WWE: WrestleMania Countdown: Dream Matches (2016)

Our team come up with their “Dream Matches” of WrestleMania fantasy booking in our special WrestleMania Countdown week.

With WrestleMania, just around the corner, we tasked our team with coming up with their “Dream Matches” of WrestleMania matches that they would liked to have seen for our special WrestleMania Countdown week. Each team member chose three matches each, to turn into the WrestleMania card of all WrestleMania cards. The following pages showcase the diversity of writing styles that we have at TWM so sit back and relax as the team bring you their “Dream Matches”. With three dream match ups to select from the long list of combatants at WrestleMania, I decided to give myself three match types in which to fit these matches around. I wanted a straight up singles match, a tag bout and then a match with a stipulation or gimmick attached to it. I also wanted to incorporate some of my favourite wrestling moments (not necessarily involving the wrestlers I pick) in to the basic booking of the matches. So here we go. The Rock vs. Shawn Michaels This is a match that almost every wrestling fan wishes had happened and anyone that doesn’t, probably doesn’t realise that it hasn’t happened already. One person’s number one wrestler of all time will be different from another person’s favourite guy but there is no arguing that The Rock and HBK have to be in the top 5 of anyones list right? The build to this would see HBK going in as heel and The Rock as babyface, the roles in which I think these two performers excelled at and did their best work both in ring and on the mic.

Both athletically superb in ring, Shawn providing the high spots and Rocky providing his quick, sharp and wonderfully executed move set, he could even slap the his version of the sharpshooter on for the Bret fans in attendance at this dream WrestleMania. This match is fantastic on paper and I’m confident that both performers in their prime would surpass any expectation and have all in attendance out of their seat come the three count.  You will all have your own winner here but for me, The Rock goes over after a close to 30 min match in which they trade their finishes, there are a few close tap out spots but eventually the HBK just gets hit with one too many Rock Bottoms and The Brahma Bull is your winner. Edge and Christian vs. The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) w/ Jimmy Hart These two teams are, for me, the two greatest of their respective times.  Both teams brought something new to the tag team division when it was perhaps not at its best, both teams helped tag wrestling reach a peak during their run together and both set up singles careers for future World Champions. I think I would have to go with Edge and Christian going in as their slightly more ‘baby faced’ incarnation, which means they will be reeking of awesomeness and we’ll get a pose mocking the Hart family for those with the benefit of flash photography. The Hart Foundation were a brilliant heel tag team when they hit their stride. The influence of Jimmy Hart cannot be underplayed and having him at ringside for this one will only go to add to the culmination of the story line. Expect some great double teaming here along with some classic tag team psychology. Yes I’m talking about cutting that ring in half and making sure that the partner on the apron is holding the turn buckle lace. Something we don’t see enough of these days. I think on this occasion the heels come out on top with Jimmy Hart interfering with an attempted ‘Con-chair-to’, distracting the ref and Bret and Jim hitting the Hart Attack on Christian, Jim powering Edge out of the ring with Bret getting the cover as Jimmy drops from the apron, freeing up the ref to make the three count. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Ric Flair w/The Horsemen (Steel Cage Match) I mentioned this to a friend of mine when I first thought of it and he didn’t agree with me that it would be any good. Pfft, well I’m sorry Paul, these are my dream matches and I think this would be a great match and a build that would go down in history. The reason I chose a steel cage is because when I think of steel cage matches the first image that comes into my head is that of the NWA title matches involving Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race etc. The blood having mixed with Ric’s white hair turning it a gruesome pink colour, the dimly lit arenas and crackling audio as the commentary battles with the crowd going berserk. That’s the Ric Flair that I want to have competing against the rattlesnake. You obviously have Flair going in as the heel here, with The Nature Boy at his obnoxious best. Austin would be white hot crowd favourite and during the build you would have Stone Cold making life miserable for Naitch. Flair would have no problem running down the redneck and bragging about what he has that Austin doesn’t. Jet flying, limousine riding… Classic Flair. On the other hand Austin would be at his Attitude Era best, scuppering Flair’s attempts to boast about $1000 shoes etc in the way Austin did so well back then. Beer truck anyone? You get the picture. This is a feud that could last for months if you involve The Horsemen as obstacles, run ins, beat downs and other match combinations to counter act Austin’s more comedic one upmanship. By the time you got close to WrestleMania the only way these two could resolve this without inference would be the aforementioned steel cage. This match would be a good old fashioned fight against two men who are wonderfully talented at working snug, getting things to look real and telling a terrific story. Expect the usual Flair spots, Austin going all out brutal and bouncing Ric of each wall of the cage and a long working of the legs and knees by Flair, culminating in a hard fought figure four spot which the rattle snake finally gets out of. The claret flows in this one and Austin wins with a stunner from nowhere.

– By Chris Higson

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The difficulty with this fantasy booking lark, especially when given only three match choices to use is deciding exactly who you place into the matches and also in what match context/concept/format. With so many dream match possibilities racing around my head, I honestly didn’t know where to start. I could have been incredibly greedy and picked say, my fave 30 wrestlers ever and staged a 20-man Battle Royal, a Money in the Bank match, and a Fatal Four-way but where would be the fun in that? I decided instead to exercise a little bit of restraint so rather than being totally self-indulgent, I played by the rules. Kind of….. Here’s what I came up with: WWF Intercontinental Title Match Ravishing Rick Rude vs Razor Ramon OK then, maybe not everyone’s idea of a “Dream Match” to start off with but I just get to feeling that this match-up would be pretty cool. Rude’s appearances at WM’s 4, 5 & 6 nicely mirror “The Bad Guy’s” shots at 9, 10 & 11 (yes, I’m disregarding Hall’s WM18 bout vs Stone Cold). Both won the IC strap in their middle WrestleMania appearance, with another straight win apiece and a bit of a mish-mash result within their respective hat-trick of WrestleMania matches. The fact that both are hugely memorable IC champs yet never really rose above upper-mid card status into genuine main-event territory is again a nice similarity. It’s only fitting then that I see this match as being contested over the IC strap. Hell, even throw in a ladder match stipulation and this would be awesome. WWF Title Match Macho Man Randy Savage vs Kurt Angle Once again, maybe not everybody’s immediate choice for a “dream opponent” for either performer but it’s just a match I think would have been ice-cool. The 2 greatest working grapplers of their respective generations going toe-to-toe at WrestleMania would certainly have been a sight to savour. Both have similar won/lost records with Savage holding a 4-4 score (if you count his memorable WM4 tourney win as just 1 appearance) with Angle coming in at 3 wins to 4 losses (again, counting his double-shot at WM2000 as 1 loss). The face/heel divide is nicely blurred here also, as both were at their best working heel yet are fondly remembered for their stints as the good guy. Throw the WWF/E Title (winged eagle belt, obviously) into the mix and you’d have yourself a bonafide championship classic here.

The Rock vs Mr. Perfect “The Great One” one on one with Mr. Perfect. I’ve tried to go a little bit more abstract with this nomination as well but I suppose therein lies the beauty of fantasy booking – you can just do whatever the hell you want. The cocky, gum chewing Hennig would have been at his absolute brilliant, big-bumping best against “The People’s Champ”. I often feel that Rocky doesn’t get quite the credit he deserves as far as in-ring work goes and here opposite someone as crisp and well, perfect as Hennig, I’m sure this match would have delivered big-time. Mr Perfect never had a truly memorable WrestleMania match so this would undoubtedly provide that extra little prestige to another sadly missed, legendary performer.

But what If….? At WrestleMania VIII we had seen:- HULK HOGAN vs. RIC FLAIR The fact that this match never actually took place after months of build-up and was scrapped at the last minute is one of the greatest missed-opportunities in WrestleMania history in my opinion. In front of 70,000 fans inside Indianapolis’ Hoosierdome, this could have been one of THE great WrestleMania memories. OK, maybe not from a technical wrestling masterpiece point of view, but definitely in terms of those much heralded “WrestleMania moments”. or at WrestleMania 2000 We’d watched:- ‘STONE COLD’ STEVE AUSTIN vs. THE UNDERTAKER Here we are slap-bang in the middle of WrestleMania season, once again talking about The Undertaker’s record at WrestleMania. But what if one of The Deadman’s greatest rivals actually had the chance to stop “the streak” dead in it’s tracks before it had even reached the half-way point of where it is now? Both Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker took time out towards the end of 1999, thus missing the first WrestleMania of the new millennium. Neither superstar was on that card in any capacity at all so supposing they had clashed at WrestleMania 2000. Think about that. The Undertaker’s streak was still yet to reach the 10-0 mark, amassing only 8 wins at that point. If fate had been different and we were presented with this match on the WrestleMania 2000 card, who knows how different The Undertaker’s streak may have played out if he had battled against arguably the biggest star in the business at the time, Stone Cold Steve Austin.

– By Dave Green

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We were given carte blanche by the powers-that-be to approach the task of WrestleMania dream matches any way we wished. I set the parameters that I could only choose wrestlers who wrestled during the WrestleMania era (so basically anyone from 1985 onwards) but that I could cross era’s within the last three decades to bring together match up’s between people who weren’t necessarily around at the same time as each other. HONOURABLE MENTION.  I’ll start off on a tangent with an “honourable mention” Dream Match that I wish had happened and could quite conceivably have happened.  I know the reasons why it didn’t, but that doesn’t mean I should change my mind that Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper would have been an incendiary WrestleMania II main event.   If Hogan could have been persuaded to job the title in the build up and Piper have been persuaded to return the job at Mania it could have been something very special indeed.  A lot of “if’s” I know…. But anyway, onto my three actual picks. SHAWN MICHAELS vs RICKY “THE DRAGON” STEAMBOAT.  If you know anything about me as a wrestling fan you will know that I consider Shawn Michaels the greatest in-ring performer that I have ever seen, certainly in the WWE style and certainly in terms of WrestleMania.  Some push him close in both categories but he still comes out as number one for  me.  One man who is right up there in terms of the “best ever” in the ring is Ricky Steamboat. There is therefore no doubt in my mind that if the two met in their primes, this could have been one of the greatest matches of all time. You could of course pick from a number of different incarnations of both men.  Do you pick the 1993-1995 HBK, putting on stellar matches in a company not particularly noted for them at the time.  Do you pick the 1996 HBK, who was unraveling backstage, but was still putting on great main event performance after great main event performance?.  Do you pick the post-2002 Michaels who toned down the outrageous bumps (to an extent) but added even better timing and psychology to his act and became the master of making every little thing mean something?  Do we go for the 1987 Steamboat who tore the house down at Mania III?  Or is it the 1989 version who tussled with Ric Flair over the NWA World Title in the greatest trilogy of in-ring encounters I’ve ever seen?  Is it the mid 90’s WCW version who was carrying any level of opponents to great matches and wowing the crowds opposite Flair yet again?

In some ways it doesn’t matter.  These two were so good, for so long, that you could pit almost any version of them against each other and you’d almost certainly be guaranteed something special. Perhaps it would be best to just let the two go out against each other on a “mutual respect” storyline, or maybe we take the heel version of Shawn Michaels from 1997 (or when he went up against Hogan) to prove the perfect counterpart to family man and good guy Steamboat.  Either way, for me this is the very definition of a dream match.  Two of the all time greats, who for one reason or another were never quite around in the same place at the same time, going at it on the biggest stage of them all.  As for a winner?  Well let’s go for the old cliché and say that the fans would be the ultimate winners! STREETFIGHT: VADER vs CACTUS JACK with Special Guest Referee TERRY FUNK This is all manner of “different” from my first suggestion.  These two had an infamous feud in WCW which was hugely memorable (not always for nice reasons!) and this is match we can all go on the WWE Network and see (even if the more brutal matches between the pair took place on TV or at house shows).  Yet it never really was a feud that went anywhere.  There was never the dénouement that would have closed the rivalry satisfactorily, thanks to the lamentable booking squad of WCW who could ignore the fact that Cactus losing an ear might just have been a rather sure-fire money grabbing way to promote a rematch between the two. If you’ve read Mick Foley’s literary works you may remember that he had an idea to bring this to WrestleMania 13 or 14 (I think) and actually suggested to Vince that the two could wrestle on that show, but “live” from the Double Cross Ranch in Amarillo Texas (home of Terry Funk, of course) in some kind of gimmicked explosion match.  Vince apparently liked the idea of capitalising on where WCW had failed and reigniting the Vader/Cactus feud but expressed a desire to not just base it on what had happened elsewhere, but forging a new story in the WWF.  In hindsight that probably reads as a brush off, but it did lead to Mankind and Vader teaming up. So in a way I’m borrowing a dream match from Foley himself, but I don’t feel too much like a fraud.

First of all, for the sheer brutality of what went before and the pain Cactus put his body through, I feel this is a feud that deserved a really big pay-off on the biggest stage of them all.  Regardless of what I think personally, for many fans of the WWE if it didn’t happen there it didn’t happen (although I hope the sheer wealth of forage on the Network from other promotions may change that viewpoint over time).  Secondly, Vader is a genuine legend of wrestling.  Although there may be injury reasons behind his ultimately disappointing WWF run, it could easily be said that he is another wrestler who deserved a memorable WrestleMania Moment ™.  Terry Funk gets added as special guest referee because he is an all time legend, and I don’t want to put his body through any more punishment, although I suspect he would have to take a bump or two! I envision it going a little something like this; the two clash in the Royal Rumble match, eliminating each other but carrying on their brawl.  The crazy and brutal brawls and attacks continue on TV, meaning that Funk makes an appearance to plea for common sense to prevail between the pair. That fails and Funk decides the only way he can help them is to referee the match in an attempt to keep it relatively civil.  He fails, of course, with a bloody and brutal Streetfight ensuing.  I’d probably tip the win to Foley, but post-match all three would link arms in mutual respect in front of a cheering audience. And then hopefully none of the trio would ever feel the need to beat the crap out of each other ever again! BROCK LESNAR vs STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN  I know that so far my two picks, whilst almost certainly guaranteeing GREAT matches, are not the kind of blockbuster main event spectacles that add so much to the ‘Mania spectacle (when the WWE can be bothered to book something like that anyway).  That’s not to denigrate the fantastic talent in them, but I feel that my third choice needs to be a real money making mega match that was never seen.  And you don’t get much better than Brock Lesnar against Steve Austin. Of course the temptation is to pick a match from across the era’s to create a Rock/Hogan feel.  I could have gone Punk/Piper, Hogan/Sammartino, or something similar, but this is a match that all things being well we would have had.  And it would have been huge. First off, I completely understand why Austin walked out of the WWE rather than job to Lesnar on Raw. I don’t think Austin was against the job in essence, more that it shouldn’t have been thrown away on TV with no build up just so the WWE could stick it to Stone Cold.  Although you’d want to take the Austin of a few years earlier (and perhaps the Lesnar of now – who really is a fantastic worker who just “gets it” in terms of working a wrestling math) it’s the fact that with a little bit more prudence and luck we could have had this match at, say, Mania XX that makes it all the more intriguing and appealing to me. (I know in effect we couldn’t have had this match, but hopefully you understand what I mean).

The games of one-upmanship leading up to the show would be intense.  Each man trying to out-fox the other and gain the momentum going into the match itself. Lesnar is a far better speaker than many give him credit for, largely because he can keep it simple but believable, but throwing Paul Heyman in there would ramp things up another notch. The match itself would be a fast paced, high octane brawl but both men could actually wrestle as well.  It’d be a fascinating mix of aggression, drama and memorable moments that would have the fans on their feet from start to finish.  Austin would be the clear crowd favourite but Lesnar has proved himself to be one of the best working heels of the modern age since his comeback.  You’d probably have to end it with Austin breaking out the Stone Cold Stunner for the 1-2-3 (although hopefully it would take more than one of those to put Lesnar down) and then the beer would start flowing. No doubt the show would go off the air to the strains of Jim Ross’ “Stone Cold, Stone Cold” commentary ringing in our ears….

– By Matthew Roberts

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So after all that deliberating, it was time for the TWM “Powers that be” to take the choices from the team to produce the Ultimate WrestleMania Card. The only rule? No duplicate competitors. Also, we added in an Undertaker match, because let’s face it, you can’t have an Ultimate WrestleMania Card without The Undertaker.

Here then, is our Ultimate WrestleMania Card.

WWE World Tag Team Championship Edge & Christian vs. The Hart Foundation (with Jimmy Hart)

Intercontinental Championship Shawn Michaels vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat

Street Fight Special Guest Referee: Terry Funk Cactus Jack vs. Vader

The Rock vs. Mr. Perfect

Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin

The Undertaker vs. Daniel Bryan

Career vs. Career Match Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Two out of Three Falls “Macho Man” Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) vs. Kurt Angle

What are some of your dream WrestleMania matches? Join in the conversation on Twitter and Facebook to tell us what you would have booked!

WrestleMania Countdown: Dream Matches