The Best WrestleMania Matches: WrestleMania 1 – 5

Wrestlemania has always been the jewel in the crown for the WWE, but I’ve taken a look through each Mania to see which match is best from each immortal showcase, making your viewing pleasure much easier!

 

Wrestlemania 1

‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper & ‘Mr Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff (with ‘Cowboy’ Bob Orton) vs Hulk Hogan & Mr T

Wrestlemania 1, the first one. The one that started it all. There was always only going to be one choice for this event. Wrestlemania had a ‘super card’ event feel to it right from the off and the main event was no different. The faces were outnumbers and had Hogan, who was well on his way to becoming the biggest babyface in the business had major mainstream back up from TV’s Mr.T, who had been playing B.A. Baracus in NBC’s The A Team. Not only that the match had a special ringside referee (sometimes they had them in tag team matches) in the form of none other than the legend Muhammad Ali.

The match wasn’t the greatest of all time by any means, but it had a big match feel. Mr. T, despite his lack of wrestling knowledge, looked the part and had his tough guy reputation to back him up. Hogan was arm-waving all-American Hogan. Also Muhammad Ali seemed to not know that wrestling was a work (it was a different time back then!) and climbed into the ring mid-match in an attempt to prevent cheating from the heel trio. Piper naturally sold the whole thing like Piper did, to the moon and back.

It doesn’t hold up as a good match looking back, but this is how the WWE needs to handle celebrities. Over the last 20 years, who have we had? Drew Carey? Jon Stewart? Pete Rose? Sorry but none of these guys were at the level, or as relevant at the time, as T and Ali. There’s lessons to be learned from Wrestlemania 1.

 

Wrestlemania 2

British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid, with Captain Lou Albano & Ozzy Osbourne vs The Dream Team (Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake with Johnny Valiant) for the World Tag Team Titles

I’ll ignore the fact they announce Osbourne as being from Manchester. Had to get that out of my system first.

Wrestlemania 2 proves that the WWE does learn from its mistakes: ‘Don’t hold a wrestling event in three cities at once ever again’. It was a nice idea and seemed like a winning business formula, three arenas sold out instead of one, but that led to fans having to watch most of the show on a screen. Wrestlemania 2 doesn’t have a whole lot going for it. George ‘The Animal’ Steele vs Randy Savage is daft fun, and Hogan vs King Kong Bundy proves that Bundy can look like a dangerous big man, but he was seldom booked that way.

But the match of the night had to go to The Dream Team against the fresh-faced British Bulldogs. On the surface, the match doesn’t seem anything special, but in comparison to other tag team bouts of the era, it’s a fast-paced, exciting affair. It’s also a fantastic WWE match to watch the legend of the Dynamite Kid, a guy who was at the forefront of wrestlers who completely disregard their own safety – he put his body on the line each time he got in the ring.

 

Wrestlemania 3

Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant (with Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan)

If you’re looking for a match with solid wrestling action then Hogan vs Andre isn’t the match for you. This card has a fantastic match in which Randy Savage took on Ricky Steamboat. Steamboat vs Savage is often heralded as many as being years ahead of its time, and is not only one of the best matches of early Wrestlemanias, but also one of the best matches from the era full stop.

Hogan v Andre is a much different beast. It was built superbly as they made out that Andre had never been slammed with the bodyslam being one of Hogans key moves. WWE have always played fast and loose with their heritage and decided to completely ignore the fact that Andre had been slammed a number of times and had in fact actually been slammed previously by Hogan. The match is how you would imagine it to be. Hogan has never been amazing in the ring, just a muscle-bound brawler and Andre is long past his best here. But this match had something that many modern WWE matches lack: a story.

The match fully embodied that WWE favourite quote, made famous by Gorilla Monsoon; “The unstoppable force meets the immovable object.” As the match moves slowly on, Hogan becomes desperate, pulling up the ringside matting in an attempt to do more damage on Andre. ‘Terrible sportsmanship’ calls colour commentator Jesse Ventura. But as the match wore on so did Andre, and toward the end, a weakened Hogan grasped a weakened Andre, and slammed him. The crowd went nuts, even if it wasn’t the greatest slam.

Wrestlemania 3 was interesting for its crowd; the first two events had generally a male, grown-up crowd. Wrestlemania 3 had families, children and parents. Hulkamania had captured a new audience and one the WWE would cater its programming to for years to come.

 

Wrestlemania 4

‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage vs ‘The Million Dollar Man’ Ted Dibiase for the World Heavyweight Title

Wrestlemania 4 has the reputation as being somewhat of a clunker. That reputation is totally deserved. It’s a shame as the WWE set up their most convoluted (in a good way) storyline to date. Following on from Wrestlemania 3, Andre defeated Hogan at The Main Event, which to this day holds the record for the most watched wrestling match of all time, and Hogan lost the title. Andre then sold the belt to the Million Dollar Man, because everyone’s got a price.

The Million Dollar Man was then stripped of the belt by the WWE President Jack Tunney and a tournament was set up for the championship. Thus, much of Wrestlemania 4 is dedicated to this tournament, which could’ve been exciting. Alas, it was merely dull. The main event, DiBiase v Savage, was the only choice for match of the night in this awful event. But where is Hogan? At this stage, he was the WWE’s golden boy and merchandise machine – he was taken out early in the tournament as he was off to film wrestling movie No Holds Barred during the summer.

The match isn’t the best match in Wrestlemania history, a little short and of course Hulk Hogan has to make an appearance; can’t have a main event without him, right? Ted DiBiase is known to be a fantastic storyteller and this match is no different. DiBiase with Andre as backup is made to look like Savage has his work cut out to take the World title. The bout works well with Savage’s sudden and explosive speed, bursting out of the blocks without warning. What really cheapens the win is when DiBiase locks in his finisher, the Million Dollar Dream, a sleeper style manoeuvre. Hogan jumps in the ring and levels him with a chair, all while the ref’s back is turned. Savage hits the big elbow for the finish, but it would seem that the Macho Man isn’t good enough to win the belt, he only did it with Hogan’s help. All hail Hogan.

 

Wrestlemania 5

Hulk Hogan vs ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage for the World Heavyweight Title

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0lm0ygxi8s

For the second year in a row, Wrestlemania would be held in Atlantic City at the Trump Plaza. After the disappointing reception to Wrestlemania 4, it was back to business as usual for the ‘Manias, as it spent much of the year building up the main event. Following on from Wrestlemania 4, the team of Ted DiBiase & Andre The Giant feuded with Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage, now collectively known as ‘The Mega Powers’.

Naturally, the Mega Powers didn’t last and no matter how many testosterone fuelled handshakes they endured, their alliance would not. Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble, then at a later date when the pair took on Akeem and The Big Boss Man, Savage was thrown to ringside, landing on Miss Elizabeth. Hogan, being the nicest man in wrestling, carried her backstage, which left Savage annoyed. When Hogan returned, Savage turned on him, leaving Hogan alone to face Akeem and the Boss Man. Luckily, Hogan still won, because Hogan.

The match is, as many Hogan matches are, not great. When Hogan is in the ring with someone like Savage it really shows his weak points, at least looking at it from the point of view as someone who knows wrestling. To the ‘untrained eye’, which many were at the time, Hulk Hogan looks like a beast, manhandling Savage, who shows he can obviously wrestle. Hogan bleeds, and Macho has to resort to dirty tactics to get on top of the Hulkster. Savage hits his top rope elbow drop, the move that had defeated pretty much everyone in WWE in this era, and pins Hogan. But Hogan kicks out, not just normally, throwing Savage clean off him, Hulks up, and wins. The crowd goes absolutely nuts. Being a good wrestler means putting over your opponent, no matter how terrible. More people need to remember this.

Next time: We move from the Golden Era and into the New Generation of Wrestlemanias.