Wrestlemania

WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced annually in mid-late March or early April by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. WWE first produced the event in 1985 to be its premier annual event and has since produced twenty-nine editions, the thirtieth in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2014. WWE regards it as a flagship event due to it being the most successful and longest-running professional wrestling event in history. WrestleMania was conceptualized by WWE owner Vince McMahon.

WrestleMania's widespread success helped transform the professional wrestling industry and make WWE the most successful wrestling promotion in the world. The event has facilitated the rise to stardom of wrestlers including Hulk Hogan, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Bret Hart, The Ultimate Warrior, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, The Rock, John Cena, Batista, Triple H, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, Edge and CM Punk. Celebrities such as Aretha Franklin, Cyndi Lauper, Muhammad Ali, Mr. T, Alice Cooper, Lawrence Taylor, Pamela Anderson, Mike Tyson, Donald Trump, Floyd Mayweather, Snoop Dogg and others have participated or made special appearances within the events.

WrestleMania propels the worldwide commercial success of the WWE through media, merchandise and shows. All of the events produced have been sold out within a short period of time, with recent editions being sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale. The first WrestleMania was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City; the 10th and 20th editions were also held there. WrestleMania III in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan was the highest-attended indoor sports event in the world, with 93,173 (disputed) fans in attendance. The record stood until February 14, 2010, when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game broke the indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium. All but the two editions held in Toronto, Canada have been hosted in U.S. cities.

Organization
While WrestleMania events have taken place mostly in sports arenas in large cities, a number of them have occurred in large stadiums. The most-attended events include WrestleMania III (93,173) in Pontiac, WrestleMania VI (67,678) in Toronto, WrestleMania VIII (62,167) in Indianapolis, WrestleMania X-Seven (67,925) in Houston, WrestleMania X8 (68,237) also in Toronto, WrestleMania XIX (54,097) in Seattle, WrestleMania 23 (80,103) in Detroit, WrestleMania XXIV (74,635) in Orlando, WrestleMania XXV (72,744) also in Houston, WrestleMania XXVI (72,219) in Glendale, WrestleMania XXVII (71,617) in Atlanta, WrestleMania XXVIII (78,363) in Miami Gardens, and WrestleMania 29 (80,676) in East Rutherford.

WrestleMania centers on the main event matches for the WWE Championship, and since WrestleMania XIX, the World Heavyweight Championship. The ECW World Championship was only defended once—at WrestleMania XXIV. Other WWE championships are also contested for, while gimmick matches and personal feud matches also take place on the match card.

Since 1993, the winner of the annual Royal Rumble match has been able to receive a guaranteed WWE Championship match at the same year's WrestleMania. With the introduction of the World Heavyweight Championship in 2002, the winner is also given the option to choose between the world title or the WWE championship. The creation of the ECW brand in June 2006 gave the Rumble winner a third option: to choose to challenge for the ECW World Championship. This option was made available from 2007 until the brand was retired in 2010. However, this option was never chosen.

WrestleMania 21 saw the introduction of the Money in the Bank ladder match. This match features six to ten participants and took place at six WrestleManias between 2005 and 2010 before becoming the headline match of its own pay-per-view event, Money in the Bank which incorporated the use of two Money in the Bank ladder matches for both respective WWE brands, SmackDown and Raw. The participant who retrieves the briefcase suspended above the ring wins a contract, which guarantees a world title match at the time and place of the winner's choosing for up to one year, including the following year's WrestleMania.

Commentators
For five of the first six WrestleManias Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura served as the color commentators (the exception being WrestleMania 2, which was split among three venues and had Monsoon, Ventura, and Vince McMahon split up with guest commentators), while Bobby Heenan and others filled guest roles. For WrestleMania VII and VIII, Monsoon and Heenan provided color commentary. In the mid to late 1990s the commentator team comprised Vince McMahon, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler. Since the brand separation in 2002, matches from the Raw brand have been called by Ross and Lawler; the SmackDown matches called by Michael Cole, Tazz, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Jonathan Coachman, and from 2006 to 2010, the ECW matches called by Joey Styles and Tazz. At WrestleMania XXV the first three man inter-brand commentary team since the WWE Brand Extension was used, and consisted of Jim Ross, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Michael Cole. The following year Jim Ross was replaced by Matt Striker at WrestleMania XXVI. At WrestleMania XXVII Jim Ross returned to commentate, along with Josh Matthews and new SmackDown color commentator Booker T; the sudden change of commentary was due to a singles match between regular commentators Michael Cole and Jerry "The King" Lawler. Howard Finkel, who is credited with coming up with the name "WrestleMania" in 1984, has served as the long-standing ring-announcer and has appeared at every event, but since the WWE Brand Extension, Lilian Garcia, Tony Chimel and Justin Roberts have taken over as announcers for their respective brand matches.

1980's
The World Wrestling Federation staged the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The main event was a tag-team match between the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, accompanied by Jimmy Snuka against the team of Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff, who were accompanied by Cowboy Bob Orton. The financial and critical success of the event secured the company's status as the most successful promotion in the United States, rising above competitors such as the National Wrestling Alliance and American Wrestling Association. In attendance were business celebrity Sy Sperling and broadcasting executive Tony D'Angelo. WrestleMania 2 was held the following year and took place in three venues across the country. The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois, and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. They each featured multiple matches that led up to the main event; this saw WWF Champion Hulk Hogan defeat the challenger King Kong Bundy in a steel cage match.

A world indoor attendance-record of 93,173 fans was set at WrestleMania III, which was also the largest paying attendance in the history of professional wrestling at the time. The event is widely considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom. To make certain that every seat in the Pontiac Silverdome would be filled, the WWF decided to exclude the entire state of Michigan from pay-per-view access to the event, which made attending the event the only way for fans in Michigan to see it. The event featured Hulk Hogan defending the WWF Championship against André the Giant and the WWF Intercontinental Championship match between Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat.

WrestleMania IV was an all tournament event to crown a new WWF Champion. The second round of the tournament featured a rematch of the previous year's main event between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant while Randy Savage went on to defeat Ted DiBiase in the finals. The event returned the following year to Atlantic City, New Jersey for WrestleMania V, in which Hulk Hogan defeated Randy Savage for the WWF Championship Savage had won the previous year.

1990's
The first time WrestleMania took place outside of the United States was WrestleMania VI, which was held at the SkyDome, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In the main event match, The Ultimate Warrior won the WWF Championship from Hulk Hogan. The following year, the event returned to the United States for WrestleMania VII, which was originally scheduled to be held at the outdoors Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The event was moved to the adjacent indoors Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena for security reasons related to the Gulf War. The event saw Hulk Hogan face Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF Championship, while The Undertaker made his WrestleMania debut defeating Jimmy Snuka. Since then, The Undertaker has been undefeated in all of his WrestleMania matches. The next edition, WrestleMania VIII, was held in the Hoosier Dome with Macho Man Randy Savage defeating Ric Flair for the WWF Championship and Hulk Hogan defeating Sid Justice via disqualification.

WrestleMania IX was the first WrestleMania held at an outdoor venue. It was also the first and only time in Wrestlemania history that the WWF title switched twice. Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart to become the WWF Champion, only to lose it to Hulk Hogan. The tenth edition of the event, WrestleMania X saw its return to Madison Square Garden. The event featured Owen Hart defeating his elder brother Bret; a ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship also headlined, in which Razor Ramon defeated Shawn Michaels. Bret having been defeated earlier won the WWF title from Yokozuna in the main event. Bret is the only wrestler in Wrestlemania history to lose his first match and come back to win the WWF title in the main event. Michaels defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF Championship in a 60-minute Iron Man match at WrestleMania XII. The match is considered to be one of the best matches in the history of the event. The event also saw the return of the Ultimate Warrior who defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley (later known as Triple H) in the latter's WrestleMania debut.. The following year at WrestleMania 13, a submission match pitted Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin against one another in a bout that received much acclaim and The Undertaker defeated Psycho Sid for the WWF Championship in the main event.

At WrestleMania XIV, Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Shawn Michaels to become the new WWF Champion in a match that featured Mike Tyson serving as the special enforcer. Although Tyson had been aligned with Michaels and his stable D-Generation X, Tyson revealed to have been aligned with Austin all along as he personally counted the pinfall and declared Austin the winner. The Undertaker and Kane fought for first time at this event where The Undertaker won. The event became known for starting "The Attitude Era." The following year at WrestleMania XV, Austin defeated The Rock to regain the WWF Championship. The event featured the first of many encounters at WrestleMania between Steve Austin and The Rock in the rivalry of the two most prominent and popular stars of The Attitude Era.

2000's
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2010's
At WrestleMania XXVI, the professional wrestling career of Matt Hardy came to an end as he faced The Undertaker. The event also featured CM Punk winning the WWE Championship and Gregory Helms winning the World Heavyweight Championship.

WrestleMania XXVII featured Shawn Michaels successfully defend his WWE Championship against Triple H and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, while Papydum won the World Heavyweight Championship beating Cody Rhodes only to lose it to Montel Vontavious Porter who cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase.

WrestleMania XXVIII had three "main event" matches. In the first main event, The Undertaker defeated John Cena in a Hell in a Cell match via pinfall, for Control of the WWE. The second main event featured Matt Hardy winning the WWE Championship from Sean Marino. The third and final main event of the night featured Christian winning the World Heavyweight Championship from Chris Jericho.

In 2013, Wrestlemania XXIX broke the attendance record set the previous year with 80,676 fans in attendance, becoming the second highest Wrestlemania, attendance wise. This Wrestlemania had 3 main events. The first saw Sterling James Keenan retain the World Heavyweight Championship against Heath Slater; Lizzie Ryan defeating Paige to win the WWE Divas Championship. Also, Tyler Chandler defeated Road Dogg to retain the WWE Championship.

Celebrity involvement
Over the years, WrestleMania has featured many celebrity appearances with varying levels of involvement. The main event of the first WrestleMania showcased numerous celebrities along with the wrestlers. Billy Martin served as ring announcer with Liberace as timekeeper, and Muhammad Ali served as an official. Mr. T competed in the main event alongside tag team partner, Hulk Hogan. WrestleMania 2 featured a 20-man battle royal pitting several NFL players against WWF wrestlers, while Lawrence Taylor faced Bam Bam Bigelow at WrestleMania XI. Mike Tyson appeared at WrestleMania XIV as the special guest enforcer for the WWF Championship bout between Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, while professional boxer Butterbean was challenged to a boxing match by Bart Gunn at WrestleMania XV. At WrestleManias XIV, XV and 2000, Pete Rose became involved in a short feud with Kane that became a running gag with each appearance ending with Rose receiving a Tombstone piledriver or chokeslam from Kane. The Big Show faced sumo wrestling yokozuna Akebono in a sumo contest at WrestleMania 21 and fought professional welterweight boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. at WrestleMania XXIV. Jersey Shore star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi competed in a 6-person tag team match teaming with Trish Stratus and John Morrison in a winning effort against Dolph Ziggler and LayCool (Layla and Michelle McCool).

The event has also featured live musical performances. Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire, Little Richard, Boyz II Men, Ashanti, Boys Choir of Harlem, Michelle Williams, John Legend, Nicole Scherzinger, Fantasia Barrino, and Keri Hilson have each renditioned the songs "The Star-Spangled Banner" or "America the Beautiful" before the show. Robert Goulet performed "O Canada" at WrestleMania VI. Acts such as Motörhead, Limp Bizkit, Saliva, Run–D.M.C., Salt-n-Pepa, Living Colour, Ice-T, Drowning Pool, Flo Rida, P.O.D., and Kid Rock have also performed during the live entrances of competitors.

Wrestlemania Axxess
In 1988, the World Wrestling Federation in association with The Trump Organization prepared a small festival to celebrate WrestleMania IV, which included autograph signings, a brunch, and a five kilometer run; the event was held again in 1989 for WrestleMania V. In 1992, a festival was held the day of WrestleMania VIII which included a WWF superstar look-alike contest and a tournament for the WWF WrestleFest arcade game. In 1993, the WWF held a "WrestleMania Brunch" the day of WrestleMania IX at Caesars Palace, during the course of which Lex Luger attacked Bret Hart. In 1994, the WWF offered "Fan Fest" for the weekend of WrestleMania X, which allowed fans to step inside a WWF ring, participate in games, meet superstars, and purchase merchandise; the event was followed up in 1995 with another "Fan Fest" for WrestleMania XI. In 1999, the WWF held its first Saturday pre-WrestleMania event taking place on March 27, 1999. WrestleMania Rage Party as it was known was televised live on the USA Network from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. (EST). The event was to be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The idea of the event was "...to celebrate the final WrestleMania of the millennium..."

The following year the WWF held its first WrestleMania Axxess event at the Anaheim Convention Center expanding upon the party idea of WrestleMania Rage Party. The event included autograph signings and mementos to inductees of the WWE Hall of Fame. There were also activities where fans could enter a wrestling ring and commentate a wrestling match. In 2001, WrestleMania Axxess was held at the Reliant Hall which expanded upon the event by adding numerous activities including areas where attendees could buy special merchandise, see a production truck and check out special WWE vehicles. From 2002, WrestleMania Axxess would be extended to a three-day event (March 14–16) and would be held at the Canadian National Exhibition. The three-day event included similar activities to that of the one day line-up. In 2007, WrestleMania Axxess went on tour around cities in both the United States and Canada.

Dates, venues, and main events
Wrestlemania 31-March 29, 2015 Santa Clara, California- Levi's Stadium