Surprises in wrestling can be hard to pull off. Sometimes things are so telegraphed that any fan could figure out every story beat weeks, or even months, in advance. A betrayal, a big return, or a major title change could be treated as surprising despite the narrative making it obvious to the viewer. At the same time, being truly unpredictable could backfire and ruin a storyline, making fans question the decision-making of the people in charge. With WrestleMania as WWE’s biggest annual show, there’s always an emphasis on making the moments feel larger than life and memorable. They occasionally need to throw in something out of left field to get people talking. Something unexpected to show how volatile this fictional battleground truly is. Here are some incidents in the decades of WrestleMania that genuinely felt surprising when they happened. Strike Force Explodes at WrestleMania V There had been several face turns at WrestleMania before this, like Brutus Beefcake at WrestleMania III, Bret Hart at WrestleMania IV, and even the main event of the first WrestleMania was the first step towards a Paul Orndorff turn. The first heel turn at WrestleMania came in the fifth installment with one-half of one of the biggest white meat babyface teams of the era. Strike Force was a fixture in the tag division, but Rick Martel was written off TV thanks to a beatdown from Demolition. That led to Tito Santana going solo for a while until his buddy could get healthy enough to return. At this show, they faced off against the Brainbusters. The two were doing great until a miscommunication led to Santana nailing Martel with a flying forearm. Santana valiantly fought for his life while Martel stood on the apron, fuming. When the time came for a tag, Martel decided he was going to do a solo run himself and left Santana high and dry. Then he got really into modeling, because that’s what you do in wrestling. Randy Savage and Elizabeth Reunited at WrestleMania VII The initial dynamic between Randy Savage and Elizabeth was that she was the heel wrestler’s face manager who gradually made him a better person, but then his paranoia and jealousy got the better of him and destroyed their relationship. The two of them had broken up in the lead-up to WrestleMania V and in that time, Savage had become increasingly unhinged as the Macho King. This culminated in a Career-Ending Match against The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VII. Prior to the match, an emotional Elizabeth was pointed out as being in the audience. Once Savage lost the match, his manager Queen Sherri put the boots to him in anger, only for Elizabeth to jump the railing and save her former client. Despite his major loss and (temporary) retirement, Savage ended up standing tall at the end of the night, reunited with the manager he loved as he held Elizabeth over his shoulder. The Ultimate Warrior Returns at WrestleMania VIII The Ultimate Warrior made his final appearance for a time at SummerSlam 1991 thanks to some backstage disagreements about how much he was getting paid. Quietly phased out, Warrior sat at home while the main event scene in WWF became increasingly chaotic. What was initially set to be Hulk Hogan challenging against WWF Champion Ric Flair turned into a main event grudge match between Hogan and Sid Justice. Then the night of the show, voodoo practitioner Papa Shango randomly got involved in the storyline. The match ended in a disqualification and followed with Sid and Papa Shango working over Hogan. Suddenly, without warning, Warrior’s iconic music started playing and the facepainted psychopath came to his frenemy’s rescue. Hogan was about to leave the company for a bit, so Warrior was there to distract from that. As Warrior looked so physically different since his last appearance in terms of hair, paint, and musculature, this led to the widespread school recess rumors that the “original” Ultimate Warrior died in a car crash and was being replaced with a new guy. Hulk Hogan’s Impromptu Title Win at WrestleMania IX So… just because it was surprising doesn’t mean it was good. With Hogan gone for nearly a year, WWF jumpstarted the New Generation Era by having Bret Hart become WWF Champion. His run as a fighting champion was about to hit a wall as he took on rising monster heel Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX. Meanwhile, the undercard had Hogan return to team up with his sidekick Brutus Beefcake against Money Inc., where they failed to win the tag titles, but still celebrated for like ten minutes anyway. Elsewhere on the show, Hogan made a challenge to whoever won the main event. Yokozuna defeated Bret thanks to Mr. Fuji’s interference and cheating. Hogan ran out to raise a big stink about it, though he had no storyline connection to Bret. Speaking for Yokozuna, Fuji inexplicably laid down the challenge right then and there, putting the title on the line against Hogan. With Bret’s blessing, Hogan went in there, sidestepped some more cheating, and won the belt immediately. Any hope of this leading to Hogan vs. Bret at SummerSlam was dashed when Hogan dropped the belt back to Yokozuna and crept out the back door towards WCW. Owen Hart Gets the Better of His Brother at WrestleMania X Bret Hart and Lex Luger were co-winners at the 1994 Royal Rumble, having fallen out of the ring at the same time. As the company had yet to think of the simple concept of a triple threat match yet, they instead turned WrestleMania X into a mini tournament. Lex Luger would challenge Yokozuna for the title and the winner would face Bret Hart in the main event. To make things even, Bret would face his pissed off little brother Owen in the opening match. Win or lose, Bret would advance. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Bret and Owen proceeded to tear the place down with an awesome opener. About twenty minutes into it, Owen was able to land a major upset with a victory roll reversed into a pin. Bret made history as the man who lost WrestleMania’s opening match and won the title in the same show’s main event. This curveball created a perfect follow-up direction to the show where Owen, bitter over Bret’s win, was the rightful #1 contender. The Double-Turn at WrestleMania 13 The feud between Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin spent months heating up. Bret returned from a lengthy hiatus, annoyed with Austin’s lack of honor. Over time, Bret was increasingly agitated by Austin’s behavior, the loud contingent of people cheering this jerk, and the fact that he was constantly getting screwed over. Bret was able to get the better of Austin by outwrestling him at Survivor Series, but it wasn’t enough. They were going to have a match that could only be won by submission. The two had possibly the greatest match in WrestleMania history, complete with the perfect ending. Bret locked the Sharpshooter on a bleeding Austin and couldn’t get him to submit. The defiant Austin tried to power out of it, but he finally collapsed, and lost by decision. This victory just wasn’t enough for Bret and he refused to break the hold as the crowd completely turned against him. He was completely fed up and it had driven him over the edge. Seeing a double-turn in wrestling is rare, but between Bret’s descent into bitter madness and Austin going out like a total badass, we got a result better than what anyone could have expected. Pete Rose is a Chicken, I Tell Ya, at WrestleMania XIV WrestleMania XIV had a bizarre segment where baseball non-Hall-of-Famer Pete Rose antagonized the crowd until newcomer Kane arrived for his own match and practically murdered him. A year later, the San Diego Chicken was doing schtick during WrestleMania, even though the show was in Philadelphia. Previous WrestleManias have featured the likes of Burt Reynolds and the “Where’s the beef?!” lady, so it’s not like having a guy in a famous sports mascot costume was too out of the ordinary. Then when Kane made his entrance, the San Diego Chicken jumped him. Kane easily overpowered him and tore the mask off to reveal a vengeful and sweaty Pete Ross. Nobody had that on their bingo card. Kane blew up the chicken man in Philly that night with a Tombstone, in what was only the second part of their WrestleMania trilogy. The following year would involve Pete Rose getting Rikishi’s ass shoved into his face, so I hope he got a good paycheck out of it all. Triple H Ends WrestleMania 2000 on a Sour Note Heels win all the time in wrestling, but at least WrestleMania always insisted on a happy ending. The final match for the first fifteen WrestleManias always had the face standing tall in celebration. Going into WrestleMania 2000, it seemed like we were getting another win for the good guys. Triple H was defending the WWF Championship in a four-way against The Rock, Mick Foley, and Big Show. While Foley and Big Show were superfluous additions to make it seem like a bigger deal, Rock was the real star of the storyline. Hell, he even hyped up the event by hosting Saturday Night Live, which was responsible for springboarding his acting career. Then, thanks to cornerman Vince McMahon betraying Rock, Triple H retained the title. They finally pulled the trigger on having a heel win the final match of the show. Yes, Rock did get a bit of revenge afterwards by beating up Stephanie McMahon, but it was still a downer ending. They instead saved Rock’s big victory for Backlash, which absolutely stuck the landing. Steve Austin Sells his Soul at WrestleMania X-Seven WrestleMania X-Seven was the ultimate victory lap for WWF. World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling just bit the dust, the Attitude Era was hitting its apex, and they celebrated by putting on one of the best shows in the promotion’s history. Fittingly, the main event was centered around the two biggest stars of the era, as The Rock defended the WWF Championship against Stone Cold Steve Austin. With both as mega-faces, this felt like possibly the biggest main event yet. At the very least, it gave us a legendary hype package with Limp Bizkit’s “My Way.” Curiously, right before the entrances, the match was announced as “no disqualification.” That laid the seeds for the finale, where Vince McMahon came to the ring to aid Austin. Austin, who then brutally destroyed The Rock with a chair until his body finally gave in. Austin, who, in the build to the match, claimed that he had to win and would do anything to make it happen. He and Vince shook hands, which probably would have gotten a bigger reaction if it was anywhere but Texas. Brock Lesnar Ends the Streak at WrestleMania XXX With a borderline monopoly on the wrestling industry, WWE didn’t really need to try as much in the decade-plus that followed. They played it pretty safe for those years, giving us Cena win after Cena win. This was also the time when The Undertaker’s Streak became more pronounced as something mythical instead of one big coincidence that came out of regularly booking him strong. After a while, people started to wonder if they would ever end the Streak. If you were going to do it, it would have to be with someone who could really launch their career with it, but putting that kind of responsibility on a younger wrestler would be such a gamble. When Brock Lesnar was Undertaker’s 22nd WrestleMania opponent, nobody really thought much of it. Brock came back hot from a lengthy sabbatical from wrestling, only to immediately lose to John Cena. Then he traded wins with Triple H and beat CM Punk one time, but otherwise he was a part-timer who had no real direction. Then the match happened and while it wasn’t anything to write home about (Undertaker got concussed early on and could barely perform), the shock of Brock hitting the third F5 and getting the pin was huge. Brock then ascended into being the ultimate threat in WWE, like a special video game boss you can only go up against if you don’t use any continues or something. Seth Rollins Cashes in at WrestleMania 31 After The Shield broke up, it was frustrating how much WWE wanted Roman Reigns to happen. At first, the fans seemed to be okay with it, but after he had to sit out several months due to health problems, they made it even more blatantly obvious that he was going to be the top star whether we liked it or not. It gave us a mess of a Royal Rumble, a Fastlane based around Daniel Bryan losing to him and holding his hand up in victory, and a build to WrestleMania that left a lot to be desired. Still, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar seemed to be on the way out, so everyone just accepted that Roman was going to get his big coronation at the event. The match did a good job making him likeable as an underdog who was eventually going to win the big one. Then, as Roman and Brock were both knocked out, they threw in a wrench as Seth Rollins’ theme kicked in and he was able to take advantage of the situation. There had been many Money in the Bank cash-ins before, but none at WrestleMania. Even with a heel winning, this scenario seemed to be the solution to everyone’s problems, as it at least allowed them to go back to the drawing board for Roman for another few months. Just WrestleMania 32 in General This was initially going to be an entry on Zack Ryder winning a multi-man ladder match to become Intercontinental Champion when he had zero going on beforehand and lost the belt on the next night of Raw, but really, all of WrestleMania 32 was one big fever dream. The fact that this was the first endlessly long WrestleMania didn’t help matters. So many strange choices from start to finish, giving us such a head-scratcher of a show. This is the show where The Rock randomly appeared, set his name on fire with a flamethrower, then defeated Erick Rowan in an impromptu match in six seconds. The New Day appeared out of a giant box of cereal while dressed as Dragonball Z characters. Then there’s the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, where not only did Shaq and Tatanka show up out of nowhere, but the whole thing was won by NXT’s Baron Corbin, who was making his main roster debut. Undertaker Squashes John Cena at WrestleMania 34 Undertaker seemingly retired at the end of WrestleMania 33, which wasn’t the worst idea, as he looked incredibly rough during his match with Roman Reigns. Going into WrestleMania 34, they started setting up a massive match by having John Cena “go against orders” and constantly call Undertaker out. The match wasn’t made official, but they were making a huge deal about Cena going to the show and wanting Undertaker to meet him there for an epic battle between icons. Obviously, Undertaker was going to show. Obviously, the two of them were going to have a match. Hell, that could have been the main event. Cena and Undertaker had matches early in the former’s career, but so much had changed since then. Now it was more of a dream match. And so, the bout did happen. All two minutes and forty-five seconds of it. Undertaker just completely destroyed Cena and that was it. No follow-up or anything. Everyone just moved on like it was nothing. John Cena Enters the Firefly Funhouse at WrestleMania 36 Plans changed a lot going into WrestleMania 36. First it was going to be Roman Reigns challenging The Fiend for the WWE Universal Championship, building The Fiend up as some kind of invincible demon with an Achilles’ heel yet to be discovered. Then Vince McMahon decided, screw it, and had Bill Goldberg easily defeat The Fiend and win the belt, changing WrestleMania to Roman vs. Goldberg in a Battle of the Spears. Then COVID happened and the immunocompromised Roman ducked out, turning the title match into Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman. Intent on giving Bray Wyatt’s murder clown alter ego something to do, they threw together The Fiend vs. John Cena. Sure, why not? We’ve seen these two face off at WrestleMania six years earlier. Without a live audience, they decided to get weird with it. Very, very weird. This cinematic bout was less a wrestling match and more a short film where Cena was pulled into what can best be described as Wrestling Hell. After being sucked into Wyatt’s Firefly Funhouse TV show, Cena went on a journey through time and space, living out an artistic satire and criticism of his career. At the end of this nightmarish episode, The Fiend pinned Cena, teleported him into the void, and we were left wondering what the hell we just watched. Love it or hate it, it was definitely unexpected. Cody Rhodes’ Story Gets Derailed at WrestleMania 39 Roman Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship reign just went on forever for the sake of having it go on forever. Eventually, he was starting to run out of viable contenders, especially ones who would believably get that big win and dethrone him. Sami Zayn, the lynchpin in Roman’s Bloodline storyline, was a popular choice for Elimination Chamber 2023, but he fell short. No, it seemed that Roman would finally be losing at WrestleMania 39 against Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes. The title run had run its course, and it was time to bring it home. Except… that wasn’t the case. Presumably, feeling that a potential Roman Reigns vs. Rock match was in the cards, it was decided that Cody would choke. Even through documentary footage, you could tell that this was a last-minute decision, as Cody and wife Brandi had the bummed looks of people just informed that no, Cody would not be “ending the story” after all. Then somebody threw a rubber chicken at him as he laid defeated in the ring, and we all had a laugh. They padded things out with another year of Roman occasionally defending his title, and we almost did get that Rock match, only for the fans to revolt so loudly that they used WrestleMania 40 as a mulligan to have Cody finally pin Roman and get that gold.