Results: Valentine pinned JYD with his feet on the ropes after about 5 minutes. Valentine's main rival at the time- Tito Santana- came down to protest; the referee agreed to restart the match, but Valentine wanted none of that and left; so, ultimately, JYD won by count-out at 6:55. Highlight: After some miscommunication, Valentine collided with manager Jimmy Hart, who took a seemingly-innocent bump off the apron... until smacked the back of his head right on the concrete. Of course, it wasn't suppose to happen, so the announcers don't mention it. Poor Jimmy. Lowlight: This is the first championship match at WrestleMania. The bar was not set very high. Review: Tito Santana has said recently that he was unhappy with his spot at the first WrestleMania, which was an opening-match victory over the masked Executioner (Buddy Rose.) At the time, Tito was engaged in a lengthy, heated rivalry with Intercontinental Champion Greg "The Hammer" Valentine that produced some great, compelling matches. Instead, Santana was regulated to curtain-jerk status, while The Hammer defended against the popular Junkyard Dog, a veteran whose style just did not mesh with Valentine's. The match consisted solely of: headbutts by JYD; elbows and chops by Valentine; outside interference by "The Mouth of the South"; and the "scoop-the-legs/feet-on-the-ropes" pin so many heels favored in the 70s and 80s. But wait! Tito returned to the ring in street clothes, complaining about Valentine's chicanery. The referee went against all wrestling logic and agreed with this random wrestler from the back who had no business being at ringside, and ordered the match to continue. Valentine- deciding he already won, regardless of what Santana said- left, and the fans got a B.S. feel-good moment with a count-out victory for JYD. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDSmGX02QPg How it could have been better: Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs. Tito Santana for the Intercontinental Championship. There was no reason for this feud to not be featured on the first WrestleMania card.
The 'House is a father of two and husband of one in Minnesota. He is an improv comedian, and in his spare time follows WWE, MLB, The Simpsons, and Bob's Burgers. Growing up he was a huge fan of He-Man, and refuses to believe that it was in fact terrible.
