Change the Results of 5 Matches

[The Show Off]

Basically this topic is just what the title says. What I want is for each one of you to pick the top 5 matches that you think should have had a different winner. If you would like to explain why you would have changed the outcome of said match that would work out best.

For example:

Randy Orton winning the title from Triple H at Wrestlemania 25

Chris Jericho winning the title from CM Punk at Wrestlemania 28

or

Mark Henry retaining the title when Daniel Bryan cashed in Money in the Bank



None of these are my picks but just giving you examples to help get your minds going. I'll be back in a bit to tell you my picks, and maybe reasons for each.

[xREDxONxYOUx]

The first one that comes to mind would be Bret Hart over Shawn Michaels in Montreal.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Honourable Mention: Finlay going over JBL at WrestleMania XXIV. At the time the WWE had no clue where to go with the Vince McMahon/son thing, and the explanation of Finlay being behind Hornswoggle claiming to be Vince's son when he was in fact Finlay's son made absolutely no sense. At all. That being said, Finlay's random face turn actually could have worked somewhat if Finlay had gone over JBL in the opener of Mania XXIV and maybe smacked Vince around as well. Not trying to say that Finlay would have ushered in a new era or anything, but it would have given a solid veteran something to do and could have maybe moved a few Finlay t-shirts as he played a tough-as-nails sumbitch who wasn't going to bend over for anybody.

1. CM Punk over The Undertaker at Hell in a Cell 2009. I always felt that the WWE pulled the plug on CM Punk's heel run on SmackDown! (one of the highlights of his career, to be honest) way too early. Punk had just gone over The Undertaker at Breaking Point, and was billed as the only man with a submission victory over The Undertaker. It was a tainted victory, with Vince McMahon appearing to somehow be forcing Teddy Long to favour Punk. I suspected it was to lead to Vince proclaiming CM Punk the "perfect champion," given that he was drug free and all that. Punk could have gotten a bit more out of his reign by going over Matt Hardy a couple of times (given that he ended Matt's brother's career in the WWE). I always felt that SmackDown! sort of shit itself and just switched the title...just because.

2. Booker T over Triple H at WrestleMania XIX. This stands out as one of the worst booking decisions I can remember. Triple H literally put the world to sleep during 2003, and that's not because he's a shitty performer, but he just didn't capture imaginations in the role as dominant heel champion. Fans were rabid for babyfaces like Rob Van Dam and Booker T to climb the ranks and dethrone Triple H. I don't know what the reasoning was for having Triple H pin Booker T the way he did, but it was pretty weak that Triple H hit the Pedigree, took about seventeen seconds to cover Booker, and did so with one hand. There are only two reasons I can think of:

a) The WWE had it in their minds that they had to establish the World Heavyweight Title as something new, and that they needed to give Triple H a monster reign to do so.

b) With this being the first WrestleMania of the brand split, they might have felt that they could only do one title change at Mania.

Either way, it made Booker T look like a bit of a clown, and his momentum as a babyface never really returned. Booker T should have won this match, given the fans a bit of a moment, and really freshened up RAW (which desperately needed it at the time).

3. The Brian Kendrick over Triple H, Jeff Hardy, MVP and Shelton Benjamin in the Scramble Match at Unforgiven 2008. OK, so this one might not make much sense to people, but this is my subjective opinion, dammit! In 2008, Brian Kendrick was suddenly repackaged as one of my favourite characters of all-time. The kid had depth as he bounced around and acted like a poet crossed with a rock star that admittedly walked the line between genius and insanity. He had a big bodyguard that he had picked at the toughest club he could find in Harlem, who was presented as a ruthless motherfucker who could take chair shots from Triple H like they were candy. Also, they seemed to enjoy discussing things like Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" while reading "Cat in the Hat."

Anyway, the WWE decided to try out a new match concept at Unforgiven 2008 called the Scramble Match. Triple H would defend his WWE Championship against five qualifying Superstars in a match with a fifteen-minute time limit, where the guy with the final fall would be the official WWE Champion. Brian Kendrick qualified for the match first by winning a Battle Royal after seemingly being eliminated by Big Show, but being caught by his bodyguard, Ezekiel Jackson, and after Big Show left the ring, Kendrick was declared the victorious.

Kendrick and his hot gimmick did get to "unofficially" become WWE Champion for a couple of minutes or so, as you will see here (something that only Jeff Hardy also got to do in the match):



I can understand entirely why the WWE didn't do an official title change here, don't get me wrong, but given that Kendrick's whole shtick was resourceful ingenuity unrivalled by any WWE Superstar, I always thought that Kendrick could have some sort of strategy to become the WWE Champion in such a match, before losing the title quickly after. For example: With the clock running out, Kendrick leaves the ring and gets a steel chair, cracking it over each and every competitor in the match. Kendrick is of course disqualified against each and every competitor doing that, but then he pins one of them -- let's go with Shelton Benjamin -- and with just a few minutes left, Kendrick has duped everyone and become the official WWE Champion!

Kendrick only has himself to blame for fucking up the opportunity he was given. Freddie Prinze, Jr. and the SmackDown! writing team were doing everything in their power to make Kendrick a star, and truth be told, I could not think of anyone better suited at that point in time to win the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania XXV. But Kendrick decided to get high a lot and the WWE proceeded to job him out before showing him the door. The fact remains, though, The Brian Kendrick was an absolutely fascinating character that seemed to capture the imaginations of whoever was in charge of SmackDown! at the time, and I would have absolutely loved to have seen Triple H chase Kendrick for a month or two on SmackDown!. And, hey, it also would have boosted Triple H's tally when he won the title back, too.

4. Jack Swagger winning the Breakout Battle Royal and becoming WWE Champion at the first-ever TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs PPV. Now, this is kind of cheating, because it's changing the result of two matches -- but they were connected, all right? The WWE were sort of experimenting at the time and had RAW Guest Host Jesse Ventura announce a "Breakout Battle Royal" featuring every RAW Superstar who had never been a WWE or World Heavyweight Champion with the winner receiving a WWE Title match against John Cena at the upcoming TLC PPV. Sheamus won that match after being on RAW for just a short period of time, and got sent up in the experimental rocket and was made the WWE Champion in record time when he unseated Cena at TLC. Sheamus doesn't suck, and he really grew into the role, but at that point in time there was another Superstar who was finding ground and was also someone the WWE sky-rocketed upon his debut, albeit on the ECW brand.

Jack Swagger would have made a pretty perfect opponent for Cena at TLC. In fact, I seem to recall Swagger and Cena working a pretty decent match on RAW heading up to the PPV and Cena saying some good things about working with Swagger. If it had been Jack Swagger getting the opportunity, you'd be putting a guy who had already been ECW Champion earlier that year against Cena, and his win would have been equally as shocking and experimental, but with a little more behind it. Swagger would have no doubt lost the title heading into WrestleMania, but if they had still gone with Swagger winning Money in the Bank and cashing in on Chris Jericho (and more on that in a second), then Swagger would have become a two-time World Champion (not including his ECW Title reign, of course), and that also experimental reign would have had even more steam behind it.

Sheamus' time was coming, and you could have still done Triple H vs. Sheamus at Extreme Rules, and although Triple H beating Sheamus at that event made perfect sense (as did Sheamus winning the rematch), if Triple H was really worried about Sheamus getting over, then he could have done the job for him there. It would have also been a great bragging right for Swagger to point out he had held all three WWE brand's top titles within a year of each other, too.

5. Edge over Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania XXVI. This one still sort of boggles me. I love me some Jericho, don't get me wrong, but I just don't understand why Edge, who was fresh off returning from his injury and 2010 Royal Rumble victory, didn't get to complete his retribution against Jericho be dethroning him for the World Heavyweight Title. Jericho went over Edge (relatively cleanly) and then Edge destroyed Jericho. It kind of made Edge look like a bit of a choke artist and a sore loser to boot. How about Edge beats Jericho, proves he's that "top guy," but then Jericho attacks Edge in a moment of rage. Jack Swagger then comes out and cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania, and becomes a two-time World Champion. It sets up Swagger vs. Edge vs. Jericho in a Triple Threat Match for Extreme Rules quite nicely, no? Plus, now Swagger would be 3-0 at WrestleMania, and he even would have taken Michael Cole to a WrestleMania victory as well!

[MoFo]

Cant believe nobody said it already, but Orton over Hogan, Summerslam '06.

Goldberg over Nash so his streak didnt end in such a shitty way
Orton over Taker at Mania 21
Test over everyone in ECW Chamber
Carlito over Cena in Chamber @ NYR 06

[Mr. Pierre]

WM22: Kurt Angle def. Randy Orton & Rey Mysterio to retain the WHC

-Angle was just coming off a great win against Taker from No Way Out, and he seemed to be bringing a lot of credibility to the Championship.

WM27: Alberto Del Rio def. Edge to win the WHC

Turned out to be Edge's last match, and it was a nice ending to his career, but Del Rio was hurt from this big time. I'm still not sure if he's recovered.

Unforgiven 2002: Rob Van Dam def. Triple H to win the WHC

RVD was over and ready to go to the next level. I'm sure they had their reasons for the booking, but I think this was a chance that WWE should have taken.

Summerslam 2007: Randy Orton def. John Cena to win the WWE Championship

We were in the middle of Cena's reign of terror. Orton was on fire, as was the crowd, and it would have been a great moment for the event, the championship, and Orton.

Summerslam 2005: Matt Hardy def. Edge

At the time, there was tons of buzz surrounding this match. This was just the beginning of the feud, but the fans were ready to see Matt get at least some bit of revenge at Summerslam. Instead of making two stars out of this feud, WWE only made one.

[St. Jimmy]

Cena def. The Rock WrestleMania 28

Shawn Micheals def. Hulk Hogan SummerSlam 2005

Daniel Bryan def. Sheamus WrestleMania 28

Triple H def. Hulk Hogan Backlash 2002

Ric Flair def. Triple H (World Heavyweight Championship) WWE Raw 2002

[Droford]

Chris Jericho defeats HHH to win the WWF Title on RAW - It happened, damnit.

Mankind defeats The Rock in a Last Man Standing Match at St Valentines Day Masacre - would set up a Triple Threat Match at WM XV Between Austin/The Rock/Mankind, allowing Foley the shot to Main Event WM legit instead of having to be brought back in it stupidly for the Fatal 4 Way at WM XVI

Kurt Angle defeats Steve Austin at Vengeance - would go on to become the first ever Undisputed Champion by beating Jericho. (changing the outcome of two matches, but whatever..)

and as if my last change never happened..

Chris Jericho defeats HHH at Wrestlemania XVIII - would have established Jericho instead of making him look like a joke

damnit, only 4...

[Rammsteinmad]

Booker T over Triple H at Wrestlemania 19.

Rob Van Dam definitely should have gone over Triple H at Unforgiven 2002.

I want to say Benoit over Angle at the 2003 Royal Rumble, but I'll remain neutral here. The match was fantastic and I think, in the long run, the loss helped Benoit.

Agree with Noid that Punk should have gone over Undertaker at Hell in a Cell 2009.

Can't think of a fifth right now.

[Corporate CockSnogger]

Billy Gunn over The Rock in that feud they had that time.

[NoJabbaNoBogRoll]

Stopped reading once I saw that Noid posted.

I just thought you should know that.

[Schlomey]

when I have time I will post seriously in here but until then:

I remember CM Punk having like what...14 straight PPV losses or someshit. Take away 5 of those.

[CSL]

HBK over Cena WrestleMania 23

[Swiss Ultimate]

After reading Noid's post I would be underwhelmed with whatever I did in the same thought process. With that said, I'm going to do something a little different. Going to take a few classic matches and change the results only slightly. So instead of changing the winner altogether, I'm only going to change the way they lost.

1. Montreal Screwjob
So instead of the debacle that we all know and love, what if Vince had booked the match as a Loser Leaves the WWE match and had given Bret a nice little payday for losing what would be an epic match. Selling the match as the final saying in the feud between the two men. It could have been amazing. Both men were in excellent physical shape and had put on classic matches with eachother before. Would have been amazing if we saw each men putting everything into the fight only to come up short. Neither man would be able to put the other away, reversals galore, kick outs a split second before the three count, it would have been fucking great. Match ends with a ten count, Shawn barely beats it and Bret barely loses. After the match both men shake hands and hug and Bret gets a respectful send-off.

2. Rock VS. Brock
As impressive as Brock was, I certainly wasn't a fan of him going over the Rock in a feud which saw him at his best. Felt like Rock should have kicked out of that F5. The fans seemed into it though. Match was pretty epic, but felt that Rock deserved that much especially with him going on to job himself out to Goldberg at Backlash 2003. For all the heat Rock has gotten for beating Cena from the internet, seems like he sure put over everyone while he was a regular player. So yeah, just wanted one more kick out. O/t watched the match again and noticed that it was pretty much the same ending as Rock VS. Cena.

3. Kurt Angle VS. Abyss (prior to his match with Samoa Joe)
When Kurt came into TNA he was, understandably, the most important wrestler in the company. They threw him right into the mix and started feeding him wins. Typical crap booking led to a horrible match between Kurt and Abyss. Abyss tapped out in record time to the Angle Lock and was made to look as weak as possible. The Monster Abyss' mythical pain tolerance was thrown away and never mentioned again.
What should have happened was Abyss reaching the ropes, hitting Kurt with the Blackhole Slam for a two count and then Kurt Angle hitting the Angle Slam for a win. I had no problem with Angle going over Abyss, but at least let him get something out of the match.

4. Daniel Bryan VS. Sheamus WM
I expected Sheamus to win, but in such an anticlimactic and boring way at the biggest show of the year? Would have preferred a short 6 minute match where Bryan at 4 minutes intentionally DQs himself to escape with his title intact. Teddy comes out and restarts the match, Bryan gets hit with the Brogue kick or whatever and 1-2-3. Established that Sheamus didn't just get lucky and makes Bryan a bigger heel.

5. Taz VS. Tanaka VS. Awesome
Okay, Taz was leaving the company to go to the WWE for a pretty mediocre run. Awesome and Tanaka in a unprecedented show of team work double-team Taz and pin him for the first elimination. This lead to Awesome's horrible ECW title reign and a bunch of other shit. What should have happened was this: Taz, Tanaka and Awesome go at it for a while with some attempted finishers and both Awesome and Taz on the ground spent, then Tanaka sets up a table on the outside for the powerbomb out of the ring spot only for Taz to lock in the Tazmission on Awesome for the first win. Remember, Awesome and Tanaka had quite the feud going. Neither man beating the other would have set up a future match (also I think Awesome should have lost anyways). Then, Tanaka and Taz go through a pretty horrific and bloody bout only for...Sabu w/Alfonso coming in and hitting the leg-drop through a table on Taz allowing Tanaka to win. Fans are pissed, of course, but New Jack and Dreamer come out and brawl it out with Tanaka and Sabu and in usual ECW fashion the "heel" wins the match but loses the fight. Then, with New Jack and Dreamer with him, Taz gives a short speech and leaves. Tanaka would have been a great champion and they could have done a lot with Sabu and Tanaka under the management of Bill Alfonso. Might have saved ECW, I'd wager.

[Flash Funk]

Holy Noid post!

[Swiss Ultimate]

btw: Angle VS. Abyss wasn't a classic match, my bad. Neither was Bryan vs. Sheamus.

[Flash Funk]

1. Randy Orton over HHH at WM 25.
2. HBK over Nash at WM 11.
3. Cena over Miz at WM 27.
4. Cena over Rock at WM 28.
5. Tazz over someone worthy after his Angle victory.

Say what you want about the man, but if Cena had won at the previous two WM and his only loss was in the triple threat at 24, Cena vs. Taker next year would have been tremendous.

[Swiss Ultimate]

Cena V Taker needs to a healthy Cena that is not getting boos unintentionally.

[CSL]

been saying for yearssss that the ultimate way to really "turn" Cena would be on Taker at Mania to end the streak. it's a pipe dream but it doesn't make me think it would be any less magical

[Swiss Ultimate]

If he had ended the streak this year the fans might have rioted.

Still, if he's a strong heel or gets the fans to support him as a face, then it wouldn't be a waste to have him at least face Taker next Mania.

[CSL]

I think at this point Cena would be the ultimate Taker opponent no matter what. even if he stays in his current "split the audience" state, it would be fucking electric come Mania with mostly the entire crowd behind Taker and the small lingering belief that Cena could actually end the streak

[DLVH84]

Mr. Perfect winning the Royal Rumble (1990 Royal Rumble) - WWF
Sting defeating Vader and The Guardian Angel in a Triangle Match (Fall Brawl '94) - WCW
Tommy Dreamer defeating Justin Credible to win the ECW World title in a Stairway To Hell Match (Heat Wave 2000) - ECW
Victor Zangiev and Salman Hashimikov (U.S.S.R., legit) defeating Masa Saito and The Great Muta (Japan) to wrestle The Steiner Brothers (U.S.A.) in the tournament finals (Starrcade '90) - WCW
Ivory winning the Battle royal to win the WWE Women's title (June 30, 2003 edition of RAW) - WWE

[CSL]

gotta say, Ivory winning that battle royal may have changed the entire landscape of professional wrestling

[Swiss Ultimate]

Originally Posted by CSL I think at this point Cena would be the ultimate Taker opponent no matter what. even if he stays in his current "split the audience" state, it would be fucking electric come Mania with mostly the entire crowd behind Taker and the small lingering belief that Cena could actually end the streak

They could do it if they have Cena beat The Rock and Lesnar this year at Summerslam and Rumble. He could beat The Rock (who would later go on to win the Rumble) and then beat Brock at the Rumble before challenging Taker. We have to believe that Cena will beat Undertaker too...maybe even have Undertaker wrestle Cena once or twice before Mania.

[DLVH84]

Originally Posted by CSL gotta say, Ivory winning that battle royal may have changed the entire landscape of professional wrestling

No, Ivory had defeated Jazz, who was Women's Champion, in a few consecutive weeks before the battle royal. She was supposed to win the title, but Gail Kim debuted and won the title.

[CSL]

no shit. we're talking in potentials and "what if's" here

[Emperor Smeat]

1) Jericho over Triple H and stays as champion during the "match that never happened" on Raw in 1999 --- Could have made their small feud become the next mega feud considering how well the rivalry was being built up at the time.

2) Goldberg over Nash at Starcade 1998 --- WCW still has the streak and the Finger Poke of Doom gets avoided.

3) Tazz over Triple H on Smackdown when both guys wore their title belts --- Even Vince thinks this was a big mistake considering how much it hurt Tazz and didn't really do anything positive in the long run.

4) DDP instead of David Arquette over Bischoff or Jeff Jarrett in the tag match on Nitro to win the WCW title --- Would have been a lot better if it was DDP considering how popular he was with the crowd and was their "People's champion."

5) Bret Hart over Yokozuna or Yokozuna over Hogan at Wrestlemania IX --- Hogan winning so easily made Hart look like a weakling while also ruining Yokozuna push as a super heel. The change gives the crowd its happy ending with Hart winning or cements Yokozuna as the next big star by beating Hogan.

[James Steele]

Triple H def. John Cena (WrestleMania 22)
Shawn Michaels def. John Cena (WrestleMania 24)
Daniel Bryan def. Sheamus (WrestleMania 28)
Shawn Michaels def. Hulk Hogan (SummerSlam 05)
Shawn Michaels def. Triple H (Royal Rumble 04)

[Party Hardy]

Big boss man wins!

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Flash Funk 1. Randy Orton over HHH at WM 25. 2. HBK over Nash at WM 11. 3. Cena over Miz at WM 27. 4. Cena over Rock at WM 28. 5. Tazz over someone worthy after his Angle victory. Say what you want about the man, but if Cena had won at the previous two WM and his only loss was in the triple threat at 24, Cena vs. Taker next year would have been tremendous.

I even think that John Cena should have won that Triple Threat Match, to be honest. That would have almost made my list, but to be honest, I didn't feel like changing any other Cena match, so I left it out.

Cena vs. Undertaker will be huge, if they do it, but you can get there with Cena being all "I need to do something huge to redeem myself" and challenge The Undertaker at Mania to end the streak and cement his legacy (in kayfabe -- we all know he's a future Hall of Famer).

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by NoJabbaNoBogRoll Stopped reading once I saw that Noid posted. I just thought you should know that.

Thanks, man. It would kind of made your post obsolete.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I agree with Hulk Hogan doing the job to both Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton. Man was that stuff weak.

[Mr. JL]

1. No Mercy 2001: WWF Title - Austin vs Angle vs RVD
RVD wins the WWF Championship capitalizing on the MEGA HUGE fan reactions he was achieving. It would have been interesting to see just how far the WWF could have went with RVD wave when he was red hot and in his prime. Also you could have easily booked the outcome of this match to springboard into a much hotter slow build feud between Austin and RVD at WrestleMania.

The others have already been stated here...

Hart beats HBK at Survivor Series
Booker T beats HHH for WHC
HBK beats Cena for WWF Championship
Goldberg adds Kevin Nash to The Streak

[James Steele]

I have said this before, but RVD made sure WWE didn't give him the belt when he publicly shit on and bitched about the WWE in public all the time. He then proved WWE was right when they gave him the ultimate push and relaunched an entire fucking brand around him and he got pulled over with fucking dope weeks later.

[weather vane]

Mr. Perfect winning RR 2002.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I agree with James Steele there. William Regal and Brian Kendrick are two other guys that only have themselves to blame for de-railed pushes. I was absolutely certain that William Regal was en route to becoming WWE Champion before he got suspended for 60 days while being the King and General Manager of RAW. I mean, it all lined up perfectly:

* Triple H had reportedly pushed for Regal to be moved to RAW and get a push due to his good relationship with him stemming from Regal sort of mentoring him earlier in their careers.

* Regal had complete control over RAW and was the most dominant character on RAW in 2008.

* Triple H was the WWE Champion and CM Punk, who had the Money in the Bank briefcase at the time was a babyface who was also a protoge of Regal's and had just been bested by him in the finals of the King of the Ring tournament.

I was 90% certain that the plan was for Regal to book himself into a one-sided match against Triple H (something where Triple H would have to face three guys before-hand, or a match where Triple H would lose the title if he got disqualified, but Regal had no limits on what he could do), and Regal would use his power to make sure Triple H never got another title shot. But the one thing Regal could not do would be to prevent CM Punk from attacking him randomly with a referee in tow and dethroning Regal. Hell, it might have even been Triple H who beat the living shit out of Regal and then Punk comes with with his briefcase to capitalise.

In fact, creatively, 2008 was probably one of my most joyous times as a wrestling fan. WrestleMania XXIV was a pretty decent PPV, with Edge and The Undertaker's feud being pretty amazing, CM Punk got his due, Chris Jericho came back and ruled the world as a heel and you had two of my favourites in Regal and Kendrick getting major pushes, and unfortunately both of them fucking it up.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by spilzrvd_69 Mr. Perfect winning RR 2002.

All due respect, as this is your subjective opinion (and I know people would have a problem with some of mine), but I think Triple H winning the Royal Rumble was the only way to go. The dude was immensely over upon returning to the company. The only other guy I would have given it to would have been Rob Van Dam, who I just said did fuck up his push in 2006, but at that point in time was setting the world alight as one of the most over guys on the roster.

The only reason I would not have had Triple H win was if the New World Order debuted a little earlier (and I'm sure there had been talks with them up to that point), and they tossed out Triple H. If RVD had won the Rumble, then it would set up Chris Jericho vs. RVD for the Undisputed Championship at WrestleMania, which would have been an awesomely fresh match between two great workers with journeyman stories, with one super-over as a heel and another super-over as a babyface. This would also have set the stage for what I think would have been a huge blockbuster attraction of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Triple H teaming up to face Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall at Mania -- three men who defined the Attitude era in the WWE against three men who defined the Attitude era in WCW. Drama could have been spurned by the nWo, who could have claimed that one member of "Team WWF" was going to join them at WrestleMania. We saw a lot of that in the Invasion storyline, but it would have certainly added intensity with the past relationship between Triple H and Kevin Nash being brought up, etc.

Alternatively, while I am glad Jericho got his due at Vengeance 2001, as someone who had not really bought into the whole "IWC" thing at that time, I personally felt that heel Jericho was far less interesting than a lot of other characters at that time. I got right into his promo when he cut The Rock off heading into the 2002 Royal Rumble Undisputed Title match where he said "No! No! No! I am not a joke!" but other than that, I felt it was pretty bland. Jericho vs. Triple H just didn't capture my imagination, and after Rock vs. Hogan, it didn't really have even the Toronto crowd's.

Therefore, if you didn't want to go with Jericho vs. RVD and Triple H, Austin & Rock vs. The nWo, then I think that Austin vs. Triple H at WrestleMania X-8 would have been massive. Despite the inconsistent 2001 he had as a character (despite being constantly entertaining and doing good ring work), Stone Cold Steve Austin would have been a pretty perfect pick to unify the WWE and WCW Championships -- a true symbol of the WWE's victory over WCW in the Monday Night Wars. Triple H winning the Royal Rumble would have sent him straight on a collision course with Austin for WrestleMania, which would have been absolutely massive.

The history between Austin and Triple H was always well documented. They hated each other; Triple H essentially ordered a hit on Austin; Stone Cold dropped Triple H from a forklift; Triple H beat Austin in 3 Stages of Hell; Austin Triple H teamed up because they both wanted power and begrudging admired the extent the other would go through to dominate; Austin put Triple H's wife out of business and then they would have been set to meet at the biggest stage of them all.

It wouldn't have exactly been Austin vs. Rock, but it would have had more buried hatred and Triple H's character would have been one that would have been ready for any sort of Austin chicanery and vice versa.

Also, call me a sucker, but I'm a fan of at least one of the two men in the WrestleMania main event to make it into the next year's main event, just because it tells a consistent story and if two guys are ready for it one year, why wouldn't at least 50% of that equation be ready the following year? Unless something really special or differentiating pops up. It's easier to do now than it was then, but Austin vs. Rock certainly created an atmosphere that Jericho vs. Triple H was never going to be able to replicate.

[#1-norm-fan]

I don't know how I would have reacted to Mr. Perfect winning the '02 rumble. That would have been so bizarre. lol

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh, sorry, the point I was going to make:

Mr. Perfect coming back was absolutely tremendous, and while I don't think he should have won the Royal Rumble, him essentially getting stuck on Heat duty was ridiculous, and the man really could have been used for something special at WrestleMania X-8. Many would have suggested a match with Kurt Angle, but I really think that Angle vs. Edge in Edge's hometown would have been the way to go that year (and they feuded pretty much straight after Mania, anyway). The Undertaker vs. Ric Flair was built up pretty great, but I guess they could have done Taker vs. Perfect. At the time they had mentioned The Undertaker's streak, and Taker's perfect streak vs. the perfect wrestler could have held interest, I think. They could have put Ric Flair in Perfect's corner like Perfect used to second Flair in the good ol' days.

Mr. Perfect vs. Kane? Mr. Perfect vs. Lance Storm in a match just there for a good wrestling clinic? Mr. Perfect would have made an absolutely awesome challenger for William Regal's Intercontinental Title at the time, too. Or hell, if you went with Triple H challenging Stone Cold Steve Austin, then Chris Jericho vs. Mr. Perfect would have been immensely good. Insanely good. Imagine this card:

WWE Undisputed Championship
Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) vs. 2002 Royal Rumble Winner Triple H

Icon vs. Icon
The Rock vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan

No Disqualification Match
The Undertaker vs. Ric Flair

USA vs. Canada
Kurt Angle vs. Edge

TLC Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
Billy & Chuck (c) vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz

Chris Jericho vs. Mr. Perfect

Battle Between WCW Icons
Booker T vs. Diamond Dallas Page (with Christian)

WWE Intercontinental Championship
William Regal (c) vs. Rob Van Dam

Triple Threat Match for the WWE Women's Championship
Jazz (c) vs. Trish Stratus vs. Lita

WWE European Championship
Rikishi (c) vs. Goldust

WWE Hardcore Championship
Maven (c) vs. Kane

Just a random card, and the undercard is a bit messier, but taking into consideration the acts at the time, I think this would have been a more special WrestleMania. Kane wouldn't need to turn heel against Maven, but this would have been Maven's "proving ground," and while he would have fought nicely, Kane would have become the Hardcore Champion at WrestleMania for the second straight year. The Hurricane could have shown up backstage and challenged Kane with a Chokeslam, only to receive one himself. Rikishi and Goldust were the first two guys in the Royal Rumble Match, and if Rikishi had won the European Title, Goldust would have made an interesting challenger. Rikishi would retain and then dance with Scotty 2 Hotty & Albert. The Women's Title Match I wouldn't have changed, except for maybe including Mighty Molly, but there's already a Fatal 4-Way as such. RVD beats Regal clean in the opener like what happened. Vince McMahon's pride might have gotten in the way, but DDP was super-over with his "It's a good thing" persona, and he was mentoring Christian. Instead of having Christian turn on Page heading into Mania, you have Booker T and DDP wind up being rivals with Booker being a heel but not really doing much (he ended up arguing over a shampoo commercial). Christian could turn on DDP at WrestleMania and claim that in his hometown DDP was stealing the spotlight from him.

Jericho's sour-puss heel thing could have kept going and beating Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania would not only have been a great match in the Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit spot from Mania X-7, but would have continued to push Jericho as someone to keep an eye on. Billy & Chuck ended up defending the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Hardyz, The Dudleyz and The APA, but it felt like filler at the time. Making the TLC Match a WrestleMania tradition and the ultimate test for Billy & Chuck as Tag Champs would have been a lot more interesting. They could have retained and set themselves up as the heel tag team, or you could have switched the titles to The Hardyz, which would have popped the crowd and completed their journey which oddly enough also began at the Royal Rumble when they reunited against The Undertaker.

Kurt Angle came down to the ring ripping on the Canadian figure skating team for whinging their way into a gold medal or something at Mania X-8, if I recall. Would have made perfect heat if he had done the same thing on his way to the ring for a match against Edge who beat him in the 2001 King of the Ring finals. Edge vs. Angle would have been another great match, and if Edge had beaten Angle, he would have been a much bigger star a lot quicker, I think. Things worked out fine for the dude, though. The No DQ Match between The Undertaker and Ric Flair would have gone the same way, as would Hogan vs. Rock. The main event could have gone any number of ways. A clean victory for Triple H would have validated him the most, though, and given Mania a more special and complete feeling.

The only thing is that Kevin Nash & Scott Hall are not wrestling there. Kevin Nash didn't in reality. But you could have done The APA vs. Nash & Hall somewhere, if you had cut out some stuff, or even scrapped Rikishi vs. Goldust or even the Women's Title match. Nash & Hall would of course defeat Faarooq & Bradshaw, but if you didn't do that match, you could have still had them appear as back-up for Hogan with the same "I don't need help" shtick. They also could have been a presence in the main event -- even if they had just watched from stage and sarcastically applauded when Triple H won the match.

[#1-norm-fan]

John Cena beating The Miz at WrestleMania XXVII was the first that came to mind. Rock costing Cena was meaningless now considering the feud could have continued just the same with Rock just attacking Cena after the match and stealing the spotlight and Miz hasn't exactly used the win to flourish. A huge waste. Atleast the Cena fans could have had something to be happy about.

[Mr. Nerfect]

In retrospect, I sort of agree with John Cena beating The Miz, but at that point in time I felt it was entirely the right move. For what the WWE did, I felt that they pulled the WWE Title off The Miz too early after Mania. I think he should have retained at Extreme Rules by pinning John Morrison, which would have given Cena more reason to chase.

Part of me wonders if they changed plans to have Cena win the title so they could have him triumphant and announce that Osama bin Laden had been caught, but they could have had Vince McMahon come out after the show and announce it, or even have The Miz do it. Yeah, he was a heel, but he was doing PR at the time really well, and it would have given the announcement a "Yeah, I'm the bad guy -- but this is entertainment and it's now my duty to announce to you that in real life the bad guy has been caught" vibe.