10 WWE Superstars Who Lost WrestleMania Main Events

5. Vince McMahon Loses Faith In Ric Flair Vs Hulk Hogan – WrestleMania VIII

‘The Dirtiest Player in the Game’ Ric Flair made his long-awaited debut in the WWF on Primetime Wrestling in late 1991 after resentfully splitting with WCW. Fans clamoured and expected to see ‘The Nature Boy’ finally square off against WWF’s number one attraction Hulk Hogan at the upcoming WrestleMania VIII in the main event. This never happened though.

Bruce Prichard has claimed the WWF booked Hogan and Flair in house shows leading up to the event that didn’t draw strong interest/attendance. Ric didn’t connect with WWF audiences the colossal way Vince McMahon hoped he would. A sizable hurdle was WWF audiences and crowds were often fiercely loyal to the WWF, exclusively only watching their product and ignoring other promotions. So when Flair debuted a large portion of the audience had heard little or nothing regarding his accomplishments or who he was. Because of this the WWF had little interest in booking the match for ‘Mania.

Even still, with Flair and Hogan not happening, Flair would still headline surely, right? Given on the event he was defending his newly won WWF Championship against Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage and was involved in a substantial storyline with Miss Elizabeth at the time. Nope. Even with being nowhere near the Championship picture, Hogan headlined again against Sid Justice in a singles match that ended in a lame disqualification.