Believe it or not, the famous one-on-one No Disqualification match at WrestleMania 24
between Floyd “Money” Mayweather and the Big Show was never supposed to happen in the
first place. The original plan was to have Rey Mysterio and former boxer, Oscar De La
Hoya team up to take on Floyd Mayweather and MVP. However, Oscar De La Hoya turned down
the WWE, which allowed for the introduction of the Big Show into the angle and the match
was changed to Rey Mysterio and Floyd Mayweather vs The Big Show and MVP. Shane McMahon was
then suggested to take MVP’s place, changing plans yet again. Another plan even suggested
Rey Mysterio and Batista in a tag team match against Floyd Mayweather and the Big Show,
however, all plans were scrapped when Rey Mysterio suffered a bicep injury, which kept
him out of action for a few months. In the end, a David vs Goliath type match was established
between Floyd Mayweather and the Big Show, which ended up being The Big Show’s highest
profile match. A match that Mysterio could have been a part of.
The WWE was plagued with injuries leading up to WrestleMania 32 with top stars like
Randy Orton, Seth Rollins and John Cena all unable to compete. As a result, this altered
many plans and hence the match between Triple H and Roman Reigns came to fruition. It was
widely anticipated that the main event of WrestleMania 32 would see Seth Rollins take
on his former mentor, Triple H. However, that did not happen, of course, as Seth Rollins
sustained a knee injury, tearing his ACL, MCL and medial meniscus at a house show in
a match against Kane. It was also speculated that The Rock would face Triple H at the grandest
stage of them all due to their confrontation at WrestleMania 31, however, movie commitments
prevented The People’s Champ from clashing with The Game. Instead, a feud was set-up
between Roman Reigns and Triple H at Survivor Series 2015, which eventually culminated in
a match at ‘Mania 32, which saw the Big Dog emerge victorious.
It was rumoured that the original plan going into WrestleMania 22 was to have a World Heavyweight
Championship match between The Viper, Randy Orton and The Animal, Batista. However, a
few months prior to WrestleMania 22, Batista tore his right tricep and so WrestleMania
plans were scrapped for The Animal. Instead, Kurt Angle ended up taking Batista’s place
by winning a twenty-man battle royal for the then vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship,
which he went on to retain up until WrestleMania 22. The match was looking like it was going
to be Kurt Angle vs Randy Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, however, in
a sudden turn of events, Rey Mysterio was added in the mix after winning the 2006 Royal
Rumble, thus making it a triple threat match. It was thought that Mysterio received a bigger
push due to his connection with Eddie Guerrero, who tragically passed away a few months earlier.
Nevertheless, Mysterio went on to win the triple threat match and paid tribute to Eddie
as the new World Heavyweight Champion.
This is perhaps one of the most recognised examples of WrestleMania plans being changed;
the triple threat match between Daniel Bryan, Batista and Randy Orton at WrestleMania 30.
The original plan was to have WWE World Heavyweight Champion at the time, Randy Orton square off
against a returning Batista. However, fans were not too embraced by this idea and instead
wanted to see Bryan in the main event, who was a fan favourite after CM Punk left the
WWE. The crowd reacted very negatively towards Batista’s 2014 Royal Rumble win due to Daniel
Bryan’s omission in the match and Batista was aptly known as “Boo-tista”. As a result
of continuous pressure, the WWE had no choice but to appease the fans by including Daniel
Bryan in the main event picture providing he could defeat Triple H at WrestleMania 30.
If not, Triple H would be inserted into the title match. Bryan went on to defeat Triple
H as well as capture gold on the same night. In an interview, Daniel Bryan confirmed that
his WrestleMania 30 opponent was supposed to be none other than the Celtic Warrior,
Sheamus…yes…Sheamus, which would have been their third WrestleMania encounter.
It’s crazy to think that the iconic submission match at WrestleMania 13 between The Hitman,
Bret Hart and The Rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin was never meant to happen in
the first place. In fact, the original plan for WrestleMania 13 was to have a rematch
between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels but this time Michaels would drop the title to Hart.
However, in the months leading up to WrestleMania 13, Michaels “lost his smile” suffering
a knee injury and felt the need to step away from the ring until he “found his smile
again”. Hart went on to claim that Michaels was feigning injury, refusing to drop the
title to him due to them being real-life rivals. Maybe it was for the best though as we wouldn’t
have seen the classic match between Hart and Austin, which saw Austin pass out in his own
pool of blood. If that’s not badass then I don’t know what is! The images of blood
gushing down Austin’s head as he refused to submit was a sight to remember and marked
the time where Austin would receive a babyface push becoming one of the biggest stars in
the history
of WWE.