The Lapsed Fan: Dave Meltzer on WrestleMania 1

As part of The Lapsed Fan's 30-week WrestleMania journey, the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer weighed in with his recollections of each event. Here, Meltzer discusses WrestleMania 1 in 1985.
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[@CMac-pg9yy]

This set of commentaries are an incredible listen. Thanks a rob for posting these, The Lapsed Fan!

[@theungreatkahli]

Thanks for putting these on here.

[@philliesfan1flyeaglesfly330]

I saw it on a closed circuit at a movie theater with maybe 30 people in the theater.

[@borednow5838]

Its a good point that Meltzer makes about Lyaper and T being the big names that put the show over the top.

[@TheZom1965]

Great stuff

[@troyelich9307]

Meltzer says Hogan and T hosted Saturday Night's Main Event the night before WrestleMania. He means Saturday Night Live. They hosted The March 30th 1985 edition of SNL.

[@newbritishprowrestling1111]

+Troy Elich I thought there was something wrong there because the first Saturday nights main event was after Wrestlemania 1.

[@troyelich9307]

Right. Mother's Day 1985 was the 1st SNME. All the babyfaces had their mom's there. Fred Blassie had a 25 year old model with him and claimed it was his mother. Lol

[@deputay]

+Troy Elich Correct - the guy he said got sick was Steve Landesberg, who was supposed to host. Steve was supposed to host an episode in March that ended up being cancelled due to the writer's strike. The strike ends, but he's sick, so Hulk & Mr. T get the nod for the first post-strike show. Steve recovered and ended up doing stand-up on that episode. The timing couldn't have been better to promote WrestleMania.

[@troyelich9307]

Wow talk about right place, right time...etc...

[@Falkowski82]

this is cool

[@newbritishprowrestling1111]

Kerry Von Eric and Jimmy Snuka would have never been the draw Hogan was.

[@AnArchyRulzz]

All he was saying is that he was one of the few guys who could have been built around. Not that he would have been a bigger draw.

[@borednow5838]

No, they were still big draws at the time though. Kerry mostly had all the skills you needed to be a top guy, its just a shame what happened to him later. I'm pleased that Flair didn't go to WWF then. His style was much more suited for NWA/WCW and never would have gotten the run he had and the standard of matches in the WWF of 1985.

[@TheChadTI]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@matthewnorton9981]

Wtf is Dave eating during this

[@ltothemagain]

Meltzer is a smart superfan who relies on 3rd party agenda driven info and guesswork. He is still wrestling's best journalist despite all this.

[@travismcdonald6576]

Leon M Most journalist do.

[@AnArchyRulzz]

That is what journalism is lol. Journalists aren't experts in the areas they cover, it is why they rely on experts. Like if I am doing a story as a journalist that I'm not very versed in I would call someone who did know so they could explain it to me, that's just how it works. Most journalists have a broad knowledge as wide as an ocean and as deep as a puddle. Meltzer has much more knowledge than average reporter because he specializes in wrestling journalism. Most people I hear criticizing Meltzer are either butthurt over his star ratings and how people treat his ratings like gospel, or they just don't know how journalism works.

[@stuartmorris2803]

Why listen to somebody who knows as much as the average fan, he doesn't know about WWF of the past because he wasn't there. He just guesses

[@AnArchyRulzz]

Simply not true, he has inside sources just like any journalist. To say he only has the knowledge of the average fan is laughable, does the average fan have sources inside the WWE or other promotions? Do you expect all journalists to be insiders? no, because then they wouldn't be journalists, they would be insiders. All journalists rely on sources informing them how things actually work. You are the perfect example of someone who dislikes Dave simply because they don't know how journalism works, it's really remarkable how little people understand about journalism.

[@blueblur2329]

@@AnArchyRulzz Problem is a lot of those sources feeding Dave his information are disgruntled employees with agendas who are working Dave for their own advantage. The problem people have with Dave is that he reports everything he is told as a fact when in reality everything he is told is not.

[@ryanhindley174]

@@blueblur2329 name one wrong thing

[@FiveNumberJonny]

@@blueblur2329 "When in reality".... Suspect wording

[@FiveNumberJonny]

@@blueblur2329 you should look up Jim Cornette confirm Dave's reporting on the Montreal Screwjob being factual