10 Unlikeliest WWE WrestleMania Main-Eventers

The Hitman and HBK are on the same entry because the two were inseparably linked during the mid-'90s era of WWE known as the New Generation. In a time after Hulk Hogan, but before Steve Austin, Bret and Shawn were the story of WWE, and one of their most important chapters came at WrestleMania XII. There, the two competed in an iconic main event: a 60-minute iron man match for the WWE Championship.

While Bret had main-evented a couple of WrestleManias prior to this, the 'Mania XII headliner was the ultimate vindication of him, Shawn, and what they meant for the future of WWE. Here were two former tag specialists who were considered undersized in the towering '80s. In the absence of Hulkamania, Bret and Shawn rose through the ranks and, for a time, replaced the WWE's priority on physiques and spectacle with an emphasis on in-ring work. It was their innovations that proved to be the foundation of what we consider modern mainstream wrestling.

It was the precedent of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels that allowed superstars like Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, and Daniel Bryan to main event the Show of Shows. And none of them would have been seen as main-eventers beforehand.