20 Shocking WWE Plans You Won’t Believe
10. WrestleMania XV's Main Event
Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock’s WrestleMania series is one of the most iconic match trilogies in wrestling history. As the Attitude Era’s two biggest stars, Austin and The Rock collided at ‘Mania XV, X7, and XIX, with Austin winning the first two matches, and Rocky coming-out on top in the final clash.
The first match was instrumental in establishing the tone for both wrestlers’ later careers, but it almost didn’t happen. Instead, WWE originally had the idea of including Mankind and making it a Triple Threat for the WWE Championship, seemingly with Austin still coming out on top.
Not only that but Shawn Michaels, who was WWE Commissioner at the time, was secretly pulling strings behind the scenes to have Austin removed from the match all-together. Michaels allegedly suggested that Vince McMahon book a classic singles match between The Rock and Mankind instead, but while Vince agreed that the match should be one on one, he went with Rock and Austin.
The proposed Triple Threat would’ve still been a good match, but would Rock and Austin have one of the greatest WrestleMania rivalries of all-time. Would this have developed to such a level had Mankind been included at XV? It’s highly doubtful.