WWE WrestleMania: What every main event should have been

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WrestleMania 13

Actual main event: The Undertaker vs. Sycho Sid

What the main event should have been: Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart

Much like I had to make a decision regarding WrestleMania VIII, I had a hard time deciding on what to do here given the fact that the Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin match is one of the best in WrestleMania history and helped Austin jump to that next level. With that being said, however, Austin wasn’t quite ready for the main event just yet, so I’ve got to go with the match that was supposed to happen in this slot. That’s Bret Hart taking on Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship in a rematch from their classic at WrestleMania XII. And seriously, another main event for Sid? No thanks. He and ‘Taker could have had their big man battle on the undercard and that would have been fine. But the final match of the night? Yeah, I don’t think so.

As for Shawn Michaels, he wasn’t even on this card as he was supposedly out of action due to a knee injury. There’s certainly plenty of conspiracy theories on this one, as many people think that he faked the injury so he didn’t have to drop the title back to Bret. There was plenty of real-life animosity between the two, which we saw plenty of later in 1997, but the two always had amazing chemistry in the ring and are responsible for some of the great matches on the decade. Getting another at WrestleMania 13 would have been quite the treat.

The rivalry was always there but fully came back around when Michaels, as the special guest referee, actually helped Hart win the WWE Championship at SummerSlam by accidentally hitting The Undertaker with a chair. This led to the first-ever Hell in a Cell Match, and “The Montreal Screwjob” came soon after that. Perhaps had Shawn dropped the title back to Bret in the first place, that whole thing may never have happened. In the same vein, however, we also wouldn’t have gotten Hart vs. Austin in Chicago, so perhaps it’s better that things turned out the way they did.