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- For other uses, see WrestleMania (disambiguation).
WrestleMania is the annual flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), 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 by WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
WrestleMania is to WWE as the 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 & 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, and SmackDown! brands onto the same card, something that hasn't been true of the remaining PPVs of the year since 2003.
WrestleMania dates and venues
Facts and figures
- Since 1993, the winner of the annual Royal Rumble match receives a guaranteed main event 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 now able to choose which champion they wish to face, even if they are not on the same brand.
- 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 some critics claiming an attendance of 78,000, however, this dispute has never been fully resolved)
- Since 1993, the winner of the Royal Rumble has won the WWE Championship or the World Championship at WrestleMania every year except at WrestleMania XI, WrestleMania 13, WrestleMania XV, and WrestleMania 2000. WrestleMania X can also be included on this list because in 1994 Royal Rumble, both Bret Hart and Lex Luger were both declared winners and both received title shots against the current champion, Yokozuna. Luger lost his match, Hart won his.
- 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.
- The Undertaker holds the best undefeated record: 14-0.
- Other undefeated streaks at WrestleMania include Edge at 5-0, Earthquake at 4-0, John Cena at 3-0, Rob Van Dam at 3-0 and Sable at 3-0.
- Triple H was the first heel to walk out of WrestleMania as a World Champion at WrestleMania 2000 and again at WrestleMania XIX. Yokozuna was technically the first heel to win a World Championship at WrestleMania (WrestleMania IX), but did not walk out of WrestleMania as one. His reign was only 128 seconds long before he lost the title to Hulk Hogan.
- Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan are the only men to have a WWF Championship reign begin at one WrestleMania and end at another. Savage won the WWF title at WrestleMania IV by winning a tournament for the title and lost the title to Hogan at WrestleMania V. Hogan himself would go on to lose the title at WrestleMania VI to the Ultimate Warrior.
- Yokozuna is the only man to have a WWF Championship reign begin and end at the same WrestleMania. He won the title from Bret Hart and then lost it to Hulk Hogan 128 seconds later.
- 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.
- The Rock and Triple H are the only wrestlers in WrestleMania history to appear in five consecutive title matches in five separate WrestleManias.
- Madison Square Garden (MSG) and the Allstate Arena have hosted the most WrestleManias. MSG hosted the inaugural, X, and XX. The Allstate Arena was one of the host venues for WrestleMania 2 and hosted WrestleManias 13 and 22.
- Only five men walked in and out of WrestleMania as WWE Champion: Hulk Hogan, Diesel, Triple H, Eddie Guerrero and John Cena. Yokozuna has successfully retained the title at a WrestleMania match (against Lex Luger) but he lost it later in the event to Bret Hart. Triple H is the only man to walk in and out of WrestleMania as World Heavyweight Champion.
- Stone Cold Steve Austin is the only man to have won the WWF Title at two consecutive WrestleManias: WrestleMania XIV against Shawn Michaels and XV against The Rock.
- Triple H is the only man to have lost the World Heavyweight Title at two consecutive WrestleManias. He lost the title to Chris Benoit at WrestleMania XX in a Triple-Threat Match that also involved Shawn Michaels and WrestleMania 21 to Batista. He is also the only man to have lost 3 consecutive WWE Championship/World Heavyweight Title Matches (WrestleMania XX, 21, & 22)
- WrestleManias that have taken place on April 1 have all been held in stadiums: VI at SkyDome, X-Seven at Reliant Astrodome, and 23 to be held at Ford Field.
- 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.
- WrestleMania 1 is the only WrestleMania to not hold a WWE Championship Match.
- So far WrestleMania IX is the only WrestleMania where the WWE Championship changed hands twice: Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart and then Hulk Hogan defeated Yokozuna.
- Bret Hart competed at twelve consecutive WrestleManias - from WrestleMania 2 to WrestleMania 13, which is more than any other wrestler. He wrestled in thirteen matches during this streak (he wrestled two matches at WrestleMania X), compiling a win-loss record of 7-6.
- WrestleManias VIII, IX, and X all had cancelled matches for those events in consecutive years (British Bulldog vs. Berzerker was scratched in 1992; Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Kamala was inexplicably cancelled in 1993; a 10-man tag between IRS, Headshrinkers, Jeff Jarrett, and Rick Martel vs. 123 Kid, Tatanka, Smoking Gunns, and Thurmann "Sparky" Plugg (the future Bob Holly) was cancelled due to time constraints; the match took place a few weeks later on RAW with Martel's team gaining the win).
- The only WrestleManias to feature repeated matches have been WrestleMania III/IV (both featuring a match between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant), WrestleMania IX/X (Bret Hart/Yokozuna), WrestleMania XIV/XX (Undertaker/Kane), WrestleMania XV/X-Seven/XIX (Stone Cold Steve Austin/The Rock), and WrestleMania 2000/X-Seven (Dudleyz/Hardyz/Edge and Christian).
- Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock is the only match in WrestleMania history to be featured at three WrestleManias.
- Jerry Lawler has been on the commentary team at WrestleMania twelve times, a record. He has called every WrestleMania since WrestleMania X, except WrestleMania X-Seven.
- Hulk Hogan is the only wrestler in WWE history to have beaten one of the tallest wrestlers in WWE and also the heaviest wrestler in WWE history at WrestleMania. Andre The Giant at WrestleMania III and Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX.
- Three wrestlers involved in the match for the WWE or World championship at WrestleMania have never won either title: King Kong Bundy, Ted DiBiase, and Roddy Piper, Mr. T, and Paul Orndorff were all in the main event at WrestleMania I, but Hulk Hogan's WWF Title was not on the line, as it was a tag match.
- Rey Mysterio is the only wrestler to compete for both the Cruiserweight Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania.
- Kurt Angle never won a title match at WrestleMania but always won at Non-title matches.
- To date, seven WrestleManias have been held in stadiums (III, VI, VIII, X-Seven, X8, XIX), one outdoors (IX), and the rest have been in arenas.
- Only 8 wrestlers have won at WrestleMania with a submission:
- Tito Santana (WrestleMania: Figure-Four Leg Lock on The Executioner)
- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (WrestleMania III: Sleeper Hold on Adrian Adonis in a "Hair-Vs-Hair" Match)
- "The Model" Rick Martel (WrestleMania VI: Boston Crab on Koko B. Ware)
- Bret "Hitman" Hart at two separate events (WrestleMania XI: Chicken Wing Cross-Face on Bob Backlund in an "I Quit" Match; WrestleMania XIII: The Sharpshooter on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a "Submission" Match)
- Steve Austin at WrestleMania XII with a Cobra Clutch on Savio Vega
- Chris Benoit (WrestleMania XX: Crippler Crossface on Triple H in a "Triple Threat" match also involving Shawn Michaels)
- Kurt Angle (WrestleMania 21: Ankle Lock on Shawn Michaels)
- John Cena (WrestleMania 22; STFU on Triple H).
- On two separate occasions, (WrestleMania XX and WrestleMania 22), the World Heavyweight Championship has been contested for in a Triple Threat Match. Both these matches saw title changes.
- In two consecutive WrestleManias, WrestleMania 21 and WrestleMania 22, there was a "Money in the Bank" Ladder match.
- Each time the ladder match has been held, a RAW superstar has won, Edge1 and RVD.
- Also, each time Shelton Benjamin has competed in the ladder match he has been the Intercontinental Champion.
- With his loss to John Cena at WrestleMania 22, Triple H has been involved in the four main outcomes of a WWE or World Heavyweight Title Match. He has walked into WrestleMania as champion and retained the title (WrestleMania 2000 against The Rock, Mick Foley and Big Show and WrestleMania XIX against Booker T) and lost the title (WrestleMania XX and 21, to Benoit and Batista respectively). He has also challenged for the title and won it (WrestleMania X8 against Chris Jericho) or lost when challenging (to John Cena at WrestleMania 22).
- Triple H is also the only man to have lost a match by submission on more than one occasion.
- John Cena is the only man to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania (WrestleMania 21) and successfully defend the title at the next years WrestleMania (WrestleMania 22).
- The Intercontinental title has not been defended at WrestleMania since 2002 (Inactive in 2003)
- Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels faced each other in three consecutive single matches from WrestleMania XII to WrestleMania XIV. They each won and lost a match.
- Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart for his first WWE Championship in an iron man match at WrestleMania XII. (Austin as The Ringmaster made his WrestleMania debut and defeated Savio Vega that night).
- Bret Hart defeated Stone Cold in a submission match at WrestleMania 13. (HBK was injured but did provide commentary for the main event between Sid and Undertaker.)
- Stone Cold defeated Shawn Michaels for his first WWE Championship at WrestleMania XIV. (Bret left the company for WCW after the famous Montreal Screwjob).
- Stone Cold and Hulk Hogan have both won the WWE Championship three times at WrestleMania.
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, 'Suger' 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 Douglas, 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 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 "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. 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 under 30 seconds.(The match was completely shoot.)
- Akebono (famous Japanese sumo wrestler) faced The Big Show in a worked sumo wrestling contest at WrestleMania 21. He successfully defeated The Big Show in about 2 minutes.
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. It should be noted that some of the wrestlers themes have been overdubbed, with Howard Finkle's voice being a key giveaway. 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.
External links
See also
1985 establishments
WrestleMania | Wrestlemania | Wrestlemania | WWE Wrestlemania | רסלמניה | レッスルマニア | WrestleMania | WrestleMania | Wrestlemania | 摔角大狂熱
"WrestleMania"