10 WrestleMania Main Events That Nobody Wanted To See
6. Triple H vs. Chris Jericho - WrestleMania X-8
When Triple H returned from injury at the 2002 Royal Rumble, he was expected to win it. After all, he was the focal point of the promotion for much of 2000 and 2001 before a torn quad muscle put him on the shelf for an extended period of time. True to predictions, Hunter won the Royal Rumble and earned a title shot at Wrestlemania X-8 in Toronto. On that same show, Chris Jericho defeated the Rock in a lost classic to retain his recently won Undisputed championship. Following the demise of the Alliance, Vince McMahon wasn't sure what to do with the WCW world title. Instead of, you know, booking an angle over it and making some money off of the belt, he quickly scheduled a one-night tournament consisting of Steve Austin, the Rock, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle. The winner would get both belts and be declared the undisputed champion of professional wrestling. For whatever reason, the WWF decided to remove the "WCW" portion of the title belt and just referred to it as the "world heavyweight championship". Surprisingly, Chris Jericho won the tournament, defeating the Rock and Steve Austin in one night and was given a chance to run with the newly created title as a heel. Unfortunately, this is where everything falls apart. The booking of the Triple H vs. Chris Jericho was so terrible that it left no one actually wanting to see the match. Instead of focusing on Triple H chasing Jericho and the biggest title in wrestling, the storyline focused more on if Triple H could follow through on his promise to deliver a Pedigree to his ex-wife, Stephanie McMahon. The storyline became Triple H vs. Stephanie McMahon with Jericho playing the role of Steph's sniveling henchman. One night, Hunter brought out a dog that had never been seen before and declared that the dog was the love of his life and it was named Lucy. Unfortunately for Hunter, Stephanie won the dog in the divorce settlement (no, seriously) and had to take care of it. Well, Stephanie had Jericho (the first-ever undisputed champion) take Lucy for a walk during Raw. Instead, Jericho tied Lucy to the bumper of a limo and the dog got run over, leaving it in "critical condition". Yes, this was a thing that actually happened. Chris Jericho, the first undisputed champion, supposed number one heel in the promotion, and the Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah was reduced to reenacting a scene from National Lampoon's Vacation to generate heat. Making matters worse was the fact that the match was scheduled to follow the Rock vs. Hulk Hogan. Obviously, that match was an instant classic and should have closed the show because the crowd was finished afterwards. The Triple H vs. Jericho match was dead on arrival and featured Jericho working Hunter's leg for what seemed like six hours. When Hunter finally hit his Pedigree to win the match and the title, the crowd seemed to let out of collective sigh of relief that the match was finally over.
