Wrestlemania I

Wrestlemania I

Promotion: WWF
Date: 31/03/85
City & Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Commentary Team: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse "The Body" Ventura
Announcer: Howard Finkel

So here we have it, Vince McMahon's and WWF's response to the successful Starrcade events that had been put on by Jim Crockett's successful NWA Starrcade events, the first ever Wrestlemania!

The main commentator is the legendary Gorilla Monsoon, who welcomes everyone and goes over to Howard Finkel in the ring. Howard Finkel asks everyone to their feet as "Mean" Gene Okerlund sings the US National Anthem. He isn't terrible, but I hate all this everyone singing national anthem stuff. Mean Gene is apprantly filling in for an unnamed celebrity who failed to show up.

After the commentary team give their dues to Mean Gene, the camera goes to Lord Alfred Hayes who introduces the first match of the night, Tito Santana vs The Executioner. He then cuts to pre-recorded interviews by Mean Gene with Tito and The Executioner (I read up afterwards that The Executioner was Buddy Rose under the mask. I don't know anything about him, sadly). Executioner is undefeated but Tito is confident he will beat him, while Executioner says he will target Santana's leg as it was recengly injured by Greg Valentine.

Match 1 - Tito Santana vs The Executioner
Singles match, 20 minute time limit

Santana is the clear fan favourite in this one. Jesse Ventura calls Tito Santana "Chico" which is something that will happen for a very long time. I love Jesse on commentary, I believe he was the first commentator who openly backed the heels and slagged off fan favourites in matches while Gorilla backs the faces. He's hilarious and well ahead of his time in this respect.

The match begins with a criss-cross with both guys running against adjecent ropes, before Santana drops in the middle and does a big back body drop, and follows this up with a drop kick. Santana dominates throughout and manages to get a 2 count with a side headlock. Seriously. The commentators keep bigging up the event as one of the biggest things in history, with Ventura calling it Wrestling's equivalent to Woodstock, and to be honest the crowd are into it from minute 1.

Santana gets stuck in the corner after a while and The Executioner fights back with a few strikes and knee lifts. He gets Santana in a toe hold to focus on his leg, but Santana reverses this into a pin and quickly fights back and brawls Executioner into the corner. After more strikes he sets Executioner up for a move but this is countered into a back body drop. After a basic body slam, Executioner heads to the top rope but Santana recovers quickly and throws him back into the ring. Executioner then raises his knees while he's on the ground to counter a running splash. He works on Santana's leg again on the bottom rope but Santana kicks Executioner out the ring. Executioner is bodyslammed back into the ring and Tito hits him with a flying forearm smash. Santana locks in the Figure 4 Leg lock to pick up the win.

The Fink announces Santana as the winner in the first ever Wrestlemania match. A deserved win for Santana who was better than Executioner from the first ring of the bell. Nothing really special about this match but it was no stinker either. 2/5

Gorilla Monsoon admires a replay of the flying forearm Santana delivered before going back to Lord Alfred Hayes who announces the next match will be between Special Delivery Jones (What. A. Name. hahaha) and King Kong Bundy, who will have Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart in his corner. He then introduces the pre-recorded interviews again, very nervously. SD Jones' accent is brilliant but he spouts a lot of nonsense. King Kong Bundy says he will beat SD Jones with a 5 count, not 3

Match 2 - King Kong Bundy w/"The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart vs Special Delivery Jones
Singles match, 20 minute time limit 

King Kong Bundy is massive. So much so that Gorilla Monsoon disputes his 'official' weight of 450 lbs to be closer to 500lbs, and then describes him as "a mountain with legs and feet and arms". Jesse Ventura chimes in that they could use his back for the screen at a drive-in.

Jones charges straight at Bundy but is locked in a bear hug. He's then squashed over to the corner, Bundy slaps him with the Avalanche and then splashes on him while Jones in on the mat to pick up a very quick win. 

Yeah, a very literal squash match. 1/5. I believe that Bundy had just signed with WWF so they wanted to make him look good.

Finkel announces that the time of the match was 9 seconds, which makes the match a record. It was definitey longer than 9 seconds, but it's not like WWF to make up figures which suit. We go to Mean Gene in the locker room who has Matt Bourne with him. Bourne says his opponent, Ricky Steamboat (oh yeeeah) is too nice to win. Steamboat then says that he came to this area to develop an attitude to help him win.

Match 3 - Matt Bourne vs Ricky Steamboat
Singles match, 20 minute time limit

While the match starts and Bourne & Steamboat grapple, Monsoon & Ventura talk about Matt Bourne being a second generation wrestler, son of "Tough" Tony Bourne, who Gorilla had a few bouts with. After whipping Bourne against the ropes, Steamboat leaps over him a couple of times, but Bourne telegraphs the chop that's about to be delivered so holds onto the ropes. He then runs into one anyway immediately after. Steamboat takes control with a few quick moves leading into a headlock. 

Bourne thinks he's countered this by throwing Steamboat over his head, but Steamboat lands on his feet, and the crowd love it. He gets the headlock back in, and again lands on his feet when Bourne does the same counter. He hits Bourne with a huge atomic drop before again going into the headlock. Bourne counters this differently this time, lifting Steamboat into an inverted atomic drop. Bourne tries to get a bit of control and Steamboat is forced into the corner. He fights back at Bourne and hits him in the head with his forearm from the second rope. Ventura mentions that Matt Bourne's nickname is "Maniac" so he might be able to pull something out to turn this round, but it's all Steamboat so far.

Bourne is able to fight back a little, forcing Steamboat into the corner and then hits him with a side belly-to-belly suplex, and follows this up with a snap suplex. He goes for the cover but gets a 1, Jesse blames a poor pin technique not hooking the leg. Steamboat forces his way back into it with some powerful chops and a back suplex, executed perfectly. He then hits Bourne with a swinging neck breaker. After a couple of knee drops he gets a 2 count. Bourne gets up and thumbs Steamboat in the eye. After a whip Steamboat is able to hit Bourne with a flying double handed attack, and then goes to the top rope. Steamboat flies through the air and hits a standing Matt Bourne with a flying cross body to pick up the win.

Steamboat really dominated this from start to finish and was clearly a lot more talented than Bourne (and a lot more talented than most of the guys around in this time in my opinion). Steamboat alone makes this a 3/5 match, I can't go higher than that due to the lack of a fightback from Bourne throughout the match.

Finkel announces Steamboat the winner and we go back to Lord Alfred Hayes. He talks nervously again about the next match Brutus Beefcake vs David Sammartino, and we go again to Mean Gene in a prerecorded interview. David Sammartino looks about 40 in his interview, while Bruno looks like his hair has been stuck on. Johnny Valiant then talks utter crap, turns around and Brutus Beefcake makes a fart noise into the mic. Possibly the greatest promo of all time.Valiant ends it shouting more nonsense.

Match 4 - Brutus Beefcake w/"Luscious" John Valiant vs David Sammartino w/Bruno Sammartino
Singles match, 20 minute time limit

Mean Gene referred to Bruno Sammartino as "living legend" during the short interview. Bruno held the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship between 1963 - 1971, and then again between 1973-77. So roughly around 11 years he was Champion. Some going. A lot for his son to live up to going into wrestling.

David is the fans favourite in this win, but Bruno gets by far the biggest ovation of all. The match takes an age to begin, but when it does Brutus shoves David into the corner, then backs off a bit to gloat. It starts again and David attacks Brutus, pulling off a drop toe takedown. Brutus hits David with a belly to back take down and Brutus escapes the ring.  His manager Johnny Valiant says David is greased up, but its tripe. 

David brings Brutus down with a hammerlock and follows this up with a front face lock. Brutus gets to the ropes. David uses an arm lock on Brutus but it's countered with a body slam...or is it? David has kept hold of Brutus' arm and uses an armbar to regain control on the follow through. After a break in action Brutus gets in a headlock. David escapes by whipping Beefcake to the ropes, but is knocked down again by a shoulder block. Brutus goes off the ropes again and reverses David's attempts of a hip toss with one of his own.. David kicks out at Beefcake when he's on the ground and gets him again with a drop toe hold. He starts to pressure Beefcake with a variety of leg holds, which Brutus escapes a couple of times but David goes right back into more holds on the right leg. Beefcake has had enough and rakes David's eyes with his forearm (he wears gloves which go up his arms to near his elbows) and then back body drops him off the ropes. Brutus goes to work on David with a few strikes and a body slam. David tries to fight back but can't get anywhere. After an elbow to the mouth in the corner David is flung across the ring. Brutus is in total control now, but David desparately reverses a whip and hits Beefcake with a back body drop. David starts to fight back a bit and the crowd react. A big boot and knee lift seem to turn things in David's favour, and he hits Beefcake with a well executed suplex, but gets a 2 count. Brutus fights back with a headbutt to the mid section and throws David out the ring. 

Johnny Valiant then body slams David outside the ring, but the crowd are on their feet because Bruno is on his way over! He goes to work on Valiant, slamming his head against the mat and throwing him into the ring. All 4 men are now brawling in the ring as the bell rings. Bruno and David clear the ring and think they have won, however the referee rules the match as a double DQ. Gorilla gives us his first PPV "Holy Mackerel!" at all the mayhem which has taken place.

Things like this seem quite tame compared to mass brawls that have taken place since, however the crowd really get into it and you can tell the atmosphere there is electric. Usually I'd give this match a 1/5, as it was long and boring with not many moves being used, but the crowd reaction, especially when Bruno gets involved, will make me push this to a 2/5, seeing as that's what it's all about.

Gorilla and Jesse recap on what we've already seen and then go to Lord Alfred Hayes. Who again is really nervous introducing the next match, Greg Valentine for Junk Yard Dog for the Intercontinental belt. We go to an interview again with Mean Gene and Valentine who is with Jimmy Hart. Valentine says he's in his best ever shape and JYD goes a bit nuts.

Match 5 - Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (C) w/Jimmy Hart vs Junk Yard Dog
Singles match,  1 hour time limit for the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship

JYD is a big fan favourite, so much so that he gets his own intro music, an 80's hip hop theme. Valentine is booed but not badly. 

We get another "Holy Mackerel" from Gorilla as the match starts with JYD putting an arm lock on Valentine. Valentine then goes for a big boot but this is blocked by JYD (and another "Holy Mackerel!" from Gorilla) which the crowd like. They then back off a while and Valentine beats down on JYD, but misses an elbow drop. While Valentine is on his knees JYD starts acting like a dog and delivers a few headbutts to Valentine while on all fours. Valentine escapes and slaps an arm lock on JYD after a test of strength. Dog is struck down, and Valentine hits him with knee and elbow drops before using a leg hold. After a while Valentine goes for a figure 4 leg lock (everyone seems to use this back in the mid 80's) but JYD kicks him away. Dog fights back and lands a few headbutts, knocking Valentine to the mat. 

Jimmy Hart climbs to the apron to argue with the ref, JYD leaves Valentine on the floor and grabs hold of Hart. Valentine runs over to hit Dog from behind but Dog moves and Valentine strikes Hart down off the apron. The crowd love it and JYD goes to work on Valentine, forcing him into the corner. Valentine is able to knock down JYD and pins him, but has his feet on the second rope. The ref doesn't see it and counts to 3. 

Jesse Ventura loves it and calls it a smart move from Valentine to get the win, but Tito Santana runs into the ring and tells the ref what happened. For the first time ever, the ref reverses his decision and starts to count Valentine out. Valentine doesn't come back into the ring and is counted out, giving Junk Yard Dog the win, but the titke doesn't change hands. Tito Santana looks to carry on his feud with Valentine. The Fink announces JYD the winner.

I'll give this another 2/5. The match itself wasn't great, just a lot of physical attacks and strikes rather than wrestling moves, but for what it was it was ok. Nice heel win for Valentine too. The only memorable thing about it is Tito's interference at the end getting the match restarted.

Monsoon and Ventura watch replays of Valentine winning the original bout, explain to fans about the non title change, before going again to Lord Alfred Hayes. He's not quite as nervous this time. It's another recorded interview with Mean Gene with the competitors for the next match. First up is Iron Sheik with Nikolai Volkoff and their manager "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Sheik calls him Gene Mean (haha). Blassie says he has the next tag team champions. Their opponents are Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo with Captain Lou Albano. They say nothing.

Match 6 - Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff w/"Classie" Freddie Blassie vs US Express (C) (Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham) w/Captain Lou Albano
Tag Team match, 1 hour time limit for the WWF Tag Team Championships

Nikolai Volkoff starts singing the Soviet national anthem to a chorus of boos, and Sheik grabs the mic to say Iran and Russia are number 1, and spits after saying USA. The US Express get a massive cheer from the fans, and Lou Albano appears to have rubber bands clipped to his face. Iron Sheik has the greatest wrestling boots of all time with curled up spikes on the toes

Ventura bigs up the heel challengers, especially Iron Sheik as a former Heavyweight Champion and former Olympian for Iran. Sheik and Rotundo start off and after a quick grapple Sheik is whipped against the ropes. He knocks Rotundo down with a shoulder block and runs against the ropes again. Rotundo leapfrogs the run and delivers a hip toss to Sheik, following it up with a dropkick and big body slam. The crowd love it and Sheik is dazed, he goes to the wrong corner and takes a punch from Windham and a headlock takedown. Sheik grabs Rotundo's trunks and gets a pin on him, but Windham is tagged in and a double team takes place, Rotundo using an arm lock on Sheik while Windham crashes down onto it from the top rope.

Windham carries on the momentum temporarily but Sheik is able to force Windham into the wrong corner. Volkoff holds Windham on the apron while Sheik runs against the ropes to perform a drop kick, but Windham moves out the way and Volkoff is clattered to the outside. The crowd love it. Sheik and Volkoff tag, but a replay is shown of the dropkick into Volkoff, meaning we miss Rotundo being tagged back in. He knocks Volkoff down and gets a 1 count. Another tag is made to Windham and the same double team move is used again on Volkoff this time. They focus on Volkoff's arm and do the same double team again for the third time, with Rotundo attacking from the top rope instead.

Volkoff battles back into it and rams Rotundo's head into Sheik's spiked boot and makes a tag. Sheik hits a back body drop and an elbow drop, but can only get a 2 count. We get another "Holy Mackerel" from Gorilla, this is about 5 now in the PPV, and Sheik smacks Rotundo with an impressive gut-wrench suplex, but a poor pin attempt means it's just another 2 count. Rotundo blocks Sheik's attempts of a suplex and lands a great one of his own. Rotundo tries to roll to his corner to tag in WIndham, but Sheik gets to his corner first and Volkoff prevents the tag with a few stomps. He picks up Rotundo and drops his throat onto the ropes, which gives the commentators concern. Rotundo tries to fight back with a hammerlock and telegraphs a back body drop by doing a sunset flip on Volkoff, but only gets a 2 count. He still can't make the tag, and a knee lift knocks him down again. Volkoff tries to make the ring smaller and keeps Rotundo in his corner, puts his head into Sheik's raised boot again makes a tag.

Sheik goes for the Abdominal Stretch on Rotundo while the two managers outside the ring get a bit feisty with eachother. Sheik can't quite hook his leg round to lock the hold in, meaning Rotundo is able to counter with a hip toss. Rather than go for the tag, he goes for an elbow drop and misses. Both Sheik and Rotundo crawl to their corners, Sheik there first again, but this time Volkoff is unable to prevent the tag to Windham and the crowd goes nuts. 

Windham beats on Volkoff and hits him with a dropkick. He attacks some more and signals for the bulldog, which makes the crowd explode into life. He hits it(with a pretty poor sell from Volkoff) and goes for the pin, but Sheik is able to make the save. Rotundo comes back in and dropkicks Sheik to the outside. The ref tries to get Rotundo back out of the ring, and while his back is turned Sheik pops up again and strikes Windham in the back with Freddie Blassie's cane. Volkoff capitalises and pins Windham to get the win. 

Ventura is made up with the new champions and Monsoon can't believe what he's just seen. I liked this match, good back and forth and a good heel win using the weapon. A small amount of double teaming but it ended up being the same double team attacks over again. A solid 3/5 tag match.


After watching a replay we go to Mean Gene for a live interview with the winning team. Blassie says he never had a cane to begin with when questioned and Sheik calls him Gene Mean again. We go back again to Alfred Hayes who introduces the next match between Big John Studd and Andre The Giant. It's going to be a bodyslam match, with Studd wins then Andre must retire, if Andre wins then he gets $15,000. We go back to pre-recorded interviews again, John Studd has Bobby "The Brain" Heenan in his corner and they show the camera a bag of crumpled bills (Gene tries to take a few to Heenan's annoyance). No interview with Andre so we go to the ring, while Jesse bigs up Wrestlemania some more calling it the greatest spectacle in wrestling history.

Match 7 - Big John Studd w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan vs Andre The Giant
$15,000 Slam match
If John Studd wins, Andre must retire. If Andre The Giant wins, Studd & Heenan must give him $15,000

Studd is booed by the crowd, and Andre has his own entrance, with no music, but the crowd love him. We get another "Holy Mackerel" from Gorilla and the bell rings.

Studd attacks first with a few strikes but Andre chops his way back, and headbutts Studd out the ring. The ref starts a 10 count and Studd slowly gets back into the ring. Andre chokes him on the ropes before landing some poor blows. He rams his arse into Studd in the corner but Studd goes for a bodyslam and fails hopelessly. Andre wraps Studd in a bear hug while the crowd chant "SLAM". The bear hug lasts for AGES before it's broken, then Andre slaps a sleeper hold on Studd and then attacks with more strikes and headbutts. Andre sets Studd up for a back drop, Studd sees this and goes to kick Andre while he's bent over, but Andre catches his and beats on Studd some more. Andre looks to be in a bit of physical pain in this match, I guess due to his gigantism. He picks Studd up and bodyslams him shortly afterwards, bringing the crowd to their feet. Andre grabs the bag of money and throws the bills into the crowd, but Heenan comes in from behind and steals the money back and runs off with it.

Meh, it looks like Andre was in a bad way in this time of his life, and this match was made purely to get him on the card. Pretty poor and pointless, even though the crowd loved it, it doesn't deserve anything higher than 1/5.

We see a replay of Andre's winning bodyslam and then go back to Mean Gene interviewing Andre. Andre calls Heenan a weasle, and wants to carry on the interview after Gene says they're going back to the commentary team. Ventura calls the bodyslam the "Slam heard around the world". Talk about over hyping things. Anyway, we go back again to Alfred Hayes, who receives kisses on the cheek from a couple of women (I think Fabulous Moolah and Leilani Kai). He says the next match is the first of the wrestling and rock connection matches. There's another pre-recorded interview with Mean Gene and Cindi Lauper & Wendi Richter. After a lot of horrible noise, Moolah and Kai are interviewed and don't say much. Back to the ring

Match 8 - Leilani Kai (C) w/The Fabulous Moolah vs Wendi Richter w/Cindi Lauper
Singles match for the WWF Womens Championship (no time limit given)

Kai is booed and Richter is cheered into the ring during her entrance with Cindi Lauper. The match again takes ages to start, and it's awful. Poor strikes, grapples and selling of holds throughout. Richter loves a hammerlock and Kai a snapmare. This really does seem amateurish and I'm surprised they put this match this high on the card. Moolah gets involved attacking Richter through the ropes, Lauper comes to her aid and the crowd take a bit of notice. After a bodyslam, Kai goes to the top rope and lands a cross body splash, but the momentum is meant to take her through for Richter to get the win, except there was no momentum, meaning Richter crawls onto Kai to get the pin. Richter is the new champion. 

They make a real mess of this ending to the match, and it didn't start well either. Dreadful, 1/5.

We see another replay of the poorly executed ending and then go to Mean Gene who has Richter, Lauper and Cindi's manager David Wolf with him, and not much is said.

We go back in the ring where Howard Finkel announces that we will soon be coming to tonight's main event. He introduces the special guest ring announcer for the match, former baseball great Billy Martin. The crowd love him. I'm not a big baseball fan so I don't know who he is, but following a wide camera shot it looks like Pat Patterson is in the ring in referee attire.

Martin announces the guest timekeeper, and it's Liberace, who gets his own entrance down to the ring along with some showgirls. We can barely hear the next announcement because of the crowd noise, but Ventura tells us that it's the special guest referee, none other than Muhammad Ali himself. He gets a huge reception from the crowd and everyone involved. We now to go the match itself

Match 9 - Roddy Piper & "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff w/ "Cowboy" Bob Orton vs Hulk Hogan & Mr T w/"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka
Tag Team match, 1 hour time limit

Rowdy Roddy Piper & Orndorff comes out to a whole bagpipe band and a bunch of boos. Hogan's music hits and the crowd goes wild. Hogan & Mr T are clearly fan favourites and the atmosphere picks up a lot when everyone is in the ring. Piper breaks a broom over his knee, and Gorilla says Muhammad Ali is the outside official while Pat Patterson is the in-ring referee, while he marvels at Liberace's bell.

After a long delay, the match starts with Paul Orndorff in the ring with Hogan. Orndorff tags straight out before any moves take place, and with Piper in the ring Mr T wants in. Hogan plays to the crowd and gets Mr T in the ring, making the crowd noisier than before. Piper gets Mr T in a waist lock after slapping him a few times, but Mr T escapes. After a stand off Mr T gets Piper onto his shoulders before slamming him to the mat. Mr T taunts Piper who rushes towards him into Orndorff's corner. Hogan runs in and all four guys brawl in the ring. Orton & Snuka join in, Muhammad Ali gets in and hits Piper, before swinging at Orton. 

Piper's team are out of the ring and head for the dressing room. Pat Patterson starts a count out but Hogan stops it.  Piper & Orndorff get back in the ring and start up another brawl, but Mr T & Hogan have too much and give them the noggin knocker. Hogan stays in the ring as the legal man and delivers an atomic drop to Piper. After raking Piper's eyes Mr T is tagged in and Piper takes a double clothesline. Mr T shows he has some basic moves by bodyslamming Piper and then executing a great hiptoss on a charging Orndorff. He bodyslams Piper again before striking Orndorff down, and Hogan is tagged back in. Piper is dazed swinging punches everwhere, and takes a big boot from Hogan sending him over the top rope. 

Orndorff comes in from behind and clotheslines Hogan out, leaving Piper to attack Hogan with a chair on the outside. Hogan is thrown back in but stuck in Piper & Orndorff's corner. They double team on Hogan as Patterson has his back turned trying to keep Mr T from coming into the ring, but Mr T charges right past him trying to break up the attacks. Pat Patterson tries to get a hold on Mr T and eventually gets him back in the corner, leaving Hogan open to take a double atomic drop from Piper & Orndorff. Orndorff has been tagged in and he goes to work on Hogan, Muhammad Ali and Patterson have words with Piper but Mr T can't get in the ring. Hogan takes a suplex in the middle of the ring and Piper is tagged back in.

Hogan can barely and after a few punches ispinned for a 2 count. Orndorff is tagged in and enters the ring from the top rope with an double ax handle, while Piper applies an arm lock on Hogan. Hogan kicks out on 2 after another pin and then takes a backbreaker. Orndorff goes to the top rope again, this time with Hogan on the ground and goes for the flying knee drop, but Hogan is able to quickly roll out the way. A hot tag is made to Mr T and all four men are again fighting in the ring. Mr T focuses on Orndorff but Piper attacks him from behind. Orndorff tries to keep Mr T on the ground and tags in Piper. Piper keeps Mr T in a front face lock, but he's able to power through and dives at Hogan for the tag. Hogan gets in the ring and punches at both Piper & Orndorff, giving them another noggin knocker. The crowd are loving it and they seem to sense victory. Orndorff sneaks behind Hogan and gives him a back suplex and Piper is sent back to the apron by Patterson. Jimmy Snuka and Orton appear in the ring and Snuka sends Orton flying off the apron, but Hogan's in trouble. Snuka, bizarrely, leaves the ring and Orndorff has Hogan in a Full Nelson hold. Piper is ready to run and smash into Hogan but Mr T makes the save. By this time Orton has climbed to the top rope and leaps at Hogan with a double ax handle and misses, striking Orndorff instead. Hogan goes for the pin and gets the win, with Snuka stopping an Orton save. 

The crowd loved this but it's not something I liked that much. Probably doesn't help I'm not really a Hogan fan, however this wasn't a great match, not the worst either. However due to the crowd reaction I'll be generous and give this a 3/5.

In the aftermath Piper and Orton leave Orndorff in the ring, and Piper takes a shot at Pat Patterson. Mr T helps Orndorff to his feet but Orndorff starts swinging wildely and then realises he's been left on his own. 

So there it is, the first Wrestlemania. Not the best PPV you will ever see and definitely not the worst. Judging it purely from match scores, I give it a poor 18/45, however as an overall show, and considering this really was historic for the time and what Wrestlemania has now become, I'd give this a 6/10. It didn't have a standout match and had quite a bit of crap really, however what WWF did do well is present this as a massive event and certainly did a lot to get the crowd on side as much as possible. Certainly well worth watching to see how Wrestlemania started and I'd recommend it on that alone.

The next scheduled PPV from what I can find would be the inaugural Great American Bash...however the WWE Network doesn't seem to have this PPV, with the records going back to 1988 for GAB which is a shame. Oh well. The next PPV I can find after that is a WWF event called The Wrestling Classic...great name