...Spoiler space.....
Ok, this is the very first Wrestlemania, and it is a good start to the now-venerable franchise. I gave it a "7" because most of the matches were entertaining..they could have done without Gene Ockerland singing though. Wiht Jesse Ventura and the later Gorilla Monsoon comentating, we have a very good event
1st Match: Tito Santana Vs. The Executioner.
OK...a former IC champ with a bum knee against soem sclub they found on a park bench...I wonder who'd win. The Executioner sure talked big, but Tito managed to dispatch this guy in less than five minutes. Tito dominates the match, and he gives a subtle thumb on the nose to Greg "The Hammer" Valentine by pinning the Executioner with a figure four leglock.
2nd Match: King Kong Bundy with Jimmy Hart vs. S.D "Special Delivery" Jones.
OK...a moving mountain against a bigmouthed nobody from Philly....wow..exciting...Bundy manages to pin him in 9 seconds, which was a record time that stood for over 10 years.
3rd Match: Ricky Steamboat vs. Matt Bourne.
The Dragon against the future Doink the Clown..oh joy. I admit I never had any respect for Dink..I mean Doink, but this was a good match. Matt Bourne showed a lot of good technical moves, but he was no match for the Dragon's superior form and karate moves. Ricky pins Bounre ala Superlfy within five-six minutes.
4th Match: Brutus Beefcake with Luscious Johnny Valiant against David Sammartino with Bruno Sammartino.
A slow match with a lot of leglocks and headlocks. Neither David nor Brutus truly dominated this one. The only highlight was near the end when Brutus send David out of the ring and Johnny V bodyslams David. Big Mistake...Bruno, the Living Legend starts beating the tar out of Johnny, and then throws him in the ring and it's a free for all. Both parties got disqualifed.
5th Match: The Intercontineatal Title Match-Greg "The Hammer" Valentine with Jimmy Hart against The Junkyard Dog.
This was the first of the title matches, and it was pretty good. The late JYD had the crowd and he had a great enterance with Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust". The momentum switched a few times in this match. Eventually, Jimmy tries to distract the ref so Greg could put a hit on JYD, but JYD deftly steps out the way, and Greg accidently clobbers his own manager. Soon after, JYD throws Greg agaisnt the ropes, and Greg rakes JYD's eyes, and pins JYD with a foot on the rope. The ref does the three count and it looks like Greg is the winner...but Tito Santana comes into the ring and alerts the ref. Meanwhile Greg is out of the ring, thinking that he won. The ref finishes the ten count and Greg is counted out of the ring. The JYD wins by decision, but unfortunely doesn't get the IC belt.
6th Match: Tag Team Title Match-Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik with Classy Freddie Blaise against Mike Rotunda and Barry Wyndham with Captain Lou Albino.
This was an excellent match...two strong experienced heels against two young speedsters. Volkoff totally cheesed off the crowd by singing the Soviet anthem and Rotanda and Wyndham got thunderous applause when they cma eout with Bruce Spingsteen's "Born in the U.S.A" Rotunda and Wyndham were a very organized team, but Volkoff and Sheik were smarter by cheating when they could, and eventually when the ref was paying attention to only Rotunda, the Sheik konks Wyndham with Blassie's cane. The Volkoff pins Wyndham, and the Tag Team Title changes hands. MSG was shocked that Volkoff and Sheik were the new champs.
7th Match: The $15,000 Bodyslam Challenge-Big John Studd with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan against Andre the Giant.
Here's the skinny: Andre has to bodyslame Studd within the time limit to win $15,000. If he fails, Andre must retire. This was a match ahead of its time and very engrossing. Andre had the advantage for most of the match as he methodically wore down Studd. After about ten good minutes, Andre slams Studd to the canvas. He briefly gets the $15,000, but the Weasel steals back the money.
8th Match: Women's Title Match: Leilani Kai with the Fabolous Moolah against Wendi Richter with Cyndi Lauper.
This was the most intense match of the night, and one of the best of the card. Both women were very good at tunring the tables on the other, and they looked like they wanted to put the hurt on the other in the worst way. After about 10 minutes of damn fine wrestling, Moolah tries to beat on Wendi, but Cyndi gets very physical with Moolah. A few minutes later, Leilani tires to pin Wendi by hitting off the turnbuckle, and manages to for a minute, but Wendi uses the leverage to end up pinning Leilani and smartly hold the legs, and Wendi wins the 3-count. Wendi regains her stolen belt from Leilani, and Cyndi and Wedni are ecstatic as is Madison Square Garden. A great ending to a great match.
The Main Event: Rowdy Roddy Piper and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Ordinoff against Hulk Hogan and Mr. T
Ok..this was where the stars came out. The guest ring announcer was the late Billy Martin and he did a decent job for a Yankee. The guest timekeeper was the late Liberace, and his enterance with the Radio City Kickdnacers was to die for. The guest referees were Muhammad Ali and Pat Patterson.
Both parties had over the top enterances as Piper and Ordinoff went in with a bunch of bagpipe players as Hulk and T went in with "Eye of the Tiger". Both parties clearly had a very strong animosity, and the long match was very chaotic as all six(the four plus Superfly Jimmy Snuka and Cowboy Bob Orten) were duking it out in the ring a few times. Ali did a good job of trying to maintain some order through this. Piper and Ordinoff were doing a good job on Hogan at one point, but gets his way out of it as always. The finish was great as everybody was duking it out again and Ordinoff tried to hold Hogan while Orten hit him from the top turnbuckle, but Hogan spins out, and Orten knocks out Ordinoof. Hogan then gets the easy pin, and Hulkamania is safe for another day.
All in all, a good piece of entertainment....
Ok, this is the very first Wrestlemania, and it is a good start to the now-venerable franchise. I gave it a "7" because most of the matches were entertaining..they could have done without Gene Ockerland singing though. Wiht Jesse Ventura and the later Gorilla Monsoon comentating, we have a very good event
1st Match: Tito Santana Vs. The Executioner.
OK...a former IC champ with a bum knee against soem sclub they found on a park bench...I wonder who'd win. The Executioner sure talked big, but Tito managed to dispatch this guy in less than five minutes. Tito dominates the match, and he gives a subtle thumb on the nose to Greg "The Hammer" Valentine by pinning the Executioner with a figure four leglock.
2nd Match: King Kong Bundy with Jimmy Hart vs. S.D "Special Delivery" Jones.
OK...a moving mountain against a bigmouthed nobody from Philly....wow..exciting...Bundy manages to pin him in 9 seconds, which was a record time that stood for over 10 years.
3rd Match: Ricky Steamboat vs. Matt Bourne.
The Dragon against the future Doink the Clown..oh joy. I admit I never had any respect for Dink..I mean Doink, but this was a good match. Matt Bourne showed a lot of good technical moves, but he was no match for the Dragon's superior form and karate moves. Ricky pins Bounre ala Superlfy within five-six minutes.
4th Match: Brutus Beefcake with Luscious Johnny Valiant against David Sammartino with Bruno Sammartino.
A slow match with a lot of leglocks and headlocks. Neither David nor Brutus truly dominated this one. The only highlight was near the end when Brutus send David out of the ring and Johnny V bodyslams David. Big Mistake...Bruno, the Living Legend starts beating the tar out of Johnny, and then throws him in the ring and it's a free for all. Both parties got disqualifed.
5th Match: The Intercontineatal Title Match-Greg "The Hammer" Valentine with Jimmy Hart against The Junkyard Dog.
This was the first of the title matches, and it was pretty good. The late JYD had the crowd and he had a great enterance with Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust". The momentum switched a few times in this match. Eventually, Jimmy tries to distract the ref so Greg could put a hit on JYD, but JYD deftly steps out the way, and Greg accidently clobbers his own manager. Soon after, JYD throws Greg agaisnt the ropes, and Greg rakes JYD's eyes, and pins JYD with a foot on the rope. The ref does the three count and it looks like Greg is the winner...but Tito Santana comes into the ring and alerts the ref. Meanwhile Greg is out of the ring, thinking that he won. The ref finishes the ten count and Greg is counted out of the ring. The JYD wins by decision, but unfortunely doesn't get the IC belt.
6th Match: Tag Team Title Match-Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik with Classy Freddie Blaise against Mike Rotunda and Barry Wyndham with Captain Lou Albino.
This was an excellent match...two strong experienced heels against two young speedsters. Volkoff totally cheesed off the crowd by singing the Soviet anthem and Rotanda and Wyndham got thunderous applause when they cma eout with Bruce Spingsteen's "Born in the U.S.A" Rotunda and Wyndham were a very organized team, but Volkoff and Sheik were smarter by cheating when they could, and eventually when the ref was paying attention to only Rotunda, the Sheik konks Wyndham with Blassie's cane. The Volkoff pins Wyndham, and the Tag Team Title changes hands. MSG was shocked that Volkoff and Sheik were the new champs.
7th Match: The $15,000 Bodyslam Challenge-Big John Studd with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan against Andre the Giant.
Here's the skinny: Andre has to bodyslame Studd within the time limit to win $15,000. If he fails, Andre must retire. This was a match ahead of its time and very engrossing. Andre had the advantage for most of the match as he methodically wore down Studd. After about ten good minutes, Andre slams Studd to the canvas. He briefly gets the $15,000, but the Weasel steals back the money.
8th Match: Women's Title Match: Leilani Kai with the Fabolous Moolah against Wendi Richter with Cyndi Lauper.
This was the most intense match of the night, and one of the best of the card. Both women were very good at tunring the tables on the other, and they looked like they wanted to put the hurt on the other in the worst way. After about 10 minutes of damn fine wrestling, Moolah tries to beat on Wendi, but Cyndi gets very physical with Moolah. A few minutes later, Leilani tires to pin Wendi by hitting off the turnbuckle, and manages to for a minute, but Wendi uses the leverage to end up pinning Leilani and smartly hold the legs, and Wendi wins the 3-count. Wendi regains her stolen belt from Leilani, and Cyndi and Wedni are ecstatic as is Madison Square Garden. A great ending to a great match.
The Main Event: Rowdy Roddy Piper and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Ordinoff against Hulk Hogan and Mr. T
Ok..this was where the stars came out. The guest ring announcer was the late Billy Martin and he did a decent job for a Yankee. The guest timekeeper was the late Liberace, and his enterance with the Radio City Kickdnacers was to die for. The guest referees were Muhammad Ali and Pat Patterson.
Both parties had over the top enterances as Piper and Ordinoff went in with a bunch of bagpipe players as Hulk and T went in with "Eye of the Tiger". Both parties clearly had a very strong animosity, and the long match was very chaotic as all six(the four plus Superfly Jimmy Snuka and Cowboy Bob Orten) were duking it out in the ring a few times. Ali did a good job of trying to maintain some order through this. Piper and Ordinoff were doing a good job on Hogan at one point, but gets his way out of it as always. The finish was great as everybody was duking it out again and Ordinoff tried to hold Hogan while Orten hit him from the top turnbuckle, but Hogan spins out, and Orten knocks out Ordinoof. Hogan then gets the easy pin, and Hulkamania is safe for another day.
All in all, a good piece of entertainment....
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