The Best WWE Rivalries to Never Main-Event WrestleMania
WrestleMania has long been where many of WWE's biggest bouts have been held and most memorable storylines have culminated.
Although Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper never met one-on-one at the event, their unforgettable feud was furthered at the inaugural installment in the form of a tag team match also involving Paul Orndorff and actor Mr. T.
The same can be said for Triple H's respective rivalries with The Rock and Shawn Michaels. He was involved in the WrestleMania main event with The Great One as part of a Fatal 4-Way in 2000 and with HBK in a Triple Threat four years later.
Other foes have had the elusive opportunity to close out WrestleMania settling their score in singles competition, including iconic rivals "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Rock. They headlined in 1999 and 2001, with The Texas Rattlesnake emerging victorious on both occasions.
Even Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar went on last at WrestleMania three times between 2015 and 2022, despite not always delivering the goods.
However, there have been plenty of historic rivalries that have never been featured in the WrestleMania main event in any capacity, with the following eight being the best examples.
Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage
1 of 8WWE touted WrestleMania VIII as the first installment to boast a "double" main event, but only one match can go on last, and that was Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice in a non-title affair.
Ric Flair and Randy Savage, who were embroiled in a heated rivalry at the time that also involved Savage's main squeeze, Miss Elizabeth, were instead relegated to the semi-main event despite Flair having won the Royal Rumble for the vacant WWE Championship mere months earlier.
As expected, it was an exceptionally-wrestled encounter that overshadowed the main event with ease. Ultimately, Savage bested The Nature Boy to kick off his second stint with the prestigious prize.
Savage previously headlined WrestleMania with Hogan in 1990, but Flair never had the honor of doing so before retiring from full-time competition in 2008.
WrestleMania VIII would have been the perfect place for them to take center stage considering Flair was gone from the company less than a year later, and it would have been a more eventful ending to the show than the disqualification finish to Hogan vs. Justice and Ultimate Warrior's surprise return.
Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho
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Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho first waged war in 2003 when they put on an instant classic at WrestleMania 19.
They told the simple story of Jericho having grown up idolizing HBK and wanting to prove he was the superior athlete, only for Michaels to go over in the end.
It wasn't until 2008 that they took their animosity to a whole new level with Jericho betraying Michaels on his talk show The Highlight Reel and reinventing himself as a heel, refusing to relent until The Heartbreak Kid willingly retired.
Their rivalry lasted the remainder of 2008 and included many memorable matches at The Great American Bash, Unforgiven and No Mercy. Jericho walked away still world heavyweight champion in their final outing on pay-per-view, yet far from unscathed.
They wrapped up their rivalry long before WrestleMania 25, so they weren't able to blow it off on the biggest stage possible. Jericho wasn't prominently featured at the event, but Michaels did go on to have one of the greatest matches of all time against The Undertaker.
Had they renewed hostilities that night, Michaels would have surely reigned supreme and gotten his happy ending, but it would have also changed the course of history forever with 'Taker having to settle for an inferior opponent.
Trish Stratus vs. Lita
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Trish Stratus and Lita have long been considered two of the biggest trailblazers for women's wrestling in WWE, and for good reason.
Their many matches between 2000 and 2006 revolutionized the women's division, cemented their own legacies and laid the groundwork for the talent of tomorrow.
Although they once made history for being the first formal women's singles match in the main event of Raw in 2004, their only interaction as opponents at WrestleMania was in 2002. Even then, it was a Triple Threat that also involved Jazz, who retained the Women's Championship that night.
They later teamed on The Grandest Stage of Them All in 2023 alongside Becky Lynch to defeat Damage CTRL in a six-woman tag team match. Of course, the main event of WrestleMania always alluded them, as the event wasn't headlined by women until 2019.
With the proper storyline and an ample amount of time to have the match they were capable of, Stratus and Lita could have excelled in the 'Mania main event considering how popular both were throughout their runs in WWE.
'Stone Cold' Steve Austin vs. Mr. McMahon
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"Stone Cold" Steve Austin achieved GOAT status in WWE despite having a relatively short run on top compared to other icons of his caliber. But without Mr. McMahon as his foil, there's no telling how high his ceiling would have actually been.
McMahon was the quintessential evil authority figure, while Austin was the embodiment of anti-establishment and was beyond beloved. Each needed the other, and they had a fantastic dynamic together.
Their storied rivalry, which spanned several years, was more about the moments than it was the matches. McMahon wasn't an active competitor and would have other Superstars attempt to take out Austin for him.
Stone Cold captured the WWE Championship in spite of McMahon on multiple occasions and even aligned with him in shocking fashion at the 2001 installment, but never squared off in the main event of WrestleMania.
Their rivalry defined the Attitude Era, so perhaps it was for the best that they didn't meet inside the squared circle and the legacy wasn't tarnished.
McMahon has five matches on his WrestleMania résumé (including 2022), but amazingly, none were against Austin.
John Cena vs. Edge
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John Cena has had a handful of truly elite enemies who elevated him to superstardom early in his illustrious career, but few complemented him better both in the ring and on the mic than Edge.
The Rated-R Superstar started 2006 ending Cena's lengthy WWE Championship reign by becoming the first man to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase, only to lose the belt back to Cena three weeks later.
Although they later had tremendous title matches at Backlash, SummerSlam and Unforgiven, what fans forget is that their rivalry went on hiatus until after WrestleMania that year.
Cena shifted his sights toward Triple H, who he soundly defeated in the main event of WrestleMania 22. Elsewhere on that card, Edge took out his frustrations on Mick Foley in a brutal and bloody affair that The Rated-R Superstar came out on top in.
Cena vs. Edge would have been a fitting attraction for that event, but Edge's hardcore war with Foley did more to raise his stock than anything else he accomplished in 2006.
However, there's no reason they couldn't have headlined WrestleMania 25 when they rekindled their rivalry over the World Heavyweight Championship. Big Show was needlessly shoehorned into the story and the match, which was then turned into a Triple Threat, was worse off as a result.
That was the closest Cena and Edge came to sharing the main event of WrestleMania together before the latter retired (for the first time) in 2011.
Sasha Banks vs. Bayley
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After Trish Stratus and Lita, the Four Horsewomen were the next group of females to force WWE to start spotlighting women's wrestling again and make the division much more of a priority.
The quartet routinely stole the show in NXT between 2014 and 2015, but it was the feud between Bayley and Sasha Banks heading into TakeOver: Brooklyn that truly ushered in a new era for women's wrestling.
That bout was a five-star masterpiece and had the entire wrestling world buzzing. Their rematch at TakeOver: Respect—an unprecedented 30-minute Iron Man match for the women—was also an absolute gem.
Banks was already on the main roster by then and Bayley was called up in August 2016. She and Banks had various Raw matches but nothing that was allowed to be on the level of their critically-acclaimed encounters from NXT.
Fans awaited the day they could take their rivalry to WrestleMania, but that day never came. Other than a forgettable Fatal 4-Way they both took part in at WrestleMania 33, they never competed against each other at The Show of Shows, let alone in the main event where they belonged.
Banks did get her WrestleMania main event with Bianca Belair in 2021, making Bayley the only member of The Four Horsewomen to never close out The Show of Shows.
'Stone Cold' Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart
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Right up there with Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker as one of the all-time great WrestleMania matches is "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart from the 1997 installment.
It was the saving grace of an otherwise lackluster event, yet it didn't go on last.
That spot was instead reserved for The Undertaker vs. Sycho Sid for the WWE Championship. Austin vs. Hart had nothing at stake, but it had a much richer story with pristine execution and outstanding action.
Austin also fell to The Hitman at Survivor Series the year prior, so he was never able to beat him when it mattered most.
Thus, it would have only been appropriate for Hart to be the one Austin won his first world title from in the main event of WrestleMania the following year. All signs pointed to that being the direction WWE was headed in until the infamous Montreal Screwjob that saw The Hitman ousted from the company that November.
Austin did clinch the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XIV, but from Shawn Michaels and not Hart. The Heartbreak Kid was actually injured going into that contest, but the dawning of the Austin era was a monumental moment, nonetheless.
Still, fans were robbed of what could have been between Austin and Hart that year.
John Cena vs. CM Punk
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An argument can be made for CM Punk being John Cena's best rival ever, and any selection from their deep catalog of matches dating back to 2009 can prove it.
Their feud was originally intended to be a one-off for Money in the Bank 2011 with Cena defeating Punk before the Chicago native legitimately left the company.
Punk's emphatic "pipe bomb" promo was what changed everything, not only the outcome of the match but the industry itself.
The remainder of their rivalry that summer was fascinating for fans to follow, but WWE made the mistake of rushing The Best in the World back to television eight days removed from his walkout instead of allowing him to sell the audience on the idea he was gone with the WWE Championship.
Regardless of when he returned, Cena vs. The Rock was already set in stone for the WrestleMania 28 main event, but there's no excuse for Punk not being incorporated into the following year's headliner with the two future Hall of Famers.
Punk was at odds with both Cena and Rock in the buildup to the event and would have made the match infinitely better than it was.
With Cena retiring this year, he and Punk will never get the chance to close out a 'Mania, but had it happened, they would have made magic as they always have.
Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.
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