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Post by sungod2020 on Dec 15, 2020 18:29:09 GMT -5
I saw a video on youtube from Wrestling Bios regarding that event and decided to make a thread on it. While the first annual one gets alot of praise from the WWE and fans, the second is somewhat overlooked.
With the first Wrestlemania being a success, Vince McMahon wanted to outdue it the following year. Taking place on April 7th, 1986, this was the only Wrestlemania to air on a Monday. It is also the only one to spread across three different cities - New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Each venue had four matches each with one main event to close out each portion of the show. Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper in a worked boxing match for New York, a 20 man battle royal won by Andre The Giant for Chicago(followed by The Bulldogs/Dream Team tag title match) and for Los Angeles Hulk Hogan defending his WWF championship against King Kong Bundy.
The show also featured alot of celebrities of the day from A listers such as Ray Charles and Ozzy Osbourne down to flash in the pans such as Clara Pellar(best known as the "Where's The Beef" lady) and Burger Kings Herb The Nerd.
To say this show was a clusterf*** is being nice. The majority of the card is nothing to write home about, and there were technical glitches due to eminating from three venues. They didn't even alternate the matches from each arena as the rest of the audience from the venues their card wasn't taking place had to watch through close circuit.
While Vince and co might've meant well by having the show take place in multiple locations and having all those stars, he certainly went overboard and the concept was scrapped(well the multiple locations part was). I do feel this show understanbly gets a bad rep, but bare in mind, the WWF was just starting to go nationally(and later internationally) and the Wrestlemania concept was still in it's infancy. So back then, they were still trying to figure out the formula for putting on a good show.
They learned from their mistakes the following year and had the third installment of Wrestlemania take place in a giant stadium(the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan) with a main event people wanted to see in Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant. This show IMO helped solidify the concept of Wrestlemania and what we know it as today.
So all in all, I feel Wrestlemania 2 was a huge case of trial and error that the company has learned from and corrected it moving forward.
Thoughts?
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Post by jason1980s on Dec 15, 2020 18:51:45 GMT -5
Wrestlemania III was world's away from 2 despite it only being one year. And Big Event was world's away even though it was just months later. Luckily they rebounded to do two amazing events in 1986 and 1987. I think Wrestlemania 2 could have been better given a few changes. Adrian Adonis, on the verge of a big push deserved better than Uncle Elmer. Ricky Steamboat, an amazing worker, deserved better than Hercules. Jake deserved better than Wells. Both Orndorff and Muraco were probably equals and deserves a better finish. Several matches seemed very jobber-esque. Also, even though PPVs were in the infancy, I think the lighting sucked. It wouldn't be until Royal Rumble 1988 when WWF had much better lighting in arenas. It isn't good to have the biggest event of WWF's year (WM 2) and the lighting is still dark like it's something out of the 1970s or early 80s. NWA and WCCW and AWA were probably putting on similar events so really nothing to set WWF apart.
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Post by Milkman Norm on Dec 15, 2020 19:19:24 GMT -5
It was a learning process. Wrestlemania was a loaded MSG show built around Cyndi Lauper & Mr.T. Wrestlemania 2 had the celebrities but the show, with the exception of Mr.T, was in no way built them. What it did lack was a big angle to set up the main event. By the fall Vince discovered that Friend Turns On Hogan=$$$$$$$$$. So the next year they had the biggest friend, both literally & figuratively turn on him and the modern Wrestlemania was born.
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Post by horsemen4ever on Dec 15, 2020 20:58:03 GMT -5
It was trying to out do Starrcade 1985, and wasn't as good to say the least.
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Post by Duke Cameron on Dec 15, 2020 21:05:21 GMT -5
I’m a fan of the wrestler/NFL battle royal in Chicago.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2020 1:12:33 GMT -5
I dug Hogan vs Bundy.
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Post by lildude8218 on Dec 16, 2020 1:24:50 GMT -5
It was a learning process. Wrestlemania was a loaded MSG show built around Cyndi Lauper & Mr.T. Wrestlemania 2 had the celebrities but the show, with the exception of Mr.T, was in no way built them. What it did lack was a big angle to set up the main event. By the fall Vince discovered that Friend Turns On Hogan=$$$$$$$$$. So the next year they had the biggest friend, both literally & figuratively turn on him and the modern Wrestlemania was born. It literally had a huge angle to set up the main event a month prior on Saturday Night's Main Event. They showed clips of it during this show. |
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Post by koreycaskets on Dec 16, 2020 1:28:26 GMT -5
Hogan vs Bundy is legit my fav match of all time.
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Squirrel Master
Hank Scorpio
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Posts: 6,637 
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Post by Squirrel Master on Dec 16, 2020 1:40:46 GMT -5
Hogan vs Bundy is legit my fav match of all time. Bundy was actually quite good in the ring and in my opinion didn’t get to showcase what he was capable off against Hogan. The match could have used an extra 5 minutes of Bundy offense. |
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Cranjis McBasketball
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Dec 16, 2020 4:09:44 GMT -5
It was a learning process. Wrestlemania was a loaded MSG show built around Cyndi Lauper & Mr.T. Wrestlemania 2 had the celebrities but the show, with the exception of Mr.T, was in no way built them. What it did lack was a big angle to set up the main event. By the fall Vince discovered that Friend Turns On Hogan=$$$$$$$$$. So the next year they had the biggest friend, both literally & figuratively turn on him and the modern Wrestlemania was born. It literally had a huge angle to set up the main event a month prior on Saturday Night's Main Event. They showed clips of it during this show. And Hogan entered the match with taped ribs from Bundy’s attack. |
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Post by crashmatsbazz on Dec 16, 2020 8:36:55 GMT -5
it always baffles me that people prefer 2 over 9, 9 is one of my fav mania's, i hate 2.
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Post by CeilingFan on Dec 16, 2020 8:48:30 GMT -5
it always baffles me that people prefer 2 over 9, 9 is one of my fav mania's, i hate 2. WM 2 had better matches. |
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Post by sungod2020 on Dec 16, 2020 9:11:39 GMT -5
it always baffles me that people prefer 2 over 9, 9 is one of my fav mania's, i hate 2. WM 2 had better matches. How many matches on the card would actually qualify as good? The only one that gets praise is the Bulldogs/Dreamteam match. I found the WWF Superstars/NFL battle royal fun though. The rest of the card was unspectacular, even my mid-80s standards. For 9, I would say Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna was the best match of the night followed by Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka. I feel the later would be better if WWF capitalized on Tatanka's momentum by having him win the IC championship. He could lose it back to Shawn at King of The Ring. The Doink/Crush match might've not set the World on fire, but the double Doinks spot certainly was memorable. The rest of the card was so-so to downright awful. I'd personally give the nod to Wrestlemania IX just for the Roman-theme setting. |
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Post by CeilingFan on Dec 16, 2020 9:21:39 GMT -5
How many matches on the card would actually qualify as good? The only one that gets praise is the Bulldogs/Dreamteam match. I found the WWF Superstars/NFL battle royal fun though. The rest of the card was unspectacular, even my mid-80s standards. For 9, I would say Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna was the best match of the night followed by Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka. I feel the later would be better if WWF capitalized on Tatanka's momentum by having him win the IC championship. He could lose it back to Shawn at King of The Ring. The Doink/Crush match might've not set the World on fire, but the double Doinks spot certainly was memorable. The rest of the card was so-so to downright awful. I'd personally give the nod to Wrestlemania IX just for the Roman-theme setting. Good matches from WM2 Randy Savage vs. George Steele The Battle Royal Dream Team vs. British Bulldogs Ricky Steamboat vs. Hercules JYD and Santana vs. The Funks Hogan vs. Bundy Good matches from WM9 Shawn Michaels vs. Tatanka Steiners vs. Headshrinkers Hart vs. Yokozuna Also, WM2 ended on a much higher note than WM9. |
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Post by jason1980s on Dec 16, 2020 9:37:27 GMT -5
I wonder if that tag title match outside referee was clued in to WWF being predetermined. I think he was a Rosemont referee rather than WWF. I don't think Brutus Beefcake expected this guy to be grabbing his ankle.
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Post by Milkman Norm on Dec 16, 2020 10:05:53 GMT -5
It was a learning process. Wrestlemania was a loaded MSG show built around Cyndi Lauper & Mr.T. Wrestlemania 2 had the celebrities but the show, with the exception of Mr.T, was in no way built them. What it did lack was a big angle to set up the main event. By the fall Vince discovered that Friend Turns On Hogan=$$$$$$$$$. So the next year they had the biggest friend, both literally & figuratively turn on him and the modern Wrestlemania was born. It literally had a huge angle to set up the main event a month prior on Saturday Night's Main Event. They showed clips of it during this show. They did have an angle but they had let to find the huge money angle that they hit when Orndorff turned on Hogan. After that Wrestlemania was set. |
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XIII
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by XIII on Dec 16, 2020 10:15:06 GMT -5
I think that they went overboard on gimmickry and celebs. The three arena deal seems like a good idea in theory but not so much in execution. The constant celebrities that sat in at announce weren’t great. Love Elvira on announce though. lol
That said Hogan/Bundy is a good match, the football player battle royal is fun, and Bulldogs/Dream Team is good.
It was a learning process that they streamlined into III. The first four to six Manias they tried to make it the biggest thing in wrestling history each time before it slid into just another PPV in more modern times.
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fw91
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Post by fw91 on Dec 16, 2020 10:28:40 GMT -5
I wouldn’t say the idea of 3 arenas was terrible, but it just didn’t work out.
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Post by koreycaskets on Dec 16, 2020 11:17:24 GMT -5
Hogan vs Bundy is legit my fav match of all time. Bundy was actually quite good in the ring and in my opinion didn’t get to showcase what he was capable off against Hogan. The match could have used an extra 5 minutes of Bundy offense. I honestly think Bundy should have went into mania with the belt, with Hogan beating him for it. |
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Squirrel Master
Hank Scorpio
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Post by Squirrel Master on Dec 16, 2020 12:06:40 GMT -5
I wonder if that tag title match outside referee was clued in to WWF being predetermined. I think he was a Rosemont referee rather than WWF. I don't think Brutus Beefcake expected this guy to be grabbing his ankle. I asked this question some time ago as I often wondered about this too. officialfan.proboards.com/thread/572187/who-tripped-brutus-beefcake-wm |
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