Yesterday, we discussed the best Intercontinental title matches. Those matches can be seen at any time by popping in your copy of that particular Wrestlemania on DVD (the anthology is available in stores or on the internet!). Those matches electrified and amazed before thousands, even millions when they aired, but what about the matches that never did?
While there have been plenty of amazing matches in Wrestlemania's history, there are certainly some that fans have always wished would have happened. Specifically, there are main events out there in the atmosphere that have never happened but should have. These are the matches we're going to talk about here.
The concept is simple: every Wrestlemania has a main event, but not ever Wrestlemania has had a great main event. The following 5 matches are, in my opinion, matches that SHOULD have happened at their respective Wrestlemanias and in most cases would have been better than the main events that particular show provided. I tried to space these out so that they didn't all include Hogan. You could argue that quite a few of the first Manias could have provided a better opponent for Hogan, but the list would be boring if we were just talking about that. Sure, heels like Earthquake, Ted Dibiase, Paul, Orndork, Roddy Piper, etc. could have made great singles opponents for Hogan at Mania, but there's only so much we could argue in this regard. Wrestlemania is about being epic, so we are going to try and focus on what would have been epic. Here it goes:
5. Wrestlemania 13: Undertaker vs. Vader - I have no qualms with this being Undertaker's time and this would still culminate with an Undertaker victory, but I stand firm in my belief that Vader deserved to main event Wrestlemania. This is one of the most athletic big men I've ever seen and was a huge acquisition for the WWF when he came in. He was a huge star in WCW and in Japan, but his WWF run was completely forgettable. This all could have been changed with a slight booking adjustment. Undertaker and Vader were feuding going into this show, having fought at the Royal Rumble with Paul Bearer helping Vader win. Then came the whole Austin winning the rumble dispute and the subsequent "Final 4" match at In Your House. Simply have Vader win here, last eliminating Undertaker and we have a new champion. Then, quickly dispose of Sid, who had challenged the winner at Raw and you build towards Wrestlemania with Undertaker seemingly have no chance to beat this monster. Of course, he would actually do that, giving the fans that big moment at the end of the show. This would have given Vader an actual title run in the WWF and provided the fans with a better main event than Undertaker/Sid. Sure, the show was about Austin/Bret Hart anyway, but with a solid main event, I think this show could have been held in higher esteem. The way to do that would have been to put Frankie Stechino's father in the main event! (points if you get that reference)
4. Wrestlemania 2000: The Rock vs. Triple H - I was drawn back to wrestling in this era, but in no way could I justify the decision for the main event at this Wrestlemania. For one thing, it called for Mick Foley to come out of retirement after about 3 weeks, which was utterly stupid in and of itself. The other problem was that it became about the McMahons when it really didn't need to be. I understand that Vince vs. Austin worked to perfection as a feud, but that doesn't mean that EVERY major feud needed to included a McMahon. This one certainly didn't, as it was very clear that Rock and Triple H were the two biggest stars of the company at the time with Austin out with an injury. That alone should sell Wrestlemania, especially with Triple H being the evil heel trying to run the company and Rock being the face trying to save it. Also take into account that Rock and Triple H always had good matches, so you could have expected this to at least be solid. I know they matched up for most of the 4 way main event, but the other two guys never should have been in it! If you still want to do the Vince ending, go right ahead. The only McMahons that mattered in this story were Stephanie and Vince anyway. It's tough to find things for Big Show to do, but this had to be Rock vs. Triple H. The fact that that matchup never main evented Wrestlemania is kind of sad. Top face vs. top heel......it should have been so simple.
3. Wrestlemania 10: Bret Hart vs. Lex Luger - This is known as one of the better Wrestlemanias, but it could have been truly elite with a better main event. What we actually got was a rematch from the year before without Hulk Hogan coming in and stealing the spotlight. That doesn't mean it was good though. Yokozuna is a classic example of a good idea that has finite selling points. A massive heel that can't be beaten is a good idea.........for a very short time. Once that heel is beaten, the luster is gone. Essentially, that happened at Wrestlemania 9 when Hogan beat the guy in like 20 seconds. Still, he was pushed to beat Hogan at King of the Ring and have a title run for the rest of the year. The problem was that he should have been beaten by Lex Luger at Summerslam following the epic build with the Lex Express. Let's ignore the obviousness there and assume all goes the same way anyway. We're still talking about Luger and Hart being the top two guys in the company at the time with this being the peak of Luger's popularity in the WWF. He wasn't great in ring, but you certainly had to figure that Luger was better to face Hart than Yokozuna. Now, supposedly that was supposed to happen but legend has it that Luger blurted out in a bar that he was going to win the title at Wrestlemania so it was nixed. There's no confirmation of this story, but had Luger done just that earlier in the night, we would have gotten Luger vs. Hart at the end, which undoubtedly would have been a bigger main event than Hart/Yoko Part 2. Had Hart beaten Luger here, it would have meant more too. Yet another missed opportunity of pairing the company's top two stars in the main event of a show.
2. Wrestlemania X-Seven: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Triple H - I know that this show provided the best installment of the Rock/Austin 'Mania matches, and I also know that Triple H's match with Undertaker was excellent (but don't tell the WWE that because they are acting like this never happened!). What I also know is that the best story of the Attitude Era that involved two actual wrestlers did not culminate at Wrestlemania. The main problem I have with this era is that everything was about instant gratification. What we had was an amazing story where the truth came out that Triple H was behind the Austin car attack a year prior. These two men were undoubtedly huge stars at this point and the story was perfect. Austin had come back and found out that Rikishi was the driver of the car that hit him. You let that feud go for a while and reveal Triple H as the mastermind around Survivor Series or so. Then, you have Triple H duck Austin for a while, refusing to fight him and/or put up his WWF title. The only way to get to the "owner" is to win the Royal Rumble, which of course Austin does. Then, Triple H could make Austin go through a friend at No Way Out to truly earn the spot and you set up the big match where Austin triumphs at Wrestlemania. The other reason this works better than what we got is because having a heel walk out champion at two straight Wrestlemanias was downright stupid. Call me old fashioned, but the point of the show is to give the fans everything they want. I'm pretty sure they didn't want Austin to turn heel (though I personally like his heel run). Give him the big triumph, then you can go from there, perhaps having him become a heel later in the year. Either way, this would have been a better main event as the heat and the build would have been incredible. As it stands, we got two solid matches at the end of the night, which is hard to complain about. Still, this storyline deserved a Wrestlemania match and I believe this would have been bigger than the match we got.
1. Wrestlemania 8: Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair - Is there any other answer here? These were the two biggest stars in wresting in the 80s and people today still argue who was better. This was the first chance to pair them up and the WWF never really delivered. That Wrestlemania featured Flair facing Savage in a fantastic match with a great story, but despite its greatness, who among us wouldn't have rather have seen Hogan vs. Flair. This could have been Hogan's last hurrah and it would have been way better than him facing Sid Justice at least. Throughout the 90s, we always wondered who had the better champion, WCW or WWF. This was the one chance to actually answer that question. Ric Flair came over to the WWF WITH the WCW title and all that was needed was to push this feud. This would have been the ultimate title vs. title but apparently, ego got in the way. The story here is that neither wanted to lose so it didn't happen. You can learn all about this on the "True History of Wrestlemania" DVD. This was so simple though, and one guy just needed to suck it up and lose. They both would have made a ton of money and the match would have went down as one of the best main events ever. Truly a missed opportunity and even though they faced off a few years later in WCW, fans will always wonder what could have been had these two clashed at Wrestlemania 8.
Well, there you have it. Quite a few matches that never were, but certainly would have been sights to see. Make sure to check back tomorrow for the next Wrestlemania Countdown piece as well as the Raw HOT or NOT. Things will be very busy here over the next couple of weeks. Check back often for all the latest!
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