- 7 weeks ago
Changing one outcome at a WrestleMania could drastically change the entire history of WWE.
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00:00WrestleMania is the biggest wrestling show of the year.
00:03We get so excited about it, some of us jump in planes and travel half across the world.
00:08And then our favourite superstar doesn't turn up, and we have to cry into our cornflakes.
00:13As we have seen time and time again, though, one shift can dramatically change the outcome of the granddaddy of
00:17them all.
00:18So what if we took our own fingers of powers and our imaginations, and we switched them and tried to
00:23fantasy book the opposite scenario?
00:25That's exactly what we are going to do today, because we are geeks.
00:29So prepare yourself, my friends, sit down and grab a coffee, as these are the 12 biggest what-if scenarios
00:34in WWE WrestleMania history.
00:37Number 10, WrestleMania 1's Huge Success.
00:40And what if it didn't exist, or what if the whole show was a failure?
00:43The story has long been told that the WWF bet the bank on WrestleMania, as they saw it as the
00:47next step to global dominance.
00:49Turns out they were right, look what it spawned.
00:51Most experts say that if Mania had been a bomb, the World Wrestling Federation wouldn't have died as suggested,
00:56but the company would have struggled for sure, a hell of a lot was put into this.
01:00So what may have happened is the McMahons having to step aside to find new owners,
01:04and hey, maybe the WWF would have decided a worldwide platform wasn't going to work.
01:10They then stick to the regional territories.
01:12Imagine that wrestling approach in 2025.
01:15You also don't get NBC jumping on the Saturday Night's main event train,
01:18and the big expansion in 1985 may have been thrown in the bin.
01:22Hulk Hogan also may have just left and gone to the movies.
01:25If there were more opportunities and the wrestling world had dried up, well, you never know.
01:30We could have got Mr. Nanny 2.
01:32But either way, the WWE as you know it today would not be here.
01:36Number 11, WrestleMania 36.
01:38Could have never have happened if WWE had decided to stop running due to the pandemic.
01:43What if?
01:44Now it sucks to talk about this time because it was just bad.
01:47In 2020, the world stopped and nobody knew what the deal was.
01:51It kind of felt like everything was screwed.
01:53Somehow, WWE kept running, which gave us the oddest WrestleMania ever.
01:57And I tell you, my friends, I can't even watch it now.
01:59It feels like you're attending a funeral.
02:01As we do know, though, WWE did have to sit down and discuss what shutting up shot looked like.
02:06And that would mean no WrestleMania.
02:08And given when COVID hit, it would have left Brock Lesnar and Goldberg as the WWE champions.
02:14Two dudes who weren't exactly full-time.
02:17Bikki Lynch also got pregnant during all of this and that would have meant a whole new direction for the
02:20women's belt.
02:21And I suppose when we did kick off again, those three championships, at a minimum, would have been all over
02:26the place.
02:26I mean, there's every chance we could have had a bunch of tournaments.
02:29Some people have suggested that WWE could have gone out of business if they weren't able to continue to operate.
02:34But I don't believe that.
02:35They would have been just fine.
02:37And really, the biggest shift would have been the delaying of booking decisions and deciding,
02:41Oh man, we just had a few months off.
02:44What the hell do we do now?
02:46Number 10, WrestleMania 39.
02:47And what if Cody wins the title there?
02:50So as I talk to you, the wrestling world is two years removed from WrestleMania 39.
02:54And looking back, I can say with a lot of assurity, which is not a word, that everybody made the
02:59right decision.
03:00If you do like to jump into the rumor mill, apparently Cody Rhodes was going to win the world championship
03:05at WrestleMania 39.
03:06Before Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman were like, let's just push pause on this and we can do it at
03:11the big 4-0 instead.
03:12That is where the American Nightmare finished the story.
03:15And all of this was damn brilliant.
03:17Aside from the people who got really mad after 39, they almost started a riot.
03:21If Rhodes had have been belted back then, though, I would assume that Roman Reigns' tribal chief status would have
03:26been under fire,
03:28whereas Cody wouldn't have had that many contenders who could actually take the belt off of him, apart from Brock
03:33Lesnar.
03:33In fact, that feud was probably put in place when Cody was down to win the title.
03:38It wouldn't have surprised me if Brock actually won one of them and had the belt again.
03:41The real big question, though, is would this title reign be as successful as the one he currently has?
03:45And you have to imagine it would have been similar just because Cody Rhodes is so over.
03:49But we don't know about that sliding doors moment, and we do know waiting until 2024 was absolutely brilliant.
03:55Do not forget either that the instant gratification we would have got in 2023 wouldn't have had as good of
04:01vibes,
04:01and also the Jeopardy wouldn't have been there.
04:03Could you have done everything with Jey Uso that we did as well if Roman Reigns wasn't the champion?
04:07And I remember those discussions.
04:09People were losing their minds going, the head of the table doesn't even need the belt.
04:13But in hindsight, maybe he did.
04:15Either way, you just know the Bloodline battles would have eaten up the first half of the year.
04:18And it begs the question, what the hell would the main event of WrestleMania 40 been?
04:22I presume it could have been Roman Reigns versus Cody Rhodes.
04:25And if Roman has gone 12 months without the championship, then damn it, maybe he would have won it back.
04:31To all things considered, I once again believe we did the right thing.
04:34Number 9, WrestleMania 9, and what if Hogan just wins the tag titles?
04:38That is right, my friends.
04:39If you do go back and watch WrestleMania 9, you will see Hulk Hogan and Brutus the Barber Beefcake in
04:43a tag match.
04:44They were meant to win the World Tag Team Champions, and that was meant to be it.
04:49Until Hulk turned up to the building and said, well, that ain't gonna work for me, brother.
04:52Of course, he didn't actually lose because that match ended in disqualification.
04:55But the reason we did move on is because Hulkamania had a brand new plan.
05:00Hulk could just walk out after the main event, challenge Yokozuna, and win the WWF World Championship in around about
05:0772 seconds.
05:08It sucked.
05:09So let us say that Hogan and Beefcake had actually just won this tag team gold, and we would have
05:13moved on as intended.
05:15Where the flub would we get to?
05:16I mean, Yokozuna would have been the champion, and we wouldn't have had to have waited until the King of
05:20the Ring.
05:20And let's face it, Bret Hart would have looked less like a goof.
05:23That was the real worst part about all of this.
05:25The hitman just didn't seem to care.
05:27I mean, it wasn't his fault he'd been backed into a corner.
05:30Of course, if we are playing the Hulk Hogan and Brutus win the tag team titles line too,
05:33you can imagine Hulk then going, I'm also going to win the other gold, and then we would actually cry
05:39tears of sadness.
05:40The biggest change in this scenario, though, would be the nullification of arguably the worst ending to a Wrestlemania in
05:46history.
05:46And I mean that too, it's just so damn silly.
05:50I mean, who the hell ever agreed to this?
05:52I understand that Vince McMahon thought this would be Hulkamania Part 2.
05:55As we know now, that was totally wrong.
05:58Number 8, Wrestlemania, right?
05:59And what if Hogan and Flair had wrestled?
06:00So when Ric Flair did finally arrive in the World Wrestling Federation, do not get this wrong, my friends.
06:05This was a massive deal.
06:07The Nature Boy was one of WCW's big stars, and he had just jumped ship.
06:11I mean, you can look at WCW in 1994 when eventually these two did clash.
06:15All of a sudden pay-per-view buy rates were through the roof.
06:18So why the flub didn't we do it at Wrestlemania 8?
06:20Well, the answer is nice and simple.
06:22These two did wrestle on the house show circuit.
06:24And when Vince McMahon looked at the numbers as Wrestlemania was on the horizon,
06:27he decided, nope, we've already run this into the ground, and we should go off in separate directions.
06:33Now, there is some truth to this in the sense, before the Raw Rumble of this year,
06:36they did indeed fight at 30 different house show matches.
06:40And yeah, that is a little bit too many.
06:42For whatever reason, they didn't actually captivate the fans,
06:44so I guess you could argue that Vince was right.
06:46And eventually, we did get to our double main event,
06:49when we had the Macho Man taking on Ric Flair,
06:51and Hulk Hogan going against old friend Sid Justice.
06:54If we had us stuck to our guns, though, and done Hogan vs. Flair,
06:57it could have surprised the WWF and all of its fans.
07:00The build, I assume, would have been centred on the fact that Flair was an outsider
07:03holding the WWF pride possession,
07:06with Hogan being like,
07:07man, I have to win the company banner back.
07:09You just know that Flair would have bumped his ass off because he never minded doing that.
07:13And actually, given the things we have talked about,
07:15this could have been the catalyst for Hulk finding that newfound popularity he was so desperate for.
07:20It would have been totally different.
07:21Once again, we can look at that bash at the beach pay for you that happened only a couple of
07:24years after this.
07:26So maybe the WWF was wrong to cancel it.
07:29At the same time, that Flair vs. Randy Savage match is so damn good.
07:32And as for Hogan vs. Sid, well, it's a laugh riot.
07:35Because trust me, every single thing that could go wrong went totally, totally wrong.
07:39Number 7, WrestleMania 30, and what if the streak doesn't end?
07:43So I have said this over and over, and I may as well throw it in there for the 34th
07:464,617th time,
07:49I do not mind that Brock Lesnar was the guy to beat the streak of WrestleMania 30.
07:53I just think that WWE used that fuel for the next decade as Lesnar did become the final boss.
07:58And ultimately, did you see that reaction?
08:00It's the kind of stuff I love in wrestling.
08:02Don't you tell me it's not real.
08:04As we do know today, because everybody does want to discuss it,
08:07The Undertaker didn't actually know about this decision until the day of the show.
08:11He wasn't going to argue with Vince McMahon.
08:13Whatever was best for business.
08:15Let us say that during that time, though, Vince had gone,
08:17Man, what am I thinking? This is really dumb.
08:19How the flub would this have looked?
08:21You have to imagine that eventually we would have gone back to Taker vs. Brock,
08:24and Lesnar would have absolutely pulverized this guy.
08:27That always seemed to be the plan.
08:29In order to move Brock Lesnar and Paul home into that next level,
08:31they needed a legend that he could bludgeon.
08:33The Dead Man was perfect.
08:35It is fair to say, though, that the aura Brock went on to have
08:37would have been diminished by a WrestleMania 30 loss.
08:40But in terms of The Undertaker, my gosh, his myth would have only grown.
08:43I genuinely think by the time he got to WrestleMania 31
08:45and he did take on Bray White, people would have clamored for it.
08:48And we all know how Mark Calloway himself feels about the Roman Reigns match.
08:52Even though he did lose there, he is kind of gutted that Roman wasn't the one.
08:56He sort of felt like it would help him way more.
08:58I actually think Bray would have been a better choice
09:00because the bragging rights he would have had to end the streak
09:03but hey-ho, now we are in fantasy booking territory.
09:06Of course, the other what if is the phenom going all the way to the end of his career
09:10and never losing at WrestleMania.
09:12And that's something we do need to chat about too.
09:14Is that good or bad?
09:15Is it a positive or a negative four business?
09:17There's only one way to find out.
09:19And that's for you to make a comment below.
09:21Remember, try not to argue too much.
09:23There's not actually a right or wrong answer.
09:25Number 6, WrestleMania 20.
09:27And what if Brock Lesnar doesn't leave?
09:29So we kind of forget about this now, but Brock Lesnar's first run in the WWE was absolutely awesome.
09:35He entered right after WrestleMania 18 and raced up the card,
09:38winning the undisputed WWE Championship within 12 months.
09:42Not everybody can do that.
09:43He then dropped in and won it back at WrestleMania 19 in that awesome main event against Kurt Angle.
09:47And yet one year later, he lost to Goldberg in Madison Square Garden at WrestleMania 20
09:52because both guys had decided, you know what?
09:55I want out.
09:56As we soon learned, the beast was burned out by the grind of WWE,
10:00whereas Goldberg was just sick of the company.
10:01And while he did try out for the NFL, that didn't work.
10:04So Lesnar wrestled a few matches in Japan before he went to MMA.
10:07We all know the deal there.
10:09It would lead to him returning to WWE in 2012, where he was a larger than life killing machine.
10:14And let's face it, he was a legit attraction.
10:16So he probably made the right choice.
10:18If somehow Brock had decided he was able to handle the travel, though,
10:21what the flub happens at WrestleMania 20?
10:23All the rumors suggest that he would have beaten Bill Goldberg,
10:26so that would have been a huge tick for him.
10:28And shortly after that, he would have remained a top contender for the world title.
10:31It likely would have led to getting revenge on Eddie Guerrero,
10:33who had just won his world championship from him at No Way Out.
10:37Or maybe he would have gone after Chris Benoit at the time he was the other title holder.
10:41He always had John Cena slowly rising up the card,
10:43so maybe Vince McMahon would have been tempted to do that too.
10:45And the big one, and one I think we can safely say would never have happened,
10:49is that Brock Lesnar never would have been the UFC heavyweight champion.
10:52It also means by the time he got to the 2010s,
10:54people probably would have been a little bit bored of Brock's.
10:56That's just how life works.
10:58So when you do kind of throw this into a nice, neat little package,
11:01I actually probably think Brock Lesnar made the right choice.
11:04Number five, WrestleMania 29.
11:06What if CM Punk does join the main event?
11:08So this has been talked about many a time, and by CM Punk himself,
11:12given that we were about to do The Rock vs. John Cena Part 2,
11:15why not throw CM Punk into the mix, do an Elimination Triple Threat match?
11:19He can be beaten in five minutes, he then gets his main event at Mania,
11:22and everybody is happy.
11:24Well, kind of.
11:25One person didn't want that.
11:26His name was Vince McMahon.
11:27Instead, we got to the Royal Rumble in 2013,
11:30when The Rock beat CM Punk for that world championship he had held for 439 days.
11:35And of course, CM Punk went on to fight The Undertaker at that show.
11:38That's probably the best match of the night.
11:39Of course, if CM Punk had gotten his way, and we jumped to 2025,
11:43well, the version of CM Punk we have now wouldn't have been able to exist.
11:47I mean, everybody keeps talking about the fact that he never main evented WrestleMania.
11:50If he had gotten this as well, would he have left in 2014?
11:54Now, it certainly sounds like he'd been beaten down regardless,
11:56but maybe that would have put a spring in his step.
11:59He would have actually taken on Triple H at that WrestleMania,
12:02where likely he would have lost.
12:03It's all about headspace and mental health then,
12:05and I guess it all depends how much this meant to CM Punk.
12:08But ultimately, you'd have to imagine that WWE would have seen him differently.
12:12They just put him in the main event of WrestleMania with John Cena and The Rock.
12:15Of course, it could have just delayed the inevitable,
12:16but this is another hindsight one.
12:18I'm sure when Punk did leave in 2014, he was devastated about this,
12:22but now he's just used it to turn himself into the grizzled old veteran,
12:26it is pretty damn cool.
12:28Number 4, WrestleMania 14, and what if Shawn Michaels can't go at all?
12:32So when Stone Cold Steve Austin beat Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14
12:35to win his first WWF Championship, there was a huge asterisk.
12:39HPK didn't even know if he was going to wrestle,
12:41because of course he was dealing with a career-threatening back injury.
12:45This was after the Raw Rumble,
12:46where The Undertaker had just thrown him onto a casket,
12:49and if you are in the mood, I would go look this up on YouTube.
12:51It is a horrible landing,
12:53and the fact Shawn came back at all is more testament to him.
12:56It's why he was semi-retired from the ring for four years,
12:59so what would have happened if this back had flared up before WrestleMania 14?
13:02Who the hell would have been in the main event?
13:04I suppose he would have had to have lost the title,
13:06so do you do a tournament at WrestleMania and crown one that way?
13:09But then where do you go?
13:11The Undertaker?
13:11Triple H?
13:12Mankind?
13:13There's a lot of questions here.
13:14I mean, you even could have done Austin vs Mike Tyson.
13:17Definitely don't do that.
13:18The whole thing, though, is that a last-minute change due to an injured heartbreak kid
13:21could have thrown all of this off.
13:23I mean, Austin was going to be an industry-defining star anyway,
13:26but this would have been a massive hurdle.
13:27It also would have put a damper on everything we were doing,
13:30especially with Tyson as a special enforcer,
13:32and that's why Michaels does the level of praise here.
13:35He basically gutted his way through this entire match.
13:38Sounded like he was in pain from bell to bell.
13:41Number three, WrestleMania 4.
13:42What if DiBiase wins the tournament?
13:44So here's a fun fact for new wrestling fans.
13:46Once upon a time at WrestleMania, if you were a bad guy,
13:49you were never going to win the main event.
13:52I mean, that only changed at WrestleMania 2000
13:53when Triple H walked away with the WWF title.
13:56Since then, it has become more commonplace,
13:58but if we jump back all the way to WrestleMania 4,
14:00there was actually a very real possibility
14:02that the million-dollar man Ted DiBiase
14:04could have left the event as a WWF champion.
14:08I mean, he and the matrimon Randy Savage
14:09made it to the finals of the 14-man tournament
14:11for the vacant championship.
14:13Thankfully, Savage won.
14:14He deserved it.
14:15There are plenty of stories, though,
14:16that DiBiase at one point was slated to win all of this
14:19and, of course, finally capture the belt
14:21he had attempted to purchase
14:22at Satellite's main event a couple of months earlier.
14:24So if that does happen,
14:26well, I can only presume that the million-dollar man
14:28would have been a long-term heel champion.
14:30That was massive at the time, too,
14:31because that hadn't happened
14:32since the days of superstar Billy Graham a decade earlier.
14:35Or maybe he would have just been a transitional champ
14:37and dropped it to the macho man at SummerSlam.
14:40Of course, Savage would have been chasing that belt
14:42and Hulk Hogan because he couldn't have helped himself.
14:44And what does that mean for the Mega Powers,
14:45who, of course, from this was going to go on to implode?
14:48It also probably would have nullified that eventual split
14:50because you needed the championship.
14:52And what does it do for Ted's career?
14:54The answer is I don't know.
14:56But in 2025, when people do ask the question,
14:59who is a guy that should have been WWF champion that never was?
15:03Usually you hear Scott Hall,
15:04and then right after that you hear Ted DiBiase.
15:07So really, this was the right call
15:08because Savage's reign led to some major events
15:10during a hot period for the company.
15:12But again, my friends, we were this close.
15:16Number two, WrestleMania 40,
15:17and what if WWE doesn't pivot?
15:19So, of course, when The Rock came back in January 2024,
15:22the match had already been set.
15:24It was indeed going to be The Rock versus Roman Reigns,
15:27even though Cody Rhodes went and won the Raw Rumble.
15:30There's a whole documentary about this on YouTube.
15:32It was an absolute palada.
15:34Now, eventually, the social media noise got too much
15:36that WWE did indeed feel like,
15:37man, we have to go back to the original plan.
15:40This was great.
15:40Cody finished his story.
15:42We all cried water from our seeing devices.
15:44The thing is, though, they didn't have to do this.
15:46Given The Rock was involved,
15:47he could have been like,
15:48excuse me, everybody,
15:49I'm one of the biggest stars in the world.
15:51And that would have made sense.
15:52There's also a contingent of fans
15:53who were well up for The Rock versus Roman Reigns.
15:56We've been teasing that for years.
15:57Now, we will never know whether that match on that night
16:00would have been any good or not,
16:01although I'm sure it would be
16:02because those two know what they're doing.
16:03But in terms of Cody,
16:05he would have likely been done as a conquering hero.
16:08You can't win the Royal Rumble
16:09and then give up your spot
16:10and not have some backlash.
16:12It's quite literally impossible.
16:13It just would have stolen away his aura
16:15and that sentiment would have only deepened.
16:17So maybe as I sit here talking to you today,
16:19he would have gone heel.
16:21That just sounds absolutely nuts.
16:23This, of course, is an actuality
16:24that could have happened
16:25if CM Punk hadn't got injured the Royal Rumble
16:27because my gosh,
16:28did that send everything into overdrive.
16:31So you should try booking that WrestleMania 40
16:33because number one,
16:34WrestleMania 36,
16:35what if Roman doesn't leave WWE?
16:37So it is hard to fathom
16:38as we do return to the global pandemic,
16:40but good grief did this change everything?
16:42Don't forget Roman Reigns was meant to be
16:44at WrestleMania 36
16:45when he was like,
16:46oh, excuse me,
16:47my health isn't great.
16:48I'm going home.
16:49I'm not going to be back for a while.
16:50I mean, the whole reason Bill Goldberg
16:52beat Bray White for the Universal Championship
16:54is because Vince McMahon thought
16:55Roman versus Bill
16:56was a bigger marquee for WrestleMania.
16:59Sure, and I get that,
17:00but what did we end up getting instead?
17:02It was Goldberg versus Braun Strowman.
17:04Reigns would not return until SummerSlam
17:06a few months later
17:07when he did align with Paul Heyman
17:08and finally turned heel.
17:10We know the deal from there.
17:11It was absolutely perfect.
17:13We should have done this years prior.
17:15This is why Reigns deciding to do this
17:16is so important,
17:17because if he had worked Mania 36,
17:20I tell you everyone,
17:21I don't think he would have gone bad guy.
17:24So where the flub would we be today?
17:25We might not even have the bloodline.
17:27You'd also have to imagine
17:28that the Reigns-Hayman partnership doesn't start
17:31and maybe he has still called himself the big dog.
17:34I shivered when I say that.
17:35That character was not good
17:36compared to what we have today.
17:38So it just means an ever-present Roman Reigns
17:40might never have become the mob boss that he did do.
17:42And then what the hell would WWE have done
17:44for like the next five years?
17:46I mean, that's basically how long
17:47the bloodline story's been going on for.
17:49You also don't get the Jimmy Uso,
17:51Jey Uso main event of WrestleMania 38
17:52and you do not get the big Jey Uso push
17:54that's happening right now.
17:56And maybe Jacob Fatou doesn't even get signed.
17:59Let's just throw this one out the window
18:00and decide that Roman did make the right choice.
18:02So bless that guy.
18:03And in fact, let's never talk about it again.
18:06Now, of course, my friends,
18:07please do leave me a comment below
18:08and let me know what kind of what-ifs
18:09you want to see at WrestleMania.
18:10If you could go back in time
18:12or become Vince McMahon,
18:13before you liked the video,
18:14share the video and subscribe.
18:16You can also click the video on the screen
18:18to check out even more WWE related content.
18:20But otherwise, my friends,
18:21I appreciate you and I love you.
18:23And I will talk to you again very soon.