WrestleMania’s Past

I can’t give you the entire catalog of WrestleMania fights and WrestleMania history for obvious reasons, it would take an eternity to write out! What I can give you is a brief history of WrestleMania to date, at the end of this page I’ll list a few WWE books worth reading. So before you put your mitts on some WrestleMania tickets, school yourself!

The modern manifestation of WWE began with Vince McMahon’s purchase of the then, WWF, in 1982; it was only three years later that WrestleMania was born. The first WrestleMania was indeed legendary, with classic wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and Mr.T, a crowd of about 20,000 fans piled into Madison Square Garden for the first installment of WrestleMania.

Main events included the $15,000 Body Slam challenge that pitted the late Andre the Giant against Big John Studd and Bobby Heenan in what would be a predictable throw down. Andre the Giant would be forced to retire if he couldn’t body slam a much smaller Studd. After winning, Andre, in a sudden bout of generosity, threw handfuls of prize money towards audience members.


In the piece de resistance of WrestleMania, Hulk Hogan and Mr.T took on Roddy Puper and Paul Orndorff in a chaotic match reffed by boxing legend Muhammad Ali. What started out as a little tiff between Mr.T and Piper turned into an all out brawl between the four wrestlers. In a sure crowd pleaser, Muhammad Ali punched out Piper in order to “restore order,” Orndoff held Hogan in a full nelson (see below) and Cowboy Bob Orton (Puper and Orndorff’s third man out) accidentally hit Orndorff allowing Hogan to escape, pin Orndoff down and win the match.


It must’ve been an adrenaline rush to see all those WWE major players beating each other down, and although legendary, WrestleMania events have drastically changed – for the better. Previous WrestleMania ticket holders know that crowds of close to 80,000 people pile into the pay-per view event. Up to 10 professional wrestling matches between members of Raw, ECW and SmackDown perform unique plots and equally complex wrestling moves. A host of huge celebrities are always in attendance,  and a surprise performance always incurs – stars even get in on the wrestling action!
In it’s third year bringing WrestleMania outdoors, WrestleMania XXV will be bring on the heat at Reliant Stadium on April 5th 2009. With a tagline like “Everything is bigger in  Texas, especially WrestleMania,” expect some serious carnage. The matches have yet to be annouced but a few assumptions can be made for more information on the WrestleMania lineup check out the WrestleMania Schedule Page. What are your guesses? I’m thinking:

Triple H Vs.  Kennedy

The Rock vs Stone Cold? (hey I can dream)

Triple H vs. Edge

Undertaker vs. Triple H

I also heard some rumors that Undertaker may retire at WrestleMania 25 due to his long career record, the event is in his home state and the fact that WrestleMania 25 is a huge benchmark for the WWE. If that be the case, right now would be the perfect time to get your WrestleMania tickets, because once rumors are out, the crowds won’t be stopped!


If you could care less about Undertaker, rumors are floating around that rap star Eminem might make an appearance, and after his four year hiatus people will probably flock to see him in person. So don’t ruminate on the best investment you’ll make all year, get your WrestleMania tickets today, because the longer you wait, the less likely you are to get the seats you want!

Books to look out for:

  • The Ultimate World Wrestling Entertainment Trivia Book by Seth Mates
  • The Stone Cold Truth by Steve Austin
  • Are We Tere Yet?: Tales from the Never-Ending Travels of WWE Superstars by Rober Caprio
  • WWE LEgends by Brian Solomon