WrestleMania matches you forgot ever happened.

[Callum1993]

I remember reading ages ago that the original plan for that Wrestlemania was Angle vs Sting but they couldn’t get the deal over the line so pivoted to Kane. Feels unlikely though 

[Lenin]

https://www.pwtorch.com/site/2016/08/19/wwe-video-sting-vs-kurt-angle-wrestlemania-match-not-happen/

Just the generic "it didn't work out" comment but apparently there were talks.

 

Edited March 29, 2025 by Lenin

[RedTwoster]

Funnily enough, after looking through the cards, I realised Wrestlemania is full of Kane matches that I don’t recall.

You had Kane vs Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 28 - the show in which Cena faced Rock for the first time, and Sheamus beat Daniel Bryan in 18-seconds.

I remember pretty much everything else on this show, but totally draw a blank when it comes to this one.

Then you have Kane vs Khali at Wrestlemania 23 - although it’s little surprise that my brain would want to block this one out.

And finally, Kane vs Chavo Guerrero for the ECW title at Wrestlemania 24, which I can’t find a clip of. But apparently it held the record of being the shortest Wrestlemania match of all time for a while, and yet I don’t remember any of it. 

[LaGoosh]

28 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

You had Kane vs Randy Orton at Wrestlemania 28

I remember this one because it was rubbish but had a chokeslam off the turnbuckle which was a first for Kane.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Slight derailment of the thread, but I think I'd struggle to recall most individual matches from Kane's career. He was a good character act at times, but I don't think he ever had a great match.

[Snitsky's back acne]

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Slight derailment of the thread, but I think I'd struggle to recall most individual matches from Kane's career. He was a good character act at times, but I don't think he ever had a great match.

Inferno Match v Undertaker is his most memorable for me mainly because of the incredible visual.

[FUM]

1 hour ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Slight derailment of the thread, but I think I'd struggle to recall most individual matches from Kane's career. He was a good character act at times, but I don't think he ever had a great match.

Kane has this odd thing where he never really has any special individual matches but is generally a standout performer in multi-man matches.

[hallicks]

9 minutes ago, FUM said:

Kane has this odd thing where he never really has any special individual matches but is generally a standout performer in multi-man matches.

Without wanting to turn this into a Kane retrospective, was it mask vs title against Triple H? I remember that being decent enough. But quite an achievement to be so forgettable despite such longevity. 

[Vamp]

5 hours ago, FUM said:

Kane has this odd thing where he never really has any special individual matches but is generally a standout performer in multi-man matches.

This. I reckon the RAW TLC tag where he single handedly defends the tag titles is probably his best performance. 

[air_raid]

11 hours ago, Your Fight Site said:

I was watching that period of WWE (got up to May 2002) when the WWE Network was shut down, so despite even watching the Raw and SmackDown episodes leading to that PPV and match, I still couldn’t say why the match happened. I think they just had a couple of brawls outside the ring after run-ins, and then it was, “Look at this bad blood! They’re going to need to settle it at WrestleMania!”

Ah, another Mania where nobody knew what was happening. They thought heel Austin vs face Triple H might have been the way, until they realised they couldn’t keep Austin heel. When they thought they were about to get the nWo in, plans immediately shifted to try and get Steve to wrestle Hogan, which he refused to, and when he agreed to wrestle Chico, he insisted a backup plan in case Scott got himself fired before Mania. His first choice would have been Benoit if he was back in time (he wasn’t) or Kurt. Yes, numerous people have confirmed they were trying to get Sting in to wrestle Angle, but he didn’t want to work with the WWF yet. The Kane match was fairly obviously (and confirmed by Prichard) as a result of the writing team writing down the card and realising they had nothing for Kurt or for Kane yet.

For the the sake of the best show on the marquee I’d have been tempted to put Kurt with RVD myself, but that ship was long sailed by then. I doubt there’s been a bigger drop off of the right people wrestling the right people than between 17 and 18, ever.

[Daaaaaad!]

4 hours ago, air_raid said:

I doubt there’s been a bigger drop off of the right people wrestling the right people than between 17 and 18, ever.

I think this year might be about to compete with that tbh. 

[Mr. Levity 84]

17 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Slight derailment of the thread, but I think I'd struggle to recall most individual matches from Kane's career. He was a good character act at times, but I don't think he ever had a great match.

I'd say his match against Test at No Mercy 2001 is an absolute forgotten banger.

In terms of the forgotten Wrestlemania matches, I'd totally forgotten about Dire Jax vs Alexa Bliss at Wrestlemania 34. Probably for the best.

[JNLister]

The Usos and LA Knight vs Austin Theory, Logan Paul and iShow Speed.

[garynysmon]

The APA vs Right to Censor at WM 17.

Watched the event a few times over the years, but couldn’t remember it all when a part of it popped up on WWE Vault this week.

Edited April 20 by garynysmon

[garynysmon]

On 3/28/2025 at 5:01 PM, Chili said:

Everything after around Wrestlemania 24 for me turns into a fog soup except that XXX because of the Bryan Danielson story. I had to look up just then what number this year's is.

After WM 20 for me. 

I hear this a lot, that Wrestlemanias all started to feel the same after the mid 2000’s, but have no idea why this is the case.

If I had to theorise, is it that there’s a big segment of UK fans who got into wrestling around the same time and at the same age (early 90’s while in primary school) and, consequently, were less invested in wrestling once they hit their 20’s and life took over?

Or is it more to do with a change in the product itself?

I’d like to know if teens nowadays can pinpoint matches from WM 38, for example, in the same way I still can for any Wrestlemanias from the 80s and 90’s.

Edited April 20 by garynysmon