10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE WrestleMania
The man who stopped Vince McMahon naming WrestleMania 'The Colossal Tussle' REVEALED!
Since its inception on March 31, 1985, WrestleMania has been the most important date on WWE's calendar. The mixture of wrestling's top stars, appetising dream matches, brushes with celebrity, and the overall majestic flair have made WrestleMania the pre-eminent annual event in all of the wrestling industry.
Stars have been made, legends enhanced, and moments have been etched our minds for the past 34 years, and all will continue to be seemingly forevermore.
The allure of the event lends itself well to curiosity, the history of WrestleMania always capable of astounding the interested mind. Even those who've seen every WrestleMania forward and backward a thousand times over (courageously subjecting themselves to WrestleMania 32 more than once) can still pick up a few tidbits of history that are a bit less commonly known.
As we prepare to feast on the 36th out of what figures to be an eternal series of grand spectacles, let us learn a little bit more about the WrestleManias that preceded it.
10. Naming Wrongs
The persisting legend is that cherished ring announcer Howard Finkel was the man who came up with the term "WrestleMania", and given its timelessness, perhaps The Fink's birthday of June 7 should be set aside as an international holiday.
Coming up with event names is far from easy, and coining a name that carries the simple majesty of WrestleMania deserves all the credit you can muster. After all, the name could have been much, *much* worse.
During the event's initial planning stages in the late summer of 1984, Vince McMahon and a group of officials settled on a very peculiar name of (wait for it) The Colossal Tussle.
Yes, really.
Former wrestler-turned-McMahon confidante George Scott claims that he convinced his boss to reconsider, and eventually, Finkel's WrestleMania invention won out.
WWE ran events with rhyming names as MTV specials, including The Brawl to End it All and The War to Settle the Score, though those are admittedly much catchier than The Colossal Tussle. Ain't nobody pointing at a goddamn Colossal Tussle sign.
Written by Justin Henry
In addition to writing lists and commentaries for Cultaholic, Justin is also a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine, and is co-author of the WWE-related book Titan Screwed: Lost Smiles, Stunners, and Screwjobs.