The Year in PPV- 1985

Wrestling in the '80s was at its all-time popularity thanks to the pop culture icon that was Hulk Hogan. Now picture Hogan being tag team partners with Mr. T, another pop culture phenomenon thanks to his stint on The A-Team. Also realize that this era also featured "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Andre the Giant, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and many more all on one roster. This all started around one year in particular: 1985.

MTV was a global phenomenon at the time, and when Vince McMahon thought to partner with MTV to bring wrestling into pop culture, it created a unique combination of sports and entertainment (get it?) that the world hadn't experienced before. Once Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper became involved in high profile feuds, it was time to showcase these wrestlers and celebrities in befitting fashion: by creating a supershow broadcasted on television that would be like the WWF's Super Bowl and have it emanate from Madison Square Garden, the entertainment capital of the world. How good was the idea? Well if that idea hadn't been a success, wrestling wouldn't be where it is today in terms of entertainment.

So let's look at how it all began, with the first WrestleMania...


1. WrestleMania

In all honesty, the first WrestleMania is the kind of PPV that has not aged well in the slightest, but is the kind of show you watch and can still enjoy out of respect for what it accomplished. The first few matches were basic enhancement matches to help establish some of the popular names to a new audience, such as Tito Santana, Ricky Steamboat, and King Kong Bundy. An interesting note on Bundy's match with Special Delivery Jones is that the recorded time of the match was 9 seconds, when in reality it was more around 23. I know they were trying to build Bundy as a monster threat in the main event scene, but there's no reason to try and fool the fans by shaving a measly 14 seconds off of a match.

Most, if not all of these matches are 5-star classics in comparison with the matches we've had over the last 30 years, but they're still important on a historical perspective by being part of a groundbreaking event in sports entertainment. Not only did WrestleMania open the door for the WWE by establishing PPVs, but also allowed them to be embraced in pop culture. Through the appearance of celebrities like Liberace, Muhammad Ali, Billy Martin, Cyndi Lauper, and Mr. T, the world saw these household names involved on the same show as icons like Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper and Andre the Giant, creating a wrestling tradition of including celebrities on their shows ever since (for better or for worse depending on the situation).

Highly Recommended


2. The Wrestling Classic

With the first WrestleMania proving to be a success, the WWF decided to put out another PPV that November, The Wrestling Classic. This show was centered on a tournament. What for? I have no idea. But it features many big names like the Junkyard Dog, Ricky Steamboat, Tito Santana, Bob Orton Jr., Paul Orndorff, the Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, Adrian Adonis, Don Muraco, Terry Funk Nikolai Volkoff, Ivan Putski, and Randy Savage among others. The tournament is fine, as there are a few gems here and there (and a very humorous short match between Dynamite and Volkoff), but it's definitely not a tournament worth mentioning (see WrestleMania IV and Survivor Series 1998 for historically important tournaments). The best thing the tournament does is by having the right two men in the finals. The Junkyard Dog was an established fan favorite, and Randy Savage was a new superstar on the rise of becoming a top heel. Having the two go at it was the right call in storytelling, especially with how their previous tournament matches went.

There's also a WWF Championship match between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper that's barely worth mentioning thanks to the short match time and the way it ends. Overall, The Wrestling Classic wasn't the successful followup they were hoping for and it would be a few years before the WWF would find some shows worthy of being included on the PPV calendar every year alongside WrestleMania, starting with a new November PPV known as Survivor Series.

Skip It


Thoughts: The main thing to enjoy about this year is the star power. Thanks to some '80s nostalgia, the PPVs are full of some of the most iconic figures in wrestling history. This was the year that Hulkamania took the world by storm and it shows here. One of the best facets of '80s wrestling are the crowds. They cheer loudly for every face and boo every heel no matter if they are in the opening match or the main event. Simply put: the '80s was a time in which most people could have fun with wrestling, regardless of whether or not the matches were good.


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