WWF Wrestlemania 1 – March 1985

WWF Wrestlemania – March 31st 1985 – Madison Square Garden

Matches
Tito Santana defeated The Executioner (5/10)
King Kong Bundy defeated Special Delivery Jones (2/10)
Ricky Steamboat defeated Matt Borne (7/10)
David Samartino and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake fought to a double DQ (4/10)
The Junkyard Dog defeated Greg “the hammer” Valentine via Countout {Intercontinental Title} (7/10)
Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik defeated The US Express {Rotundo & Windham} {Tag Team Titles} (7/10)
Andre The Giant defeated Big John Studd {$15,000 slam vs Career Match} (5/10)
Wendi Ritcher defeated Leilani Kai {Women’s Title} (3/10)
Hulk Hogan & Mr T defeated Rowdy Roddy Piper & Paul Orndoff (8/10)

Moments – Positives
A few moments stand out from Wrestlemania 1, the overall hype surrounding the first event makes this something of a historical masterpiece. Classic moments include Steamboat’s high flying spot, King Kong Bundy winning his match in 23 seconds, Andre the Giant slamming Big John Studd and a great ending to the Intercontinental Title Match. The ending to the main event also exelled with Cowboy Bob Ornton costing Orndoff and Piper the match.

Moments – Negatives
The show did not have the greatest card and felt like some of the matches were simply on the card to promote the feuds rather than climax. Mr T wrestling was slightly cringeworthy (as with most celebrities involved in wrestling) and the Women’s Title match was truly poor. A few botched spots and poor interviews also made for some doubtful moments.

Overall Summary
This show was by no means perfect nor was the card particularly strong for a wrestling event of 1985, however due to the hype, the celebrities involved and the sheer scale of the event, it will live in history as one of the most imporant pay-per-views. The involvement of Mr T and a very poor Women’s title match has lowered the total score for this event, however I would still recommend that all should watch this so that they can see how Wrestlemania came to be…..

SCORE = 7.5

The Wrestling Reviewer

What is the Wrestling Reviewer?

My objective is relatively simple; watch, analyse and review every single WWE, ECW, WCW and TNA Pay-Per-View.

Starting with WWE Wrestlemania 1 and ending with the latest Pay-Per-View to hit the screen, I am going to watch each event in detail providing a rating for each match, the positives and negatives of each show and my overall score out of 10.

Why am I doing this?

I love wrestling and have done since the mid-90’s. I now have in my collection every single WWE, ECW, WCW and TNA (monthly) PPV. Watching this from the very first event is not enough as I want to share my opinion with all.

In what order will I watch the events?

I am starting off with WWE(F) and Wrestlemania 1 in 1985. Once I watch all WWE(F) events up to the most recent PPV, I will move on to one of the other companies.

How will the grading be decided?

I will attempt to ignore the production values given that these will differ depending on era and company. The focus of the match rating will be to analyse the spots, the wrestling itself and how the story is told. The positives and negatives will be my personal opinion of the event and the overall rating will be out of 10. This rating will take into account the matches, the storylines and segments as well as what I thought were the positives of the event.

Enjoy the long ride of the Wrestling Reviewer….

Andre