WrestleMania 1 - Review

WrestleMania 1, could you imagine the wrestling landscape without WrestleMania? Sure you could just say that another PPV would just take its place but that's not the answer I'm looking for. 
WrestleMania is obviously the largest event in wrestling whether that for WWE themselves or all the Indi promotions who take advantage of that weekend. WrestleMania has become the beginning and end of the wrestling calendar for WWE. Of course it did not always start out this way. WrestleMania 1 was labeled "The Greatest Wrestling Event Of All Time" I suppose at this point it might have been but it certainly earned that title over the years. 

WrestleMania took place in 1985 at the historic Madison Square Garden which is an iconic venue for wrestling as we know. Mene Gene Okerlund had the duty of singing the U.S national anthem. Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura were on commentary, of course no complaints there from me anyway. Lord Alfred Hayes had the duty of standing at the entrance way of the wrestlers. This is where you could see the inexperience of running an event like this as you could clearly see him nervously reading of a monitor in the background and the wrestlers stumbling past him as they didn't know whether to walk behind or in front of him, but it's nothing to serious and a good laugh if you notice it.

Tito Santana vs The Executioner 

This was a fairly average match, nothing to write home about but also did not have much negatives about it. The Executioner was really trying to focus on the leg of Tito Santana which had been targeted by Greg Valentine previously. Most of this matchup revolved around Tito getting back that fighting spirit and The Executioner would just shut it down. This really got the crowed invested and they seemed to be enjoying the fight back from Tito Santana. Santana would eventually hit flying forearm on The Executioner and lock in the Figure 4 to win by submission. I scored this match a 4.5 out of 10 which leaves it in the upper end of the "below average" category. The match was fairly basic and had nothing to special about it. 

King Kong Bundy vs S.D Jones

What is there to say about this? King Kong Bundy squashed S.D Jones in what they say was 9 seconds, I'm not to sure about that but we move. S.D Jones started out brightly for about half a second running at King Kong Bundy, S.D Jones then finds himself in a bear hug, pushed into the corner and on the receiving end of a splash from King Kong Bundy, 1.2.3. 

I rated this matchup a 2 out of a possible 10 as it served its purpose in making Bundy look good but i just cant score it any higher as it was so short. If Bundy wasn't involved in the main event the following year this would have been a lower rating but it served a purpose in the end. 

Matt Borne vs Ricky Steamboat

Big showing for a fairly new Ricky Steamboat to the then WWF audience and not a bad showing from him. You could definitely see that Ricky Steamboat was ahead of others in his wrestling agility. Borne also impressed with a sequence of various suplexes   on to Steamboat. Ricky Steamboat ends the bout between the two technicians with a crossbody of the top rope for the 3 count. i Scored this match 6 out of 10 which places it in the decent category simply because we know that Steamboat can do a hell of a lot more but he and Borne did well. 

David Sammartino w/ Bruno Sammartino vs Brutus Beefcake w/ Johnny Valiant

David Sammartino has zero charisma, there is no two ways about it. The only interesting thing about him is his father Bruno Sammartino. Don't get me wrong David is a decent mat wrestler but combine the slow style with the lack of charisma and you just get a snooze fest. Brutus picked up the match with his quick strikes and quicker work and got some good heat. The crowed go crazy once Bruno gets involved as they fight Brutus and Valiant which bumps up the rating slightly. The match ended in a double DQ as it always seem to in these times. The match got a rating of 4 out of 10, nothing special but the crowed going crazy for Bruno saved the rating. This places it in the below average category. 

Intercontinental Championship - Junk Yard Dog vs Greg Valentine (C)

Another "classic" old school match and ending. JYD with all the offense early on with crowed loving him. Later on in the bout Greg Valentine rolls JYD onto his shoulders delivers an illegal pin by gaining leverage on the ropes 1.2.3. Greg Valentine is left celebrating but Tito Santana comes running out to argue with the ref and point out that Greg was on the ropes. The ref restarts the matchup but Greg decides he's not up for it and gets the count out loss, of course due to champions advantage he keeps the gold. JYD is left celebration in the ring despite not winning the championship, odd but whatever. The match was alright but the double false finish annoyed me. If you going to have Greg cheat to win then let him cheat don't let the match get restarted, build it up for the face to the overcome the odds to win but then just have him get himself counted out again. The restart was unnecessary. I scored this match a 3.5 out of 10 which puts the match in the upper half of the bad  category just because of that odd finish and the fact that JYD doesn't acknowledge that he won but Greg used champions advantage. 

Tag Team Championship - Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo (C) vs The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff 

This is classic USA vs the bad foreign guys which always seemed to work in these times. This was a decent back and fourth match between the two teams where the foreigners are getting all the heat from the MSG crowed. The Iron Shiek uses Fred Blassie's cane to hit Barry Windham over the back of the head while the ref's not looking and they get the pin. This was match was fairly decent and got a score of 6 out of 10 from me. 

$15000 Body Slam Match - Andre The Giant vs Big John Studd

This was absolutely terrible. This wasn't even two men bashing into each other or a slug fest it was a cuddle between the two men for the most of it. The crowed did pop when Andre got the body slam on Big John Studd to win the match and the $15000. I rated this match a 1 out 10 as you could guess this puts it into the terrible category. 

WWF Women's Championship - Leilani Kai (C) w/ Fabulous Moolah vs Wendi Richter w/ Cyndi Lauper 

This match had some good build up to it and it really felt as if these two women really did not like each other and not just in kayfabe. Cyndi Lauper of course entertaining as ever when she chased away The Fabulous Moolah after she tried to get involved which got a decent pop from the crowed. Wendi Richter uses the momentum of Leilani Kai after she crossbodies Richter to get the 1.2.3. This match help up with the better matches of the night and scored 5.5 out of 10 which places it in the upper end of average towards decent. 

Hulk Hogan (WWF Champion ) & MR. T vs Rowdy Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff 

Roddy Piper saved this celebrity slugfest. MR.T and Roddy Piper do quiet a good job in the opening exchange with Roddy making MR.T look the part. Roddy and Orndorff decide they've had enough of this and start walking out. They eventually comeback to the ring and eat body slams from MR. T and Hogan. They manage to put the offense on Hogan and MR. T each getting their respective hot tags. Cowboy Bob Orton gets involved and jumps off the top rope to hit Hogan with the cast on his arm, Hogan gets out the way he hits Orndorff and Hogan makes the pin and ends the match. I scored this match 6 it didn't rely on Hogan to get the crowed going it was the first ever WrestleMania main event so it goes in the decent category. 

WrestleMania 1 isn't the spectacle we know to today, the wrestling wasn't fantastic and their defiantly was a few teething moments which they had to fix in the coming years but it was still great it will always be iconic and have its place firmly in history.