10 WWE Dream Matches That Only Happened Once

WWE dream matches are typically confined to the minds of fans, but they do come to fruition every once in a while.

Whilst we are never going to see Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan trading finishers or Bret Hart and Kurt Angle painting a pro-wrestling masterpiece, we have been lucky enough to witness one-time-only meetings between some of the biggest and best WWE stars.

Whether these ‘dream matches’ lived up to lofty expectations, however, is a different matter entirely.

These are 10 WWE dream matches that only happened once.

10. Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan

Many of Brock Lesnar’s matches since his 2012 return have been one-off dream bouts due to the nature of The Beast Incarnate’s part-time schedule and penchant for handpicking who he wants to work with – which is usually major stars like John Cena, Goldberg and Roman Reigns.

Of the one-time-only deals, his matches with CM Punk and AJ Styles were both top-tier, but for the sheer ‘Is this actually happening?’ weirdness of it all, Lesnar’s match with Daniel Bryan from Survivor Series 2018 pips it.

As fun as it is watching Brock throw down with one of his fellow monsters, he’s arguably at his best when he’s in there with a smaller, technically savvier opponent.

The American Dragon was certainly that and played a blinder in this David versus Goliath, WWE Champion versus Universal Champion stunner.

The Beast took the bulk of the match and punished D-Bry with brutal suplexes, but the plucky Bryan never gave in and kept finding openings and ways to hurt his much larger foe who, it must be said, expertly sold a knee injury to create real doubt about the result.

After almost 20 minutes of stellar action, Brock walked away with the victory but knew he had been made to earn it.

9. Bret Hart vs. Rocky Maivia

Dwayne Johnson has always been pretty good at this whole sports entertainment lark, but it’s fair to say that in early 1997 he was still in the process of finding his way.

Less than six months after his televised in-ring debut, Rocky Maivia defended his Intercontinental Title against one of the very best to hold that particular belt.

Headlining the March 31, 1997, edition of Monday Night Raw, The Rock and a newly-heel Bret Hart had a decent, give-and-take encounter that would have no doubt been much, much better had it taken place a year or two later.

As it was, The Hitman did his best to guide the promising rookie to something respectable. Hart personally liked Maivia and wanted him to look good, prior to getting himself disqualified for not breaking his ring post figure-four upon the referee’s command.

We have to make a point of that because it has been alleged by Bret Hart that Triple H and Shawn Michaels pushed for him to bury the Brahma Bull.

This was not only the one televised singles meeting between these two legends, but their only singles match period and so, while by no means a classic, it is certainly something to savour.

8. The Undertaker vs. Ric Flair

When Ric Flair re-emerged in WWE at the tail end of 2001, he was not the same Nature Boy he had been before.

His confidence had been taken out of him due to the way he was treated in the dying days of WCW and, now in his early 50s, doubted he had what it took to get it done in the ring anymore.

In only his second match since his return, Slick Ric would have to overcome that crisis of confidence as he had a date with The Deadman at WrestleMania 18.

The match was intense as the personal storyline dictated and turned into an all-out brawl pretty quickly, before ‘Taker took control and began to wear down (and bloody) his opponent.

There were a couple of hairy moments, yes, but it was never anything less than compelling, with the drama ramping up considerably down the closing stretch with ref bumps and a fantastic run-in from Arn Anderson.

The Enforcer’s intervention couldn’t save his fellow Horseman, however, as The Undertaker hit a Tombstone and made it 10-and-0 on the Grandest Stage.

They had singles matches on house shows before and after this, but this is the only televised match between the two Hall of Famers.

7. Rey Mysterio vs. Rob Van Dam

To help hype the forthcoming One Night Stand pay-per-view, WWE presented an ECW versus WWE Head-to-Head special on June 7, 2006.

While John Cena taking on Sabu in an Extreme Rules Match might have been the main event, the match most people wanted to see – and which clearly stole the show – was the opener between former tag team championship partners Rey Mysterio and Rob Van Dam.

They’d never met in singles combat and, while they were former allies and both perennial babyfaces, neither man held back when it came to what they were willing to do to beat the other.

As you would expect from a match between two such spectacular wrestlers, both men took to the skies and battered each other with a steel chair before RVD put the 619 away with a 5-Star Frog Splash.

Mysterio was World Heavyweight Champion at the time, but this was non-title. Not that the title needed to be at stake for it to be special, because this one-time meeting between a pair of two of the most innovative professional wrestlers ever was special regardless.

6. Steve Austin vs. Mr Perfect

When interviewing the rapidly-rising Stone Cold for an episode of Wrestling Challenge in 1996, Curt Hennig lamented that the two couldn’t wrestle as he was sure they’d have a hell of a match.

That was true at the time, with Mr Perfect in enforced in-ring retirement due to an insurance payout he received because of a crippling back injury, but the situation had changed some six years later.

Hennig – who had since come back to action for WCW – returned to WWE as an entrant in the 2002 Royal Rumble and, a month or so later, found himself standing across the ring from The Texas Rattlesnake on Raw.

While the novelty of seeing the two throw down is certainly there, the match itself was, sadly, nothing to write to Dave Meltzer about.

This was down to multiple factors, like Hennig still hurting from his old back injury and Austin running pretty damn close to full-on burnout.

At a fraction under five minutes long, the match didn’t really have much time to get going before the inevitable Stunner to finish.

If they had been at 100% and were given additional time to play with, you’d bet a six-pack of Steveweisers on them achieving greatness.

5. The Steiner Brothers vs. Bret Hart & Owen Hart

While most ‘dream’ matches tend to be of the singles variety, there’s nothing that says tags can’t be in the mix too.

Just days before Owen kicked Bret’s leg out from under him and not long before Rick and Scott Steiner said ‘Sayonara!’ to WWE in favour of going back to Japan, WWE scrambled to book a bout between the two sets of brothers.

The foursome were informed about the match – which ended up being shown as a Coliseum Home Video exclusive on the WrestleFest 4 tape – shortly before being sent to the ring.

And while both Bret and Scott contend it could have been better if they’d been given more time to prepare, the match the Harts and Steiners produced on pretty much no notice is a testament to their collective ability as performers.

An all-babyface affair, it was different in psychology and structure than pretty much any other tag match you’re likely to see from the time, with lots of actual technical wrestling as well as some really big, heavy-duty moves like a brutal Steiner Screwdriver on Owen.

In the end there was nothing to separate them and the match finished on a double count-out, which felt like a tease for a rematch that, sadly, never came.

4. Shawn Michaels vs. Rob Van Dam

When Shawn Michaels made his improbable WWE return in 2002, every match he had was treated as though it could potentially be his last. After all, Michaels had been off for four years with what was thought to be a career-ending back injury.

Perhaps conscious of this, WWE booked his first defence of the World Heavyweight Title against a man whose career had skyrocketed in The Heartbreak Kid’s absence.

Rob Van Dam got the first crack at the gold in the main event of the November 25, 2002, episode of Raw.

As Jim Ross mentioned in the opening exchanges, this very much was a ‘dream match’. The announcers also made a point to mention HBK’s knackered back which, naturally, played into the story of the match.

As for the match itself, it was a rousing TV effort that lasted a shade under nine minutes and hinted that the two men would be capable of bigger and better things if afforded more time and a grander stage, before that no-good, rotten Triple H spoiled everyone’s fun by running in for the DQ.

3. Shawn Michaels vs. Jeff Hardy

Like RVD, a young Jeff Hardy was constantly being compared to Shawn Michaels.

Both were daredevils unafraid to take risks, both were ladder match specialists and both, it was feared, would burn out before their careers fulfilled their full potential.

When the two men finally clashed one-on-one – in the main event of the February 2, 2008, episode of Raw – they were older and, ostensibly, wiser, both men having left and come back after dealing with their own personal issues.

The Charismatic Enigma was the Intercontinental Champion at the time, though his title was not up for grabs, sowing a seed of doubt about the potential result.

A tremendous, back-and-forth contest (especially for free TV), the match saw both men trade the advantage and, because of how beloved Hardy was, allowed Michaels, as the more seasoned veteran, to display an aggressive side as he led things along.

There were some great near-falls down the closing stretch, creating a sense that things could really go either way, before Jeff countered Sweet Chin Music and hit a Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb for the clean win.

2. The Rock vs. Eddie Guerrero

When Eddie Guerrero came back to WWE in the spring of 2002 – after a five-month break due to his own personal issues – he was leaner, meaner and ready to show the world just what Latino Heat was all about.

There was no greater test than a Raw main event with The Rock, which is what Guerrero found himself tasked with on July 22, 2002.

The fans were into everything they did, with Eddie dictating the pace and The People’s Champ – who was also Undisputed Champ at this time, though this bout was non-title – timing his comebacks perfectly.

It’s not the longest match, going around eight-and-a-half minutes as it does, but they managed to pack a few thrills in there, such as Guerrero’s exquisite Rock Bottom counter for a great near-fall.

Eddie got to shine and showed that he could hang with the biggest star in the company, elevating his stock considerably before succumbing to the People’s Elbow.

These two would subsequently cross paths in a couple of tag matches, but this is their sole singles outing and one of the last matches from The Rock’s full-time WWE run.

1. Brock Lesnar vs. Hulk Hogan

The WWE roster in the summer of 2002 was, evidently, an embarrassment of riches.

Just a couple of weeks after The Rock and Eddie Guerrero closed things out on Raw, Brock Lesnar and Hulk Hogan did the same for SmackDown.

The Next Big Thing was hunting for the Undisputed Championship and had looked impressive since bursting onto the scene the night after WrestleMania 18.

A match (with Lesnar’s number-one-contendership at stake) against the Hulkster, who was enjoying a nostalgia-fuelled Indian summer, was an opportunity to look even more dominant heading into SummerSlam.

And boy did Brock take that opportunity. A true intergenerational clash between the past and future of sports entertainment, it is completely surreal to see them square off.

They kept things simple and stuck to the job at hand, which was to make the NCAA Division 1 Heavyweight Champion look like an absolute killer. Their mission was accomplished and then some.

This one-time dream match could have had a sequel, but Hogan backed out of a rematch planned for a few months later at Survivor Series when he realised he wouldn’t be winning the title and would, in fact, be putting over the new guy once again.