5 WrestleMania-caliber matches that WWE gave away on a 'B' PPV

WrestleMania is, without a doubt, the biggest show on the WWE calendar. For thirty-three years and counting, it has been a showcase event featuring dream matches and the blow-off to big-time rivalries.

While it’s the biggest show and one that tradition would suggest that WWE would save the biggest matches for, there have been those times when the company has gone in a different creative direction. Sometimes, first-time dream collisions happen at smaller PPVs or a major rivalry reaches its climax before WrestleMania.

Sometimes WWE devalues a match. Sometimes the authorities try to see a storyline through to a logical conclusion without stretching things to WrestleMania. A fear of injuries, politics, or the larger creative direction of the company takes hold which makes it unwilling to wait for booking it.

There are a number of cases in recent years when a match that was expected to headline WrestleMania, happened at an otherwise forgettable PPV. This article takes a look at five such instances.

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#5 Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns

The Shield exploded not at WrestleMania, but at Battleground.

The Shield was a truly special stable in the history of WWE. They debuted as a trio of unproven rookies with no established name to help push them. From there, a combination of their booking and the degree to which they delivered in the ring put them over as completely credible triumvirate which, particularly as a team, held its own and more often than not defeated big name stars.

When The Shield split up, it was little surprise that all three alumni would become top level stars in WWE. Sure enough, Seth Rollins got pushed as a heel and was the first to capture the WWE Championship. Roman Reigns went on to become the first Shield alum to garner a WrestleMania main event and the first multi-time world champion. Finally, Dean Ambrose turned towards Money in the Bank to win a world title of his own.

While one-on-one matches happened between different permutations of the former Shield members, fans generally assumed WWE would hold off on an eventual Triple Threat collision until a fitting stage presented itself—probably a WrestleMania.

However, the match wound up going down at Battleground 2016 with the WWE Championship on the line. The match fits organically with the stories WWE was telling at the time, particularly considering that Ambrose was breaking off to head off a separate brand from his former running buddies. Still, it felt like an anticlimax to get these dream explosion on a B PPV.

#4 Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman

Lesnar vs. Strowman might have headlined WrestleMania. Instead, it was the main event for No Mercy.

For a very recent example, 2017 has seen the meteoric rise of Braun Strowman from relatively generic big man to a featured performer with a unique appetite for destruction. He was positioned as a very believable threat to Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship reign, particularly after largely dominating Lesnar amidst a Fatal Fourway at SummerSlam.

The match ended up happening at No Mercy, a traditionally underwhelming PPV. Many have theorized it happened at this show both to cater to a big market crowd as the show happened in Los Angeles, and to capitalize on Strowman’s momentum with the main event match, while still pushing Lesnar as a dominant champ. Irrespective of the case, fans were surprised that the underwhelming match happened here.

It’s possible that Strowman will get another run at the world title, and he’s on the short list of stars, built by WWE who are believable as WrestleMania main eventers from the up and coming generation. Still, there will never be another first-time bout between these two monsters and it’s a surprise it didn’t go down at WrestleMania.

#3 The Rock vs. CM Punk

The Rock vs. CM Punk went down at the Royal Rumble, with a rematch at Elimination Chamber.

The Rock's return to the WWE fold in 2011 was quite shocking. While he was an undeniably important part of the company’s history and had family roots in the wrestling business, he’d gone on to become one of the top movie stars in the world, and few expected him to revisit his career in sports entertainment.

After some intrigue in 2011, Rock had a dream match with John Cena at WrestleMania 28 in 2012. This led to his return and the longest reigning world champ in WWE’s modern era, CM Punk, for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble 2013.

The rematch could have gone down at WrestleMania, however, it was just a bump in the road at Elimination Chamber as The Rock blazed a trail toward WrestleMania and a rematch with Cena.

While I can’t take anything away from Rock-Cena in terms of star power, it’s a shame that Punk didn’t get to cap his historic year-plus run with the title by defending it against The Rock at the biggest show of the year.

At the time, Punk was probably second only to Cena as the biggest full-time star WWE had and could have used the Rock match for his legacy to reach the next level. Instead, we got Rock-Cena II, which fans weren’t exactly clamouring for, and a thoroughly disgruntled Punk who got settle his conflicts at a WrestleMania.

#2 Roman Reigns vs. John Cena

John Cena and Roman Reigns battled to see who was the face of WWE... at No Mercy.

John Cena was the face of WWE for over a decade. He won sixteen world championships. He closed out five WrestleManias and was involved in world title matches. He popularised merchandise and served as an ambassador for the company on the talk show circuit.

Roman Reigns looked to succeed Cena as WWE’s top guy. He was largely featured in WWE programming including three consecutive WrestleMania main events (and counting), multiple world title reigns, and consistent placement at or around the top of the card.

There is no denying that WWE wants Reigns to be the next Cena (Daniel Bryan even suggested, on a recent visit to Edge and Christian’s podcast that Vince McMahon explicitly told him that was the plan at one point).

It seemed inevitable that Cena and Reigns would eventually collide, especially in a passing of the torch scenario that would put Reigns on top of the mountain. WrestleMania seemed like the fitting stage for this showdown, following in the tradition of The Ultimate Warrior beating Hulk Hogan, or Shawn Michaels beating Bret Hart.

However, this match took place at No Mercy 2017 in another move that seemed to serve the Los Angeles market and more immediate storylines. More importantly, this match may have been booked most plainly to give Reigns a career building win on the same night when Brock Lesnar turned back a challenge from Braun Strowman, thus further establishing their destiny to clash again at WrestleMania themselves.

#1 Goldberg vs. The Rock

Goldberg vs. The Rock sounds like a dream match, but in 2003 WWE placed it at Backlash.

When you think about the dream matches between the icons that are recognised even by the casual fans, Goldberg vs. The Rock sounds like something special. After all, during the Monday Night Wars, The Rock was one of the principal players in reinventing WWE and helping them win the rating struggle, while Goldberg was one of WCW’s few fresh faces who helped them put up a convincing challenge.

Thus, when Goldberg made his way to WWE, it seemed like a pretty convincing scenario for the much-speculated encounter, and one befitting the biggest stage possible of WrestleMania. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t lend itself to that outcome.

Goldberg started with WWE immediately after WrestleMania 19, just as The Rock was walking away from any semblance of a full-time schedule with the company in favour of his acting career. So, WWE fed The Rock to Goldberg, not as a climax to Goldberg’s first WWE run, but rather to introduce him to the WWE crowd.

They met at Backlash 2003, Goldberg’s first WWE PPV, and The Rock’s last one until WrestleMania 20 (which ended up being the last match he worked in over seven years).

The most ironic part of all? While Goldberg’s first tenure with WWE is generally reflected on as a disappointment for WWE being unable to use him correctly, this may have been his single best-received match from that era — one which may have been favourably received at WrestleMania 20.