10 Wrestlers Who Narrowly Missed A WWE WrestleMania Main Event
8. The Undertaker (WrestleMania XII)
At the 1996 Royal Rumble, the Undertaker had a chance to win the WWF title, which would presumably have resulted in him headlining WrestleMania XII as the champion.
Facing Bret Hart for the belt, ‘Taker looked to be well on his way to his second WWF Championship reign after hitting the champ with the Tombstone. But with Earl Hebner counting the fall, Diesel showed up at ringside, pulled the referee out of the ring and forced the disqualification.
Then in a Raw rematch a couple of weeks later, Big Daddy Cool was at it again when he made his presence felt by jumping Hart, before hitting the Undertaker with a pair of Powerbombs and causing the contest to end as a draw.
That kind of provocation was enough to have ‘Taker turn his attention away from Hart and the title scene and towards getting some payback from Diesel. The two would eventually face off at ‘Mania with Undertaker scoring the win, and while that doesn’t quite make up for missing out on headlining the show as champion, the resultant 21-0 WrestleMania Streak he assembled probably does...