The Shimmy 3.26.07: WrestleMania Main Events That Could Have Been
Posted by Andy Clark on 03.26.2007
What would have happened if certain WrestleMania main events didn't go down like they did? How would that have affected the history of the event? Click the link and read more!
Greetings, folks. How are we this week? Good. This week we continue our look back at past WrestleManias; specifically WrestleMania main events that would have been. What would have happened had certain main events not played out the way they did? And would a change in main event have been a positive or negative change? Let's take a look…
Shortly before the first WrestleMania WWE presented a show on MTV called "The War to Settle the Score." One of the featured matches for that show was Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper. That match did not have a finish. Now, if that were to happen today that would almost surely lead to a rematch between the two men at the big show with some sort of stipulation added to it. For this era that stipulation would almost surely be a Steel Cage Match. Of course this isn't what we got. Instead the main event of the first WrestleMania would be Hogan teaming with Mr. T (with Jimmy Snuka in their corner) against Piper and Paul Orndorf (with Cowboy Bob Orton in their corner) and a bevy of celebrities at ringside, including outside referee Muhammad Ali. So which would have been the better plan? I think WWE chose the right main event in order to properly showcase the Rock'n'Wrestling connection, mixing six of their top stars with stars from other entertainment fields. While Hogan and Piper wouldn't get to really blow off their feud for almost ten years later, this match was more influential than any title match could have been.
By now it's pretty much common knowledge why this match didn't go down. Had the Honky Tonk Man not refused to job the IC Title to Randy Savage this would have been our main event. Oddly enough it is even rumored that DiBiase was slated to win here, meaning a heel would walk out of WrestleMania as the champion twelve years before it actually happened. Imagine what that would have done for the image of WrestleMania? Would we still think of it as the magical event where good triumphs over evil? Would we have taken the ending of WrestleMania 2000 (and in some people's cases the end of WrestleMania 22) quite so badly? Also, what would have happened to the "Macho Man?" I still think that they could have done the Mega-Powers explosion at WrestleMania V, it just wouldn't have had quite the build. While it would have been nice for Ted DiBiase to get a title run under his belt, even a short one, I again think WWE made the right call in putting over Savage and building to WrestleMania V a year in advance.
Technically we did get this match. But what if this match was scheduled all along? They could have had Bret Hart drop the title to Yokozuna on any small show that they wanted and it wouldn't have been that out of place back then. Hell, I believe Ric Flair even lost the title to Bret Hart on a no-nothing show. They could have billed WrestleMania as Hulk Hogan's triumphant return to stop the foreign giant. They even could have let Hogan cut some doofy Roman themed promo to go along with the whole Roman motif of the evening. Had they just done that I doubt it would have left as bad a taste in everyone mouth as it did. I'm actually one of the few people that felt that what they pulled off at WrestleMania IX was pretty creative anyhow and I don't really mind it, but when you see that they could have gotten their a lot easier it makes the decision a bit more odd.
Yes, I'm well aware that this match actually happened. But perhaps it would have been different had things went as allegedly according to plan. Lex Luger winning the WWE Title at WrestleMania? It could have been. The Lex Express could have parked itself outside of Madison Square Garden with party balloons and bubbly to celebrate the crowning of a new champion. Since Luger was a mutlitime World Champion in WCW I don't really have any sympathetic reason to wish for him to have won the belt here, which makes defending the actual outcome all the easier. Most people consider the Bret Hart story on this night to be one of the most well done wrestling stories of all time, and who am I to disagree? He loses a hard fought battle with his brother, conquers the huge Yokozuna, and celebrates with his fellow faces; all with Owen looking on with his "What about me?" attitude. Would you really want to give that up to support a failed face push for Lex freaking Luger? I didn't think so.
Now this match actually could have existed in two different ways. Of course they could have met up as they were in 1994, as the two biggest babyfaces of the company. One or the other wins the title from Yokozuna then defends it against the other. They also could have done it how it was probably envisioned early on: the Excellence of Execution vs. The Narcissist. Had they both continued on the paths they were on at WrestleMania IX they very well could have met up here. They would be perfect foils for one another and actually probably could have put together a pretty decent match. Still, the same argument applies here as it did on the last WrestleMania X possibility: is it really worth giving up what we actually got?
Had Shawn Michaels not lost his smile leading up to WrestleMania 13 this would have been the match we had. Bret would have won the title back from the man that beat him a year ago and this no doubt would have been a classic match. It may have even helped prevent what happened in Montreal, or it could have just made HBK even more ready to usher the Hitman out of WWE. While this match would surely have been better than the Sid-Undertaker main event we got instead, it also would have deprived us of the epic Bret Hart-Stone Cold Steve Austin Submission Match that is generally considered one of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time. Still, one great match can be substituted by another.
Which brings me to this. For the life of me I don't know why they didn't just leave the belt on Bret and have this be the main event. The match kicked ass and I'm pretty sure the bookers knew that going in. The only problem I could see is that they were afraid the crowd wouldn't react badly to a non-finish in the main event. I mean, we all look favorably on the ending of the match as is on the undercard, but would it fly in the main event of the biggest show of the year? I'd be willing to take that chance.
Mick Foley mentions this match being on the table back in 1999, even telling Mick that he'd get to participate in the main event. While I don't doubt that the match would have been really good, it wouldn't have quite the aura of a flat Rock-Austin match. Plus the subsequent Rock-Austin Mania matches wouldn't have seemed quite as epic. I'm happy they left if one-on-one, perhaps one of the better screwjobs Shawn Michaels was ever involved in.
The match that should have happened all along. Mick Foley says it right when he says that WrestleMania was the birthright of Triple H and The Rock. They had a huge blowoff at Backlash a month later that would have been great in the WrestleMania spot. I don't mind Foley being added, or the "McMahon in Every Corner" stipulation as that made it interesting, but nobody was buying Big Show as a threat in this match. They should have stayed the course with the initial plan and had the Backlash match here. They even could have brought in Austin like they did then.
I have some major issues with this show. It's funny, had you asked me then I would have insisted that Jericho still hold the title and that Rock-Hogan not be on last. If you asked me now I would have insisted that Rock-Hogan go on last if they were still planning on doing Jericho-Triple H. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, this is how things should have been. Austin should have beaten Jericho for the title at No Way Out setting up the big Austin-Triple H match that they never got to do. Go back and look at the 2002 Royal Rumble and you'll see that they were crazy not to go this route. Turn Booker face and have him wrestle Scott Hall at WrestleMania, perhaps playing up Booker's WCW history. Edge and Angle can start their feud a month early and meet up at WrestleMania; they were already kind of feuding anyways. As for the rest of the top portions, they're kind of fluid. You can either do Nash-Big Show and Jericho-Kane or Nash-Kane and Jericho-Maven. Overall this would have been a much better card and they could have really made this show more special.
I always wondered what would have happened if Kurt Angle hadn't decided to wrestle at WrestleMania XIX. At the time, Benoit was his rumored replacement. It would have been a good fit because Benoit and Lesnar would wrestle the same style and Benoit was just about a month removed from being in the title hunt. In the long run it probably would have been better for Angle to skip this match, but Lesnar-Benoit at this stage of the game wouldn't have been quite as marquee as Angle-Lesnar. It's possible that had this match gone down we would have seen Booker T win the World Title from Triple H.
While not a rumored replacement this match could have happened just as easily. Having Brock face a "mystery opponent" for the belt only for it to be a debuting Goldberg would have been awesome. They could have even done a rematch the next month at Backlash to actually make money advertising Goldberg. That would have more than made up for Angle not being there and they could have actually gotten a good Brock-Goldberg experience at a WrestleMania instead of the debacle at WrestleMania XX. Unfortunately the internet would probably know about the replacement a few days in advance, but them's the breaks.
One year later and this could have still been our main event. For all intents and purposes it looked like this was the match we were heading towards. Brock had been the one that screwed over Benoit, Benoit went out and won the Royal Rumble, that normally means WrestleMania match. WWE decided to swerve us by having Benoit jump to Raw, having Brock lose the belt to Eddie, and having the Eddie-Angle match (that would have happened regardless) be for the title. I think most people can agree that this was the best course. Not only did it allow for Eddie to win the WWE Title, it also produced one of the best WrestleMania matches of all time with the Triple Threat Match between Triple H, Chris Benoit, and Shawn Michaels. Perhaps even more important is the embrace between Benoit and Eddie at the end.
Oh boy. Could you have imagined what would have happened had they stuck to the Triple H-Orton match at Mania? I added Batista there because there were rumors of making it a Triple Threat Match to make it between all three Evolution members. In fact this is the match that was happening at house shows all across the country. Quite frankly I think Randy Orton would have completely screwed up the magic of this feud, even though his addition to the match may have made it not as predictable. Still, I'm glad Orton wasn't anywhere near this match.
Personally, I felt that the addition of Randy Orton really hurt the historical value of this match. Orton had just come out of a feud for the United States Title and didn't quite seem like the same kind of star as Angle or Mysterio. Still, Orton gave the Chicago crowd someone to hate on. Unfortunately for Rey the smartass crowd probably would have booed him out of the building if it were just him and the IWC man crush Kurt Angle. Hopefully the match quality would have made up for it.
Andy! Andy! At Last You Have Some Feedback!
Karl Belanger thinks I missed a Mania match:
In my mind you missed the biggest one of them all.
Wrestlemania VIII - Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan. Now THAT would have blown the roof off. Instead we got Flair vs Savage (great) and Hulk vs Sid (not bad but certainly not great). They even ran Hogan vs Flair at house shows around that time (I remember kicking myself for not seeing it at the Montreal Forum when they came by my hometown).
As you can see from this week's column I certainly didn't forget this match. I agree, Hogan-Flair would have been phenomenal. I remember watching Hogan vs. Flair from MSG a few months back and it was pretty cool. Imagine it with the WrestleMania mystique and 50,000 Hoosiers backing it up. It's a shame they couldn't capitalize on this match.
Ilan Grossberg has an idea for this year's Mania:
How about this for a match....
After the video package last week from The Rock, Mr. Kennedy comes out next week on Smackdown, (or Raw, it doesn't seem to matter at this point) and bashes The Rock saying how Mr. Kennedy is much more important to the company than The Rock ever was (earning him lots of heat). This prompts Mick Foley to run out and attack seeing as how they are "friends", to defend Rocks honor. Microphone to the head of Foley, FOLLOWED BY A ROCK BOTTOM, and then the PEOPLES ELBOW! Hows that for building heat, and giving Mick Foley another Wrestlemania match. It would be burned into the minds of people for a long time. Of course he is in the $ITB match, but assuming hes not set to win that, this would have been perfect, as a win over Foley still means something and is great for the career, just look at Edge.
I actually would have really liked a Foley-Kennedy match at Mania. In fact I think it's a damn shame that Mick isn't on the card as it is (especially since Johnny Nitro is still without a WrestleMania match). I'm not so sure he would like to play a substitute for The Rock, though, despite them being friends. I think Foley would want to represent himself in any feud he's involved in. Now, if you want to get The Rock himself back for a month or two…
The Shimmy Likes It Raw!
What's on tap for tonight's big show?
No Way Out Rematch: John Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. Batista & Undertaker; Aren't they glad they added that "in all likelihood" part to the "will never happen again" tag. Will Team SmackDown get their win back and therefore earn their spot at the end of the WrestleMania card? Will Shawn or John turn on the other?
Bobby Lashley vs. Vince McMahon; Again I say, MAKE IT FOR THE TITLE! I want to see Vince McMahon walk into WrestleMania as the ECW Champion. It would be so surreal. I have a feeling we'll be getting both of these matches on the WrestleMania DVD.
Will anyone else be announced for the Hall of Fame? I certainly hope so bah Gawd.
This is almost a Saturday Night's Main Event caliber show. I'm looking forward to it, I hope you all are too.
Well that's it for this week's column. Next week will be a short one as we'll take a look back at WrestleMania 23 and break it down. We'll also have a few surprises next week so don't miss it. I hope everybody enjoys WrestleMania on Sunday as it truly is our day as wrestling fans. Screw the rest of the world, this is our big day. Enjoy it everybody and be sure to hang around 411 for all the latest WrestleMania coverage. Until next week, don't die. Clark…out.
