April 10, 2006 Observer Newsletter: WWE WrestleMania 22 recap, Victor Quinones passes away
On paper, the 22nd WWE WrestleMania did not appear to be a show worthy of the name, but due to the effort of those in the ring, the show greatly exceeded most expectations, even from people expecting the modern day WrestleMania effort and a good show.
I’m not sure exactly when to trace the change, but at some point in the late 90s, WrestleMania went from being everyone’s best payoff of the year and really, in many people’s eyes, only a little more, to the Super Bowl it was always billed as for the participants. The change was probably a slow deal where the generation who grew up watching WrestleMania on PPV became wrestlers, and all wanted to live up to their memories of things like Ricky Steamboat’s match with Randy Savage in 1987.
While many of the moments in early WrestleManias, due to the great hype job, have become probably the biggest parts of history to the general public, you really don’t find all that many great matches in first generation WrestleManias.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.