WrestleMania
From Freepedia
WrestleMania is the annual flagship pay-per-view event of World Wrestling Entertainment, widely regarded as the grandest event in professional wrestling. The first WrestleMania was held on March 31, 1985 in New York's Madison Square Garden by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
WrestleMania is to the WWE as the Super Bowl is to the NFL, the World Series is to MLB, the Stanley Cup Finals is to the NHL, or as 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 of all major wrestling events in the world, where participating in its main event marks the pinnacle of a professional wrestler's career, and a hugely important source of revenue to the WWE.
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WrestleMania dates and venues
- WrestleMania I: March 31, 1985 - New York City at Madison Square Garden
- WrestleMania 2: April 7, 1986 - Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Sports Arena; Rosemont, Illinois at the Rosemont Horizon; Uniondale, New York at the Nassau Coliseum
- WrestleMania III: March 29, 1987 - Pontiac, Michigan at the Pontiac Silverdome
- WrestleMania IV: March 27, 1988 - Atlantic City at Trump Plaza
- WrestleMania V: April 2, 1989 - Atlantic City at Trump Plaza
- WrestleMania VI: April 1, 1990 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the SkyDome
- WrestleMania VII: March 24, 1991 - Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Sports Arena
- WrestleMania VIII: April 5, 1992 - Indianapolis at the Hoosier Dome
- WrestleMania IX: April 4, 1993 - Las Vegas at Caesar's Palace
- WrestleMania X: March 20, 1994 - New York City at Madison Square Garden
- WrestleMania XI: April 2, 1995 - Hartford at the Hartford Civic Center
- WrestleMania XII: March 31, 1996 - Anaheim at the Arrowhead Pond
- WrestleMania 13: March 23, 1997 - Rosemont, Illinois at the Rosemont Horizon
- WrestleMania XIV: March 29, 1998 - Boston at the FleetCenter
- WrestleMania XV: March 28, 1999 - Philadelphia at the First Union Center
- WrestleMania XVI: April 2, 2000 - Anaheim at the Arrowhead Pond
- WrestleMania X-Seven: April 1, 2001 - Houston at the Reliant Astrodome
- WrestleMania X8: March 17, 2002 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the SkyDome
- WrestleMania XIX: March 30, 2003 - Seattle at Safeco Field
- WrestleMania XX: March 14, 2004 - New York City at Madison Square Garden
- WrestleMania 21: April 3, 2005 - Los Angeles at the Staples Center
- WrestleMania 22: April 2, 2006 - Chicago, Illinois at Allstate Arena
Facts and figures
- WrestleMania III was claimed by the World Wrestling Federation as setting an indoor attendance record of 93,173 (years later, a dispute arose about this number with some critics claiming an attendance of 78,000). It is the largest North American indoor crowd to witness a sporting event.
- WrestleMania VI and X-8 are the only WrestleManias to have been held outside of the United States, both being held at SkyDome (now Rogers Centre), in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- The Undertaker has never lost a match at WrestleMania. Currently, his record in WrestleMania matches is 13-0. He has defeated 'Superfly' Jimmy Snuka, Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, Giant Gonzales, King Kong Bundy, Diesel, Sycho Sid, Kane - WM XIV, Big Bossman, Triple H, Ric Flair, Big Show and A-Train, Kane - WM XX, and most recently Randy Orton. The Undertaker and Kane are two of only eight superstars who faced each other at Wrestlemania in singles action on more than one occassion. The other six are Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, twice - WM III & WM IV. Bret Hart and Yokozuna, twice - WM IX & WM X. And lastly, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, three times - WM XV, WM X-Seven & WM XIX.
- Despite winning the Gold medal for freestyle wrestling during the 1996 Olympics, Kurt Angle , so far, never won or defended his titles at a Wrestlemania. At Wresrlemania 2000(XVI), he both lost the IC and European titles to Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho respectively, without getting pinned or tapping out. He lost the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania XIX and he failed to capture the latter title from Eddie Guerrero at Wrestlemania XX.
- The first fifteen WrestleManias saw a face wrestler win the main event, where during most of these matches, the face either won or retained the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. This trend was broken at WrestleMania XVI when the heel Triple H retained his title.
- Majority of the Wrestlemanias' main event are championship matches except for three, WM, WM VIII & WM XI.
Celebrity involvement
- Celebrities such as Cyndi Lauper, Mr. T, Aretha Franklin, Donald Trump, Vanna White, Run DMC, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and many others have attended WrestleMania.
- Bands including Motörhead, Limp Bizkit, Saliva, and Drowning Pool have performed live during WrestleMania.
- Mike Tyson appeared in WrestleMania XIV as the special guest enforcer for the WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
- 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 top 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 "Superfly" Snuka in their corner to take on "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff and "Rowdy" 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.
External links
- WrestleMania website
- WWE official website
- The top 21 matches in WrestleMania history as selected by WWE
- WrestleMania 22 Blog
See also
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| WrestleMania | |
|---|---|
| WM | WM 2 | WM III | WM IV | WM V | WM VI | WM VII | WM VIII | WM IX | WM X | WM XI | WM XII | WM 13 | WM XIV | WM XV | WM 2000 (XVI) | WM X-Seven | WM X8 | WM XIX | WM XX | WM 21 | WM 22 | |
