WrestleMania I - Reception

Reception

"The match itself isn't a classic but what it lacks in a scientific display it makes up for in humour."

John Powell of SLAM! Wrestling rated the event as average, citing that it "wasn't the greatest...". Despite his overall rating, he praised several moments, including Orton hitting Orndorff with his cast, King Kong Bundy's win, and André the Giant throwing the money into the crowd. Powell, however, listed Mr. T wrestling as his least favorite moment of the pay-per-view. He claimed the main event match, in which Mr. T took part, was humorous despite its lack of technical wrestling.

In contrast, Pro Wrestling Illustrated awarded the main event match its annual PWI Match of the Year honor, as voted by the fans. The event was also included in a July 2007 special that aired on the MSG Network entitled "The 50 Greatest Moments at Madison Square Garden", ranking at #30. In the December 2002 issue of Wrestling Digest, the main event match-up was listed as number five in the most memorable twenty-five matches of the past twenty-five years. Echoing John Powell's thoughts, Kevin Eck of Wrestling Digest stated, "The match itself was far from a technical-wrestling classic, but it delivered in terms of entertaining the crowd." In another Wrestling Digest article, written by Keith Loria, the main event was ranked third in the top ten matches in WrestleMania history. In contrast to Powell, Loria believed that Mr. T "proved to be an adequate grappler".