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Ah, the Grandaddy of them All: It's WWE's Super Bowl and the staple of all staples in professional wrestling. Point blank: if you've made it to the show of shows, your name shall forever be immortalized.
We've seen a lot of unforgettable WrestleMania moments and matches over the years. Still, for every Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock caliber 5-star classic, there are also about 4 different anticipated matches that were planned but never came to fruition.
Here are 5 WrestleMania matches that were completely scrapped. Enjoy!
A former WWE writer just went after JBL for his comments HERE
#5 The Undertaker vs. Drew McIntyre, WWE's WrestleMania 26
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Before he'd go on to headline WrestleMania or win the coveted WWE Championship as a beloved babyface, Drew McIntyre rose to prominence as Vince McMahon's "Chosen One."
As such, Drew was Vince's handpicked favorite as it pertained to achieving WWE greatness. Naturally, there's no better way to do so than by headlining a WrestleMania with The Undertaker.
According to Drew (Via BT Sport), this was the plan heading into the event in 2010.
“I believe it led to instead of myself and Undertaker, it was Shawn Michaels and Undertaker in the retirement match, which was a phenomenal match, and I could not have delivered on that level at the time," said Drew McIntyre.
#4 Triple H vs. Mike Tyson, WWE's WrestleMania 17
Fresh off the heels of his critically acclaimed feud of the year candidate with Stone Cole Steve Austin, WWE found themselves in a pretty tough situation, as they surprisingly didn't know where to add Triple H on the card for WrestleMania 17.
While the decision would eventually be made to have The Game feud with The Undertaker, there was initially a pitch for Triple H to face Mike Tyson in a boxing match.
According to Triple H, the match never happened due to money-related issues.
"I don’t remember if it was going to be full boxing rules, or whether I was wearing gloves, but it ended up being a deal where the whole thing just would have been a ludicrous amount of money, and it got pushed off," said Triple H.
#3 Trish Stratus vs. Lita, WWE's WrestleMania 21
The Trish Stratus/Lita bout from December 4, 2004, is still being discussed to this day, and there's a good reason for that. If you were a wrestling fan during that era, you probably already know this contest isn't just held in high regard for its sheer match quality alone.
The fact that women weren't getting nearly as much TV time back then and the two Hall of Famers managed to pull off the main event classics makes this match all the more special.
According to Trish, the two were originally scheduled to mix it up again at WrestleMania 21 in 2005.
Lita and I had just gotten back into a storyline after only crossing paths here and there since our initial feuds with T&A and The Hardys. We were on a roll and the idea was to work towards WrestleMania. However, Lita got injured at the New Year's Revolution PPV, so we went back to the drawing board.
#2 Sting/Bret Hart vs. Kurt Angle, WWE's WrestleMania 18
While it can be argued that Kurt Angle's peak didn't come until the mid-2000s, it's safe to say that The Olympic Hero was a pretty big deal in 2002.
He'd been involved in several high-profile storylines with the likes of Triple H, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Undertaker by then, so yeah, it wouldn't have made for much of a shock to see Angle somewhere in the main event scene of WrestleMania 18.
According to Kurt (Via The Kurt Angle Show), there were plans for him to square off against Sting and Bret Hart at one point for X-8.
Yeah, there were talks about it. I heard about it. But I’m not surprised that it didn’t occur, you know. They couldn’t get Sting to sign that early, you know, Bret Hart at that particular time, you know, he was still wrestling. I did contact Bret. I’m the one that contacted him, yeah.
I called him and said ‘hey I want to wrestle you at WrestleMania. I think it would be a dream match. You won’t have to do any of the work, I’ll do all the bumping and selling’ and he immediately said no. And I was like ‘okay, well I appreciate it. Nice meeting you Bret.
#1 The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar, WWE's WrestleMania 30
SummerSlam 2002 was what many proclaimed to be the event where Brock Lesnar officially went from The Next Big Thing to "The Big Thing."
His opponent was a man who was on the cusp of retiring from a full-time WWE schedule in exchange for Hollywood greatness; The Rock!
The two were apparently set to run back over a decade later at WrestleMania 30, as per the most electrifying man himself via a tweet.
In lieu of Brock Lesnar vs. The Rock, the latter came face-to-face with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan in the same ring at the same time, while The Beast Incarnate knocked off The Undertaker, subsequently ending his legendary WrestleMania streak.
