The Most Frustrating Missed "Dream Match"

[S.J. Maximus]

In sports and sometimes movies/entertainment icons are defined by specific eras, so fans tend to fantasize about what would happen if an icon from one era were to face the icon from another. Pro wrestling is full of potential dream match scenarios, due to the different eras and the different companies within the same era that made it tough for icons to face each other in their primes.

I think in pro wrestling we're a little bit more fortunate and have seen a great number of dream matches happen but there were still so many missed opportunities. The point of this thread isn't to fantasize about matches that couldn't have possibly happened like Bret Hart vs. Kurt Angle (Bret worked in WCW and was concussed into retirement while Angle was merely starting out in WWE). This thread would be to talk (and complain/vent) about matches that could've easily happened, like Austin vs Hogan, but didn't actually occur for some reason or another. Feel free to vote in the poll or list missed matches on the thread, I want to know which ones make you the most angry and upset.

Here's my list:

3. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Hulk Hogan - Personally, this missed match doesn't irk me nearly as much as WWE missing the mark on a potential Hogan/Flair match at WM8. I put it on this list mostly to avoid getting cursed out in the replies to my post, and to show that I do understand that this is probably the missed match with the biggest name value of all-time. I think a huge reason why this missed match doesn't irk me as much is because the replacement match was still one of the greatest big money matches of all-time. Rock/Hogan was a classic, and their second battle was a damn good match too. I guess the argument is how can Rock have 2 matches with him before Austin gets 1? Regardless, a legendary match was created as a result, which normally isn't the case with missed dream matches (who gives a damn about the double main event of WM8 or 9????)

2. Hulk Hogan vs. Bret Hart - In two entries I have listed 3 missed dream matches involving Hulk Hogan, but this one by far takes the cake for me. IMO the replacement match of "Bret/Yoko, then Hogan beating Yoko" was by far the worst idea of any replacement match and I think it dramatically altered the career path of Bret Hart. I always felt that the main thing missing from his memorable run in the 90's was the mainstream validation from an established icon. Hogan got it from Sheik, Warrior got it from Hogan, and it was clearly Bret's turn to get it from Hogan but Terry Bollea wanted to play games and I think it led to there being "no real guy" in the 90's even though it should've been Bret. If Bret had gone over clean at WM9, we wouldn't have had to deal with that bullshit that was the 1994 Royal Rumble, Diesel's title record would've been Bret's, and HBK would've been the clear second-fiddle to Bret for WM's 12-on.

1. Sting vs. Undertaker - While I'm expecting Hogan/Austin to lead the polls, this missed match definitely has to get a few votes right!? Now don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of the HHH/Sting match and I've said that DX and the NWO returning mad it the most fun I have ever had watching a wrestling match (Scott Hall taking that bump is one of the highlights of my life) but how the hell did they miss the mark with this one!? Sting/Taker was literally the only match people were talking about and it was immediately teased by both WWE and Sting as soon as his signing was announced. Maybe they thought they could have him put over the Authority for his first year before fight Taker in his second year? If that's the case, I still don't agree with their logic because they needed to strike while the iron was hot, everyone (casual and hardcore fans alike) wanted to see this and now we never will just because WWE wanted to feed Sting to Hunter for literally no reason. The storyline didn't really make sense and was completely unnecessary, even though I did enjoy the match itself. For Sting vs. Taker, I'm very certain I would've enjoyed everything about it and I know there were a lot of people who didn't like Sting/HHH that would've definitely preferred a matchup with Taker.

Your turn!!

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Mine was Hulk Hogan vs Stone Cold Steve Austin. They shared a RAW episode where Stone Cold stunned all the McMahons. Hulk Hogan made an announcement later in the show that he wants a piece of The Rattlesnake, brother! And that was the beginning and end of the match. It was squashed back stage because Stone Cold didn't want to work with Hulk Hogan...so I hear.


Hogan vs Austin would've been a fun match much like the Icon vs Icon match. Hogan hulks up after a stunner, Stone Cold kicks out of the boot, leg drop.

 

[HBKperfect23]

Rock/Michaels and Hogan/Bret just never got me very excited. Rock/Michaels would have had killer promos but I see a bit of a styles clash in the ring. Michaels/Eddie was more of a dream match for me at that time. Bret/Hogan would have been a good passing of the torch but I don't think even early 90s Bret would have gotten a good match out of 93 Hogan who was beyond stale at the time.

Hogan/Austin should have closed Wrestlemania 18. The biggest heel WCW had against the biggest face WWF had could have officially closed the MNW. I'm a Rock fan and think it was a great match but Austin was the guy for this.

Hogan/Flair 92 is the big one for me. WWFs biggest star against WCWs biggest star....and Flair had the belt. Imagine WM8 closing with Hogan holding up both belts. Just the sight of these two in the ring at mania would have been amazing.

 

[OYDK]

Of course Hogan/Flair and Hogan/Austin were the two biggest missed opportunities, but it's not like that was necessarily WWE's fault, well maybe in the first scenario depending on who you ask. In both cases, massive egos from both sides made these matches nearly impossible. One story is that the Hogan/Flair bouts at house shows weren't selling so well so Vince nixed the idea for Mania, however the much more believable story is that Hogan was more interested in filming his TV show and didn't want to lose to Flair on the big stage. For his part, Flair apparently didn't want to do the job for Hogan either... similarly I've heard that both Austin and Hogan refused to lose to each other at Mania 18, but I take this with a grain of salt since Hogan did ultimately do the job to The Rock, I don't see why it should have been any different if Austin were to take his place.

Anyway, I'll go a bit off the board and say Michaels/Rock should have taken place at Mania 19. Even though we got two incredible matches out of Michaels/Jericho and Austin/Rock and a fairy tail farewell match for Stone Cold, I still think we could have gotten a stronger card had some things been switched around. WWE knew Rock wasn't going to be around for much longer, he didn't really NEED the win over Austin. Someone who could have benefited greatly? HHH. HHH was in the midst of his "reign of terror" at this point and if there was any better way than ending Austin's career for him to heap heat on himself, I can't think of it. It's not like Booker T ever really did much after losing to HHH anyway.

Rock could have just as easily made his point by defeating Michaels on the big stage and we would have been able to cross this bout off the "dream match" list.

Plus the main event card would have looked like this:

Austin/HHH
Michaels/Rock
Hogan/McMahon
Lesnar/Angle

Probably among the strongest cards of all time.

 

[rbv13]

Hogan/Flair 92 is the big one for me. WWFs biggest star against WCWs biggest star....and Flair had the belt. Imagine WM8 closing with Hogan holding up both belts. Just the sight of these two in the ring at mania would have been amazing.

This was set to be the biggest match of an era. The icon of what would be sports entertainment vs. the man who defined rasslin'. Flair vs. Hogan was the dream match of a generation. Unfortunately your final scenario would've been in possible. When Fair and WCW split he was actually the NWA Champion. NWA still recognized Flair as their champ thus forcing WCW to create their own. A financial dispute allowed Flair to physically hold onto the NWA title but legal matters came into play and the title was off TV. Flair very well would have walked into WM with the WWF title but it would've been the only real world title there.

 

[Aquaman6686]

For me, Chris Jericho vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania. That was the Streak match I always wanted to see, and because of Brock Lesnar, even if they have the match now, it would be irrelevant.

 

[relentless1]

im gonna go with Austin v Hogan; the two greatest stars wrestling ever produced bar none would have been a spectacle for sure.

My personal dream match that never could have happened though would have been Bret Hart v Kurt Angle, theres no time period where this could have happened but could you imagine the matches these two guys would have put on?? Not as much of an "event" as Hogan/Austin but definitely a 5 star match.

 

[CrunKSinatrA]

My "Missed Dream Match:"

I can't decide between Eddie Guerrero vs Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Eddie Guerrero.

Eddie died before the Shawn Michaels a surefire Wrestlemania Moment match. While Stone Cold just straight up left the WWE b/c he didn't think that Scott Hall and Eddie Guerrero were on his level.

From your list:

I chose Rock vs Shawn Michaels b/c that's the one that would've had a match to lived up to the hype.

I think Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair would've been better than the test house shows would've indicated. That match was good in WCW, not on the Randy Savage vs Ric Flair at Wrestlemania 8's level, but would've been good enough.

 

[aaronmb]

Austin vs Hogan- maybe have this at WM 25
Undertaker vs Wyatt- shouldve happened at 30, with Wyatt taking the streak, which would lead to:
Undertaker vs Sting- shouldve been Sting's only match and Takers final match.
IMO, Sting vs Triple H probably wouldnt even be in my top 5 Sting matches and to me, that match sucked anyway, with most of it not making any sense.

 

[Just Do It]

Austin / Goldberg
Austin / Hogan
Rock / Michaels

In that order from top to bottom.

 

[Just Do It]

For me, Chris Jericho vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania. That was the Streak match I always wanted to see, and because of Brock Lesnar, even if they have the match now, it would be irrelevant.

Why, because you thought CHRIS JERICHO would ever be considered to break the streak? A man who at his absolute prime was third fiddle in his own Wrestlemania main event, an afterthought to a dog called Lucy? A man who was thought of so much by management, he was booked to wrestle Fandango at Wrestlemania a year before Undertaker lost the streak?

 

[Spencesc11]

The Rock vs. Shawn Michaels headlining a WrestleMania could've been epic!!!
* The crowd would've been split and these 2 could've put on a hell of a match.

Most the choices on this list had either 1 or both wrestler clearly past their prime.

Hogan vs. Flair should've headlined a WrestleMania back in 92. These were the 2 biggest stars and WWE had them both. How they never met at Mania is very perculiar? Don't care how their matches showed at House shows. This match needed to happen on the big stage.

The match that did happen but should've been held till Mania was Rock vs. Punk. Made no sense for Cena vs. Rock 2. Should've had Rock win the Rumble and defeat Punk for the belt at Mania. That would've been and epic end to that Mania.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Out of the ones listed I chose Bret/Hogan because it would have had the greatest impact for any wrestler involved on the list. Could you image if done properly Bret could have started his title reign by beating Flair, Savage and Hogan. What a way to establish your next star by having him go over on the top guys from the previous era. This would have also had the added boost for the guy who eventually beat Bret as he would have beat the guy who beat all those greats. Conceivably you have Bret hold the title for the majority of the time between 92 and 96 only dropping it to heels in a shady manor until he drops clean to Shawn at Mania 12 to establish the next star.

Flair/Hogan is a close 2 but I can't be too mad that it didn't happen because it gave us the greatness that was Savage/Flair and we saw it 2 years later in WCW and by most accounts it wasn't that good because it was catered towards Hogan which would have most likely been the same if it happen in the WWF.

 

[ghost94]

The Rock vs Michaels. I can see it play out in my head, would have been awesome.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I’ve got a few frustratingly missed dream matches, but I’ll give you only 2 this time around.

Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair – 1992

A lot of people have said many times that the Main Event of WrestleMania VIII should have been the Face of WWF vs. the Heel of NWA / WCW. Heading into that match, it would have been WWF World Champion, Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan. I think it should have been WWF Champion, Hulk Hogan vs. the “Real” World Champion, Ric Flair. This sight of seeing Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair, closing out WrestleMania VIII, with the Winged Eagle and the Big Gold would have been grand.

The Royal Rumble that year would be a little different. I would still have Ric Flair win the 1992 Royal Rumble, but instead of having the vacant WWF World Championship on the line, I would have it the way it is today, with the winner becoming the number one contender and winning the Main Event spot at WrestleMania VIII to face the WWF Champion. Also, I would have scrapped This Tuesday In Texas, and have Hulk Hogan win the WWF Championship Title from the Undertaker at the Royal Rumble. Imagine the pop from both Hogan defeating the Undertaker and Flair winning the Royal Rumble.

New World Order vs. D-Generation X – 1998-2016

Let be first state again that I love Professional Sports Wrestling Entertainment for 2 reasons. Number 1 is Championship Title Belts, hence the dream match above. Number 2 is Stables, hence this next dream match of mine. I don’t care if it was WWF’s DX vs. WCW’s nWo, or WWE’s DX vs. WWE’s nWo. I really just wanted to see the Clique vs. the Kliq. I wrote about this before where I had 2 matches setup, one 8 man Tag Team match at SummerSlam, and one 8 man Elimination Tag Team match at Survivor Series.

SummerSlam
The New World Order (Hollywood Hulk Hogan, the Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall), and the Giant) vs. D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and the New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg Jesse James and Bad @$$ Billy Gunn))
X-Pac comes out towards the end of the match. The question is, “whose side is he on??” First he nails the New Age Outlaws with a chair, and then follows it up by attacking Big Show and Hogan. To close out SummerSlam, the Clique becomes an onscreen Stable and recreates the MSG Incident.

Survivor Seires
The Clique (Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and the Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) with X-Pac) vs. Hulk Hogan, the Giant, and the New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg Jesse James and Bad @$$ Billy Gunn) with Kane
Having X-Pac in the Clique’s corner is an advantage, so to even up the odds, Big Show went out and got his team the Big Red Machine to watch their backs.

 

[HBKperfect23]

This was set to be the biggest match of an era. The icon of what would be sports entertainment vs. the man who defined rasslin'. Flair vs. Hogan was the dream match of a generation. Unfortunately your final scenario would've been in possible. When Fair and WCW split he was actually the NWA Champion. NWA still recognized Flair as their champ thus forcing WCW to create their own. A financial dispute allowed Flair to physically hold onto the NWA title but legal matters came into play and the title was off TV. Flair very well would have walked into WM with the WWF title but it would've been the only real world title there.

True. At the time he was walking around with the big gold belt that everyone who watched associated with NWA. I liked how many times they actually attempted to keep that belt on tv. Video distortion and putting the black cloud over the tag title. Everyone involved said the whole time the plan was Savage/Flair. I really find it hard to believe and think Hogan/Flair champion vs "champion" winner take all had to be the original plan. Too good of an opportunity.

 

[rbv13]

Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair – 1992

A lot of people have said many times that the Main Event of WrestleMania VIII should have been the Face of WWF vs. the Heel of NWA / WCW. Heading into that match, it would have been WWF World Champion, Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan. I think it should have been WWF Champion, Hulk Hogan vs. the “Real” World Champion, Ric Flair. This sight of seeing Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair, closing out WrestleMania VIII, with the Winged Eagle and the Big Gold would have been grand.

The Royal Rumble that year would be a little different. I would still have Ric Flair win the 1992 Royal Rumble, but instead of having the vacant WWF World Championship on the line, I would have it the way it is today, with the winner becoming the number one contender and winning the Main Event spot at WrestleMania VIII to face the WWF Champion. Also, I would have scrapped This Tuesday In Texas, and have Hulk Hogan win the WWF Championship Title from the Undertaker at the Royal Rumble. Imagine the pop from both Hogan defeating the Undertaker and Flair winning the Royal Rumble.

I was actually thinking about different scenarios for this program. Flair holding the title going into WM would be the best option. This is absolutely a case where Hogan chasing works best. Flair was the smaller of the two who would use his cronies and reputation as the dirtiest player in the game to set this feud on fire. The set up reminds me of Hogan chasing Savage and Slaughter as opposed to when Hogan had to overcome monsters. In the end Hogan going over would've been best for the WWF.

New World Order vs. D-Generation X – 1998-2001

With the heat between the companies and each as their company's leading faction this would've been the perfect time for War Games. I'm just imagining DX riding in on a tank.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I will go with a match that comes from the era which I started watched wrestling:

John Cena vs The Undertaker at Wrestlemania for the Streak.

Seriously WWE.. WTF. Why hasn't this match happened yet? Had this been for the streak it would have historic proportions. The elephant in the room that for some reason the company always misses. It was supposed to happen this year, but Cena went out with an injury. It would have been magical.. In front of 100.000 people, the main event that this Wrestlemania was worthy of.

I hope it happens at some point down the line, but given Undertaker's age the chances get slimmer and slimmer.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Why, because you thought CHRIS JERICHO would ever be considered to break the streak? A man who at his absolute prime was third fiddle in his own Wrestlemania main event, an afterthought to a dog called Lucy? A man who was thought of so much by management, he was booked to wrestle Fandango at Wrestlemania a year before Undertaker lost the streak?

NOBODY should have broken The Streak. Undertaker should have retired with it intact. But Jericho is one opponent Undertaker never faced in a long-term feud, and seeing Jericho's promos leading up to a Streak match would have been a sight to behold. Even now, past his prime, Jericho is better than anyone else on the roster. With Bryan retired, WWE has nobody better than him in-ring, and they have nobody that can even TOUCH him on the microphone. Take off your NXT-tinted glasses.

 

[wrestler36]

im gonna go with Austin v Hogan; the two greatest stars wrestling ever produced bar none would have been a spectacle for sure.

My personal dream match that never could have happened though would have been Bret Hart v Kurt Angle, theres no time period where this could have happened but could you imagine the matches these two guys would have put on?? Not as much of an "event" as Hogan/Austin but definitely a 5 star match.

You read my mind with both of these. Huge box office draw with Austin vs Hogan. Bret and Kurt would have been one for the ages. I suppose if Goldberg never kicked Bret's head off, he would've sat on his contract until it expired, like a lot of the big WCW names. So maybe he would've came back in 2002 or 03 when all the big names did. That would've left a 3-4 year window to fight Angle. Eddie would've been great too

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Another match I have always considered a dream match would have been Bret Hart vs Kurt Angle. Now for this to have taken place we would have needed the screw job to never go down so Bret stays in WWF with his 20 year contract. This probably means he holds the title past Survivor Series and into Mania to set up the WM 13 rematch with Austin which sees Austin win the title. Maybe he sticks around a little bit longer to finish the program with Austin but either after Mania or a few months later he probably gets some time off and re emerges in the fall in time for the Deadly Game program where he could easily play the role that Mankind played as the corporate stooge only to get double crossed by The Corporation which would see him take Mankind's place in the Rock/Mankind program from late 98/early 99. This could then lead to a co-main event at Mania 15 with Vince/Austin and Rock/Bret. Bret would then work his way through 99, we get Angle's debut at Survivor Series of that year and by the middle of 2000 Angle is a main eventer ready to work a program with Bret.


Probably considered the 2 best technicians in the history of the sport a program with the 2 of them either in 2000 or 2001 would have been awesome. In this world their is no Goldberg to punt Bret's head off so the concussion thing is a non factor. Bret would be approaching his mid 40s at this point and while that's up their many wrestlers have had great matches to that point and Bret's skill set lends itself to him still being able to go at that age.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Sometimes I wonder how they can mess up so much by not holding the obvious match that could have been one of the biggest matches of all time like Hogan vs Flair at Wrestlemania 8 or Hogan vs Austin at Wrestlemania 18, Both of these matches booked themsevles and required no build up but WWE still screwed up at least at Wrestlemania 18 we still got Hogan vs Rock which came as a good replacement but Austin and Hogan I feel are the 2 biggest names of all time and they had a history with the way Austin left WCW and it was match we never got and never will get.

Wrestlemania 8 I remember just being a huge letdown the number one match I had dreamed of all through the 80s was expected to happen at Wrestlemania 8 and it could have been a kind of an unoficial WCW Title vs WWF Title match to add even more excitement which in my opinion would have made the biggest Wrestlemania of all time only for them to change their mind and go with Hogan vs Sid instead I didn't get it.
I know we got the match a few years later in WCW which was still a great match but most of the excitement which I had felt before Wrestlemania 8 had passed.

 

[Lowdown]

For me, it was Hogan vs Flair in '92. They built up the match beautifully up until Survivor Series '91 went down. From there it just seemed to fall apart. Granted, I had zero issues with Flair vs Macho Man at WM8. But the from the moment that Flair jumped to WWF, all talks were about who the "real" world's champion is.

 

[the_peoples_adam]

For me its CM PUNK vs SCSA..Just coz this is an era that needs something more than the older eras..In the older times we had that kind of entertainment that any match between two superstars will be watchable..
But in today's era when the ratings are down WWE really needed to do this red hot CM PUNK vs Steve Austin match to give us something to remember in the recent times..

Also Batista vs Brock Lesnar is one match i always wanted to see..

 

[boozinjedi]

Mine was Hulk Hogan vs Stone Cold Steve Austin. They shared a RAW episode where Stone Cold stunned all the McMahons. Hulk Hogan made an announcement later in the show that he wants a piece of The Rattlesnake, brother! And that was the beginning and end of the match. It was squashed back stage because Stone Cold didn't want to work with Hulk Hogan...so I hear.


Hogan vs Austin would've been a fun match much like the Icon vs Icon match. Hogan hulks up after a stunner, Stone Cold kicks out of the boot, leg drop.

I see that ending differently..Hogan hulks up after Stunner kick out,Hogan does the finger wave in Austin's face,Austin swats hand away,flips him the bird,kick to gut,another Stunner...1-2-3...then after match as Hogan is getting himself back up..Austin hands him a beer