Jay-Z at WrestleMania would've been huge!
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00:00 They say anything can happen in the World Wrestling Federation, and by extension, anything
00:04 can also not happen.
00:05 This particular Wrestlemania flavoured video will look at prospective plans that got changed
00:09 along the long and bumpy road to the grandest stage of them all.
00:13 I'm Si for WhatCulture.com and these are 10 Amazing Wrestlemania Pitches That Never
00:17 Happened.
00:18 10.
00:19 The Miz vs The Ultimate Warrior - WrestleMania 28 or 29
00:23 There's something special about our favourite wrestlers coming back after a long time away.
00:27 More than that, it's even better when a current day star gets to get into the ring
00:31 with someone they grew up watching.
00:33 The Miz's favourite wrestler as a kid was the brightly coloured purveyor of intense
00:36 promos himself, The Ultimate Warrior.
00:38 Recently, the A-Lister revealed on his TikTok account that he had pushed for a dream scenario
00:43 backstage that would have put him in direct contact with his hero.
00:46 The idea played into the character's desire to be recognised as the greatest intercontinental
00:50 champion of all time by going over several previous title holders.
00:54 Miz pitched a gauntlet lumberjack match where he would face five previous champions one
00:58 by one and overcome all odds, only for a sixth secret competitor to be revealed.
01:03 It's hard not to imagine how huge the reaction to The Ultimate Warrior's music hitting
01:07 at WrestleMania would be as he stormed down to the ring to hit Miz with three clotheslines
01:11 and a splash.
01:13 Which WrestleMania Miz is referring to is hard to place, however this idea never came
01:16 to fruition and never will with Warrior's passing in 2014.
01:20 9.
01:21 The Nexus Reunion - WrestleMania 36 and 37
01:24 It's largely agreed by WWE fans that the Nexus is one of the most mishandled stables
01:29 and storylines of all time.
01:31 The potential of this anti-establishment group of young upstarts is still talked about even
01:36 13 years after Cena buried them.
01:38 However, according to the former Darren Young, the Nexus were apparently pencilled in for
01:42 WrestleMania 36.
01:44 Because the show was moved to WWE's performance centre amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the segment
01:49 was cut.
01:50 The Network Man reportedly didn't want to do the angle without a crowd.
01:53 Getting the Nexus back together would have surely meant coming to an agreement with a
01:56 lot of previously released talent, whether that was for one night only or a longer run.
02:01 Former leader Wade Barrett interestingly did return to the WWE later the same year to take
02:06 up a commentary position in NXT.
02:08 This wasn't the last time Young teased a reunion as the following year he outright
02:11 said in a February 2021 appearance on the Dropkick Podcast that Wade Barrett was going
02:16 to stand up from the commentary table, command Nexus down to the ring to defeat Retribution.
02:20 Well, that didn't happen either, so maybe Young's confidence in WWE taking his ideas
02:25 seriously are a little misplaced.
02:27 8.
02:28 Chris Jericho vs Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship - WrestleMania 33
02:33 The Universal Championship match at WrestleMania 33 between Brock Lesnar and Goldberg was a
02:37 simple brutal beatdown.
02:39 Frankly, it over-delivered considering that very few people were interested in it, especially
02:44 because of what it seemed like WWE had originally been heading towards.
02:48 The year's biggest story was the friendship of Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens and its heartbreaking
02:52 dissolution.
02:53 With months of the pair getting over as self-serving heels, Owens turning on Jericho set them up
02:58 for one hell of a grudge match.
03:00 After all, Owens had been given the Universal Championship to hold and perhaps whilst it
03:04 wasn't WWE's intentions, a great thing had fallen into their lap.
03:08 Infamously, instead the pair fought over the much lesser United States title in the second
03:13 match of the night.
03:14 On Busted Open Radio in 2019, Jericho expressed his frustration saying "To be on second
03:19 with this angle that we had when it was designated at first, I was told by Vince, 'You're
03:23 going to win the world title from Kevin Owens in the main event of WrestleMania.'
03:27 Three days later, he changed it to Brock vs Goldberg and didn't tell me."
03:31 Additionally, Vince apparently told Jericho that it was the worst match in WrestleMania
03:35 history, which is a clear exaggeration.
03:37 For example, the absolute malaise of Undertaker vs Roman Reigns was on the very same night,
03:42 so how does that work?
03:44 7.
03:45 Beth Phoenix vs Karma - WrestleMania 28
03:47 In 2012, the WWE's women's division was in a sorry state.
03:51 Beth Phoenix had been Divas Champion for nearly 200 days, was head and shoulders above her
03:56 colleagues and desperately needed a good WrestleMania opponent.
03:59 On an episode of his show Wrestling with Freddy, actor and former WWE writer Freddie Prince
04:04 Jr revealed that Stephanie McMahon had asked him to work on a very specific storyline around
04:08 this time.
04:09 At this point, Karma had returned to the WWE, and to make her reappearance even more shocking,
04:14 she did so by entering the men's Royal Rumble match.
04:17 She was only the third woman to ever do so, alongside Chyna and Beth Phoenix.
04:22 The story from here was to have Karma rip through the division and destroy the recently
04:26 signed TNA Knockouts Champion Gail Kim in seven minutes.
04:30 By the sounds of things, Natalya would have hit the ring and also lost to the former Awesome
04:34 Kong.
04:35 So, Beth Phoenix would face off with her to set up the match at WrestleMania 28.
04:39 However, despite Karma signing a deal with WWE, this Royal Rumble appearance would be
04:43 her one and only showing of the year.
04:46 That summer, she was released.
04:48 6.
04:49 Mysterio vs Andrade in a Mask vs Hair Match - WrestleMania 36
04:54 Dealing with a pandemic is bad enough, but even beyond that, WrestleMania 36 was kind
04:58 of a booking disaster.
05:00 From a fan perspective, reports came out every day about potential changes to the card.
05:04 In January 2020, Rey Mysterio and Andrade Cien Almas clashed several times on Monday
05:09 Night Raw.
05:10 Their chemistry, both being luchador savants, was spot on, and it was great to see two men
05:15 of differing generations mixing it up like this.
05:17 Mysterio's years in the business likely meant knowledge for Andrade to soak up, and
05:21 it seemed that getting in the ring with this young talent lit a fire under Rey.
05:25 Speaking to TV Insider, the former World Champion said he was willing to put his pride on the
05:29 line in a mask vs hair match.
05:32 The feud had certainly seen Andrade trying to unmask Mysterio, and Cien's pride in
05:36 his image made the whole thing just make so much sense.
05:39 Early reports for Mania did say that the two might meet again to square up for the United
05:44 States title, but there was no mention of this unique stipulation.
05:47 Even so, Mysterio was reportedly told to quarantine, and even then beyond that, Andrade was pulled
05:52 from the show due to injury.
05:54 5.
05:55 Sting vs Kurt Angle - WrestleMania 18 When WWE bought out their competition WCW,
06:01 it meant a whole new host of stars to put together for upcoming events.
06:05 Suffice to say that WrestleMania 18's card jam-packed with dream matches composed of
06:09 main eventers from both companies.
06:11 Rock vs Hogan, Austin vs Hall, Edge vs Booker T, and then randomly plonked in the middle
06:16 is Kurt Angle going over Kane for some reason.
06:20 Plans for Kurt Angle were originally much grander because WWE thought they'd found
06:23 an incredible opponent for the Olympic gold medalist and didn't formulate a backup plan.
06:28 In their eyes, Sting, one of the WCW stars who had originally refused to sign, was bound
06:33 for Connecticut.
06:34 This was a tad overconfident considering that Sting hadn't been quiet about his disinterest
06:39 in working for the company.
06:40 The icon revealed in 2003 that he had had some serious contract negotiations with the
06:44 company, but that he was wary of the schedule and WWE's increasingly more racy television
06:49 products.
06:50 In the end, he passed and instead went on to TNA in 2003.
06:55 Kurt Angle would follow suit, and this match would happen several times outside of WWE
06:59 and WrestleMania.
07:00 4.
07:01 Cena vs Orton, Barrett vs Undertaker, WrestleMania 27
07:06 One of John Cena's greatest rivals is most certainly Randy Orton, to the point where
07:10 fans started to get sick of the two competing against each other over the years.
07:14 That being said, despite the numerous pay-per-view bouts they had, the pair never faced off at
07:19 WrestleMania.
07:20 Of course, it was thrown around for at least one event, that being WrestleMania 28.
07:24 At the show, Cena and Miz famously fought over the WWE title.
07:28 However, in the months leading up to it, Cena was involved with Orton's feud with Barrett,
07:32 so it's possible to see the path to that point.
07:35 Speaking of Barrett, perhaps most importantly, he was gearing up for a showdown with The
07:39 Undertaker at that year's show of shows.
07:41 Again, the evidence is there, Barrett's Nexus had assisted Kane in burying The Undertaker
07:46 at Bragging Rights 2010, but this never really came around to a satisfying conclusion.
07:51 Simply because, as they say, plans changed.
07:54 Despite coming in red hot, Barrett had lost momentum due to being forced to lose to established
07:59 stars like Cena and Orton.
08:01 Meanwhile, Vince McMahon was apparently interested in continuing the chronicles of Michaels and
08:05 The Undertaker for the third year running.
08:07 And Barrett was beaten in a comedy tag match.
08:10 Joy.
08:11 3.
08:12 Shayna Baszler beats Becky Lynch - WrestleMania 36
08:15 After firmly establishing herself as the best NXT Women's Champion of all time, Shayna
08:20 Baszler burst onto Raw with great aplomb.
08:22 Sure, biting Becky Lynch on the back of the neck was perhaps a little bit weird, but the
08:26 Queen of Spades destroying every opponent at Elimination Chamber meant that she was
08:30 getting the super push she deserved.
08:32 And then she lost in her title match at WrestleMania 36, which was not originally meant to happen.
08:38 Like the alleged Nexus reunion, McMahon got cold feet on this due to the lack of a crowd
08:42 and planned to return to it later.
08:45 The problem is, this decision is contingent on Vince's entirely unreliable ability to
08:49 book long term.
08:50 First, Baszler would need to claw her way back from such a loss and then be kept strong
08:54 until such a time that they could return to this moment and pay it off.
08:58 If Baszler had beaten Lynch, then the Women's division would be a different place.
09:02 The Queen of Spades time in NXT was one of total dominance and it seemed that WWE was
09:06 gearing up for the same thing on the main roster until they bottled it.
09:10 2.
09:11 John Cena and Jay-Z's Rap Battle - WrestleMania 19
09:15 John Cena's first match on the grandest stage of them all was at WrestleMania 20,
09:19 beating Big Show for the US title, before finding his comfortable spot in the main events
09:23 the very next year.
09:24 However, Cena's first WrestleMania appearance was originally something else entirely.
09:29 By the time of WrestleMania 19 rolling around, Cena's Doctor of Thuganomics rapping gimmick
09:33 was well and truly over.
09:35 WWE wanted to turn this into a draw in itself and it made sense to use this as a spot to
09:40 bring a megastar onto the show.
09:42 The idea was for Cena to have a rap battle with Grammy-winning icon Jay-Z, with Fabulous
09:47 also in Jay's corner.
09:49 However, things didn't wind up going ahead due to a clash of commitments just weeks beforehand.
09:54 The idea got far enough along that Cena had no other plans to pivot to.
09:58 Instead, the Doctor went ahead with the battle rap on a segment filmed before Sunday Night
10:02 Heat against cardboard cutouts of his previously planned opponents.
10:06 If Jay-Z had made the show, it would have been one of the biggest celebrity gets in
10:09 WrestleMania history.
10:11 1.
10:12 Eddie Guerrero vs Shawn Michaels - WrestleMania 22
10:16 In November 2022, Cort Bauer, current owner of MLW and most importantly, former WWE writer,
10:22 sat down with the Insider's Podcast to drop a few knowledge bombs.
10:26 Bauer talked specifically at length about the build for WrestleMania 22, which according
10:30 to him was originally set to see the clash of Bret Hart vs Vince McMahon.
10:34 With Hart going into the Hall of Fame that year, although notably missing his moment
10:38 to step out onto the stage at WrestleMania the next night, it's easy to believe.
10:42 Clearly, despite all that had happened, he was now on good terms with the WWE.
10:46 Obviously, that match did wind up happening, but it did so at WrestleMania 26 instead.
10:51 Sadly, the same can't be said for the event's other planned but cancelled headliner.
10:56 Bauer recalled the writers' meeting where someone brought up the idea of Shawn Michaels
11:00 vs Eddie Guerrero.
11:01 Excitement apparently and appropriately spread across the room about it as a technical marvel
11:06 between two brilliantly talented Texan performers.
11:09 It would be a match that hooked wrestling fans of differing generations, perfect for
11:13 the company's marquee event.
11:15 Vince was sold and he told his team to put it down in writing.
11:18 Sadly, that exact conversation took place the same weekend as Guerrero's unfortunate
11:22 passing and thus this WrestleMania pitch and dream match never came to be.
11:27 And that's the list!
11:28 Let us know what you thought of this video down in the comments below.
11:31 Which of these WrestleMania matches and moments would you have loved to see the most?
11:34 And of course, let us know of any others that you know about.
11:37 Don't forget to like this video, share it with your friends, subscribe and hit that
11:39 notification bell.
11:40 Head over to whatculture.com for more content every day.
11:43 I've been Si for WhatCulture and have a good week!
11:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]