4 WWE WrestleMania main events that nearly had different outcomes
Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair will battle it out for the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships in the first women’s main event in WWE WrestleMania history at MetLife Stadium on April 7.
With Rousey expected to take a break from WWE after the event, the lengthy storyline looks all set up to culminate with Lynch overcoming her two biggest rivals to leave WWE’s annual extravaganza with both titles.
However, as the WWE Universe has found out at many WrestleManias in the past, the outcome of high-profile matches at the event are often more unpredictable than at any other pay-per-view.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at four occasions in WrestleMania history where the main event nearly had a different finish.
#4 Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin (WrestleMania XIV)
Nowadays, Shawn Michaels is a well-respected legend of the wrestling industry who many of today’s up-and-coming Superstars from NXT go to for advice at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
Back in the 1990s, his in-ring talents were respected but his attitude often let him down. So much so, in fact, that people backstage had genuine concerns before his main event against Steve Austin at WrestleMania IV that HBK would try to sabotage the match.
The plan for the much-anticipated encounter, which featured boxer Mike Tyson as the special outside enforcer, was for Austin to win the World Heavyweight Championship before aligning with Tyson post-match. In the end, HBK stuck to the plan and that is exactly what happened. Had he not done so, however, he would have risked the wrath of The Undertaker when he returned backstage.
WWE producer Bruce Prichard said on WWE Network show 'Something Else To Wrestle' (quotes via Still Real To Us):
“The Undertaker was seated directly in front of me [in Gorilla Position] and he sat there and wrapped his hands while Shawn made his way to the ring. And there was a subliminal message there that, ‘I’m gonna be right here when you come back, just make sure you do business.’"