Customer Reviews

WWF: WrestleMania I [VHS]

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

To tell you guys the truth, this is definitly not th best WrestleMania they make it look like. Sure it has memerable moments, but it is not that great. Here are the matches.

1. Tito Santana vs. The Executioner 7/10
Decent opener, but I have seen better in this sytle of wrestling. And yes this is the first match in WrestleMania history.

2. King Kong Bundy vs. S.D. Jones 10/10
Excellent match. I know it was REALLY short but I thought it was funny to see S.D. Jones get put away so quick. Watch it if you want to have a quick laugh.

3. Matt Borne vs. Ricky Steamboat 7/10
I actually liked this match, there were a lot of things going on but I did not feel satisfied. Good attempt though.

4. Brutus Beefcake vs. David Sammartino 5/10
Worst match of the night. I mean it was just a plain boring match man. The good thing was to see Bruno Sammartino there though. Bad ending as well.

5. Greg The Hammer Valentine vs. Junkyard Dog 6/10
Slow match. Junkyard Dog was actually winning but I am gald he did not win the title though, he won by Count-Out. It would have been better to see Junkyard Dog get caught in a submission hold, and have The Hammer win.

6. Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Shiek vs. Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham 8/10
I liked this match. Finally there was a change here where there is an upset and the bad guys win. But I still do not believe that Rotundo and Windham did not win the match though.

7. Big John Studd vs. Andre The Giant (Body Slam Challange) 6/10
I like John Studd and Andre but this match was terrible because it was SO boring. Would have been a 5/10 if it weren't for the memorable Body slam at theend where Andre wins. Big upset that the match was bad.

8. Leilani Kai vs. Wendi Richter 8/10
Why can't all women's matches be more like this one. I liked it because it is very diferent from what we see now. Has a good ending too.

9. Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff vs. Hulk Hogan and Mr.T 9/10
Good and exciting match. The crowd was also really into it as well. The ending is funny when Cowboy Bob Orton hits Orndorff with is cast by accident and that allows Hogan and Mr.T to get the victory.

This was a good WrestleMania, but it wasn't great. The best match was the main event with Hulk Hogan & Mr. T going against Paul Orndorff & "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. One thing is for sure, you need to buy this video just to say that you have it. I mean, WrestleMania is the single greatest event in sports-entertainment. This is where it all started. But if you want great wrestling action in a WrestleMania, buy WrestleMania 12. The HeartBreak Kid, Shawn Michaels against Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Yeah, I'd buy this video if you're into slow paced matches with a big ending.

The Main Event between Mr.T/Hogan vs Orndorff/Piper was a classic. The 15,000 dollar slam match between Andre vs Big John Studd was also a classic. I liked the tag team title match as well. Some of the undercards are boring. But it features all-time greats like Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Brutis Beefcake, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Junk Yard Dog, King Kong Bundy, and Tito Santana. This event started something special in the 1980's. If your old school this is for you. If your to young, even though its only 15 years old, and don't care for this stuff, I feel sorry for you. - From the man who tells it like it is

Vinne Mac's first series in a vison that became the best series in sports entertianment history. The main event is pretty good, but the undercard is very boring. For $12.99 buy the first of the series.

It was recieved within a few days of placing the order. Its a VHS tape of a wrestlemania. What can I say that hasnt been said? Im not a reviewer.

This is where it all began for the biggest wrestling event which is Wrestlemania. This was a SUPER event for its time as several celebrities of the time [Like Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper] were on hand for this show which took place at the historical Madison Square Garden. If you're a newer wrestling fan keep in mind that this was a very different era in wrestling meaning that there is no crazy gimmick matches to be seen here and there is very little weapons use to be seen here. This is the WWF [now known as WWE] at its prime as Hulkamania was going full blast and the WWF was for the first time becoming big business beyond just the wrestling business. Although this event is a little dated by today's standards, It still is a fun event to watch and you do get a glimpse of some future Hall Of Famers in the primes of their careers. Here's my thoughts on the matches:

1. Tito Santana VS. The Executioner
This was an ok opener nothing special. It was nice to see Tito pick up the win here. ***

2. King Kong Bundy VS. S.D. Jones
THIS is the infamous match where S.D. Jones lost in less than 10 seconds!!!! A squash match if there ever was one, this is at least good for a few laughs. **1/2

3. Ricky Steamboat VS. Matt Borne
This was a pretty good match with some good action courtesy of Steamboat. Steamboat was still in the prime of his career here and judging from his good performance in this match, i don't see why Steamboat never became WWF champion at least once during his run with the company. Steamboat wins. ***1/2

4. Brutus Beefcake VS. David Sammartino
Bruno Sammartino manages his son here against Brutus in this average match. A little boring at times it does pick up a little toward the end before the unsatisfying double disqualification ending. **1/2

5. For the WWF Intercontinental Championship
Champion Greg Valentine VS. Junkyard Dog [RIP]
Our first of three title matches for this show turns out to be a pretty decent affair and is one of the best matches i've ever seen that featured the late Junkyard Dog. Junkyard Dog wins by countout. ***

6. For the WWF World Tag Team Championships
Champions Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham VS. The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff
This was a pretty good match which of course had an all-american tag team [Rotundo & Windham] taking on an anti-american tag team [Sheik & Volkoff]. There was some nice action throughout this match as well as some funny antics from the managers [who were the late Freddie Blassie and the late Capt. Lou Albano] outside of the ring. Sheik & Volkoff won the titles here. On a side note, Mike Rotundo would later become Irwin R. Schyster in the early 90's which is the gimmick he's most remembered for. ***1/2

7. $15,000 Slam Match
Andre The Giant [RIP] VS. Big John Studd [RIP]
For a big man's match, This wasn't half bad and was one of the highlights of the event. While i seriously doubt the money in the bag was real, The story for this match was that Andre couldn't slam Big John Studd and Studd was so confident about it that Studd and his manager the great Bobby Heenan were willing to put $15,000 on the line [wonder how much that would be if it were done today]. Needless to say after a little effort, Andre did indeed slam Studd and he won the match and the money [even throwing some in the crowd before Heenan stole the money back from him]. ***

8. For the WWF Women's Championship
Champion Leilani Kai VS. Wendi Richter
With Cyndi Lauper in her corner, Wendi Richter challenged Leilani Kai for her women's title and this is a pretty damn good women's match. While neither of these women look half as good as the ex-strippers and models that currently fill WWE's joke of a women's division, They sure could wrestle a hell of a lot better than they can and this match proves this claim!! In what is the second best match of this event, These 2 women duke it out in a good match which should be seen by every ''diva'' on the current WWE roster. Also, The legendary Fabolous Moolah appears here as the manager of Leilani Kai. Richter wins the title. ****

9. Hulk Hogan & Mr. T VS. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff
Special Guest Referee: Muhammad Ali
In a rare event, Hogan happens to have the match of the night. With the legendary former boxing champion Muhammad Ali serving as special guest referee and Liberace [you read it right] serving as the time keeper, This tag match is fun and even has a sense of humor throughout [which does nothing but good here]. Even Mr. T puts on a halfway decent performance here which was totally not expected given how celebrities often fare poorly in wrestling matches [Look at Snooki's involvement at Wrestlemania 27 this year]. All four men are a delight to watch in this match and when Hogan is in the ring with people who're actually good wrestlers [ala Piper and Orndorff], He often has good matches. Definitely watch this match as it is an example of how Hogan can sometimes deliver good matches. Also, look out for appearances by Jimmy Snuka [Managing Hogan's team] and Cowboy Bob Orton [Managing Piper's team]. **** [Best match of the event]

There is some filler matches on this show but thankfully much of them are not really long at all and for a first Wrestlemania, this isn't bad at all. Keep in mind that this Wrestlemania unlike all of them that would follow, was NOT on pay-per-view but instead was shown on closed-circuit tv. I reccomend this show to fans of 80's WWF, 80's wrestling, Old school wrestling fans, and newer wrestling fans who simply wanna see how Wrestlemania began. NOTE: To date, This show is still only available as an individual title on VHS. To get it on DVD, You have to either buy the very expensive Wrestlemania DVD box set or buy vol. 1 of that very same set. Be warned that the DVD version on this set features some generic alternate music throughout in place of some of the original music [noticably the ending theme which was the Beverly Hills Cop theme]. The VHS leaves nothing out and you should order a copy of the original coliseum video release of this event [leave that crappy EP-recorded 1998 re-release alone]. Definitely check out this essential event

The main event tag team match between the team of Hulk Hogan & Mr.T with "SuperFly" Jimmy Snuka in their corner against the team of Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff with "Cowboy" Bob Orton in their corner was far from a technical-wrestling classic but it did delivered in terms of entertainment. The Women's title match between Wendi Richter with Cyndi Lauper in her corner & Leilani Kai with The Fabulous Moolah in her corner was not great but pretty good. The Andre The Giant-Big John Studd-$15,000 bodyslam match was slow but still fun to watch. The World tag team title match between The US Express(Mike Rotunda & Barry Windham) against the team of Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik was a hard-hitting/solid bout. The King Kong Bundy-SD Jones match was nothing more then a one-sided flop. The rest were ok. I give this PPV a 7 out of 10.

The tape was a little jumpy, but that didn't surprise me too much being a VHS tape nowadays. It was still watchable and I enjoyed it.

***NOTE: This review is for the VHS tape itself, not for the actual event.***

The "Wrestlemania: The Legacy" edition of WWF Wrestlemania I is the most accurate and complete edition of the event on the VHS or DVD format. Most editions of the event, including the Coliseum Video edition released in the 1980's and the current DVD release in the WWE Wrestlemania Boxed Set, do not include the original background and entrance music that was present on the original broadcast.

The version in the "Wrestlemania: The Legacy" boxed set (and with the grey "The World Wrestling Federation Presents" border) has every music cue exactly the way it was presented. The event opens with Phil Collins and Philip Bailey's "Easy Lover" as a theme song, Junkyard Dog enters to Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust", Wendi Richter and Cyndi Lauper use Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", Windham and Rotundo use Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA", and Hulk Hogan uses Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger".

As far as I am aware, the edition found in the "Wrestlemania: The Legacy" collection is the only home video version not to omit or dub over this copyrighted theme music. A must-buy for wrestling purists and collectors.

Was 10 years old when this event took place. Still remember everyone in the neighborhood talking about it the next day, despite the fact that none of us watched the closed circuit venue (all that was available then). Couldn't wait for this tape to show up in the mail. Roddy Pipers' bag pipe entrance really reminded me how exciting this form of entertainment was as a kid. I try to get into WWF (now WWE) today, but it's just not the same.

If you grew up in the '80s, this is a must have. I got the VHS just to get it on the cheap. If it's available on DVD and you've got the few bucks to spend, I'd recommend that.