Infamous WWE WrestleMania Backstage Stories

WrestleMania is an event where you’re liable to see the biggest matches and juiciest storyline twists that WWE have to offer.

As entertaining as the matches, title changes, and other on-air happenings are, there is always plenty that unfolds behind-the-scenes at WrestleMania from fights, fines, and firings. 

These are 10 infamous WWE WrestleMania backstage stories.

10. Rhyno Smashes A Plant Pot At WrestleMania 21

At WrestleMania 21, Rhyno was unhappy about the direction of his career and struggling in his personal life due to going through a separation with his wife, who was planning to move with their daughter to Germany. 

When his wife showed up at the WrestleMania hotel without their daughter, Rhyno - who had been drinking - got very upset, and a loud argument erupted in the hotel lobby. In the course of their shouting match, which had attracted the attention of hotel security, Rhyno picked up a very heavy potted plant and threw it to the floor, smashing it. 

He was sent to his room, but then blew up at Tommy Dreamer and John Laurinaitis and had to be restrained from going back downstairs. 

Rhyno was subsequently taken off the road and, just days later, WWE made the decision to fire him. He later acknowledged that even though he was going through a tough time what he did was irresponsible, and owned up to his mistake. 

9. Roman Reigns’ Family Watch Him Lose At WrestleMania 31

It was very obvious in the run-up to WrestleMania 31 that WWE saw Roman Reigns as The Guy going forward, but his Royal Rumble 2015 win wasn’t exactly embraced by WWE fans, who resented how forcefully WWE were pushing Joe Anoa’i.

Regardless, though, the expectation was Roman Reigns would defeat Brock Lesnar to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 31. Towards the end of a very compelling contest, however, Seth Rollins ran in and successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the belt in what was dubbed the Heist of the Century. 

This was a shock to everyone, including Seth, who was only informed of the plan shortly beforehand, and the many members of Roman Reigns’ family who were there to witness what they thought was going to be his first WWE Title triumph. 

According to various accounts, many members of the Samoan dynasty, who were also there to see Rikishi get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, were furious at the outcome. This included Reigns’ father Sika who, per the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, was “looking to start a war” when he got backstage.

Luckily, the situation was calmed down before things got out of hand and Reigns would win the WWE Title for the first time later that year.

8. Jake Roberts Quits At WrestleMania VIII

Jake Roberts was not happy heading into WrestleMania VIII, for a variety of different reasons. 

Outside of the ring, he was in the throes of addiction and suffering physically while having problems at home with his wife and children. In his professional life, he was bitter after being passed over for the booking position that had been temporarily vacated by Pat Patterson. 

Roberts had already asked for his release, which had been denied, but he showed up at the Showcase of the Immortals intent on leaving the company one way or another. During a backstage meeting with Vince McMahon, Roberts demanded he be let go, otherwise he wouldn’t wrestle and put over The Undertaker in their grudge match, as scheduled. McMahon had no choice but to oblige, even if he wasn’t thrilled with the circumstances, and Jake went and did the job on the way out the door. 

However, the manner in which he lost also caused controversy, as Roberts changed the finish on the fly, taking a Tombstone Piledriver on the floor and then being rolled back into the ring, rather than being hit with The Deadman’s finisher in the ring itself.

7. The Undertaker Collapses At WWE WrestleMania XXX

WrestleMania VIII was only The Undertaker’s second WrestleMania appearance and, unbeknownst to everyone at the time, his second victory of a winning streak that would swell to 21-0. At WrestleMania XXX, though, The Streak came to a sudden and unexpected end at the hands of Brock Lesnar. 

The decision to break The Streak was a controversial, highly polarising one, but the real-life health of Mark Calaway was of much more pressing concern than the outcome of a fictional fight. 

Early in the match, Undertaker was dumped on his head on the outside of the ring, giving him a severe concussion. He soldiered through the rest of the match but collapsed when he got backstage. 

Everyone in the back was worried about the locker room leader’s condition as he was rushed via ambulance to a local hospital. Vince McMahon and Lesnar were right behind him, making this the first and only time McMahon ever left WrestleMania while the event was in progress when he was working behind the scenes.

Calaway, meanwhile, still has no memory of the match ever taking place.

6. Mickey Rourke Tries To Fight Chris Jericho At WrestleMania 25

For WrestleMania 25, the initial idea was that Chris Jericho would square off with actor Mickey Rourke, who had been Oscar nominated for his performance as Randy "The Ram" Robinson in The Wrestler. 

Rourke rather hastily pulled out of the match, though, which led to Jericho taking on legends Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Ricky Steamboat in a three-on-one Handicap Elimination Match. 

Rourke did make it to Houston in order to work a post-match angle with Y2J, even though they nearly got into a real fight the night before. As Jericho noted in his second autobiography, Rourke was mad at him for comments he made during an appearance on Larry King Live months prior.

Not only was Rourke mad but he believed, based on the nature of the comments, that Jericho, or someone on the roster, was going to try and shoot on him, which is why Rourke brought bodyguards – including former UFC fighter Frank Shamrock – with him as backup in case things got out of hand. 

Of course, the whole thing was put to bed when Jericho informed him that his comments were made in-character, and Rourke got to storyline punch him at WrestleMania the next night.

5. Blading At WrestleMania VIII

At the time of WrestleMania VIII, WWE had a strict no-blood policy in place. Despite the ban being in effect, that didn’t stop two matches on the card from featuring blood. 

In the first, Bret Hart bled on his way to defeating Roddy Piper for the Intercontinental Title, while in the second, Ric Flair got colour in the process of dropping the WWE Title to Randy Savage. 

Both The Hitman and The Nature Boy tried to convince WWE management that their blood was unintentional, of which Hart was successful, as Roddy Piper and Bret staged a mini argument about the ‘mistake’ in the locker room after the match. 

Ric Flair was less fortunate and received an earful from an irate Vince McMahon when he got backstage. Not only that, but Flair and Savage were also fined $5,000 each for the indiscretion. 

4. Brock Lesnar Launches The Universal Title At Vince McMahon Following WrestleMania 34

The main event of WrestleMania 34 was an unmitigated disaster. WWE had tried everything to get Roman Reigns cheered as he challenged Brock Lesnar for the Universal Title, but their efforts had been for naught. 

Fans still booed Reigns out of the building and, worse, as the match wore on it became readily apparent that those in the New Orleans Superdome really didn’t care about seeing the two men wrestle and turned on the bout, chanting "boring" and "this is awful" as Roman kicked out of F5 after F5.

To end the trainwreck, Reigns was pummelled by Lesnar and pinned clean, ending the show on a real down note. 

Brock was certainly not happy with how things turned out and, when he got to the Gorilla position, threw his title belt directly at Vince McMahon, who responded by calling him an asshole. 

The whole incident was caught on camera and later shown in a WWE Network documentary.

3. The Insurance Policy At WrestleMania XIV

It was a minor miracle that Shawn Michaels even made it to WrestleMania XIV after suffering what was thought to be a career-ending back injury during his Casket Match with The Undertaker at the 1998 Royal Rumble. 

Physically and mentally, The Heartbreak Kid was not in the best place, and there was concern that he may not do business and drop the WWE Title to Steve Austin in the main event as planned. 

Michaels did gut it out and battle through extreme pain to put Stone Cold over in the middle of the ring, but the doubts were such that The Undertaker himself was on hand to make sure that HBK dropped the title one way or another. 

The Undertaker later confirmed the story that he was sitting in the Gorilla position, hands taped and ready to physically intervene had Michaels opted against doing the honours on the night. 

Thankfully, it didn’t come to that, but HBK did cause a scene when he cussed out Shane McMahon and stormed through the post-show press conference, slamming the door behind him as he went.

2. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin Shuts Down Before WrestleMania XIX

Few knew going into WrestleMania XIX that Safeco Field in Seattle would be the sight of the last match of Steve Austin’s full-time in-ring career. 

The Texas Rattlesnake’s body had broken down to the point where the knee, back and neck injuries were forcing him to ride off into the sunset following the conclusion of his WrestleMania trilogy with The Rock. 

Little did anyone know that Austin almost didn’t make it to the show. The night before, after a workout with Kevin Nash, Austin returned to his hotel room to find his heart beating out of his chest. Afraid that he was suffering a heart attack, Austin was rushed to hospital where it was determined that too much coffee, too many energy drinks, and not enough water or sleep, coupled with a lot of stress, had overloaded his dehydrated system. 

Austin was hooked up to monitors and given five bags of fluid to make sure his body got back to normal and stayed in the hospital overnight. 

It was a close call, but Austin made it to WrestleMania and, though his match was bumped from the main event slot, he wrestled and put over The Rock as scheduled with nobody any the wiser to the tumultuous 24 hours he’d just endured.

1. Hulk Hogan's Black Eye At WrestleMania IX

Hulk Hogan was a focal point of WrestleMania IX, returning to the ring for the first time since the previous year’s WrestleMania for a tag team match and ending the night as WWE Champion after beating Yokozuna in an impromptu 22-second farce. 

It was certainly an eventful night for The Hulkster, who did it all while sporting a nasty black eye. 

How Hogan actually got the shiner, which in kayfabe was attributed to an outside-the-ring attack orchestrated by Money Inc., was the subject of much rumour and innuendo, with many believing that it was given to him by eternal frenemy Randy Savage. 

The story goes that the Macho Man was mad at his fellow Mega Power for Hulk and his then-wife Linda’s role in Randy’s ex Miss Elizabeth leaving him, and he decked him hard as a receipt. Scott Steiner, who used to travel with Savage, has claimed that Randy confirmed this version of events to him. 

Hogan, meanwhile, swears that he got the black eye due to a freak jet ski accident, an account that has been backed up by Brutus Beefcake.