What Should Have Been EVERY WrestleMania Main Event

WrestleMania 2000

Main Event: Triple H (c) vs. The Rock vs. Big Show vs. Mick Foley for the WWF Championship

New Main Event: Triple H (c) vs. The Rock for the WWF Championship

This one, on the other hand, I would change.

One year after being the heel WWF Champion, The Rock won the Royal Rumble in 2000 and was now unquestionably the top babyface in wrestling with Steve Austin injured. Meanwhile, Triple H was in his absolute prime as the heel WWF Champion.

It’s quite easy: have Rock challenge Triple H at WrestleMania and win there. Why do this four-way at WrestleMania and then have Rock win at the much more important show known as Backlash?

I get that Mick Foley deserved the main event of WrestleMania, and he did more than anyone else, but I just wouldn’t sacrifice the biggest match of the year and his retirement the prior month for that.

Let’s not even talk about the “McMahon in every corner” crap…

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WrestleMania X-Seven

Main Event: The Rock (c) vs. Stone Cold for the WWF Championship

New Main Event: Unchanged… but no heel turn

Why in the hell would I even think of changing this main event? At the time it happened, this was the greatest main event in WrestleMania history. An argument could be made it still is.

Austin and Rock were the Attitude Era personified and this show was effectively the end of the Attitude Era. It only makes sense to close the show with this match. The only thing that should be changed is Austin’s infamous heel turn.

Austin himself was in favour of it but it ended up being one of the most costly mistakes in company history. People did not want to boo their hero and Austin’s heel turn resulted in many wrestling fans turning the show off for good.

Apart from the debatable heel turn at the end, the match stays exactly the same.

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WrestleMania X8

Main Event: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Triple H for the WWF Undisputed Championship

New Main Event: Steve Austin (c) vs. Triple H for the WWF Undisputed Championship

Chris Jericho vs. Triple H, or should I just say Stephanie McMahon vs. Triple H with Jericho being just sort of there? Might as well tell it like it is!

After the failure that was The Invasion angle, which turned a lot of people away from wrestling forever, Jericho simply did not have enough heat to main event that year’s WrestleMania.

Many people would look at this at point at The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan as a replacement, but I personally think there was not enough time to build it properly.

A feud that was worthy of said spot, however, was the returning Triple H and Steve Austin. Back in May 2001, Triple H unfortunately got injured and Austin blamed him for them losing the Tag Team Titles in a promo the following week.

Just have Austin mention Triple H sometimes throughout his hiatus, have Austin win the Undisputed Championship instead of Jericho, Triple H wins the Royal Rumble and there you go.

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WrestleMania XIX

Main Event: Kurt Angle (c) vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship

New Main Event: Unchanged

Talk about a decrease. The final match on the card was indeed Angle vs. Lesnar, but the match the company was promoting the most heading into this show was, without a doubt, Hogan vs. Vince. The entire main event of February’s No Way Out, for example, existed exclusively to build up to that showdown.

There’s no justification here: the boom was simply over. The card looked pretty good on paper and the show was fantastic.

As far as the main event goes, Hogan and Vince were both old (all due respect) and weren’t active wrestlers, The Rock and Steve Austin were pretty much gone at this point, Triple H vs. Booker T just didn’t feel special, and Lesnar was clearly their number one guy at the time.

With that in mind, I’d keep Brock Lesnar winning the WWE Championship the main event.

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WrestleMania XX

Main Event: Triple H (c) vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels for the World Heavyweight Championship

New Main Event: Unchanged

After the awful number that WrestleMania XIX did, I can say without question that WrestleMania XX was by far the most promoted edition of the event ever. Throughout some pay-per-views in 2003, the WrestleMania sign was already up there in the arena.

That obviously worked, as the difference between both WrestleManias is almost as big as the number WrestleMania XIX did!

The Royal Rumble in 2004 helped build numerous matches heading into the show, most notably Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg but also undercard feuds such as Big Show vs. John Cena, Christian vs. Chris Jericho, Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley, among others. Oh, and The Rock also returned to wrestle at the show, which always helps!

And people were just into Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit and wanted to see both men win.

Another example that when McMahon is pressured, he is a genius at booking wrestling. The main event stays the same.

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