The Mania Of Wrestlemania

[Aeon Mathix]

To the mods, feel free to move this as I wasn't sure what section this should go under.

In this thread I will be talking about an hour documentary that was on the 3rd disc of the Wrestlemania XX dvd called "The Mania Of Wrestlemania". This is, without a doubt, my favorite wrestling documentary. Not saying at all it is the best, but it is my favorite. In this documentary, we take a look at the personal lives of 4 wwe superstars, those being The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle as they prepare for their matches against one another at Wrestlemania XIX. Along with special insights on a few other legends in Undertaker and Shawn Michaels.

"Mania Of Mania" is narrated by Jesse "The Body" Ventura and showcases what the event Wrestlemania means to the WWE superstars. I had always known that Mania was known as the Super Bowl of Pro Wrestling to all of the wrestlers, but I had never actually knew to what extent it meant to them. As many of us know, Mania XIX was Stone Cold's last match, that being against his arch rival The Rock. Before this documentary I had never known that. The real story behind this documentary is Kurt Angle.

Kurt Angle suffered a neck injury back in his olympic days and dealt with the pain every day ever since. Going into Mania XIX, Angle needed neck surgery afterward. Originally, Vince McMahon suggested that Angle lose to Lesnar on a smackdown in less than a minute. Kurt agreed at first but decided that Mania meant so much to him, he was willing to risk paralysis just to compete at the event. It really shows what these men and women go through to entertain all of us and how much the business means to them. I love these wrestling documentaries that remind us that these guys are human and that pro wrestling is not so much "smoke and mirrors" as most people might imagine.

The soundtrack for this documentary is amazing as well. Each song making the moments in the film they correlate with all that much more special. From "New Design" by Motograter when Shawn Michaels talks about returning from his back injury, all the way to "Home" by 12 Stones when Kurt Angle is questioning his decisions before his surgery and just praying that it will work out.

I strongly recommend this documentary to anyone wanting to learn more about wrestling, and the WWE in general. It's not the best ever made documentary I am sure, but it is my personal favorite.

With all that being said what I want to ask you all is:

What does Wrestlemania mean to you as an personally?

 

[kokoBawesome]

What does Wrestlemania mean to you as an personally?

May I get a translation from the mods... ?

If your asking me what Wrestlemania means to me, It means the culmination of a season. It's like the Superbowl, if you worked your ass off all year and put out the effort, you've earned a shot to be in the big picture at the end. Only the big dogs survive to make it this far. I know that when I'm watching Wrestlemania I'm being shown the best of what the WWE has to offer. The best wrestlers giving it their all to put on the best show.

 

[ryan86]

Wreslemainia to me mean the epic matches happen but are made epic by the involvment of the crowd. WM X-8 rock vs hogan is that perfect example. There are many others like both rock-austin matches at WM 15 and 17.

Plus the 70,000 fans and the expected biggest buyrate for the year.

Its the only ppv of the year I order. '96 - '02 i used to order atleast 5 per year but now, WM is the only one i see worth it.

 

[King of the Words]

I always love Wrestlemania season. The build up starting at the Royal Rumble. Wrestlemania feels a little like Christmas day, to me , where it is such an important day to a WWE wrestling fan. Not in the religious ways. I love the big crowds, the electricity in the air on that day. What I am not a fan of is celebrities who get to be in one of the biggest, if not the biggest match on the card. I know this started back with Mr. T. to get a bigger audience to watch but these days I think the biggest matches should feature the wrestlers who worked the hardest in the past year. They deserve to be in the big matches more than the likes of Snooki or Floyd Mayweather. IMO. Give me great feuds that lead to epic encounters at Mania and cut back on these celebrities who just are out for some publicity. Leave Mania to the Wrestlers who deserve to be there. If there has to be a celebrity there have them as something besides an in ring performer. The Big Show could have crushed Floyd in their match which made it boring when he didn't. It was obvious, as always, the celebrity gets the win, like Snooki, L.T., etc... I know this is WWE's way of putting the event into the mainstream, for bigger sales and to possibly make more people fans of WWE but it is a slap in the face to the ones who actually work so hard all year for a place on the card. I hope The Rock is the only celebrity at Mania 28. That is enough Hollywood star power for me.

 

[yanks9548]

Hi forum! Long time reader... but very rarely do I post.

I read this question and it stuck out why is Wrestlemania so big to me. I'm not sure if it has to do with the matches, the booking, or the name, but it seems like it's the one time a year when Wrestling leaves the private world of wrestling and works it's way into the real world.

The best example I could think of was last year, all my friends who I watch wrestling with live in New Jersey but we all go to College in separate places around the US. Typically we are isolated at school when watching wrestling, hence why I'm on a bus home now for Survivor Series. But last march I remember something pecuilar happening around Wrestlemania...it started the night when WWE said they were announcing the guest host, my roommates and some of our friends were in the room BSing about life I was up on my bunk chillen out watching RAW. The sound was kinda lound when Rock's music hit...and for once I wasn't the only one marking out and making a fool of myself, both my roomates flipped the girls in the room didn't seem to care till he started talking and being hot.

For once it seemed like people care about wrestling...I think thats what it is about. Wrestlemania is something that makes people care about wrestling. I watched Wrestlemania with 5 friends who typically did not give a crap about WWE for the most part they thought it was good, and a few of them pop in and out when I am watching since then, but there you have it thats what Wrestlemania means, its one time when people kinda sorta care about this bizarre twisted, kind of silly world that we go to on such a regular basis and if you disagree come March bring up The Rock in casual conversation and I'm sure someone will say "I heard he is coming back for Wrestlemania".

 

[GameOver]

What IMO is Mania meant to mean
The culmination of the biggest fueds of the year
Biggest matches between the biggest stars of the year
Atmosphere beyond any other PPV all year
The grandest stage of all Pro Wrestling and for alot of years the biggest even of all sports/entertainment.
A chance to end the crap and start a fresh
End of the financial year for WWE
Push new stars and make legends.
Spend every last penny and put it all on the line for the fans

What has mania delivered for the longest time?
a shell of the granduer that WrestleMania was, it is still the largest PPV of the year and atleast 3 storylines pan out (2 world titles and The Streak), but for alot of it, it's just another PPV that happens to fall end of March of start of April.

Next year so far is panning out to be no different. 1 match that has promise to be a huge affair but so far i'm not hooked, no streak as yet, 2 world titles featuring champs i could care less about and no Money in The Bank which should've stayed a WrestleMania match exclusively, i don't have high hopes it will be a WrestleMania to remember.
Regardless it's still the 1 PPV of the year i hang out for from the start of the year and would not miss it for the world.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

I was watching an Off The Record interview with Kurt Angle and the interviewer asked Kurt when Brock almost broke his neck on that botched backflip off the top, the first thing that was going through his mind. Kurt said, without any hesitation, what is the company going to do? What is the company going to do for storylines for the next 3-6 months, what is the company going to do to keep the momentum of their feud alive, who is the next big star of the company going to be?

That shows, in a nutshell, the "Mania of WM". A man lying next to Kurt could be paralyzed for life, yet Kurt's first thought is the business. It takes a crazy individual to step in between those ropes and it takes an even crazier individual to do it at WM.