Ive always viewed WrestleMania in stages. In the 80s, it was unique and novel, and created moments that lived in peoples minds far longer than anyone could have ever expected.
In the 90s, the shows were still memorable. Some good. Some bad. It was by no means close to what it was in the Hulk Hogan era as wrestling wasnt as popular. But in a lot of ways, WrestleMania bottomed out and topped out at about the same moment, that memorable shot of the bloody face of Steve Austin refusing to submit to referee Ken Shamrock while caught in Bret Harts sharpshooter.
For a while, that was considered the greatest match in WrestleMania history. Steve Austin still considers it the best match of his career. That night in Chicago, WrestleMania only did 237,000 buys on PPV and there were a number of WCW shows that did better. Yet, Austin exploded, and the combination of Austin and Mike Tyson one year later led to what up to that point was the most successful WrestleMania in history. Since then, while not every show has been great, the new modern era started.
Its the era of the wrestlers who grew up watching the early shows and seeing them as larger than life. Most of the wrestlers of that era probably didnt comprehend what those memories would be. Yeah, it was the biggest show of the year, but it wasnt like everyone peaked their training and went out to steal the show. If you watch the early WrestleManias, the matches for the most part were no better, and often worse, than a standard WWE PPV. Then, like now, youll get your outstanding match.
But the era of the Shawn Michaels show-stealing match, The Undertakers streak, and guys like Edge, Christian, Chris Jericho and HHH, and eventually most of the roster, that grew up as fans and probably can remember everything about the day, the show, what they were doing, and what the weather was like as kids on show day, but probably cant even remember what they had for dinner a week ago, have led to what the show is today.
The new WWE DVD, The True History of WrestleMania, looks back. WrestleMania has a fascinating history, as well as a mythology. One would expect the WWE DVD to focus on the latter, and in particular when it comes to the early history, it largely does.
Most people will like the DVD. Sure, you can focus on a lot of matches that were left out (the landmark Michaels vs. Razor Ramon match; Michaels vs. Ric Flair; Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart; and Michaels vs. Kurt Angle were not even acknowledged) and disagree with opinions, but thats cool. But the true history, particularly at the beginning, is far more interesting than the DVD let on. It would need a book and granted, a book has been written, but it was still the mythology version, where Andre the Giant will forever be 7-foot-5, where Hulk Hogan was scared to death that Andre might beat him up in that match, and perhaps the extreme mythology where Hogan tore all these muscles executing the bodyslam.
There are a number of people who made WrestleMania what it was and is. Without Hogan and Vince McMahon, both of them, it would have never gotten to where it is. Steve Austin was credited with the rebirth of WrestleMania, but he really just ushered in the new era. The 1998 show that established Austin as one of the biggest stars in the history of the industry was a turning point, which both Austin and Mike Tyson should be credited with. But two years later, when Austin wasnt even on the show, the name WrestleMania was strong enough that they still did huge business. Since that time there has only been one show, in 2003 in Seattle, which did 540,000 worldwide buys, where somehow, for some reason, the Mania name didnt click like usual. And there is no obvious answer as to why that happened. Last years show in some ways did worse, because it did just under 500,000 North American buys, but there is at least the explanation of going the day after a major UFC event.
But Sunday, things look to turn back around. Momentum is there at a level it hasnt been in years. Whether this ends up happening or not, it looks to be the biggest show easily since the Floyd Mayweather/Ric Flair retirement show of 2008, and perhaps the biggest since the all-time high-water mark of the Donald Trump/Vince McMahon angle the year before.
While WrestleMania III is probably still the most memorable show, although far from the best show, as it cant hold a candle to the modern shows with guys who peak everything for the day, as opposed to guys in the early years where it was the biggest show of the year, but in other ways, just another day in the grind.
The Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant match, a poor match in the ring, is, at least in North America, the single most famous wrestling match of all-time. But make no mistake about it, the most important WrestleMania was the first one.
It is in the coverage of the early years that the DVD and True Story often part company. It was presented that WrestleMania took the industry out of smoky arenas and national guard armories. WrestleMania had little to do with it. In most major markets, pro wrestling ran in the nicest arena in the town. Some were smaller today because there were less NBA and NHL franchises that needed larger arenas. Some were just as big. Some were the same arenas (or modernized versions) that wrestling was playing in before that time. It is true a lot of them were smoky, but that change had to do completely with anti-smoking laws in enclosed public places.
Vince McMahon talked about taking the WWF and expanding nationally against the other promoters. Make no mistake about it, March 31, 1985, the date of the first WrestleMania was a major turning point in the brutal 80s wrestling war. Although not everyone saw it at the time.
In late 1983 and throughout 1984, Vince McMahon embarked as a campaign to expand what was his fathers very successful Northeastern wrestling territory nationally. The key cog in the wheel was the signing of Hogan, the top attraction for Verne Gagnes AWA in the Midwest, and an even bigger star with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Hogan was the single most charismatic star in the business, and its biggest draw. To show how important he was, in 1983, Gagnes big shows at the St. Paul Civic Center averaged about 8,000 when Hogan wasnt on the card (when he was in Japan), and double that when he was headlining. While Ric Flair could double attendance at that time in the Carolinas, and Kerry Von Erich and Jimmy Snuka were both strong marketable commodities, anyone looking at the landscape could see Hogan was the guy to lead the charge. Without him, I believe the national expansion would have failed.
McMahon had both success and failure in his first year going national. In most cities where the local wrestling wasnt strong, McMahon did well. He also did well in his own territory, as well as in the AWA markets because they were established Hogan strongholds. In markets with strong local promotions, the Carolinas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas and Tennessee in particular, he didnt make many inroads.
Plus, he gambled big. McMahon established a strong regional television network by going to the stations that aired local wrestling, and offering to pay the station, several thousand dollars per week inn the major markets, to put his show on and remove the local show. McMahon said that he believed he had a better product and wanted to compete. He had more stars, a different product, and he did compete, but not in traditional ways.
Its hard to know whether the costs of the expansion were more than he was taking in. His core cities, and many other markets, were doing great business when Hogan headlined, and many were doing great business even without Hogan, with people like Andre the Giant, Roddy Piper, Snuka, Sgt. Slaughter and others as top attractions. A lot of other markets werent doing well. The signs were not good, since McMahon was falling behind in paying his television bills when he came up with WrestleMania.
The story on the DVD is that if the first WrestleMania wasnt a success, Vince wouldnt be here today. Its hard to say. There were important entertainment figures who were already talking to McMahon. Saturday Nights Main Event on NBC, a gigantic breakthrough for his company, started shortly after Mania and probably would have happened either way. He may have had to take on partners, and thats not his style. He likes to say it was make or break. He himself would have gone broke, at least for the time, if it didnt hit.
It was portrayed as the pre-Mania period led by the Cyndi Lauper angle, which was a huge breakthrough (all stemming from the weird luck of Lauper sitting on an airplane next to Lou Albano and finding the guy hilarious and putting him in her videos and then she exploded) made wrestling hip and created sellouts. Wrestling was doing strong business in most places in 1983. Celebrities went to Madison Square Garden to see Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Graham. Future presidents attended shows in Columbus, GA and Houston. Arguably the single biggest rock and roll star in the history of the world snuck in backstage often at the Mid South Coliseum. Wrestling sold out arenas before and after, and quite frankly, as time went on, less after.
But doing a closed-circuit show on a national basis was a huge gamble. It would not have succeeded except for Mr. T, who created all kinds of mainstream buzz. It cant be emphasized just how big, not just a TV star Mr. T was in 1985, but just as important was how big his tough-guy aura was. In a time before UFC and Jiu Jitsu, people knew nothing about fighting, and well, Mr. T looked like they imagined the baddest prison tough street fighter with the scowl, the Mohawk and all the bling. He was Kimbo Slice, but never exposed, and really, with tons more notoriety.
As funny as this sounds, because of the racially charged promos of Piper, and the fact the public believed Mr. T was real, they did get that weird aura that meant money in those days. The idea that wrestling is scripted, but this one match, well, maybe this talking went too far. Hogan was already a big star to wrestling fans, but it was tag teaming with Mr. T at the first WrestleMania that made him a celebrity to non-fans. It was a lesson that Hogan learned and has tried to constantly repeat.
Vince portrayed it as this gigantic gamble because nobody knew if wrestling fans would go to arenas and theaters to watch on closed-circuit, acting like it was something new. It was a gamble, but it had been done before. Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki nine years earlier, which was not a success, went into just as many locations as WrestleMania. Big boxing matches had been on closed-circuit for more than a decade. Jim Crockett had already put on two Starrcade events and proven, that at least in his territory, the concept worked for modern pro wrestling. Still, booking 17 markets in the Carolinas and more than 200 buildings around North America is a completely different scale event.
There have been all kinds of stories regarding the financing of that first show. David Crockett once claimed their company, in paying $1 million to McMahon to buy the TBS time slot, did so. But that deal went down after Mania. Others said it was Antonio Inoki. Vince McMahon Sr. and New Japan Pro Wrestling had a relationship dating back to the mid-70s, as New Japan used McMahon Sr. as a source for foreign talent when The Funk Brothers and the NWA promotions were supplying All Japan. By that point, with Hogan and Andre the Giant in particular being huge stars, New Japan would pay WWF $500,000 twice a year as part of its talent fees. When Inoki paid his early 1985 installment, thats when a lot of the overdue television bills started getting paid.
A week in, things were not looking good. While Madison Square Garden sold out immediately, no surprise, since big shows at MSG had been selling out on a regular basis since 1970, most closed circuit locations were doing poorly. Advances were so scary that a week out, they canceled more than 70 locations, about one-third of the ones booked. And of the 133 remaining, many of them had less than 1,000 tickets sold.
But at the end of the day, it can never be said Vince McMahon was not a great wrestling promoter, even if he would hate to be associated with that term. The last week publicity was like nothing, before or since, that wrestling has ever seen. Yes, future Manias would be viewed by far more people on PPV, and in major stadiums, and it would become a major annual entertainment event. But for all the talk of front page publicity on a national basis, the only WrestleMania ever to accomplish that was the first one, and it was due to Cyndi Lauper and Mr. Ts involvement. And to this day, there is some debate whether, from a wrestling standpoint, whether it was Hogan or Piper who was the most important. The general public story was Mr. T wrestling Piper, with the big blond guy in a tag match, but to the wrestling fans actually buying tickets, Hogan was the big star.
No, there werent 1 million people watching on closed-circuit like claimed (that was the reported number and everyone bought it), but the late publicity led to phenomenal walk-up business in many locations. The actual number on closed circuit was 398,000 paying $3.8 million. Sunday show may gross $50 million to show how far things have come. But it was enough to pay the bills and was an undeniable success to the level it became a tradition.
Still, those in the industry didnt know. I remember right after, Ernie Ladd, a very savvy veteran of the business, remarked that Vince had just won the war. But if he did, and in hindsight, you could say that night as a key turning point, nobody told his opponents. The strong opposition promoters of the time were also celebrating. WrestleMania was carried by certain parts of the country, the traditional McMahon territory, Canada and the West Coast. In cities known as wrestling strongholds, fans did not accept New York Wrestling yet. People like Jim Crockett, Paul Boesch, Fritz Von Erich, Jerry Jarrett and Bill Watts only looked at their territory. In their minds, Vince got more publicity than anyone had ever gotten, brought in the biggest TV star, one of the biggest rock stars, plus had Muhammad Ali and Billy Martin on the show, and almost nobody in their territory bought tickets. To them, it was a vindication that what they were doing was right, and they just had to ride out a little while before the world returns to balancing correctly on its axis.
One McMahon promoter who had a long period working for a successful other side, running in a market that did just under the national average noted, Weve never had more publicity for a show in history, and Im not sure the town isnt worse off for it. What the ones who breathed a sigh of relief that night didnt understand is that, yes, traditional wrestling fans had a style they liked. And this wasnt it. But the new fans coming in, kids, the next generation of fans, this was the major league, they were on NBC and in the news and Hulk Hogan was the big star.
Still, two key stories that werent touched, was Mr. T having cold feet and trying so leave the Garden before the match, and Pipers outright refusal to do a job. Piper knew how important he was to the company and flexed his muscles at times. After Mania, he defied Vince and worked a show for Don Owen. When Vince would run shows in Oregon, where Piper would have been his biggest draw, Piper refused to work them. So it was a safe bet he could nix doing a job. And Paul Orndorff didnt have that problem. Mr. T considered leaving, perhaps due to nerves, or fear somebody would shoot on him, because Mr. T knew why he was over and if Piper took a cheap shot at him and laid him out, his entire aura would be dead. But Hogan and Piper talked him into coming back. Mr. T walking out would have killed the show. There would have been no second WrestleMania had that happened. And the companys credibility may have taken a hit that at that point in time it couldnt recover from.
Hogan, as per usual, had the wackiest quotes. He claimed that if Mania hadnt been a success and WWF went down, that every wrestler on the card would have been blackballed and would not have had a way to make a living in wrestling.
Even sillier, he said, Before WrestleMania I, I never dreamed Id catch the eye of the New York promoter, work Madison Square Garden, then I made the step to the big leagues.
Hogan caught the eye of Vince McMahon Sr. in 1979, when he made his WWF debut. The first WrestleMania was six years later.
WrestleMania II was portrayed also as something never done before. They did a three hour plus show. One hour was live at the Nassau Coliseum in New York, The second was at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago (now the All-State Arena) and the third at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. This was also described as something never done before. In actuality, Crockett had just done it the previous Thanksgiving for Starrcade in Greensboro and Atlanta. Vince talked about how doing such a show with the technology today would be difficult, so imagine doing it in 1986. Except Crockett had already done it in 1985. It was interesting because while everyone else was putting it over, in two different clips, Dick Ebersol did not. He said he didnt think the company was ready for it because Vince couldnt be in all three places, and closed saying, I dont think that (show) was up to the standards of all the other ones.
While Hogan vs. Bundy was the big closed circuit ticket seller, this show also got very good media because The Fridge, William Perry, was a cult favorite as, not the best player, but the most talked about player on the Super Bowl winning Chicago Bears. Perry joined a number of NFL players, including Jimbo Covert of the Bears, Bill Fralic (a huge fan who had every asset to be a huge star in wrestling, and teased going into WCW once as contract leverage), Russ Francis (who had wrestled in the 70s and his father was a great wrestler and promoter when he was growing up), Ernie Holmes (retired by that point, who also briefly wrestled for Georgia Championship Wrestling many years earlierand had an interesting altercation at the dress rehearsal where he wanted to fight Andre the Giant), Harvey Martin (a big fan who later did some wrestling for World Class), while Dick Butkus and Too Tall Jones (who the Cowboys wouldnt allow in the Battle Royal) were referees. No such thing could happen today with modern NFL contracts that would prevent it. The Battle Royal was also notable because it was the only WrestleMania that Bruno Sammartino wrestled on.
fter the success of the celebrities on the first show, they went crazy on this one, with a list that included Susan St. James (the wife of Ebersol), Joan Rivers, Herb from the Burger King commercials, Ray Charles, Cathy Lee Crosby, Clare Peller, Elvira, Tommy Lasorda and Ricky Schroeder. After the show, that was considered major overkill and they toned down. This was about 20% down from the first show, doing 319,000 fans on closed circuit, but it was not a financial failure by any means. It wasnt much of a show, as out of 12 matches, you really only had two good ones (British Bulldogs winning the tag titles over Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake and The Funk Brothers over Junkyard Dog & Tito Santana.
DeVito mentioned a full house in Chicago, and I guess you have to say that. The show did sell out in Nassau, and came close in Los Angeles (14,500 out of 16,700 seats), while Chicago only drew 9,000a shocker since Perry was involved. They never tried three locations again.
The third show, at the Pontiac Silverdome, was portrayed as the biggest ever. Once again, the mythology was in full bore, and not just the 93,173 figure, because they have to say that. Basil DeVito, who probably topped only Hogan in credibility here, talked about Vince announcing they were going to the Silverdome and being scared to death by a building that large. To a point I could see that, because there was a lot of pressure. But Hogan vs. Orndorff had already drawn a legitimate 64,000 fans and almost 62,000 paid in Toronto the year before. And that was for a show promoted only in the Toronto market. This was a bigger match, the biggest match possible at the time, on a show being promoted nationally. Im not saying they were guaranteed to do 78,000 people, but the building was going to be close to full. As it turned out, they sold out a week in advance.
The mythology here was great, particularly the idea that Hogan was afraid Andre would shoot on him. Look, a prime Andre the Giant was the most physically awesome looking person on the planet. A prime Andre got sucker punched by 310 pound Blackjack Mulligan at a beach front hotel, shook it off like it was nothing, and grabbed both Mulligan and Murdoch, himself about 280 and a legendary tough guy, dragged them to the ocean and dunked them. But this was years later, after the Akira Maeda situation in Japan. This was after filming The Princess Bride, where Andres body had turned on him so badly they he could not even hold a 110 pound women in his arms and they had to use wires and suspend her to make it look like Andre was holding her. Andre was immobile, but it didnt matter because the hype overcame what actually happened.
Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage was featured. Generally considered the best match of the first nine Manias, Gerald Brisco made the comment that they proved that you can steal the show even if youre not in the main event. Yes, another thing that had never been done before in wrestling history, as there had never been a great undercard match. Chris Jericho, whose favorite wrestler was Steamboat, noted that he and his best friend memorized this match move-for-move, and would practice it over-and-over.
But this show was the high-water mark of WWF history until the Austin era. It set the record with 450,000 closed circuit viewers, and another 400,000 on pay-per-view, a number amazing considering only 5 million homes in the country had PPV capabilities. But it signaled the end of closed-circuit and the beginning of the PPV era.
Steamboat vs. Savage is still remembered by almost everyone who saw it, 24 years later. As far as the all-time star of Mania, Hogan is the most important because he got the ball rolling; Michaels is the greatest WrestleMania performer ever, having the best match on the show over-and-over; and Undertaker with the streak gimmick, something that was a complete fluke in the sense the first seven or eight shows it was just a coincidence he always won, before they started actually realizing there was a streak and booking to make sure it continued. In recent years has become the biggest thing on the show.
The fourth WrestleManiathe original Super Sunday, had a great story, some of which probably would have to be told a little differently on a WWE DVD. But instead of telling it differently, the big story, in fact, didnt exist, almost like the main event the year Chris Benoit won the title. By 1988, the war between McMahon and Crockett (never acknowledged, historically it was only Ted Turners billions and stealing WWF talent that I guess was deemed as able to be competitive, not a Carolinas regional promoter who went national, and for a brief period of time was battling evenly with Vince in some of Vinces core cities) heated up when McMahon put the screws to Starrcade 87 on PPV.
