WWE Recap: Wrestlemania I (3/31/85)

It all began here. Sure, pro wrestling, and even the WWF/WWE, had been around for a while, but in March of 1985, it hit the big time. From humble beginnings, Wrestlemania has become the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. It has become a mega-event, watched by millions of people around the world. It is the biggest stage of them all, where legends are born. And it began here.

The show opens with Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse "The Body" Ventura setting things up. "Mean Gene" sang the national anthem and gave an admirable attempt at it. Apparently the intended singer backed out.


Tito Santana vs the Executioner

 Santana was introduced to a big round of applause from the crowd. This was long before he was "El Matador" and he was very popular at this point. He opens on the attack and instantly boots the Executioner from the ring. The masked man (who is really Playboy Buddy Rose) attempts to attack an injured leg of Santana, but is beaten back. After a little back and forth, including the Executioner being slammed from the top rope, Santana hits a flying elbow, then drags his man into the middle of the ring where he locks in a Figure Four. The Executioner submits pretty quickly.  Winner: Tito Santana

This was a pretty predictable result. A masked jobber is still a jobber. I guess the wrestling school in *checks notes* Parts Unknown isn't very good. Young Tito looked good, and the match reinforced the notion that Santana was looking to get back into the Intercontinental Title picture.




Special Deliver Jones vs King Kong Bundy w/ Jimmy Hart

It took me longer to write this sentence than it did for Bundy to win this match. He slammed Jones into the corner, then got pretty good air as he splashed Jones on the mat. That was it. Winner: King Kong Bundy

Yeah, it was ridiculously fast, but it made Bundy look like a monster, something he was doing on a regular basis in the WWF. It wasn't really even a match, but accomplished what it was supposed to.




Matt Borne vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

Steamboat had just joined the WWF at this point. He would go onto become a huge star, and one of the most popular wrestlers of his day. Borne was a jobber who would find more success with a later gimmick, Doink the Clown. The Dragon used a lot of up-tempo and flying maneuvers, but it should be noted that he is pretty jacked. Steamboat opens strong, with a chop, a couple of headlocks, and an atomic drop. Borne did take control for just a bit, though, by hitting a couple of nice suplexes. Steamboat bounced back with a suplex of his own, then climbed the ropes and hit Borne with a flying body cross for the win. Winner: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

This was another foregone conclusion. A second generation jobber is still a....well you get the picture. Steamboat looked impressive, which was the goal here. It's too bad he didn't have comparable talent to work with here.


I want to note here that Lord Alfred Hayes introduces each match to the camera, and he's terrible. He's also located in an awkward spot, as wrestlers leaving the ring have to walk around him. Matt Borne especially has difficulty with this.

David Sammartino w/ Bruno Sammartino vs Brutus Beefcake w/ Johnny Valiant

David is, of course, the son of the legendary Bruno Sammartino. Beefcake wasn't yet "The Barber" and was still a heel character. Upon introduction, David got a nice round of applause, while Bruno got a huge pop. The opening few minutes were just grappling and Beefcake arguing with the referee about various invented complaints. Beefcake hit some high impact slams,while Sammartino used hold to work on various parts of Brutus' body. After some back and forth, Beefcake took control of the match. Sammartino bounced back and it was his turn for a couple of power moves. Eventually, the younger Sammartino got knocked out of the ring, and Johnny Valiant attacked. This got Bruno involved, which was the entire point of this match. The crowd exploded as father and son cleared their opponents out of the ring. Double Disqualification

David was clearly only booked in a high profile match to get Bruno involved. I'm certain the Sammartinos resented this, but the crowd certainly loved it. The match was pretty basic, with lots of locks and holds, and only a few suplexes to go along with it. Nobody really cared about this, except to see Bruno.




Junkyard Dog vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine w/ Jimmy Hart (Intercontinental Championship)

The Junkyard Dog was very popular with fans and got a huge pop on the way to the ring. He got the crowd fired up early, headbutting Valentine on all fours over and over. Eventually, the Hammer took control with some powerful shots. He worked on the legs of JYD, to set him up for an eventual Figure Four. The Dog sold the leg attacks well, even once he went back on the offensive. Jimmy Hart got involved, and Valentine inadvertently nailed his manager with a forearm. JYD had things going his way, but Valentine poked his eye, then got the pin by using the ropes for leverage. The referee didn't see it and called the match in favor of the champ. However, Tito Santana come in to explain what happened. The ref re-started the match and counted Valentine out. Winner: JYD, but Valentine retained the belt since titles don't change hands on a countout. 

This was a good match. They both got in some nice offense. JYD had the crowd pumped up, and his selling the leg attacks, even when he went back on offense, was a nice touch. The ending was crowd-pleasing, but kept the status quo and furthered the Santana/Valentine feud. It was the best match so far.




Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff vs US Express w/ Capt Lou Albano (Tag Team Championship)

Volkoff drew some big time heat by singing the Russian National Anthem. Mike Rotundo starts off against the Sheik and gets going early. Barry Windham tagged in and kept it going. Volkoff gets in, but the US Express stays in control. Finally the Iron Sheik gets ahead of things with Rotundo, slamming him with some strong suplexes. Volkoff came in and continued with his team's attack as the crowd chants "USA". Rotundo manages to tag in Windham, who enters on fire. The Sheik breaks up a pin attempt, then bedlam breaks out as all four men enter. The Sheik is knocked outside the ring, and the referee tries to get Rotundo out as well. While the ref is admonishing Rotundo, the Sheik climbs the apron and uses a cane on Windham from behind. The referee turns back around and makes the count of three. Winners: Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, New Tag Team Champions

This was nice. The crowd was pumped and into it right from the start. Rotundo and Windham looked exciting and athletic. The cheat for the win was well done, and letting the heels take the belts was the right move.




Big John Studd w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan vs Andre the Giant in a bodyslam challenge

The stipulation here is that Andre has to bodyslam Big John Studd to win the match and $15,000. If Andre fails, he has to retire. Studd goes on the attack early, hitting the Giant from behind. Andre responds with a few big chops and a headbutt. At one point Studd tries to pick up Andre for a bodyslam, but isn't able to move him. The match dragged on a bit as Andre landed some punches and a few kicks, then finally scooped Studd up and slammed him down for the win. Winner:Andre the Giant

After the match, Andre opened the bag with the money in it and tossed some to the crowd. The Brain snuck in and stole the bag and he and Studd ran off. Andre is always a fan favorite, and the gimmick wasn't terrible, but the two big guys were just so limited. It made the match drag on for what seemed like forever.




Wendi Richter w/ Cindi Lauper vs Leilani Kai w/ Fabulous Moolah (Women's Championship)

The interviews that preceded this match were all awful. Then they spent five minutes getting ready to wrestle, making this a very slow start. Richter got things started with a couple of impressive takedowns, or maybe the bumps were taken impressively by Kai. There was some back and forth action, before Richter gets taken to the corner where Moolah gets involved. Cindi Lauper comes to Richter's aid. Back in the ring, Richter gets Kai on her shoulders and slams her with a nice move. This ended when Kai climbed the ropes and hit Richter with a flying body cross, but Richter reversed the pin, though in very sloppy fashion. Winner: Wendi Richter, New Women's Champion

This was ugly. Aside from a couple of moves by Richter, it was sloppy as it gets. There was lots of timing issues, and weak looking moves. Richter was clearly the better wrestler, so putting the belt on her made sense here.




Hulk Hogan and Mr T vs Rowdy Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff

This was billed as a spectacle, and that's exactly what it was. Billy Martin was the guest announcer, Liberace the guest time keeper, and Muhammad Ali a guest referee. Ali, naturally, got a huge pop when he entered the ring. Piper had a live band play he and Orndorff to the ring. Cowboy Bob Orton accompanied them to the ring. For those of you not old enough to remember, there was nothing like Hulk Hogan in the 80s. He was wrestling, and few have ever been as over as he was. His music hit and the crowd exploded. Superfly Jimmy Snuka came along with Hogan and Mr T. Jesse Ventura says twice that Orndorff looks like a Greek god....and he's not wrong. The dude is ripped. Hogan and Orndorff start us off. However, they immediately tag in their teammates, and after a couple of slaps, Piper and Mr T go at it. It doesn't take long for it to erupt into a brawl with everybody in the ring, including Ali, who takes a couple of shots at Piper and Orton. The refs finally get control and Piper and Hogan are in the ring. Hogan takes Piper out with a big boot, but Orndorff sneaks behind him and knocks Hulk to the floor as well. Piper then hits him with a chair. Back in the ring, Hogan takes some punishment from repeated double-teams. Hogan finally gets the tag, but Mr T is double-teamed and overwhelmed. Finally, Hogan gets back in and once again things get crazy. Piper tries to distract the ref so Orton can attack Hogan, but Snuka makes the save. Then Orndorff hold Hogan for Piper, but Mr T takes him out. Orton comes off the top rope to hit Hogan with an elbow, but hits Mr Wonderful instead. Hogan pins Orndorff for the win. In the aftermath, Piper punched out the referee and he and Orton fled to the back, leaving Orndorff alone in the ring. This would have major consequences down the road. The show closed with Hogan, Mr T, Snuka, Ali, Liberace, and Billy Martin all celebrating in the ring.


This match was just good fun. Hulkamania got to run wild. The show ended on a high note for the fans. There wasn't much wrestling, but the brawls were entertaining, as were all the run-ins. It was the correct ending, with the good guys winning while the bad guys shoot themselves in the foot.


Overall Impressions

To be honest, Wrestlemania I was a bit of a mess. That is to be expected, however, since it was WWF's first attempt at things. A couple of matches were fun, if not technically good. The crowd was into it for most of the event, which is always good. More importantly, it was the start of something magical, and for that, it gets tons of credit.

Winners:
Wendi Richter: The match was a mess, but she became immensely popular for a time.
Junkyard Dog: He looked strong, and he got a win against the champ, even if he didn't gain the belt.
WWF: It's redundant at this point, but this helped push them into a national spotlight.

Losers:
Lord Alfred Hayes: He was awful every single time he was on the microphone. 


What I Would Have Done Differently

Nobody wants to see jobbers working Wrestlemania, and there were a couple in this.

Take Lord Alfred Hayes to a different location...or shoot him and put him out of our misery. He was terrible and added nothing.

The Bodyslam Challenge was fine, but a little more back-and-forth would have been good. Or make the match a little shorter.