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WrestleMania is a professional wrestling event held annually between mid-March and mid-April by the American company WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Since premiering in 1985, 40 events have been held, with its most recent 40th edition occurring at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 6 and 7 ...
- WrestleMania I (1985)
Apr 3, 2014 · It's a fantastic interview and feature, certainly worth a read yourself, but here is the excerpt where Finkle reveals the WrestleMania origin and where the name came from: When Vince K....
- Overview
- The original WrestleMania
- WrestleMania through the years
WrestleMania, in professional wrestling, the flagship annual event held by World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE). WrestleMania was WWE’s first pay-per-view event, originally held in 1985, and remains the biggest event in its calendar. The show is typically held in front of a large crowd that may exceed 100,000 fans and is available to watch at ...
The stage was set for the first WrestleMania when Vince McMahon bought his father’s company, then known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), in 1982. McMahon planned to take the WWF to a wider audience. A key part of this strategy was recruiting popular wrestler Terry Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan, away from the American Wrestling Association (AWA) to become the face of the company and soon its champion. With McMahon in control of the company, they worked with musician Cyndi Lauper and actor Mr. T to craft a story line involving Hogan, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff that provoked mainstream media attention, including matches broadcast live on MTV. This popular story line paid off at the first WrestleMania.
WWF designed their first pay-per-view event to attract national attention. According to ring announcer Howard Finkel, he came up with the name WrestleMania for the event in reference to the Beatlemania craze of the 1960s. Held in Madison Square Garden, WrestleMania was also available on closed-circuit television broadcasts in other venues around the country. To help lure a wider audience, legendary boxer Muhammad Ali was brought in as a guest referee for the main event, and musician Liberace appeared alongside the Rockettes. Lauper also made an appearance, managing Wendi Richter in her championship victory over Leilani Kai and even attacking Kai’s manager, The Fabulous Moolah. Other matches included an opener featuring Tito Santana defeating The Executioner, The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff winning the tag-team championship, and a “body slam challenge” between Andre the Giant and Big John Stud.
Because of its longevity and popularity, WrestleMania has become an iconic brand in the world of sports and entertainment. In 2017 Forbes estimated it to be the sixth most valuable sports brand in the world, worth nearly $200 million. For wrestlers, wrestling at WrestleMania is an ultimate career ambition, especially headlining the event. Iconic wrestler John Cena compared it to the championship events in competitive sports, calling it “our March Madness, the Super Bowl, the Masters, the NBA Championship, the World Series.” For many wrestlers, having an iconic “WrestleMania moment” is a way to guarantee their legacy, ensuring that they will be discussed by fans, journalists, and other wrestlers for years to come.
WrestleMania has continued to attract celebrities and athletes from outside professional wrestling to participate in the show. Musicians are frequent guests. The show traditionally opens with a performance of “America the Beautiful” or another patriotic song, and legends like Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, and Reba McEntire have been called on to perform. Special performances by Motörhead, Snoop Dogg, Run-D.M.C., Ice-T, and Kid Rock have also been featured. In 2021 rapper Bad Bunny entered the ring as part of a tag-team match, emerging victorious by pinning wrestler The Miz.
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Though the early days of WrestleMania were partly defined by the popularity of Hulk Hogan, Mark Calaway, known by his ring name The Undertaker, became a beloved fixture of the event after his debut in 1991. He enjoyed an unbroken streak of WrestleMania victories that lasted from his debut through 2013 (excepting 1994, when he did not participate)—a total of 21 wins. For many fans, it became a yearly tradition to watch a challenger emerge to take on The Undertaker only to inevitably fail as “the Streak” continued. The Streak was finally broken in 2014 by Brock Lesnar, though The Undertaker continued to appear regularly in the event until 2020. His career record comprises 25 wins and 2 losses; only Lesnar and Roman Reigns defeated him. The popularity of The Undertaker was such that even after the Streak was broken, John Cena was moved to remark that “it’s not a WrestleMania without The Undertaker.”
In 2020 WrestleMania continued despite the COVID-19 pandemic, though some changes were made to the event’s format. The show was recorded without a live audience, split over two nights, and filmed in multiple locations, with The Undertaker’s “Boneyard” match against AJ Styles filmed in a more cinematic style than typical matches. Though live audiences returned to the event in 2021, it remains a two-night affair.
- Stephen Eldridge
- The WrestleMania name was inspired by the Beatles. Unlike other wrestling promoters of the 1980s, who promoted in regional territories across the United States and Canada, WWE (née WWF) promoter Vince McMahon had larger aspirations.
- MTV and Cyndi Lauper helped promote WrestleMania. In order to make WrestleMania a success, McMahon knew he would have to reach audiences beyond wrestling fans.
- Mr. T was not necessarily a welcome participant at WrestleMania. In order to maximize the general public’s interest in his event, McMahon enlisted actor Mr. T, who appeared as the villainous boxer Clubber Lung in 1982’s Rocky III and was a regular on the NBC action drama The A-Team.
- But Mr. T was crucial to elevating wrestling to the mainstream. Welcome or not, Hulk Hogan gives credit to the TV star for being the fulcrum that lifted wrestling—and, more specifically, the WWE—from a niche form of entertainment to a global, mainstream powerhouse that celebrities wanted to be a part of.
Dec 18, 2010 · Wrestlemania 8 was memorable as it was the only Wrestlemania, until a decade later, to see WWE's rival promotion at the time, World Championship Wrestling's, biggest superstar at WWE's biggest event.
May 8, 2022 · The simple reason is that it's the first premium live event after The Show of Shows. The rivalries that do not conclude at WrestleMania will continue at Backlash. The company also wants to...
Apr 1, 2016 · WrestleMania, explained. Why pro wrestling (and its fans) deserve as much respect as good scripted TV. Dolph Ziggler challenges Rusev during a Road to WrestleMania match held in Bremen, Germany ...
