Wrestlemania 28 Countdown 59 Days Until Mania: The Very First Mania Match

We are right onthe Road to Wrestlemania, with fifty nine days and counting to go to the showof shows, the grandest spectacle in all of Sports Entertainment, that beingWrestlemania 28. We do know officially naturally that the Rock will be goingone on one with John Cena and also Sheamus will be receiving a championshipmatch as per his victory in the 2012 Royal Rumble. There are other rumoredmatches but nothing official.

All great shows have to startsomewhere, and I talk about the very first match in Wrestlemania history as wecount down to the show, the Executioner taking on Tito Santana, March 31^st1985 at Wrestlemania I

Tito Santana vs. The Executioner-All Storied Shows Have to Start Somewhere

The feel for the firstWrestlemania, as put on by the World Wrestling Federation in 1985, was ratherdifferent. Taking a look at the show from a glance, there was little differenceabout how the actual matches were put together than your average monthlyMadison Square Garden show. In fact, the set was a more low key affair as well.It was not until Wrestlemania 3 with the ring carts where things got a bit moreelaborate.

However, the show was presentedas a spectacle. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T taking on Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful”Paul Orndorf in the main event. There was Liberace, Billy Martin, Muhammed Ali,Cindy Lauper, all of the great celebrities of the day.

And we started out with ashowcase for one of the most solid workhorses, a staple of the WWE midcardscene for years to come, that being Tito Santana, taking on the Executioner.The Executioner has been a name that has been used countless times for variousmasked men. This particular Executioner was “Playboy” Buddy Rose, who wasfamous up in the Pacific Northwest Territory, and later would have a primeinductee into the halls of Wrestlecrap with his Blowaway Diet later on in theWorld Wrestling Federation. The Executioner made some veiled threats, promisingto work on the leg of Santana that had been previously injured in his feud withGreg “The Hammer” Valentine.

This was a standard opening bout,nothing special but nothing too bad. Santana was being prepared to regain theIntercontinental Title. All of the kinks had not been worked out. It wasSantana who punished the legs of the Executioner and won with the figure fourleglock. The first match in Wrestlemania was in the books. It would not be onthe list of everyone’s list of great Mania bouts, but it wasn’t a half badmatch for what it was.

This would also be the only win TitoSantana would have at Wrestlemania until he won a dark match against PapaShango in 1993. Santana’s final Wrestlemania record was 2-7, but  we salute him for getting the first win inWrestlemania history, as the road to Wrestlemania 28 continues to April 1^stin Miami Florida.