Lawrence Taylor was in the main event because he was a bigger star than everyone in the WWF. He was a major NFL name, which means mainstream publicity, which they desperately needed. Nobody in the WWF was drawing and they needed something to pull in a house and LT did it. The NFL halftime shows drew bigger crowds than any Wrestlemania. That's why it was the main event. All things considered, Taylor was probably the best outsider to do a pro wrestling match, as his natural athleticism served him well, he took it seriously and trained to take rudimentary bumps and work a basic match and Bigelow was an agile big guy and a hell of a worker, when he wasn't broken down and messed up on drugs (same for Taylor, given his history).

Nobody was paying to see a Diesel match, Shawn michaels or no Shawn Michaels. Nash was horrible in the ring and no amount of bumping by Shawn was going to change that. Nash was the worst drawing champion in the WWF.

I get what you are saying about a sideshow match vs one with the regular performers; but, in 1995, the regular performers weren't drawing. The WWF was stale, their lockerroom was dysfunctional (and would get worse) and they had massive legal and political troubles. WCW was as bad, if not worse. Both did better on foreign tours, where they were a bigger novelty, which is why they both did a lot of overseas touring int he early-med 90s.

The only Wrestlemania that drew worse than this one was the Los Angeles one, with Slaughter vs Hogan. despite what Vince would have you believe, the change in venue was due to low ticket sales, rather than any potential terrorist attacks. Hogan was beyond played out, by that point and Slaughter as an Iraqi sympathizer fell harder than an iron turd.

If you look at the matches on the card, you can see why they needed Taylor.

Davye Boy & Lex Luger vs Ron & Don Harris (as the Blu Brothers, 'cause why use their real names, which they had been using in memphis and elsewhere). The Harris brothers were still pretty green and Davey and Luger did not make a great team. Luckily, they kept it under 10 minutes.

Razor Ramon vs Jeff Jarrett-Hall could work and Jarrett was a decent worker, at this point, and fairly natural at getting heat. However, they got 13 minutes and a DQ finish. A DQ, at Wrestlemania. Tell me thta didn't involve backstage politics.

Undertaker vs King Kong Bundy-6 minutes of the Undertaker having to work his butt off. Bundy was pretty well done and being jobbed out.

Owen Hart & Yokozuna vs the Smoking Guns- Owen had to work for everyone and Cornette was the one drawing heat. Owen didn't have bad matches; but, the Smoking Guns were not exactly the best tag-team out there. They were still pretty green, having arrived only the year before, from the IWF, in Florida.

Bret Hart vs Bob Backlund-Hart considered this hs worst PPV match. Backlund could work; but, the gimmick he was doing just didn't fit him. If he could have worked a scientific match with Bret, it could have been great; but, Backlund was a man out of his time.

Diesel defending the WWF title (which he should have never even touched, let alone have won and defended) against Shawn, where Shawn has to do all of the work with a guy who had six moves, including a hair flip. Michaels was popping pills and passing out, in this period. In a few months, he would get the s@#$ beat out of him by a US Marine, whose girlfriend he insulted, until Davey Boy got into things and saved his but from ending up hospitalized. No one had sympathy for Michaels and most felt like Davey should have let Michaels take his lumps. Despite Michaels claims, it was one Marine, not a crowd. The rest just watch their buddy destroy the big bad pro wrestler. If that had happened in the territorial days. Michaels would have been fired (more for losing the fight than starting it, in the first place). Michaels could work, if he was sober enough; but, he was becoming a major issue, backstage, at this point and it got worse over the next two years.

Taylor vs Bam-Bam-Bigelow worked his butt off, Taylor adapted well and pulled off his spots well. They kept it short enough not to get into trouble, yet not so short as to make it a mockery, for a main event.

Diesel and Shawn got the most time, which meant Michaels working for 20 minutes, while Nash tried not to tear a muscle entering the ring.

Meanwhile, WCW had done Uncensored, a couple of weeks before, headlined by Hogan vs Vader, in a strap match, with a pretty poor undercard and not a great main event, as Hogan never really put Vader over (he had beaten Vader, by DQ, the previous month, at Superbrawl). Meanwhile, Flair wrestled Antonio Inoki, in North Korea, in front of 160, 000 people (it was a government sanctioned propaganda event). Hogan didn't lose a single PPV match that year and didn't partake in at least 3 events, including Starrcade, WCW's biggest annual event.

If you wanted good wrestling, in 1995, you needed to watch Smokey Mountain, ECW, New Japan, All-Japan or AAA. You weren't going to get it from the WWF or WCW.

I think he would go to AEW and forget WWE altogether and avoid Vince and Company. AEW would be a better fit for him.

At one time, before George Scott started changing it, Mid-Atlantic was known as a tag-team territory. Flair's early days were in a team with Rip Hawk, plus, you had the Andersons. South started a long program to re-educate fans into cheering for singles matches, with Flair emerging as the star.

Jim Nelson would later wrestle in the AWA and WWF as Boris Zukov.

Ivan used a knee drop as a finisher, going back to when he beat Bruno, for the WWWF title.

One, the WWE would be more money, for a shorter deal, plus merchandise. He could also command a lighter schedule, like Lesnar. AEW isn't a touring company, yet, and I would suspect he recognizes that they have a long hill to climb. WWE would be a safer bet. Also, he is healed up and too many AEW guys aren't safe workers; so, he would be right to be leery of them. He worked with some of them, in the indies. AEW would probably like to get him for the star power; but, I don't know that they have anything to really offer, at this point.

ps In Georgia, Jake was part of Paul Ellering's Legion of Doom stable, which included Roberts, King Kong Bundy and the Road Warriors. Eventually, Ellering was just with the Road Warriors and the name became synonymous with them.

Jake feuded with Ronnie Garvin, for the tv title, as well as Brett Wayne, for the National title. It was a match between Jake and Wayne that led to Buzz Sawyer turning face, as it became know that Brett was (legit) Buzz's younger brother. Then, Buzz and Brett teamed up against the Road Warriors.