Wrestlemania 40 coming to Philadelphia; Here are other great WWE matches from Philly
Wrestlemania is coming back to Philadelphia.
World Wrestling Entertainment announced Thursday that Lincoln Financial Field will host Wrestlmania 40 on April 6 and 7, 2024. It marks the first time since 1999 that Philadelphia will host the biggest wrestling show of the year.
And it makes sense. New York is the home of WWE, but for years, Philadelphia has been one of its hotspots. The federation would host monthly events in Philly for decades before it started touring worldwide. And Philly is still one of the places that draws the biggest crowds for wrestling.
“On behalf of WWE, we are thrilled to bring WrestleMania back to the City of Brotherly Love,” said WWE Executive Vice President of Special Events John Saboor in a release. “We thank all of our local partners who were integral in making this long-awaited return a reality.”
It's long been rumored that WWE would return to Philly for its biggest show of the year, but now that it's official, let's take a look at the history of WWF in Philly.
Here we'll break down the biggest WWF/WWE matches that took place in Philadelphia. While ECW, NWA, WCW, Ring of Honor and many other independents have had great matches over the years in Philly, they aren't eligible for this list. Obviously matches like the Midnight Express vs. Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson or Terry Funk beating Raven in ECW's first pay per view (especially when combined with the Funk-Sandman-Stevie Richards match) would be on this list, but for today, we're sticking with WWF/WWE.
10. The Man wins
Stan Stasiak won the WWF championship by pinning Pedro Morales at a live event in 1973. This kicked off an unremarkable reign by Stasiak, who held the belt for just nine days before losing it to Bruno Sammartino, who had a four-year run with the championship. This wouldn’t be the last time Morales was dethroned in Philly.
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9. Acknowledge him
Did you know that the WWE championship has changed hands four times in Philadelphia? The most recent was when Reigns downed Sheamus for the title on Monday Night Raw in 2015. This was a great match, and we had to acknowledge Reigns, especially after Philly booed him after winning the Royal Rumble a few years back. I guess we were wrong!
8. Simply Magnificent
Long before he was a star on Fuji Vice or he became a good guy, Don Muracco was one of the best bad guys in wrestling. And he won his first Intercontinental championship at the Spectrum by beating Pedro Morales. His reign was just as magnificent as he was.
7. Royal Rumble 2004
This probably would have been much higher on the list but the winner of the main event was Chris Benoit. Still, the match itself was great, and the entire show was loaded with top talent.
6. Happy Harts
At Summer Slam 1990, the Hart Foundation reclaimed the WWF tag team championship by besting Demolition with help from the Road Warriors. This was the best match of a card that didn’t turn out to be so great, although the main events, which featured Hulk Hogan beating Earthquake by countout and the Ultimate Warrior beating Rick Rude in a cage, were fun.
5. Close, and a cigar!
The match that nearly ruined my childhood. It was when Brutus Beefcake racked a lit cigar into Barry Windham's eyes to win the tag team championship for Beefcake and Greg Valentine. When Windham returned to the ring a few weeks later, I was shocked. I thought he was dead. Luckily WWF had great doctors, so there was no scarring. I remember watching this at my friend's house on Prism and it haunts me to this day.
4. The whole dam show
Money in the Bank 2013 was a great card, top to bottom. And the main event didn't disappoint, with CM Punk, Sheamus, Christian, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton joining Rob Van Dam, who was returning to WWE after a long hiatus. Orton won, but the star was RVD, who was loved by the Philly crowd. Van Dam became a star in ECW, which was based in Philly, and he remains extremely popular in the city. It'd be nice to see the hall of famer do something at Wrestlemania in his adopted town. This card also had a fantastic John Cena-Mark Henry match.
3. Reaching new heights
The match that made Matt Jeff Hardy, Christian and Edge true stars happened in Philly when the two teams met in a ladder match. The four went on to have a massive rivalry, that later included the Dudley Boyz, that stole the show at both Wrestlemania and SummerSlam. The Hardyz and Edge and Christian were always entertaining from the minute they arrived, but after this match, they were looked at differently by fans. All four became top guys and this match was the rocket launcher for them.
2. Giant Step for Mankind
When Mick Foley came to WWF, he was put in a feud with the Undertaker that was great from the start. But a few months later, the wrestler known as Mankind earned a title shot against Shawn Michaels in a match that was a mix of two very different styles. It turned out to be a perfect blend. Michaels won by disqualification, but this was after a long and brutal match. At one point, Foley said it was the best thing he’s ever done, and Michales was great in his role too.
1. Stone Cold champion
The only other time Wrestlemania took place in Philadelphia was in 1999 and that night ended with Steve Austin defeating the Rock in the first of three Wrestlemania main events by the two all-time greats. This was when wrestling was at arguably its all-time high, and these two had a very emotional match that also saw the return of Jim Ross, who returned after a battle with Bell’s palsy to call the match. The entire night was one big party at the First Union Center. Triple H turned bad, Kane tombstoned Pete Rose, and Bart Gunn was knocked out by Butterbean. Also, Boyz II Men sang the national anthem. It was a great night of wrestling, and Wrestlemania 40 could be just as great.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Wrestlemania 40 headed to Philly; Top 10 Philly memorable matches
