WrestleMania 30: 30 Greatest WrestleMania matches that almost happened!

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

Honorable mentions:

WM4: Randy Savage vs Honky Tonk Man (IC title)

Randy Savage was originally supposed to win the IC title at WM4 however Honky Tonk Man acted like a complete d!ck and didn't want to lose the title.

This led to Savage winning the WWF title that Ted DiBiase was supposed to win.
Honky Tonk Man said in a shoot interview that till this day, Ted never forgave him.


WM12: Razor Ramon vs Goldust (IC title)

Scott Hall and Goldust were feuding over the Intercontinental Title, but Hall gave notice to jump to WCW and was coincidentally suspended for failing a drug test, so they put Roddy Piper in his spot.


WM13: Mankind vs Vader

Mick Foley wrote in Have A Nice Day about his idea to reprise his WCW feud with Vader, but it was decided to make them a team first so they could break up and then feud. Except they never got around to the breakup or the feud.


WM16: Kane vs. X-Pac

Kane and X-Pac were programmed for like six months from the end of 1999 to the beginning of 2000 and were building to some kind of ultimate blowoff for Mania involving explosions or something. But that got nixed and they did a not-so-ultimate tag match instead.


WM17: Vince McMahon vs Mick Foley

Mick Foley didn't want to wrestle at this event and the match was canceled.


WM17: Triple H vs Ray Lewis

Just like Wrestlemania 11's LT vs Bam Bam Bigelow, WWE wanted to do a similar idea with Triple H wrestling Super Bowl MVP Ray Lewis, who would be able to rehab his killer image by playing face against the top heel. It didn't materialize, and they already had one Raven on the show anyway.


WM18: Edge vs. William Regal

Edge and Regal were programmed for like four months from the end of 2001 to the beginning of 2002 and were building to Edge regaining the IC title at Mania. But the matches were boring and the feud wasn't over, so they aborted it with one month left and put Rob Van Dam over the belt instead.


WM19: John Cena vs. Fabolous and Jay-Z

There was supposed to be some "Battle rap" but neither men showed up.


WM20: Matt Hardy vs Mark Henry

Matt Hardy as a heel was on a losing streak gimmick after jumping to Raw, and apparently the plan was that he'd finally pick up a big win and turn face by beating the Very Strong Man, Mark Henry. Except Henry got hurt just before Mania, Hardy didn't get on the show, and things would get increasingly worse for him from there.


WM21: The Brothers of Destruction vs Snitsky and Heidenreich

Inspired by the success of their amazing vignettes together, there arose the idea of teaming Snitsky and Heidenreich against a reunited Taker and Kane in an interpromotional tag match conflating each brands' respective awful feud.
However, over the past five years, the Undertaker has shown a remarkable knack for getting out of bad Wrestlemania matches and getting into good ones.
Instead of a probable tag match against Rikishi and Haku at 17, he ended up with a strong match with Triple H.
Instead of a suggested match with Kevin Nash at 18, he ended up with a good match with Ric Flair.
And here, instead of a nightmare of a match against Snitsky and Heidenreich, he ended up having a very good match with Randy Orton.


WM28: Cody Rhodes vs Goldust (IC title)

I'm not sure if this was ever planned to happen. It was mostly Goldust begging WWE for this match to happen.

In late 2011, Goldust tweeted the following:

"With your voices heard to @WWE, goldust vs cody at wm28…..ic title versus career. For the haters can hope i lose to cody and retire, teamgoldie can hope for an ass whoopin for the ages and new ic champ.

Here’s the deal…..the fire in me is too strong to lose to my move stealing lemmule of a brother….experience everytime.

His ic title …..my career…..i would whoop him, take back My ic title and shatter all his dreams. Only teamgoldie can make this happen…u know how much it means to me."

The match didn't happen but at least Goldust is getting a proper and well-deserved last run.


WM27: The Undertaker vs Wade Barrett

After the Nexus attacked The Undertaker at Bragging Rights 2010 and helped Kane beat him in the buried alive match, this match was planned to happen.

This isn't much of a great wrestlemania match but it would've definitely turned Barrett into an instant star.

Unfortunately, this match didn't happen. Bad news for Barrett.

30 GREATEST WRESTLEMANIA MATCHES THAT ALMOST HAPPENED:
​

1. WM1: Hulk Hogan vs "Rowdy" Roddy Piper

Back when the first Wrestlemania was being talked about, Vince Mcmahon had this as his main event for the WWF championship but the one on one match was soon scraped to make room for multiple wrestlers to be on the card and the main reason was to put 80's TV star Mr T in the main event.

This would of been a fitting main event for Wrestlemania 1 but it wouldnt get the publicity that the actual main event got with the A Team star tagging with Hulk Hogan.


2. WM8: Shawn Michaels vs Marty Janetty

After Shawn Michaels turned heel and attacked Marty Janetty, Jannetty was initially meant to work the injury and return to start a feud which would culminate at WrestleMania VIII.

However, six months of house arrest after attacking a police officer would prevent this, and Jannetty was released from the company in March 1992.


3. WM8: Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair (WWF title)

This maybe wouldnt be the quality the Ric Flair and Randy Savage WWF Championship match we actually got but damn what a dream match that would have been.
It was the ultimate face vs the ultimate heel of the 1980's. This was on every wrestling magazines dream match.

The storyline was there, the huge event was there but there was a bunch of problems:

-Vince Mcmahon had to distance Hulk Hogan from the WWF cause of the steroid trial going on at the time in 1992.
-Hulk Hogan was gonna leave for 1 year after Wrestlemania 8 and it would look kinda dumb to have Hogan win the WWF title then leave and there was -No way Flair was going over Hogan.

So the best thing was to scrap the match.

Either way WCW gave us this match a few years later but Flair and Hogan were 2 different people in those 2 short years and seemed less motivated and it didnt have the red hot storyline it had in WWF and it didnt have the prestige of a Wrestlmania main event.
Its great to think what might have been if things went differently in 1992.


4. WM13: Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart (WWF title)

This was supposed to be the rematch from the Wrestlemania 12 classic. The match never happened at Wrestlemania 13 because Shawn Michaels refused to job and once again forfeited a title to get out of jobbing.

The ending for this match would be similiar to the Wrestlemania 13 match that replaced it (Bret Hart vs Steve Austin). Shawn would break his ankle and Bret would slap on the Sharpshooter and Shawn would pass out and give Bret the victory.


5. WM14: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs Bret Hart (WWF title)

The idea was for this match to happen with Austin finally getting his win over Bret at WM14 however Austin was injured at SummerSlam and The Montreal Screwjob happened so instead it was HBK who had to do the job.


6. WM15: The Rock vs Stone Cold vs Mankind (WWF title)

In 1999, Mick Foley had gotten so over as a babyface that there was some talk of adding him to the main event with Rock and Austin, but it was decided, in part by Shawn Michaels' suggestion, according to Foley in "Have A Nice Day", that the main event of Wrestlemania ought to be a big one-on-one match.

Michaels was also trying to get his buddy Hunter to face Austin at WM15 instead of The Rock but Rock was extremely over that this match had to happen.


7. WM2000: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs The Big Show

When WWF signed Paul Wight in 1999, the plan was for WWF to keep Show away from Austin, build him as a monster heel all year and have him face Stone Cold at WM16 in a Hogan-Andre type of match.

However, WWF decided to have Show face Austin and lose to him on RAW before WM15 which truly damaged his career.


8. WM2000: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs The Rock (WWF title)

In late 99, The Rock was clearly WWF's most popular star.
The plan was for Austin to turn heel early 2000 and lose to The Rock at WrestleMania.
However, Austin needed time for his surgery and left for about a year.


9. WM2000: The Rock vs Triple H (WWF title)

The Rock who was the #1 babyface of the company was supposed to wrestle Triple H, who went from transitional champion to Mania headliner thanks to the absence of Austin and the generosity of Mick Foley putting him over clean in superstar-making matches. Except Foley's retirement angle had actually made him a bigger star than ever before, so he was added to the main event to make it a multi-man match a year later than he'd have preferred. Thusly, to make it an even four (and involve all of the McMahons in the process), the Big Show ended up getting into the Wrestlemania 16 main event after all.

What could have been an epic one on one match between one of the greatest rivals in wrestling history became a fatal four way disaster.

We still might get this match in the future, The Rock could be the one to end Hunter's career or vice versa especially that Triple H was one of Rock's opponents in his first WWE match.


10. WM17: Triple H vs The Rock vs "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

In 2001, Triple H had gotten so over as a heel that there was some talk of adding him to the main event with Rock and Austin, but it was decided, in part by Triple H's suggestion, according to Triple H, that the main event of Wrestlemania ought to be a big one-on-one match. And I'm very glad it was, because while I'm sure X-7 still would've been a huge show with the three top stars wrestling, I don't think it would've been as successful as the Rock vs. Steve Austin singles match.




Second part:
http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?p=4773573

Third part:
http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?p=4773575

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

11. WM18: Sting vs Kurt Angle

You may remember heavy speculation that Sting would compete in his first WWE match at WrestleMania XXVII.
Things, unfortunately, didn't pan out, which made it the second time that Sting almost wrestled at WrestleMania.
According to former WWE creative team member David Lagana, The Icon was in talks with WWE to perform at WrestleMania X8.
These talks were serious enough that creative lined up a feud between Sting and Kurt Angle, hoping to get a classic 'Mania match out of the two talented wrestlers.
Unfortunately, Sting decided that he didn't want to work WWE's hectic schedule, and plans fell apart.


12. WM18: "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan vs "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

I'm unsure about if this match was ever going to happen or not.
Many people said that Rock-Hogan was always planned and that this match was never going to happen, other people say neither men wanted to do the job.

Anyway, it's good that Rock-Hogan did end up happening.

After losing 3 consecutive WM main events, Rock needed a huge rub and that was Hogan putting him over in arguably the biggest match in wrestling history.

There were also rumours that the Hogan-Austin match was going to happen at WMXX as well as the WrestleManias that Hogan and Austin were inducted into the HOF (WM21 and WM25).


13. WM18: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs Triple H (WWF Title)

The best laid plans of vice and men.
When Triple H tore his quad in May 2001, he was in a tag team with a heel Steve Austin, the point of which was to lead to a breakup that would turn Hunter face and let him challenge Austin for the world title. The injury put him on the shelf for some seven months and gave him a natural sympathetic return angle to come back and headline Mania 18 with a face Triple H winning the WWF Title from heel Steve Austin. Weird to think about, huh?
Everything fell into place for Hunter, but nothing fell into place for anybody else. With WWF booking and any semblance of longterm direction disintegrating in HHH's absence, Austin was turned back babyface before Hunter returned for their match. They kept the idea of HHH returning from injury to win the world title, but used Chris Jericho as the heel champion instead, and it did not work out very well for him. Or for Hunter, for that matter, since his Mania main event and big title win didn't get over and played to mostly silence.


14. WM18: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs The Rock

For Wrestlemania 18, Rock and Austin's rematch from 17 had been held off past Rock's return at SummerSlam. The two were kept apart and teased an eventual match before the unification tournament at Vengeance in December and before the Royal Rumble in January, theoretically leading to their meeting at Wrestlemania 18 with Rock looking to prove that he could beat Austin. Instead, Hogan was brought in to wrestle one or the other, and their match and Rock's win didn't take place until Wrestlemania 19.


15. WM19: The Rock vs Goldberg

After the end of his career as a full-time on the road performer in 2001, it seems like the Rock has made it his goal to come up with original, special matches as a good reason to come back for Wrestlemania each year. In 2002, he wrestled Hulk Hogan in a dream match, and in 2004, he reunited the Rock & Sock Connection and wrestled Ric Flair. I would think Rock would probably consider both matches artistic successes in terms of doing something original and special, performing with legends and drawing record-setting buyrates. But he's had other ideas that didn't quite come to fruition. In 2003, Rock essentially personally brokered a deal between Goldberg and WWE so that he could have another never-before-seen Wrestlemania dream match. However, that deal wasn't finalized in time to set up a match for Mania, so it was held off for the next month.


16. WM19: Triple H vs "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (World Heavyweight title)

Upset with, among other things, that disintegrating WWF booking, Steve Austin left the WWF a couple months after Mania 18. By Mania 19, he was back in the fold, and his natural opponents to return against were the Rock and Triple H. With Rock's sights set on doing a match with Goldberg, that paired up Austin and HHH. Hunter laid the groundwork for Austin's return by alluding to "pulling an Austin" and walking out on Raw, and by objecting to Austin's winning Raw Superstar of the Decade in January. But once again, the Austin Wrestlemania match got away from him when a deal couldn't be reached with Goldberg and the decision was made to reprise the Austin/Rock rivalry.

Since Kevin Nash would not be recovered from his own torn quad in time to work with him at Mania, Hunter had to settle for and bury Booker T.


17. WM20: Triple H vs Chris Benoit (World Heavyweight title) / Triple H vs Chris Benoit vs Shawn Michaels (Ladder match)

At some point, either out of trepidation that Benoit wasn't getting immediately over the way they'd hoped or out of desire to get Shawn Michaels a main event spot, the Triple H/Michaels feud was extended and the match was made a triple threat. There were rumors that this would end up being a ladder match, playing off the ten year anniversary of Shawn's first Madison Square Garden ladder match, but that was scrapped because a finish of grabbing the belt would be less dramatic as the Wrestlemania climax than a pin or submission. All in all, no singles match, no ladder match, you'd have to say that things ended up working out pretty darn great the way they did.


18. WM21: Trish Stratus vs Lita (Women's title)

Trish Stratus defeated Lita at 2005 New Years Revolution for the title.

In the course of the match, Lita tore her left ACL after executing a Thesz press off the ring apron, which resulted in an injury that left her unable to properly participate so the two divas had to end the match as quickly as possible with Stratus delivering a chick kick to Lita after inflicting some damage on her knee to place Stratus back on top of the Women's Division.

It had been reported that Lita was booked to originally lose this match before even becoming injured, and that down the road at Wrestlemania 21 it was scripted that the feud between her and Stratus would end with Lita regaining the title once again and becoming a three time Women's Champion.

Lita was not able to participate back in the ring yet due to her torn ACL recovery, so instead the storyline between Christy Hemme and Trish had been booked with the addition of Lita training Christy to take over the spot in the Wrestlemania slot.


19. WM21: Triple H vs Randy Orton (World Heavyweight title)

Many considered this match to happen at WMXX but it was way too soon for Orton.
Triple H and Randy Orton's feud in 2004 was supposed to continue till WM21.
Unfortunately for Orton, Batista became more popular than him and Batista was the one picked to go over Hunter at WrestleMania.


20. WM21: The Rock vs JBL (WWE title)

For Mania 21, Rock was purportedly very excited to once again come back and do something special for Wrestlemania, and had come up with a handful of ideas that he suggested to Vince. One of these was to wrestle Sting, whose name has been semi-seriously mentioned for every Mania since 17. According to Dave, the Sting match was only his second-best idea, and if I was to speculate, I might guess at his wanting to do a singles match with Flair stemming from the year before (already done once but few remember it), or a Rock and Steve Austin vs. Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair dream tag match that Dave and Mike Tenay thought about on one Observer Live. Whatever it was, WWE had different ideas and wanted him to wrestle JBL, back when the plan was to keep the belt on him indefinitely through the spring. At some point there was even talk of Rock winning the title and dropping it back two days later to swerve everyone who would assume he couldn't win. Anyway, it all became moot when the company let his contract expire in an "oversight" and he ended up not working the show in any capacity. Our loss. Things would certainly be a lot different right now if Rock/Layfield had happened.

John Laurinaitis and WWE refused to sign The Rock to a new part time contract.
It's a shame. We could've seen Rock vs HBK and many other dream matches if it wasn't for Johnny Ace.

They thought that The Rock would become a nobody in Hollywood and come crawling back to WWE and beg them for a full-time contract.
Years later, that's exactly what happened.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

21. WM22: The Undertaker vs Kurt Angle (World Heavyweight title)

This match was originally mapped out as the match that was going to end The Undertaker's undefeated streak.
Kurt Angle said in an interview in 2011:
"The person who wanted to do it was Undertaker himself. I was flattered, for him to go to Vince McMahon and pitch it. Undertaker at that point never had a five-star Wrestlemania moment match. He figured that the only one he could do it was me, at the time. Thank God a couple of years later he had Shawn Michaels, and it worked.

"But Undertaker really wanted to have that match, he asked Vince to push our match back from No Way Out to WrestleMania and, since I was champion they wanted me to keep the title, Undertaker was willing to take the loss. To me that meant a lot because Undertaker had a lot of respect for me — and I had more respect for him than he did for me."


22. WM22: Batista vs Randy Orton (World Heavyweight title)

Would've been extremely epic however Batista was injured and he had to drop the title and miss WrestleMania.

(P.S. It would've been epic in 2006 not in 2014 WWE)


23. WM22: Eddie Guerrero vs Shawn Michaels

On this week's edition of The Court Bauer & John Pollock Show, Bauer shared his thoughts on the passing of Eddie Guerrero in 2005 when he was still with the WWE and plans the company had for the following year's WrestleMania 22 event from Chicago.

"It was 24 hours before he passed away, I believe. 24 hours, 48 hours, something like that. We had a call with Vince at home, and we were talking about the preliminary plans for WrestleMania. I know there's this romanticized story about how Eddie was going to get the title, and that was the plan that he was going to get it that night or at Survivor Series. That wasn't the plan. I think Stephanie said that, or alluded to it on the air, and that was not the plan. The plan was that he would lose, and I think they were going to return in December. We had talked about a fascinating idea; I'm not the biggest Bruce Pritchard fan, but to his credit, I believe it was Bruce Prichard who pitched putting Eddie Guerrero at WrestleMania against Shawn Michaels and doing the parallels of their careers. Being the heartthrob in Mexico and this mercurial figure south of the border, and the American version being HBK. They had never really worked, and you would've had such a great dynamic between the two with heel Eddie versus Shawn. That'd be your 'tear the house down,' high quality match at WrestleMania 22 in Chicago. Vince was like, 'God damn, that's really appealing. We could parallel their careers. What kind of footage of Eddie do we have outside of WCW? We could really do some impressive packages.'"

What a dream match that would've been.


24. WM23: Triple H vs John Cena II (WWE title)

The plan was for Triple H to get a rematch and probably go over Cena this time.
Triple H got injured at New Year's Revolution and had to settle going over Cena cleanly at Night Of Champions 2008.


25. WM25: Edge vs John Cena (World Heavyweight title)

Edge and John Cena had arguably the rivalry of the year in 2006.

They both deserved to face each other in a one on one match at WrestleMania but out of nowhere, out pops the big show to ruin another huge WrestleMania match.


26. WM27: John Cena vs Randy Orton (WWE title)

In late 2010, this match was supposed to happen at WM27 along with Taker vs Barrett but well plans changed and unfortunately we didn't get another WM main event worthy match.

Rock could've have simply Rock bottom'd Cena against Orton. Not sure why The Miz had to be in a WM main event.


27. WM27: The Undertaker vs Sting

Sting revealed in an interview with the Daily Star that World Wrestling Entertainment officials approached and offered him a match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVII, as well as induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.
He declined their offer.

"I wouldn't say it was utter nonsense, that's not true!" laughs Sting. "It's a dream match that fans would want to see. It was close. I'm glad things turned out the way they did.

"There are so many variables. Let's just say that I turned it down for the same reasons I always have. Something in me never trusted what would happen up there, based entirely on the track record with other WCW guys and everything that went on after Vince bought WCW."


28. WM28: Shaquille O’Neal vs The Big Show

"The Wrestling Observer is reporting that despite claims by Shaquille O'Neal that he will indeed be at WrestleMania this year, there is still no definitive word on whether or not WWE intends for him to be a part of the big event.

Shaq has noted several times that he will be appearing at the show and even said back in December that he would be wrestling Big Show on the PPV card. However, WWE announced other plans for Big Show at the Smackdown tapings this week and it appears as if the rumored Show vs. Shaq singles match will not be taking place.
The original plan was to have the Shaq/Show feud kick off at this Monday night's Raw at the TD Garden in Boston, so you can expect that if Shaq does not show up on Raw or is not mentioned in anyway on the show, then negotiations between him and WWE likely fell through."

Unfortunately, Shaq never showed up.

In a card that featured a dream match with two huge mega stars The Rock and John Cena, a hardcore hell in a cell match Triple H vs Taker, a match between two of the greatest technical wrestlers in recent memory Chris Jericho and CM Punk, a match between two giants Shaq vs Big Show would've made WM 28 the most complete card ever.

As a guy who isn't fan of celebrities being on WWE TV, I was really excited for a Shaq vs Show match at Mania.


29. WM29: Randy Orton vs Sheamus (World Heavyweight title)

Sheamus was supposed to win the title back from Big Show and feud with Orton for the World Title.
This would facilitate a much needed heel turn for Orton's stale character.

However, WWE decided to book another world title match: Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger.

Nothing says Big Time Main Event World Title match like a guy who was getting toyed by John Cena at the RAW Christmas episode vs a guy who lost a couple of matches against Santino Marella and a match to Brodus Clay at RAW 1000 in a couple of seconds.


30. WM30: The Rock vs Brock Lesnar

The Rock and Brock Lesnar had a classic match at Summerslam 2002 where Brock Lesnar would defeat The Rock to win his first WWE title and become the youngest WWE champion in history ( breaking The Rock's record ).

After WrestleMania XX, both these mega stars would leave the wrestling business.

The Rock went on to become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood while Brock Lesnar went on to conquer the world of mixed martial arts and became the UFC Heavyweight champion and arguably UFC's biggest box office draw ever.

The Rock returned in 2011 to an amazing reaction from the crowd as well as Brock Lesnar in 2012.

With both these two box office powerhouses in the WWE again, many people would like to see The Rock vs Brock Lesnar in front of 70/80 thousand people at WrestleMania.

The plan since WM29 was for this match to be the main event of WrestleMania XXX however The Rock doesn't seem to be available for this year's WMXXX which makes this match another great match that almost happened.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Triple H vs Brock Lesnar was supposed to happen at Wrestlemania 21 but didn't happen because Lesnar left.

Rock vs Sting was also rumored to happen at Wrestlemania 21.

 

[sbattsjr]

How about warrior vs flair..there was a time they were trying to do a tag team of warrior and hogan vs flair and taker..that was around the time flair was signed and brung the real world champion gimmick to wwe

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

I heard that the original plan for WrestleMania 18 was to do Hogan vs. Austin like you mentioned, and then to do Hall & Nash vs. The Rock N Sock Connection, which would've been awesome.

I can't complain though, since Rock vs. Hogan is probably my all-time favorite match, but I still think it's a shame we never saw Austin vs. Hogan. WrestleMania 19 seemed liked the best time to do Austin/Hogan. I like Hogan/Vince and Rock/Austin at 19, but Austin/Hogan is the biggest dream match of all time. They could have had Rock challenge Undertaker's streak at 19 instead, which would be a much better match for Taker than a handicap match against Big Show and the fucking A-Train.

 

[The Perfect Max]

It's funny that some of these matches could have made certain WrestleMania events ten times better, especially WrestleMania XXVII. Also, Eddie Guerrero vs Shawn Michaels would have been epic for WrestleMania 22. That WrestleMania has slowly become my favourite, and this match would've solidified that notion.

The missed match between Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair at WrestleMania VIII is a prime example of two men with two big egos. On paper it sounds epic, but who really ever thought either would've laid down for the other? WrestleMania VIII could have been so much better.

As for the confusion at WrestleMania X8, I think a handicap match of The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The nWo (Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) could have been an absolutely epic match. That and Chris Jericho (c) vs Triple H for the Undisputed WWF Championship would have been solid WrestleMania X8 main event matches. A little off topic, I know, but just a thought.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I love the inclusion of Michaels vs Jannetty at Mania 8 on this list. Instead, Jannetty's return was delayed until just before Michaels won his first IC Title from the Bulldog and the curtain-jerker for Mania 8 was Michaels vs Tito Santana in a solid match.

Thinking back on how good Michaels vs Jannetty was in '93 (Royal Rumble and again on Raw), that match at Mania 8 would have made one of my all time favorite Manias even better. It's such a shame Jannetty could never get out of his own way.

 

[bioshock]

Awesome thread!! About the one who said Lesnar vs HHH was for WM21, are you sure it wasn't for WM20, because they had a tease on the last Raw for Brock before going to Smackdown. I think that the plan would of been for those guys to hook up had Brock been around long term.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I love the inclusion of Michaels vs Jannetty at Mania 8 on this list. Instead, Jannetty's return was delayed until just before Michaels won his first IC Title from the Bulldog and the curtain-jerker for Mania 8 was Michaels vs Tito Santana in a solid match.

Thinking back on how good Michaels vs Jannetty was in '93 (Royal Rumble and again on Raw), that match at Mania 8 would have made one of my all time favorite Manias even better. It's such a shame Jannetty could never get out of his own way.

Jannetty got screwed by Shawn lying about him being drunk in the ring at the Rumble, that was why this didn't happen at Mania 9... The house arrest stuff was legit and was a factor before the Rocker's split so it wasn't "new" and they built the angle around it with the "shop window" etc, so they could pitch it as Marty selling his injuries. When he came back he and Shawn had a house show run that set crowds alight but Vince decided to change the match up on the night and add Sherri... that and Marty popping his shoulder out mid match (quite gruesomely and enough for Heenan to make reference to it) made it a disappointment... Shawn blamed Marty, he got fired and spent 3 months on a bender as he was hard done by. When Shawn let slip to Curt Hennig the truth, Curt insisted Jannetty be rehired and we get one of the few true "Billy Martin" second chances Vince has ever given... but by then Mania 9 was gone and Marty had fallen into bad ways... Did you ever ask why he got so many goes? There's your answer...

I think one to add was Jericho v Undertaker at 28 - the creepy vignettes were at odds with how he actually returned, with his brilliant but bizzare "not talking/milking the pop" but the vignettes really seemed like they were going to go with Jericho v Undertaker. The one thing that drags the streak down for many is that Taker has faced 3 guys in 5 years and Trips 3 times in that 20-0. Jericho could have worked as good if not better a match than Triple H with Taker and added the interest of a Mania first rather than a reheated match for the 3rd year running. Who actually nixed this will probably be never known, I don't imgaine it was Taker, more likely HHH flexing his muscles behind the scenes. Jericho later tried to say it was a "trolling exercise" much like his actual return... but I doubt that.

WM9 - Bret Hart vs Davey Boy Smith - Ok this one maybe was only on the table for a short time but with the reaction their Summerslam match had gotten and the decision to put Bret as the champion, there is no question this match was considered as it would have drawn big numbers at Bret's first Mania from people wanting to see the next chapter.

However as soon as the plans were discussed, the Warrior roid bust hit and the two main options for Bret at Mania were wiped out as Davey was implicated. Both were released to avoid Vince unneeded embarrassment with his indictment looming and Yokozuna was moved into the spot as Flair had given notice. Warrior v Bret was also rumored but wouldn't have had the appeal of a rematch to what was considered the best match of all time by many. Davey winning the Rumble (a feat not impossible considering he was always portrayed as a strong competitor in those bouts) and going on to meet Bret would have guaranteed a strong match to end the night and reduce if not eliminate the need for Hogan on the show.

Wrestlemania 10 - Bret Hart Vs Lex Luger - While the way things worked were somewhat poetic, I can't help but feel Bret vs Lex ending the night would have been somewhat better and fitting considering how the situation arose with dual Rumble winners.

Long and incorrect rumors say Lex blew his chance but the reality is just that Vince had gone cold on Lex by that point, seeing his push as a failiure and with the crowd being behind Bret and a returning Davey Boy able to help build the feud with Owen, Bret was given the nod. I think both guys could have put on a great match, Luger showing more of his heel side and Bret showing just as much guts as he did against Yoko... you could have moments similar to the Piper match, Lex takes down his elbow guard to hit Bret with the "banned forearm" but doesn't... Bret refuses to submit to the Rack and they could have used the Austin finish from a while later with Lex just passing out to the Sharpshooter.

Wrestlemania 12 - Scott Hall vs Davey Boy Smith

While the Goldust match was on the cards, if they had decided to use a departing Hall, the best way would have been to put Davey Boy Smith over as his replacement in the mid-card. Davey ended up winning a 6 man tag and while he and Owen were successful in that period, as Davey was primed to be Shawn's first feud after winning a victory over "The Bad Guy" would have done a lot more than beating Jake, Ahmed and Yoko.

Wrestlemania 7 - The Hart Foundation v The Rockers

This was the time to put the Rockers over Bret and Neidhart and the team to do it rather than the Nastys. Sure it was a matter of when the belts went to the LOD and there were tentative plans to split the Rockers by years end... winning the titles here would have helped that rather than hindered it... They win the titles at Mania and then get creamed by LOD at Summerslam and again at Survivor Series... The Shawn "frustration" would be more palpable, Marty's desire for the team to stay together would have been more believable as they HAD reached the top and LOD were just another obstacle... The Harts were done at this point anyway so who they lost too was immaterial from their side, had it been the Rockers in a close fought match then it would have given the show a 2nd "classic" of the night.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Awesome thread!! About the one who said Lesnar vs HHH was for WM21, are you sure it wasn't for WM20, because they had a tease on the last Raw for Brock before going to Smackdown. I think that the plan would of been for those guys to hook up had Brock been around long term.

It was 21. The plan was to have a "Dream match" between Triple H vs Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 21.Then after Lesnar left they changed it to Triple H vs Randy Orton. Orton was supposed to win the Royal Rumble thus getting him a shot at Triple H at Wrestlemania 21 but because of rising popularity of Batista at that time WWE made the decision to put Batista in the Wrestlemania main event and have the Orton/Triple H match at the Rumble.

 

[5000]

John Cena vs. Hulk Hogan Wrestlemania 25- Hulk claims this was suppose to but he got a false doctors report.A win over Hogan at mania would have made Cena a instant legend.

Rock vs. Orton Wrestlemania 29- This was heavily rumored after Wrestlemania 28 but was nixed due to Rock vs. Cena II

Taker vs. Cena and Rock vs. Lesnar and HBK vs. Triple H Wrestlemania 30 main events- The first 2 were cancelled due to Rock leaving.The 3rd one was cancelled due to the WWE control storyline.Cena vs. Taker can still happen.

Bryan vs.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Sting vs. Angle at Wrestlemania X8 makes me laugh when they had Mr. Perfect on the roster. So WWE were hoping to get a classic Mania match out of Angle and they didn't think to put him up against Perfect? Sting vs. Angle could've been a good match, but a classic like how Perfect and Angle would have been? I don't think so. Perfect/Angle should've been the plan for Mania 18 all along. Also Sting was much bigger than Angle was at the time, a match between the two at Mania just wouldn't have fit. Angle vs. Sting came at the right time at Bound For Glory 2007 when both were huge draws.

If WWE were trying to bring Sting in for a match at Wrestlemania, I think it should've been against someone of his calibre like Stone Cold Steve Austin. You could tell Austin really didn't wanna work with Scott Hall, and Austin would've been a really interesting opponent since he was the complete opposite of Sting and he represented everything Sting was against. Imagine that - Sting vs Austin and Hogan vs Rock at Wrestlemania X8. It should actually be the other way around, Rock vs Sting and Hogan vs Austin but Austin and Hogan were never gonna work with each other.

Even without Sting there, I still think Austin should've have had a different opponent at Wrestlemania X8. I'm sure Austin would've been satisfied with facing and putting over Triple H instead. WWE seemed to be teasing a match between the two with their interaction in the Royal Rumble match and on the go home Raw episode before the Royal Rumble. Austin/HHH would've made a better revenge/comeback story for Triple H than Jericho/HHH.

 

[Rocky84]

I'm sure glad a lot of these matches didn't happen, but then there's a lot of matches that should've happened. There's even matches that should've happened but shouldn't have at that exact time.

Everyone knows Hogan vs Flair should've happened at Mania 8. I'd also like to think that it should've been just Hogan and Piper at Mania 1, and just have Mr T and Wonderful in their corners.

I always wanted to see Hogan vs Austin, and at Mania 18 I wanted it more than Hogan vs Rock, but in retrospect it was the right move to have Rocky in there as it was fitting with Hollywood Hogan and Rock's Hollywood success.

However, it would've been ideal to have Austin vs Hogan (red & yellow) at Mania 20. I thought that would've been the perfect timing and send off for them both. I don't think it would've been good at Mania 19 because Hogan vs Vince was perfect and Rock getting his revenge on Austin was perfect too (being that they faced every other year from 15 to 17 to 19).

I would've liked to see HHH vs Austin at Mania 18 though. I HATED that Jericho was main eventing. I did like that Austin practically took on the Outsiders and not just Scott Hall alone...it made it so much more of a challenge with Nash's bigtime involvement. If Nash didn't get hurt at that time I would've liked to see the Brothers of Destruction vs the Outsiders.