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Mo Wonderboy

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WWE Wrestlemania I

Where it all began!

The Executioner vs. Tito Santana

The Executioner blows a promo within about five seconds backstage. Clearly first impressions are important here. Executioner says he's gonna go for the leg, but we don't see a lot of that. Executioner gets a wee bit of control and much of that is spent looking for things like right hands and power moves. You would think if they put so much emphasis on the leg, they'd be using it more. Anyways, as a hot opener, it worked in that respect, so it did the job. Can't complain too much. **

Lord Alfred Hayes is a complete clusterfuck talking about the show at this point.

King Kong Bundy vs. S.D. Jones

King Kong Bundy was an awesome big man wrestler back in the day. Everything he did looked like absolute death. Mark Henry probably looked at tapes of this guy when he came back and became the ECW champ, because the comparisons should be made. We don't see enough of that here unfortunately. We DO see him demolish SD Jones. No rating for the squash, but I don't mind. N/A

Matt Borne vs. Ricky Steamboat

Working a Headlock match in such a short period of time is a risky move, but if you're Ricky Steamboat, you're probably good enough to work it, and Borne is no slouch himself. Both guys go out and do a lot with the time they have, which is not much, but it's a really good outing for the time. Matt Borne managed to look very good himself, which given this was mainly a showcase of Ricky Steamboat, was a nice feat. **1/2

Brutus Beefcake vs. David Sammartino

Valiant is at ringside with Beefcake, and Bruno is at ringside with Sammartino, so there has to be some hijinx in this match. The pace of the match is a wee bit deliberate, but it manages to stop short of being flat out slow. Sammartino's control of the match is what probably saves it, as he has clearly learned well from his dad. Beefcake's cheating is what turns things around of course. The timing of everything in this match is quite good as well. So yeah, this is several times better than it looks on paper. **1/2

Greg Valentine © vs. The Junkyard Dog - WWE Intercontinental Championship

JYD was insanely popular back in the day. I could imagine that, if we could talk about this show on the net as it happened, we'd be saying JYD was a stick-on to do the win at WWE's biggest ever show. You can see why. In this match, his mannerisms and execution is just brilliant, and the fans are sucking every bit of it up. If you want drama and excitement, this one is for you. The ending is an absolute sickener, and especially since it happens as SOON as the fans were going NUTS for JYD as soon as it happened. Brilliantly done. **1/4

Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham © vs. Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik - WWE World Tag Team Championships

The crowd going mental as Volkoff is singing his national anthem is funny as f**k. Trash in the ring and everything. Superb. Windham is amazing. I don't think I quite realised how good he was untill quite recently. The way he does stuff is just incredible. He's crisp as hell. This match is nowhere near as good as it should be. Volkoff was always a very good tag wrestler, and the babyface team is excellent. When the match is coming to it's end the excitement goes up, but before that, it's disappointing. *3/4

Big John Studd vs. Andre the Giant - $15,000 Slam Match

This match isn't very good. The crowd heat makes it good for a while, but both guys seem to kill the crowd's interest which given how hot this crowd was is a bad thing. Andre really was a dreadful wrestler though. Even at this point he was deteriorating pretty badly. 1/2*

Lelani Kai © vs. Wendi Richter - WWE Women's Championship

Cyndi Lauper is in the corner of Richter for this one. This is another one which I just didn't like very much. I suppose it gave Lauper a reason to get involved in the show, which would have been a big deal, so it's one of them cases of "fair enough". Anyways, not a very good match here. *

Paul Orndorff and Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T

This is a very solid main event. I've covered this match before on here, but it never ceases to amaze me just how good Mr. T looks as a wrestler. He's a man with charisma, and he can also wrestle quite well. Execution and selling is absolutely spot on. Obviously with it being a tag match, some of the burden is lifted, and with this being the usual tag formula stuff, then there wasn't much going against it. Star power + solid action = the perfect main event for the first Wrestlemania. ***

Everything is reasonably short on this show. So even the shit stuff manages to be watchable. For historical purposes, it might be worth looking out. You're not going to get any classics on it though.

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Wrestlemania I was the first WWF vhs I ever got when I was around 10 years old and I absolutely loved it. It was certainly lacking alot of the glitz and showmanship of later events but for actual wrestling it was pretty solid.

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A couple of shit matches before the main event, but everything is very solid before that, and there's even a wee surprise or two. Nothing is overly long so you can breeze through it easily enough.

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Was there nae Smackdown on the night? Granted I didn't get in till about 11.15pm, but usually it'd be on till 12 midnight. So it's either been on from 9-11, has been shown earlier in the week or it's not on at all as we've got the big on on Sunday. Anyone shed any light?

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Was there nae Smackdown on the night? Granted I didn't get in till about 11.15pm, but usually it'd be on till 12 midnight. So it's either been on from 9-11, has been shown earlier in the week or it's not on at all as we've got the big on on Sunday. Anyone shed any light?

It was on 21:00-23:00, but it was only a WrestleMania w**k-fest.

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WWE Wrestlemania VII

There's a famous story that accompanies this one. The show was originally supposed to be held at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, but they moved it to the Sports Arena. WWE claimed it was a threat that caused it, but it was ticket sales that actually did it.

The Faces of Fear vs. The Rockers

FUCKING MENG~~!!! Okay, so he's Haku here. But so what. FUCKING MENG~~!!! Reaction for Meng and Barbarian seems to be a bit on the mixed side here. Clearly I'm not the only one who's a mark for the Faces of Fear. The speed vs. power story through the match was constant, and I like when two sides take a story and stick to it. Meng and Barbarian looked very impressive in their part, but The Rockers made it, as they always did. A very very good opening match for this show. ***1/2

Dino Bravo vs. Texas Tornado

Dino Bravo really was shit. I heard the music and that thought of pure dread filled me. He's reminiscent of the Chris Masters of 2005. Stiff body and just couldn't really get much done. The story of this match is simple though. Texas Tornado had a tactic. Use the big moves only. Bravo tries to block and Tornado just sticks with that plan and it works for him. Simple story and short. Passable. *1/2

The Warlord vs. The British Bulldog

Oh god. Not that the match looks bad, but this match must have happened about 100 times during the course of the year. If you want a proper powerhouse match, this is a match that you want to see. It's pretty much exactly what you would imagine a match between two big guys with muscles to be. Warlord plays the immovable object brilliantly. A lot of people shit on him, but he's one of them guys who knew his role brilliantly. I don't know what others make of this, but for the type of match, I loved it. ***1/4

The Hart Foundation © vs. The Nasty Boys - WWE World Tag Team Championships

"The Nasty Boys are indeed just that. Nasty."

Quite. They drag the tone of the match down right away with cheap tactics and drag The Harts into their sort of match right from the word go. When they DO get the match back, The Nasties always manage to turn up the anger a few notches and turn it into their sort of match again. Which works when Bret is in there, but when Anvil is in there, it goes tits up. Now THAT is storytelling in a match. The ending of the match is rather fitting with the way the match was laid out, and it completely silenced the crowd. **3/4

Rick "The Model" Martel vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Blindfold Match

This match takes an absolute shafting from a lot of people. I can see why. It's just pure cheese and a whole lot of nothing. But the way they do it just amuses me so I'm not gonna shit on it too much. *

The Undertaker vs. Jimmy Snuka

The beginning of a legacy, as the deadman makes his Wrestlemania debut against a legend in Snuka. The key to him at this point was that he moved as slow as a week in the jail and then would have these sudden outburts of agility and speed to take his opponent by surprise. Ultimately this is just an extended squash so it doesn't get a rating, but it's worth looking out for historical reasons. N/A

Randy Savage vs. The Ultimate Warrior, Career Match

Anyone who doesn't believe this isn't a bonafide classic match really does need to ask themselves why they watch wrestling. Everything from Warrior not running to the ring, to the brilliant interactions between Snuka and Warrior, to Savage's running around and twitchy style pulling off some miracles, and Warrior pulling off, and asking for, some miracles of his own. The best bit is when Warrior picks him up to slap him and then just stands him back up and slaps him. Just pure disdain of the level we hadn't seen from Warrior to that point. If you haven't seen this match, and there's no reason why you wouldn't have seen it that I can think of, then for f**k sake GET ON IT!!! *****

Post match, Sherri beats on Savage in the ring, as she can't believe she's lost her job as manager. Elizabeth has seen enough and Savage gets up. Both of them are cautious of each other... and then THEY EMBRACE!!! Not a dry eye in the house that night, and one of the best moments in WWE history which managed to be the perfect cap off to the classic.

Demolition vs. Tenryu and Kitao

This was a bit on the bizarre side, booking wise. Tenryu and Kitao clearly weren't hanging around for long. I realise that Demolition weren't long for this wrestling world, but they could have done with a good win on their last Wrestlemania while not beating a team who would have made much of a difference anyways. The match itself reflected the way that the crowd didn't give a toss about it. There was nothing of note going on here at all. *

Mr. Perfect © vs. The Big Bossman - WWE Intercontinental Championship

They force in Bossman's newer theme music for this. Which is a shame, because his theme music back then was awesome. Bossman shows off one of my favourite moves that he'd pull out now and again. The hair swing. There's some fantastic wee sequences in this one actually. The one where Bossman goes under the bottom rope and runs back in and ducks a Clothesline and lands one of his own is brilliant. It's quite full on for the length of time it's on with a hell of a pace, and it's a cracking match. ***1/4

Earthquake vs. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine

Earthquake was on a bit of a decline after the summer program with Hulk Hogan, so they were trying to give him some of his power back. You'd have been as well putting this match on Superstars. For a squash it's fun as Earthquake was a good big man, but not much else to say really. N/A

Power and Glory vs. The Legion of Doom

Bunch of stuff. Doomsday Device. Done. Jesus christ. N/A

"The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase vs. Virgil

These two guys would go on and have a much better match than this at Summerslam. This is passable stuff, with Virgil all fire and fury and beating Dibiase from pillar to post, and the fans eating every bit of it up, and the added drama of the heat between Dibiase and Roddy Piper on the floor just adds to this. As far as a build up for what was to come later in the year, this is good stuff. **1/2

The Mountie vs. Tito Santana

Speaking of building for the future, Tito Santana continues to be the whipping boy for heels that WWE are trying to put over. It's The Mountie's turn on this show but much of what he does is comedy at best, so Santana gets much more in than he usually does. It's ultimately just wasting time untill Mountie gets the cheap win though. Nothing match here. 1/2*

Sgt. Slaughter © vs. Hulk Hogan - WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Here's the match that WWE blamed for the threats aimed at them which caused the change of venue. There WAS actually quite a bit of controversy surrounding the storyline in this match, but I'm not sure it ever reached the heights that WWE said it did. The crowd is fucking MENTAL for this one. You think you get big match atmospheres now? Every Hogan main event follows a fairly strict formula, so it's a case of what they do within which becomes the key, and this one is a good example. The drama is whipped up by Hogan's blood coming out, and it just went and showed how sadistic Slaughter was. The added doubt turned the heat up another few notches, but ultimately we know what's coming in the end. It's a well put together main event and really enjoyable. ***3/4

This is certainly a very good Wrestlemania. There's a lot on here, but none of it is just shit. There's some fun squashes, some really good undercard stuff, a really good main event and an absolute classic of a sub-main event. It's one for the "look it out" list.

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How pissed off would you be, flying 7 hours to New York, spending a fortune, queuing for hours to get in and being stuck in a seat not only in the gods (which is fair enough) but with only 2/3rds of a view of the actual ring itself because of the four pillars they insist on having there every year?

I think I'd riot.

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Fairly sure they've not been an issue because of the layout.

Don't get me wrong, the set looks immense. I just know how I'd feel sitting at the event and not being able to see the entire ring. Regardless of how far I was sat from it.

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You get what you pay for, my ticket was only $25 last year, some people a lot nearer had worse views due to the palm trees

Sounds like you don't get what you pay for. I expect they paid more if they were closer!

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