When Hulkamania was born, so to was the WWE as fans know it today - Sports Entertainment, one of the most perfect forms of live entertainment there ever was. As fans, we are able to give the company the instant feedback and energy that they need in order to book the best cards and push the stars we want to see.
But the company, like any wrestling company, still wants to stay on their own course. So no matter what fans might want to see, or think they want to see, there are some times that the WWE or any other promotion doesn’t switch gears to meet fan expectations. Nowadays, that’s when the internet thinks that Vince has lost touch with his fans. But it’s happened throughout the course of the WWE (and wrestling) history.
8 Roddy Piper Vs. Hulk Hogan Never Happened At WrestleMania
Every Superman needs a Lex Luther and in the WWE during the early days of Hulkamania, Roddy Piper was the huge mega heel to Hogan’s big babyface. They collided several times during this era, most famously at The War To Settle The Score and with their respective tag team partners headlining WrestleMania. But for some reason, the biggest feud of the eighties never got a proper one-on-one battle at The Showcase Of The Immortals.
7 Randy Savage Should Have Retained At WrestleMania V
After defying all of the odds at WrestleMania IV, The Macho Man found himself on top of the world as the WWE champion. The next year saw Savage do battle with the likes of Andre and DiBiase and teaming with Hogan.
When it came time for The Mega Powers to explode at WrestleMania V, Hogan defeated the Macho Man and posed. But perhaps the more interesting victory would have been a Macho Man victory by hook or by crook, with Hogan chasing all summer long.
6 Ric Flair Vs. Randy Savage At SummerSlam 1988
Several times over the years, the NWA champion, Ric Flair would throw up his hands at WCW management and proclaim that he was heading “Up North.” While fans might not have realized it back then, thanks to the internet and podcasts of the years, there was apparently big talk about Flair coming in to challenge Randy Savage at the first ever SummerSlam. But as was the case during this time, Flair was either just bluffing or was given more money to stay with Crockett, depending on which story you believe.
5 Jake The Snake Deserved A Title Feud
Without question, from a psychology standpoint, Jake The Snake Roberts might just be the best wrestler of the past forty years. He’s one of the rare few wrestlers who never needed a world title to be recognized for how awesome he was.
But it couldn’t have hurt him either. At one point there was a plan for Jake to even have a feud with Hogan, but on the House Show loops, Jake was getting far more cheers than boos going up against the supposed top baby face of the promotion.
4 No Traditional Strike Force Feud
After floundering around the midcard for several years, Tito Santana and Rick Martel came together as Strike Force. Their run was short but memorable as they were the analogue to Crockett’s Rock N Roll Express as a fast paced babyface tag team. Strike Force even defeated the nefarious Hart Foundation for the tag team titles. The broke up at WrestleMania V and every moment the two were on screen after they were at each other’s throats. However, there was never any big blow-off match between the two.
3 What If Andre Was The World Champion?
In one of the most egregious crimes of the Hogan Era, Ted DiBiase bought the services of Andre The Giant and paid off a guy to get plastic surgery to look like referral Dave Hebner. All in an effort to become WWE champion. Andre had in fact defeated Hogan for the belt. This is still to date, one of the most popular angles WWE has ever done, perhaps it would have been even better if Andre wasn’t stripped of the title, nor if he didn’t give the title to DiBiase - the entire tournament could have been scrapped in favor of an Andre title defense at WrestleMania.
2 Zeus
Every so often, whenever Vince McMahon tries to branch out past his pro wrestling wheelhouse, it’s fans that have to suffer the consequences. Submitted for your approval - The Human Wrecking Machine Zeus.
Played by actor Tiny Lister, Zeus came to the WWE to take on Hulk Hogan and show the world that he was just acting in No Holds Barred and he could beat Hogan any time he wanted. The only issue was that the guy was only able to beat his chest and scream a lot. At least the proposed Hulk-Zeus main event at WrestleMania VI never happened.
1 WrestleMania 2
Fans love to talk about the history of WrestleMania and the original main event. The pageantry of Steamboat and Savage stealing WrestleMania III and the magnitude of Hulk slamming Andre. But you seldom ever hear anyone talk about WrestleMania 2, do you? Having the big show take place from three different locations might have sounded good in theory, but in practice that also meant that the fans attending were paying to watch two-thirds of the show on screens. It also meant that your roster was split across three arenas. It was as Mean Gene once said, a less than memorable WrestleMania.