As of late I have grown weary of the repeats on television, so I started thinking … could I find something else to watch? After some time passed, I felt like watching a wrestling PPV. I decided to watch ECW One Night Stand 2005, as it’s my favourite PPV of all time. After sitting through that amazing PPV one more time, I wanted something new from my perspective, but also something old. I decided to download a Wrestlemania I-XXX Anthology! An amazing collection which takes 60GB on my hard drive. I have to admit, I am not an old school wrestling fan. I only got into watching wrestling on a weekly basis back in 2000 (I was only a teenager), so I missed many Wrestlemania’s.
But don’t get me wrong! I have gone back and seen classic Wrestlemanias before. The only ones I have any memories of (from before 2000) are Wrestlemania XIV and X. It’s been a long time since I watched an old Wrestlemania PPV. I decided to begin with the classic Wrestlemania I and work my way through them all.
I don’t want to be a reviewer in this series of articles. I don’t want to give grades, or give you every single match outcome. What I want to do is highlight what I took from each PPV. The moments I liked, and the moments I supremely hated. This series might spark curiosity among you. It may urge you to watch a Wrestlemania you never considered watching before.
Wrestlemania I (1985) – “The Greatest Wrestling Event of All Time!” – Madison Square Garden
Despite Gorilla Monsoon consistently plugging the “25,000+ in attendance” line many times, the actual attendance was 19,121.
You could tell right away the event was showing the transition from the old school ways, to the rise of Hulkamania and the Rock n’ Wrestling connection. Gorilla Monsoon plugged the success of the WWF throughout the night, and called Wrestlemania a success for professional wrestling. In reality, the WWF was destroying other wrestling promotions, and many more would crumble after the success of the first Wrestlemania.
The event itself looked rather drab and dull. It reminded me of how TNA Impact Wrestling looks now with the blacked out crowd. Jesse Ventura was wearing this bright pink suit though which brightened things up a tad. The show started with a horrible rendition of the American National Anthem “sang” by Mean Gene Okerlund. Despite Mean Gene butchering the song, the audience joined in and gave a huge ovation afterwards. If that happened today, he would have been booed out of the building.
The one thing I immediately noticed was the length of promos. They were exceptionally short, intense, and to the point. Often Mean Gene had one guy set up for the next match, the wrestler would cut a short 10-30 second promo, then that guy would walk off and their opponent would be stood ready to do theirs. I ain’t seen this quick style of promos since the old days of TNA Impact.
The first match was rather simple and the winner was obvious. The PPV delivered a memorable moment when King Kong Bundy literally squashed S.D. Jones in 24 seconds (although Gorilla Monsoon said it was nine seconds and a new record), which was believable due to the sheer difference in size. I have to say, Bundy delivered a pretty sweet standing splash.
Ricky Steamboat had a match against the guy who ended up playing Doink the Clown years later, and man, Steamboat was buffed up! I don’t think I have ever seen Steamboat as bulked and ripped then he was on this PPV. I think this was Steamboat before WWF added “The Dragon” to his name.
David Sammartino and Brutus Beefcake was a snooze-fest until “The Living Legend” got involved. The MSG crowd cheered Bruno’s flurry of offense, but it didn’t amount to anything. He didn’t help his son to win the match.
The first competitive match of the night was Greg Valentine vs Junkyard Dog. You could see the charisma oozing from the pores of JYD. The audience loved him. Valentine and Jimmy Hart did a really good job playing the heels. Sadly the match ended in controversy, and no real winner came out of it. I think JYD should have taken the “Inter-Continental Heavyweight Championship” in my opinion.
And then we were treated to the tag team of The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. Damn they had heat, they were so supremely hated. Even more so after their tag team championship match. The audience loathed these two so much, they received the biggest heel reaction of the night. I wanted to see more from the team of Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo (Who went on to become IRS, and is the father of Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas), but they didn’t grab my attention like Volkoff/Sheik.
And then the event went up a gear. Big John Studd vs André The Giant in a body slam match …
- If André could slam Studd, he would receive $15,000.
- If André could not slam Studd, he would be forced to retire.
The stipulation for the match was Bobby Heenan’s brainchild, as he served as Studd’s manager. The slam by André received a huge pop. It was almost like the glass shattering for Steve Austin after an injury hiatus. No … I’m being serious, the pop was that loud for a body slam! Gone are the days where the fans were happy to see a giant body slam another giant. André won the money and started throwing it into the crowd.
This forced Bobby Heenan to steal the bag of money from André before he could throw it all away. I thought it was a classic moment in the history of Wrestlemania. André overcame the odds, claimed the money, then decided to give it away … only for Heenan to steal it back and show how underhanded he was. André laughed it off in a short backstage interview.
– I have to admit, I have not seen many of his matches. Everyone knows André, but some may not realize just how good he was in the ring til you look back at some of his earlier work. He could move when he wanted to! He had a legitimate love from the fans, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw his big toothy grin.
Next up was the Women’s (It was announced as the “Ladies Championship”, but it soon reverted back to “Women’s Championship” after the match) Championship match between Leilani Kai (w/ Moolah) and Wendi Richter (w/ “Girls just wanna have fun” Cyndi Lauper). Cyndi sounded happy to be there in the post-match interview. As you can imagine, the crowd popped loud when “Girls just wanna have fun” started playing on Wendi’s entrance. The match was cringe worthy in the beginning. It was almost like both women forgot how to work a match, however it grew and ended up being a solid contest with great physicality.
There was a moment where Wendi delivered something resembling a death valley driver, and Leilani Kai hit the mat so hard I said “ouch” out loud. I don’t want to spoil the end, but I rather enjoyed it. One of the better women’s matches I have seen recently that didn’t involve the TNA Knockouts or NXT Women’s Division.
And then the main event arrived. Billy Martin, Liberace, and Muhammad Ali played their guest parts. I see this match as the template for Wrestlemania’s to come. But seriously, having Muhammad Ali there as a guest enforcer was something else. For those teenagers reading, EVERYONE on the planet knew who Muhammad Ali was. If you didn’t know who he was, you must have lived in a hole. Ali is probably the biggest celebrity WWE has ever managed to get for Wrestlemania. While all the other promotions struggled to make ends meet, the World Wrestling Federation was enjoying a main event with guest celebrities surrounding the ringside area. Liberace was the most excited of them all, he couldn’t stop grinning.
Roddy Piper was amazing, Those facial expressions, priceless. Piper and “Mr Wonderful” got some boo’s, but it was nothing compared to the reaction given for “Real American”. It was obvious who the man was. It was obvious who the fans had paid to see. Hogan was on fire, and Mr. T was as serious as can be. People will blast the use of Mr. T in a wrestling match, but it was something nobody else had attempted. WWF took a risk by having him in the main event against established wrestlers, but it paid off. He was there to fight, and I think he did a good job. The hip toss on Orndorff was great. It was clearly rehearsed, but it was still great.
The match told wrestling fans that anything could happen in the WWF. With an ever-increasing fan base, Wrestlemania did the job of targeting casual fans who may have never seen (or cared for) wrestling. To see celebrities like Cyndi Lauper, Mr T and Muhammad Ali on a wrestling PPV? Vince McMahon made a smart business move, and I believe future Wrestlemania would have suffered if they had not done it this way. McMahon splashed out for this one. The vision was there from the beginning.
Like I said earlier, I won’t be handing out grades or rating the PPV out of 10. I will make a final conclusion though.
Conclusion – The PPV started slow, and gradually picked up. Every match had something, and the matches grew more important as the event went on. The main event was not a wrestling classic, but it was funny and entertaining. The promos were short and intense. They purposely cut away from certain promos due to time constraints.
I would recommend this PPV to any WWE enthusiast. Just looking back and seeing how things have changed made it a worthwhile watch. Was it worthy of its tagline? Not really, but still, all round an entertaining show.
And that’s it from me. No idea when I will watch Wrestlemania II … hopefully sometime soon. This is going to be a long adventure, and hopefully you can join me. Goodbye for now!
