5 dream matches and why WWE cancelled them

On June 7th, WWE will host another one of their shows in Saudi Arabia. The event will feature a string of matches, but one bout stands above the rest: Goldberg vs The Undertaker. The match was recently announced by WWE and this is the first time the two legends will go one on one inside the squared circle.

Although this one's a bit late, we're finally getting this fantasy match after waiting for around two decades. But this isn't always the case. Over the course of the past several years, fans have clamored for a bunch of dream encounters. Unfortunately, not every match comes to fruition. There have been multiple encounters in the past that almost happened, but last minute changes prevented those matches from taking place.

In the following list, we'll take a look at five dream matches that never happened, and we'll take a detailed look at the reasons why we never got to see these bouts unfold.

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#5 Shawn Michaels vs The Rock

This is one of those Attitude Era pairings that we never saw collide in the ring. When The Rock was an up and comer in WWE, he was slated to job to Bret Hart at an event. Bret refused, stating that it won't do any good for Rocky Maivia. This didn't sit well with Triple H and Shawn Michaels, who wasn't exactly a popular duo backstage.

When Michaels returned to WWE in 2002, he was originally scheduled to go at it against The Brahma Bull. This didn't happen though, as The Rock refused to work with the guy who held him back during his early days in WWE. This match had the potential to headline a WrestleMania, but unfortunately, it'll always remain a pipe dream.

#4 Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair

When Ric Flair came into WWE in the early 90s, the fans couldn't hold their excitement over the idea of getting to see the biggest dream match of all time: Hogan vs Flair. The Nature Boy won the Royal Rumble match in 1992, which is still regarded as being one of the absolute best Rumble matches of all time. At WrestleMania 8, Hogan headlined against Sid Justice, while Flair wrestled Randy Savage for the WWE Title.

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Years later, Hogan explained that Vince McMahon just didn't want to pit the two Superstars against each other. Flair, on the other hand, revealed that when he arrived in WWE, Vince told him that the match was a possibility. At the same time, Hogan wanted to leave to do the TV show, Thunder In Paradise. This put a strain in his relationship with Vince and he pulled the plug on the match.

#3 Brock Lesnar vs Batista

Brock vs Batista, a match that we should have gotten

These two behemoths wrestled against each other in OVW before coming up to the main roster. Years later, fans clamored for them to collide again after they became megastars.

Although the stars aligned on multiple occasions, WWE never went ahead with the dream battle. In 2005, WWE came very close to signing Brock Lesnar again to a contract, after his failed stint in the NFL. A bunch of SmackDown writers had prepared a full-fledged rivalry plan for the returning Lesnar and WWE's new top star, Batista. Lesnar had a meeting with Raw creative team and Vince McMahon, but SmackDown writers were confident that the blue brand would ultimately bag him.

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Days later, the plans went down the drain when Vince informed a writer that Brock Lesnar wasn't coming back. Apparently, he got a better deal with NJPW and went there, eventually coming back to WWE in 2012.

#2 Shawn Michaels vs Eddie Guerrero

Court Bauer, a former WWE writer, once talked on his show about plans for Eddie Guerrero at WrestleMania. He recalled that the writing team had a call with Vince McMahon, around 2 days before Eddie died. Bruce Prichard originally pitched the idea of pitting Shawn Michaels and Eddie Guerrero against each other at WrestleMania 22.

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Reportedly, Vince absolutely loved the idea of having this match at The Grandest Stage Of Them All. The match was going to be positioned as the annual WrestleMania show-stealer between a babyface Michaels and a heel Eddie. Elaborate plans were made regarding the video packages that WWE could put out on the road to 'Mania.

Eddie's untimely death changed everything in a split second. Michaels ended up wrestling Vince himself in a street fight at WrestleMania 22. It's also worth noting that Rey Mysterio probably wouldn't have won the World Title if Eddie hadn't died in November.

#1 Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Hulk Hogan

When Vince McMahon brought in the New World Order in 2002, the WWE Universe knew that a dream match was almost on the horizon. WrestleMania 18 was looming closer and fans wanted two of the greatest Superstars of all time, Hogan and Austin to square off for the first time ever. This never happened, and Hogan ended up having a classic with The Rock.

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Bruce Prichard once stated that Austin turned down the match when Vince pitched it to him. Apparently, Austin was not a fan of Hogan, as he once refused to wrestle Austin in WCW, citing reasons that he wasn't a big star. Austin also wasn't impressed with the booking idea of Hogan going over him.

The Rattlesnake had a mid-card level match against Scott Hall at WrestleMania 18, while The Rock and Hogan stole the show in what many consider to be one of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time.

Edited by Rahul Arun