by Wayne K. Wilkins

Created on: February 09, 2009

WrestleMania - It is the granddaddy of them all, the greatest annual stage in sports entertainment. It is what the Superbowl is to the National Football League and what the Academy Awards are to the Movies. Simply put, WrestleMania is the biggest and most prestigious event of the year in terms of professional wrestling and has been for the last 25 years, housing some of the biggest events in history in some of the grandest arenas in the world. With the 25th anniversary of WrestleMania quickly approaching, I would like to talk about some of the pinnacle moments in the history of this spectacular event.

1) WrestleMania 1 - March 31, 1985

1985 was the birth of the most well-known annual wrestling event of all time and was remembered mainly for its use of celebrities including the likes of Muhammad Ali who worked as a special guest referee in the main event, and Mr. T who teamed with Hulk Hogan in the main event to defeat Rowdy Roddy Piper and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorf. This, and a hugely stacked card of some of the greatest and most well-known wrestlers in the world at the time, as well as some hefty promotion from MTV, made WrestleMania become the annual pinnacle of professional wrestling.

2) WrestleMania 3 - March 29, 1987

WrestleMania 3 is probably the most well known of all WrestleMania's and is most memorable for the clip of "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan body-slamming the massive 7 feet 4 inches tall and over 540 pounds in weight, Andre The Giant. That is one of the most famous clips in the history of televised professional wrestling, and when the name WrestleMania is mentioned, that clip is one of the first that comes to mind. WrestleMania 3 was also the setting for one of the greatest matches of all time, and one of my personal favorites, "Macho Man" Randy Savage versus Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

3) WrestleMania 4 - March 27, 1988

WrestleMania 4 was the setting of one of the biggest tournaments of all time for the then vacant WWF World Championship. The main event and last match of the tournament featured "Macho Man" Randy Savage versus "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase. This match was an absolute classic, and one that you will not hear the WWE talk about nowadays due to the McMahon family hatred to the Macho Man. However, this is certainly not one to be overlooked as it is easily one of the standout moments in WrestleMania history, and featured Macho Man's first ever World Heavyweight Championship and his rise to superstardom after holding the Intercontinental

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