WrestleMania (1985)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

A lot of fun.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

WrestleMania is an annual event by WWE that's pro-wrestling's best night of the year. Its inaugural event wasn't anything as huge as it is now, but that's no excuse for this! Pro-wrestling is where people pretend to beat each other up. The key to making a good match is to make it realistic. I know nowadays people complain about John Cena and Sin Cara botching (marks absolutely live to bash anything John Cena does), but have they ever watched wrestling from the 70's and early 80's?? WWF or Jim Crockett, they looked as fake as can be. The first WrestleMania featured matches where the superstars looked completely hammered out of their minds. I like the dudes that wrestled here, but these are candidates for some of their worst bouts.First is Tito Santana beating The Executioner. Tito is awesome, but they were extremely sloppy. 3.5/10King Kong Bundy vs. SD Jones was the shortest match in the event's history for more than 20 years. But trust me, it was NOT 9 seconds. But it was cool. 7/10The amazing Ricky the Dragon beats forgettable Matt Borne in a disappointment. Ricky can do so much better. 6/10Brutus the Barber beats Bruno Sammartino's son, David. Another slop. 4/10Junkyard Dog beating Greg the Hammer was a good match. First ever referee reversal in Mania and the underrated JYD shines. 7/10Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik take home the tag team titles from US Express. I like both teams (love Volkoff and Sheik), but this was forgettable. 5/10Next was the boy slam match featuring Andre the Giant against Big John Studd. Obviously Andre won. 7/10Next up Wendi Richter takes the Woman's title from Leilani Kai. Sloppy, but it was wild enough for a pass. 6.5/10The main event was Hulk Hogan & Mr. T beating Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. Good, but not great. 7/10Celebrity appearances by Cyndi Lauper, Liberace, Mr. T and Muhammed Ali were sweet, but overall the night wasn't good.Overall: 5.8/10

Though no one can say that the first Wrestlemania wasn't a landmark event in professional wrestling history, this event (for a number of reasons) just doesn't pass muster compared to other events that would come later.First of all, the presentation is not befitting of an epic event. The announcing team of Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura is rock-solid, but the transitions between matches and camera work leaves much to be desired. Instead of the truly magnificent feel of later shows, "Wrestlemania I" is a bit dark and sparse.In terms of the matches themselves, they really don't start to get going until the last half hour or so. Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd in a Slam Match is kind of fun, as is the women's match featuring Cyndi Lauper. The finale (Rowdy Piper and Paul Orndorf vs. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T) is full of energy, if not a bit anti-climactic.Overall, it is clear from viewing this in hindsight that the WWF was still searching for the "magic touch" to truly make Wrestlemania a must-see event.

Tito Santana Vs. The Executioner 6/10King Kong Bundy Vs. Special Delivery Jones 6,5/10 A few seconds funny match.Ricky Steamboat Vs. Matt Bone 6/10David Sammartino Vs. Brutus Beefcake 5/10Junkyard Dog vs: Greg Valentine 5/10WWF Tag Team Championship: Nikolai Volkoff/Iron Sheik Vs. Champions: The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) 6,5/10$15,000/Retire Body Slam Challenge: André the Giant Vs. Big John Studd 4/10WWF Women's Championship: Wendi Richter Vs. Champion: Leilani Kai 5/10Hulk Hogan/Mr. T Vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper/Paul Orndorff 5/10 Maybe little overbooked match. But far decent despite wrestling skills of these main competitors.Overall, I'll give 5/10.

Depending on what kind of wrestling fan you are, you are either going to love this event or you are going to find it pretty crappy. If you are a typical "mark" from the attitude era of Austin/Rock/HHH who's quality of a wrestling event is based on special effects, fireworks, major stunts, profanity, catchy phrases and heavy story lines than I advise you not to watch this event. However, if you are like me and grew up watching wrestling as a kid back in the 1980's during the Hulkamania Rock N' Wrestle era, or if you are a major wrestling historian, than this event is an absolute must have.First of all, this is 1985 at Madison Square Garden. There is no gigantic Titantron at the top of a stage. There is no firework display to start the show. It's just a simple wrestling ring with the lights turned down. The arena is dark. But this was the WWF back in the mid 80's. And to be honest, I miss the simplistic dark arenas which the WWF stopped using about 1987. To me, that's wrestling, the way it should be. The Raw & Smackdown set up of today makes every arena look exactly the same. This was the Madison Square Garden look for a very long time. I would really love to see the WWE do an event at MSG today with the dark arena look that it had back in 1985. No fancy set up or fireworks. Just a wrestling ring is all you need.Now onto the show itself. The interview segments are actually pretty funny. Before every match Gene Okerlund would interview one of the competitors, then he would turn and immediately interview his opponent. The WWF was concerned about breaking keyfabe back then, but didn't seem to mind having bitter enemies in the same room at the same time conducting interviews. And the interviews were very simple. Unlike today where a wrestler may spend 10 minutes putting down another wrestler and doing everything to insulting his whole life story, they would simply say I'm going to beat him because I'm the better man.As for the card itself, many of the opening matches were not that good, at least by today's standards. You had King Kong Bundy squashing S.D. Jones in 9 seconds (actually more like 25 seconds in real time.) A lot of grappling holds. The majority of the lower card matches were your typical pre-Hogan WWF style matches with just a bunch of holds and one guy wins, no real story behind it. But as you got later into the card, the entertainment part really started to come out. And the crowd really started to get into it starting with the JYD/Valentine match. The tag title match with the U.S. Express (Barry Windham & Mike Rutondo) going up against the anti-Americans (Iron Shiek vs. Mike Rutundo) drew a lot of heat. This was really the start of the ever popular storyline of a proud patriotic American babyface going against an anti-American heel. That storyline would be re-used for many years to come. The Women's match was very good for a woman's match. Okay so Wendi Richter and Leilani Kai aren't nearly as hot as Trish Stratus and Lita. But still, the crowd was way into it. And the addition of popular 80's singer Cindi Lauper made it really good. And the main event was the biggest anything had ever been up to that point in the wrestling industry. Hulk Hogan & Mr. T were both enjoying tremendous popularity from the recent Rocky III movie. And were going up against the two most hated heels at the time Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff. With the celebrity editions of Billy Martin, Muhhamad Ali, and Liberace added to the mix, it made it all that more special. Again, keep in mind that nothing like this had been done in wrestling before.Say what you want about the lack of wrestling, the interviews, or the dark arena. This was wrestling in the 1980's. This is what I grew up on. I was 8 years old when this event took place. And at the time, nothing like this had ever taken place in the wrestling industry. The importance of this event and it's place in history can't be denied. This event did the same thing to wrestling that Babe Ruth did to baseball. It gave it national recognition. This event was what put wrestling on the map. And if it wasn't for this first Wrestlemania, there might not be the WWE as you know it today. It was the first of it's kind. Call me old fashion. But if given the choice of watching this show or watching the average PPV that is put out by the WWE today, I'd choose this show.