WrestleMania
| WWE WrestleMania | |
|---|---|
The official WrestleMania logo
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| Nickname(s) | "The Grandest Stage of Them All" "The Showcase of the Immortals" "The Grand Daddy of Them All" "The Show of Shows" |
| Information | |
| Created by | Vince McMahon |
| Promotion(s) | WWE |
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown |
| First event | WrestleMania I |
| Event gimmick | WWE's flagship event |
WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced annually between mid-March to early April by WWE, an American professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. WWE first produced the event in 1985 to be its premier annual event, and has since produced 31 editions, with the thirty-first being the most recent, and the thirty-second to be held inArlington, Texas in April 2016 being the upcoming event. WWE regards WrestleMania as its flagship event due to it being the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history, and accordingly schedules multiple heavily promoted matches to generate a high buyrate. It is considered to be WWE's Super Bowl equivalent. WrestleMania was conceptualized by WWE owner Vince McMahon, while long time WWE ring announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel is credited with coming up with the name "WrestleMania" in 1984.
WrestleMania's widespread success helped transform the professional wrestling sport and make WWE the most successful wrestling promotion in the world. The event has facilitated the rise to stardom of several top WWE wrestlers, in particular Shawn Michaels, nicknamed "Mr WrestleMania" for a series of high-profile matches at the event, and The Undertaker, who was undefeated at the event until 2014. Celebrities such as Aretha Franklin, Cyndi Lauper, Muhammad Ali, Mr. T, Alice Cooper, Lawrence Taylor, Pamela Anderson, Mike Tyson, Donald Trump, Floyd Mayweather, Pete Rose, Burt Reynolds, Mickey Rourke, Snoop Dogg, Sean Combs, Kid Rock, Fred Durst, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronda Rousey, Kid Ink, and others have participated or made special appearances within the events.
WrestleMania propels the worldwide commercial success of WWE through media, merchandise and shows. All of the events produced, except for WrestleMania 13, have been sold out within a short period of time, with recent editions being sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale. The first WrestleMania was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City; the 10th and 20th editions were also held there. WrestleMania III in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan was the highest-attended indoor sports event in the world, with 93,173 fans in attendance. The record stood until February 14, 2010, when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game broke the indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium, now known as AT&T Stadium.[1] All editions of the event have been hosted in North American cities, with 30 in theUnited States and two in Canada.
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Organization[edit]
While WrestleMania events have taken place mostly in sports arenas in large cities, a number of them have occurred in large stadiums. The most-attended events include WrestleMania III (93,173) in Pontiac, WrestleMania VI (67,678) inToronto, WrestleMania VIII (62,167) in Indianapolis, WrestleMania X-Seven (67,925) in Houston, WrestleMania X8 (68,237) also in Toronto, WrestleMania XIX (54,097) in Seattle, WrestleMania 23 (80,103) in Detroit, WrestleMania XXIV (74,635) inOrlando, WrestleMania XXV (72,744) also in Houston, WrestleMania XXVI (72,219) in Phoenix, WrestleMania XXVII(71,617) in Atlanta, WrestleMania XXVIII (78,363) in Miami, WrestleMania 29 (80,676) in East Rutherford, WrestleMania XXX (75,167) in New Orleans and WrestleMania 31 (76,976) in Santa Clara.[2][3] Since moving to large stadiums and running Axxess, WrestleMania produces a local economy boost for the host cities.[4][5][6][7]
WrestleMania centers on the main event matches, primarily for the WWE Championship (and between WrestleManias XIX and 29, the World Heavyweight Championship), as well as matches involving sportsmen such as American footballerLawrence Taylor, multi-weight boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather, and sumo wrestler Akebono. Other WWE championships are also contested for, while gimmick matches and personal feud matches also take place on the match card.
Since 1993, the winner of the annual Royal Rumble match has been able to receive a guaranteed WWE Championship match at the same year's WrestleMania. With the introduction of the World Heavyweight Championship in 2002, the winner was also given the option to choose between the world title or the WWE championship. The creation of the ECW brand in June 2006 gave the Rumble winner a third option: to choose to challenge for the ECW World Championship. This option was made available from 2007 until the brand was retired in 2010. However, this option was never chosen.[8]
WrestleMania 21 saw the introduction of the Money in the Bank ladder match. This match features six to ten participants and took place at six WrestleManias between 2005 and 2010 before becoming the headline match of its own pay-per-viewevent, Money in the Bank which incorporated the use of two Money in the Bank ladder matches for both respective WWE brands, SmackDown and Raw. The participant who retrieves the briefcase suspended above the ring wins a contract, which guarantees a world title match at the time and place of the winner's choosing for up to one year, including the following year's WrestleMania. This lasted until 2010 when the Money in the Bank pay per view was introduced and thus the Money in the Bank ladder match was retired from WrestleMania.[9]
Commentators[edit]
For five of the first six WrestleManias Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura served as the color commentators (the exception being WrestleMania 2, which was split among three venues and had Monsoon, Ventura, and Vince McMahon split up with guest commentators), while Bobby Heenan, Gene Okerlund, Lord Alfred Hayes and others filled guest roles. For WrestleMania VII and VIII, Monsoon and Heenan provided color commentary. In the mid to late 1990s the commentator team comprised Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. Since the brand separation in 2002, matches from the Raw brand have been called by Ross and Lawler; the SmackDown matches called by Michael Cole, Tazz, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Jonathan Coachman, and from 2006 to 2010, the ECW matches called by Joey Styles and Tazz. At WrestleMania XXV the first three-man inter-brand commentary team since the WWE Brand Extension was used, and consisted of Jim Ross, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Michael Cole. The following year Jim Ross was replaced by Matt Striker at WrestleMania XXVI. At WrestleMania XXVII Jim Ross returned to commentate, along with Josh Matthews and newSmackDown color commentator Booker T; the sudden change of commentary was due to a singles match between regular commentators Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler. Howard Finkel, who is credited with coming up with the name "WrestleMania" in 1984,[10] has served as the long-standing ring-announcer and has appeared at every event, but since the WWE Brand Extension, Lilian Garcia, Tony Chimel and Justin Roberts have taken over as announcers for their respective brand matches. Four French commentators were at ringside: Jean Brassard and Raymond Rougeau (WrestleMania 13),Phillippe Chéreau and Christophe Agius (WrestleMania XXX and WrestleMania 31).
History[edit]
1980s[edit]
The World Wrestling Federation staged the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985 atMadison Square Garden in New York City. The main event was a tag-team match between the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, accompanied by Jimmy Snukaagainst the team of Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff, who were accompanied byCowboy Bob Orton. The financial and critical success of the event secured the company's status as the most successful promotion in the United States, rising above competitors such as the National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association. In attendance were business celebrity Sy Sperling and broadcasting executive Tony D'Angelo. WrestleMania 2 was held the following year and took place in three venues across the country. The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseumin Uniondale, New York, the Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena) in the Chicagosuburb of Rosemont, Illinois, and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. They each featured multiple matches that led up to the main event; this saw WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeat the challenger King Kong Bundy in a Steel Cage match.
A world indoor attendance-record of 93,173 fans was set at WrestleMania III, which was also the largest paying attendance in the history of professional wrestling at the time. The event is widely considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom. To make certain that every seat in the Pontiac Silverdome would be filled, WWF decided to exclude the entire state of Michigan from pay-per-view access to the event, which made attending the event the only way for fans in Michigan to see it.[11] The event featured Hulk Hogan defending the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giantand the WWF Intercontinental Championship match between Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat. The match between Savage and Steamboat would go on to be regarded as one of the best matches in not only WrestleMania, but professional wrestling history and is acknowledged by many (including Vince McMahon) as having "stole the show".
WrestleMania IV was held at the Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey (though on the broadcast it was billed as being held in the Trump Plaza because the adjacent casino hotel was the events primary sponsor). The event was an all tournament event to crown a new WWF World Heavyweight Champion, with four non-tournament matches to fill between the gaps in the tournament rounds. The second round of the tournament featured a rematch of the previous year's main event between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant while Randy Savage went on to defeat Ted DiBiase in the finals. The event returned the following year to Atlantic City for WrestleMania V, in which Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship Savage had won the previous year. To date this is the only time consecutive WrestleMania's have been held in the same venue.
1990s[edit]
The first time WrestleMania took place outside of the United States was WrestleMania VI, which was held at the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In the main event match, The Ultimate Warrior won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Hulk Hogan. The following year, the event returned to the United States for WrestleMania VII, which was originally scheduled to be held at the outdoors Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The event was moved to the adjacent indoors Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena after poor tickets sales, sold on television as being for security reasons related to the Gulf War and Sgt. Slaughter's storyline defection to Iraq.[12] The event saw Hulk Hogan face defending champion Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, while The Undertaker made his WrestleMania debut defeating Jimmy Snuka. Following this, The Undertaker was undefeated in 21 of his WrestleMania matches, until he was defeated by Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX.[13] The next edition, WrestleMania VIII, was held in the Hoosier Dome with Macho Man Randy Savage defeating Ric Flair for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and Hulk Hogan defeating Sid Justice via disqualification.
WrestleMania IX was the first WrestleMania held at an outdoor venue. It was also the first and only time in WrestleMania history that the WWF World Heavyweight Championship switched twice. Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart to become the WWF World Heavyweight Champion, only to lose it to Hulk Hogan. The tenth edition of the event, WrestleMania X saw its return to Madison Square Garden. The event featured Owen Hart defeating his elder brother Bret; a ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship also headlined, in which Razor Ramon defeatedShawn Michaels. Bret having been defeated earlier won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Yokozuna in the main event. Bret is the first wrestler in WrestleMania history to lose his first match and come back to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. Michaels defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in a 60-minute Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII. The match is considered to be one of the best matches in the history of the event. The event also saw the return of the Ultimate Warrior who defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (later known as Triple H) in the latter's WrestleMania debut. The following year at WrestleMania 13, a submission matchpitted Bret Hart and Steve Austin against one another in a bout that received much acclaim and The Undertaker defeated Sycho Sid for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event.
At WrestleMania XIV, Austin defeated Shawn Michaels to become the new WWF World Heavyweight Champion in a match that featured Mike Tyson serving as the special enforcer. Although Tyson had been aligned with Michaels and his stable D-Generation X, Tyson revealed to have been aligned with Austin all along as he personally counted the pinfall and declared Austin the winner. The Undertaker and Kane fought for first time at this event where The Undertaker won. The event became known for starting "The Attitude Era". The following year at WrestleMania XV, Austin defeated The Rock to regain the WWF Championship. The event featured the first of three encounters at WrestleMania between Austin and The Rock in the rivalry of the two most prominent and popular stars of The Attitude Era.
2000s[edit]
WrestleMania 2000 featured the first ever Triangle Ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship, involving The Hardy Boyz, The Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian. The main event featured the WWF Champion Triple H successfully defending his title in a fatal four way match against three challengers: The Rock, Big Show and Mick Foley. This match was billed as having 'a McMahon in every corner' as Triple H was accompanied by Stephanie McMahon, The Rock by Vince McMahon, Big Show by Shane McMahon and Mick Foley by Linda McMahon.
At WrestleMania X-Seven, Steve Austin defeated The Rock and regained the WWF Championship. The event also featured Vince and Shane McMahon in a Street Fight, while Edge and Christian won the WWF Tag Team Championship against the Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz in the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. The event was the pinnacle of the 1990s wrestling boom, concluding The Attitude Era. It was also the first WrestleMania held after the dissolution and WWF's subsequent purchase of the company's rival, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the end of the Monday Night Wars.
WrestleMania X8 was the last WrestleMania to be produced under the WWF name, and featured Triple H defeating Chris Jericho to win the Undisputed Championship. Austin, The Rock and The Undertaker defeated Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair respectively, all whom had rejoined the company after their stints with WCW. Also Rob Van Dam won his firstIntercontinental Championship in his WrestleMania debut.
WrestleMania XIX saw Steve Austin's last match, as he faced The Rock for a third time at WrestleMania, ending their long-running feud. Hulk Hogan defeated Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels participated in his first WrestleMania match in five years, defeating Chris Jericho. The World Heavyweight Championship was defended for the first time at the event, with Triple H retaining against Booker T, while Brock Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle to win the WWE Championship.
WWE celebrated the twentieth edition of WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden with WrestleMania XX. The event featured The Undertaker (who returned to his Deadman persona) defeating the unmasked Kane in their second encounter and the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship victories of Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, respectively with Guerrero defeating Kurt Angle to retain the WWE Championship and Benoit defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels to win the World Heavyweight Championship. The event also featured the Rock 'n' Sock Connection, The Rock and Mankind/Mick Foley versus Batista, Randy Orton, and Ric Flair of Evolution where this 2-on-3 handicap match saw The Rock's last match for over seven years, as well as Steve Austin as the guest referee in an interpromotional singles match between the departing superstars Brock Lesnar (who would return to the company eight years later) and Bill Goldberg. TheWWE Hall of Fame was reintroduced with an annual induction show held the night before WrestleMania.
At WrestleMania 21, the concept of the Money in the Bank ladder match was introduced; a six-man ladder match that featured a briefcase suspended above the ring containing a contract that guaranteed the winning Raw brand participant a world title match at any time and place of their choosing within one year up to the next year's WrestleMania, in which Edgewent on to win this match. In the main events, the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship passed on to John Cena and Batista respectively by defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Triple H in their respective matches. Eddie Guerrero's last WrestleMania match took place at WrestleMania 21 against Rey Mysterio, before he died later that year. The event also featured the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin after a year-long hiatus, while Kurt Angle defeated Shawn Michaels in a highly acclaimed match.
The Money in the Bank ladder match was also held at WrestleMania 22 as a six-man interpromotional match where the winner would get a world title match of their choosing, regardless of the brand they were on, and this match was won by Rob Van Dam.
At WrestleMania 23, the Money in the Bank match expanded to include eight men and would include stars from the revived ECW brand which was won by Mr. Kennedy. John Cena would go on to retain his WWE Championship at both WrestleMania 22 and 23, while the same events would see Rey Mysterio and The Undertaker win the World Heavyweight Championship respectively. RepresentingDonald Trump, ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley defeated Umaga, who represented Vince McMahon, in a match billed as the "battle of the billionaires" and arbitrated by Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania 23. This was also the last WrestleMania where the WWE Women's Championship was defended when Melinadefeated Ashley Massaro in a lumberjills match.
At WrestleMania XXIV, Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair in a highly acclaimed match, while the Money in the Bank ladder match included seven participants from all three brands which was won by CM Punk who also wins it again at WrestleMania XXV. The ECW Championship was defended for the only time at a WrestleMania event, when Kane emerged as the new ECW Champion in a record 8 seconds, while Randy Orton retained the WWE Championship and The Undertaker won the World Heavyweight Championship for the second consecutive year, defeating Edge. In an encounter that featured major media coverage, boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. defeated Big Show. The event was the second WrestleMania to be held at an outdoor venue.
WrestleMania XXV featured Chris Jericho defeating WWE Hall of Famers Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, and Ricky Steamboatin a match that featured appearances by Ric Flair and actor Mickey Rourke. Shawn Michaels unsuccessfully attempted to hand The Undertaker his first defeat at a WrestleMania in an acclaimed match, and the WWE Intercontinental Championship was defended at the event for the first time since WrestleMania X8 with Rey Mysterio defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield. John Cena defeated Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship also involving the Big Show, while Triple H retained the WWE Championship against Randy Orton.
2010s[edit]
At WrestleMania XXVI, the professional wrestling career of Shawn Michaels came to an end as he faced The Undertaker in a highly acclaimed re-match of their encounter from the previous year. The event also featured John Cena winning the WWE Championship and Chris Jericho retaining the World Heavyweight Championship. Following Bret Hart's return to WWE in over twelve years since the Montreal Screwjob incident, Bret Hart defeated Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match with members of the Hart wrestling family present. The Money in the Bank Ladder match included ten participants from both Raw and SmackDown (the ECW brand was retired in February), and this match was won by Jack Swagger. This was the last Money in the Bank Ladder match to date at WrestleMania event.
WrestleMania XXVII featured the return of The Rock following a seven-year hiatus to serve as host for the event. Trish Stratus competed in her first WrestleMania since the twenty-second edition, teaming with John Morrison and Jersey Shore 's Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi to defeat LayCool and Dolph Ziggler. Longtime WWE announcers Michael Cole and Jerry Lawlerbrawled in a match officiated by Stone Cold Steve Austin, while Triple H failed in his attempt to avenge Shawn Michaels' loss to The Undertaker from a year prior. This was the first WrestleMania in history in which both the World Heavyweight Champion and WWE Champion were able to successfully retain their titles. World Heavyweight Champion Edge defeated the challenger Alberto Del Rio in what would be Edge's last match before his retirement on April 11, and The Rock closed out the event saluting the fans after laying out John Cena and The Miz with the signature move Rock Bottom following Miz retaining the WWE Championship. This incident would set up the main event for the following year's WrestleMania.
WrestleMania XXVIII had three "main event" matches. In the first main event, The Undertaker defeated Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match via pinfall, officiated by WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, extending his WrestleMania streak to 20–0. The second main event featured CM Punk retaining the WWE Championship against Chris Jericho, via submission.[14] The third main event featured The Rock defeating John Cena via pinfall in a "Once in a Lifetime" match, announced a year in advance.
In 2013, WrestleMania 29 had 80,676 fans in attendance, becoming the second-highest attended WrestleMania ever. This WrestleMania had three main events. The first saw The Undertaker extend his undefeated streak to 21–0 by defeating CM Punk. Triple H, with the help of Shawn Michaels, defeated Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred match; had Triple H lost, he would have had to retire from in-ring competition. In the final match, John Cena avenged his loss from the previous year by defeating The Rock for the WWE Championship, winning the title a record 11th time. Other matches included Alberto Del Rio successfully defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger, and Fandango pulling off an upset by defeating Chris Jericho.
WrestleMania XXX was the 30th annual WrestleMania event produced by WWE on April 6, 2014 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The event was the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Louisiana.
