10 Truly 'Once in a Lifetime' Matches On TV in WWE History

We all know that The Rock vs John Cena at WrestleMania 28 was booked as a Once in a Lifetime match. But we also know that WWE repeated the very same match next year to completely nullify the tagline of their first match. We can't really blame WWE as the pair's first match made WrestleMania 28 the highest grossing wrestling event history.

Despite the repetitive dream matches, WWE has delivered some once in a lifetime matches over the years. Most of these matches happened only once on TV and while some might happen again they have taken place just once before.

---

#10 The Rock vs Eddie Guerrero - Raw (22nd July 2002)

The Rock and Eddie Guerrero squared off on Raw

The Rock and Eddie Guerrero are two of the greatest performers in the world. While The Rock was known for his natural charisma and ability on the mic, Eddie was more well known for his technical prowess in the ring.

The Rock was a main-event level talent in WWE from 1997 to 2004 when he left WWE to pursue an acting career. Eddie Guerrero had two runs with WWE within this period. He was part of the company from 2000 to 2001 and then returned the next year and stayed with WWE until his untimely death in 2005.

It is a huge surprise that these two never had an actual feud between themselves although they had been on the roster together for a few years. The Rock had just won the Undisputed Championship at Vengeance 2002 and was cutting a promo on Raw the next day. He was interrupted by Eddie who was cross with The Rock because his daughters had a picture of The Great One in their bedroom. This led to the two men having a match in the main event which The Rock won.

#9 Vince McMahon vs John Cena - Raw(27th March, 2006)

The Boss vs The Face that runs the Place.

Now, this is just here for comic reasons, but it still deserves a spot. The Chairman of the board has had quite a few one-off matches. He has wrestled Brock Lesnar, CM Punk, Bobby Lashley and Kurt Angle among all people. But his most ridiculous match has to be against John Cena. John Cena had ascended to the main event level by 2006 and was the face of the company. Vince had a regular presence on TV back then and decided to insert himself into the storylines going into WrestleMania.

Cena was in a heated rivalry with Triple H who was his opponent for WrestleMania. Vince himself was fresh off of his match against Shawn Michaels and .... well, God himself. This is when the chairman decided to help his son in law against his rival and booked himself against his beloved champion.

The match ended before anyone realized what happened as Triple H blindsided John Cena. Considering Vince and Cena have feuded multiple times since then, it is a surprise this match was their only encounter.

#8 Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose vs Roman Reigns - Battleground 2016

This match is so low on this list because it is likely to happen again at some point in time. Back in 2016, WWE had just introduced the second Brand Split. SmackDown and Raw would have their own unique rosters and separate PPVs.

Ambrose, the WWE Champion at that time, was drafted to SmackDown while his former brothers were drafted to Raw. Ambrose's final title defense was scheduled at Battleground before the title became exclusive to SmackDown and his opponents were Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.

The match was exactly what everyone would expect. The 3 had great chemistry together and gave us an excellent match. Although people criticized WWE for giving away such an important match on a B level PPV, the match delivered. The 3 went back and forth with each member looking equally threatening to win the match. But it was Ambrose who nailed Roman with the Dirty Deeds and took the victory and the WWE Championship to SmackDown Live.

#7 Goldberg vs The Rock - Backlash 2003

One of the more well-known matches in WWE history, Goldberg faced The Rock at Backlash 2003. This was also Goldberg's first match in WWE. The Rock defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 19 and Austin was fired by Eric Bischoff the next night on Raw. This led to The Rock cutting a promo on Austin taunting him and laying out an open challenge. The challenge was answered by the debuting Goldberg who told The Rock that "You're Next." and proceeded to spear him.

The two met at Backlash in Goldberg's debut and Goldberg claimed a dominating victory over the Brahma Bull. The match ended after Goldberg hit 3 spears in a row after finishing off The Rock with a Jackhammer. The match was The Rock's last match for quite a while as he left WWE to film 'Walking Tall,' one of his lesser known movies.

#6 Brock Lesnar vs Hulk Hogan - Smackdown(4th August 2002)

The Hulkster faced The Beast Incarnate

Brock Lesnar debuted in early 2002 and went on a tear. He was an absolute monster who crushed his opponents with ease. In his debut year he won the King of the Ring tournament and earned the right to compete for the WWE Championship at Summerslam, and we will come to that later. He was drafted to the SmackDown brand at this time and got into a feud with Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Hogan challenged Lesnar to put his title shot on the line so that the fans could watch The Rock vs Hulk Hogan 2. Brock agreed and the duo faced off.

The match was a huge surprise as the fans were actually hoping for Hogan vs Rock 2. But Lesnar absolutely destroyed Hogan. He kicked out of the Atomic Leg Drop, made Hogan bleed and crushed him with a Bear Hug. Lesnar would pick up the victory over Hogan with ease and move on to his next challenger at SummerSlam. Speaking of that match...

#5 Brock Lesnar vs The Rock - SummerSlam 2002

As mentioned earlier, Brock Lesnar challenged the WWE Champion at SummerSlam 2002. The Champion just happened to be The Rock. The two faced off at SummerSlam in an epic match. The duo had to follow Shawn Michaels' return to in-ring action after 4 years and they delivered. They went 15 minutes after which Lesnar was put over as a proper main event level talent by The Rock.

The match started with Lesnar dominating using big power moves on The Rock. But The Rock started to counter with submission holds and striking moves. The Rock tried to use his experience against the more powerful Lesnar but The Next Big Thing was just too strong for him. After failing to land a People's Elbow, Lesnar countered a Rock Bottom attempt into an F5 and pinned The Rock to become the youngest WWE Champion in history.

#4 Ric Flair vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - Raw(3rd June 2002)

Stone Cold and Ric Flair had a few matches in WCW but at that time Austin hadn't come close to his industry-changing character. In WWE the pair had faced each other in several tag team bouts but they faced each other in just one singles match. Two of the biggest Superstars in Pro Wrestling History faced off on an episode of Raw on free TV.

The match came to be after Flair accidentally cost Austin a shot at the WWE Championship. After Austin voiced his displeasure against Flair who was the co-owner of WWE at that time, Flair put Austin on leave. To earn his place back in WWE, Austin had to beat Flair one on one. The two faced off on Raw and Austin won the match which was great as you would expect it to be.

#3 Shawn Michaels vs Goldberg - Raw(20th October, 2003)

The very prospect of Shawn Michaels facing Goldberg sounds too good to be true. But it did happen just once on Raw in 2003. Goldberg was in a feud against Triple H. That feud resulted in him losing to The Game. The two met on Raw for the World Heavyweight Championship which Goldberg held at that time. This happened on Free TV.

The match was hyped a lot and rightfully so. This was a true once in a lifetime dream match. But as fate would have it, the match never quite got underway as a young Batista attacked Goldberg to collect the $100,000 bounty placed on him by Triple H joining Evolution in the process. This was the only time these two Superstars competed in the same match till then and has remained so till date. Given the current circumstances, it is unlikely they will face each other ever again.

#2 Triple H vs Sting - WrestleMania 31

Triple H vs Sting was perhaps the ultimate fantasy matchup in Wrestling History. Sting was the franchise player of WCW. So much so that he was nicknamed The Icon. Him facing Triple H, WWE's ace for years, at WrestleMania was unthinkable. But it did happen and it was awesome. The match was unnecessarily mixed with a WWE vs WCW theme but it was worth it once the actual bout happened.

Sting debuted for WWE at Survivor Series 2014 and cost Team Authority their match against Team Cena. This led to Sting challenging Triple H to a match at WrestleMania 31. The match was a back to the basics match with interference from both D-Generation X(Billy Gunn, X-Pac and Road Dogg) and New World Order (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan). This led to a larger than life clash which Triple H won.

#1 Brock Lesnar vs CM Punk - Summerslam 2013

The Best vs The Beast

CM Punk vs Brock Lesnar was the true draw of SummerSlam. Although John Cena and Daniel Bryan had one hell of a match and the cash in afterward was exciting as well, this was the clear match of the night. Punk and Brock started their feud after Punk fell out with his manager, Paul Heyman. Heyman then called The Beast upon Punk and this match was booked. The tagline for the match was fittingly, The Best vs The Beast.

The match was amazing as both men played to each other's strengths. CM Punk's indie style grappling mixed perfectly with Lesnar's hard-hitting MMA style fighting. The crowd ate up everything the two did and reacted loudly as ever. Brock Lesnar eventually won the match over CM Punk and left with Paul Heyman. The best moment came after the match when Punk left to his music and the crowd screamed their lungs out chanting his name.

---

Think I missed any dream match that happened once? Let us know in the comments.