6 WrestleMania Title Matches That Should Have Been Triple Threats

Of all of the entries on this list, this is the missed 'Mania triple threat opportunity which stings the most with fans, and also the one which stung WWE the most in the long run.

CM Punk was in the midst of the best WWE Championship run of the modern era, but was shafted for a rematch of the ‘Once In a Lifetime’ showdown of The Rock versus John Cena. The Chicago favourite had held the title at the previous year’s WrestleMania, but his match with Chris Jericho was ousted from the headline position by The Rock’s mainstream appeal.

Main eventing WrestleMania is the dream of many wrestlers and one that Punk thought he had earned the right to fulfil, and yet was denied two years in a row - at WrestleMania 27 it was The Miz who faced Cena, despite Punk establishing himself as the company’s top heel.

Punk addressed these frustrations on friend Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast, in his now famous post-WWE departure rant, saying: "I kept asking what was going on for 'Mania and Vince kept very disappointingly telling me that it was going to be the rematch between Cena and Rock. I was just like 'That's going to be awful, how about we do this?'

"I mean, I guess if people want to call me a politician, I was trying to politic my way into the main event but it wasn't like 'Let me beat everybody', It was 'hey, let's do a three way, it will be elimination. Have somebody pin me in f****** five minutes, I don't care. And then I'll be able to be like 'Ha, I did the main event at WrestleMania' and I'll be able to move on."

This should have worked for everyone. WWE would have got Rock and Cena part two and still made money, Punk would have got his main event, and the fans would have been much more invested in the storyline.

As it was, Punk was out of the company less than a year later.