WrestleMania. It is the “Showcase of the Immortals”. It is the “Super Bowl of Wrestling”. It is apparently the time of year we hear another Flo Rida song. Needless to say, it is a time of year that many wrestling fans look forward to most. I think one of the biggest reasons why is the history around the event. We have had many memorable matches, moments and grand spectacle that you only get once a year.
With that in mind, I decided to go back and look at the earliest WrestleManias. How did this grand event that fills a football stadium get its start? Since I didn’t start watching until the late 1990’s, I never had a chance to see WrestleMania’s beginnings. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. I plan to look at a bunch of the early ones in the days to come before WrestleMania 33. So why not start at the beginning?
With all of this in mind, I present my list of the top five things I Learned From WrestleMania 1:
5. It Got Off to A Rough Start
Going back and watching the first WrestleMania shows you how far it has actually come. It started with Mean Gene singing the National Anthem. I do love Mean Gene, but that was not the best choice to launch the show. I see why they went with celebrities singing “American the Beautiful” going forward.
I will admit that I was shocked by the first match in WrestleMania history. The first match always can set the tone for the evening. But what was it on the first night in the famous Madison Square Garden? It was Tito Santana versus The Executioner. That is right. It was basically a popular babyface squashing a jobber. It was weird.
The insipid start continued with King Kong Bundy beating S.D. Jones in “nine seconds”. I say “nine seconds” because they told me so but even I can see it was clearly a lot more. It was closer to 23 seconds. I guess WWE thinks we cannot count or they screwed up the nine-second thing and wanted to continue to go with it regardless.
The ugliness continued with a young Ricky Steamboat beating another jobber called Matt Bourne (future Doink) in less than five minutes. Why book two jobber matches in the first three contests of your make or break pay-per-view? I guess only Vince knows for sure.
4. Title Matches Are A Mixed Bag
After a painfully slow start even by the standards of the day, it was time for the only two male titles defended on the show. We had an Intercontinental Title Match and the Tag Team Title match. I learned very quickly that the wrestlers involved could make a world of difference in these matches.
The Intercontinental Title match was on the very negative side. If you watch the match know that Junkyard Dog is a very charismatic guy and the fans love him. However, he couldn’t wrestle well if his life depended on it. His offence seemed to consist of biting at his opponent. Thankfully he was fighting a good wrestler in Greg “The Hammer” Valentine which helped save it from a total disaster. A count out finish at a big show? Ugh.
The other title match helped me learn what 1980’s wrestling did best. It was the top heels cheating a lot. Man, it is quite clear Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff were quite hated. I guess singing the Soviet National Anthem was a good way to be hated in 1980’s America. You rarely see that much trash thrown in the ring.
The match is as fun as any good tag match. One of the good guys (Mike Rotundo) is dominated by the heels until he can find his partner (Barry Windham) for the hot tag. This works until the heel manager, Freddie Blassie can throw in his cane for some good old fashioned heel cheating. A guy from Iran and another from the Soviet Union winning the tag titles by cheating? That is instant heel heat and one of the most fun moments from the show.
3. Andre the Giant’s Matches Shouldn’t Last More Then a Few Minutes
Andre the Giant is a larger than life legend. However, the same thing, his size, that made him so memorable also caused him some issues by the time the first WrestleMania came around. Putting him in a match with Big John Studd was a recipe for a slow-paced disaster.
Also read: WWE WrestleMania 33 Matches: Prediction and analysis
Watching a nearly six-minute match of bearhugs and rest holds is a good way to drive any wrestling fan crazy. It was a body slam challenge, so naturally, Andre slammed John, and the crowd went wild. Was it because the audience was happy for Andre or happy it ended? It is hard to know.
2. The Women’s Title Match Was a Mess
Who knew Cyndi Lauper was so popular? Lauper was certainly one of the celebrities that helped grow pro-wrestling. It was natural she would be involved in the show. However, I wish she was a part of a better match.
Women’s wrestling has come a long way since Leilani Kai versus Wendi Richter. Watching slow-paced manoeuvres with lots of timing issues is not a fun experience. You know it isn’t good when the managers, Fabulous Moolah and Cyndi Lauper, get more cheers for their interference than most of the action in the awkward match. WrestleMania women’s wrestling had a long way to go.
#1 The Main Event Was A Big, Fun Chaotic Mess
The main event was the make or break moment for WrestleMania 1. It was a tag match with Hulk Hogan & Mr T versus Roddy Piper and “Mr Wonderful” Paul Orndorff. If it didn’t work, we likely wouldn't have had any future WrestleManias to love or complain about. Needless to say, Vince McMahon threw everything at the match.
Look at the celebrities. You had New York Yankees manager Billy Martin as the ring announcer. We had Liberace as the guest timekeeper. You even had Muhammad Ali as a special guest referee on the outside. If you throw in the managers (Cowboy Bob Orton and Jimmy Snuka) you have a lot of people involved in one tag match.
It is really hard to describe the match because it is so chaotic. You have managers trying to interfere constantly. You had Muhammad Ali having to break up interference regularly. You have Roddy Piper playing the cocky heel throughout, but the crowd loved every minute of it, and it was fun.
It ended rather famously with Cowboy Bob attempting to interfere and hitting Mr Wonderful with his cast. This allowed Hogan to cover for a pin fall. Hogan winning without a leg drop? Scandalous. Sure it was all over the place, but it was fun. Fun is what we all want out of a WrestleMania main event right?Another point worth noting is that the main event almost did not happen. Mr T reportedly had beef with Roddy Piper, who didn’t appear to like him in real life at all. Being afraid of being legitimately hurt by Piper, Mr T chose to back out at the last minute, but it was Hulk Hogan himself had to be the voice of reason for Mr. T and convince him to do the match, which he eventually did end up doing.
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