During the latest edition of the After The Bell podcast WWE commentators Vic Joseph and Corey Graves discuss what they believe to be the most important matchups in the history of the company, including WrestleMania 1, WrestleMania 3, and WrestleMania 6. Hear their full thoughts on the subject below.
Vic Joseph says without the first Hulkamania pro-wrestling might have never taken off:
“Without Hulkamania, there’s a good possibility that the three of us aren’t sitting here talking amongst ourselves about this business. I actually agree with The Rock’s [pick] but my answer was going to be the main event of the first WrestleMania. If the addition of Mr. T, as questionable as it is now, and you look and go ‘Why the hell was Mr. T in the first main event of WrestleMania?’ Mr. T was the dude at the time! He was Americana, pop culture, he was one of the biggest stars in the world at the time so to have him in that match, alongside Hulkamania which is red hot, Orndorf and Piper on the other side of the ring playing the villainous foil. If that doesn’t succeed and pack the house and do well on pay per view, WWE definitely doesn’t exist as we know it, maybe it doesn’t exist at all.”
Vic Joseph talks the importance of WrestleMania 3 and the body-slam of Andre the Giant:
“I go back to my Mount Rushmore moment and it’s Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, WrestleMania 3. It’s everything about Hulkamania up until that point, it’s the reason WrestleMania had the indoor attendance record of over 93,000 people in the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan for so many years. That to me, that moment, that bodyslam, Gorilla Monsoon on the call, that stands to me as the most important match in WWE history.”
Graves talks about WrestleMania 6 being a major reason he got into the business:
“My earliest memories in life are being approximately three or four years old and I was gifted for Christmas wrestling action figures,” Graves recalled. “It was probably worth a million dollars nowadays but my Dad’s friend got me that for Christmas because he knew I was obsessed. I just started to get to the age where I had opinions and this Ultimate Warrior guy is awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced human conflict at that age, that’s why it still resonates with me. That was the first time I felt conflict as a child. I felt like I love the Ultimate Warrior, he’s my guy, I want to see him win but Hogan’s been my guy for so long, he didn’t do anything wrong, I’m betraying Hulk if I root for Warrior and to this day that resonates with me. That’s the first time I experienced those emotions.”
(H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.)