Skip to main content

5 Wrestlemania Matches That Almost Happened

https://youtu.be/IOnCpNADPd8

This is a really weird list on WWE's part, because it's part kayfabe and part "insider" stuff.  Like the 10-man from Wrestlemania X that was cancelled is suddenly an obscure trivia question?  And the Hogan-Flair match at #1 was never gonna happen, obviously, but they do the kayfabe "Jack Tunney changed it" explanation.  And HHH v. Tyson?  Um, no, never even talked about.  Whatever, it's their list, I guess. 

Comments

  1. Brock Lesnar Vs Daniel Bryan? *sniff*

    ReplyDelete
  2. I DO remember there was some talk of Hogan vs. Zeus at WM6 and even more about Austin vs. Tyson because of Shawn's back injury.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I remember HHH/Hogan being rumoured for 17 before they went with Undertaker.....and I recently read a rumour that HHH used Metallica at WM27 because they'd already secured the rights to a song for Sting before he backed out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. HHH vs. Tyson? For the last time Hunter, Austin was the Attitude Era superstar, not you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. WM17 was going to be HHH v. Shawn and was pretty much set in stone until Shawn showed up bombed that day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Austin, Rock, Taker, Kane, HBK, Foley, then Triple H

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'd also throw Bret in there somewhere, oh and Vince.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You mean I am not supposed to believe propaganda produced by the WWE themselves!?!?!

    In reference to the Tyson/HHH "match," I'm not sure why Tyson would not have done it because he only fought tomato can Brian Nielsen that October. I have to agree that was probably made up to a) put HHH on another list and b) to fill out that top 5.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'd put Chyna head of Triple H, too

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think Shawn was supposed to be involved but not wrestling. It was the Smackdown before WM Shawn was bombed at if I recall. That whole period is interesting to me because I recall Shawn being rumoured to return and wrestle but he's talked since that it wasn't a consideration until 2002.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The Love-Matic Grampa!March 26, 2015 at 12:48 PM

    Maybe this was the conversation on the corporate jet:

    Vince: Hey Paul, wanna fight Tyson at WrestleMania?

    HHH: What are you, nuts?

    Vince: Okay pal, don't go all Bret on me!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That day? They put the UT match together quickly but the did promote it for a couple of weeks at least right (with HHH doing the thing where he sat on the chair while it was covering the UT throat)?

    ReplyDelete
  13. The rumor I recall is that Shawn was supposed to cost Taker the match and give HHH the win. I vaguely recall this being the rumor at the time, too, and have no recollection of HHH v. Shawn rumors.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I came here to say this. This forced idea of HHH being the leader of the Attitude era and the slayer of WCW is just sad.

    ReplyDelete
  15. WHAT YOU DID JACK TUNNEY WAS BOGUS!!!!

    THE MOST BOGUS ACT YOU EVER PULLED!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Triple H vs Tyson? Wow. Shame it got cancelled, or Triple H might have single-handedly destroyed WCW and Mike Tyson in the space of 2 weeks!

    ReplyDelete
  17. HHH was a big deal; objectively, I'd say Austin, Rock, and Vince were bigger, then HHH. But trying to make out like HHH and DX were the driving force of Attitude is just pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
  18. AverageJoeEverymanMarch 26, 2015 at 1:16 PM

    there was a thought at the time (which seems crazy now) about Hogan vs Perfect at 6.

    ReplyDelete
  19. HHH needs to get over not carrying the Attitude era.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I seem to remember Shawn was going to help HHH win and they'd form a stable but when he was set home it was changed to HHH losing, partly as punishment for trying to bring Shawn back.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I have been watching wrestling for about 25 years. I have been reading the backstage gossip for well over 15 of those years.

    I have literally never heard one rumor about a Triple H vs. Tyson match.

    Hogan vs. Tyson? Yes.

    Triple H vs. Tyson? No.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Yeah from what I recall Shawn was supposed to be on the WCW Raw but was bumped for time, went on a bender and showed up a mess to Smackdown, so it was after the Undertaker match was announced. Random rumor - I met a guy online that swore he worked in the music department for WWE and he said he was told to work on Shawn's entrance for his return but Shawn said he'd always use the same music - probably just some guy fucking around but he did send me a studio version of The Game the day after Hunter debuted it.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I remember hearing talks of them doing HHH vs Ray Lewis at WM17 that fell through, but Tyson? Why does it not surprise me that HHH would be the one they choose to kayfabe look like a bad-ass up against Tyson in a match?

    ReplyDelete
  24. That's not true. HHH v. Shawn was set to be the feud after Wrestlemania.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Taker was always going to win

    ReplyDelete
  26. I doubt he meant the day of WrestleMania -- Michaels showed up bombed the day the angle leading to HHH vs. HBK was supposed to start

    ReplyDelete
  27. No he didn't. He showed bombed the SD before Mania after his segment on the RAW before Mania was cut.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I think Foley was bigger than HHH. Taker, maybe. Not Kane or HBK. Not even close.

    ReplyDelete
  29. You haven't been watching enough of the Network. HHH vs Andre the Giant at WM III and the pedigree heard 'round the world! Which is amazing because HHH fought Ricky Steamboat in a ***** match earlier in the show setting the bar for all WM matches that follow. HHH then disappeared for awhile and was a key part in kicking off the nWo in WCW. Finally he came back to kick off the Attitude Era by beating up Foley and Funk the night after WM. HHH has been on top of the wrestling world (Stephanie) ever since!

    ReplyDelete
  30. I loved that Hogan-Perfect feud. At the very least, it would have been cool for SummerSlam.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMarch 26, 2015 at 1:47 PM

    HHH vs. Tyson? I hope they don't mean at Mania 14. HHH was just a lackey at that point. No way they waste MIKE TYSON on a match with HBK's sidekick at Wrestlemania. The only way I could see a variation of that happening would have been if HBK/HHH vs. Austin/Tyson was possible for Unforgiven '98.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Ah, okay. So I guess the Mania Taker-HHH match would've set up a HHH-Michaels feud?

    ReplyDelete
  33. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMarch 26, 2015 at 1:50 PM

    Cena could have been Benoit's tag partner at WM 19, instead of Rhyno. Probably good that he wasn't, but once Edge went out hurt, I think Cena might have made more sense than Rhyno

    ReplyDelete
  34. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMarch 26, 2015 at 1:53 PM

    How about that Bigelow vs. Kamala match that was cancelled at Wrestlemania IX?

    ReplyDelete
  35. my understanding is that it bombed on the house show circuit.

    ReplyDelete
  36. HowmuchdoesthisguyweighMarch 26, 2015 at 2:01 PM

    Cena was still heel.

    ReplyDelete
  37. What's the story on WM X8? Did Austin turn down working with Hogan or did Rock get picked over him?

    ReplyDelete
  38. They're showing it as WM17.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Who knows, if Kamala had won, maybe he would have gotten the main event of WrestleMania XI.

    ReplyDelete
  40. They wanted to do Austin/Hogan. However, Austin and Hogan could not agree to terms on the match... and they both secretly thought the match would suck. Austin was in the middle of a nervous breakdown and probably wouldn't have sold shit for Hogan.

    ReplyDelete
  41. I've heard of the Triple H/Tyson rumors before, but never thought anything of it.


    The meeting probably went like...


    Vince: If we can get Tyson again... who should w...
    Triple H: ME! ME! ME! TRIPLE H!

    Vince: ... sounds good, pal. Moving on.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Austin turned it down.

    ReplyDelete
  43. >And the Hogan-Flair match at #1 was never gonna happen, obviously.



    Never going to happen? It was announced on tv, until Vince got cold feet over low gates for their house show feud,weak Hoosier Dome sales and or Hulk won't put Ric over/Top Heel can't lose to a guy essentially leaving deal.


    All major problems but none that were impossible to ignore/work through if he was stubborn enough.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Well, considering that he was booked as a bad ass for 2 years leading to it...I dunno, makes perfect sense. That and considering that the only thing that would keep HHH from using my head as a basketball is professionalism and a positive degree of sanity and priorities, tend to scream bad ass to me. Only speaking for myself obviously.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Scott...what makes you think that Tyson/HHH was never even talked about? Pat Patterson make specific reference to you that they never even talked about it? Out of the blue? No, in honor of credibility, explain this tonne.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Well, its kinda fuzzy math. He did carry 2000, but that's the ass end of Attitude...but Attitude lasted 2-3 years. Calling it an era is kinda lofty to begin with.

    ReplyDelete
  47. That's about right. Foley didn't become HUGE and WWE legendary until RR 00. As in where they acknowledged him as a legend.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Sid Hogan was always the plan

    ReplyDelete
  49. So evidently Vince is handling the main event personally and no one other than Brock Reigns and HHH are going to know what is happening.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Ok, but you don't think that, say, Fandango could beat you up?

    ReplyDelete
  51. Kane is way at the end of that list.

    ReplyDelete
  52. I look at it like this:

    Austin/Rock

    HHH/Undertaker

    Foley/Kane

    ReplyDelete
  53. Triple H pinning Tyson with a Pedigree would've been funny.

    ReplyDelete
  54. LOL at the thought of LT vs. Kamala.

    ReplyDelete
  55. WWE will never mention nowdays that Owen Hart's mystery tag team partner against Smoking Gunns @ WM 11 was gonna be Chris Benoit.


    Sid vs Hogan @ WM 8 was the plan before Flair showed up with Hogan/Flair taking place the next year @ WM 9.


    Hogan vs Warrior rematch planned for WM 7 if they did LA Coliseum to "break" WM 3 "93000" crowd. However when Warrior wasnt selling out during the A/B and C shows like WWE used to do, they switched it up by signing Slaughter and doing Hogan/Slaughter instead. WWE knew they couldnt sell out the LA Coliseum with that, so they moved to the smaller venue where the LA Clippers played.

    ReplyDelete
  56. SHUT up you fat bow headed little oaf

    ReplyDelete
  57. Also Hogan claims him and John Cena were going to have an match @ WM 25 but was cancelled. I can somewhat believe this, as the Cena/Big Show/Edge match came outta nowhere and was poorly planned in the weeks before WM 25.

    ReplyDelete
  58. to me it's austin, rock,Foley,HHH,taker,kane in that order

    ReplyDelete
  59. Foley was very big he main evened alot he was austin and rocks first guy to work with and when HHH needed to get some serious heat Foley put him over. That and he was in chef boarder commercials and his autobiography really put him over.if he was healthier I belive he would have been used more

    ReplyDelete
  60. Yeah, you're probably right.

    ReplyDelete
  61. No. No, I don't think he could. Maybe...I mean, few things are impossible...but no, I'd put money on me in that one.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Nobody in the match is black, so I'm guessing nobody.

    ReplyDelete
  63. I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that HHH/Tyson was discussed as a 'Mania match, so I don't think it's something they just made up for this.

    ReplyDelete
  64. That was a red herring. Hogan-Sid was the plan at least as soon as Sid's fit at the press conference, possibly as soon as the Rumble. The Hogan-Flair announcement was just to give Sid further motivation to turn on Hulk.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Any thoughts about Hogan-Zeus were quashed when Zeus did the job at SummerSlam. I don't think Perfect was given serious thought as anything other than a (unsuccessful) house show program.

    ReplyDelete
  66. No, they Wrestlemania 7, cause terrorists

    ReplyDelete
  67. Adam "Colorado" CurryMarch 26, 2015 at 7:56 PM

    Wow, that video SUCKED.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Yeah I had heard the Lewis and HBK ones for 17 but never Tyson til recently

    ReplyDelete
  69. There are basically three theories -- #1) The match was not a draw on the house-show circuit #2) Sid was always promised the main event shot against Hogan and #3) The impending steroid/drugs/sex scandals put tons of heat on Hogan, and they wanted him to lay-low.


    #1 seems to be the company line now, but it's not really true -- while Hogan/Flair didn't set business on fire, it did better than everything else they were putting out there in late 1991.



    #2 seems like a total retcon to me -- Meltzer didn't specify that tidbit at all until years and years later and I wonder where he got that info.



    #3 seems far and away the most likely reason to me. Things were getting hot steriod-wise over the summer, especially after people started Hogan a liar for his big AH appearance and really ramped up leading into WM. I think Hogan was gonna give Flair the legdrop until they realized they needed to get him off TV.

    ReplyDelete
  70. So Brock's not getting an entrance?

    ReplyDelete
  71. I'd slip HBK ahead of Kane and maybe ahead of Taker. Early DX was a big, big, big deal. So was Montreal, and so was WM 14.

    ReplyDelete
  72. it was the plan maybe once the rumble eliminations were decided but hogan-flair was the original plan. Hogan-flair was what flair was brought in for not for house shows but for the main event for wm.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Poorly planned? Yeah, had to be a rewrite.

    ReplyDelete
  74. British Bulldog vs The Berzerker!

    ReplyDelete
  75. HHH vs. Tyson? If the idea came up before 2001 I don't remember hearing it, and it doesn't really match up with what had been going on with Tyson in his life & career. After 2001 I couldn't say, because once I stopped writing about wrestling I stopped following insider stuff as diligently.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Fat, Ugly Inner-City SweathogMarch 28, 2015 at 1:38 PM

    Still madness. HHH was still great at that point, but wasting MIKE TYSON'S first pro-wrestling match on Hunter seems foolish.

    ReplyDelete
  77. no the original paln was hogan vs flair and savage vs jake. all tv in fall into winter that year were building to those matches. there was talk of sid/hogan when sid signed wwf may 91 but once flair signed july 91 they were full steam to hogan/flair until they needed to change it up nc hogan was taking time off to lay low with the steriods issues

    ReplyDelete
  78. hhh/taker was thrown together at the last minute for wm 17 so they were clearly trying to do something else with him. I do remember talk of HHH/hogan for the show.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment