Wrestlemania

WWF Wrestlemania
Venue: New York, New York
Date: 31/03/85
Attendance: 19,121
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

Around the time of Wrestlemania 30 this year Vince McMahon's net worth had reached $1.6 billion which shows you just how big a global brand World Wrestling Entertainment has become. Two important dates stand out when you look back at the roots of the company's success. The first is 24th January 1984 when already established star Hulk Hogan became WWF Heavyweight Champion and led the World Wrestling Federation into a new era. The second is 31st March 1985, the date of the WWF's first supercard called Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania and the events leading up to it thrust the WWF into the mainstream with the help of MTV and celebrities such as Muhammad Ali, Cyndi Lauper and Mr.T. The show was a huge commercial success but how does it stand up as an actual wrestling show?

 

Review
Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura are the announcers for the event and "Mean" Gene Okerlund (strangely) sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" to kick things off… The first match in Wrestlemania history is Tito Santana versus The Executioner, who is Buddy Rose wrestling under a mask. It's decent enough for a five minute bout and Santana wins with a figure four leg lock to send a message to Greg Valentine with whom he was feuding at that particular time. This would be Santana's only Wrestlemania victory as he would go on to lose his next seven matches at the event, which is a record… Speaking of records, King Kong Bundy crushed Special Delivery Jones in 24 seconds in the next bout. Inexplicably the time of the fall announced was 9 seconds so I can only assume Bundy was slow in getting the job done. Still, the idea was to get Bundy over as a monster and they were successful in doing so… Ricky Steamboat defeated Matt Bourne in a match which like the opener was good considering the time allocated to it… Brutus Beefcake battled David Sammartino who was accompanied by his dad, "The Living Legend" Bruno Sammartino in a match which in contrast to the Santana and Steamboat matches went a bit too long. The action was ok but the double disqualification finish was lame, although the crowd did pop for Bruno's involvement at the end... The Intercontinental Title match between Greg Valentine and The Junkyard Dog was a poor effort with a stupid finish. Valentine scored the pinfall victory with his feet on the ropes which the referee didn't see. Valentine was declared the winner until Tito Santana ran out to contest the decision and the official simply took Santana's word for it and ordered the match to continue. Valentine was not keen on this so he got himself counted out and retained the title. Daft… The team of Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik generated a lot of heat in their Tag Team Title victory over Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo as you would expect. The heels went over in a good effort thanks to Freddie Blassie's cane which The Iron Sheik used to break over Windham's head, out of the referee's vision of course... Andre the Giant's career was on the line versus $15,000 of Big John Studd's money in a match where the first man to body slam his opponent would be the victor. The match was nearly six minutes of non-action until Andre just slammed Studd out of nowhere. Bobby Heenan stealing the cash from Andre as he was throwing it to the crowd was highlight of a terrible match… The Women's Title match wasn't much better as Wendi Richter regained the championship back from Leilani Kai. Richter was accompanied by Cyndi Lauper, while Kai was seconded by The Fabulous Moolah. The match was pretty dire with a poorly executed finish. Kai hit a crossbody block from the top rope but Richter performed an ugly looking roll through for a soft pinfall victory. The crowd at least were happy with the result… The match of the night was the main event which was entertaining without threatening to be great. The crowd were hot throughout as was the case with practically every Hulk Hogan bout back then and the match definitely had a big time feel especially with the involvement of all the celebrities. Hogan had good chemistry with both Rowdy Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff and Hogan's partner Mr. T gave a respectable performance for a non-wrestler. A chaotic finish saw Bob Orton Jr inadvertently nail Orndorff with his infamous cast allowing Hogan to cover for the win to send the fans home happy.

 

Overall

Wrestlemania was a huge success in many ways but not from an in-ring perspective. The main event was what everyone came to see and it delivered well enough but beyond that there were only three matches that could be considered decent. The original Wrestlemania is historically important but ultimately a disappointing show. Wrestlemania drew 400,000 buys at closed circuit television locations.

Results
1 Tito Santana pinned The Executioner (4:50) **1/4
2 King Kong Bundy pinned Special Delivery Jones (0:24) SQ
3 Ricky Steamboat pinned Matt Borne (4:37) **1/4
4 David Sammartino fought Brutus Beefcake to a double disqualification (12:43) *3/4
5 The Junk Yard Dog def WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine (c) by disqualification (7:05) *
6 Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik def Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo (c) by pinfall to win the WWF Tag Team Title (6:55) **1/4
7 Andre The Giant def Big John Studd in a "$15,000 Slam Match" (5:53) DUD
8 Wendi Richter pinned Leilani Kai (c) to win the WWF Women's Title (6:12) 1/2
9 Hulk Hogan & Mr T def Rowdy Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff by pinfall (13:13) **3/4

Rating
12.75/45 = 28.33%