Mar 29 2011
WrestleMania

In today’s wrestling world, there’s WrestleMania, and then there’s everything else. It’s the biggest show of the year and WWE does anything and everything to make it feel like the biggest show of the year. Here, at FGB, we’ve done write-ups and reviews on every WrestleMania show, and this page will include them all. We’ve also ranked the top 25 WrestleMania matches.
WrestleMania reviews
It all starts with the beginning.
WrestleMania
On March 31, 1985 Wrestlemania was born at Madison Square Garden in New York City. While history will try to say that this was a great event, some 25 years later, it’s not all that watchable. But for its time, it was built as something very special. It was glitz and glamor. The legend says that Vince McMahon put all of his money into the show and was either going to live by the sword, or die by it. As you can tell, they lived. Read more …
WrestleMania 2
Vince McMahon had just hit a bonanza with the original Wrestlemania. The story goes that if Wrestlemania wasn’t successful, McMahon would’ve most likely not been able to afford to run the company anymore as he took the boom or bust chance. Fortunately for McMahon, it was a boom. And all he could think about was how to top it. He decided that instead of having Wrestlemania 2 in one arena, he’d have it at three. Read more …
WrestleMania III
In late 1986, the main event was already being set up for Wrestlemania III. I remember watching Superstars of Wrestling and they did an awards ceremony on the Piper’s Pit. I had never seen this before so it looked like a big angle. And it was one of the biggest. Throughout Hogan’s career on top in the WWF, which started in late 1983, he was the guy, but Andre was always treated as the second guy from the top. Hogan was the champ, but Andre was always as someone who was unbeatable. Read more …
WrestleMania V
It was the night the Mega Powers were about to explode. But to the fans, that night happened at The Main Event which was broadcast on NBC. Hulk Hogan and Randy “Macho Man” Savage were wrestling the Twin Towers of the Big Bossman and Akeem (One Man Gang). Tension had already been building between Hogan and Savage on television as the storyline had been built up for over a year. Read more …
WrestleMania VI
Dubbed, “The Ultimate Challenge”, Wrestlemania VI was a one match show. Everything on WWF TV at the time was done to build up this match. And there was good reason. It was the most important match for the company since Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant at Wrestlemania III. Read more …
WrestleMania VII
After the huge main event at Wrestlemania VI where The Ultimate Warrior beat Hulk Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship, it was pretty much etched in stone that they would have a rematch at Wrestlemania VII. And after selling a ton of tickets at the Skydome in Toronto for Wrestlemania VI, Vince was going to try to do it one better. Actually he was going to try and do better than Wrestlemania III at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit where they claim to have put 93,000 butts in the seats. Read more …
WrestleMania VIII
Vince McMahon had it right on his plate. The biggest dream match in the history of professional wrestling. And he flinched. Read more …
WrestleMania IX
The Hulk Hogan era was supposed to be over. The WWF was slowly changing the guard. They were trying to change what they had ingrained into fans on what wrestling was supposed to be. Bigger than life characters. Huge muscle bound guys are always better than smaller, faster guys. And Hulk Hogan was the best of them all. However, there was going to be a time when Hogan wasn’t going to be around. Read more …
WrestleMania X
Just blame it on Lex Luger. Blame it on the fact that he was such an uncharismatic person that he was on the yellow brick road to the WWF championship and still didn’t win it. When Hulk Hogan left the WWF after losing the belt to Yokozuna, Vince McMahon had his replacement. He was tall like Hogan. He was blond like Hogan (well maybe a young Hogan with more hair). And he was more muscular than Hogan. Read more …
WrestleMania XI
For only the second time in Wrestlemania history, the WWF/WWE champion was not in the main event in Wrestlemania XI. You had a former champion in Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Shawn Michaels, the future champion, and neither guy was in the main event. Well just who was in the main event for this Wrestlemania? The first guy was Bam Bam Bigelow. And the second? Read more …
WrestleMania XII
Wrestlemania XII was total one trick pony. There are wrestling cards that only promise one great match, but the possibly is there for good matches on the undercard. Here, WWE simply said, “We are going to give you the main event, and it’s going to be an hour long, and we really don’t care what else is on this show.”Read more …
WrestleMania 13
To preface this review, I will let you know that out of all Wrestlemanias, this one drew the smallest PPV buy rate. It also is considered one of the worst cards from top to bottom in Mania history. However, there is one reason why this isn’t the worst Wrestlemania ever. Read more …
WrestleMania XIV
If you remember one thing about Wrestlemania XIV, it will be that it started what was known as the Stone Cold era in the WWF. Read more …
WrestleMania XV
Well, there’s a man named Mick Foley who had a dream of main eventing Wrestlemania and that man named Mick had a great 4 months in late 1998 and early 1999. He helped The Rock get over big time as a heel and also won the WWF Championship belt for the first time. He and the Rock had some very good matches, but for some reason (probably because they saw Rock vs. Austin as a better money making match), Mick Foley was left out in the cold come Wrestlemania time. Read more …
WrestleMania 2000
It was a good time for WWE. They were winning the Monday Night Wars. The product was in the midst of its largest pop culture influence since the mid 80s. Wrestlemania 2000 was supposed to be huge. It was going to be an event of epic propotions. Read more …
WrestleMania X-Seven
I can start this off by stating that this is the single greatest WWE card from top to bottom that I have ever witnessed. Although there were a few rocky match-ups and it took a while for the Houston crowd to get into, this is the greatest of all the Wrestlemanias. Read more …
WrestleMania X-8
When you think of Wrestlemania X-8 in five years, you will remember one match, and only one match. Read more …
WrestleMania XIX
Kurt Angle wrestled in the main event with a broken freaking neck. Read more …
WrestleMania XX
Wrestlemania was Vince McMahon’s baby. Technically Stephanie and Shane were his kids, but one could imagine that Vince took just as much care in his raising and handling of Wrestlemania as he did with his own children. And shame on those of you who just said that he might’ve shown more love and care for Wrestlemania. Read more …
WrestleMania 21
In 2004, Vince McMahon gave die-hard wrestling fans their wish. Undervalued wrestlers, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were at the top of the mountain and fans were happy. But soon there after, both men who were at the top of their careers, were soon beltless. Read more …
WrestleMania 22
Wrestlemania 22 was the first time in Wrestlemania history that the Hall of Fame ceremony (or any extracurricular activity) actually overshadowed the wrestling card. Read more …
WrestleMania 23
When it’s all said and done, what Wrestlemania 23 will be remembered for is a haircut match. This isn’t any random old haircut match. This was a billionaire’s haircut match. Well, at least one of them was a billionaire. Read more …
WrestleMania XXIV
Other than their regular championship matches, Wrestlemania XXIV had two hooks. One was Floyd Mayweather and the other was The Nature Boy Ric Flair. Read more …
WrestleMania 25
While Randy Orton vs. Triple H didn’t really deliver like expected, Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker delivered exactly like you would hope, and more. Read more …
WrestleMania 26
It was Shawn Michaels facing The Undertaker and his streak yet again. But this time, Michaels was willing to give up his entire career if he didn’t beat the dead man. There were also two stellar title matches to round out this show. Read more …
Lists
WrestleMania’s Greatest Matches (25-16)
WrestleMania’s Greatest Matches (15-6)
WrestleMania’s Greatest Matches (5-1)
Mount Rushmore Of WrestleMania
Podcasts
FGB Radio – Hall Of Fame 2009
FGB Radio – WrestleMania 25 Recap
FGB Radio – WrestleMania 26 Preview
FGB Radio – WrestleMania 26 Recap
FGB Radio – WrestleMania’s Greatest Matches And WrestleMania 27 Preview Part One
FGB Radio – WrestleMania’s Greatest Matches And WrestleMania 27 Preview Part Two