WrestleMania season is once again in the air as WWE winds towards their flagship entertainment spectacular, with that in mind we take a look at some of the lesser-known records from The Show Of Shows.
The 38th installment of WrestleMania emanates from the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas and it could be a record-shattering affair for the company. The last time WWE held WrestleMania in ‘Jerry World’ they claimed to have broken their own attendance record, with 101,763 fans said to have been in attendance.
Given that the upcoming show is being billed as The Most Stupendous Two Night WrestleMania In History, the company will be looking to double that number and sell over 200,000 tickets for their showpiece event.
While that’s a record yet to be smashed, let’s take a look at some of the records from 37 years’ worth of WrestleMania shows that are still standing.
1. Most Appearances Without A Win – Goldust – 7
How many times can you show up on The Grandest Stage Of Them All and come away with the loser’s share of the purse? For some WWE Superstars that only appear at the event once or twice in their career that could be expected, but seven times? That’s more than a case of bad luck.
Alas, Dustin Rhodes – better known to WWE audiences as the inimitable Goldust – achieved such a feat over his WrestleMania appearances that spanned from 1996 until 2016. The record could be even worse for Rhodes as this doesn’t take in his dark match or pre-show appearances in Battle Royals and later the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal that would take his total WrestleMania record to a depressing 0-12. So let’s just stick with the seven losses.
Goldust’s WrestleMania career began promisingly enough when he faced ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper in an infamous Hollywood Backlot Brawl in 1996. Speaking at a live show with Inside The Ropes, Rhodes went into detail about that bout with Piper:
“Vince went out and bought a brand new white Bronco, just like OJ Simpson had. Same year, same colour, all that stuff. Then, he got me an old piece of sh*t Cadillac and spray painted it gold. I’m not to get any offense in, at all. This is all Roddy kicking my ass.”
“The only piece of offense I get is a nut shot, then I get in the car and drive off. And when I drive off, I clip the Bronco. It didn’t work like that. To start, I pull around the corner and there’s Roddy with the bat. He drops the bat and pulls up this big firehose and starts squirting me, like that’s gonna stop the car, right? But it does.”
“He picks up the bat and bashes in the window. Glass went everywhere and he cut his hand. I climbed out the other side and he commenced kicking my ass. For real. He hit me a couple of times with the bat. He threw me into this dumpster and it did not budge. I banged my head so hard that I had a concussion.”
“Vince didn’t want any blood. I talked to Roddy beforehand and said, ‘I want you to bust me open hardway.’ He said, ‘Sure. No problem.’ He hits me square in the forehead, not the eye. There’s no blood, nothing. I’m like, ‘do it again.’ You can see on the second shot when he hit me in the same spot, he broke his hand. I got a concussion, he’s got a broken hand. I’m p*ssed that I don’t have any blood.”
“I nut shot him, jump in my car, and I’m revving up the engine. One of the other things we talked about was, he’s going to move out of the way as I drive past him and I clip his Bronco. I’m waiting for him to move — I’m not driving too fast, maybe 10-15 MPH — I’m driving and he’s not moving. He’s not moving and his knee just buckles on the car. He grabs the hood and I’m looking at him and I’m like, ‘I just killed Roddy Piper.'”
This defeat to Piper was followed up a year later by a loss to Triple H. Marc Mero and Sable defeated The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust and Luna at WrestleMania 14 a year before Goldust, Ken Shamrock, and Val Venis failed to unseat Road Dogg as Intercontinental Champion.
At WrestleMania 18 in 2002, Dustin Rhodes had his last WrestleMania singles match as he fought Maven for the Hardcore Title. The match ended prematurely however as Spike Dudley took advantage of the 24/7 rule to win the title from Maven during the bout, ending the match.
The only other main show WrestleMania appearances in Rhodes’ career came at WrestleMania 30 and 32 when he was part of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Cesaro claimed the first victory in 2014 and 2016’s multi-man bout was won by Baron Corbin.
2. Most Losses – Triple H – 13
Everyone knows who has the most WrestleMania wins in their career with that accolade belonging to someone who built a legendary WrestleMania Streak, but who is at the other end of the scale? None other than a three-time victim of that Streak, Triple H.
The Game’s WrestleMania career didn’t get off to the best start as he was sacrificed to The Ultimate Warrior who was making his grand – and short-lived – WWE return at WrestleMania 12. By the time Triple H graced his first main event at WrestleMania, he was 2-2 at the event but a Vince McMahon-inspired victory at WrestleMania 2000 boosted him to a winning record.
Three of Triple H’s losses came in back-to-back main events with The Game losing out to Chris Benoit, Batista, and John Cena between 2004 and 2006. Further losses to Randy Orton, The Undertaker, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns were interspersed with huge wins for Triple H over the likes of Brock Lesnar, Sheamus, and Sting.
The Game’s last appearance at WrestleMania came in 2019 when he avenged his loss from 14 years prior to his Evolution teammate, Batista.
3. Oldest WrestleMania Competitor – Jimmy Snuka – 65
‘Superfly’ Jimmy Snuka takes the record for the oldest wrestler to compete at WrestleMania at the grand old age of 65. In 2009, Snuka teamed up with fellow WWE Hall Of Famers Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat and ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper in a three-on-one handicap match against Chris Jericho.
Jericho had begun belittling the elder statesmen of pro wrestling after his proposed WrestleMania bout against Mickey Rourke who had starred in the movie The Wrestler fell apart. Despite the years of experience opposing him, Jericho pulled out a victory before goading a watching Rourke into the ring and taking a punch from the Hollywood star.
Steamboat stole the show on the night, however, proving that he had indeed still got it. The Dragon came back the following month to take on Jericho in a one-on-one encounter at Backlash but again Jericho’s youth proved too much for the former Intercontinental Champion.
Jimmy Snuka also competed at WrestleMania 6 where he lost to Rick Rude and WrestleMania 7 where he became the first victim of The Undertaker’s legendary Streak.
Snuka remained a controversial name in the wrestling business until his death in 2017 with many linking him to the death of his then-girlfriend Nancy Argentino in 1983.
This record could be shattered once WrestleMania 38 is in the books if the rumoured bout featuring 76-year-old WWE Chairman Vince McMahon comes to fruition.
4. Shortest WrestleMania Match – The Rock vs. Erick Rowan – 6 Seconds
The last time The Rock was advertised to appear on The Grandest Stage Of Them All was back at WrestleMania 29 where ran back a ‘once in a lifetime’ main event with John Cena, but this time for the WWE Championship. Cena vanquished the man who defeated him a year prior at WrestleMania 28, capturing the biggest prize in WWE for the eleventh time in his career.
However, The Great One has competed at WrestleMania since then in a blink and you’ll miss it bout against The Wyatt Family’s Erick Rowan. The Rock appeared to the delight of the Dallas crowd at WrestleMania 32, to let the fans know they had broken the all-time WrestleMania attendance record and it seems The People’s Champ wasn’t content with just one record falling that night.
Bray Wyatt and The Wyatt Family soon interrupted proceedings with Wyatt promising to eviscerate The Rock. Not taking that threat lying down, The Rock laid down the challenge for a match, and Rowan was the sacrificial lamb. One Rock Bottom later and The Rock had his quickest WrestleMania win to date in just six seconds.
Bearing in mind that from the first strains of his entrance music to The Rock gracing the crowd with his trademark “Finally…” took just over six minutes, then Thre Great One could have fit in another hundred wins over Rowan but then, that might have been excessive.
5. Youngest Main Eventer – Brock Lesnar
At the age of 25, Brock Lesnar became the youngest WWE Champion of all time – a record that still stands to this day – when he defeated The Rock at SummerSlam in 2002.
Sending The Rock off to Hollywood, Lesnar survived a blood feud with The Undertaker to carry the title into the 2002 Survivor Series against The Big Show. It was here Brock Lesnar found out for the first time how costly trusting Paul Heyman could be as his advocate stabbed Lesnar in the back, helping Big Show to emerge with the title.
Two months later, Brock Lesnar guaranteed himself a shot to win his title back by winning his first Royal Rumble match. That set up the WrestleMania 19 main event of Lesnar challenging Kurt Angle – who had since bested Big Show for the gold – in a dream match.
Still, 25 when The Show Of Shows rolled into Seattle, Brock Lesnar is still the youngest competitor to headline a WrestleMania event, and he also almost became the youngest headliner to break his neck in a match, but the less said about THAT Shooting Star Press, the better.
6. First Title Change – WWF Tag Team Championship
The first championship that ever changed hands in WrestleMania history did so at the very first event in 1985. In the sixth match of the event, the hated team of The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff teamed up to face the WWF Tag Team Champions The U.S. Express – Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda.
The U.S. Express had held the championship since defeating The North-South Connection of Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch at a house show in January 1985. From late 1984 The Iron Sheik and Volkoff had formed a successful tag team and were feuding with The Express for several months before their title match at the very first Show Of Shows.
Nikolai Volkoff’s singing of the Soviet national anthem might not have been received well from the Madison Square Garden crowd but Volkoff and The Iron Sheik got the last laugh when they humbled The U.S. Express to win the gold in the first WrestleMania title change ever.
7. Most Announcer Appearances – Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler – 24
Many announcers have sat at the commentary table at WrestleMania over the past thirty-seven years but none have done so more times than Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler.
Lawler made his maiden WrestleMania appearance in 1994 when he joined Vince McMahon at the commentary desk. On that night The King was both delighted by the fact Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon crushed Doink and Dink, and disgusted by the fact Bret Hart emerged from the event as WWF Champion.
Over the next few decades, Jerry Lawler found himself at the commentary desk on The Grandest Stage Of Them All – either for the whole show or for part of it – a whopping 24 times. This puts him well out in front of WWE Hall Of Famers such as Jim Ross (17 appearances), Jesse Ventura (6), Bobby Heenan (5), and Gorilla Monsoon (8).
Only Michael Cole is likely to surpass Lawler’s record in the near future with the man who beat The King at WrestleMania 27 currently having lent his voice to WrestleMania twenty times over the years.
Jerry Lawler was last heard at the commentary desk for WrestleMania in 2021 where he helped provide the soundtrack to Braun Strowman’s dismantling of Shane McMahon inside a steel cage.
8. Only Main Eventer To Be Born In The ’90s – Sasha Banks
For fans of a certain age, this might be quite the wake-up call but yes, someone born in the 1990s has headlined WrestleMania.
Sasha Banks was 29 years old when she headlined WrestleMania 37 with Bianca Belair. Although not the youngest WrestleMania headliner in history, Banks is the only one with the honour to be born in the nineties – her birthday January 26th, 1992. The Boss is exactly one week younger than the 1992 Royal Rumble where Ric Flair won the WWF Title.
Banks earned her place in the main event of WrestleMania in 2021 by virtue of being SmackDown Women’s Champion going into the event. That year’s women’s Royal Rumble winner Bianca Belair challenged Banks for the title with The EST of WWE coming out with the gold, adding to Banks’ woes on The Grandest Stage Of Them All as she has appeared five times at WrestleMania without a victory.
However, at just 30 years old as WrestleMania 38 approaches, Sasha Banks will no doubt have many more opportunities to headline on The Grandest Stage Of Them All and hopefully, pick up a win.
9. State That Has Played Host To Most WrestleManias – California
California knows how to party and it also knows how to throw a superb WrestleMania with the Golden State playing host to the event more times than any other US state. California has played host six times to WrestleMania – and its seventh outing as host will come in 2023 when the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood plays host to WrestleMania 39.
WrestleMania first took place on the west coast in 1986 with WrestleMania 2 held in three different locations including Chicago and New York. The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena played host to the final portion of the show which saw Hulk Hogan retain his WWF Title against King Kong Bundy.
The same arena played host to WrestleMania 7 in 1991 where Hogan was on top in the main event once again, this time winning the WWF Championship from Sgt. Slaughter. This event was due to be held in the bigger Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum but the event was moved either due to poor ticket sales or security concerns surrounding Sgt. Slaughter’s Iraqi-sympathising character, depending on who you believe.
Anaheim was the host for WrestleMania 12 in 1996 where Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels went over an hour in the main event. Just 4 years later WrestleMania returned to Anaheim where the fans saw Triple H hold onto his gold in the first-ever Fatal Four-Way main event on The Grandest Stage Of Them All.
WrestleMania went Hollywood for the first time in 2005 with Batista and John Cena both capturing their first world championships at WrestleMania 21. California then had to wait a decade for the spectacular event to return but it was worth the wait when Seth Rollins committed the heist of the century in Levi’s Stadium in 2015.
10. First Submission Victory – Tito Santana vs. The Executioner
Submissions and WrestleMania go hand in hand, who can forget the Submission match between Bret Hart and Steve Austin and WrestleMania 13? Or Daniel Bryan making ‘The Miracle On Bourbon Street’ come true when he tapped out Batista to claim the WWE Championship?
But in a world of pinfalls, when did submission first end a WrestleMania bout, the answer to that came on the very first show, in the very first match between Tito Santana and The Executioner.
Santana was a popular star in the eighties so he was able to set the tone for a great night of action as WrestleMania kicked off and kick-started the golden age of wrestling in the eighties. His opponent inside Madison Square Garden on that night was The Executioner, a mysterious masked figure who wrestling fans will know better as ‘Playboy’ Buddy Rose.
Tito Santana got the night off to a good start for himself and the New York crowd as he managed to submit his opponent with the figure-four leg lock, claiming his place in history with the first WrestleMania win ever.
Will any records be broken when The Most Stupendous Two Night WrestleMania In History takes place? Find out as WrestleMania 38 airs live on the WWE Network and Peacock on the 2nd and 3rd of April!