HISTORY OF WRESTLEMANIA

In 1985 one man's vision to create the biggest wrestling event of all time came to life. Vince McMahon the owner of the then at the time WWF now called WWE created Wrestlemania. McMahon put everything on the line to create this mega wrestling show and it all paid off. Throughout the 32 year history of the event there have been many memorable moments such as Hulk Hogan body slamming Andre The Giant, Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior clashing title for title in Toronto, Shawn Michaels leap of faith off a ladder onto Razor Ramon, Stone Cold Steve Austin's rise to stardom, The Rock vs The Hulk, and many other memorable moments. 

Let's go back to when walk-man's and VCR's became popular the 1980's. 

The very first Wrestlemania took place in the world's most famous arena Madison Square Garden in New York City. The main event on that famous evening was a tag team match pitting "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff taking on the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. Having Mr. T in an actual wrestling match for the very first Wrestlemania was such a huge deal for the WWF. Lots of celebrities from the 1980's were on hand for this mega event. Celebrities such as former Heavyweight Boxing champion Muhammad Ali, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Martin and more were on hand to see this wrestling spectacular.

The very first edition of this event was shown on closed circuit TV. This was before Pay Per View was introduced and the event was a smashing success. So much so that Wrestlemania returned the following year 1986 for Wrestlemania 2 in what many call a lack luster show.

Wrestlemania 2 was the first and so far only Wrestlemania to be held in three different cities at the same time: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. Each city had it's own main event. In New York the main event saw Mr. T take on "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in a Boxing match. Meanwhile in Chicago the main event at the Rozemont Horizon saw the WWF Tag Team Championships defended by the champions The Dream Team made up of Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake who were managed by Johnny Valiant taking on one of the most popular tag teams of the 1980's The British Bulldogs made up of Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid who were managed by Captain Lou Albano and a special manager for the evening Ozzy Osbourne. Also in Chicago there was a 20 man over the top rope battle royal that saw some of the NFL's at the time best players such as William Perry and Too Tall Jones taking on some of the WWF's top stars like Bret Hart and Andre the Giant. And finally in Uniondale, New York at the legendary Nassau Coliseum the main event pitted the at the time WWF Champion the immortal Hulk Hogan defending his championship inside a fifteen foot high steel cage against the 458 lb King Kong Bundy. Many wrestling historians and fans of the sport will say that Wrestlemania 2 while creative at the time with having three different sites was a big bust in the end and is ranked one of the worst Mania's of all time.

While Wrestlemania 2 did have some intriguing matches such as Mr T vs Roddy Piper and Bundy vs Hogan it just never clicked with the fans and even 29 years since that event it still ranks in the bottom of all time worst Mania's. Now just flash forward one year later when the wrestling world would witness one of the most memorable moments of all time in Detroit, Michigan at the Pontiac Silverdome at Wrestlemania 3.

Wrestlemania III was and is still to this day the biggest Wrestlemania attendance wise of all time. 93,173 fans jammed packed into the Pontiac Silverdome. Twelve matches were presented on the memorable night including a match many people call one of the greatest matches in Wrestlemania history when Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat with George "The Animal" Steele in his corner challenging the reigning, defending, undisputed WWF Intercontinental Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage with his manager the lovely Miss Elizabeth. This match is outstanding and in my mind is in the top 5 of all time matches ever. The main event of this show was the 7 foot 4 inch 520 lb Andre the Giant with his manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan in his corner challenging the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan for the championship. In this match the single greatest moment that set the wrestling world on fire occurred when Hogan picked up the massive giant and body slammed him on the mat followed by a Hogan leg drop and a 1,2,3 for the win.

This Wrestlemania set the stage for what was to occur in the following years as this was the spark that set the WWF apart from every other wrestling promotion at the time in the 1980's. Now a year later in 1988 Wrestlemania 4 saw a concept that hasn't happened before or since at a Wrestlemania and that was a one night tournament for the vacated WWF Championship.

Wrestlemania IV took place on March 27, 1988 from Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The whole theme of the night was a one night fourteen man tournament to crown a new undisputed WWF Champion. Let's back track to February 5, 1988 where the Wrestlemania III rematch took place between Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship on the very first edition of The Main Event on NBC. Andre would redeem himself by controversially defeating Hogan for the championship when a screw job took place involving the referee. "Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase who was managing Andre at the time had hired a fake referee for the match. The original ref for the match was suppose to be Dave Hebner, but Dibiase hired his twin brother Earl Hebner for the match in order to screw Hogan out of the championship. Andre ended up winning the match and 47 seconds later sold the championship to Dibiase in exchange for a large sum of money. WWF President Jack Tunney decided that since Andre gave the championship away and Dibiase did not in fact win the championship a one night tournament would be held at Wrestlemania IV for the vacated WWF Championship.

The story of the night was the rubber match between Andre and Hogan in the second round of the tournament. Both competitors would eventually get dis qualified in that match. In the finals of the tournament "Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase would take on "Macho Man" Randy Savage who was competing in his fourth match of the night when he reached the finals. Savage would go on to capture his first WWF Championship by defeating Dibiase.

Savage would hold on the WWF Championship for a single year as he would carry the championship into Wrestlemania V at Trump Plaza once again where the mega powers would explode in a titanic battle for the WWF Championship.