The 31 Days of WrestleMania

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

Tonight at WWE Fastlane, the main event for WrestleMania 32 will be decided. So with WrestleMania fast approaching, I think it is best to recap all of the WrestleManias that happened before.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and I'm gonna take it: 31 WrestleManias in 31 days! Starting on March 1st, I'll look at the highs of lows of the "greatest event in sports-entertainment history". And yes, you guys can chime in as well. Share your WrestleMania experiences, your thoughts on WrestleMania's past, and what you think will happened this year.

A special preview is next, as I'll show you how I'll critique the WrestleManias.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania critique preview

Your approaches may vary, but here is how I'll be doing it. I'll give you the best match, worst match, most pleasant surprise, worst disappointment, and other key notes about a WrestleMania.

I'll critique WWE Cyber Sunday 2008 as an example, to show you what it'll look like:

Cyber Sunday 2008:
From Phoenix, AZ (Around 12,500 in attendance) [153,000 PPV buys]
​

Worst match: Cryme Time vs. John Morrison and The Miz (Just did not care for this one.

Most pleasant surprise and Best Match: Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy in a WWE title match (You'll be hearing a few insults from me about Triple H, but for this night he was alright against Hardy.

Biggest disappointment: Santino Marella vs. Honky Tonk Man for the IC title (After Santino did a good job insulting the people and atlethics of Phoenix, you'd think that he would get more time to do his work in-ring. Sadly, that did not happen as it turned into a comedy routine real quick.)

Main Event: Batista beats Chris Jericho to win the World Heavyweight Title (To be honest, I would have liked to HBK be the referee for this match.)

Other notes: This was Mike Adamle's final PPV as Raw GM.


With the template set, I now leave to get prepared for the 31-day marathon of WrestleMania's. As for you guys, try to enjoy Fastlane tonight!

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

Good luck! You have a tough task ahead of you but one that can be enjoyable too. Although you have several horrrible WMs to sit through as well.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 1 set-up (Part 1)

Today, WrestleMania is the hallmark of the wrestling world. But it didn't start on March 31st, 1985. It started the year before.

A brief timeline:​

Early 1983: Vince McMahon bought Capitol Sports (who was the parent company of the WWF) from his father. He then begins his quest to take WWF nationwide.
December 26th, 1983: Bob Backlund, Vince McMahon Sr's long-term champion, lost the WWF championship to the Iron Sheik.
One month later: Vince found his "super-draw" in former AWA star Hulk Hogan. And in Madison Square Garden, Hulk beats the Iron Sheik for his first WWF title.
July 14, 1984: With his nationwide plans going well, Vince goes to WTBS and buys "Georgia Championship Wrestling" right out from under the nose of Jim Crockett Promotions (WWF's biggest competitor at the time). A BUNCH of people complained, but it does make the South take notice of WWF.

The Brawl to End it All (July 23rd, 1984, from Madison Square Garden):​

One of the biggest steps to WrestleMania took place on July 23rd thanks to MTV, celebrities like Cyndi Lauper, and wrestlers like Wendi Richter. This special live event pulled a 9.0 nationwide rating on MTV, and in-ring action from people like Antonio Inoki and Paul Orndorff pushed WWF's expansion forward.

Up next: "The War to Settle the Score", and the last preparations before WrestleMania 1

​

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 1 set-up (Part 2)

By March 1985, the WWF was on a major roll. Their latest special, "The War to Settle the Score", got a 9.1 rating on MTV. Also, ABC's "20-20" did a pro-wrestling scoop, and the McMahon's had secured at least 500 closed-circuit venues to broadcast WrestleMania (It wasn't showed on PPV, as PPV was in it's infancy.)

I mean, when you can get 26,000+ into Madison Square Garden for a 7:40 throw-away match between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper... a crowd that includes people like Andy Warhol and Danny Devito... you have a hot property.
As for the other wrestling territories (not including Jim Crockett, who had Starcade), they were hoping WrestleMania would be a big failure, as that would put WWF into a downward-spiral.

February 18, 1985: "The War to Settle the Score"
February 21: The "20-20" report
March 30: A mix of good and bad for WWF. The bad news was, this date marked the last day they had the WTBS time-slot, as the NWA had bought it back.
The good news was, Hulk Hogan and his tag-team partner Mr.T co-hosted "Saturday Night Live" on NBC. Roddy Piper was also there, as they hyped up WrestleMania one last time.

With Muhammad Ali, Billy Martin, and Liberace in Vince's back pocket, the stage is set for the big event. Will it work? We'll see on Tuesday, as the 31 Days of WrestleMania begins...

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 1-Review

From Madison Square Garden in New York City
(Attendence: 19,121) [Over 1 million fans watching on closed-circuit TV]
​

Any title changes?: Yes, 2. The Tag Team Titles (Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham lost their belts to Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff) and the Woman's Title (Leilani Kai loses to Wendi Richter).

Best Match: See the "Main Event"

Worst Match: Greg Valentine vs. Junkyard Dog (I watched this one on VHS when I was younger, and it didn't do much for me. Probably because of the lame post-match action, I guess.)

Biggest disappointment: Hmm... Nothing in this event really disappointed me.

Biggest surprise: Brutus Beefcake vs. David Sammartino (This one was actually not too bad. Plus, the commentary of Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura really shines here as they share knowledge of the sport with us... something that's lacking in today's commentary.)

Main Event: Hulk Hogan and Mr.T over "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (As the first WrestleMania main-event, this stands as one of the most important matches in pro-wrestling history. And it was voted "Match of the Year" by Pro Wrestling Illustrated, so it must have been good.)

Other notes: Matt Borne was also on this card, and like Mike Rotunda (IRS) we would see him again in the "New Generation Era" of WWF as "Doink the Clown"... or at least, the BEST version of Doink.
- When King Kong Bundy defeated "SD Jones", the WWF clocked the match at 9 seconds, when it was actually 24 seconds.


Phew... One WrestleMania down, 30 to go. Coming up next, the build-up towards WrestleMania 2: "What the World Has Come To"!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 2- Setup

After WrestleMania became a success, the decision was made by the WWF to make it an annual event. And so in early 1986, Roddy Piper went after Mr.T again and King Kong Bundy injured Hulk Hogan (with help from Don Muraco and Bobby Heenan), leading to big showdowns at WrestleMania 2.

Now, WrestleMania 2 is known for being the ONLY WWF event to air from 3 different cities (NYC, Chicago, and L.A). And it ended up being infamous for being one of the worst WrestleMania's ever, mainly due to technical problems and a card that was stretched VERY thin, but mostly because of celebrity over-load.

That's right, celebrity over-load. Let's look at WrestleMania 1's celebrity count for a moment. That show had Ali, Billy Martin, Liberace, the Rocketts, and Cyndi Lauper.

Now let's look at the guest list for WrestleMania 2. It reads... 'Gasp'...
Joan Rivers, Susan St. James, G. Gordon Liddy, Ray Charles, Darryl Dawkins, Cab Calloway, a whole bunch of NFL players including William Perry, Katie Lee Crosby, Ozzy Osbourne, Dick Butkus, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Clare Peller, Ernie Ladd, Tommy LaSorda, Ricky Schroder, Robert Conrad, Joe Frazier, and that "Herb" guy from that awful Burger King ad campaign.

With all that, did the in-ring product suffer? Find out tomorrow!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 2- Review

WrestleMania 2 (What the World Has Come To)
April 7th, 1986 (Total attendance for all 3 venues: 40,085)
From the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY, the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, IL, and the L.A Sports Arena in Los Angeles, CA

​

Title changes: 1. That would be the Tag Team Titles, as the British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid) defeated The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine).

Best match: Terry and Hoss Funk over Tito Santana and Junkyard Dog (As a kid, I throughly enjoyed this match-up.)

Worst match: Almost everything in the New York portion of the show (The IC title match [Randy Savage vs. George Steele] doesn't stand the test of time. Susan St. James got on everyone's nerves on commentary. The boxing match between Piper and Mr.T went downhill very fast. And...)

Biggest disappointment: Paul Orndorff vs. Don Muraco (...what should have been a good match between two WWF heavyweights turned into a 4-minute throwaway encounter.
Also, all of the technical hiccups WWF had meant there would be no more 3-city WrestleMania's)

Most pleasant surprise: The Los Angeles portion of the show (The New York portion was bad. Chicago did a little better, but their first two matches were too short. But the L.A portion isn't a bad watch.
Ricky Steamboat performed well against a cool-looking Hercules. Adrian Adonis did his best against a big piece of pig-fat. I already mentioned the Funks, and...)

Main Event: Hulk Hogan retains his WWF World Title over King Kong Bundy (...the main event was an exciting thing to see as Hogan and Bundy performed at a good pace. And Jesse Ventura was strong on commentary as always.)


So, overall WrestleMania 2 is one of the weaker WrestleMania's, up there with IV, VII, IX, XI, and XV. Thankfully, it still made WWF a lot of money, so they went ahead with one of the most famous WrestleMania's ever.
That comes tomorrow, as we'll see WrestleMania 3: Bigger, Better, Badder!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 3- Setup

When you hear "WrestleMania 3", most people remember one thing: The historic match between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant.

That was Vince McMahon's idea on how he was going to fill the Pontiac Silverdome. And through many different ways (Elevating the ring, giant TV screens, Andre getting much-needed back surgery, and using Piper's Pit to lay out the main event), he wanted to set the indoor-attendance record.

But since we all know that, what about the others? There was IC Champ Randy Savage dealing with Ricky Steamboat, the Hart Foundation finding it's groove (and the Tag Team titles), Roddy Piper in his first "retirement match", and WAY less celebrities than last year. All the celebrities WWF needed for this one was Bob Uecker, Mary Hart, Alice Cooper, and Aretha Franklin.

So how did it go? We'll see tomorrow...

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WWF WrestleMania II – OSW Review 4

Just a little link to Old School Wrestling's review of "WrestleMania 2". These guys from Ireland do great work, folks! Trust me.

 

[johnson]

WM3 was epic. It's funny...when you watch it now it looks so fake it's unreal. I know I was a kid, but my adult self is disappointed I thought it could be real back then.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 3-Review

WM3 was epic. It's funny...when you watch it now it looks so fake it's unreal. I know I was a kid, but my adult self is disappointed I thought it could be real back then.

Perfect words to describe what took place that day in Michigan. Let's get to it!

WrestleMania 3 (From Pontiac, Michigan)
Attendence: Around 78,000, but was announced as 91,173
Number of PPV buys: 400,000
​

Best Match: Ricky Steamboat winning the IC title from Randy Savage (Does this match still stand up to the great matches of today? Probably not. But would we have those great matches of today had this match not taken place? Probably not.)

Worst match: Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik vs. The Killer Bees (This one just wasn't memorable for me. And "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan blowing his cue at the end of the match ruined it for me.)

Best surprise: "Dangerous" Danny Davis (From referee to wrestler? Sounds like WrestleCrap material, doesn't it? But Danny made it work, and he got MONSTER heat when he got the pin for the Hart Foundation here. And Mary Hart and Bob Ueker [as guest commentators] weren't too bad covering the match, either.)

Biggest disappointment: "The Natural" Butch Reed (I have heard good things about Butch Reed, and he did win at this event over Koko B. Ware, but I wasn't impressed with his performance.)

Main event: Hulk Hogan defended his WWF Title over Andre the Giant (Everyone knows about this match; it's one of the most famous wrestling matches EVER.
But did you know that in 1987, "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" voted this match the "Worst Worked Match of the Year"? What, were they expecting a technical tour-de-force? Everyone was there for the spectacle; they couldn't care less how it looked in the ring.)

Other notes: Rick Martel and Tom Zenk (as the Cam-Am Connection) hated each other at this event.
- This event was where Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake was born as he helped Roddy Piper cut Adrian Adonis's hair after Roddy beat him.
- The first-ever successful double-turn (where a "baby-face" and a "heel" switch roles) took place here, as former heel Jake Roberts became a good guy after Honky Tonk Man stole a win from him here in Pontiac (And having Alice Cooper in Jake's corner probably didn't hurt, either).

Up next, the man who'll inevitably fail to become President makes a deal with McMahon...

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 4- Setup

After WrestleMania 3 ended, Vince and the WWF was in a rut. What can they do for the 4th installment of what was now their "Super Bowl" event? And then Donald Trump came along.

Despite concerns that Atlantic City might not be "family-friendly" for the kids, the Trump Plaza put WWF's mind at ease by creating events around the Atlantic City area. In fact, you can trace the origins of today's WrestleMania Fan Axxess to the joint effort WWF and Trump Plaza did in 1988.

As for the in-ring content, WWF was looking for a new "white knight" to super-cede Hulk Hogan as champion (Hulk wanted to try his luck in Hollywood again at this point). Step 1 was done backstage, as the charismatic Randy Savage would turn baby-face and was positioned as "the guy", with new super-heel Ted Dibiase as his #1 threat.

Step 2 was to get the belt off Hulk. This was done on February 5th in Indianapolis with Andre the Giant (and the Hebner brothers) screwing Hulk out of the title, with NBC televising it... and getting a 15.2 rating in the process.

Step 3 happened when Andre tried to give the belt to Dibiase. Then-WWF "president" Jack Tunney voided that idea, and then declared the world title vacant for the first time in modern history. A 14-man tournament was slated for WrestleMania 4, with the winner becoming the new champion.

Did it work? We'll find out tomorrow!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 4- Review

This will be a LONG review, all thanks to WrestleMania 4 having 15 f--king matches. Before I do the usual stuff, let's see what happened in the "WWF Title Tournament":

1st Round:​

- Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant drew byes
- Ted Dibiase over "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan (An okay match.)
- Don Muraco over Dino Bravo (Not much to write about here.)
- Greg Valentine over Ricky Steamboat (WHAT?! They put Valentine over Steamboat? WHY? Valentine is over-rated, and Steamboat deserves a break...)
- Randy Savage over Butch Reed (...Oh, THIS is why Valentine won. Okay.)
- One Man Gang over Bam Bam Bigelow (By the way, remember Survivor Series '87? Bigelow looked STRONG on that show, and he was popular with the fans. So why did WWF job him out here?! I just don't get it!)
- Jake Roberts and Rick Rude fight to a draw, One Man Gang moves on to semis (Boooorrriiinngggg.)

Round 2:​

- Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan fight to a double-DQ (More on this match later.)
- Ted Dibiase over Don Muraco, Dibiase moves on to the finals (An okay match.)
- Randy Savage over Greg Valentine (Another okay match.)

Semifinal:​

Randy Savage over One Man Gang (This one was just a mess.)

Best Match: Demolition defeating Strike Force to win the WWF Tag Team Titles (Picking the best match of the card was hard, but I'm going with this one. The in-ring action was good, and it started the longest WWF tag-team title reign for Demolition.)

Worst Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant (At WrestleMania 3, Hulk vs. Andre was an epic match-up for the title. At "The Main Event", we saw a very fun re-match between the two.
And their rubber match at WrestleMania 4... was a terrible mess! Nobody won, Hulk still posed for around 5 minutes afterwards... Just did not like it.)

Most pleasant surprise: The Islanders and Bobby Heenan vs. The British Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware (Considering the bad in-ring action all around them, these 6 wrestlers did a better job than you would expect. And Bobby Heenan played his "wimpy manager" role to perfection here.)

Biggest disappointment: Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude (These 2 had real beef entering this match, so why was this match so boring? Do you guys know?)

Main event: Randy Savage beats Ted Diabise to win the vacant WWF Title (These 2 did their best, but by this time it was too late to save the show. And does Hulk Hogan has to put his hand in EVERYTHING?!)

Other notes: Bad News Brown had his "WrestleMania moment", as he won a battle royal here (and helped to make the Hart Foundation turn face). Sadly for him, it would be all downhill from here.
- Ricky Steamboat left WWF right after this event, and would later join WCW... to have all of those classics with Ric Flair.
- In terms of crowd reactions at a WrestleMania, they may have been the quietest ever.
- Sugar Ray Leonard was in the crowd for this event.
- The "Clash of the Champions" aired alongside this event from Greensboro, North Carolina. And it's main event (Sting fighting Flair to a 45-minute draw) would be voted "Match of the Year" by the Wrestling Observer.

Bottom line: In terms of actual in-ring content and pacing, this is the worst WrestleMania of the bunch. And seemingly, WWF and Donald Trump knew that, as they would try WrestleMania again in Atlantic City for 1989.

Would WrestleMania 5 do better? Find out tomorrow!

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

The bad Hogan v Andre match at WM4 can be explained by the fact that by that time Andre was really having a lot of trouble with his back and was in severe pain.

The bad Jake v. Rude match was baffeling with the set up but they just never meshed in the ring.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 5- Setup

The bad Hogan v Andre match at WM4 can be explained by the fact that by that time Andre was really having a lot of trouble with his back and was in severe pain.

The bad Jake v. Rude match was baffling with the set up but they just never meshed in the ring.

Despite all that, WrestleMania 4 still brought in 18,165 fans to Trump Plaza. And for WrestleMania 5, a sightly bigger main event was booked: Randy Savage defending the WWF title against Mr. Hogan.

Also, big names like Jake Roberts (Andre the Giant), Demolition (the Powers of Pain), and Rick Rude (the fast-rising Ultimate Warrior) would all have strong opponents to boost the card even further. So already, 5 is looking a lot better than 4.

How good was it? Let's find out!

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 5- Review

WrestleMania 5 (The Mega-Powers Explode): From the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, NJ
Attendance: 18,946
PPV's buys: 767,000 (That would be the most buys for ANY WWF pay-per-view event for the next 10 years [until WrestleMania 15].)
​

Best match: See the Main Event.

Worst match: "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan vs. Bad News Brown; Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude (tie) (Both of these matches were bad. Jim Duggan and Bad News just did NOTHING for nearly 4 minutes before they got counted-out.
But the match that preceded that one [where Rick Rude won the IC title from Warrior] was also pretty shallow... despite Rude working his @$$ off.)

Most pleasant surprise: The Brainbusters vs. Strike Force (You can't go wrong with the technical strengths of Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, and this match gave us a pretty-good break-up angle between Martel and Santana.)

Biggest Disappointment: Piper's Pit with Morton Downey Jr. (It made sense to have Morton Downey on Piper's Pit; at the time he was the king of "trash-talk shows" and he wanted to go after pro wrestling. So he showed up on Piper's Pit, and... he smokes... and smokes... and not even Roddy Piper could bail out this segment.)

Main event: Hulk Hogan winning the WWF Title from Randy Savage (767,000 PPV buys for this match! The build-up for this match was grand, Hogan did stuff in the ring other than just punch-kick, and Savage was good as always. A 4-star match, for sure.)

Other notes: Chris Kanyon and Lance Storm were in attendance.
- After his DQ loss to Jake Roberts (and a below-average feud with Ultimate Warrior), Andre was removed from all singles competition because of his injuries.
- In the Rougeau Brothers vs. Bushwhackers match, if you pay close attention you will see Luke grab Raymond Rougeau's groin. I s--t you not. (Props to OSW Review for that little tidbit)

With WrestleMania 5 now gone, we'll head into the 1990's tomorrow with WrestleMania 6 from Toronto!

 

[futballiscool]

​

Best Match: Ricky Steamboat winning the IC title from Randy Savage (Does this match still stand up to the great matches of today? Probably not. But would we have those great matches of today had this match not taken place? Probably not.)

There aren't high spots or crazy moves, but as far as a no frills wrestling match that one still sets the standard imo.

Really enjoying these posts btw

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 6- Review

WrestleMania 6- "The Ultimate Challenge"
From the Skydome in Toronto, Ontario
Attendance: A sell-out crowd of 64,287 [Announced as 67,678] (PPV Buys: 560,000)
​

Best Match: See the Main Event

Worst match: The Barbarian vs. Tito Santana (This one was REALLY hard for me to decide, but I'll go with this one as the Barbarian did nothing for me.)

Most pleasant surprise: Brutus Beefcake vs. Mr. Perfect, the push of Earthquake (Tie) (John Tenta looked strong as hell on this PPV. First he squashes Hercules, then he kicks the crap out of Jim Duggan, showing us that WWF wants us to fear this man.
In-between Tenta kicking @$$, we had a surprisingly good match between Brutus and Perfect. And I learned just recently that Perfect did have a perfect mark before he lost here.)

Biggest disappointment: Randy Savage and "Sensational" Sherri vs. Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire (I wanted to go with Piper vs. Bad News Brown for this one [mainly because Bad News wouldn't job cleanly... to ANYONE]. But I chose this match.
Not because of the match Randy and Dusty had in Toronto, but because this mixed tag-team match was the HIGHLIGHT of their feud. What should have been a great feud between 2 legends would end at Summerslam 1990... as a plot-point match involving Ted Dibiase. Sad...)

Main event: Ultimate Warrior beats Hulk Hogan to win the WWF title (I heard these 2 guys rehearsed this match over and over and over again. And happily, it worked; it was an historic main-event between 2 huge "baby-faces". And for the first time EVER, Hulk Hogan lost cleanly! HOORAY!)

Other notes: As we know, Adam Copeland (AKA Edge) was in attendance for this event, but also was Chris Kanyon and Lance Storm (again.
- This was where Andre the Giant's final match on TV took place, as he and Haku lost the Tag Team Titles to Demolition. At least he turned face afterwards, allowing the fans to cheer for him in his twilight years.
- Diamond Dallas Page drove the tag team Rhythm and Blues to the ring in his pink Cadillac (By the way, that was the ONLY good part of Rhythm and Blues's routine at WrestleMania).
- The celebrity count was small this year, as we only had Robert Goulet, Rona Barrett, Mary Tyler Moore, and Steve Allen.
- This was the final time we would see the motorized cart used in the WWF.

Phew... With WrestleMania 6 now done, we now turn to WrestleMania 7, where WWF tried to take advantage of a war... and got into a big mess in the process.

 

[Dolgevillefootballfan]

WrestleMania 7- Setup

It started innocently enough: In the summer of 1990 Sgt. Slaughter returned to his old home of the WWF as his old character of a heel drill sergeant. Meanwhile, the WWF was planning to have WrestleMania 7 in the L.A Coliseum.

And then Iraq invaded Kuwait. And WWF had one of it's "brilliant idea's", the kind that sounds good on paper but didn't go the way it planned. They decided to make Slaughter a "Iraqi sympathizer" and put him up against "All-American" Hulk Hogan in the main event.

But when American solders started to die in the "Gulf War", Slaughter's antics drew a TON of negative feedback. And if you watched "The True Story of WrestleMania" DVD, WWE was saying that "we had to move the show from the Coliseum to the L.A Sports Arena because we were getting bomb threats".
In truth, the move to the Sports Arena was because of low ticket sales.

Of course, you're wondering how this would affect the other wrestlers and the in-ring action. And we'll all find that out tomorrow.
And it won't be easy for me, because I used to love WrestleMania 7 when I was younger...