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Every year when WrestleMania comes around, WWE fans begin to speculate about which dream matches we could witness at the event.
Only Sportskeeda gives you the latest Wrestling News, rumors and updates.
Earlier in 2018, for example, we saw AJ Styles face Shinsuke Nakamura and Charlotte Flair take on Asuka for the first time in a WWE ring, while The Undertaker vs. John Cena finally happened on “The Grandest Stage of Them All” after a decade of anticipation.
Throughout the years, there have been numerous fantasy match-ups that fans wanted to see but they never came to fruition, including Sting vs. The Undertaker, Daniel Bryan vs. Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin vs. CM Punk.
However, there are also plenty of examples of huge encounters taking place that you might not be aware of, with the likes of Brock Lesnar, The Rock, Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan and Trish Stratus facing iconic opponents in lesser-known matches during their careers.
With that in mind, and with special thanks to cagematch.net and their match database for storing the information, we’ve taken a look through the pro wrestling archives to bring you 10 dream matches that you probably didn’t know even happened.
#10 Brock Lesnar vs. Batista
Brock Lesnar and Batista were part of the famous OVW ‘Class of 2002’, which also included John Cena and Randy Orton, so perhaps it’s not a major surprise that they stood across the ring from each other on two occasions in one-on-one matches in their early careers.
Neither of the meetings came at televised main-roster events, though, with WWE never choosing to put the two in a televised storyline during their time on Raw and SmackDown.
The first match saw Batista, then known as Leviathan, defeat Lesnar in OVW in 2001, and then "The Beast" recorded a victory over "The Animal" during a Raw live event in 2003.
Interestingly, the future Hall of Famers joined forces to team up during a dark match before a taping of WWE Jakked in February 2002. However, they were unable to pick up a victory over the menacing team of Spike Dudley & Tazz!
#9 The Road Warriors vs. The Hardy Boyz
In February 2006, Matt Hardy and Road Warrior Animal formed a short-lived alliance during their days as members of the SmackDown roster, but did you know that the legendary Road Warrior and Hardy Boyz tag teams actually crossed paths on WWE television eight years earlier?
In October 1998, the Road Warriors (Hawk & Droz) defeated Matt & Jeff on an episode of Shotgun Saturday Night, while the Hardyz won the rematch a month later on Sunday Night Heat against Animal & Droz.
Granted, we never saw the original Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) against the high-flyers in a two-on-two match, but all four men still battled each other in those low-profile encounters in late 1998.
#8 CM Punk vs. Dusty Rhodes (3-on-3 tag match)
It’s crazy to think that CM Punk and Dusty Rhodes – two legends who fought two generations apart in their pro wrestling careers – ever stood across the same ring from each other, but it really did happen!
In January 2005, a few months before Punk signed with WWE, he teamed with Abdullah The Butcher and Kevin Sullivan in a losing effort against Mike Graham, Dusty and Dustin Rhodes in the main event of a WrestleReunion event in Tampa, Florida.
It’s unclear exactly how much time the two spent in the ring together during the match, but the record books state that Dusty recorded a victory over Punk. Oh, and Mick Foley was the special guest referee!
#7 Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Brock Lesnar
NJPW’s annual 4 January extravaganza had a variety of different names before it became known as Wrestle Kingdom, including Toukon Shidou Chapter 1 (the name of the 2006 event).
In the headline match of the Tokyo Dome show that year, current Raw Superstar Brock Lesnar successfully defended his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against current SmackDown Live Superstar Shinsuke Nakamura in a nine-minute encounter.
The two men teamed up one month later to defeat Akebono and Riki Choshu in a tag match, but they have never met inside the squared circle since.
#6 AJ Lee vs. Bayley
Before NXT became the phenomenon that it is today, various WWE Superstars used to make one-off appearances at the brand’s tapings to encourage fans to attend shows.
In July 2013, one of those Superstars was AJ Lee – the newly crowned WWE Divas champion who was one month into her legendary 295-day reign with the title.
Despite losing all five of her previous televised matches in NXT, an up-and-coming Bayley was granted an opportunity at AJ’s Divas Championship. She lost, of course, and the match only lasted four minutes, but it’s still interesting to know that their paths crossed one time!
#5 CM Punk vs. AJ Styles
In 2018, CM Punk vs. AJ Styles is a dream match that would be worthy of headlining any pro wrestling card anywhere in the world, but were you aware that the two men met several times before they made it to the big time?
Punk and Styles faced each other on 10 occasions between 2002 and 2004, with Punk winning four times and Styles winning five times (the other was a Fatal 4-Way, won by Christopher Daniels).
Their most famous encounter came at Ring Of Honor’s At Our Best event in March 2004, with AJ defeating Punk in a 24-minute match with Ricky Steamboat as special guest referee.
#4 Shawn Michaels vs. Dolph Ziggler (handicap matches)
Okay, so Shawn Michaels and Dolph Ziggler have never met one-on-one, but the two men have still done battle on a lot more occasions than you might think.
Before Ziggler became the WWE Superstar that we know him as today, he was a member of The Spirit Squad – a five-man group of male cheerleaders who featured prominently on WWE television throughout 2006.
Including live events, the two show-stealers fought against each other in 18 multi-man handicap matches during the year, with the most famous encounter coming at the Vengeance PPV when Michaels & Triple H defeated all five Spirit Squad members.
#3 Chyna vs. Trish Stratus
It’s strange to think that Trish Stratus competed in over 200 matches against Victoria and over 150 matches against Molly Holly during her WWE career, yet she only shared a ring with Chyna on two occasions.
The first match involving the two legends came at SummerSlam 2000 when Chyna & Eddie Guerrero defeated Trish & Val Venis in a mixed tag match for the Intercontinental Championship.
Then, in April 2001, they squared off in a singles match for the one and only time, with “The Ninth Wonder of the World” defeating the seven-time Women’s champion in an 84-second match on Raw.
#2 The Rock vs. Bret Hart
It’s well-known that The Rock and Shawn Michaels never faced each other in WWE, but did you know that “The Great One” fought another legend of the 90s, Bret Hart, in 1997?
During his days as Rocky Maivia, the then-Intercontinental champion defeated Hart on an episode of Raw in March 1997, just one week after “The Excellence of Execution” turned heel in his memorable match against Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13.
According to the Wrestling Observer, Michaels attempted to end Maivia’s push (and take Bret out of the WWE title scene at the same time) by suggesting to Vince McMahon that Bret win the IC title in the match. However, Hart refused and the match ended in a DQ.
#1 Hulk Hogan vs. Steve Austin (3-on-2 handicap match)
While the dream one-on-one match between Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin never took place, the two professional wrestling icons did face each other during a three-on-two handicap match on Raw in March 2002.
Six days before WrestleMania X8, where The Rock defeated Hogan and Austin defeated Scott Hall, the unlikely team of “The Great One” and “The Rattlesnake” joined forces against the three NWO members (Hogan, Hall and Kevin Nash).
The nine-minute encounter was won by the NWO, with “The Hulkster” pinning The Rock, and Hogan and Austin were the legal men at the same time for just 25 seconds of the match.
How many of these matches have you watched? Let us know in the comments below!
