15 Things You Didn't Know About WrestleMania (1995 - 2004)

12. WrestleMania XII - Bill Watts Previously Quit Over Main Event Finish

The main event of WrestleMania XII is one of the most famous matches in WWE history as World Champion Bret Hart defended his title against Shawn Michaels in a rarely-seen 60-minute Iron Man Match. While it was pretty obvious during the months that preceded WrestleMania that Michaels would be taking the strap, Bret was in the middle of an impressive reign. The company saw it's attendance figures and other metrics rise in support of Hart as champion leading Bret to believe that the company should've considered changing their WrestleMania plans. Another man that supported the idea of sticking with Bret as the champion was Bill Watts, the former Mid-South promoter whom Vince McMahon brought in to book the company in the Fall of 1995. After first being told he would have autonomy over the book, Watts would soon earn the ire of McMahon when he argued for Bret to go over Shawn in their eventual WrestleMania main event. When Vince was steadfast that Shawn take the championship, it proved to be an insurmountable impasse and directly lead to Watts quitting the company.