WWE WrestleMania rewind: Back to where it all started

It all started here“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”, said the great Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu. I would say this aptly suits the WWE, especially when it comes to WrestleMania. Had it not been for that night, what would we, the WWE universe have waited for so eagerly every March and April?This fabulous journey began in 1985 and 31 years later, the energy and excitement is still the same and may even be amplified. Talk about all the 11 other PPVs under the WWE banner and not all of them combined would equal the magnificence of WrestleMania.You cannot always see 80,000 WWE fans chanting something in unison except in an event like WrestleMania. Talk about WrestleMania 32 and the company would not want to skip any minute opportunity to make this a grand success and bring life back to the collapsing ratings. Mania is aloof and one of its own kind. With all this said, we will quickly go and recap some of the interesting things from WrestleMania 1:

#3 Date, place, venue and match card

The whole idea of WrestleMania came into reality in the year 1985 on March 31st and the event was hosted in the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City. Imagine a crowd of 19,000 attending a live event in 1985! Enough said! I don’t think we need any details here. This event was presented under the WWF banner.

Let us quickly glance through the match card of WrestleMania 1 which contained 9 matches- 6 singles, 2 tag matches and 1 body-slam challenge.

Singles Action

Tito Santana vs. The Executioner

King Kong Bundy vs. Special Delivery Jones

Ricky Steamboat vs. Matt Borne

David Sammartino vs. Brutus Beefcake

Junkyard Dog vs. Greg Valentine (IC title match)

Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd (Body Slam Challenge)

Wendi Richter vs. Leilani Kai (Women’s Championship)

Tag Team Action

Nikolai Volkoff/The Iron Sheik vs. The U.S. Express (Tag team Championship match)

Hulk Hogan/Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper/Paul Orndorff

#2 Title changes and highlights from the show

One of the most unique match setups till date

The first title match of the night was between Junkyard Dog and Greg Valentine for the Intercontinental Championship in which Greg attempted to defend his IC title against Dog. Junkyard won the match by a count-out and as a result there was no title change.

Valentine retained the title. Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik faced The U.S. Express (c) for the Tag team Championships which they managed to win. At the end of the night, these guys emerged as the newest Tag Team Champions and this moment marks the first title change at Mania.

Wendi Richter and Leilani Kai squared off for the WWF Women’s Championship and after a 6-minute brawl; Richter emerged as the brand new Women’s Champion.

Yet another interesting match from the show was between Andre the Giant and John Studd and this was a body-slam challenge. The stipulation here is very interesting. If Andre could body-slam Studd, he would win $15,000 but if he failed, he would retire. Andre won the match and continued his career in WWE.

#1 The main event

Jimmy Snuka accompanied Hogan and Mr. T while Bob Orton accompanied Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. Muhammad Ali was the special guest referee outside the ring. Mr. T and Roddy Piper started the match and a series of traditional blows were exchanged between the superstars. Mr. T and Hogan were dominant in the most part of the match. In the closing moments of the match, all hell broke loose and all the 4 superstars fought in the ring.

The in-ring referee could not control the chaos and Ali took control and punched Piper and restored order. After this separation, Orndorff and Piper gained the advantage in the match. Orndorff locked the ‘Full Nelson’ on Hogan and while Hogan was struggling, Orton planned a top rope jump on Hogan to finish him off once and for all. But he missed the target and instead landed on Orndorff which knocked him out cold. Hogan covered Orndorff for a count of 3 and won the match.

A frustrated Piper knocked down the in-ring referee and walked away with Orton leaving Orndorff in the ring with Hogan and Mr. T.