesel as the main event.
WrestleMania 12:Keep it the same.
WrestleMania 13:Taker vs Bret for the Vacant WWF Championship {I would have held a mini tournament in the event with the semi-final matches being: Austin vs Bret and Taker vs Vader and have Bret and Taker win their matches to qualify}.
WrestleMania 14:Keep it the same.
WrestleMania 15:"
WrestleMania 16: Triple H {C} vs The Rock in a sixty minute iron man match for the WWF Championship with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee.
WrestleMania 17:Keep it the same - just without the Austin turn in the end.
WrestleMania 18:Hogan vs Austin
WrestleMania 19:Keep it the same.
WrestleMania 20: "
WrestleMania 21:"
WrestleMania 22: Randy Orton vs John Cena {C} for the WWE Championship.
WrestleMania 23: have Taker vs Batista for the world heavyweight championship ME.
WrestleMania 24: have Flair vs Michaels in the retirement match ME.
WrestleMania 25: John Cena vs Edge {C} vs Triple H in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship.
WrestleMania 26: Keep it the same.
WrestleMania 27: The Undertaker vs John Cena.
WrestleMania 28:Keep it the same.
WrestleMania 29: Cm Punk {C} vs The Rock vs John Cena in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship
WrestleMania 30: Daniel Bryan vs John Cena {c} for the WWE Championship {same Authority storyline just with Cena as the Authority's handpicked face of the WWE}.
WrestleMania 31: Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins {C} vs Dean Ambrose in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship {as Lesnar doesn't end the streak and doesn't even face Taker at WM 30}.