Attention all die-hard WWE and wrestling fans everywhere: Harrison Soep, 20-year-old communications major at Dean College, has done the unfathomable! Harrison has done what many passionate wrestling fans only wished they had the time to do: going back to 1985 and re-watching every single WrestleMania. Next April, WWE’s forty-second annual WrestleMania event will occur in Las Vegas, Nevada. As Harrison impatiently waits for other key wrestling events, such as the start of John Cena’s retirement tour, Survivor Series, and the Royal Rumble, he took a trip down memory lane in 2020, when he decided to re-watch every single WrestleMania event in its entirety. In this article, I interviewed Harrison, and he was more than excited to share his input on the good, and the bad of the long history of WrestleMania.
The first question I asked Harrison was, “What was your favorite WrestleMania and why?”
Harrison said WrestleMania 39 was head above shoulders over any other WrestleMania. He thought the two-night show had a great balance of entertaining matches and memorable moments. He was most excited when Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens defeated Jimmy and Jey Uso for the Undisputed Tag Team Championships in the main event of Saturday’s show. He enjoyed other matches from the night one card as well; Ray Mysterio vs Dominik Mysterio in a father vs son match brought great comedy to the audience and viewers, and the outstanding Raw Women’s Championship match between Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair that lasted almost 30-minutes, and included some of the greatest near-falls in women’s wrestling history. Night 2 also produced some dramatic finishes, including a tremendous triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship, where Gunther retained against Sheamus and Drew McIntyre in a grueling chest-chopping match.
The next question I asked was “Which Main Event fell flat and/or overhyped, and did not deliver it’s high expectations?”
Harrison truly believes WrestleMania 25’s main event between Triple H and Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship is one of the most disappointing in history. Harrison described the match as “handcuffed from the start” because of the disqualification stipulation given to Triple H before the match. He described the match as long and boring with a questionable ending. That being said, Harrison strongly recommends watching the video package leading up to the match, just not the match itself.
The final question I asked Harrison was “What is your all-time favorite WrestleMania entrance?”
Harrison ultimately came up with two entrances for his all-time favorites, John Cena’s at WrestleMania 24, and Pat McAfee’s at WrestleMania 38. Cena’s entrance included a live band performance of his entrance music, and him saluting to the audience before rushing into the ring. As for McAfee, he came out to the one and only “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes, and crowd was on fire. The crowd singing to the music as McAfee kicked souvenir football’s into the crowd, along with the appearance of the Dallas Cowboys’ cheerleaders was truly an electric moment.
This past April, I watched my first WrestleMania with Harrison, and he brought excitement throughout the two-night event. His emotions were through the roof, cheering when John Cena and the Undertaker appeared during the spectacular main event of night 2 between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. His favorite wrestler, The Miz, also won the Tag Team gold with R-Truth, a moment that had him clapping and cheering. Harrison has expressed his passion for the WWE since a young age, and now he thoroughly enjoys watching the biggest shows of the year with his closest friends on the campus of Dean College.
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