411's Countdown to WrestleMania 24: The Importance of WrestleMania.

Posted by Mike Campbell on 03.20.2008

A look throughout the years at the biggest event in sports entertainment


Graphic by Meehan

It started on March 31, 1985, since then it's gone on to be the most important day of the year for all wrestling fans. WrestleMania. Its importance isn't just limited to wrestling fans either. If you ask ten random people off the street what the biggest event of the year is for wrestling, they're going to tell you that it's WrestleMania. There's even been mentions of it on primetime sitcoms, who could forget that episode of Full House when Kimmy Gibler's parents got her tickets to WrestleMania 6 for her birthday?

It started out simply enough. Vince McMahon wanted to run his own successful supercard, similar to Jim Crockett promotions' Starrcade event. The first was a success, the second was a success, and to call the third a success would be like saying that a few readers dislike Larry Csonka, a HUGE understatement. Why is it so important? Well if you look through the annuls of history at the various happenings at WrestleMania, both in and outside of the ring, you'll see exactly how it became such. I won't go into details for all 23, just some of the bigger ones.

The first WrestleMania wasn't held on PPV, but was shown on closed circut TV, with production values that looked downright primitive, even for 1985. It was held at Madison Square Garden on 3/31/85. The undercard itself was unspectacular. King Kong Bundy beat jobber Special Delivery Jones in "9 seconds" to set a new record. David Sammartino and Brutus Beefcake wrestled to a double disqualification. Junkyard Dog beat Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine via countout, and Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff won the WWF Tag Titles from Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo. The big draws for the show were the three finals matches. First off, Andre the Giant beat John Studd in a bodyslam match, proving once and for all who the Giant of the WWF was, and avenging the cutting of his hair. He also won $15,000 but Bobby Heenan put the kibosh on that. Wendi Richter won the WWF Women's Title from Lelani Kai. Richter was managed by Cindy Lauper, who was at the height of her popularity at the time. The main event was Hulk Hogan and Mr. T (also at the height of his popularity) against Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorf. Which Hogan and T won, leading to Orndorf's face turn and eventual heel turn on Hogan.

To see how successful the WWF and their expansion to go national was, look no further than WrestleMania 2. Held from three different arenas, in three different time zones. It was also the first to be shown on PPV. The show was chock full of both big matches from a wrestling perspective and from a mainstream perspective. Los Angeles witnessed Hulk Hogan getting his revenge on King Kong Bundy (who'd injured the champion earlier in the year) inside a steel cage, with Tommy Lasorta as the ring announcer and Elvira doing color commentary. Chicago saw the British Bulldogs chase of the WWF Tag Team Titles finally end, as they (along with Ozzy Osbourne) defeated The Dream Team for the titles. Plus a battle royal featuring both wrestlers and football players, including several Chicago Bears (who'd won the Super Bowl that year) that was won by Andre The Giant. Oddly enough, New York got the short end of the stick. They got a boxing match between Mr. T and Roddy Piper, along with a Randy Savage vs. George Steel match.

Do I really need to go into detail on how big WrestleMania III was?

Okay, fine. It set an attendance record of "93,173" (in reality about 78,000). Scored a huge buyrate for PPV. Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat stole the show with a classic match. Hogan defeated Andre to forever solidify himself as the #1 man in the promotion. Roddy Piper retired by shaving Adrian Adonis' head. Iron Sheik would have made Brian Blair a humble man, had Hacksaw Jim Duggan saved him.

WrestleMania VI was the first venture outside the U.S. going up to Canada, and putting 67,000 in the Skydome in Toronto. Hulk Hogan passed the torch to the Ultimate Warrior that night, with a classic match. There were a few short squash type matches. Rick Rude beating 80's icon Jimmy Snuka and The Hart Foundation beating the 80's style Russian heel team of The Boleshiviks, sending a message that the older talent needed to get out of the way. Demolition won their third WWF Tag Team Title from Andre and Haku, and Andre turned babyface, ending his in-ring career with the fans' support.

WrestleMania X marked the tenth anniversary (technically the ninth) of the event and the WWF went back to MSG. It was the first WrestleMania without Hogan, who was on his way to WCW. Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon had a ladder match that set the bar for ladder matches for the rest of the decade. Bret and Owen Hart had a great match in the opener, setting the pace for their feud for the next year. It was the first WrestleMania to feature two advertized WWF title matches (the previous years show had an impromptu WWF Title match to close the show). Yokozuna successfully defended the title against Lex Luger, thanks to Mr. Perfect, but was defeated by Bret Hart to close the show. The ten man tag match never took place, the heels couldn't agree on a captain.

WrestleMania XI was actually the beginning of the dark period of the WWF, when WCW first started trying to mount a comeback against them. The attendance was only 15,000, and most of the undercard was forgettable. Vince tried to compensate by really stacking the card with celebrities. Johnathon Taylor Thomas, Pamela Anderson, Jennifer McCarthy, Nicholas Tutoro, Salt and Peppa, and even more! The main event was Shawn Michaels busting his ass in the main event (they wound up turning him face the next night) to get Diesel over huge, and Bam Bam Bigelow jobbing to Lawrence Taylor of New York Giants Fame. Bret Hart beat Bob Backlund in an 'I Quit' match, even though Bob never said 'I Quit.'

WrestleMania XV was firmly into the WWF's best days from a moneymaking standpoint. Steve Austin won the WWF Title from The Rock in the main event, firmly putting him back on top of the WWF. Triple H also turned heel on his DX buddy X-Pac to kick start his mega push that would lead him to the WWF Title, and marrying Stephanie McMahon. Pete Rose dressed up like a chicken and got tombstoned by Kane. If you beleive Jim Ross from a couple weeks back on RAW, then HHH defeated Kane, although my memory tells me that HHH got disqualified.

WrestleMania XVI never happened, it was called WrestleMania 2000. HHH became the first heel to ever leave WrestleMania with the WWF Title. Edge and Christian won their first WWF Tag Team Title in a spectacular three-way ladder match. Kurt Angle lost both the Intercontinental and European Titles, and wasn't pinned to lose either of them. Al Snow and Steve Blackman lost to T&A and decided to take it out on Chester McCheeserton. And there were several Hardcore Title changes during a 15:00 battle royal.

WrestleMania X-Seven was the peak of the wrestling boom in North America. Austin and Rock tore down the house one more time in the main event, with an ending we thought we'd never see. Edge and Christian once again won tag team gold in a match with lots of ladders. Iron Sheik won a gimmick battle royal, Angle and Benoit put on a wrestling clinic, and the Undertaker turned back HHH.

WrestleMania X-8 was the big return of Hulk Hogan to the WWF, as he and Rock had a battle of titans. HHH won the undisputed title from Chris Jericho to close the show. Steve Austin beat Scott Hall in a match that nobody cared about. Edge beat Booker T in a match based on a rivalry over a shampoo commercial. Undertaker beat Flair to keep the streak alive.

WrestleMania XX was the night of the small guys. Benoit and Guerrero stood tall in the center of the ring showing off their titles, in a moment we never thought we'd see. Benoit made HHH tap out, and Eddie Guerrero lied, cheated, and stole one over Kurt Angle. Undertaker beat his bother for the millionth time. Jericho got swerved so bad by Trish Stratus he may as well have been Sting. Molly Holly's head got shaved.

WrestleMania 23 featured the battle of the billionaires, with Bobby Lashley making a measly $250,000. John Cena shocked the world by retaining the WWE Title over Shawn Michaels. Mr. Kennedy seemed ready to break out after winning Money In The Bank, but it wasn't to be. The Undertaker made it 15-0 winning the World Title, and the ECW Originals toppled the New Breed.

And now we look forward to WrestleMania 24. Undertaker's streak vs. Edge's streak, plus the World Title. The sure to be emotional retirement of Ric Flair. Randy Orton faces seemingly insurmountable odds as WWE Champion, the Belfast Street Fight, Big Show vs. Money Maywether, plus MITB. How can anyone see a lineup that seems to be so stacked and *not* want to check it out? Plus, given how well the WWE has done over the years at making WrestleMania the pinnacle of the "WWE season" and it's sure to be a memorable event.