Wrestlemania Tickets on Swickets

Wrestlemania XXI brings its high flying excitement to stadiums throughout North America. Wrestlemania XXI cities include; Louisville, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Lincoln, Duluth, Minneapolis, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Buffalo, Indianapolis, and East Rutherford, NJ.

Staff Writer Russell Puntenney
The world indoor attendance record was set in 1987 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, as over 93,000 fans squeezed into the facility. Strangely enough, the Detroit Lions were nowhere to be found that day, however, and the Super Bowl that year was hundreds of miles away in California. No, it was not professional football that attracted the historic crowd, nor was it Billy Graham or Michael Jackson, for that matter, it was Wrestlemania III, and it changed the face of professional wrestling instantly.

Now known as World Wrestling Entertainment, the former World Wrestling Federation is responsible for creating Wrestlemania, an annual showcase of the best professional wrestling has to offer, easily the single most important event in the entire industry. The event has since become a world famous attraction, often featuring celebrity cameos and always available on pay-per-view television for those unable to find a ticket. The inaugural event in 1985 took place at Madison Square Garden, with a main event that included a tag team representative of the entire decade: Mr. T and Terry Bollea, better known as the immortal Hulk Hogan and still in his first reign as champion at the time. The two had already appeared together battling Sylvester Stallone in 1982’s Rocky III, but found a lot more success in this outing against Rowdy Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff. Afterwards, Mr. T went back to pitying fools and Hogan continued his trek toward becoming the most recognizable professional wrestler in history.

Hogan was scheduled to wrestle in seven of the first nine Wrestlemania main events, but he at least made an appearance in all of them. The most memorable match was without question the one seen in front of the record crowd in Pontiac, when he body slammed and pinned the mammoth Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III. Other notable victims included “Macho Man” Randy Savage at Wrestlemania V, King Kong Bundy inside a steel cage at Wrestlemania II, and Sgt. Slaughter, who was elaborately portrayed as an Iraq supporter in the midst of the Gulf War in 1991’s Wrestlemania VII. “The Real American” Hulk Hogan took care of the traitor, en route to winning the world title for the second of three Wrestlemania events he won it at, successfully defending it two other times and losing it only once, to the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania VI. His only other Wrestlemania loss was suffered to the Rock at Wrestlemania XVIII in an Icon vs. Icon match.

Hogan’s successor to the professional wrestling throne, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, has also won three world championships at Wrestlemania, and plenty of others have consistently risen to the occasion. Bret Hart is the only wrestler to win a world, secondary, and tag team title at the event, and The Undertaker holds the most impressive record of any participant, with 14 wins in 14 appearances.

Memorable matches and moments seem to occur every year, but some clearly impacted the sport more than others. Besides the first event and the body slam heard round the world, the wrestling world also shifted dramatically after a few extraordinary matches; the ladder match between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania X, for example, is partly responsible for the creation years later of a “Hardcore” championship belt, and the hour-long “Iron Man Match” between the same Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart gave the entire sport more athletic credibility at Wrestlemania XII.

Aside from the wrestlers themselves, the event is also traditionally attended by professional athletes and other celebrities. Here’s a short list of celebrities that have at least appeared, several sang the Star Spangled Banner and some even wrestled or refereed a match: Muhammed Ali, Billy Martin, Mike Tyson, Lawrence Taylor, Cindi Lauper, Pete Rose, Reba McEntire, Aaron Neville, Ray Charles, Gladys Knight, Run D.M.C., and Pamela Anderson.

Accordingly, it is because of such a rich tradition that Wrestlemania is so highly anticipated every March, and though daunting, the challenge is, and always has been, to raise the bar (or turnbuckle, if you prefer) with every new installment.