8 Impromptu WrestleMania Matches And Confrontations

Wrestling critics and fans will sometimes harangue WWE for its lack of planning for WrestleMania matches. Despite it being the biggest show of the year, there always seems to be matches thrown together at the last minute to fill out the card.

And then there are those completely “unscripted” moments, the in-ring action that doesn’t show up on the pre-Mania card. You can call it bonus action, you can call it time-filler, but it’s definitely something that was put there to surprise the crowd, both in the arena and at home.

Sometimes, the incident in question is a surprise confrontation in the ring. Other times, it’s an actual match. And other times, it’s a wrestler being added to a match at the last minute. As WWE likes to say, it’s all about creating those WrestleMania moments, so having these unexpected appearances and battles certainly can provide such a moment at any given Mania.

This list is by far not comprehensive. We’re not counting Kane tombstoning Pete Rose multiple times, or Roddy Piper blasting Morton Downey Jr. with a fire extinguisher.

But this list should show that John Cena calling out the Undertaker was definitely not the first (or even best) instance of WWE adding in-ring action to WrestleMania at the show.

Let’s get to it…

The main event of WrestleMania 30 was going to be a triple threat no matter what, but the open question as the PPV opened was who was going to be the third man.

WWE Champion Randy Orton was defending his title against 2014 Royal Rumble winner Batista, but Triple H and Daniel Bryan were locked in a heated opening match to determine which of them would compete in that title bout.

Bryan defeated The Game to earn his spot in the main event, then went on to turn WrestleMania into YES-leMania. While many fans figured that this was exactly what was going to happen, it still was not an announced spot on the card for Bryan, thus it sneaks onto our list.