WrestleMania I

Legacy Review

WrestleMania I

March 31, 1985 from Madison Square Garden

Commentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura

The Granddaddy of The Granddaddy of Them All, AKA Vince McMahon's massive gamble

We open with Mean Gene of all people singing the National Anthem (the real one, not America The Beautiful, AKA the National Anthem According to Vince McMahon). He's....OK. Guess we finally found something Okerlund didn't excel at.

Lord Alfred Hayes intros almost all the matches from his position just outside the entrance doors. Wrestlers are often walking around him as he's talking. He manages to sound bewildered or just plain lost about 60% of the time.

Tito Santana def The Executioner in 4:50- The Executioner is billed as undefeated and both Okerlund and commentary say "we don't even know who this guy is or where he comes from". Even his WEIGHT is "unknown". They couldn't get him to stand on a scale for 10 seconds? Well, unbeknownst to everyone at the time but knownst to us now, The Executioner is Playboy Buddy Rose during one of his short WWF stints. Santana is in between his two Intercontinental title runs. They criss cross to start leading to a Santana backdrop, then Executioner gets dropckicked out of the ring. Santana locks in a headlock and runs up the ropes to keep Executioner in it. For WWF in 1985, that was flippydo. Executioner gets a kick in the gut to take over, and as promised in his promo goes for Santana's wounded leg. He goes up to the top but Santana gives him the Flair throw off. Executioner gets his knees up on a splash attempt. Back to the leg. Santana pushes off, and Executioner goes over the top and lands sitting in a chair at ringside! Nicely done. Santana bodyslams him back in. Flying chalupa! That could end it but Santana was still locked in a feud with Greg Valentine over who has the best figure four, so he slaps that on to win with. *3/4

King Kong Bundy (w/Jimmy Hart) def Special Delivery Jones in :09 :23- Bundy had wrestled in WWF in his rookie year earlier in the decade as Chris Canyon but for all intents and purposes he's early in his "real" first run and had been getting rapid squash wins over everyone. He's announced at almost 450 pounds and Monsoon says he looks "almost 500", but under the eyeball test he looks more like 350 to me. Jones runs the ropes and charges Bundy. Bad move, son. Bundy bearhugs him, dumps him in the corner, and hits him with the avalanche. One big splash later, it's over. Finkel announces it as 9 seconds and a record but any stopwatch will tell you it was really 23 seconds. Still, saying you're setting records helps put Wrestlemania over as a big f'n deal. Here's a fun fact: not long after this Hart traded Bundy to Bobby Heenan for Adrian Adonis and The Missing Link. A trade between managers. Wish we had enough managers to do something like that again. NR

Ricky Steamboat def Matt Borne in 4:38- Borne was just a jobber in his first WWF run. Steamboat had just jumped over from Mid-Atlantic after getting frustrated when his big TV title feud with Tully Blanchard ended with him losing, and with Dusty's booking glass ceiling in general. It's clearly early days for him in WWF as he doesn't have the Dragon nickname yet and is still wrestling in trunks. In fact (Ring Gearhead note), he's in all white tonight. Boots, trunks and kneepads. Borne mocks Steamboat's pose during intros. Steamboat starts out fast. Borne comes off the ropes and sees a chop coming so he grabs the ropes to stop, then charges again and Steamboat chops him anyway. Steamboat flips out of two atomic drop attempts and hits one of his own. Borne grabs a bear hug and turns it into a belly to belly suplex. Steamboat lays in more chops. Monsoon gets external occipital protuberance in. Steamboat hits the crossbody off the top (with Borne adding a nice touch of seeing it coming and jumping back in shock) and it's done. It's an extended squash, but also had a lot of nice back and forth. Borne was game. Of course, we all know that Borne would go on to personify one of the most famous gimmicks of the 1990s: Big Josh............Oh, yeah. And that other one. Doink something or other. **

Brutus Beefcake (w/Johnny Valiant) and David Sammartino (w/Bruno Sammartino) go to a double DQ in 11:44- Hoo boy. David Sammartino. This is one of those instances of a family name taking you places you shouldn't be going. Bruno didn't want David to get into wrestling but David did it anyway. Despite Bruno managing occasional matches for him their relationship was always strained. Bruno gets a way bigger pop than David on intros. Beefcake wins a couple of lockups before David gets a drop toe hold. They do some mat wrestling (which to be fair David looks fairly comfortable doing) and Beefcake ends up outside. Bruno offers the kid some advice and David immediately ends up stuck in a Beefcake headlock. Way to sabotage your kid's career, Bruno. David works Beefcake's legs a bit. Beefcake gets an eye rake with his forearm covering. After some more back and forth Beefcake gets a headbutt and throws David out. Valiant scoops David up and slams him on the floor. Bruno immediately goes into enraged dad mode and all four guys end up fighting in the ring. The ref calls for the bell and DQs everyone. They should have taken half of this match's time and given it to the Santana and/or Steamboat matches, especially with that ending. *1/2

WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Junkyard Dog def Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) by countout in 6:55- JYD was the biggest star in Bill Watts' Mid-South before jumping to WWF in mid-'84. He remained hugely over but without Watts' magic workrate-inducing shock sticks his matches generally stank. It's all JYD to start. Valentine misses an elbow and JYD rolls through the crawling headbutts. Valentine uses a test of strength to take control and works the leg. JYD pushes out of a figure four attempt. They go back and forth in the corner. JYD takes over with more headbuts. Valentine flop! Hart gets up on the apron. Valentine tries to ambush JYD from behind but hits Hart instead. Still, Valentine manages to use the distraction to get a roll up, and puts his feet on the ropes to get the 3. As Valentine and Hart are leaving Tito Santana runs in (already changed into a dress shirt and slacks) and protests. The referee agrees and restarts the match. On Santana's word? The guy that's been feuding with Valentine for months? Valentine refuses to get back in the ring and is counted out. Santana would regain the IC title from Valentine 4th of July weekend. *3/4

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (w/Freddie Blassie) def The US Express (c) (w/Capt. Lou Albano) in 6:56- I love how Sheik calls Okerlund "Gene Mean" in his promos. He had plummeted back down the card after being the transitional WWF Champion between Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan. The US Express are Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda (future IRS, dad to Bo Dallas and Bray Wyatt), who happen to be brothers-in-law in real life. They started teaming together in Florida before moving up north, and would stay a team in the AWA before Windham moved into Crockett territory for his big singles breakout in '86. Captain Lou has what looks like a fishing lure attached to his cheek. Sheik and Rotunda start. Rotunda hits a dropkick and Sheik sells it while Rotunda's feet are still 6 inches away. The heels try to double team but Sheik dropkicks Volkoff off the apron, leading to some temporary dissension. Maybe one of them realized that a theocratic Islamic government isn't really compatible with Soviet style communism. No, they both remembered they're both basically dictatorships that hate the US and moved on. The Express control for a while, showing off some athleticism and going for lots of top rope moves. Volkoff rams Rotunda's head into Sheik's book spike and Rotunda goes face in peril. Volkoff drops him throat first over the top rope. Sheiky Baby puts Rotunda in the abdominal stretch to stretch his abs and make him humble. Rotunda hip tosses out and gets the hot tag. Windham hits his bulldog finisher on Volkoff but Sheik breaks the pin up. Donnybrook! While the ref is getting Rotunda out Sheik gets Blassie's cane and whacks Windham with it. Volkoff drapes an arm over and we have new champs. Pretty good for the time it got. Windham and Rotunda were in prove it mode, and the heels played their parts well. Another match that could have used more time. The Express would win the titles back in June before dropping them again in August to The Dream Team (Beefcake and Valentine). **1/4

Gene Mean joins the celebrating new champs in the back. Blassie denies that he ever had a cane. Classic.

Body Slam Challenge: Andre the Giant def Big John Studd (w/Bobby Heenan) in 5:54- The rules for this match aren't made horribly clear at the start, but the only way it can end is by bodyslam or time limit. If Andre slams Studd, he wins $15,000 of Studd's (well, probably Heenan's) money. If Studd slams Andre or the match goes to time limit, Andre has to retire. Studd and Andre had been feuding for years over who was the true giant in wrestling. The Body Slam Challenge was a regular challenge put on by Studd. While Andre is checking out the bag of money Studd ambushes him. It's also just about the only offensive move Studd has the whole match. Andre chops out and goes through his headbutts, chokes, and corner squashes. Studd takes a powder, then when he gets back in tries to slam Andre. Not happening. Andre spends another 3-4 minutes beating him down then scoops him up and slams him to win. Zero drama, but the crowd ate it up. Afterward Andre starts throwing the money into the crowd before Heenan snatches it away and runs off with it. After this show Studd would form a team with new Heenan acquisition King Kong Bundy and continue to harass Andre all the way up to Andre turning heel and joining the Heenan Family himself leading up to Wrestlemania 3. 1/4*

Promos for the women's title match. Cyndi Lauper's speaking voice needs autotune. Kai says that she will return to the locker room with "my hand in victor". I guess the odds are in her favorite. On their way out to the ring Moolah gives Lord Alfred a peck on the lips. Lord Alfred: "Good gracious!"

WWF Women's Ladies' Championship: Wendi Richter (w/Cyndi Lauper) def Lelani Kai (c) (w/The Fabulous Moolah) in 6:12- In many ways this is the culmination of the Rock 'N' Wrestling Connection that helped put WWF on the national map. Richter had been feuding with both Moolah and Kai. Meanwhile, a chance meeting between Lauper and Lou Albano got the ball rolling for Lauper to make WWF appearances. It also led to WWF matches being shown on the hot new cable network MTV, the first matches shown on cable television. Richter defeated Moolah to win the title on the first MTV special, The Brawl to End It All, then Kai took the title on MTV special 2, The War to Settle the Score (which was headlined by a Hogan/Piper singles match and was somewhat a warmup show for WM). The ref has to throw Moolah out of the ring. Richter uses a hammerlock to throw Kai around. Richter punches like Jimmy Valiant. Kai uses heel 101 hair pulling most of the match. Moolah reaches in and also grabs Richter's hair. Lauper runs in to get her off. An AA type slam from Richter gets a good near fall that the crowd bought in to. Kai hits a crossbody off the top. Richter does a rather slow and sloppy reversal of it to get the 3 and win back the title. Huge celebration in the ring after. It's a moment for sure. It started rough but got a bit better as it went on. If it was on GLOW (the modern TV drama, not the original) we would have called it good. *1/2

Before the main event we get the celebrity roll call. Former (and controversial) Yankees manager Billy Martin is the guest ring announcer. Las Vegas entertainment legend Liberace is the guest timekeeper, and he comes into the ring with a group of Rockettes and does a kick line with them (anyone under the age of 50 will probably have to go look up why it was such a big deal to have him there). The greatest boxer of all time Muhammad Ali is the special guest referee, serving as the second referee on the outside. Unannounced is Pat Patterson, the first ever Intercontinental Champion, who is the guest ref inside the ring. All this pomp and circumstance accomplished the goal of making Wrestlemania feel, again, like a big f'n deal.

WWF Champion Hulk Hogan & Mr. T (w/Jimmy Snuka) def "Rowdy" Roddy Piper & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (w/Bob Orton) in 13:24- This remains the only Wrestlemania not to have a WWF/E title defense. Piper quickly became WWF's #1 heel after arriving from Crockett in '84. He had feuds with Snuka (the coconut shot) and Bruno Sammartino before setting sights on Hogan. Mr. T is here because of the Rock 'N' Wrestling Connection. Piper gets a full bagpipe and drum corps for his entrance. Hogan's so fired up he rips off T's shirt after his own. Orndorff and Hogan start. No, wait, Piper wants in. OK. No, wait again. Now T wants in. Piper and T have a nose to nose standoff and exchange slaps. Piper feigns a time out but kicks T instead. They go into a nice mat wrestling sequence. T his holding his own here. T gets a slam on Piper. Piper pushes him back into the heel corner. Hogan charges in. DONNYBROOK! Orton gets in. Ali gets in. Snuka sneaks up to the top rope but can't find a target and jumps down again. Ali hits Piper! Ali also takes a swing at Orton while getting him out of the ring. This is chaos, but the good kind of chaos. The crowd is going nuts. The heels regroup and walk all the way to the back. Hogan stops the count to prevent a countout. Eventually Piper and Orndorff make their way back, only to get run into each other. Hogan works Piper over. T gets a couple of slams and a hip toss. Hogan big boots Piper over the top and out. While Hogan tries to go out after him Orndorff ambushes him from behind and knocks him out. Piper gives Hogan a chair shot. T tries to make a save but Patterson literally drags him away, allowing more double teaming. Orndorff hits a shot off the top rope, but goes to the well again and Hogan dodges a knee drop. Tag to T, but the heels immediately double team him. As T and Piper fight they fall into the face corner and Hogan tags back in. A back suplex from Orndorff kills his momentum. Orton and Snuka get in again. Snuka gets knocked back out. Orton goes to the top rope to hit Hogan with his arm cast, but Hogan dodges and Orndorff gets it instead. Hogan drops on him and gets the 3. Not too bad. It was well structured and everyone played their role to perfection. T did well with what he had to do, which would get him return invitations for future matches. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Essentially this is your typical MSG show with a few extra bells and whistles, but at the same time you can tell as it goes that you're watching something special and historic. If you compare shows from the same time side by side there's little doubt that Crockett and the NWA had the superior in-ring product. A lot of the wrestling style in the WWF at the time of this show was still stuck in the 1970s. But thanks to their connection with MTV and the burgeoning star power of Hulk Hogan they were starting to make a dent on the national landscape. The rest of the product would soon catch up, and the Wrestlemania formula would be perfected at Wrestlemania 3. Vince's gamble paid off big time.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+ in terms of pure match quality, when factoring in historical importance call it a C. Every fan should watch this show once.