Wrestlemania 1
Executioner v Tito Santana 5/10
SD Jones v King Kong Bundy 1/10
Ricky Steamboat v Matt Borne 6/10
David Sammartino v Brutus Beefcake 1.5/10
JYD v Greg Valentine 5/10
Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda vs. Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik 6/10
Andre the Giant vs. Big. John Studd 4/10
Wendi Richter vs. Lelani Kai 5/10
Hulk Hogan & Mr T vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper & Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff 6.5/10
All round PPV Rating 6/10

Wrestlemania 2
Don Muraco vs. Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff 2/10
George The Animal Steele vs. Randy Macho Man Savage 4/10
Jake The Snake Roberts vs. George Wells 4/10
Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Mr T in a boxing match 4/10
Fabulous Moolah vs. Velvet McIntyre 1/10
Cpl. Kirschner vs. Nikolai Volkoff 4/10
Greg The Hammer Valentine & Brutus Beefcake vs. The British Bulldogs 8/10
20-Man Battle Royal with wrestlers and NFL players 6/10
Hercules Hernandez vs. Ricky Steamboat 4/10
Adrian Adonis vs. Uncle Elmer 2/10
Terry & Dory Funk vs. Junkyard Dog & Tito Santana 6/10
Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy 5/10
All round PPV Rating 5/10

WRESTLEMANIA 1
the executioner vs tito santana
santana carries this to an decent match , not exactly brilliant...............2.5 out of 5 stars
King kong bundy vs SD jones
this match is designed to make bundy look like a monster and it works...................1 out of 5 stars
Ricky steamboat vs matt borne
not bad could of been better because it was a ricky steamboat match...............2.5 out of 5 stars
david sammartino vs brutus beefcake
this match made me yawn a lot the worst match on the show.......................0.5 out of 5 stars
Junkyard dog vs greg valentine for the intercontinental championship
entertaining in places but could of been better , ok not brilliant....................2 out of 5 stars
U.S. Express (barry windham & mike rotunda) vs Nikolai volkoff & iron sheik for the tag team championship
maybe the best match on wrestlemania 1 good action by all 4 superstars....................3 out of 5 stars
andre the giant vs big john studd
a lot of kick, punch kick routine in this match kind of makes you yawn..................1 out of 5 stars
wendi richter vs lelani kai for the womens championship
both women try hard in this match and the interference of fabulous moolah & cyndi lauper is a bit too much....................3 out of 5 stars
Rowdy roddy piper & Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff vs Mr T & Hulk hogan
entertaining but the match seems all over the place in certain bits ....................2.5 out of 5 stars

WRESTLEMANIA 2
Don Muraco vs Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff
starts off really well but the finish of the match ruins the whole match....................1.5 out of 5 stars
george the animal steele vs macho man randy savage for the intercontinental championship
pretty much a comedy match but a good storyline behind the match................2 out of 5 stars
jake the snake roberts vs george wells
this match is pretty much a card filler but not bad to watch.................2 out of 5 stars
rowdy roddy piper vs Mr T in a Boxing Match
the worst match on the show skip this match if you can.......................0.5 out of 5 stars
fabulous moolah vs velvet mcintyre for the womens championship
this match happens to quickly and its not worth watching........................0.5 out of 5 stars
Cpl. Kirschner vs Nikolai volkoff
again this match happens to quick to care ..........................0.5 out of 5 stars
20 Man battle royal WWF/WWE /NFL
very crazy a lot of action the right person wins this match.................3 out of 5 stars
The Dream Team (greg the hammer valentine & brutus beefcake) vs the british bulldogs (dynamite kid & Davey boy smith) for the tag team championship
very good match maybe the best on wrestle mania 2 & plenty of action..........................3.5 out of 5 stars
Hercules hernandez vs ricky steamboat
did not expect much from this match but is was a decent match....................3 out of 5 stars
adrian adonis vs uncle elmer
thank god this is a quick match skip this match if you can......................1 out of 5 stars
terry funk & hoss funk (dory funk jr) vs junkyard dog & tito santana
a crazy match but that is what you expect with a match if terry funk is involved ....................3 out of 5 stars
Hulk hogan vs king kong bundy for the wwe championship in a steel cage match
surprisingly a good match with plenty of action and blood decent main event.......................3.5 out of 5 stars
in my opinion wrestle mania 2 is better than wrestle mania 1 but both worth watching

These events have one hook to them - nostalgia. Because if you're after basically anything else (promos, wrestling, amazing feuds, presentation, excitement), these two Wrestlemania's are *not* it. In fact, I'd say WM II is the worst Wrestlemania of them all, without hesitation. They're not completely unredeemable, strangely, but getting to anything decent (and I do mean 'decent' - not brilliant or excellent) means wading through a torrent of filler rubbish that wouldn't meet the quality of a show like Superstars or Heat!

Wrestlemania I
Well, the main attraction is obviously Hogan / Mr. T (wi. Superfly) vs. Piper / Orndorff (wi. Orton). War to Settle the Score is much better than this here. The match is a bit overrated and not the best outing for Hogan, Piper or Orndorff. It's a bit scratchy and messy, and I just can't see why it's so popular beyond the hype machine built around it at the time.

The rest of the matches on the card swerve between the passable (Santana, who can't give a bad match, and Steamboat who is precisely the same) and the excruciatingly bad. The fact is, the most memorable match on the card is King Kong Bundy's squash match of S.D. Jones, and only because it sets a record not broken until Rey Mysterio did it flashier 25 years later. It hurts to say this, but there's no spectacle. I'm a BIG fan of 80's wrestling, and most of the guys on the event are favourites of mine... but for some reason I can't watch WM I and find much entertainment from it. It's sad, but it's a product of it's time and that time isn't now.

Watch it for:
King Kong Bundy creating the idea of a literal 'squash' match.
Big John Studd vs. Andre the Giant
Steamboat & Santana proving what technical brilliance and precise wrestling acumen will do for you.
The main event, whilst bland, is historical and certainly cemented Hogan's career for the next ten years.

Wrestlemania II
Even more painful is Wrestlemania II. It's worse. It really is.

The name value is even lower on this event - who the heck is George Wells anyway? - and the star power is just generally lower (at least Wrestlemania I had Liberace and Muhammad Ali - here we have Elvira... and Ozzy Osborn in pink!). On this subject, there are three commentary teams - two men, one woman on each. I'm not chauvinistic, but the women here are AWFUL. Elvira is the best of the three, and her contribution is basically 'I want these wrestlers to get nekkid, but why is King Kong Bundy so fat?' And to be fair, except the best team with Jessie the Body, Elvira and Lord Alfred Hayes, I get the impression the men were ignoring the women's contribution anyway. So why bother?

Speaking of women... avoid the Moolah match. Another reviewer on this site did a run down of the match and all the dropkicks it included. It's easier and less painful to read that review than watch the match. Really.

And yet it's not the worst match on display! Hercules manages to do the impossible and make a Ricky Steamboat match boring (Hercules isn't known to be a ring technician, but this is the worst I've seen him). And it's not even the worst - Uncle Elmer? Who the...?! The guy throws a punch and is so ungraceful, he falls on his butt. Sorry, but it's hardly Bret Hart or the Big Show.

Kirschner is pretty much OTT to the nth degree, and that's not good (he wasn't good as Leatherface either). Adrian Adonis gets given The Worst Gimmick Ever (and still manages to wrestle better than half of the roster on this show!). I won't mention the boxing match - I'm never a fan of this type of thing in wrestling (i.e. Brawl for All, Wrestlemania with Big Show etc.). I watch wrestling for wrestling, not for boxing. So I just usually skip this. I started this but ended up skipping it.

Suffice it to say... it's not all doom and gloom, somehow! Randy Savage and George Steele put on a decent solid performance, if a little goofy. Again, no wrestling per se, but a good show. The Bulldogs / Valentine & Beefcake match is surprisingly sub-par considering the talent on show, but the ending is novel and a surprise, and Dynamite sold an amazing end to the match. That ending alone is scarred in my memory for a long time, for good reasons. The Funk match is also okay - Funk does his best to sell like h*ll and even takes an EXTREME table bump (in the years before Extreme became mainstream). The Battle Royale would have been better if we didn't have nameless jock heroes and instead had more wrestlers - more stunt celebrity stuff that didn't really mean a lot then, and doesn't mean a lot on this modern day setting. Andre kicks butt, though.

And then you have King Kong Bundy vs. Hogan in a cage. I know Hogan isn't fond of this match, but weirdly, I found it far better than the WM I compromise. There was actually some wrestling (until Hogan no sold the Avalanche, but that's par the course). I found this match a surprise - where the main event was better than anything below it! That's certainly not Wrestlemania tradition...

So buy or miss? I'm sorry, as much as the wrestling fan within wants to scrunch up and not write this, Wrestlemania I is just plain, whilst Wrestlemania II, in some parts, is appalling with just blandness - and one okay cage match - to balance it out. Like I said, when a match makes Steamboat look average, you've got a LOT of issues.

Saying that, Wrestlemania I was an experiment - and a successful one as far as history goes. Wrestlemania II was also an experiment, albeit less successful (I did enjoy the 'hook' of three main events, three venues and three broadcast teams). I think neither has aged well, and if you really have to buy this for your collection, then it surely must be as a completist, not for entertainment. Better Wrestlemanias would include III, VI, VII, 10, 12, XX, and 24-26. Go there instead.