Wrestlemania Review
Here is my review for Wrestlemania 1. I will be reviewing each Wrestlemania. Tomorrow I will review Wrestlemania 2 at the WM2 board.
I rate the matches dud-5 stars. Let's go to the event.
Live from Madison Square Garden. The event that made wrestling popular.
Match 1: Tito Santana Vs The Executioner. An okay opener. Liked the part where Santana kicked the Executioner over the top rope and he landed right on a chair outside the ring. Santana finishes it with the flying forearm then slaps on the figure four leglock to get the submission at the 4:16 mark. I gave it 2 stars.
Match 2: King Kong Bundy Vs SD Jones, I think this is wrestling historys first ppv squash match. Jones runs out into a bearhug and gets rammed into the corner, then an avalanche drops him to the canvas and Bundy hits the big splash for the pin at 29 seconds. WWF said it was a new record at 9 seconds which most know it was bogus. Dud.
Match 3: Ricky Steamboat Vs Matt Borne, felt like a jobber match. Steamboat is great but they should of gotten a bigger name for him. Was Bret Hart with the company yet? They could of had the Hart Foundation Vs Steamboat and Snuka. Around this time they were known as the south pacific connection. Not terrible, Steamboat wins with his patend flying body press off the top rope and gets the pin at the 4:35 mark
I give it 2 stars.
Match 4: Brutus Beefcake Vs David Sammartino. Most found this match boring. But eh I liked it alright, most considered it boring because of the rest holds and weardowns. Nothing for TNA fans here. Best part of the match and one of the biggest pops of the night was when Johny V attacks David outside the ring, Bruno throws V into the ring and starts kickin the crap out of him. Crowd goes bat****. Ends in a double DQ at the 11:20 mark. I give it 2 stars.
Match 5: Intercontinental Championship: Greg Valentine Vs Junkyard Dog. Mostly punching headbutting and Valentine using weardowns on JYD's legs. Valentine does the Ric Flair pin in the corner using the ropes and get's the win. Tito runs to ringside and tells the ref about the illegal pin and the match is restarted. Valentine is counted out and JYD get's the win but not the title. Hammer is pissed at the 6:52 mark. 1 1/2 star. In the replay Jimmy Hart takes a nasty fall onto the concrete floor. They better invest in some of those foam pads!
Match 6: WWF Tag Team Championship: US Express Vs Nikoli Volkoff and The Iron Sheik. Pretty good match. Iron Sheik hits Barry Windham with Freddy Blassies cane and scores the pin at 6:51. We have new tag champs. 2 1/2 star match.
Match 7: 15,000 slam match: Andre The Giant Vs Big John Studd. Not really a match but Andre get's the slam on Studd at 5:52 after using alot of rest holds and not alot of offense from Studd. Andre tries throwing the money to the crowd but Bobby Heenan snatches the bag and runs back to the dresssing room. Because Andre won he doesn't have to retire. 1 Star Match.
Match 8: Womens Championship Match. Leilani Kai Vs Wendi Richter. Not a superb match but still better than most of the womens matches you see today. Leilani tries a Bodypress off the top rope but Wendi reverses the momentum and gets the pin at 6:09. 2 Stars.
Match 9: World Champion Hulk Hogan and Mr.t Vs Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorf. The best match of the night. Mr T puts on a good show. The end comes when Orton comes off the top rope and tries to hit Hogan with his arm cast but misses and nails orndorf on top of his head. Hogan gets an easy pinfall at 13:02. This marks the beginning of Orndorfs face turn. 3 stars
Not a super Wrestlemania and it has kinda lost it's luster compared to the other 21 that came afterwards.
Best Match: Hogan and Mr T Vs Roddy Piper and Orndorf
Worst Match: Bundy Vs SD Jones
Edit: For the past year I have been going through my wrestling collection and watching the tapes and DVD's in chronological order. I decided that along with watching the ppvs I would write reviews for their spots on IMDB. Ive developed a new scoring card for the star rating system. Here are how the points are awarded:
5 Star Match= A 3.0 star IMDB rating
4 1/2 Stars Match= A 2.5 star IMDB rating
4 stars Match= A 2.0 star IMDB rating
3 1/2 stars Match= A 1.5 star IMDB rating
3 stars Match= A 1.0 star IMDB rating
2 1/2 stars Match= A .7 star IMDB rating
2 star match= A .5 star IMDB rating
1 1/2 star match= A .3 star IMDB rating
1 star match = A .2 star IMDB rating
1/2 star match = A .1 star IMDB rating
Dud= A O IMDB rating
So using this new calculation method I can give relatively accurate star ratings rather than just using one off the top of my head. Running the scores through the new conversion chart. WrestleMania 1 earns a 4.1 star rating out of 10.0 from me.
= Interesting note is that both color commentators Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura were not visciously biased towards anyone on the card. I think more ppv's should be done this way. With two announcers who don't play favorites.