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Line 1: {{~~trope~~work}} [[File:WWE-Wrestlemania_8008.jpg\|frame]] The Showcase of The Immortals. The Grandest Stage of Them All. The biggest [[Professional Wrestling~~\|professional wrestling~~]] show in the world. In 1985, [[Vince McMahon]] had an idea to hold a flagship pay-per-view show for his [[~~WWE~~World Wrestling Entertainment\|World Wrestling Federation]] to counter the ''Starrcade'' event held by rival [[WCW\|Jim Crockett Promotions]]. This show - the very first ''[['''Wrestlemania]]''''' - was heavily cross-promoted through MTV and other popular television outlets; the WWF's mainstream success from this point on hinged on the first ''[['''Wrestlemania]]''''' being a success. It turned out to be a huge success; from then on out, the WWF (now World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE) has held ''[['''Wrestlemania]]''''' as an annual event, using the show to end major feuds and begin new ones. It is considered WWE's flagship event, and is the biggest show WWE (or any other wrestling promotion) puts on every year. In recent years, ''[['''Wrestlemania]]''''' has become the annual Mecca of the wrestling world: since the event draws in fans from all over the world, many of the larger independent promotions hold shows in ''[['''Wrestlemania]]''''s'' host city in the days leading up to the show in an attempt to expose fans to ''their'' product. [[World Wrestling Entertainment\|WWE]] is not very appreciative of this, however, and has made moves in recent years to keep other wrestling shows out of the cities where [['''Wrestlemania]]''' takes place; it's rumored that part of the reason Phoenix, AZ won the bid to host ''[['''Wrestlemania]]''' 26'' was because they agreed to prevent other wrestling promotions from holding shows in publicly-owned venues (both [[Ring of Honor]] and Dragon Gate USA managed to book shows in the area for the weekend of ''[['''Wrestlemania]]''' 26'', however). For more, see [[Wrestlemania/YMMV\|YMMV Wrestlemania Tropes]], [[Wrestlemania/Awesome\|Awesome moments at WrestleMania]], and [[Wall Banger ~~(Darth Wiki)~~/Wrestle Mania\|Wall Bangers]]. ---- {{tropelist}} ~~=== '''Tropes:''' ===~~ ~~'''Wrestlemania provides examples of the following tropes:'''~~ * [[The Centerpiece Spectacular]]: The main event Iron Man Match between [[Bret Hart]] and [[Shawn Michaels]] at ''WrestleMania 12'', where Shawn arrived in the ring on a zip line in an iconic WM moment. ** The match went into overtime when the match's time limit expired without a single fall being scored; Michaels eventually scored the winning pinfall to dethrone Bret as the WWF Champion. {{quote\| '''[[Vince McMahon]]:''' The boyhood dream has come true for [[Shawn Michaels]]!}} * [[Professional Wrestling/Heartwarming\|Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]]: The match between The [[Ultimate Warrior]] and Macho Man [[Randy Savage]] at ''WrestleMania 7'', where the loser would have to retire, was one of the best of either man's career. The stakes were huge, the match was amazing, and what happened after the match was one of the most heartwarming things in WWF history. * [[Dangerous Terrain]]: The Tables, Ladders and Chairs (TLC) matches, which started with a Triangle Ladder match at WM 16 between [[Edge]] & [[Christian]] (winners), the Hardy Boyz, and the Dudley Boyz. WM 17 had "TLC II" with the same teams; each team got a little help from a third party ([[Lita]], Spike Dudley, and Rhino, respectively), and there were several memorable moments, including the insane ''mid-air Spear'' that [[Edge]] delivered to a dangling-from-the-belts Jeff Hardy. * [[Dawn of an Era]]: ''WrestleManias'' 14 and 15 saw the true rise of the Austin Era (and the [[Attitude Era]] in general), as [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] won the WWF Championship at both shows. {{quote\| '''[[Jim Ross]]''' ''[at WrestleMania XIV]:'' The Austin era has begun!}} ''WrestleMania 21'' saw the creation the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, whose winner is guaranteed a world title match before the next year's ''WrestleMania''. Every year since, people look forward to the match to see just who's going to get a world title push. [[End of an Age]]: The [[Holy Shit Quotient\|Hell In A Cell]] match at [['''Wrestlemania]]''' 28 between [[Triple H]] and [[The Undertaker]] was billed as "The End Of Era", building on the fact that they are the last, largest [[Insistent Terminology\|superstars]] from the [[Attitude Era]] still [[Ring Oldies\|actively competing]], and acknowledging the possibility that they may both retire soon; 'Taker due to [[Dented Iron\|injuries and old age]] and Hunter due to his [[Reasonable Authority Figure\|backstage responsibilities]]. * [[Discredited Trope~~\|Discredited Tropes~~]]s: ''WrestleMania 26'' featured [[Bret Hart]] vs. [[Vince McMahon]] in a "No Holds Barred" Match. A decade ago, this might have actually been an interesting confrontation; in 2010, with Vince in his 60s and Bret in no shape to actually wrestle (thanks to the combined effects of his career-ending concussion and a stroke he suffered a few years later), what we got was Bret and the Hart family giving Vince an over-ten-minute beatdown. Bret delivered 12 chairshots to a downed Vince (one for every year he was out of WWE following the [[Montreal Screwjob]]) before ''finally'' putting Vince in the Sharpshooter like everyone wanted. The match was widely panned by wrestling critics, especially for its length, depriving other matches of ring time. ** Another handicap was the [[Lighter and Softer\|new PG rating]]. Just about all of Vince's entertaining matches are just because he's willing to let the other guy do ''anything'' to him. Without the option to all but murder Vince, it's infinitely harder for him to pull off an entertaining fight. * [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: Generally the case for WrestleMania main events, usually involving a face wrestler finally achieving his dream in front of a grand stage. Look no further than [[John Cena]] at ''WrestleMania 21'', [[Shawn Michaels]] at ''WrestleMania 12'', and [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] at ''WrestleMania 14'' for some notable examples. ** [[Chris Benoit]] at WrestleMania 20 definitely qualifies. However, [[Pater Familicide\|real-life events]] tainted this. * [[Epic Fail]]: ''WrestleMania 2'' was just as experimental as its predecessor, being simulcast in three cities: Los Angeles, CA; Uniondale, NY; and Rosemont, IL. Weak matches with sub-par workers (a few which lasted less than ''fifteen moves'') and cheap finishes, combined with an overreliance on [[Special Guest\|celebrity power]] and many viewers who [[Ludd Was Right\|didn't fully understand]] the product, led to an overall bland show. And Susan St. James [[Ear Worm\|saying "Uh-oh..."]] to the point where it became a [[Verbal Tic]] for her. * [[Fan Nickname]]: [[Shawn Michaels]] isn't called "Mr. WrestleMania" for nothing; among notable performances covered elsewhere, there's the Ladder Match against Razor Ramon at ''WrestleMania 10'', his match against [[Chris Jericho]] at ''WrestleMania 19'', and his match against [[Kurt Angle]] at ''WrestleMania 21''. ** Hell, you'd be hard-pressed to find a single ''WrestleMania'' match of his that wasn't good, going all the way back to his debut at ''WrestleMania 5'' as part of The Rockers. * [[Follow the Leader]]: In an interview, [[Stephanie McMahon]] wanted two clashing fanbases (Team Cenation and Team Bring It) for the build-up of the [[John Cena]] vs. [[Dwayne Johnson\|The Rock]] match at ''WrestleMania XXVIII'', not too dissimilar to Team Edward vs. Team Jacob in ''[[Twilight (~~Literature~~novel)\|Twilight]]''. * [[Heroic Resolve]]: The big match at ''WrestleMania 13'' was the Submission Match between [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] and [[Bret Hart]]. Busted open, bleeding like crazy, and locked in Hart's signature Sharpshooter submission hold, Austin [[Crazy Awesome\|refused to tap out]]; instead, he passed out from the pain rather than submit to Hart. If ''King of the Ring 1996'' was Austin's breakout moment, this was the moment that catapulted him into superstardom. * [[Invincible Hero]]: [[The Undertaker]]'s track record at ''WrestleMania'' is likely never to be topped: he has never been defeated in any of the 20 matches he has wrestled at the event. Undertaker and [[Shawn Michaels]] pulled out perhaps 2009's Match of the Year at ''WrestleMania 25'', 'Taker's first one-on-one victory over Michaels, and at ''WrestleMania 26'' they pulled out another instant classic as Undertaker preserved his streak and ended the 25-year career of Michaels in the show's main event. At ''WrestleMania 27'', he survived ''three'' Pedigrees and a Tombstone from [[Triple H]], then Undertaker slipped Hell's Gate on a sledgehammer-wielding [[Triple H]], who tapped, ensuring the 19-0 streak lives on. Then, at 28, against Triple H one last time, Taker kicks out of The Tombstone, and reverses it to achieve the final score of 20-0. * [[~~Its~~It's the Best Whatever Ever!]]: Every WrestleMania is billed as the best, most historic WrestleMania ''ever''. Until next year. * [[Just One Little Mistake]]: Attempting to give the fans a WrestleMania Moment, [[Brock Lesnar]] attempted a Shooting Star Press (a diving backflip splash off the top rope) at WM 19 against [[Kurt Angle]]. He hadn't performed this dangerous maneuver since his time in WWE's feeder league OVW, did not complete the rotation, and landed squarely on his head, but luckily ended up with only a mild concussion (and later [[Fan Nickname\|became known as]] the Shooting Star Neck Breaker, Shooting Star Self-Piledriver, or Shooting Brock Press). Angle quickly led the dazed Lesnar into an improvised finish to the match. ** [[Kurt Angle]]'s well-known neck problems were flaring up going into ''WrestleMania 19'', and it was believed that his insistence on performing at the event anyway could lead to the end of his career. Ironically it was Lesnar who nearly broke his neck at the event. Actually, Brock had placed Angle too far from the corner, and though he did in fact rotate perfectly for the press, Angle's distance resulted in Brock almost breaking his own neck ON ANGLE. * [[Passing the Torch]]: The [[Ultimate Warrior]] defeating [[Hulk Hogan]] at ''WrestleMania 6'' to win the WWF Championship, seen as a "passing the torch" moment (even if it didn't fully work out). * [[Genre Blindness\|Pay-Per-View Blindness]]: ''Wrestlemania 27'' was extremely lackluster, with many last minute changes, including [[What Were You Thinking?\|scrapping]] the [[Daniel Bryan]] vs [[Sheamus]] match so they could give [[Dwayne Johnson\|The Rock]] a 20-minute promo (it also reduced the length of the other matches). A large amount of time was spent making skits; people joked that someone accidentally switched Wrestlemania's script for the next ''Raw'' script. * [[Real Song Theme Tune]]: ''Wrestlemania'' often has at least one live musical guest. Usually a singer performs [[America The Beautiful]], and sometimes a band gives a wrestler an [[Theme Music Power-Up\|Entrance Music Power-Up]], e.g. [[Motorhead ~~(Music)~~\|Motörhead]], who've appeared twice, playing [[Triple H]]'s music ([~~http://en.~~[wikipedia~~.org/wiki/List_of_celebrities_involved_with_WrestleMania~~:List of celebrities involved with WrestleMania#Musicians \|full list]]), and P.O.D, who appeared at Wrestlemania 22 playing Rey Mysterio's music. * [[Retired Badass]]: [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]], the guest referee of [[Brock Lesnar]] vs. [[Goldberg]] at ''WrestleMania 20''. What should have been a dream matchup was ruined by Lesnar's surprise decision to quit WWE to try out for the NFL, and [[Goldberg]] seemed to think the whole match was a joke. The only cheering was for Austin, who delivered a Stunner to both Lesnar and [[Goldberg]] after the match. Similarly, at WM 27 Austin was guest ref for [[Jerry Lawler]] vs [[Michael Cole]]. Cole spent close to 10 minutes beating on Lawler. To say that the crowd did not enjoy this would be an understatement. The end of the match then had the ''Raw'' general manager retroactively disqualify Lawler because Guest Referee Austin got involved in the match. [[Booker T]] and Josh Mathews also [[What the Hell, Hero?\|got Stunners without doing anything]] - likely just an excuse to get [[Jim Ross\|J.R.]] and King back together on commentary for the rest of the show. Line 49 ⟶ 46: The Royal Rumble winner should get a title shot at Wrestlemania's main event, but [[John Cena]] has stolen this spot every year since 2006, except in 2009 (Rumble winner [[Randy Orton]] vs. champion [[Triple H]]) and ironically 2008, when Cena himself won the Rumble but didn't headline WM 24. * [[Trope 2000]]: WrestleMania 2000 (aka WrestleMania 16). * [[Unexplained Recovery]]: ''WrestleMania 15'' featured [[The Undertaker]] defeating The Big Boss Man in a plodding, boring, forgettable Hell in a Cell match. After the match, Undertaker had The Brood slip a noose down through the roof of the Cell so he could "hang" Boss Man. To top it all off, Big Boss Man suddenly showed up on ''Raw'' the next night as if nothing happened, and the whole thing was [[~~Big~~Non ~~Lipped~~Sequitur ~~Alligator Moment~~Scene\|never mentioned again]]. Undertaker's [[Ministry of Darkness]] [[Costume Porn\|attire]] and entrance was probably the best part of the whole thing. * [[Wham! Episode]]: It's had its moments. WM 15 - [[Triple H]] turns against D-X and joins the Corporation signaling his main event push. WM X7 - Stone Cold [[Steve Austin]] joins forces with Mr. McMahon. * [[Worked Shoot\|Worked/Unworked Shoot]]: The boxing match (yes, at '''Wrestle'''mania) between Butterbean and Bart Gunn [~~http://en.~~[wikipedia~~.org/wiki/WWF_Brawl_for_All~~:WWF Brawl for All\|was real]], but easily the least entertaining and the most pointless match of WM 15. There was little build-up and it transformed almost instantly from Unworked Shoot to Very Bad Shoot when Bart Gunn was knocked out two minutes in. [[Roddy Piper]] and [[Mr. T]] worked a better boxing match at Wrestlemania 2, and that's saying something - that one was fake, however ([http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ektc_wrestlemania-2-mr-t-vs-roddy-piper_sport video]). * [[X Makes Anything Cool]]: The thinking behind naming the 17th and 18th installments ''WrestleMania X-Seven'' and ''WrestleMania X-8''. * [[You Fail Mathematics Forever]]: when Undertaker was set to face HHH at WM 27, they pretended that HHH and 'Taker had never wrestled before. 'Taker said that he had "beaten 19 men" at Wrestlemania, when he had faced [[Kane (~~Wrestling~~wrestling)\|Kane]] and [[Shawn Michaels]] twice. He had been counting the streak like that for a couple of years ('Taker even says "18 men have come...." on the promo the previous year). * It was accurate up until the second time he faced Michaels, with his two matches against Kane being balanced by the fact that one of his matches was a two on one handicap. Line 61 ⟶ 58: ---- '''See also''' [[Wrestlemania/Awesome\|Awesome moments at WrestleMania]], [[Wrestlemania/YMMV\|YMMV Tropes~~]], and [[Wall Banger (Darth Wiki)/Wrestle Mania\|disappointing moments~~]]. {{reflist}} [[Category:Professional Wrestling]] [[Category:Wrestlemania]] [[Category:~~Trope~~Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]