10 Forgotten WWE Matches That Came Right Before Iconic Moments

2. Sheamus Vs Daniel Bryan - John Cena Vs The Rock Is Made Official (Raw, April 4 2011)

Brian Pillman Steve Austin
WWE

Daniel Bryan and Sheamus have both gone on record speaking about just how much they love wrestling each other, and evidence from what few occasions they've been given the fair time to knock seven shades out of each other suggests that the bout would work perfectly on a modern WrestleMania card. Yet, it feels as though they may be cursed to never get it.

Sheamus' 2020 return spiked fresh interest in the match for this year's 'Show Of Shows' before the event itself was reduced to potentially taking place across multiple empty venues. In 2012, WWE inadvertently kicked off a movement by allowing Daniel Bryan's fans to chant "YES!" for 18 seconds before he lost his World Title to 'The Great White' in a controversial WrestleMania opener, and the less said about their plight in 2011, the better. Although it does need brief mention here.

The pair had their planned United States Championship match punted to the WrestleMania XXVII Kickoff minutes before showtime (!) before it was turned into a battle royal (!!) won by The Great Khali (!!!), and were thus allowed a spot the next night on Raw to actually work. Even that was lost to Sin Cara's bumbling debut which itself was then dwarfed in stature by The Rock and John Cena setting up their epic 'Once In A Lifetime' match 12 months from then.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett