3 WWE Superstars who were replaced at WrestleMania

WWE's premium live event, WrestleMania, is one of the biggest spectacles in all of professional wrestling and sports entertainment. There have been many historical moments, matchups, debuts, returns, and even goodbyes over the last 38 years in WrestleMania.

However, there were at least three moments when wrestlers that were originally booked for the show had to be replaced. The reasons behind this were due to possible injuries, contractual issues, health issues, and so on.

Today, we examine three such moments where Superstars were replaced at the biggest event of WWE.

#3 – The Legion of Doom (WWE WrestleMania VIII)

The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal) was one of the most dominating tag teams in all of pro wrestling. Hawk & Animal entered the company in late 1990s following their departure from WCW and took the tag team division by storm.

By 1992, the Legion of Doom was set to challenge Money Inc. (The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase & Irwin R. Schyster) for the Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania VIII. However, due to the suspension of Road Warrior Hawk, the Legion of Doom was replaced by The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon).

The Natural Disasters would then go on to defeat Money Inc. by a count-out. Ironically enough, The Legion of Doom would go on to face Money Inc. at SummerSlam. Though it wasn’t for the Tag Team Titles, Hawk & Animal emerged victorious over Dibiase & Schyster.

The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal)

#2 – Razor Ramon (WWE WrestleMania XII)

“The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon was one of the greatest Superstars to never have won the WWE Championship. By 1996, Scott Hall (Razor Ramon) had negotiated and worked out an agreement to return to WCW under a huge guaranteed contract.

Razor was originally scheduled to participate at WrestleMania XII against Goldust in a “Hollywood Backlot Brawl”. Razor was suspended for six weeks due to a company violation over drug use and wouldn’t return until April 7th. Therefore, he was replaced by “Rowdy” Roddy Piper during the initial buildup for the match.

Razor Ramon would eventually leave for WCW in May 1996.

#1 – Roman Reigns (WWE WrestleMania 36)

Before he became “The Tribal Chief”, Roman Reigns was still trying to find a way to connect with the wrestling fans. Reigns’ push seemed forced, as the company tried to catapult Reigns to the same level of superstardom that John Cena had.

During the build-up to WrestleMania 36, Reigns was scheduled to challenge Goldberg for the WWE Universal Championship. However, it was 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading like wildfire, drastically changing not only the way we live our lives, but also all the events that were happening at that time.

As a precautionary measure due to his past diagnosis with Leukemia, Reigns decided to remove himself from the event and take some time off from the company. Reigns would eventually be replaced by Braun Strowman. Strowman would go on to defeat Goldberg with the Running Powerslam to become the new Universal Champion.