10 Rumored WrestleMania Plans That Never Ended Up Happening

WrestleMania is probably the best thing about wrestling. Each year, fans travel hundreds of miles to attend this visual extravaganza. It's also WWE's biggest event (excluding Saudi Arabia shows) and they treat it like a big deal as well. For every WrestleMania, the company tried to do something extra to please the fans.

Over the years, fans have seen several dream matches happen at the Shows of Shows. At the same time, there were many other things that were planned for WrestleMania, but they never ended up happening. This includes dream matches, reunions, and several other great rivalries.

10 Hade Vansen Vs The Undertaker

Hade Vansen The Forgotten Wrestler Who Could've Faced The Undertaker At WrestleMania

Hade Vansen was supposed to feud with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25. Vansen appeared one night on SmackDown and cut a promo. He was set to debut on the show a few weeks later, but he was never seen in WWE again. There were reports that WWE wanted Vansen to lead a stable on SmackDown and feud with The Deadman. Eventually, he'd be the only one left from his stable to face The Undertaker and their match would've happened at WrestleMania. But Hade was released shortly after his SmackDown promo, and then he retired from wrestling.

9 Nexus' Reunion

Darren Young revealed that WWE wanted to do a Nexus reunion for WrestleMania 36. But those plans were canceled when COVID-19 restrictions were put into place. Nexus wasn't set to return for the pay-per-view but for Axxess instead. Young also teased Nexus' return last year and said they'd be the ones to face Retribution at the Shows of Shows. That didn't happen as well.

8 Shane McMahon Vs Austin Theory

Shane McMahon was quietly let go by WWE earlier this year. There were reports that McMahon wanted to face Austin Theory at WrestleMania 38. This made sense in the storyline because Austin is Vince's protege. But WWE wanted him to face Seth Rollins instead, but Shane wasn't agreeing to it. Shane O'Mac wasn't booked for 'Mania this year, and Theory faced off with Pat McAfee instead while Rollins battled the returning Cody Rhodes.

7 The Undertaker As Kurt Angle's Final Opponent

Kurt Angle retired against Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35. A lot of fans wanted him to face John Cena in his final match, but reportedly, McMahon refused to let him face The Cenation Leader. According to a report, WWE once considered The Undertaker to be Kurt's WrestleMania opponent. But Undertaker didn't seem interested in this match.

6 Hulk Hogan Wins Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale

WWE reportedly wanted Hulk Hogan to win Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 36. Hogan wasn't supposed to take any serious bumps during the match and would've won by eliminating the final few wrestlers.

Vince McMahon also agreed with this idea, but this didn't happen because he and Hogan couldn't agree on financial terms.

5 Dean Ambrose Vs Roman Reigns

At WrestleMania 30, The Shield defeated Kane and The New Age Outlaws in a six-man tag team match. However, WWE originally wanted to have Dean Ambrose vs Roman Reigns at the show, according to Seth Rollins while speaking with Stone Cold on Broken Skull Sessions. The plan was to break up The Shield early, and then have Ambrose feud with Reigns. But the trio realized it was too early to split them up so they went to Triple H and managed to change the plans.

4 Shayna Baszler Beats Becky Lynch

Becky Lynch v Shayna Baszler WrestleMania 36

Shayna Baszler won the Elimination Chamber match in 2020 in a dominant fashion. Most fans were convinced that Baszler would defeat Becky Lynch at WrestleMania. But that didn't happen and The Man retained her championship belt. According to a report, the original plan was indeed to have Shayna beat Becky at the Shows of Shows. Vince wanted the title change to happen in front of a live audience so he changed the plans.

3 Bret Hart Vs Shawn Michaels 2

Bret Hart v Shawn Michaels WrestleMania 12 Cropped

Shawn Michaels had won the WWE Championship from Bret Hart at WrestleMania 12. WWE wanted these two to have a rematch at WrestleMania 13, and this time, Hart was booked to win. But Michaels refused to work with The Hitman. This led to a change of plans for Bret and he ended up facing "Stone Cold" Steve Austin instead. HBK's "lost smile" led to a pivotal Submission match between Hart and Austin.

2 Chris Jericho Vs Kevin Owens For The Universal Championship

At Fastlane 2017, Goldberg defeated Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship. He and Brock Lesnar headlined WrestleMania that year, where Goldberg lost his Universal Title.

According to Chris Jericho, however, the original plan was to have him and Owens feud at WrestleManiafor the Universal Championship. They were supposed to main event the show, with Jericho winning the title. But those plans were changed in favor of Lesnar vs Goldberg.

1 Hulk Hogan Vs Steve Austin

There were talks to do Hulk Hogan vs Steve Austin at WrestleMania 18. However, Austin refused to work with Hogan and the latter faced The Rock instead. While Austin never gave any reason as to why he didn't want to face Hogan, fans believe it had a lot to do with Hogan refusing to work with Steve in WCW. This would've been a huge dream match for WWE at that time.