Aborted Wrestlemania Matches

[The Law]

Found this on another forum. Not totally sure who the author is, but he ranked the top Wrestlemania matches that were originally planned by canceled for one reason or another. Here's the list, with my thoughts in parenthesis:

Honorable Mentions:
-Razor Ramon vs. Goldust, Wrestlemania 12 (Razor failed a drug test and they swapped in Piper)
-Mankind vs. Vader, Wrestlemania 13 (Wish they had done it. The card needed more big matches)
-Kane vs. X-Pac, Wrestlemania 16 (This feud was terrible)
-Edge vs. William Regal, Wrestlemania 18 (So was this feud)
-John Cena vs. Fabolous and Jay-Z, Wrestlemania 19 (Cena rap battle would have been excellent)
-Matt Hardy vs. Mark Henry, Wrestlemania 20 (Meh.)

30) Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior (Wrestlemania VII) (Love the idea. Much better than Hogan/Slaughter. Might have saved us from the abomination of Warrior/Hogan in WCW.)


29) Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair (Wrestlemania VIII) (Not sure if it was ever actually the plan. Hogan was going away, Flair had the belt, and Hogan wasn't going to put him over. Savage/Flair was an all-time classic feud and match, so I can't complain too much)


28) Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle (Wrestlemania 21)


27) Undertaker and Kane vs. Snitsky and Heidenreich (Wrestlemania 21) (Good work by Taker to get out of this one)


26) Mick Foley vs. Vince McMahon (Wrestlemania X-Seven) (Foley decided he didn't want to wrestle)


25) Vince McMahon vs. Eric Bischoff (Wrestlemania XIX) (Not a huge loss. Hogan/McMahon was better)


24) Vince McMahon vs. Steve Austin (Wrestlemania 20) (Would have been a waste. Card was stacked as it was)


23) Steve Austin vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania X8) (Clearly, they were building towards this with the Power Trip. Then HHH tore his quad, the invasion happened, and Austin's heel run flopped)


22) Steve Austin vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania XIX)


21) Rock vs. Goldberg (Wrestlemania XIX) (They didn't get him under contract in time. Not much loss. Crowd would have shit on Goldberg just like they did at Backlash 2003)


20) Rock vs. JBL (Wrestlemania 21) (Not really sure where this idea came from. If Rock was going to wrestle at this show he should have faced Michaels)


19) Randy Orton vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 20) (Would have been way too soon)


18) Randy Orton vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 21) (Makes total sense. Too bad HHH had to screw Orton over and kill all of his heat)


17) Mick Foley vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 20)


16) Chris Benoit vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 20) (I was never wild about Shawn's inclusion. Would rather have seen him face Rock)


15) Chris Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels Ladder Match (Wrestlemania 20)


14) Steve Austin vs. Rock vs. Mankind (Wrestlemania XV) (Glad they didn't do this. Not a fan of three ways)


13) Steve Austin vs. Rock vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania X-Seven) (I'm disappointed this never happened, but glad they did Rock/Austin one-on-one instead)


12) Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania X-Seven) (Not sure how serious this was. Shawn was supposed to get involved in the Undertaker/HHH match, but he showed up coked up to Raw and they sent him home)


11) Triple H vs. Ray Lewis (Wrestlemania X-Seven) (Definitely for the best that this didn't happen. I guess OJ was too old)


10) Triple H vs. Hulk Hogan (Wrestlemania X-Seven)(Meh. It sucked when they had their match in 2002)


9) Steve Austin vs. Big Show (Wrestlemania 2000) (They should have done this. Build Big Show up as an unstoppable monster all year and then have him fight Austin at Wrestlemania. It would have been the Attitude Era equivalent of Hogan vs. Andre. Instead they did it on Raw before Wrestlemania 15 with no buildup. One of the worst booking decisions of the era)


8) Rock vs. Triple H (Wrestlemania 2000) (Much better than the desecration of Foley's retirement that we got. The four way was terrible.)


7) Steve Austin vs. Hulk Hogan (Wrestlemania X8) (Not clear why it didn't happen. Some say they wanted to do Rock/Hogan instead, some say Austin refused to work with Hogan because he didn't trust him, some say they couldn't agree to a finish.)


6) Steve Austin vs. Kurt Angle (Wrestlemania X8)


5) Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit (Wrestlemania X8) (Benoit hadn't recovered from his neck injury yet)


4) Steve Austin vs. Rock (Wrestlemania 2000) (Probably would have happened if Austin's neck hadn't given out in the fall)


3) Steve Austin vs. Rock (Wrestlemania X8)


2) Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Wrestlemania 13) (Would have happened, but Michaels decided he didn't want to put Bret over and lost his smile)


1) Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart (Wrestlemania XIV) (Would have been a great match and very fitting. Austin never got his big win over Bret after losing at Survivor Series 1996 and Wrestlemania 13)


Here's the link to the original thread, which includes explanations of what allegedly happened to cause plans to change: http://forums.prowrestling.com/showthread.php?t=110754

Any others to add? What do you think of the Wrestlemania matches that almost were?

[Morrison]

orton vs cena.

[Atty]

There are a lot of assumptions in the comments there that are probably bullshit.


The three that always stand out are Shawn/Bret at 13, Flair/Hogan at 8 and, of course CENA/ORTON.

Interestingly, with most of these, we got a great match from their absence. If Bret/Shawn had happened, we wouldn't have gotten Austin/Bret and the WWE landscape could have turned out frighteningly different. If Flair/Hogan happened, we wouldn't have gotten the all time great Flair/Savage match. If Warrior/Hogan had happened at WM 7, we wouldn't have gotten a top five WWE match in Warrior/Savage.

[Beer-Belly]

Austin didn't want the Hogan match because Hogan is a grandstanding twat.

Austin vs. Angle at X8 would've been dope.

[Simmo Fortyone]

Might have been the Rumble two years ago, when Cena and Orton did this big slow-turn-toward-each-other confrontation, obviously expecting the crowd to go, "Oh my goodness! This is the Austin/Rock of our generation! Let's go crazy YYEEEEEEAAAAAH!" However the response was so goddamn apathetic that the slo-mo-turn just looked silly. The crowd was so quiet you could almost hear the writing staff, "Shit, better not make this the Mania main event."

[mr sabu]

Aurora Rose vs a coathanger

[Vice]

Might have been the Rumble two years ago, when Cena and Orton did this big slow-turn-toward-each-other confrontation, obviously expecting the crowd to go, "Oh my goodness! This is the Austin/Rock of our generation! Let's go crazy YYEEEEEEAAAAAH!" However the response was so goddamn apathetic that the slo-mo-turn just looked silly. The crowd was so quiet you could almost hear the writing staff, "Shit, better not make this the Mania main event."

That truly was amazing. :lol:

[Brian M.]

Might have been the Rumble two years ago, when Cena and Orton did this big slow-turn-toward-each-other confrontation, obviously expecting the crowd to go, "Oh my goodness! This is the Austin/Rock of our generation! Let's go crazy YYEEEEEEAAAAAH!" However the response was so goddamn apathetic that the slo-mo-turn just looked silly. The crowd was so quiet you could almost hear the writing staff, "Shit, better not make this the Mania main event."

Yeah that was highly embarrassing. Though I'm not sure what they expected given how many times Orton and Cena had gone at it previously to that. That being said, I think that was more of a single Rumble moment than them thinking about making that the Mania main. Earlier in that show they had explicitly set up Punk VS Orton and Miz VS Cena as Mania matches. Pretty sure that's the direction they were always going in.

[turdpower]

Why was Austin nearly wrestling everyone at X8?

[chatty]

Why was Austin nearly wrestling everyone at X8?

And then ended up with a pathetic version of Scott Hall - nearly any match they could have put him in (including mid-carders) at that time would have been better.

[OD50]

Don't forget the most epic WrestleMania match ever that we missed out on..

WrestleMania X:

1,2,3-Kid, Tatanka, The Smokin' Gunns and Sparky Plugg vs. Double J, The Model, IRS and The Headshrinkers. We did get it on Raw the following night though. I remember a huge brawl and IRS pinning The Kid.

And I'm not sure, but I have vague memories of Tatanka vs. Ludvig Borga being announced on WWF Superstars for WMX as well. The match that didn't happen at RR '94 didn't happen at mania either. :/

[RuneEdge]

Hogan vs Bret Hart.

This was around the time between WrestleMania 9 where Hogan "stole" the title and apparantly Bret was supposed to get a shot at it. But instead we got Hogan dropping the title back to Yokozuna at King of the Ring and then Bret facing Yoko for the belt.
I think this was when Hogan jumped to WCW.

[Jacknife]

Kane and Taker vs. Snitsky and Heidenreich would've been awesome.

[McBain]

Might have been the Rumble two years ago, when Cena and Orton did this big slow-turn-toward-each-other confrontation, obviously expecting the crowd to go, "Oh my goodness! This is the Austin/Rock of our generation! Let's go crazy YYEEEEEEAAAAAH!" However the response was so goddamn apathetic that the slo-mo-turn just looked silly. The crowd was so quiet you could almost hear the writing staff, "Shit, better not make this the Mania main event."

:lol:

I didn't know about this. Sounds hilarious.

[OD50]

Hogan vs Bret Hart.

This was around the time between WrestleMania 9 where Hogan "stole" the title and apparantly Bret was supposed to get a shot at it. But instead we got Hogan dropping the title back to Yokozuna at King of the Ring and then Bret facing Yoko for the belt.
I think this was when Hogan jumped to WCW.

It was a little over one year before Hogan signed with WCW. He filmed Thunder In Paradise and wrestled some matches in Japan in the meantime. The Hogan vs. Muta match was kind of cool btw..

And yes, I believe Bret has said that he was going to wrestle (and beat) Hogan for the title at KOTR '93 before Hogan went on his merry way. Then Hogan changed his mind and didn't want to put Bret over. Maybe he was still viewing Bret as the smallish tag-team mid carder Hart was during Hogan's first WWF run.

[StoneColdChris]

Wasnt King Booker vs HBK the original plan for the Battle of the Billionaires at 23?? I remember reading something about it.

Can't forget HHH/Cena 2 was supposed to happen at 23 as well, and I believe one of the early plans for 22 was Batista vs Orton.

[JP]

14) Steve Austin vs. Rock vs. Mankind (Wrestlemania XV) (Glad they didn't do this. Not a fan of three ways)

Should have happened.

Foley had worked his absolute arse off the entire year, had two of the greatest feuds in wwe history (against Foley and Austin, perfectly enough and continued his epic with Taker. In the end he got bumped off to do some shit with Big Show and run in to basically give Austin the win.

What really grates about it, is that it was Shawn Michaels who nixed the triple threat idea, saying WM main events should always be one-on-one. He was actually fighting for Foley to be involved against Austin, but hey, he was in his short-term thinking, dick phase. And then who is part of the first 3-way WM main event? It's the little things like that that occasionally annoy me about HBK.

[ReDPath]

Its obvious that Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco and HHH had a big hand in destroying pretty much all of those aborted Attitude Era/Post Attitude Era matches. They had the ability to do just that back then and even now.

Far as the late 80s/Hogan Era/Early/Mid 90s. You'd have to say the fair amount of blame should go on Hogan (when he was still there) along with Bret and HBK for the colossal disasters, and im quite sure Flair had an abundance of power during his first run in WWE in the early 90s.

Of course Vince deserves the majority blame in the end, but the guys mentioned already deserve a fair share as well. Including Austin who I forgot to mention.

[turdpower]

10) Triple H vs. Hulk Hogan (Wrestlemania X-Seven)

How would this have been possible?

[Beer-Belly]

Hogan wasn't under contract to WCW anymore if I remember correctly.

[Cewsh]

Actually he was, they could have bought out the rest of his WCW contract though.

[Ochoa]

Was WM 22 ever going to just be Angle vs. Orton or was a 3 way always the plan?

[Cewsh]

I'm sure it involved Mysterio from the day Eddie died.

[Ochoa]

Hmmm. Maybe some people jusf wanted a one on one match. I dunno. I heard something.

[The Law]

I think Hogan/Flair is the most intriguing one. Most of the other ones the reasons are pretty clear why they didn't happen (injuries, leaving the company, just changing plans). But it's not at all clear why Hogan/Flair didn't happen. They announced it on TV at a mock press conference. Was that just to further the angle with Sid and Hogan? Or did they actually intend to go through with it? Did Hogan refuse to job? Or did they decide they didn't want to do the match if Hogan couldn't come out on top? I mean, Hogan/Sid ended in a DQ and Warrior returned, so they easily could have just done the same thing with Hogan/Flair (Perfect interferes and Warrior runs in for the save). I've heard the explanation that the match wasn't getting a good response on house shows. That's interesting and a little surprising. Maybe Flair wasn't able to do the heat segments well? Both guys generally get worked over for most of their matches.

If Flair had stuck around I'm sure they would have done it at some point. But Hogan didn't come back until early 1993 and by then Flair had gone back to WCW. Over course, we got this match as soon as Hogan signed with WCW. And while it wasn't a classic, I believe it drew WCW's biggest buyrate ever to that point.

[Cewsh]

The prevailing opinion, which Flair and Hart both mentioned, was that they had some truly shitty house show matches and it scared management away from doing the match at Mania. And it's mostly because Flair was at his absolute worst around then without somebody great in the ring with him.

[Atty]

Actually he was, they could have bought out the rest of his WCW contract though.

Not in time for 17. They bought out WCW the week before the PPV and Taker/HHH had been promoted for over a month, so his Hogan/HHH at 17 listing is more bullshit.

[turdpower]

:D

[Chris]

28) Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle (Wrestlemania 21)

Angle has mentioned in the past how he wishes his match with Taker at No Way Out 2006 had happened at Mania 22 instead. That's not to say that it was heavily considered, but it would have been a damn fine match to have on that card.

[OD50]

The prevailing opinion, which Flair and Hart both mentioned, was that they had some truly shitty house show matches and it scared management away from doing the match at Mania. And it's mostly because Flair was at his absolute worst around then without somebody great in the ring with him.

I've seen one or two of their house show matches ( I know of one from MSG towards the very end of 1991 for sure) and I didn't think they were that bad. Maybe the crowds didn't react favorable towards Hogan when he wrestled Flair? Even the good ol' WWF crowds had grown tired of Hogans act by 1992, as seen at the Royal Rumble for example.

[MMH]

I've seen one or two of their house show matches ( I know of one from MSG towards the very end of 1991 for sure) and I didn't think they were that bad. Maybe the crowds didn't react favorable towards Hogan when he wrestled Flair? Even the good ol' WWF crowds had grown tired of Hogans act by 1992, as seen at the Royal Rumble for example.

Basically the matches didnt draw nearly as much as WWF had hoped. I dont think match quality would have really mattered, we got Sid anyway which was a step down regardless.

Savage vs Flair was great though.

[Cewsh]

I think they assumed that Flair would be hugely well known to their audience before coming in, and he really wasn't.

[StoneColdChris]

Del Rio/Swagger

[The Law]

Angle has mentioned in the past how he wishes his match with Taker at No Way Out 2006 had happened at Mania 22 instead. That's not to say that it was heavily considered, but it would have been a damn fine match to have on that card.

I've always wished they had done Angle/Undertaker at Wrestlemania 22. They could have given Orton his title shot on Smackdown the day after No Way Out because he cheated to beat Mysterio. Orton beats Angle to win the title and they do Orton/Mysterio and Angle/Undertaker. Make Undertaker/Angle a Submission Match, since they were touting the fact that neither guy had ever tapped out (of course, that wasn't true since Angle had tapped out to Benoit four times in 30 minutes at Backlash 2001).

[dunno]

I'm most likely wrong on this but does anyone else remember a rumor that it was supposed to be Undertaker/Rikishi at 17 with Triple H in the main event making it a three way? Rikishi got hurt so he had to miss the show.

Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong and thinking that was the way they were going since Taker and Rikishi were feuding around then and Triple H had beaten Austin at No Way Out so you would think he would have a reason to be apart of the main event.

[StoneColdChris]

I believe it was going to be Taker and Kane vs Haku and Rikishi

[Chris]

Yeah, the seeds were definitely planted. Taker was eliminated by Rikishi at the Rumble, and Rikishi and Haku came down to brawl with Taker and Kane during the triple threat tag team tables match at No Way Out.

[Beer-Belly]

They really should've gone with the Austin/Rock/Triple H triple threat with Austin going over clean as a babyface.

[Archangel]

Rock vs Triple H one on one at WM 2000
Edge vs John Cena at WM 23 and/or WM 25

[Bluegunn]

Undertaker and Nathan Jones VS Albert and Big Show became a handycap match
Steamboat was also pushing for one last match with Flair
I believe Hogan/Austin vs Davari and Hassan was rumored as well

[Spoonman]

I don't know if anybody has said it but Randy Savage was supposed to win the IC title from Honky at WM IV. Ted DiBiase was supposed to win the WWF title. Honky threw a spanner in the works and started being awkward (nothing new for him) and the plans ended up changing. In a shoot interview Honky said that Ted still holds a grudge towards him about it.

[lotjx]

Del Rio/Swagger

As a Mania ticket holder, I hope you are right. Orton being shoved in the Kurt/Rey match was so bad. Orton can work with someone else even back then, he really wasn't as over as he and management thought he was. Plus, it would save some face with how shitty they treated Eddie's death. Mankind in WM XV would have been akward. Foley was almost as over as Steve was. Plus, Foley says his knees were shot or he was sick at the time of Mania, I forget which. He also says he wasn't a fan of going against Big Show since they turned Show face the week before. Foley in WM 2000 was bad, but again Big Show didn't deserve that spot either. I think they out booked themselves at No Way Out with Shane returning. The McMahons killed WM 2000 and a lot of that year minus Backlash. If Backlash was Mania, holy shit, it would be considered as good as WM 3, X, x-7 and XX.

[Atty]

Rock vs Triple H one on one at WM 2000
Edge vs John Cena at WM 23 and/or WM 25

If you mean Edge/Cena at 22, I very much agree.

[Eddie Brock]

WrestleMania 24: Great Khali vs. Hulk Hogan - hints of the match were given on the RAW 15th anniversary show.

In theory, the card could've looked like this:

Edge vs. Undertaker
Mayweather vs. Show
Cena vs. HHH vs. Orton
Ashley/Maria vs. Beth/Melina
Flair vs. Michaels
Hogan vs. Khali
Batista vs. Umaga
Money In The Bank
Finlay vs. JBL

[turdpower]

Great bump.

[McBain]

Clearly just noticed from the WWE.com article. But yeah fair play, this thread's time has come once again.

[Tom B. Stone]

I believe there was talk at one point of doing Cena vs. Hogan at WM 24 or 25.

As far as Hogan vs. Flair, there were so many factors involved. They faced each other so much at house shows, where the attendance wasn't what they expected, that the WWF realised people just weren't interested. There was also the issue of Hogan, who was taking time off after WrestleMania 8, potentially losing to his counterpart from the NWA/JCP/WCW - which we know just wasn't going to happen.

[BabyBooboo]

Didn't Hogan challenge Austin to a match at WM 22 sometime in 2005? Think it might have been his HOF speech or some Raw anniversary thing. Was he just blowing smoke or was there actual movement to get the match made?

In theory, the WM 22 card could have looked like this(If real life didn't happen) :

Cena vs. Edge WWE Title
Batista vs. Orton WHC title
Austin vs. Hogan
Guerrero vs. HBK
Angle vs. Taker
HHH vs. Flair (only match that wasn't rumored at some point but I always thought they should have blown off their late 05 feud at mania)
MITB

That card in front of the Chicago crowd...man

[Tom B. Stone]

Didn't Hogan challenge Austin to a match at WM 22 sometime in 2005? Think it might have been his HOF speech or some Raw anniversary thing. Was he just blowing smoke or was there actual movement to get the match made?

When Raw returned to USA Network in October 2005, Hogan did a promo where he challenged Austin. But this wasn't part of the script and I believe Austin had already left the arena by that point. The match was not being discussed.

[eddymac]

I think Hogan/Flair didn't happen because back then the WWF always wanted the face to close WrestleMania with the win. Hogan was on his way out and Flair was the heel. Since Hogan was on his way out, they didn't want him beating a guy like Flair who was staying. So they made the switch.

[Tom B. Stone]

I think Hogan/Flair didn't happen because back then the WWF always wanted the face to close WrestleMania with the win. Hogan was on his way out and Flair was the heel. Since Hogan was on his way out, they didn't want him beating a guy like Flair who was staying. So they made the switch.

That was at least part of the reason, which I mentioned a few posts ago.

[The_Mike]

The mark in me really wishes there had been a Hogan/Austin match, but the smark thinks it probably would have been pretty poor. Rock vs Hogan worked because both guys aren't particularly physical wrestlers, they are all about showmanship and can get a big reaction without doing a huge amount. Not that Austin needed to do much to get the crowd behind him, but he was a physically intense wrestler and I just can't imagine Hogan being able to handle Austin's Thesz presses and wild brawling and mud-hole stomping. It probably would have boiled down to Hogan posing and pointing and throwing a few punches and slams, and Austin having to bump like mad and slow down his own offense, and then we're not really seeing a proper Austin match.

I have no idea why WWE picked Scott Hall of all people for a match with Austin at Mania. Just seemed completely apropos of nothing, and a waste of a legend coming to the end of his in-ring days. How many great potential bouts could have been put in that slot instead.

[JustDuett]

I believe Hogan/Austin vs Davari and Hassan was rumored as well

How lopsided of a match could WWE ever come up with? This may be pretty close to the answer!

[Nash Diesel]

They wanted Austin and Rock involved with the nWo, so if they couldn't do Hogan-Austin, they went with the next best thing since apparently Kevin Nash wasn't able to wrestle either.

I actually heard a RUMOR, that supposedly they were going to do Hogan/Outsiders v. Austin/Rock/HHH but HHH wanted to come back and get the World title off of Jericho. Personally, I would have rather seen Rock v. Hall and Austin v. Hogan. I know it sounds a little corny but the way Rock and Hall throw punches are identical and everytime I'd see the Rock throw a punch I'd go "He got that from Razor Ramon". That whole angle was fucked up from the get go, listen to Kevin Nash talk about it on various shoot interviews, he makes a good point about how the WWE basically wanted to show that WWE>WCW and that's what they did. Hall was supposed to go over Austin but they changed that at the last minute and then turned Hogan full face so the nWo was fucked.

Side note, did you guys know that they (WWE) had hollered at Eric Bischoff to come to the WWE and join the nWo? I'm not 100% sure if it was after Mania, but he said in his book that basically when he turned it down that's when they brought in Shawn.