WrestleMania (1985)
WrestleMania (chronologically known as WrestleMania I) was the first WrestleMania professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on March 31, 1985 at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. The attendance for the event was 19,121 fans. The event was viewed by over one million fans through closed circuit television, making it the largest event on closed-circuit television in the United States at the time. The event was the start of the Rock 'n' Wrestling gimmick, which brought together professional wrestling and the music industry, and matches aired on MTV during the build up to the event.
Nine professional wrestling matches, performances with pre-determined outcomes between wrestlers with fictional personalities that are portrayed as real, were featured. The main event match pitted Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea) and Mr. T (Laurence Tureaud) against Roddy Piper (Roderick Toombs) and Paul Orndorff. Hogan won the match after interference from Cowboy Bob Orton (Bob Orton, Jr.). Also at the event, Wendi Richter defeated Leilani Kai (Patricia Karisma-Schroeder) for the WWF Women's Championship, and Nikolai Volkoff (Josip Peruzović) and Iron Sheik (Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri) defeated The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.
The reviews for the event were mixed. Reviewers considered the main event match to be entertaining and humorous but lacking in technical wrestling. Despite this, it received Pro Wrestling Illustrated's annual PWI Match of the Year award.
Background and promotion
In the late 1980s, Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF)'s main competition in the professional wrestling industry was from Jim Crockett Promotions. McMahon countered Jim Crockett's successful Starrcade pay-per-view, which began airing in 1983, by creating the WrestleMania franchise.For the first WrestleMania, Vince McMahon began cross promoting with MTV. In addition, several celebrities like Muhammad Ali, Liberace and Cyndi Lauper also appeared during the build up to and at the event. The WWF aired two wrestling specials on MTV. The first one was The Brawl to End it All, aired on July 23, 1984, in which a match from a live Madison Square Garden broadcast was shown on MTV. Wendi Richter defeated The Fabulous Moolah (Lillian Ellison) to win the WWF Women's Championship on the card, with Lauper on her side. At The War to Settle the Score, which aired on February 18, 1985, Leilani Kai, accompanied by Moolah, defeated Richter, again accompanied by Lauper, to win the Women's Championship.
Two other championships were also defended at WrestleMania: the WWF Intercontinental Championship and the WWF Tag Team Championship. Prior to the event, Greg Valentine (John Wisniski, Jr.) had feuded with Tito Santana (Merced Solis) over the belt. Valentine defeated Santana on September 24, 1984 for the championship. Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham won the WWF Tag Team Championship three months before WrestleMania from the team of Adrian Adonis (Keith Franke) and Dick Murdoch.
In the months leading up to the first WrestleMania, Roddy Piper began a talk-show segment on WWF television entitled Piper's Pit. On one episode of the show, he hit Jimmy Snuka (James Reiher) over the head with a coconut, leading to a feud between the two men. As part of the storyline, Piper recruited Cowboy Bob Orton to be his bodyguard. On another episode of Piper's Pit, Piper spoke out against the burgeoning Rock 'n' Wrestling connection, which led to a confrontation with Hulk Hogan. In February 1985, the two men faced each other at The War to Settle the Score, where Hogan won by disqualification after interference by Paul Orndorff and Mr. T. Their on-going feud led to their match at WrestleMania.
As part of the promotion for the event, Hogan appeared on Hot Properties four days prior to WrestleMania, where he put host Richard Belzer into a sleeper hold—a move that cuts off the flow of blood to the brain. Belzer, however, fell to the floor unconscious and began to bleed profusely. His injury required eight stitches. Belzer later sued Hogan for $5 million, but they eventually settled out of court. The night before WrestleMania, Hogan and Mr. T hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live to help promote the event.
Event
Preliminary matches
The first match was between Tito Santana and The Executioner (Paul Perschmann). Santana won the match after applying a figure four leglock, a submission hold that applies pressure to the legs, on The Executioner. Following the match, King Kong Bundy (Chris Pallies), accompanied by Jimmy Hart, and Special Delivery Jones (Conrad Efraim) made their way to the ring. After crushing his opponent against the turnbuckle and landing on him stomach-first, Bundy defeated Jones in record making time. The WWF's official time for the match is nine seconds, although it actually lasted closer to 23 seconds.The next match was between Ricky Steamboat (Richard Blood) and Matt Borne. Steamboat took the early advantage in the match-up, until Borne flipped him over and slammed him to the mat using a belly-to-belly suplex. After performing a flying crossbody—a move where a wrestler jumps from an elevated position at an opponent, landing horizontally against his torso, and causes him to fall to the mat—Steamboat pinned Borne for the win. After the match ended, David Sammartino, accompanied by his father Bruno Sammartino, and Brutus Beefcake (Edward Leslie), accompanied by Johnny Valiant (John Sullivan), made their way to the ring. The action favored both contestants, as each wrestler alternated having the advantage. After Beefcake threw David Sammartino out of the ring, Valiant lifted him up and slammed him to the cement floor, using a move known as a body slam. He then pushed Sammartino back into the ring. A short while later, all four men began fighting in the ring, and the match ended in a no-contest.
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | Jesse Ventura |
| Gorilla Monsoon | |
| Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
| Billy Martin | |
| Interviewer | "Mean" Gene Okerlund |
| Lord Alfred Hayes |
The first championship defense of WrestleMania was between Junkyard Dog (Sylvester Ritter) and the reigning WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine, who was accompanied to the ring by his manager Jimmy Hart. Junkyard Dog began the match in the offensive position, performing headbutts and punches on Valentine. As the action went back and forth, Hart climbed on the ring apron, where Valentine accidentally hit him. Later, Valentine pinned Junkyard Dog with his feet on the ropes for leverage, which is an illegal maneuver. As a result, Tito Santana ran down to the ring and explained what had happened to the match's official. The match was restarted, and Junkyard Dog eventually won the match by count-out. Valentine, however, kept his title as titles do not change hands through count-out. The following match was for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Nikolai Volkoff and Iron Sheik, accompanied to the ring by Freddie Blassie, challenged the reigning champions, The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham), who were accompanied by Lou Albano. The U.S. Express dominated the early part of the match until Volkoff and The Sheik began to gain the offensive advantage over Rotundo. Rotundo then tagged in Windham, who performed a bulldog on The Sheik. After nearly being pinned, The Sheik hit Windham in the head with Blassie's cane as the referee had his back turned. After Volkoff got the pin, Volkoff and The Sheik were crowned as the new tag champions.
Main events
The next match on the card was a $15,000 Body Slam Challenge between André the Giant (André Roussimoff) and Big John Studd (John Minton), who was accompanied by Bobby Heenan (Raymond Heenan). The stipulation of the match was that André the Giant had to body slam Studd to win $15,000, and if he failed, he would be forced to retire. After beginning the match in the defensive position, André countered with chops and a headbutt. After weakening his knees with multiple kicks, André was able to lift Studd over his shoulders and execute a body slam to win the match. After André collected his prize money, he threw some of it into the audience. Heenan, however, grabbed the bag holding the remainder of the winnings and ran from ringside. As a result of the match, André was able to continue his undefeated streak unscathed. After all the men had left ringside, it was time for the WWF Women's Championship match between Wendi Richter, managed by singer Cyndi Lauper, and Leilani Kai, managed by former champion The Fabulous Moolah. Shortly after the match began, Moolah grabbed Richter as she was outside on the floor, but Lauper saved her from an attack. Kai then performed a flying crossbody from the top rope, but Richter used Kai's momentum to roll-up Kai in a pinning position. With this pin, Richter became the new Women's Champion.The main event and last match of the night pitted Hulk Hogan, the reigning WWF Champion, and Mr. T, accompanied by Jimmy Snuka, against Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff, accompanied by Cowboy Bob Orton. Professional boxer Muhammad Ali was the special guest referee. First, Piper, Orndorff, and Orton made their way to the ring as drums and bagpipes played, causing the crowd to boo. Crowd favorites Hogan, Mr. T, and Snuka made their way to the ring next. The match began with Mr. T and Piper in the ring and the two traded blows. Mid-way through the match, all four men began brawling in the ring, and Muhammad Ali punched Piper in an attempt to restore order. After the match's order was restored, Orndorff and Piper had the offensive advantage. As Orndorff locked Hogan into a full nelson—a move that applies pressure to the neck—Orton climbed the top rope to attempt to knock out Hogan. Instead, Orton mistakenly hit Orndorff, and Hogan pinned him to win the match. In frustration, Piper knocked out the other official, Pat Patterson (Pierre Clemont), and went backstage.
Aftermath
Approximately three months after WrestleMania, Nikolai Volkoff and Iron Sheik lost the WWF Tag Team Championship back to The U.S. Express, whom they had won them from three months prior to the event. They held the title until August, when the team of Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine became the new champions. The duo, later known as The Dream Team, revitalized the WWF's tag team scene and feuded with The British Bulldogs. Valentine, however, lost his Intercontinental Championship back to Tito Santana after WrestleMania. Santana, whom Valentine had won the title from in September 1984, won the title back in a cage match, which is a standard wrestling match that takes place in a wrestling ring surrounded by a cage, on July 6, 1985—almost one year after their storyline feud originally began.After André the Giant defeated Big John Studd at the event, Studd formed a tag team with King Kong Bundy, and the duo faced André and Hulk Hogan on a number of occasions. Later, the team of Studd and Bundy teamed up in Handicap matches—a two against one wrestling match—against André, which renewed the feud between André and Studd.
In late 1985, Wendi Richter was defeated by The Fabulous Moolah, losing her WWF Women's Championship in controversial fashion. Moolah, who wrestled as a masked female wrestler known as The Spider Lady, won the title after convincing an official to call the match in her favor, but Richter was unaware of the planned title change. Richter left the WWF shortly after, and Moolah held the title for approximately two years.
In a new storyline after WrestleMania, Roddy Piper began training Cowboy Bob Orton as a boxer. Hulk Hogan accepted a challenge on the behalf of Mr. T to face Orton in match on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event. After Mr. T won the match, Orton and Piper attacked him, leading to a boxing match at WrestleMania II between Piper and Mr. T. At the second annual WrestleMania, Piper was disqualified in the third round.
Production
The attendance at the event, which took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City, was 19,121. In addition, the event was viewed by over one million fans through closed circuit television, making it the largest event on closed-circuit television in the United States at the time. A technical glitch ended the closed circuit broadcast early into the showing at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To appease angry fans who pelted the screen with garbage, WrestleMania was broadcast in its entirety on a local television station two weeks later.WWF announcer Gene Okerlund sang the "The Star-Spangled Banner", and Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura called the action. Okerlund also did interviews backstage, and "Lord" Alfred Hayes did interviews near the entrance to the locker room, right outside the ring. Howard Finkel was the ring announcer. The opening theme for the event was the instrumental portion of the Phil Collins and Philip Bailey hit "Easy Lover", while the closing theme for the credits was "Axel F." by Harold Faltermeyer. Celebrity guests in attendance included Billy Martin, Cyndi Lauper, Mr. T, Muhammad Ali, and Liberace accompanied by The Rockettes.
Reception
John Powell of SLAM! Wrestling rated the event as average, citing that it "wasn't the greatest...". Despite his overall rating, he praised several moments, including Orton hitting Orndorff with his cast, King Kong Bundy's win, and André the Giant throwing the money into the crowd. Powell, however, listed Mr. T wrestling as his least favorite moment of the pay-per-view. He claimed the main event match, in which Mr. T took part, was humorous despite its lack of technical wrestling.
In contrast, Pro Wrestling Illustrated awarded the main event match its annual PWI Match of the Year honor, as voted by the fans. The event was also included in a July 2007 special that aired on the MSG Network entitled "The 50 Greatest Moments at Madison Square Garden", ranking at #30. In the December 2002 issue of Wrestling Digest, the main event match-up was listed as number five in the most memorable twenty-five matches of the past twenty-five years. Echoing John Powell's thoughts, Kevin Eck of Wrestling Digest stated, "The match itself was far from a technical-wrestling classic, but it delivered in terms of entertaining the crowd." In another Wrestling Digest article, written by Keith Loria, the main event was ranked third in the top ten matches in WrestleMania history. In contrast to Powell, Loria believed that Mr. T "proved to be an adequate grappler".
Robert Leighty, Jr. of 411mania rated the event a 6.5 out of 10, citing that "outside of the Main Event, there isn't too much to go out of your way to see." Leighty, however, also stated that "the whole show should be watched and probably even owned by true wrestling fans.
Results
Notes
References
- Assael, Shaun and Mike Mooneyham Sex, Lies, and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment. Crown.
- Shields, Brian (4th Edition 2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Pocket Books.
External links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Saturday September 20, 2008 at 13:49:43 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation
