WrestleMania

Vince McMahon's Wrestlemania is a classics in sports history. Maybe not the greatest moment, but it is way up there (right up there with Mays throwing the ball from outfield and the 1994 Rangers Stanley cup victory). McMahon's vision of a true sports event in wrestling is pure genius, in which he has Mr T fight the "American hero" Hulk Hogan in one of the most memorable matches ever. Great fun, with McMahon there to produce and star in this spectacle that is only matched (maybe even greater) by the super bowl. A++

Well this was it, the grandaddy of them all, the original Wrestlemania. This was not much of an event by today's standards, but in 1985, there had never been anything like it. I'm going to try and give you a taste of the event with a brief run down of the matches. Anyway let the festivities begin.

An opening introduction from Vince McMahon (Jesus, he looks young) kicks us off, followed by some truly god awful 80's muzak, the national anthem, as sung by Mean Gene, we've got Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse "The Body" Ventura on commentry and we're off.

Tito Santana vs The Executioner Right, former InterContinental Champion vs Mr. Nobody Jobber. If you have never seen a Wrestling match in your life, you can guess who is going to win this one. Not bad action from both sides mind and Tito was pretty special considering it was 1985. We see the flying forearm and the figure-four, not a bad way to kick things off. Imagine though if Tito had been against someone like the newly signed heel Bret Hart, hell that would have been an opener.

King Kong Bundy with Jimmy Hart vs S.D.Jones 450 pound madman vs Mr. Nobody. A 9 second (actually more like 20) squash. Next...

Ricky Steamboat vs Matt Borne Hey it's the Dragon vs Doink (wonderful future gimmicks there). Solid match here. I love watching Steamboat and that arm drag. Technical well paced match. Not bad though says I.

David Sammartino with Bruno Sammartino vs Brutus Beefcake with Luscious Johnny V. Dull dull dull. This match goes on for ever with a lot of chinlocks too. Epitome of boring 80's wrestling, and awfully cheap finish as well. Especially cheap considering this is the greatest event of all time.

Intercontinental Title Match : Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (Champion) with Jimmy Hart vs The Junkyard Dog I have to admit, I was never able to get in to the JYD, although the MSG crowd pops huge for him. Again, pretty dull match, not good for the IC division. However, the title would soon become the possesion of a young Mr. R. Savage, and things would get much better.

Tag Team Titles Match : The US Express (Champions) vs Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik with Classy Freddie Blassie I like this one, two speedsters vs two huge monsters. Loads of extra-curricular activities on the part of Blassie and the heels and some great moves from the Express make ths one a goodie.

$15,000 Bodyslam Challenge : Andre the Giant vs Big John Studd with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan The stipulation here was thet if Andre could slam Studd within the time limit, then he would win $15,000 from Studd and Heenan. If he couldn't however, he would be fired from the WWF (pretty ahead of it's time). This isn't great wrestling, but it's good fun. It's always great to watch Andre in his face days - the gentle giant. With Heenan as well in full weasel mode this one is a favourite.

Women's Title Match : Leilani Kai (Champion) with The Fabulous Moolah vs Wendi Richter with Cyndi Lauper Okay, big time MTV Rock n Wrestling crossover going on here. The croed pops huge for Lauper. Anyway not a bad match, a few of the moves a blatantly botched, but better that 60% of women's matches today.

Hulk Hogan (WWF Champion) & Mr. T with Superfly Jimmy Snuka vs Rowdy Roddy Piper & Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff with Cowboy Bob Orton Guest Referee : Muhammad Ali Guest Ring Announcer : Billy Martin Guest Timekeeper : Liberace Now this is the Main Event. A star studded arena, MSG jumping and the mighty Hulkster teaming with BA himself, Mr. T. This is a pretty good main event, all 4 men primarily brawling, but damn Hogan and Piper know how to work the crowd. When they are in together the crowd is hot. This is good fun, although I feel that this should have been Hogan and Piper one on one. This IS Wrestlemania after all.

So there you go, the tradition is born. If you're not a wrestling fan, you probably won't get much out of this. However, if you love this theatre of the absurd we call wrestling this is where it all began and you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Match 1: Tito Santana defeated the Executioner Match 2: David Sammartino and Brutus Beefcake wrestled to a double-DQ Match 3: Ricky Steamboat defeated Matt Borne Match 4: King Kong Bundy defeated S.D. Jones Match 5: Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd in a Body Slam Match Match 6: Junk Yard Dog defeated Greg Valentine via countout Match 7: Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik defeated Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham to capture the Tag Team Championship Match 8: Wendi Richter defeated Lelani Kai for the Women's Championship Match 9: Hulk Hogan & Mr. T defeated Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff

Overall Mark: B

Always great to look back on the evolution of wrestling's 🤼‍♀️ sports entertainment begins here. All the best in the business under one roof instead of working territory. Unusually for what we know will follow in the years ahead this features a tag team main event .

In 1985, the WWF made the first ever Wrestlemania, which was a very big gamble for the WWF at the time, but it payed off and it helped boost the popularity of the WWF and Pro Wrestling, but does it hold up?

The event is set in Madison Square Garden, but only the ring is lit and the audience cannot be seen, which in my opinion, does not make for a very good aesthetic, it contains none of the grandeur of the future Wrestlemanias.

The promos are for the most part, not very engaging, some even have comically bad acting.

Most of the matches are incredibly forgettable, or a slog, the only ones that were worth watching were: The US Express (Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham) vs The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff --and-- Hulk Hogan & Mr. T (with Jimmy Snuka) vs Paul Orndoff & Roddy Piper (with Bob Orton).

Which were *** 1/2 stars at best, all the other matches were *-** stars.

In conclusion, Wrestlemania 1 was he first ever Wrestlemania... but man, Wrestlemania has come SO FAR since then, aside from it's historical value, it is not worth re-watching in the modern day.