WrestleMania

WWE WrestleMania
The official WrestleMania logo
Nickname(s)	"The Grandest Stage of Them All" "The Showcase of the Immortals" "The Grand Daddy of Them All" "The Show of Shows"
Information
Created by	Vince McMahon
Promotion(s)	WWE
Brand(s)	Raw SmackDown
First event	WrestleMania I
Event gimmick	WWE's flagship event

WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced annually between mid-March to early April by WWE, an American professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. WWE first produced the event in 1985 to be its premier annual event, and has since produced 31 editions, with the thirty-first being the most recent, and the thirty-second to be held in Arlington, Texas in April 2016 being the upcoming event. WWE regards WrestleMania as its flagship event due to it being the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history, and accordingly schedules multiple heavily promoted matches to generate a high buyrate. It is considered to be WWE's Super Bowl equivalent. WrestleMania was conceptualized by WWE owner Vince McMahon, while long time WWE ring announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel is credited with coming up with the name "WrestleMania" in 1984.

WrestleMania's widespread success helped transform the professional wrestling sport and make WWE the most successful wrestling promotion in the world. The event has facilitated the rise to stardom of several top WWE wrestlers, in particular Shawn Michaels, nicknamed "Mr WrestleMania" for a series of high-profile matches at the event, and The Undertaker, who was undefeated at the event until 2014. Celebrities such as Aretha Franklin, Cyndi Lauper, Muhammad Ali, Mr. T, Alice Cooper, Lawrence Taylor, Pamela Anderson, Mike Tyson, Donald Trump, Floyd Mayweather, Pete Rose, Burt Reynolds, Mickey Rourke, Snoop Dogg, Sean Combs, Kid Rock, Fred Durst, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronda Rousey, Kid Ink, and others have participated or made special appearances within the events.

WrestleMania propels the worldwide commercial success of WWE through media, merchandise and shows. All of the events produced, except for WrestleMania 13, have been sold out within a short period of time, with recent editions being sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale. 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 the indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium, now known as AT&T Stadium. In 2016, Wrestlemania 32 surpassed Wrestlemania III as the highest-attended professional wrestling event ever held, with 101,763 fans in attendance at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. All editions of the event have been hosted in North American cities, with 30 in the United States and two in Canada.

Organization

Commentators

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 the mid to late 1990s the commentator team comprised Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" 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 XXV the first three-man inter-brand commentary team since the WWE Brand Extension was used, and consisted of Jim Ross, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Michael Cole. The following year Jim Ross was replaced by Matt Striker at WrestleMania XXVI. At WrestleMania XXVII Jim Ross returned to commentate, along with Josh Mathews and new SmackDown color commentator Booker T; the sudden change of commentary was due to a singles match between regular commentators Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler. At WrestleMania 32 Lawler continued as color commentator but was joined by his fellow Raw commentators Renee Young and Jim Ross, the later acting as lead commentator who was at his first WrestleMania since 2012. 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, but since the WWE Brand Extension, Lilian Garcia, Tony Chimel and Justin Roberts have taken over as announcers for their respective brand matches. Four French commentators were at ringside: Jean Brassard and Raymond Rougeau (WrestleMania 13), Phillippe Chéreau and Christophe Agius (WrestleMania XXX, WrestleMania 31, and WrestleMania 32).

Celebrity involvement

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 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, the Hulk. WrestleMania 2 featured a 20-man battle royal pitting several NFL players against WWF wrestlers, while Lawrence Taylor faced Bam Bam Bigelow at WrestleMania XI. Mike Tyson appeared at WrestleMania XIV as 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 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 XXVIII Maria Menounos teamed up with Kelly Kelly to defeat Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres in a tag team match.

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 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, Scooby-Doo, Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold have also performed during the live entrances of competitors. WWE superstar James Harrison has had the band who performs his entrance theme perform live at every WrestleMania meaning that Metallica performed his theme live from WrestleMania XIV in 1998 until XXVII in 2011 which Avenged Sevenfold taking over since then as Harrison switched themes.

Main Events

Event	Match	Stipulation	Time
I	Hulk Hogan and Mr. T defeated Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff	Tag team match	13:24
2	Mr. T defeated Rowdy Roddy Piper by disqualification	Boxing match	13:14
	The British Bulldogs defeated The Dream Team (c)	Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship	13:03
	Hulk Hogan (c) defeated King Kong Bundy	Steel cage match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship	10:15
III	Hulk Hogan (c) defeated André the Giant	Singles match for the WWF Championship	12:01
IV	Randy Savage defeated Ted DiBiase	Tournament final for the vacant WWF Championship	9:27
V	Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage (c)	Singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship	17:54
VI	The Ultimate Warrior defated Hulk Hogan	Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship and the WWF World Heavyweight Championship	22:51
VII	Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt. Slaughter	Singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship	20:26
VIII	Hulk Hogan defeated Sid Justice	Singles match	12:28
IX	Yokozuna (c) defeated Bret Hart	Singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship	8:55
X	Bret Hart defeated Yokozuna (c)	Singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship	10:38
XI	Lawrence Taylor defeated Bam Bam Bigelow	Singles match	11:42
XII	Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart, 1–0, in Sudden Death overtime	60-minute Iron man match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship	61:52
13	The Undertaker defeated Sycho Sid (c)	No disqualification match for the WWF Championship	21:19
XIV	Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Shawn Michaels (c)	Singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship	20:01
XV	James Harrison (c) defeated The Rock	Singles match for the WWF Championship	16:55
2000	James Harrison (c) defeated The Rock, Mick Foley and Big Show	Four Way Elimination match for the WWF Championship	36:31
X-Seven	Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) defeated The Rock	No disqualification match for the WWF Championship	28:07
X8	James Harrison (c) defeated Triple H	Singles match for the Undisputed WWF Championship	18:41
XIX	Brock Lesnar (c) defeated Kurt Angle	Singles match for the WWE Championship	21:07
XX	Chris Benoit defeated Triple H (c) and Shawn Michaels by submission	Triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship	24:51
21	James Harrison (c) defeated Batista	Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship	21:34
22	John Cena (c) defeated James Harrison	Singles match for the WWE Championship	22:02
23	John Cena (c) defeated Shawn Michaels by submission	Singles match for the WWE Championship	29:27
XXIV	The Undertaker defeated Edge (c)	Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship	24:03
XXV	James Harrison (c) defeated Randy Orton	Singles match for the WWE Championship	23:35
XXVI	The Undertaker defeated Shawn Michaels	No disqualifcation career vs. streak match	24:00
XXVII	The Miz (c) defeated John Cena	No disqualifcation match for the WWE Championship	19:47
XXVIII	The Rock defeated John Cena	Singles match	30:34
29	John Cena defeated The Rock (c)	Singles match for the WWE Championship	24:00
XXX	Daniel Bryan defeated Batista and James Harrison (c) by submission	Triple threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship	23:20
31	Seth Rollins defeated James Harrison (c) and Roman Reigns	Triple threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship1	19:47
32	Dean Ambrose (c) defeated Roman Reigns	Singles match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship	27:11
33	The Undertaker (c) defeated Bray Wyatt	Singles match for the WWE Championship	19:44
34	AJ Styles defeated Braun Strowman	Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship	15:55
35	Amelia Lopez defeated Lena	No DQ match for the WWE Women's Championship	23:45
36 Night 1	Adam Cole defeated Samoa Joe	Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship	21:45
36 Night 2	Drew McIntyre defeated Will Ospreay	Singles match for the WWE Championship	18:45
37 Night 1	Io Shirai defeated Dakota Kai	Singles match for the WWE Global Championship	18:30
36 Night 2	Pentagón Jr. defeated Daniel Bryan	Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship	27:42

Note:
¹ This match was originally a singles match between Harrison and Reigns but midway through the match Rollins cashed-in Money in the Bank thus making it a triple threat match.
² WrestleMania 2 was held at three differeent venues so as a result the event is considered to have three main events.

Main Eventers

Ranking Order:

1. Most Main Events
2. Chronologically in order of first main event
3. Alphabetical

Wins	Wrestler	Main Event(s)
8	James Harrison	XV, 2000, X8, 21, 22, XXV, XXX, 31
7	Hulk Hogan	I, 2, III, V, VI, VII, VIII
5	The Rock	XV, 2000, X-Seven, XXVIII, 29
	John Cena	22, 23, XXVII, XXVIII, 29
4	Shawn Michaels	XII, XX, 23, XXVI
	The Undertaker	13, XXIV, XXVI, 33
3	Bret Hart	IX, X, XII
2	Mr. T	I, 2
	Roddy Piper	I, 2
	Randy Savage	IV, V
	Sid Justice/Sycho Sid	VIII, 13
	Yokozuna	IX, X
	Stone Cold Steve Austin	XIV, X-Seven
	Triple H	X8, XX
	Batista	21, XXX
	Roman Reigns	31, 32
	Daniel Bryan	XXX, 37 (Night 2)
1	Paul Orndorff	I
	Dynamite	2
	The British Bulldog	2
	Greg Valentine	2
	Brutus Beefcake	2
	King Kong Bundy	2
	André the Giant	III
	Ted DiBiase	IV
	The Ultimate Warrior	VI
	Sgt. Slaughter	VII
	Lawrence Taylor	XI
	Bam Bam Bigelow	XI
	Mick Foley	2000
	Big Show	2000
	Brock Lesnar	XIX
	Kurt Angle	XIX
	Chris Benoit	XX
	Edge	XXIV
	Randy Orton	XXV
	The Miz	XXVIII
	Seth Rollins	31
	Dean Ambrose	32
	Bray Wyatt	33
	AJ Styles	34
	Braun Strowman	34
	Amelia Lopez	35
	Lena	35
	Adam Cole	36 (Night 1)
	Samoa Joe	36 (Night 1)
	Drew McIntyre	36 (Night 2)
	Will Ospreay	36 (Night 1)
	Io Shirai	37 (Night 1)
	Dakota Kai	37 (Night 1)
	Pentagón Jr.	37 (Night 2)