219-623: WrestleMania VII was the seventh annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on March 24, 1991, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles. Fourteen matches were shown during the live broadcast, with one dark match held before the event. The main event saw Hulk Hogan defeat Sgt. Slaughter for
438-513: A WWE 2K24 gaming tournament, live podcast recordings, meet-and-greets with wrestlers, and a large merchandise store with various memorabilia honoring WrestleMania's 40-year history. Curt Hennig Curtis Michael Hennig (March 28, 1958 – February 10, 2003), better known by the ring name Mr. Perfect , was an American professional wrestler . Considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time by peers, critics, and fans, he performed under his real name for promotions including
657-588: A Dave & Buster's on Raw . Finding that he was incapable of performing those feats, Haas decided "there was only one Mr. Perfect." The week after the DVD's release, its first week possible, it went to number one on the Billboard Recreational Sports DVD sales list. Hennig was mentioned on Raw 1000 by his old friend Bret Hart , who acted as the guest ring announcer for the night's Intercontinental title match. Hart stated that one of his best moments
876-420: A blindfold match . In the end, Roberts struck Martel with a DDT and pinned him, winning the match. After that, Jimmy Snuka faced off against The Undertaker . Although Snuka attempted to bring Undertaker off his feet, he was unable too. In the end, Snuka attempted a Springboard crossbody maneuver on Undertaker but Undertaker caught him and hit Snuka with Tombstone Piledriver for the victory. This marked
1095-499: A fan favorite on the June 30 episode of Monday Nitro , during a brawl which erupted after the main event . His first match in the company took place at July's Bash at the Beach pay-per-view where he became Diamond Dallas Page 's mystery tag team partner against nWo members Randy Savage and Scott Hall . Hennig ended up turning on Page costing them the match. As a result, Hennig began
1314-666: A five stars rating from sports journalist Dave Meltzer . In Night 2's main event, Roman Reigns retained the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Cody Rhodes, after Reigns' cousin Solo Sikoa interfered on his behalf. WrestleMania XL took place on April 6 and 7, 2024 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Following precedent, the WrestleMania Weekend festivities included
1533-621: A ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship also headlined, in which Razor Ramon defeated Shawn Michaels . Bret having been defeated earlier won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Yokozuna in the main event. Bret is the first wrestler in WrestleMania history to lose his first match and come back to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. After failing to capture
1752-563: A rivalry with Hulk Hogan over the WWF Championship . Their rivalry heated up when Genius defeated Hogan by countout , with Hennig's assistance on November 25 Saturday Night's Main Event XXIV and the duo stole Hogan's title belt and destroyed it backstage. Perfect and Hogan wrestled on the live events , where he lost to Hogan but they did not compete on television until January 15, 1990, when Hennig received his first opportunity for
1971-585: A rivalry with Page, defeating him in a match at Road Wild . Hennig continued to use the fisherman suplex as his finishing move, renaming it Hennig-Plex . Shortly after his debut, he became a top favorite of both Four Horsemen and the New World Order (nWo) as both factions showed interest in recruiting him. He ultimately joined the Four Horsemen, taking the spot of the retiring Arn Anderson . Hennig replied to Anderson's invitation by saying "It would be
2190-633: A running powerslam on Warlord to win the match. After that, the WWF Tag Team Champions were on the line with the Hart Foundation defended their titles against the Nasty Boys . In the end, Jerry Sags struck Jim Neidhart with a motorcycle helmet, enabling Brian Knobbs to pin him, earning The Nasty Boys their first tag team championship in WWF. Next, Jake Roberts and Rick Martel competed in
2409-466: A tournament to crown the new World Heavyweight Champion , during which he defeated Disco Inferno in the first round but lost to Jeff Jarrett in the second round. He was forced to retire after losing a retirement match against Buff Bagwell at Mayhem . He was reinstated by the powers that be a month later, however, and joined forces with Creative Control , during which the trio defeated Harlem Heat and Midnight at Starrcade . He remained on
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#17328595068762628-504: A June 15 episode of Superstars , Bobby Heenan retired as a manager and introduced The Coach as Hennig's new manager. Hennig began a rivalry with British Bulldog but suffered a back injury in late June, which led to the rivalry being wrapped up. Bret Hart was announced as his next challenger on the July 13 episode of Superstars , and in the meantime Hennig was held out of all house shows, usually replaced by Typhoon . On television, he wrestled
2847-408: A No Holds Barred Street Fight, Charlotte defeated Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks to win the inaugural WWE Women's Championship , Chris Jericho defeated AJ Styles in a singles match, The League of Nations (Sheamus, Rusev, and Alberto Del Rio) (with King Barrett ) defeated The New Day ( Xavier Woods , Kofi Kingston , and Big E ) in a six-man tag match, Zack Ryder won a 7-man ladder match for
3066-601: A WrestleMania in a critically acclaimed match, which received the 2009 Match of the Year award by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter . The WWE Intercontinental Championship was defended at the event for the first time since WrestleMania X8 with Rey Mysterio defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield. John Cena defeated Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship also involving
3285-444: A bout that received much acclaim, and The Undertaker defeated Sycho Sid for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. The match between Hart and Austin is considered by many fans as one of the best professional wrestling matches of all time and has been voted by IGN as the greatest match in WrestleMania history, and was number 1 among their list of top 20 WrestleMania matches of all time. Various other sources also names
3504-774: A brand value of US$ 245 million in 2019 behind the Super Bowl , Summer Olympics , NCAA Final Four , the FIFA World Cup , and the College Football Playoffs . For five of the first six WrestleManias, Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura served as the color commentators (the exception being WrestleMania 2, which was split among three venues and had Monsoon, Ventura, and Vince McMahon split up with guest commentators), while Bobby Heenan , Gene Okerlund , Lord Alfred Hayes , and others filled guest roles. For WrestleMania VII and VIII, Monsoon and Heenan provided color commentary. In
3723-635: A casket match, and Mickie James defeat Trish Stratus to win the original WWE Women's Championship . At WrestleMania 23 , the Money in the Bank match expanded to include eight men and would include stars from the new ECW brand, which was won by Mr. Kennedy . John Cena would go on to retain his WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels, while The Undertaker would win the World Heavyweight Championship from Batista. Representing Donald Trump , ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley defeated Umaga , who represented Vince McMahon, in
3942-499: A color commentator of the show for the next full year, acting as a suitable villainous foil to Vince McMahon 's play-by-play. During this period, Perfect assisted Flair in winning matches and managed him to two World Heavyweight Championship reigns in 1992. By the fall of 1992, Perfect and Flair were in the midst of a rivalry with Randy Savage , building to a tag team match at Survivor Series where Flair and Razor Ramon would face Savage and Ultimate Warrior . However, Warrior
4161-491: A color commentator on the show with Vince McMahon, this time with Jim Ross added as the analyst. Later in 1996, McMahon left and Ross switched to the play-by-play role. Perfect also did color commentary at Royal Rumble , SummerSlam and In Your House 10: Mind Games pay-per-views. Perfect also served as the special guest referee for the WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and British Bulldog at June's King of
4380-438: A contract, which guarantees a world title match at the time and place of the winner's choosing for up to one year, including the following year's WrestleMania. This lasted until 2010 when the Money in the Bank pay-per-view was introduced and thus the Money in the Bank ladder match was retired from WrestleMania. Forbes named WrestleMania one of the world's most valuable sports event brands from 2014 to 2019, ranking it sixth with
4599-603: A few preliminary opponents, but to avoid stressing his back with the Perfectplex, adopted the gimmick of throwing his opposition out of the ring in disgust and defeating them by countout. Perfect lost the title to Hart at SummerSlam and a broken tailbone and bulged discs forced him to retire from the ring. Hennig spent the following year recovering from his injury. He returned to television on November 23 episode of Superstars where he became Ric Flair 's "executive consultant". The following week on Superstars , Perfect became
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#17328595068764818-577: A four-day event held at convention centers and arenas in the host city of that year's WrestleMania. For WrestleMania XL in April 2024, WWE will relaunch the event under a new name of WWE World at WrestleMania, which will be done in partnership with Fanatics Events and held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The event will run from Thursday, April 4 until Monday, April 8. The five-day event includes interview panel sessions with WWE wrestlers,
5037-595: A future WrestleMania will be held at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana as part of a partnership with the Indiana Sports Corp, which will see the 2025 Royal Rumble and a future SummerSlam held at the stadium. Over the years, WrestleMania has featured many celebrity appearances with varying levels of involvement. The main event of the first WrestleMania showcased numerous celebrities along with
5256-530: A group consisting of mid-card wrestlers of the nWo. However, he was kicked out of the group after speaking against the leaders on the January 25 episode of Nitro . Hennig formed a tag team with Barry Windham and continued the rivalry with The Four Horsemen . Hennig and Windham were placed in a tournament for the vacated World Tag Team Championship , which they won by defeating Horsemen Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko at SuperBrawl IX . Hennig and Windham held
5475-545: A handful of appearances with Harley Race 's World League Wrestling promotion. He then wrestled sporadically on the independent circuit until November 2001, when he joined the newly-formed Xcitement Wrestling Federation . He wrestled for the XWF for the remainder of the year, facing opponents including Buff Bagwell and Vampiro . In December 2001, he made two further appearances with the World Wrestling Council. During
5694-758: A live WrestleMania SmackDown (including the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal) immediately followed by the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday April 5, then on the afternoon of Saturday April 6, NXT held their Stand & Deliver event , all at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly, which also hosted the post WrestleMania edition of Raw on Monday April 8. The main event of Night 1 saw The Bloodline ( The Rock and Roman Reigns ) defeat Cody Rhodes and Seth "Freakin" Rollins . This match determined
5913-593: A long feud with Greg Gagne and his father, Verne Gagne . He began being associated with Madusa Miceli , the AWA World Women's Champion since December 27, 1987. Hennig and Madusa joined The Diamond Exchange , a stable led by Diamond Dallas Page that also included Badd Company and Colonel DeBeers . Hennig would hold the AWA World Heavyweight Title for about 53 weeks, before losing it to Jerry Lawler on May 9, 1988. Like many other AWA stars of
6132-542: A match between the pair on April 28's Saturday Night's Main Event XXVI , in which Hogan pinned Perfect for the first time on television. Following his loss to Hogan, Perfect quietly ended his association with The Genius. In May 1990, Perfect participated in a tournament for the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship after previous champion Ultimate Warrior vacated the title upon winning
6351-504: A match billed as the "Battle of the Billionaires" and arbitrated by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. This was also the last WrestleMania where the original WWE Women's Championship was defended when Melina defeated Ashley Massaro in a lumberjills match. At WrestleMania XXIV , Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair in a highly acclaimed retirement match, while the Money in the Bank ladder match included seven participants from all three brands which
6570-542: A match officiated by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, while Triple H failed in his attempt to avenge Shawn Michaels' loss to The Undertaker from a year prior. This was the first WrestleMania in history in which both the World Heavyweight Champion and WWE Champion were able to successfully retain their titles. World Heavyweight Champion Edge defeated the challenger Alberto Del Rio in what would be Edge's last match before his retirement on April 11, and The Rock closed out
6789-553: A privilege." Anderson's plea that Hennig takes "his spot" was the subject of the following week's parody of the Horsemen by the nWo, which led to the WarGames match . At Fall Brawl , Hennig was allegedly jumped backstage by the nWo before the WarGames match and came to ringside mid-match with his arm in a sling. The whole thing turned out to be a setup as Hennig betrayed the Horsemen and joined
WrestleMania VII - Misplaced Pages Continue
7008-570: A quick victory. In the main event the reigning WWF Champion Sgt. Slaughter defend his title against Hulk Hogan . Slaughter entered with General Adnan who was waiving the Flag of Iraq . Hogan entered waiving the Flag of the United States to a thunderous ovation . Both men started the match circling one another. They began chain wrestling and Slaughter pinned Hogan in the corner and the referee had to separate them. Slaughter once again pinned Hogan in
7227-658: A rematch for the Intercontinental Championship on November 24 MSG Network special, before regaining the title by defeating Texas Tornado on the December 15 episode of Superstars , with help from Ted DiBiase . Perfect defended the title against Texas Tornado in a rematch on the February 2, 1991, episode of Superstars , where he retained the title by losing via countout . Perfect made his next title defense against Big Boss Man at WrestleMania VII , where he retained
7446-548: A rivalry with Bret Hart and his relatives British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart , during which both teams competed against each other in several matches throughout the first half of 1998. Hennig lost to Hart at Uncensored and defeated Bulldog at Spring Stampede . He was sidelined due to a knee injury in mid-1998. During this time, the nWo broke into two different factions, the nWo Wolfpac and nWo Hollywood , both Hennig and Rude joined Kevin Nash 's fan-favorite Wolfpac group. However,
7665-424: A score of 300 , running the table in billiards, throwing then catching his own Hail Mary football pass, sinking a long golf putt, hitting home runs and making bulls-eyes in darts. Stars of various major league sports, including Wade Boggs ( MLB ), Steve Jordan ( NFL ), Felton Spencer ( NBA ), and Mike Modano ( NHL ), co-starred with Hennig in these vignettes. Hennig performed for the first time as Mr. Perfect on
7884-465: A shot. Warrior defeated Savage to successfully defend the title numerous times and subsequently refused to grant any more title shots, so Savage decided to seek another remedy. During the match between Warrior and Slaughter, Savage and his manager Queen Sherri came to ringside and got involved in the match. Warrior picked up an interfering Sherri and tossed her from the ring onto Savage. Slaughter capitalized by driving Warrior down, leaving him hanging over
8103-734: A six-man tag team match, and Cesaro won the first-ever André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by body-slamming Big Show over the top rope in similar fashion to Hulk Hogan bodyslamming André the Giant at WrestleMania III. WrestleMania 31 was held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California , on March 29, 2015. Brock Lesnar defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event against Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns, with Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in
8322-483: A small festival to celebrate WrestleMania IV, which included autograph signings, a brunch, and a 5K run; the event was held again in 1989 for WrestleMania V. In 1992, a festival was held the day of WrestleMania VIII which included a WWF superstar look-alike contest and a tournament for the WWF WrestleFest arcade game. In 1993, the WWF held a "WrestleMania Brunch" the day of WrestleMania IX at Caesars Palace , during
8541-485: A successful title defense against Santana on July 28's Saturday Night's Main Event XXVII . Hennig was scheduled to defend the title against Brutus Beefcake at SummerSlam , stemming from his loss to Beefcake at WrestleMania but Beefcake suffered an injury and The Texas Tornado substituted for Beefcake and challenged Hennig to a title match for SummerSlam on August 11's episode of Superstars , which Perfect accepted on
8760-703: A sumo contest at WrestleMania 21, and fought professional welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. at WrestleMania XXIV . Jersey Shore star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi competed in a 6-person tag team match teaming with Trish Stratus and John Morrison in a winning effort against Dolph Ziggler and LayCool ( Layla and Michelle McCool ), at WrestleMania XXVII . The event has also featured live musical performances. Ray Charles , Aretha Franklin , Gladys Knight , Willie Nelson , Reba McEntire , Little Richard , Boyz II Men , Ashanti , Boys Choir of Harlem , Michelle Williams , John Legend , Nicole Scherzinger , Fantasia Barrino , and Keri Hilson have each renditioned
8979-526: A tag team called "The New Foundation" with Hart's younger brother Owen . This would be the final WrestleMania appearance for André the Giant . André would appear at ringside during the Intercontinental Championship match and assist the Big Boss Man in fending off the Heenan Family. He would make sporadic appearances for the rest of the year before his passing in 1993. WrestleMania WrestleMania
WrestleMania VII - Misplaced Pages Continue
9198-678: A tag team with Shawn Stasiak at house shows throughout March and early April as well as a tag team on television with Big Boss Man . Perfect was drafted to Raw during the first ever WWF Draft . Perfect, now wrestling in the Raw brand, Faced the Big Show in a losing effort on April 8, 2002. In the April 21 edition of Heat he beat Stevie Richards and on the May 2 (Taped April 29) edition of Heat , Perfect faced Tommy Dreamer and won via pinfall. His final televised WWE match took place on May 12, 2002, where he
9417-497: A triple threat match. WrestleMania 38 took place on April 2 and 3, 2022, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. As most COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted by that point, this was the first full capacity WrestleMania since 2019, and established a new format for WrestleMania Weekend—a special live WrestleMania SmackDown featuring the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (a recent WrestleMania night staple) immediately followed by
9636-513: A two count. Savage performed a stun gun on Warrior and performed a clothesline to the back of the head. After body slamming Warrior, Savage climbed to the top rope and performed five diving elbow drops on Warrior and pinned him but Warrior kicked out. Warrior then got a surge of energy and fought back against Savage and delivered agorilla press slam and splash to the back and pinned him but Savage kicked out at two. Warrior then began talking to his hands and asking his gods if he should step aside and lose
9855-465: A two-night event. WrestleMania 37 took place on April 10 and 11 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, the original location of WrestleMania 36, to allow for fan attendance—making it the first WWE event to have ticketed fans in attendance during the pandemic, though to a limited capacity of 25,000 for each night. In the main event for WrestleMania 37 Night 1, Bianca Belair defeated Sasha Banks to win
10074-649: A video tribute as well as words from friends and former co-workers Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross on Raw following the news of Hennig's death. TNA paid tribute to Hennig by displaying his wrestling singlet and a framed photo as he was employed by TNA at the time of his death. A tribute song about Hennig, "My Perfect Friend", was featured on the 2003 "Macho Man" Randy Savage album Be a Man . Other peers including Hulk Hogan , Ric Flair , Bret Hart , Shawn Michaels , and Kevin Nash have also commended Hennig's in-ring talents. During his WWE Hall of Fame speech, Bret Hart spoke highly of Hennig, stating: "Anytime I wrestled Curt
10293-669: A way, both were intertwined. Warrior had defeated Hogan for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania a year earlier and entered 1991 as the champion. In the meantime, Sgt. Slaughter had returned to the WWF near the end of 1990 after spending five years wrestling in the American Wrestling Association . When he returned, Slaughter announced that he had turned his back on his country and had become an Iraqi sympathizer and follower of Saddam Hussein . He had also revealed an alliance with an Iraqi military leader, General Adnan , who became his advisor (Adnan having followed Slaughter from
10512-457: A wrestling ring and commentate a wrestling match. In 2001, WrestleMania Axxess was held at the Reliant Hall which expanded upon the event by adding numerous activities including areas where attendees could buy special merchandise, see a production truck and check out special WWE vehicles. From 2002, WrestleMania Axxess would be extended to a three-day event (March 14–16) and would be held at
10731-569: Is Crap." During the rivalry, Hennig and Duncum lost to Konnan and Rey Mysterio Jr. of the No Limit Soldiers in a tag team match on June 13 at The Great American Bash . Less than a month later, the Rednecks lost to the Soldiers once again in an elimination tag team match at Bash at the Beach on July 11. Rednecks were intended to be villains but the southern WCW fans cheered them instead of
10950-467: Is a professional wrestling event held annually between mid-March and mid-April by the American company WWE , the world's largest professional wrestling promotion . Since premiering in 1985 , 40 events have been held, with its most recent 40th edition occurring at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 6 and 7, 2024. WrestleMania was WWE's first pay-per-view (PPV) produced and
11169-541: Is once again two choices: the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. A women's Royal Rumble match was introduced in 2018, with the winner receiving the option of challenging for either the WWE Raw Women's Championship or WWE SmackDown Women's Championship , which were renamed as the WWE Women's Championship and Women's World Championship, respectively, in June 2023. NXT 's championships,
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#173285950687611388-634: Is the company's flagship event and along with Royal Rumble , SummerSlam , Survivor Series , and Money in the Bank , it is referred to as one of the "Big Five", WWE's five biggest annual events of the year. The widespread success of WrestleMania helped transform professional wrestling. The annual event has facilitated the rise to stardom of several top WWE wrestlers. Celebrities such as Aretha Franklin , Cyndi Lauper , Muhammad Ali , Mr. T , Mike Tyson , Donald Trump , Floyd Mayweather Jr. , Snoop Dogg , Rob Gronkowski , Shaquille O'Neal , and Bad Bunny , among many others, have made special appearances within
11607-442: Is the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history. The event has been broadcast through traditional PPV since 1985 and has been available via livestreaming since WrestleMania XXX in 2014, which was WWE's first major event available through this medium. WrestleMania was conceptualized by former WWE executive chairman Vince McMahon and named by ring announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel . It
11826-529: Is the only time consecutive WrestleManias were held in the same venue. The event also saw the WrestleMania in-ring debut of Shawn Michaels , who would later go on to earn the moniker "Mr. WrestleMania". The first time WrestleMania took place outside of the United States was WrestleMania VI, which was held at the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre ) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada . In the main event match, The Ultimate Warrior won
12045-577: The Dark Side of the Ring , Hennig pranked Lesnar by slapping shaving cream on his head, which started the scuffle and almost opened the emergency exit door. After being released from WWE, he went on to work for NWA Total Nonstop Action . In TNA, he would wrestle three matches for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (two against Ron Killings and one against Jeff Jarrett), but didn't win
12264-454: The 1993 Royal Rumble match to determine the No. 1 contender for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania IX . He eliminated Flair, Skinner and Jerry Lawler until he was eliminated by Ted DiBiase , Koko B. Ware and Lawler. Hennig defeated Flair the next night on Monday Night Raw in a match where the loser would be forced to leave WWF . As a result, Flair left WWF. He then went on to feud with
12483-634: The AWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1987, with his 373-day reign being the seventh-longest in history. Hennig moved to the WWF thereafter, where he feuded with Hulk Hogan over the WWF Championship , and won the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship twice, becoming the longest-reigning titleholder of the 1990s. In addition to winning multiple titles in WCW during the late 1990s, Hennig challenged for
12702-670: The AWA World Tag Team Championship with Scott Hall by defeating "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin and "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal on January 18, 1986, in Albuquerque, New Mexico . Later, he resumed his solo career in the AWA, culminating in defeating the legendary Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship at SuperClash on May 2, 1987, with the help of Larry Zbyszko , and turning villain in doing so. Hennig, along with his father Larry "The Axe", would engage in
12921-461: The American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and NWA Total Nonstop Action . Hennig was the son of wrestler Larry "The Axe" Hennig and the father of wrestler Curtis Axel . Hennig debuted in 1980 and won multiple championships in both Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) and the AWA during the decade. He gained particular attention when he defeated Nick Bockwinkel for
13140-443: The American Wrestling Association (AWA), the promotion which had made his father, Larry "The Axe" Hennig a star. Hennig started his WWF career in 1981. His first victory was against Johnny Rodz . He established himself as a promising young performer against the likes of "Playboy" Buddy Rose , Greg Valentine and Killer Khan . Eventually, he was paired-up in tag team matches with another young upstart, Eddie Gilbert , himself
13359-525: The Canadian National Exhibition . The three-day event included similar activities to that of the one-day line-up. 2003 would be the final WrestleMania Axxess at a convention center for 6 years. From 2004 to 2008, WrestleMania Axxess visited cities around the United States and Canada with a smaller touring version of what was previously presented at regular Axxess events. In 2009 WrestleMania Axxess returned, and has continued every year since, as
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#173285950687613578-449: The Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois , and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles. They each featured multiple matches that led up to the main event; this saw WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeat King Kong Bundy in a Steel Cage match . A world indoor attendance-record of 93,173 fans was set at WrestleMania III, which was also the largest paying attendance in
13797-511: The Gulf War . This was dismissed by outlets such as SLAM! Sports of Canada, who chalked up the venue change to poor advanced ticket sales, and the company having difficulty filling the estimated 100,000 seats available. According to former WWF executive Bruce Prichard , both were accurate statements. In his Something to Wrestle With podcast, Prichard said that even if the WWF had sold out the Coliseum,
14016-613: The Montreal Screwjob incident, Bret Hart defeated Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match with members of the Hart wrestling family present. The Money in the Bank ladder match included ten participants from both Raw and SmackDown (the ECW brand was retired in February), and this match was won by Jack Swagger . This was the last Money in the Bank ladder match to be held at a WrestleMania event due to
14235-561: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship , prior to his death on February 10, 2003. WWE credited Hennig for raising the standard of technical wrestling in that company, while professional wrestling journalists Bob Ryder and Dave Scherer , in a 2000 publication, recognized him as "one of the best all-round competitors this business has ever produced". Hennig was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 by former Major League Baseball player and longtime friend Wade Boggs . Hulk Hogan remarked, "Everybody would check their egos at
14454-417: The NXT Championship and NXT Women's Championship , became additional choices in 2020, but were dropped as choices in 2022 after NXT reverted to its original status as WWE's developmental brand in September 2021. WrestleMania 21 saw the introduction of the Money in the Bank ladder match . This match features six to ten participants and took place at six WrestleManias between 2005 and 2010 before becoming
14673-501: The Perfect-Plex on Kurt Angle and competing against several of the top WWF wrestlers of that period. His performance, along with the positive reaction of the Atlanta crowd, earned Hennig a full-time contract with the WWF. Perfect appeared the next night on Raw in a match with Val Venis . He then had matches with WWF's up and coming Superstars like Brock Lesnar , Randy Orton , and Batista as well as having short feuds with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Rob Van Dam before forming
14892-488: The SmackDown Women's Championship against Asuka , ending Asuka's two-year undefeated streak, and Nicholas, a 10-year old fan, became the youngest champion in WWE history when he teamed with Braun Strowman to defeat Cesaro and Sheamus for the Raw Tag Team Championship, The SmackDown Tag Team Championship was also defended for the first time at WrestleMania, where The Bludgeon Brothers ( Harper and Rowan ) defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) and The New Day to win
15111-518: The WCW World Heavyweight Championship on pay-per-view (PPV), and led stable and country music group the West Texas Rednecks , who recorded the popular tongue-in-cheek song, "Rap Is Crap". During a stint with the World Wrestling Council (WWC) in 2000, he won the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship . Hennig returned to the WWF/E for a brief period in 2002, being one of the last three men remaining at that year's Royal Rumble . He later headlined multiple PPV events for TNA , in contention for
15330-444: The WWF Championship as part of a storyline in which Sgt. Slaughter portrayed an Iraqi sympathizer during the United States' involvement in the Gulf War . Significant events on the undercard included The Undertaker 's WrestleMania debut and the beginning of his renowned winning streak , a retirement match between Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior leading to the former's reunion with estranged love Miss Elizabeth , as well as
15549-408: The WWF Championship at WrestleMania VI . Hennig was booked to win the tournament for the vacant title by defeating Jimmy Snuka in the quarter-finals on the May 5 episode of Superstars and two-time Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion Tito Santana in the finals on May 19's episode of Superstars . After his title win, Perfect enlisted Bobby Heenan as his "perfect" manager and made
15768-744: The World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico , briefly winning the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship from Carly Colon . He appeared with the WWC until January 2001. In January 2001, Hennig made a one-night appearance in Japan with All-Japan Pro Wrestling at its King's Road New Century 2001 event, taking part in a six-man tag team match in the Tokyo Dome . In mid-2001, Hennig made
15987-496: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote that between 11,900 and 15,000 tickets were sold before the move. He also reported that no tickets had to be refunded, indicating that sales were under 15,500. Comp tickets were believed to help fill the show's crowd. The tagline for the event was "Superstars and Stripes Forever ," and is remembered for its theme of American patriotism in the wake of the Gulf War. American flags were hung all over
16206-531: The history of professional wrestling at the time. The event is widely considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom . To make certain that every seat in the Pontiac Silverdome would be filled, WWF decided to exclude the entire state of Michigan from pay-per-view access to the event, which made attending the event the only way for fans in Michigan to see it. The event featured Hulk Hogan defending
16425-401: The match card also includes gimmick matches and matches involving personal feuds. Since 1993, the winner of the annual Royal Rumble match receives a guaranteed world championship match at the same year's WrestleMania (except in 2016 in which the WWE World Heavyweight Championship was the prize of the match itself). With the introduction of the previous World Heavyweight Championship in 2002,
16644-527: The "Big Four". WrestleMania VII was originally scheduled to be held on March 24, 1991, in Los Angeles, California at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum , but the WWF decided to move the event to the adjacent Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena . The WWF's stated reason for the venue change was that it had security concerns in the wake of Sgt. Slaughter 's portrayal of an Iraqi sympathizer during
16863-669: The AWA to participate in the angle). This coincided with the increasing tension in the Middle East that was going on at that time, which eventually would lead to Operation Desert Storm and American involvement in the conflict. Slaughter would eventually set his sights on the Warrior, and the two agreed to a match at the Royal Rumble in January 1991. Savage, meanwhile, was trying to regain the WWF Championship that he had lost at WrestleMania V to Hogan and challenged Warrior repeatedly to give him
17082-500: The Bank briefcase and won the title from McIntyre, becoming only the second wrestler to successfully win a world championship after a cash-in at WrestleMania, and Sami Zayn defeating Gunther in Night 1 to end the latter's 666-day reign as Intercontinental Champion . Also on the card, Rhea Ripley successfully defended the Women's World Championship against Becky Lynch in the opening match of
17301-527: The Bank briefcase, turning the bout into a Triple Threat, ending with Rollins pinning Reigns to win the championship. Other main bouts included Sting 's first-ever WWE match against Triple H, which he lost, The Undertaker returned and defeated Bray Wyatt to get his 22nd victory at the event's history, Randy Orton defeated Seth Rollins and Rusev lost the United States Championship and his unbeaten streak to John Cena. Another important promoted match
17520-663: The Barbarian and Haku against the Rockers . In the end, Shawn Michaels hit Haku with a flying bodypress and pinned him for the three count. After that, Dino Bravo and the Texas Tornado faced off in the ring. In the end, The Texas Tornado won the bout by pinfall following a discus punch . Next, the British Bulldog took on the Warlord . In the end, The British Bulldog performed
17739-573: The Big Show, while Triple H retained the WWE Championship against Randy Orton. At WrestleMania XXVI , the professional wrestling career of Shawn Michaels came to an end as he faced The Undertaker in a highly acclaimed re-match of their encounter from the previous year. The event also featured John Cena winning the WWE Championship and Chris Jericho retaining the World Heavyweight Championship. Following Bret Hart's return to WWE in over twelve years since
17958-483: The Intercontinental Championship, and The Rock defeated Erick Rowan in a record-breaking 6-second match. Also at WrestleMania 32, Baron Corbin won the third annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, by last eliminating Kane. WrestleMania 33 took place on April 2, 2017, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida . It was the first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 29 in 2013 to feature two world championships on
18177-602: The October 4 episode of Prime Time Wrestling , where he defeated Jim Brunzell . His first major ppv match was at survivor series 1988 in a five-on-five elimination tag team match as a member of co-captain André the Giant 's team, along with Rick Rude , Dino Bravo (also co-captain) and Harley Race against co-captain Jim Duggan 's team of Jake Roberts (also co-captain), Ken Patera , Tito Santana and Scott Casey . Perfect survived
18396-427: The Ring pay-per-view. In mid-1996, Hennig was placed in an angle with Hunter Hearst Helmsley , where he would come out to the ringside during Helmsley's matches and steal his female escorts , which would often cause a distraction for Helmsley and affect his performance in matches. During the rivalry, Perfect helped Marc Mero in winning the Intercontinental Championship from Faarooq and assisted him in retaining
18615-536: The Ring tournament by defeating Doink the Clown . At King of the Ring , Perfect defeated Mr. Hughes in the quarter-finals but lost to eventual winner Bret Hart in the semi-finals. Perfect competed against Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam , where Perfect lost by countout due to interference from Michaels' new bodyguard Diesel . Hennig's last televised match in WWF
18834-550: The SmackDown Women's Championship, which was the first time two African Americans headlined WrestleMania. Also on the card, Bobby Lashley defeated Drew McIntyre by technical submission to retain the WWE Championship and celebrity Bad Bunny teamed with Damian Priest and defeated The Miz and John Morrison . In the main event of Night 2, Roman Reigns retained the Universal Championship against Edge and Daniel Bryan in
19053-434: The Soldiers, resulting in the angle being dropped. The Rednecks made their final pay-per-view appearance at Road Wild on August 14, where Hennig, Barry and Duncum lost to The Revolution in a six-man tag team match . After the Rednecks disbanded, Hennig began a storyline, in which he stated that he was following orders from " the powers that be " that if he lost any match by pinfall , he must retire. He participated in
19272-522: The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and end Reigns' generational 1,316 day-long title reign, following interference from Reigns' cousins Jimmy Uso , Solo Sikoa , and The Rock on his behalf, and Jey Uso , John Cena , Seth Rollins and The Undertaker on Rhodes' behalf. Other marquee matches during the two-night event saw Drew McIntyre defeat Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship before Damian Priest cashed in his Money in
19491-601: The United States, rising above competitors such as the National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association . In attendance were business celebrity Sy Sperling and broadcasting executive Tony D'Angelo. WrestleMania 2 was held the following year and took place in three venues across the country. The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York , the Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena ) in
19710-601: The Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. In another main event promoted match, AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura . Other marquee matches saw Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey defeat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a mixed tag team match, which was Rousey's WWE debut match, and Daniel Bryan had his in-ring return after three years, teaming with Shane McMahon to defeat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn . Also, The Undertaker defeated John Cena in an impromptu match. In another prominent match, Charlotte Flair retained
19929-403: The Universal Championship. The event also saw the retirement of veteran WWE stars Kurt Angle and Batista. For the first time, the main event of WrestleMania was a women's match, with Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey, SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch facing off in a Winner Takes All Triple Threat match for both championships, in which Lynch emerged victorious. For
20148-404: The WCW television, continuing to make sporadic appearances with the company. He entered a feud with Shawn Stasiak in the spring of 2000, after Stasiak referred to himself as "The Perfect One" which was a ripoff of Hennig's "Mr. Perfect" character and even used entrance music composed to sound like Mr. Perfect's theme song. Hennig lost to Stasiak at Slamboree . His last televised match in WCW
20367-452: The WWE Championship against Chris Jericho, via submission. The third main event featured The Rock defeating John Cena via pinfall in a "Once in a Lifetime" match, announced a year in advance. In 2013, WrestleMania 29 had 80,676 fans in attendance, becoming the third-highest attended WrestleMania ever. This WrestleMania had three main events. The first saw The Undertaker extend his undefeated streak to 21–0 by defeating CM Punk. Triple H, with
20586-471: The WWE Championship and Benoit defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels to win the World Heavyweight Championship. The event also featured the Rock 'n' Sock Connection (The Rock and Mick Foley) versus Evolution ( Batista , Randy Orton , and Ric Flair) in a 2-on-3 handicap match, which was The Rock's last match for over seven years, as well as Stone Cold as the guest referee in an inter-promotional singles match between
20805-493: The WWE Hall of Fame inductions, and then NXT holding its now annual WrestleMania event, Stand & Deliver , the afternoon of Night 1, and then followed by Raw After WrestleMania on Monday. At WrestleMania 38 itself, Cody Rhodes returned as Seth Rollins' "mystery opponent", defeating Rollins in Night 1. In the main event of Night 1, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin came out of retirement for a one match return to defeat Kevin Owens . In
21024-441: The WWF Championship against Hogan at Madison Square Garden and this was his first televised match against Hogan, which he won by disqualification but not the title. At Royal Rumble , Perfect attacked Genius's opponent Brutus Beefcake after their match, which began a feud between the two. Later in the same night, Perfect participated in the Royal Rumble match as the No. 30 entrant. He eliminated Rick Rude before making it to
21243-419: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant and the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship match between "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat . The match between Savage and Steamboat would go on to be regarded as one of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history and is acknowledged by many (including Vince McMahon) as having "stolen the show". WrestleMania IV
21462-529: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Hulk Hogan. The following year, the event returned to the United States for WrestleMania VII, which was originally scheduled to be held at the outdoors Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum . The event was moved to the adjacent indoors Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena after poor ticket sales, sold on television as being for security reasons related to the Gulf War and Sgt. Slaughter 's storyline defection to Iraq . The event saw Hulk Hogan face defending champion Sgt. Slaughter for
21681-559: The WWF World Heavyweight Championship, while The Undertaker made his WrestleMania debut, defeating Jimmy Snuka . Following this, The Undertaker went undefeated in 21 of his WrestleMania matches until he lost to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX in 2014. The next edition, WrestleMania VIII, was held in the Hoosier Dome with "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeating Ric Flair for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and Hulk Hogan defeating Sid Justice via disqualification. WrestleMania IX
21900-619: The WWF's first Japanese tour in 1994. After WrestleMania VII, The Hart Foundation disbanded. Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart went into singles competition. Bret Hart went on to singles success, defeating Mr. Perfect for the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam 1991, and later in 1992 would win the WWF Championship when he defeated Ric Flair in his father 's home town of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan , Canada. Neidhart would later in 1991 form
22119-509: The Wolfpac and joining nWo Hollywood. The following month, Goldberg won the World Heavyweight Championship and Hennig, despite his injury, faced Goldberg for the title in a losing effort at Bash at the Beach . In the fall of 1998, Hennig began feuding with Horseman Dean Malenko over his betrayal of the Four Horsemen the previous year, which resulted in a match between the pair at September's Fall Brawl pay-per-view, which Hennig lost. After
22338-584: The World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger, and Fandango pulling off an upset win over veteran Chris Jericho. In the opening bout, The Shield ( Dean Ambrose , Seth Rollins , and Roman Reigns ) defeated the team of Big Show, Sheamus , and Randy Orton in their WrestleMania debut. WrestleMania XXX was the 30th annual WrestleMania event produced by WWE on April 6, 2014, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans , Louisiana . The event
22557-437: The World Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle and Randy Orton in a Triple Threat Match, and John Cena retained the WWE Championship against Triple H. Edge defeated Mick Foley in a Hardcore Rules match, where Edge infamously speared Foley off the ring apron through a flaming table at ringside. WrestleMania 22 also featured Shawn Michaels defeating Vince McMahon in a No Holds Barred match, Undertaker defeating Mark Henry in
22776-475: The arena and the ring apron and banners were colored red, white, and blue, which was the basis for the main event between Hulk Hogan and Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship . This was the first WrestleMania not to feature Jesse "The Body" Ventura as a color commentator. Gorilla Monsoon hosted the event with Bobby Heenan . When Heenan had to manage at ringside in
22995-471: The attendance record at 101,763 as announced by The Rock at the event. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Triple H to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Other bouts included the Undertaker defeating Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell match. Had Shane won, he would have gained control of Raw , while had Undertaker lost, this would have been his last WrestleMania. Brock Lesnar defeated Dean Ambrose in
23214-547: The beginning of the Undertaker's streak . Next, was the retirement match between Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior . Before both men came out, Bobby Heenan spotted Savage's former valet Miss Elizabeth in the crowd. Savage and Queen Sherri came to the ring carried on a throne and Warrior walked out instead of his trademark running. The match started slow, both men initially insisted on chain wrestling until Savage started using strikes on Warrior. Savage went to
23433-506: The buildup for January's Royal Rumble , it was announced that Hennig would be returning as one of the 30 combatants in the match. Hennig, again billed as "Mr. Perfect" (although his real name was widely acknowledged), entered the Royal Rumble at No. 25, and was one of the final three competitors before being eliminated by eventual winner Triple H . Perfect performed notably at the Rumble, hitting
23652-455: The corner but Hogan shoved Slaughter who was sent to the other side of the ring. Hogan then knocked down Slaughter who retreated to the outside. Hogan went to the outside to get Slaughter but Adnan hit him from behind but Hogan wasn't phased and began chasing Adnan and Slaughter hit Hogan in the back with a steel chair but Hogan still wasn't phased. Hogan grabbed Slaughter and sent him into the ring. Slaughter begged for mercy and then poked Hogan in
23871-449: The course of which Lex Luger attacked Bret Hart . In 1994, WWF offered "Fan Fest" for the weekend of WrestleMania X, which allowed fans to step inside a WWF ring, participate in games, meet superstars, and purchase merchandise; the event was followed up in 1995 with another "Fan Fest" for WrestleMania XI. For WrestleMania XV, a pre-event concert known as the "WrestleMania Rage Party" (in reference to that year's theme, "The Ragin' Climax")
24090-452: The creation of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view in July that year. WrestleMania XXVII featured the return of The Rock following a seven-year hiatus to serve as host for the event. Trish Stratus competed in her first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 22, teaming with John Morrison and Jersey Shore ' s Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi to defeat LayCool and Dolph Ziggler . Longtime WWE announcers Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler brawled in
24309-639: The crowd, much of his commentary was heel-leaning. Meanwhile, the storyline with Miss Elizabeth continued, culminating with Savage proposing to her in the ring leading to an on-air wedding at SummerSlam 1991 dubbed The Match Made in Heaven . (The wedding was kayfabe, as Savage and Elizabeth were already legally married.) Virgil and Ted DiBiase feuded with each other until November 1991, including facing off at SummerSlam 1991 when DiBiase lost his Million Dollar Belt to Virgil. After DiBiase won his belt back in November with
24528-407: The debuting Lex Luger , who berated Perfect during his promos . Luger won their match at WrestleMania IX though both of Perfect's feet were clearly between the ropes. Afterwards, Perfect chased Luger backstage where he was jumped from behind by Luger's ally Shawn Michaels . As a result, Perfect began a rivalry with Michaels. During this time, Hennig qualified for the first-ever televised King of
24747-424: The departing superstars Brock Lesnar (who would return to the company eight years later) and Goldberg (who would return 12 years later). The WWE Hall of Fame was also reintroduced and became an annual induction show held the night before or week of WrestleMania. At WrestleMania 21 , the concept of the Money in the Bank ladder match was introduced; a six-man ladder match that featured a briefcase suspended above
24966-660: The door when they came to a building that Curt Hennig was in, because you couldn't out-work him, you couldn't outshine him, and you couldn't out-perform him. He was the best of the best." Curt Hennig was born on March 28, 1958, the son of professional wrestler Larry "The Axe" Hennig . Hennig was childhood friends with fellow wrestler Rick Rude . They attended Robbinsdale High School in his hometown of Robbinsdale, Minnesota , alongside Tom Zenk , Brady Boone , Nikita Koloff , John Nord , Road Warrior Hawk , and Barry Darsow , who all became professional wrestlers. Known as "Cool" Curt Hennig, he began his career on January 30, 1980, in
25185-700: The event have been hosted in North American cities, with 38 in the United States and two in Canada . The only WrestleMania in the event's history not to air live and be held without fans in attendance was WrestleMania 36 in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic ; it was the first major professional wrestling event to be affected by the pandemic. It was also the first to be held across two nights, with each WrestleMania since becoming two-night events. WrestleMania 37 in 2021
25404-598: The event produces a local economy boost for the host cities. WrestleMania centers on the main event matches, primarily for the men's WWE Championship —and additional men's world titles, such as the previous World Heavyweight Championship (2003–2013), the WWE Universal Championship (since 2017), and the current World Heavyweight Championship (since 2024)—as well as matches involving celebrities such as American footballer Lawrence Taylor or actor Mr. T . Other WWE championships are also contested for, while
25623-581: The event saluting the fans after laying out John Cena and The Miz with his signature move , the Rock Bottom , following Miz retaining the WWE Championship. This incident would set up the main event for the following year's WrestleMania. WrestleMania XXVIII had three matches in the upper card. In the first main event, The Undertaker defeated Triple H in a Hell in a Cell match via pinfall, officiated by Shawn Michaels and extending his WrestleMania streak to 20–0. The second main event featured CM Punk retaining
25842-590: The events, with some participating in matches. The first WrestleMania was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City ; the 10th and 20th editions were also held there. WrestleMania III in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan , was the highest-attended indoor sports event in the world, with 93,173 fans in attendance. The record stood until February 14, 2010, when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game broke
26061-405: The eye. Slaughter then began wearing down Hogan. Hogan then knocked Slaughter down and Adnan got on the apron to taunt Hogan but Hogan hit him which sent him down on the floor. Hogan then took control and began beating Slaughter. Hogan then went to the top rope but Adnan grabbed Hogan's foot and Slaughter grabbed Hogan and threw him into the middle of the ring. Slaughter then clotheslined Hogan out of
26280-481: The final televised match of the original Hart Foundation , after which Bret Hart became primarily a singles wrestler. WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation 's (WWF, now WWE) flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985 . It is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of the WWF's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble , SummerSlam , and Survivor Series , which were eventually dubbed
26499-491: The final two, where he was eliminated by Hogan. Perfect's undefeated streak ended when he suffered his first pinfall loss on regional television against the Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior on March 19, at Madison Square Garden. His first loss in singles competition on national television was against Brutus Beefcake at WrestleMania VI . Hogan settled the score with Perfect with
26718-507: The first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The main event was a tag-team match between WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and Mr. T , accompanied by Jimmy Snuka against the team of Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff , who were accompanied by Cowboy Bob Orton . The financial and critical success of the event secured the company's status as the most successful professional wrestling promotion in
26937-434: The first night, Jey Uso defeated his twin brother Jimmy Uso in Night 1, in only the third WrestleMania to feature a match between two real-life brothers after Owen Hart vs Bret Hart at WrestleMania X and Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy at WrestleMania 25 , social media influencer and professional boxer Logan Paul beat Randy Orton and Kevin Owens in a triple threat match to retain the United States Championship on
27156-415: The first three-man inter-brand commentary team since the brand extension was introduced was used and consisted of Jim Ross, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Michael Cole . The following year at WrestleMania XXVI, Jim Ross was replaced by Matt Striker . At WrestleMania XXVII, Jim Ross returned to commentate, along with Josh Mathews and new SmackDown color commentator Booker T ; the sudden change of commentary
27375-584: The first time in WrestleMania's history, WrestleMania 36 was taped and held across two nights. The tapings occurred on March 25 and 26, 2020, at multiple locations including the WWE Performance Center in Orlando , Florida. It then aired on tape delay on April 4 and 5. It was originally scheduled to take place solely on April 5 at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida , and to air live, but
27594-507: The first-ever Triangle Ladder match for the WWF Tag Team Championship , involving The Hardy Boyz ( Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy ), The Dudley Boyz ( Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley ), and Edge and Christian . The main event featured WWF Champion Triple H successfully defend his title in a fatal four-way match against The Rock, Big Show , and Mick Foley . This match was billed as having 'a McMahon in every corner' as Triple H
27813-458: The following week's Superstars . Perfect dropped the championship to Texas Tornado at SummerSlam. Hennig was chosen to lead Demolition as "The Perfect Team" against The Warriors (Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado and Legion of Doom ) in a four-on-four elimination tag team match at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, where Hennig's team lost. He unsuccessfully challenged Texas Tornado in
28032-592: The former as the only title to challenge for until the reintroduction of the brand split in 2016, which added the WWE Universal Championship as a choice. After it and the WWE Championship were unified as the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 38 in 2022, the undisputed title became the only choice in 2023, but with the introduction of a new World Heavyweight Championship following that year's WrestleMania 39 , there
28251-520: The fourth annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by last eliminating Jinder Mahal . The event also marked the unannounced return of The Hardy Boyz, who won the Raw Tag Team Championship at the event in a fatal four-way tag team ladder match. WrestleMania 34 was held on April 8, 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the main event, Brock Lesnar retained
28470-411: The headline match of its own pay-per-view event, Money in the Bank which incorporated the use of two Money in the Bank ladder matches for both respective WWE brands, Raw and SmackDown (since 2017, two matches have been held at the titular event, but one each for the men and women, with participants divided between the brands). The participant who retrieves the briefcase suspended above the ring wins
28689-663: The help of The Repo Man (formerly Smash of Demolition), their feud ended at the This Tuesday in Texas PPV when DiBiase and Repo Man defeated Virgil and Tito Santana in a tag team match. Genichiro Tenryu and Kōji Kitao were on loan from the Japanese promotion Super World of Sports . The WWF co-promoted several cards in Japan with the group, including two Tokyo Dome shows on March 30 and December 12, 1991. Although SWS folded in June 1992, Tenryu's follow-up promotion, WAR , co-promoted
28908-464: The help of Shawn Michaels, defeated Brock Lesnar in a No Holds Barred match; had Triple H lost, he would have had to retire from in-ring competition. In the final match, John Cena avenged his loss from the previous year by defeating The Rock for the WWE Championship, winning the title a record 11th time and setting a record of four victories as a challenger in a world title match at WrestleMania. Other matches included Alberto Del Rio successfully defending
29127-448: The hide by Slaughter with the steel chair. Slaughter then pinned Hogan but Hogan kicked out at two. Slaughter then began hitting Hogan in the head, causing him to bleed. Hogan attempted a comeback but was not able too. Slaughter then put Hogan in the Camel clutch but would release the hold to stomp a few times on Hogan's back, only to put the hold on again. Hogan got up while Slaughter still had
29346-495: The hold applied and attempted to ram Slaughter into the turnbuckle but Slaughter released the hold and shoved Hogan into the turnbuckle. Slaughter then asked Adnan for the flag of Iraq and Adnan handed him it. Slaughter then placed the flag of Iraq on Hogan and pinned him but Hogan kicked out at two and Hogan grabbed the flag and tore it in front of Slaughter. Hogan then hulked up and even though Slaughter began hitting him, his punches had no effect. Hogan then irish whipped Slaughter off
29565-556: The indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium, since renamed AT&T Stadium , in Arlington, Texas . In 2016, WrestleMania 32 surpassed WrestleMania III as the highest-attended professional wrestling event ever held in America, with 101,763 fans in attendance at AT&T Stadium, although the company revealed that attendance figures are manipulated for marketing purposes through investor calls. All editions of
29784-444: The line. In the end, Big Boss Man was attacked by The Barbarian and Haku causing a disqualification victory for Big Boss Man. After that, Earthquake and Greg Valentine faced off and Earthquake took an advantage early on and performed an Earthquake Splash for the three count. Next, Legion of Doom took on Power and Glory . In the end, The Legion of Doom performed a Doomsday Device on Paul Roma and Animal pinned him for
30003-475: The line: Raw's Universal Championship , defended for the first time at WrestleMania, and SmackDown's WWE Championship. The main event saw Roman Reigns defeat The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred match giving Undertaker his second loss at WrestleMania. Elsewhere on the event's card, Brock Lesnar defeated Goldberg in a rematch from WrestleMania XX to become the new Universal Champion, Randy Orton defeated Bray Wyatt to win his ninth WWE Championship, and Mojo Rawley won
30222-461: The loss, Hennig was taken off television to recover from his knee injury. He returned to WCW at the Starrcade event in December to aid Eric Bischoff in defeating Ric Flair. Hennig joined forces with Barry Windham to take on Flair and his son David in a tag team match at Souled Out in 1999, which Hennig's team lost. In 1999, both nWo factions reunited and Hennig was placed in the nWo B-Team ,
30441-506: The main event angle. The artist for the promotional poster is renowned illustrative painter Joe Jusko known mainly for his work within the comic book industry. Randy Savage required surgery on a broken thumb in late January before the event. The injury required him to miss several matches leading up to WrestleMania. The two main feuds entering WrestleMania in 1991 were between Hulk Hogan and WWF Champion Sgt. Slaughter and The Ultimate Warrior and "Macho King" Randy Savage , and in
30660-537: The main event for Part 1 of WrestleMania 36, The Undertaker defeated AJ Styles in a Boneyard match , which was produced as a cinematic match and was one of two matches not filmed at the Performance Center—this would in turn be The Undertaker's final match. Braun Strowman also defeated Goldberg to win the Universal Championship while Becky Lynch retained the Raw Women's Championship over NXT's Shayna Baszler. In
30879-466: The main event for Part 2, Drew McIntyre defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship; after the show went off the air, a dark match occurred wherein McIntyre retained the title over Big Show in a match described by WWE as the "hidden WrestleMania main event" (which was shown on the April 6 episode of Raw ). Also on the show, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defeated John Cena in a Firefly Fun House match, which
31098-609: The main event of Night 2, Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar in a Winner Takes All match for the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship, becoming the first wrestler to hold both titles simultaneously and becoming recognized as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion , although both titles retained their individual lineages. WrestleMania 39 took place on April 1 and 2, 2023, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California —the original location of WrestleMania 37 before
31317-404: The match and questioning whether his destiny is to lose to Savage. Warrior stepped out of the ring to give Savage a count out win after apparently receiving an answer from above. Before Warrior could do that though, Savage attacked him while he was on the apron. Savage then attempted an axe handle to the outside but Warrior moved out the way and Savage hit the barricade instead. Warrior got Savage in
31536-430: The match as the greatest WrestleMania match of all time. At WrestleMania XIV , Austin defeated Shawn Michaels to become the new WWF World Heavyweight Champion in a match that featured Mike Tyson serving as the special enforcer. Although Tyson had been aligned with Michaels and his stable D-Generation X , Tyson revealed to have been aligned with Austin all along as he personally counted the pinfall and declared Austin
31755-579: The match with Bravo. The following year, he appeared in SummerSlam , defeating The Red Rooster in a squash match . He went undefeated on television for over a year, beating mid-card wrestlers including B. Brian Blair , Ronnie Garvin , Koko B. Ware , The Blue Blazer , The Red Rooster , Jimmy Snuka , Tito Santana, and Bret Hart throughout 1989. On the October 7 episode of Superstars , Perfect began appearing with The Genius , an arrogant, poetry-reciting scholar on The Brother Love Show and began
31974-502: The mid to late 1990s, the commentator team comprised Vince McMahon , Jim Ross , and Jerry Lawler . Since the brand separation in 2002, matches from the Raw brand have been called by Ross and Lawler; the SmackDown matches called by Michael Cole , Tazz , John "Bradshaw" Layfield , and Jonathan Coachman , and from 2006 to 2010, the ECW matches called by Joey Styles and Tazz. At WrestleMania 25,
32193-555: The nWo, handcuffing the other Horsemen to the cage and then slamming the steel cage door into Ric Flair's head, afterward claiming he had "destroyed the Horseman" and as a further slap to Flair, claimed to be "the wrestler that made Minnesota famous", thus becoming a villain . The following night on Nitro , Hennig won the United States Heavyweight Championship by defeating Horseman Steve McMichael . Hennig held
32412-424: The ongoing story to this point, entered the Royal Rumble match as its defending champion. He won the match by eliminating his old rival Earthquake last, then went backstage to be interviewed by Gene Okerlund . During the course of the interview, the word was relayed to the two that Slaughter and Adnan were celebrating their triumph by defacing an American flag. Hogan then promised to stand up for his country and take
32631-458: The opening match and again during Mr. Perfect 's Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship defense, Monsoon was joined on the commentary by Jim Duggan and "Lord" Alfred Hayes respectively. In addition, Regis Philbin helped with commentary on the main event while Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek served as the ring announcer. Willie Nelson sang a rendition of " America the Beautiful " before
32850-402: The outside. Elizabeth began crying and both Savage and Elizabeth embraced in the ring. The two then left the ring. After that, Demolition took on Genichiro Tenryu and Kōji Kitao . In the end, Tenryu performed a powerbomb on Smash and stacked him up for the win. Next, was a singles match between WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect against Big Boss Man with Perfect's title on
33069-508: The pandemic forced it to be relocated. As was established the previous year, the WrestleMania Weekend festivities included a live WrestleMania SmackDown (including the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal) immediately followed by the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday March 31, then on the afternoon of Saturday April 1, NXT held their Stand & Deliver event , all at the Crypto.com Arena in nearby Los Angeles , which also hosted
33288-526: The post WrestleMania edition of Raw on April 3. The main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania saw Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeat The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship , marking the first time a tag team title match was the main event of a WrestleMania, and only the second time a tag team match was the main event, after WrestleMania I. The match was well received. It was also the first WrestleMania match since 1997 to earn
33507-422: The previous year at WrestleMania IX. However, plans were scrapped after Hennig's back problems flared up again. He left the WWF in the spring of 1994. Hennig took a year off to recover from a back injury until he returned to the company as a color commentator at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in 1995. The following weekend, Jerry Lawler announced Perfect as his replacement on Superstars , his second stint as
33726-463: The referee and Savage took advantage by delivering a running knee lift which propelled Warrior into the referee, taking him out. Savage then held Warrior in place and Sherri took her shoe off so she could hit Warrior with it. She climbed to the top turnbuckle and attempted and axe handle with the shoe but Warrior got out of the way and she struck Savage with it instead. Warrior chased Sherri around ringside until Savage intervened and rolled up Warrior for
33945-404: The referee told him he hadn't. Slaughter began giving knees to Hogan's back and went to the top rope and delivered a foot stomp to Hogan's back and pinned him but Adnan accidentally distracted the referee. When the referee turned around and began counting Hogan kicked out at two. Slaughter went to the outside and grabbed a steel chair. Hogan, who was leaning on the ropes facing the outside was hit in
34164-452: The return of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin after a year-long hiatus, while Kurt Angle defeated Shawn Michaels in a highly acclaimed match. The Money in the Bank ladder match was also held at WrestleMania 22 as a six-man interpromotional match where the winner would get a world title match of their choosing, regardless of the brand they were on, with this match was won by Rob Van Dam. The main events of WrestleMania 22 featured Rey Mysterio win
34383-407: The returning Iron Sheik , who was now competing as Colonel Mustafa. Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior eventually teamed up at SummerSlam 1991 , defeating Slaughter, Mustafa, and their manager, General Adnan, in a two-vs.-three handicap match. Savage returned to television in a non-wrestling role as a color commentator for the WWF's flagship syndicated program, Superstars ; although a fan favorite to
34602-469: The ring and Savage hit Warrior with a body slam for a two count. After a brief back and fourth, Savage attempted to wear Warrior down with a sleeper hold but Warrior got out of it and ran on the ropes but both men collided with each other in the center of the ring. Savage got Warrior up but Warrior countered with a small package but Sherri distracted the referee and when the referee turned around he counted but Savage kicked out at two. Warrior began arguing with
34821-522: The ring and become his partner at Survivor Series, much to the delight of the Prime Time Wrestling cast of Hillbilly Jim , Jim Duggan , and Vince McMahon . Hennig made his return to the ring at Survivor Series, where Hennig and Savage won their match. Perfect began a high-profile rivalry with Flair. He made his return to singles competition on the January 2, 1993, episode of Superstars , where he defeated The Berzerker . Hennig participated in
35040-401: The ring and began hitting him with a steel chair. Slaughter then grabbed some TV cables and began choking Hogan with them. Slaughter took Hogan inside the ring and delivered a backbreaker for a two count. Slaughter began arguing with the referee and continued to beat Hogan and then put him in a Boston Crab submission. Hogan grabbed the ropes to break the hold but Slaughter thought he had won but
35259-438: The ring and performed three shoulder tackles on Savage and pinned him for the three count. After winning, Warrior put on his entrance coat and celebrated in the ring before leaving. After he had left, Sherri berated Savage who was still lying on the ring canvas trying to recover from his match. Sherri began attacking Savage in the ring but Elizabeth hopped over the barricade and got into the ring and grabbed Sherri and threw her to
35478-598: The ring containing a contract that guaranteed the winning Raw brand participant a world title match at any time and place of their choosing within one year up to the next year's WrestleMania, in which Edge went on to win this match. In the main events, the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship passed on to John Cena and Batista , respectively, by defeating John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Triple H in their respective matches. Eddie Guerrero's last WrestleMania match took place at WrestleMania 21 against Rey Mysterio, before he died later that year. The event also featured
35697-530: The ropes and delivered a big boot. Hogan then peformed a leg drop on Slaughter for the three count and thus became a record three-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion. Hogan then waived the Flag of the United States and celebrated in the ring. The official attendance of WrestleMania VII held at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena was 16,158. Journalist Dave Meltzer reported that the paid attendance
35916-411: The scope of the event was too large for police to ensure its security. Prichard explained further in an interview with Kayfabe Commentaries that the WWF would have had to foot the entire bill for the amount of security necessary to keep the wrestlers and fans safe from all potential issues, citing both the possibility of an outside attack and the crime rate of the surrounding neighborhood. Dave Meltzer in
36135-570: The second night, and Bayley defeating Iyo Sky in Night 2 for the WWE Women's Championship to mark her first world title victory at WrestleMania. WrestleMania 41 will take place on April 19 and 20, 2025, at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada . While still roughly in mid-April, this is the latest April date for a WrestleMania, which subsequently marks the first WrestleMania to be held during Easter weekend. Additionally,
36354-474: The second rope. Savage then struck Warrior with his royal scepter as Slaughter kept the referee's attention, knocking the champion unconscious. Slaughter then hit an elbow drop on the Warrior and pinned him to become the new champion. After he came to and realized what Savage had done, Warrior charged to the back looking for Savage. He then issued a challenge for a retirement match for the two at WrestleMania, which Savage accepted. Hogan, having no connection with
36573-419: The show. Other celebrity guests in attendance for WrestleMania VII included Philbin, Trebek, and Marla Maples as backstage announcers. George Steinbrenner , Paul Maguire , Macaulay Culkin , Donald Trump , Lou Ferrigno , Chuck Norris , Beverly D'Angelo and Henry Winkler appeared as spectators. Bob Costas was scheduled to make an appearance, but he canceled weeks before the event due to his objection to
36792-576: The son of a wrestling legend (Tommy Gilbert). In 1982, Hennig teamed up with his father, Larry, and won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship defeating Rip Oliver and Matt Borne on April 27. He later won the titles with Buddy Rose and Scott McGhee in 1983. He also won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship in 1983, after defeating Sheik Abdullah Ali Hassan. He lost
37011-487: The songs " The Star-Spangled Banner " or " America the Beautiful " before the show. Robert Goulet performed " O Canada " at WrestleMania VI. Acts such as Motörhead , Limp Bizkit , Saliva , Run–D.M.C. , Salt-n-Pepa , Living Colour , Ice-T , Drowning Pool , Flo Rida , P.O.D. , Machine Gun Kelly , Rev Theory , Mark Crozer , and Snoop Dogg have also performed during the live entrances of competitors. In 1988, in association with The Trump Organization , WWF prepared
37230-478: The special guest enforcer for the WWF Championship bout between Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, while professional boxer Butterbean was challenged to a boxing match by Bart Gunn at WrestleMania XV. At WrestleManias XIV, XV, and 2000, Pete Rose became involved in a short feud with Kane that became a running gag with each appearance ending with Rose receiving a Tombstone piledriver or chokeslam from Kane. Big Show faced sumo wrestling yokozuna Akebono in
37449-461: The stipulation of Night 2's main event. Since Rock and Reigns won, the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match was a Bloodline Rules match . Had Rhodes and Rollins won, all members of The Bloodline would have been barred from ringside during the championship match. Night 2 witnessed a rematch from last years WrestleMania, as Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns in the Bloodline Rules match to win
37668-671: The tag titles for a month, before losing to Benoit and Malenko in a lumberjack match , the following month at Uncensored , after Arn Anderson hit Hennig with a tire iron . Hennig competed against Hollywood Hogan in a losing effort the main event of the March 18 episode of Thunder after Horace saved Hogan from a Hennig-Plex . In May, Hennig formed a new faction called The West Texas Rednecks with Windham, Barry's brother, Kendall Windham , and Bobby Duncum, Jr. The group members were presented as southern country musicians. They began feuding with rapper Master P 's No Limit Soldiers and recorded an infamous country song titled "Rap
37887-447: The time (including Hulk Hogan , Rick Martel , and The Rockers ), Hennig left the AWA for the WWF with the promise of more money and broadened exposure. Hennig returned to the WWF in mid-1988. Hennig made his televised in-ring return on the September 11 episode of All-American Wrestling , defeating enhancement talent Ron Rovishod. On the October 1 episode of Superstars , vignettes began airing on WWF television, during which he
38106-460: The title against Goldust at In Your House 11: Buried Alive . The following night on Raw , Perfect was initially going to make his wrestling comeback on Helmsley, but was attacked by Helmsley backstage just moments before their match. It appeared Helmsley's attack left Perfect injured and unable to compete. This all turned out to be a ruse for the purpose of suckering Mero into defending his title against Helmsley. With help from Perfect, Helmsley won
38325-410: The title by losing via disqualification after the challenger was attacked by Haku and The Barbarian . The following month, Perfect won a battle royal on April 27's Saturday Night's Main Event by last eliminating Greg Valentine , which led to a match between the two for Perfect's title on the May 14 episode of Prime Time Wrestling , where Perfect retained the title via disqualification. On
38544-408: The title for the next three months, during which he successfully defended the title against Flair in a standard wrestling match at Halloween Havoc and a no disqualification match at World War 3 , before dropping the title to Diamond Dallas Page at Starrcade . In the fall of 1997, Hennig was joined by his childhood best friend Rick Rude in the nWo. In 1998, Hennig and Rude were put into
38763-470: The title from Diesel at WrestleMania XI, Michaels defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in a 60-minute Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII. The match was widely praised. The event also saw the return of the Ultimate Warrior, who defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (later known as Triple H) in the latter's WrestleMania debut. At WrestleMania 13 , a submission match pitted Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin against one another in
38982-441: The title from Mero. Perfect began to serve as a mentor to Helmsley and accompanied Helmsley to the ring. Perfect left the WWF once again shortly before Survivor Series , making his last televised appearance on November 5 episode of Raw . Hennig signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in mid-1997. Since his Mr. Perfect ring name was trademarked by the WWF, he returned to competing under his real name. He debuted in WCW as
39201-447: The title from Slaughter as soon as possible, and was later named the leading contender for the WWF Championship, which he had not contended for since losing the title to the Warrior at WrestleMania VI . Leading up to the show, Hogan continued to cite the ongoing real-life war in their feud. On one episode of WWF Prime Time Wrestling , Hogan stated that Iraq would surrender in the war at the moment he defeated Slaughter. The opening bout
39420-504: The title in the " Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational". WrestleMania XXX also saw the end of The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania as he was defeated by Brock Lesnar in what was described as 'the most shocking result in sports-entertainment history'. At WrestleMania XXX, Bray Wyatt 's undefeated streak since his debut came to an end at the hands of John Cena. Also, at WrestleMania XXX, The Shield defeated Kane and The New Age Outlaws ( Road Dogg and Billy Gunn ) in
39639-442: The title to The Dynamite Kid three months later. From 1984 to 1988 he made occasional appearances for the company. During this time he worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and various territories such as NWA St. Louis , Central States Wrestling and Continental Wrestling Association . Hennig returned to the American Wrestling Association in 1983. He would eventually become one of the promotion's top stars in his own right, winning
39858-479: The title. Teaming with B.G. James, he also had a title match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship against Disciples of the New Church but failed to win the titles. Hennig wrestled his last match on January 8, 2003, defeating David Flair in an "Axehandle on a Pole match". Hennig was married to Leonice Leonard. They had four children: Joseph , Amy, Kaite, and Hank. Joseph and Amy are professional wrestlers. In addition to his wife and four children, Hennig
40077-470: The titles, Matt Hardy last eliminated Baron Corbin to win fifth André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal as well as first-ever WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal contested where Naomi won by last eliminating Bayley . WrestleMania 35 was held on April 7, 2019, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. At the event, Kofi Kingston became the first African-born WWE Champion after defeating Daniel Bryan, while Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to win
40296-416: The top rope and attempted a crossbody on Warrior but he caught him but put Savage on his feet and slapped him. Savage retreated from the ring and grabbed a chair at ringside and threw it at Warrior but it missed. Savage snuck back into the ring after being distracted by the referee picking up the chair and attacked Warrior. Warrior irish whipped Savage into the corner and attempted a splash but Savage got out of
40515-407: The tournament featured a rematch of the previous year's main event between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant while Randy Savage went on to defeat Ted DiBiase in the finals to win the championship. The next event, WrestleMania V, returned the event to Atlantic City, in which Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which Savage had won the previous year. To date, this
40734-477: The two villains did not really fit in with the fan-favorite Wolfpac faction, especially when Rude would still get on the microphone and tell the fans to shut up. Hennig was scheduled to wrestle Goldberg for the United States Heavyweight Championship at June's The Great American Bash pay-per-view, but he failed to compete due to injury, so he asked Konnan to replace him. Konnan lost the match, and afterward both Hennig and Rude attacked him, removing themselves from
40953-467: The victory. After that, was a match between Ted DiBiase and Virgil . In the end, Roddy Piper came out and distracted DiBiase. When Virgil threw DiBiase to the outside Piper continued distracting him and was unable to enter the ring thus Virgil won by countout . In the penultimate match, The Mountie faced off against Tito Santana . In the end, Jimmy Hart distracted the referee and The Mountie zapped Santana with his cattle prod and pinned him for
41172-420: The way and Warrior fell to the outside. Sherri picked up Warrior and struck his throat when the referee wasn't looking and Savage performed a diving axe handle from the top turnbuckle to outside the ring. Savage got back into the ring but Sherri picked up Warrior again and began hitting him but Warrior pushed her over. Savage then came out of the ring and attacked Warrior from behind. Eventually, Warrior got back in
41391-414: The winner was also given the option to choose between it or the WWE Championship. The creation of the ECW brand in June 2006 gave the Rumble winner a third option, the ECW Championship . This option was made available from 2007 until the brand was retired in 2010; however, the title was never chosen. The brand split ended in 2011 and the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships were unified in 2013, leaving
41610-405: The winner. The Undertaker and Kane fought for the first time at this event where The Undertaker won. The following year at WrestleMania XV , Austin defeated The Rock to regain the WWF Championship. The event featured the first of three encounters at WrestleMania between Austin and The Rock in a rivalry of the two most prominent and popular stars of the Attitude Era. WrestleMania 2000 featured
41829-437: The wrestlers. Billy Martin served as ring announcer with Liberace as timekeeper, and Muhammad Ali served as an official. Mr. T competed in the main event alongside tag team partner, Hulk Hogan. WrestleMania 2 featured a 20-man battle royal pitting several NFL players against WWF wrestlers, while Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of WrestleMania XI. Mike Tyson appeared at WrestleMania XIV as
42048-1177: Was WWE's first event back with a live crowd, but at a reduced venue capacity before the company resumed live touring with full capacity crowds in July that year. Most WrestleMania events have taken place in large stadiums in large cities, with some in sports arenas. Much like the Super Bowl , cities bid for the right to host the year's edition of WrestleMania. The most-attended events include WrestleMania III (93,173) in Pontiac , WrestleMania VI (67,678) in Toronto , WrestleMania VIII (62,167) in Indianapolis , WrestleMania X-Seven (67,925) in Houston , WrestleMania X8 (68,237) also in Toronto, WrestleMania XIX (54,097) in Seattle , WrestleMania 23 (80,103) in Detroit , WrestleMania XXIV (74,635) in Orlando , WrestleMania 25 (72,744) also in Houston, WrestleMania XXVI (72,219) in Phoenix , WrestleMania XXVII (71,617) in Atlanta , WrestleMania XXVIII (78,363) in Miami , WrestleMania 29 (80,676) in East Rutherford , WrestleMania XXX (75,167) in New Orleans , WrestleMania 31 (76,976) in Santa Clara , and WrestleMania 32 (101,763) in Arlington . Since moving to large stadiums and running WrestleMania Axxess ,
42267-405: Was a singles match pitting the Brooklyn Brawler against Koko B. Ware . Ware defeated the Brooklyn Brawler by pinfall. This was a dark match that did not air on the pay-per-view broadcast. The pay-per-view broadcast began with a performance of " America the Beautiful " by Willie Nelson . The second bout, and the first bout to air on the pay-per-view broadcast, was a tag team match pitting
42486-451: Was accompanied by Stephanie McMahon , The Rock by Vince McMahon, Big Show by Shane McMahon , and Mick Foley by Linda McMahon . At WrestleMania X-Seven , Stone Cold defeated The Rock and regained the WWF Championship. The event also featured Vince and Shane McMahon in a Street Fight , while Edge and Christian won the WWF Tag Team Championship against the Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz in the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match . The event
42705-445: Was against Chris Harris on the May 20 episode of Worldwide , which Hennig won. Hennig left WCW after his contract expired in the summer of 2000. After leaving World Championship Wrestling, in summer 2000 Hennig appeared with the Australian i-Generation Superstars of Wrestling promotion, where he held the i-Generation World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions. Following his appearances in Australia, he began appearing with
42924-443: Was approximately 10,500. The Undertaker 's victory debut at the event marked the beginning of his WrestleMania streak . Backstage as Hogan was being interviewed on his victory over Sgt. Slaughter, Slaughter attacked Hogan by throwing a fireball in his face. Hogan quickly recovered from the attack and defended the belt primarily against Slaughter, largely in "Desert Storm" (i.e., no-disqualification) matches. He also had to deal with
43143-422: Was basically a night off", referring to Hennig's ability to wrestle well and safely in the ring. Hennig's widow, Leonice, signed a WWE Legends contract on her husband's behalf. Wade Boggs , who appeared in a vignette with Hennig and was a friend of his, inducted him into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31, 2007. His wife, his four children, and his parents accepted the award on his behalf. On July 4, 2007, Hennig
43362-419: Was defeated by Matt Hardy . He also participated in a dark match at Insurrextion on May 4, 2002, defeating Goldust . Perfect was released from the WWE on May 8, 2002, due to a physical confrontation with Brock Lesnar on the return flight from the pay-per-view. Among other incidents of drunkenness , the tussle took place on the infamous "Plane Ride from Hell". According to Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer on
43581-553: Was defended for the first time at the event, with Triple H retaining against Booker T , while Brock Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle to win the WWE Championship. WWE celebrated the 20th edition of WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden with WrestleMania XX . The event featured The Undertaker (who returned to his Deadman persona) defeating the unmasked Kane in their second encounter and the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship victories of Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit , respectively, with Guerrero defeating Kurt Angle to retain
43800-705: Was due to a singles match between regular commentators Michael Cole and Lawler. Howard Finkel , who is credited with coming up with the name "WrestleMania" in 1984, has served as the long-standing ring-announcer and has appeared at every event except WrestleMania 33 , but since the introduction of the WWE brand extension, Lilian Garcia , Tony Chimel , and Justin Roberts took over as announcers for their respective brand's matches. Four French commentators were at ringside: Jean Brassard and Raymond Rougeau ( WrestleMania 13 ), Phillippe Chéreau, and Christophe Agius ( WrestleMania XXX , WrestleMania 31 , WrestleMania 32 , and WrestleMania 33 ). The World Wrestling Federation staged
44019-411: Was held at the Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey (though on the broadcast it was billed as being held in the Trump Plaza because the adjacent casino hotel was the event's primary sponsor). The event was an all-tournament event to crown a new WWF World Heavyweight Champion, with four non-tournament matches to fill between the gaps in the tournament rounds. The second round of
44238-463: Was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and televised by USA Network in an hour-long special, featuring performances by Isaac Hayes and Big Pun . The following year WWF held its first WrestleMania Axxess event at the Anaheim Convention Center expanding upon the party idea of WrestleMania Rage Party . The event included autograph signings and mementos to inductees of the WWE Hall of Fame . There were also activities where fans could enter
44457-425: Was moved due to the COVID-19 pandemic . It was only attended by essential personnel, and was the first WWE pay-per-view event unattended by fans . It was the first WrestleMania to promote the NXT brand, which was formerly WWE's developmental brand, but this would be the only to promote NXT as the brand was not featured at the next WrestleMania and it returned to being the developmental brand in September 2021. In
44676-450: Was on November 7 episode of Wrestling Challenge , where he defeated Iron Mike Sharpe . He was set to participate as a member of Razor Ramon's team at Survivor Series , but was replaced in the match by Randy Savage. Ramon took the microphone before the match saying Perfect was "such a Perfect partner" that he tagged out before the match had even begun. Perfect made his surprise return to WWF at WrestleMania X on March 20, 1994, where he
44895-419: Was posthumously inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in Waterloo, Iowa . His father, who was inducted the prior year, represented him at the event. On September 9, 2008, WWE released a two-disc DVD set focused on Hennig titled The Life and Times of Mr. Perfect . Promotion for the video included Charlie Haas spoofing Hennig's memorable sports vignettes at
45114-468: Was released from the WWF weeks prior to the event. On November 16 episode of Prime Time Wrestling , Savage asked Perfect to be his partner. After initially laughing off Savage's offer, Perfect was swayed by Savage's cajoling and by Bobby Heenan 's degrading comments and commanding Perfect to follow orders, which would lead to Perfect turning into a fan favorite for the first time in WWF by dumping water on Heenan and accepting Savage's offer to return to
45333-448: Was repackaged with a new character of an arrogant braggart villain who claimed to be able to accomplish difficult tasks "perfectly", thus earning the nickname of "Mr. Perfect," originally Terry Taylor was offered the gimmick but rejected it and Hennig took the gimmick. He presented himself as being superior in athletics or anything else he did. These clips showed him hitting half-court, three-point, and no-look basketball shots, bowling
45552-483: Was survived by his parents, Larry and Irene; two brothers, Randy and Jesse; and two sisters, Sandra and Susan. On February 10, 2003, Hennig was found dead in a hotel room in Brandon, Florida at the age of 44, six weeks away from his 45th birthday. The Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office declared acute cocaine intoxication to be the cause of his death. It was stated by his father that steroids and painkillers also contributed to his death. WWE aired
45771-440: Was the special guest referee for the WWF Championship match between Lex Luger and Yokozuna . Perfect disqualified Luger after Luger manhandled Perfect, who was tending to Yokozuna's stricken managers Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji instead of counting the pinfall and turned heel again. Perfect was set to start another rivalry with Luger, during which he explained that he screwed Luger because of Luger's illegal win over Perfect
45990-453: Was the 7-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, which was won by Daniel Bryan. Also at WrestleMania 31, AJ Lee teamed with Paige to defeat The Bella Twins ( Brie Bella and Nikki Bella ) in a tag team match, while Big Show won the second annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, by last eliminating Damien Mizdow . WrestleMania 32 was held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on April 3, 2016. WrestleMania 32 broke
46209-428: Was the first WrestleMania held at an outdoor venue. It was also the first and only time in WrestleMania history that the WWF World Heavyweight Championship switched twice. Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart to become the WWF World Heavyweight Champion, only to lose it to Hulk Hogan in an impromptu match. WrestleMania X saw the event's return to Madison Square Garden. The event featured Owen Hart defeating his elder brother Bret;
46428-429: Was the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Louisiana . It saw Daniel Bryan defeat Triple H in the opening match. Per the stipulation, this gave Bryan a spot in the main event, where he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by making Batista submit in a triple threat match which also included Randy Orton. It was the only WrestleMania where the WWE Divas Championship was defended, with AJ Lee retaining
46647-410: Was the first after the company was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), saw Stone Cold's last match, as he faced The Rock for a third time at WrestleMania, ending their long-running feud. Additionally, Hulk Hogan defeated Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels participated in his first WrestleMania match in five years, defeating Chris Jericho . The World Heavyweight Championship (2002–2013 version)
46866-435: Was the last WrestleMania to be produced under the WWF name, and featured Triple H defeating Chris Jericho to win the Undisputed WWF Championship . Austin, The Rock, and The Undertaker defeated Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, and Ric Flair respectively, all of whom had rejoined the company after their stints with WCW. Also, Rob Van Dam won his first Intercontinental Championship in his WrestleMania debut. WrestleMania XIX , which
47085-432: Was the other match not filmed at the Performance Center and also produced as a cinematic match, and Charlotte Flair defeated Rhea Ripley to win the NXT Women's Championship , which was the first and thus far only time an NXT title was defended at WrestleMania. Also on Part 2, Edge had his first singles match since 2011 in which he defeated Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match . Following this, WrestleMania would become
47304-404: Was the pinnacle of the 1990s wrestling boom. It was also the first WrestleMania held after the dissolution and WWF's subsequent purchase of the company's rival, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the end of the Monday Night War . The event was highly praised. In 2013, WWE released a list of their "15 best pay-per-views ever", with WrestleMania X-Seven ranked at number one. WrestleMania X8
47523-515: Was the second WrestleMania to be held at an outdoor venue. This was also the last WrestleMania event of the Ruthless Aggression era since later on in Mid-2008 the era ended as the WWE shifted towards a more "kid-friendly" product. WrestleMania 25 featured Chris Jericho defeating WWE Hall of Famers Roddy Piper , Jimmy Snuka , and Ricky Steamboat in a match that featured appearances by Ric Flair and actor Mickey Rourke . Shawn Michaels unsuccessfully attempted to hand The Undertaker his first defeat at
47742-438: Was winning his first ever Intercontinental title from Hennig, and described him as "one of the greatest superstars who ever lived". Hennig's son Joe used the ring name Curtis Axel , representing his father's first name and his grandfather 's nickname, respectively. He then went on to win the Intercontinental Championship in 2013 at Payback on Father's day, and he dedicated his victory to his father. This title win makes them
47961-495: Was won by CM Punk , who would also win the match again at WrestleMania 25. The ECW Championship was defended for the only time at a WrestleMania event, when Kane emerged as the new champion in a record 8 seconds, while Randy Orton retained the WWE Championship and The Undertaker won the World Heavyweight Championship for the second consecutive year, defeating Edge. In an encounter that featured major media coverage, boxing world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeated Big Show. The event
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