Montana
Guest
Found this on another website and found it really interesting, so i thought i would share...(Basically old rumors, with some truths twisted in)
Zeus vs. Hulk Hogan - WrestleMania VI
Yes, Vince actually wanted a non-wrestler to main event a WrestleMania B-4 Lawrence Taylor ever laced up the boots. The story goes that the WWF wanted to create a feud between the two to draw attention to the movie "No Holds Barred" which both Hogan and Zeus starred in. The two even main evented in a tag team match at SummerSlam '89, as well as a special pay-per-view called "No Holds Barred: The Match, The Movie", again, in a tag team match, including Brutus Beefcake and Randy Savage, also held inside a steel cage. However, poor buyrates for the cage match PPV, as well as Zeus' lack of wrestling ability canceled this one, thankfully. Zeus finished off his WWF run at Survivor Series 1989 where he was disqualified.
Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair - WrestleMania VIII
I don't know too many of the details about this one, only that Hogan had been named the number one contender at a WrestleMania "press conference." What I believe happened was that Hogan had indicated to Vince that he intended to step away from wrestling following WrestleMania, which pushed him into the second main event with Sid Justice while Randy Savage took the WWF title from Flair.
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs. O.J. Simpson/Goldust vs. Razor Ramon - WrestleMania XII
Yes, you read that right. The WWF wanted Simpson to take on Piper at WrestleMania XII. For whatever reason, Simpson decided not to participate, and ultimately, Scott Hall was suspended for failing a drug test, which shelved him for WrestleMania, which left both Piper and Goldust without opponents, so, they booked them into the Hollywood Backlot Brawl.
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Micheals II - WrestleMania 13
This one's pretty infamous. It's alleged that Shawn didn't want to drop the title to Bret one year after winning it from him at WrestleMania XII, so, rather than do that, he cited a knee injury and forfeited the title on Thursday RAW Thursday. While Bret did reclaim the title at February's In Your House, he dropped it to Sid on Monday Night RAW the next night, while Undertaker took the challenger's spot at 'Mania, while Bret and Austin stole the show in a submission match.
Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon - WrestleMania 22
When Bret went into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006, it was proposed that the night after, he might take on Mr. McMahon in the storylines to sort of "close the book" once and for all on the Montreal Screwjob, but, Bret refused the offer. Shawn Michaels took Hart's place in the feud.
WrestleMania 8- The British Bulldog vs The Berzerker. I'm not sure why they cancelled it. This would have been a bad match but Bulldog deserved a spot on this card. They could have done Bulldog vs The Mountie and replace Mountie with someother guy in the 8 man tag.
WrestleMania 10- Ten Man Tag. Tatanka, The 123 Kid, Bob Holly & The Smoking Gunns vs The Model, Jeff Jarrett, The Headshrinkers & I.R.S.
This was cancelled because they were running out of time. Kayfabe reason was that the heel team were arguing over who should be the team captain so it was cancelled lol. This match would have been good and they cancelled this yet they had Earthquake vs Adam Bomb and the Mixed tag match on the card.
Marty Jannety vs Shawn Michaels - They had this match prepared for Wrestlemania 8 or 9 but Jannety got caught with cocaine and the WWE suspended him and so the feud took place later.
Lex Luger vs Bret Hart - This match was meant to happen at Wresltmania 10 and i think Luger was meant to win but he was runnin his mouth about how he was going to win the WWF title and so they removed him and replaced him with Yokozuna. If this had happened i think that Wrestlemania 10 would have been one of the absoulute greatest Wrestlemania's of all time.
Eddie Guerrero vs The Undertaker - Wrestlemania 22, it wasn't gonna be Shawn Michaels, it was going to be The Undertaker vs Eddie Guerrero in a Casket match with Eddie Guerrero turning on team Smackdown at Survivor Series.
Ted DiBiase was actually meant to win the WWE title at WrestleMania 4 after beating Hulk Hogan with help from Andre the Giant and Randy Savage was meant to regain the Intercontinental title from The Honky Tonk Man but The Honky Tonk Man refused to drop the title to Randy Savage. To make it up to Randy Savage who was said to be furious he was given the WWE title and a year long reign so that worked out nicely.
The Ultimate Warrior was meant to main event WrestleMania 7 against Randy Savage but Randy Savage wanted to take a long period of time off so they then changed it to Hulk Hogan and Sgy Slaughter instead and made Warrior/Savage a career ending match. At WrestleMania 10 it was meant to be Lex Luger winning the WWE title from Yokozuna but a combination of Hulk Hogan and Lex Luger's mouth ended that.
Originally Hulk Hogan was meant to drop the WWE title to Bret Hart at SummerSlam 1993 in the main event but Hulk Hogan refused as Bret Hart wasn't a big enough name which is why they then had Bret Hart feud with Jerry Lawler and turned Lex Luger early and had him win by count out against Yokozuna at SummerSlam. The plan then was for Bret Hart to feud with Yokozuna through to Survivor Series with him and Yokozuna trading the title and to have Yokozuna feud with The Undertaker up until The Royal Rumble with Lex Luger winning the Rumble match but Lex Luger went round telling everyone outside of WWE he was winning the Rumble and winning the WWE title at WrestleMania 10 so Vince McMahon changed it.
Shawn Michaels was originally meant to win the WWE title at WrestleMania 11 from Diesel with help from Sid Vicious which would lead to a Diesel/Sid feud but Vince McMahon was worried that the fan's would go crazy if a heel walked out of WrestleMania as the champion so he changed it and turned Shawn Michaels face. Stone Cold Steve Austin was meant to walk out of WrestleMania 16 as WWE champion but was actually meant to face Triple H not The Big Show but because of his injury they changed everything and even let a heel walk out as champion.
I'm not sure how truw it is but i have read a lot of place's that up until The Rock had agreed to do a film in 2001 it was meant to be him turning heel and joining up with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 17 instead of Stone Cold Steve Austin. At WrestleMania 18 Vince McMahon had wanted to do The Rock against Triple H as the WWE title match as they would have been the Two Man Power Trip instead of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H and also wanted to do Stone Cold Steve Austin against Hollywood Hogan but Hogan refused to lose to Stone Cold Steve Austin and Austin believed that since he was more relevant for that era he should have to lose to Hogan so we got Rock/Hogan instead.
I've also read that WrestleMania 19 would have seen Shawn Michaels and The Rock facing off as they didn't expect Stone Cold Steve Austin to return before WrestleMania if at all but he did and the rest is history. Shawn Michaels was thrown into the main event at WrestleMania 20 with Chris Benoit and Triple H because he didn't think that it would draw as a one on one match and seeing how Shawn Michaels and Triple H ended in a draw at The Royal Rumble the story wrote itself.
WrestleMania 21 was meant to be Brock Lesnar and Triple H which was booked over a year in advance but Brock Lesnar left. The next plan was for Randy Orton to be in Batista's role going into WrestleMania 21 and slowly turn face but WWE blew their load early and Orton/Triple H happened early and instead we got Batista and Triple H instead.
WrestleMania 22 was crazy as it was meant to be Bret Hart/Vince McMahon, Undertaker/Angle, Shawn Michaels/Eddie Guerrero and Batista/Orton which would have been unreal but none of it happened. WrestleMania 23 was meant to be John Cena and Triple H again but Triple H got injured and we was also meant to see Shawn Michaels and Booker T as well which i really would have liked to have seen.
In 2004, the talk was to have Triple H/Lesnar take place at Mania 21 in 05. It didn't happen because Brock left the company after Mania XX.
In late 2005, Eddie Guerrero was rumored to face Shawn Michaels at Mania 22, but his unfortunate passing obviously changed plans.
Undertaker & Kane/Snitsky & Heidenreich was heavly rumored to happen at Wrestlemania 21. Thankfully they didn't go with that.
Cena/Triple H was supposed to hapen at Wrestlemania 23 as well be fore Triple H got injured which led to HBK/Cena.
Triple H/Booker T was a last option match at Wrestlemania XIX. WWE tried to bring in Sting and Goldberg for the match but they wouldn't.
The WrestleMania Matches That Almost Weren't, but Then Were
Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff - WrestleMania
It's alleged that because Madison Square Garden's security wouldn't allow Mr. T's entourage into the building, Mr. T threatened to walk. Apparently, Hulk Hogan had to personally convince him to go through with the match.
Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan - WrestleMania III
Andre had all but retired from wrestling by early 1987, his back in desperate need of surgery. Vince McMahon personally flew to France where Andre was living at the time to plead with him to help him sell out the Silverdome.
Jake Roberts vs. The Undertaker - WrestleMania VIII
During the 1992 sex scandals in the WWF, Pat Patterson was forced to step down as one of the bookers. Jake had been led to believe that he'd get Patterson's job, but, at the last minute, Vince McMahon informed him that "out of respect for Pat, we're leaving his position vacant" (which really meant "we're waiting for the heat to die down so we can hire him back again). Jake was clearly disappointed and felt so betrayed that he threatened to no-show WrestleMania if Vince didn't release him from his contract. McMahon agreed.
Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin - WrestleMania XIV
Michaels' back injury at the Royal Rumble in January which kept him out of the ring for three months is well documented. Not only did Michaels' condition jeopardize the match, it's also been alleged that HBK nearly refused to drop the title to Austin until the Undertaker threatened him otherwise.
Steve Austin vs. The Rock - WrestleMania XIX
Austin's heartrate was on heart attack level the night B-4 the match and spent the night in the hospital. Apparently, being out of action for as long as he was at the time coupled with the stress of his retirement was proving to be too much for the Texas Rattlesnake.
Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar - WrestleMania XIX
Angle had suffered an aggravated injury to his previously damaged neck just shortly B-4 WrestleMania which nearly shelved the match. Angle opted for an experimental surgery to take place shortly after WrestleMania to keep him in the main event, while Lesnar had to be especially careful with him during the match.
Zeus vs. Hulk Hogan - WrestleMania VI
Yes, Vince actually wanted a non-wrestler to main event a WrestleMania B-4 Lawrence Taylor ever laced up the boots. The story goes that the WWF wanted to create a feud between the two to draw attention to the movie "No Holds Barred" which both Hogan and Zeus starred in. The two even main evented in a tag team match at SummerSlam '89, as well as a special pay-per-view called "No Holds Barred: The Match, The Movie", again, in a tag team match, including Brutus Beefcake and Randy Savage, also held inside a steel cage. However, poor buyrates for the cage match PPV, as well as Zeus' lack of wrestling ability canceled this one, thankfully. Zeus finished off his WWF run at Survivor Series 1989 where he was disqualified.
Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair - WrestleMania VIII
I don't know too many of the details about this one, only that Hogan had been named the number one contender at a WrestleMania "press conference." What I believe happened was that Hogan had indicated to Vince that he intended to step away from wrestling following WrestleMania, which pushed him into the second main event with Sid Justice while Randy Savage took the WWF title from Flair.
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs. O.J. Simpson/Goldust vs. Razor Ramon - WrestleMania XII
Yes, you read that right. The WWF wanted Simpson to take on Piper at WrestleMania XII. For whatever reason, Simpson decided not to participate, and ultimately, Scott Hall was suspended for failing a drug test, which shelved him for WrestleMania, which left both Piper and Goldust without opponents, so, they booked them into the Hollywood Backlot Brawl.
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Micheals II - WrestleMania 13
This one's pretty infamous. It's alleged that Shawn didn't want to drop the title to Bret one year after winning it from him at WrestleMania XII, so, rather than do that, he cited a knee injury and forfeited the title on Thursday RAW Thursday. While Bret did reclaim the title at February's In Your House, he dropped it to Sid on Monday Night RAW the next night, while Undertaker took the challenger's spot at 'Mania, while Bret and Austin stole the show in a submission match.
Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon - WrestleMania 22
When Bret went into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006, it was proposed that the night after, he might take on Mr. McMahon in the storylines to sort of "close the book" once and for all on the Montreal Screwjob, but, Bret refused the offer. Shawn Michaels took Hart's place in the feud.
WrestleMania 8- The British Bulldog vs The Berzerker. I'm not sure why they cancelled it. This would have been a bad match but Bulldog deserved a spot on this card. They could have done Bulldog vs The Mountie and replace Mountie with someother guy in the 8 man tag.
WrestleMania 10- Ten Man Tag. Tatanka, The 123 Kid, Bob Holly & The Smoking Gunns vs The Model, Jeff Jarrett, The Headshrinkers & I.R.S.
This was cancelled because they were running out of time. Kayfabe reason was that the heel team were arguing over who should be the team captain so it was cancelled lol. This match would have been good and they cancelled this yet they had Earthquake vs Adam Bomb and the Mixed tag match on the card.
Marty Jannety vs Shawn Michaels - They had this match prepared for Wrestlemania 8 or 9 but Jannety got caught with cocaine and the WWE suspended him and so the feud took place later.
Lex Luger vs Bret Hart - This match was meant to happen at Wresltmania 10 and i think Luger was meant to win but he was runnin his mouth about how he was going to win the WWF title and so they removed him and replaced him with Yokozuna. If this had happened i think that Wrestlemania 10 would have been one of the absoulute greatest Wrestlemania's of all time.
Eddie Guerrero vs The Undertaker - Wrestlemania 22, it wasn't gonna be Shawn Michaels, it was going to be The Undertaker vs Eddie Guerrero in a Casket match with Eddie Guerrero turning on team Smackdown at Survivor Series.
Ted DiBiase was actually meant to win the WWE title at WrestleMania 4 after beating Hulk Hogan with help from Andre the Giant and Randy Savage was meant to regain the Intercontinental title from The Honky Tonk Man but The Honky Tonk Man refused to drop the title to Randy Savage. To make it up to Randy Savage who was said to be furious he was given the WWE title and a year long reign so that worked out nicely.
The Ultimate Warrior was meant to main event WrestleMania 7 against Randy Savage but Randy Savage wanted to take a long period of time off so they then changed it to Hulk Hogan and Sgy Slaughter instead and made Warrior/Savage a career ending match. At WrestleMania 10 it was meant to be Lex Luger winning the WWE title from Yokozuna but a combination of Hulk Hogan and Lex Luger's mouth ended that.
Originally Hulk Hogan was meant to drop the WWE title to Bret Hart at SummerSlam 1993 in the main event but Hulk Hogan refused as Bret Hart wasn't a big enough name which is why they then had Bret Hart feud with Jerry Lawler and turned Lex Luger early and had him win by count out against Yokozuna at SummerSlam. The plan then was for Bret Hart to feud with Yokozuna through to Survivor Series with him and Yokozuna trading the title and to have Yokozuna feud with The Undertaker up until The Royal Rumble with Lex Luger winning the Rumble match but Lex Luger went round telling everyone outside of WWE he was winning the Rumble and winning the WWE title at WrestleMania 10 so Vince McMahon changed it.
Shawn Michaels was originally meant to win the WWE title at WrestleMania 11 from Diesel with help from Sid Vicious which would lead to a Diesel/Sid feud but Vince McMahon was worried that the fan's would go crazy if a heel walked out of WrestleMania as the champion so he changed it and turned Shawn Michaels face. Stone Cold Steve Austin was meant to walk out of WrestleMania 16 as WWE champion but was actually meant to face Triple H not The Big Show but because of his injury they changed everything and even let a heel walk out as champion.
I'm not sure how truw it is but i have read a lot of place's that up until The Rock had agreed to do a film in 2001 it was meant to be him turning heel and joining up with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 17 instead of Stone Cold Steve Austin. At WrestleMania 18 Vince McMahon had wanted to do The Rock against Triple H as the WWE title match as they would have been the Two Man Power Trip instead of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H and also wanted to do Stone Cold Steve Austin against Hollywood Hogan but Hogan refused to lose to Stone Cold Steve Austin and Austin believed that since he was more relevant for that era he should have to lose to Hogan so we got Rock/Hogan instead.
I've also read that WrestleMania 19 would have seen Shawn Michaels and The Rock facing off as they didn't expect Stone Cold Steve Austin to return before WrestleMania if at all but he did and the rest is history. Shawn Michaels was thrown into the main event at WrestleMania 20 with Chris Benoit and Triple H because he didn't think that it would draw as a one on one match and seeing how Shawn Michaels and Triple H ended in a draw at The Royal Rumble the story wrote itself.
WrestleMania 21 was meant to be Brock Lesnar and Triple H which was booked over a year in advance but Brock Lesnar left. The next plan was for Randy Orton to be in Batista's role going into WrestleMania 21 and slowly turn face but WWE blew their load early and Orton/Triple H happened early and instead we got Batista and Triple H instead.
WrestleMania 22 was crazy as it was meant to be Bret Hart/Vince McMahon, Undertaker/Angle, Shawn Michaels/Eddie Guerrero and Batista/Orton which would have been unreal but none of it happened. WrestleMania 23 was meant to be John Cena and Triple H again but Triple H got injured and we was also meant to see Shawn Michaels and Booker T as well which i really would have liked to have seen.
In 2004, the talk was to have Triple H/Lesnar take place at Mania 21 in 05. It didn't happen because Brock left the company after Mania XX.
In late 2005, Eddie Guerrero was rumored to face Shawn Michaels at Mania 22, but his unfortunate passing obviously changed plans.
Undertaker & Kane/Snitsky & Heidenreich was heavly rumored to happen at Wrestlemania 21. Thankfully they didn't go with that.
Cena/Triple H was supposed to hapen at Wrestlemania 23 as well be fore Triple H got injured which led to HBK/Cena.
Triple H/Booker T was a last option match at Wrestlemania XIX. WWE tried to bring in Sting and Goldberg for the match but they wouldn't.
The WrestleMania Matches That Almost Weren't, but Then Were
Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff - WrestleMania
It's alleged that because Madison Square Garden's security wouldn't allow Mr. T's entourage into the building, Mr. T threatened to walk. Apparently, Hulk Hogan had to personally convince him to go through with the match.
Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan - WrestleMania III
Andre had all but retired from wrestling by early 1987, his back in desperate need of surgery. Vince McMahon personally flew to France where Andre was living at the time to plead with him to help him sell out the Silverdome.
Jake Roberts vs. The Undertaker - WrestleMania VIII
During the 1992 sex scandals in the WWF, Pat Patterson was forced to step down as one of the bookers. Jake had been led to believe that he'd get Patterson's job, but, at the last minute, Vince McMahon informed him that "out of respect for Pat, we're leaving his position vacant" (which really meant "we're waiting for the heat to die down so we can hire him back again). Jake was clearly disappointed and felt so betrayed that he threatened to no-show WrestleMania if Vince didn't release him from his contract. McMahon agreed.
Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin - WrestleMania XIV
Michaels' back injury at the Royal Rumble in January which kept him out of the ring for three months is well documented. Not only did Michaels' condition jeopardize the match, it's also been alleged that HBK nearly refused to drop the title to Austin until the Undertaker threatened him otherwise.
Steve Austin vs. The Rock - WrestleMania XIX
Austin's heartrate was on heart attack level the night B-4 the match and spent the night in the hospital. Apparently, being out of action for as long as he was at the time coupled with the stress of his retirement was proving to be too much for the Texas Rattlesnake.
Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar - WrestleMania XIX
Angle had suffered an aggravated injury to his previously damaged neck just shortly B-4 WrestleMania which nearly shelved the match. Angle opted for an experimental surgery to take place shortly after WrestleMania to keep him in the main event, while Lesnar had to be especially careful with him during the match.
