Which WWE Superstars have main evented WrestleMania?

There are just days left until WrestleMania 35 and the first women’s WWE match to ever headline ‘The Grandest Stage of Them All’.

Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey, SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch will compete in a ‘Winner Takes All’ Match for both titles.

For any WWE superstar, being in the main event of WrestleMania is the pinnacle of their career, yet this historic triple threat match has now become even bigger. 

There have been many superstars who have thrived in the WrestleMania main event spot, while others have managed to fall short at WWE’s annual showpiece event.

Here, Umar Hassan takes a look at those competitors Rousey, Flair and Lynch will hope to emulate and whose fortunes they will hope to avoid.

Hulkamania ran wild at WrestleMania’s early main events

If there’s one superstar that comes into your head that screams WrestleMania, it’s the man that brought Hulkamania and the red and yellow to the masses, Hulk Hogan.

Hogan has appeared in the most main events in WrestleMania history – including the inaugural show – with a staggering eight headline bouts between 1985 to 1993.

He won seven out of his eight main event matches, including retaining or winning the WWE Championship by defeating King Kong Bundy, Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, Sgt. Slaughter and Yokozuna.

In fact, his only loss came to Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 6.

The Game’s WrestleMania main event curse

Triple H has not had the best of luck when it comes to main event success at WrestleMania, despite early pedigree.

‘The Game’ has been in the main event at WrestleMania seven times, but has lost four times in the final match of WWE’s equivalent to the Super Bowl.

He was the first heel champion to retain the WWF Championship in a main event at WrestleMania 16, when he defeated The Rock, Mick Foley and Big Show in a Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match.

Ironically, one of his main event losses came at the hands of his WrestleMania 35 opponent Batista, for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 21.

Triple H has previously won Mania main event matches however, most notably at WrestleMania 18, where he claimed the Undisputed Championship against Chris Jericho.

It’s a bunch of fives for Cena, Rock and HBK

What do John Cena , The Rock and Shawn Michaels have in common? These three WWE legends have main evented WrestleMania on five occasions.

Michaels has a less than stellar record, with his only main event win coming in the 60-minute Iron Man match against Bret Hart, to claim his first WWE Championship at WrestleMania 12.

The Rock has also lost four WrestleMania main events, despite defeating John Cena in his only win at the event to date at WrestleMania 29, in a match titled ‘Once in a Lifetime’ in his hometown of Miami, Florida, despite the fact they went at it again the following year, when he lost.

Meanwhile, with Cena, it’s also a mixed bag of results, as he’s won three and lost two, including winning a Mania main event classic with Triple H at WrestleMania 22 in Chicago.

Mr. T’s unblemished WrestleMania record

Surprisingly, a WWE superstar who has never lost in a WrestleMania main event is not actually a wrestler, it’s The A-Team’s Mr. T.

Mr. T has won main events in the first two WrestleManias, both in tag team and boxing rules matches, although the second was a joint main event, as WrestleMania 2 emanated from three locations, each with its own closing bout.

Most notably, Mr. T on those two occasions defeated Roddy Piper to keep his undefeated streak at Mania intact.

Putting the three in Austin 3:16

Likewise, with Mr. T, Steve Austin is also undefeated in the WrestleMania main event, winning his three headline Mania matches between 1998 and 2001.

Stone Cold defeated Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14, then bested his arch-rival The Rock on two occasions at WrestleMania 15 and WrestleMania 17.

Austin claimed the then WWF Championship in each of the three main event matches he was involved in, having won the Royal Rumble match in 1998 and 2001 to earn his spot.

Other superstars who have won a WrestleMania main event include Randy Savage, Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar, who has won twice, and The Undertaker, who has triumphed three times.

And you can’t forget Roman Reigns, who has headlined the last four shows, losing out to Seth Rollins and Lesnar, but defeating Triple H and Taker.

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