WrestleMania
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- For other uses, see WrestleMania (disambiguation).
WrestleMania is the annual flagship pay-per-view event of World Wrestling Entertainment, widely regarded as "The Grandaddy of Them All" or "The Showcase of the Immortals". The first WrestleMania was held on March 31, 1985 in New York's Madison Square Garden.
WrestleMania is to WWE as the World Cup is to FIFA, Super Bowl is to the NFL, the World Series is to MLB, the Stanley Cup Finals is to the NHL, and the NBA Finals is to the NBA in the sense that it is the most important event of the year in sports entertainment. It is the largest and longest running of all major wrestling events in the world. Participating in its main event marks the pinnacle of a professional wrestler's career, and a hugely important source of revenue to WWE. Some fans of WWE call it one of the 'Big Four', (listing it as the single biggest of the four) as it was one of the original four annual WWE PPVs, along with the Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and the Survivor Series. These four major PPVs bring together the RAW, SmackDown! and ECW brands onto the same card, something that hasn't been true of the remaining PPVs since 2003.
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[edit] WrestleMania dates and venues
[edit] Facts and figures
- Since 1993, the winner of the annual Royal Rumble match has received a guaranteed title shot for the WWE Championship at that year's WrestleMania. Since the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship after the brand extension, the winner is able to choose which champion they wish to face, even if they are not on the same brand.
- The Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, New Jersey is the only venue to host two WrestleManias in a row (WrestleMania IV March 27, 1988 and WrestleMania V April 2, 1989)
- WrestleMania III was claimed by the World Wrestling Federation as setting an indoor attendance record of 93,173. It is the largest North American indoor crowd to witness a sporting event. Years later, a dispute arose about this number with numerous insiders claiming an attendance of 78,000. The reason is that many people familiar with the building claim that the Silverdome is not able to hold 93,000+ people. The event's promoter, Zane Bresloff, has also provided documents stating the attendance at 78,000.
- WrestleMania VI and X8 are the only WrestleManias to have been held outside of the United States, both being held at SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre), in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- WrestleMania IX was the only WrestleMania to be held completely outdoors. WrestleMania XIX was partially outdoors as Safeco Field's retractable roof doesn't fully enclose the stadium.
- WrestleMania X-Seven had the most title changes at a single WrestleMania (five): The European, Hardcore, Women's, Tag Team and WWE Championship all changed hands.
- To date, only six WrestleManias have been held in stadiums (III, VI, VIII, X-Seven, X8, XIX), one outdoors (IX), and the rest have been in arenas.
[edit] Celebrity involvement
- Celebrities such as Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jennie Garth, Cyndi Lauper, Mr. T, Aretha Franklin, Donald Trump, Vanna White, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Chuck Norris, Ray Charles, Mary Tyler Moore, Burt Reynolds, Pete Rose, Alice Cooper, Billy Martin, Muhammad Ali, Ozzy Osbourne, Elvira, Joan Rivers, Cab Calloway, Bob Uecker, Mary Hart, Gladys Knight, 'Sugar' Ray Leonard, Robin Leach, Morton Downey Jr., Steve Allen, Robert Goulet, Rona Barrett, Regis Philbin, Alex Trebek, Willie Nelson, Henry Winkler, George Steinbrenner, Paul Maguire, Marla Maples, Lou Ferrigno, Reba McEntire, Ray Combs, Natalie Cole, Little Richard, Gennifer Flowers, Marvin Hagler, Vinny Paz, Chuck Wepner, Issac Hayes, Big Pun, Ice-T, Martin Short, Michael Clarke Duncan, Dustin Diamond, French Stewart, Jeff Bagwell, Moises Alou, Ashanti, Kitana Baker, Tanya Ballinger, David Arquette, Billy Gibbons, The Black Eyed Peas, Billy Corgan, Anthony Kiedis, Ice Cube, Carmen Electra, Sylvester Stallone, Marg Helgenberger, Will Sasso, Michelle Williams, Joe Theisman, Liberace, Mike Tyson, The Rockettes, William Perry, Jim Covert, Harvey Martin, Bill Fralic, Lawrence Taylor, Pamela Anderson, Butterbean, Akebono and many others have been involved with WrestleMania.
- Bands including Motörhead, Limp Bizkit, Saliva, The DX Band, Boyz II Men, Run DMC and Drowning Pool have performed live during WrestleMania, with Motörhead playing Triple H to the ring at two events. P.O.D. also performed Rey Mysterio's theme song at WrestleMania 22.
- Mike Tyson appeared in WrestleMania XIV as the special guest enforcer for the WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Tyson also was the one to make the three count, and thus wound up awarding the title to Austin.
- The main event of the first WrestleMania was littered with celebrities. The ring announcer was former Yankees manager Billy Martin, the timekeeper was the famous entertainer Liberace who was accompanied by The Rockettes, and the special enforcer was Muhammad Ali.
- One of the three main events at WrestleMania II was a 20 man over the top battle royal featuring several NFL superstars. William 'Refrigerator' Perry, Russ Francis, Jim Covert, Harvey Martin, Ernie Holmes, & Bill Fralic all tried their hands against the wrestling superstars. In the end, André the Giant emerged victorious. Many years later Perry was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by John Cena for his performance.
- Lawrence Taylor and Mr. T are the only celebrities to have competed in singles or tag matches at WrestleMania. Taylor faced Bam Bam Bigelow in a singles match and won after a forearm off the second rope. Mr. T competed in the main event of the inaugural WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden in 1985. He teamed with Hulk Hogan with Jimmy Snuka in their corner to take on Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper with Cowboy Bob Orton in their corner. Mr. T and Hulk Hogan won after Bob Orton accidentally hit Mr. Wonderful with a cast from the top rope behind the back of referee Pat Patterson. Mr. T then faced Roddy Piper in a Boxing match at WrestleMania 2, he won the fight after Piper was disqualified for Bodyslamming Mr. T.
- At WrestleMania XI, Diesel and Shawn Michaels were accompanied by Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy respectively during their match.
- Butterbean (professional boxer) has also participated in a match at WrestleMania, however he did not partake in a professional wrestling match. Butterbean was challenged to a Brawl for All Boxing match by Bart Gunn at WrestleMania XV. Butterbean knocked Gunn out in about 30 seconds.(The match was completely shoot.)
- The Big Show faced sumo wrestling champion Akebono Taro in a worked sumo wrestling contest at WrestleMania 21.
[edit] Video box sets
4 VHS box sets and 1 DVD box set have been released.
- In 1994, a VHS set with WrestleManias 1-X was released.
- In 1997, a VHS set with WrestleManias 1-13 was released.
- In 1998, a VHS set titled "WrestleMania: The Legacy" with WrestleManias 1-XIV was released.
- In 1999, a VHS set with the same title as the 1998 set was released, this time including XV.
- In 2005, a DVD set titled "WrestleMania: The Complete Anthology" with WrestleManias 1-21 was released; this marked the first time WrestleManias 1-XIV were released on DVD in Region 1. Some of the wrestlers themes have been overdubbed, with Howard Finkel's voice being a hint. This is more noticeable in the earlier WrestleManias. Such incidents include:
- Dusty Rhodes (WrestleMania VI). His music at the time was "American Dream".
- Demoliton (WrestleMania IV, V, and VI). They didn't get their new instrumental music until after WrestleMania VI.
- The Twin Towers a.k.a. The Big Boss Man and Akeem (WrestleMania V). More notably their manager Slick's song "Jive Soul Bro" was the theme that they used.
- Junkyard Dog (WrestleMania I). The Junkyard Dog didn't use the song "Grab Them Cakes", until WrestleMania III. It wasn't released until after WrestleMania I. His original theme was "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen.
- Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania I). Hulk Hogan didn't have the "Real American" theme for the same reason as Junkyard Dog. Also that song at the time was reserved for the U.S. Express (Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda) as noted during the Wrestling Album. The music he originally used was "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor.
- Koko B. Ware started using "Bird, Bird, Bird" as his theme song in 1989. On the WrestleMania VI DVD, it is overdubbed with his old entrance music, "Piledriver".
- The Undertaker, who used the song "Rollin'" by Limp Bizkit as his theme in at WrestleMania X-Seven and X-8 was dubbed over with his Ministry of Darkness theme.
- Hulk Hogan also had his Voodoo Child theme he used at WrestleMania XIX dubbed over with his "Real American" theme.
- Ric Flair had a simple "Whoo!" sound bite edited into his theme song at WrestleMania VIII to match his modern entrance.
- In 2006, "WrestleMania: The Complete Anthology" is re-released, this time including WrestleMania 22. [1]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Current World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events | |
|---|---|
| Joint productions | Royal Rumble | WrestleMania | SummerSlam | Survivor Series |
| RAW events | New Year's Revolution | Backlash | Vengeance | Unforgiven | Cyber Sunday |
| SmackDown! events | No Way Out | Judgment Day | The Great American Bash | No Mercy | Armageddon |
| ECW events | One Night Stand | December to Dismember |
| WrestleMania |
|---|
| I 1985 | 2 1986 | III 1987 | IV 1988 | V 1989 | VI 1990 | VII 1991 | VIII 1992 | IX 1993 | X 1994 | XI 1995 | XII 1996 13 1997 | XIV 1998 | XV 1999 | 2000 | X-Seven 2001 | X8 2002 | XIX 2003 | XX 2004 | 21 2005 | 22 2006 | 23 2007 |
