Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

- Welcome!

- Welcome! - Welcome!

- Welcome!

- To wrestle... - Mania!

♪ ♪

- It's very rare that you meet a person

Who has never heard of wrestlemania.

- At&t stadium, in dallas, texas,

Home to over 70,000 members of the wwe universe!

- However many people the building can hold,

That's how many people are going to be there.

- It was incredible that people traveled

From all across the world to be part of wrestlemania.

- When you get into this business,

I think the first goal that goes into your head is,

"I want to main event wrestlemania."

- This has all of the makings

Of one hell of a wrestlemania match.

Oh, what a slap! - Oh, my gosh!

- Vince mcmahon has created something

That has withstood the test of time,

Where you kind of have to watch it,

'cause everybody's gonna be talking about it.

- Wrestlemania showcased the world's finest athletes

And the world's most entertaining sport.

- And they go eye-to-eye.

The austin era has begun.

- Look at this!

He slammed him! Oh!

- My dad had a vision.

He saw hollywood.

- And he knew cable,

And he knew that that would help execute the plan

To get us everywhere, all at once.

- The date: March 31, 1985.

- If wrestlemania didn't work,

The wwe would have tanked.

- My dad literally bet the farm.

He mortgaged everything my parents owned.

- The world wrestling entertainment outdoing itself

In presenting this unbelievable card

Of wrestling.

- Wrestlemania 1 was a missile fired

At the rest of the industry.

- I'd been in the business, and I'd felt those vibes before,

But this was something different.

- Unbelievable.

We're seeing the greatest spectacle

In wrestling history right now.

- There was electricity that just--

It surrounded the ring.

- What an unbelievable ovation

As they're hanging off the rafters, jess,

Here at madison square garden.

- Well, I had chill bumps up and down my arms.

- And this is the biggest crowd in history.

1.2 million.

- When hulk hogan entered the ring,

It was insanity.

You can't replicate that.

- He covered brett patterson.

He got him. - He got him.

- That one spectacular moment in time,

Of wrestlemania 1, doesn't happen,

Arguably you can say none of this is here.

- Because that was the launching point,

And everything sprung out and happened from there.

- Now you know what it's all about, brother!

Oh, boy. We gonna be changing the game.

- What a move by macho man.

- He's the greatest, isn't he? Nobody like him.

Believe it! - Razor ramon is

The undisputed intercontinental champion.

The boyhood dream has come true.

The undertaker is 18 and 0!

- This is a wrestlemania moment.

[airhorn blares]

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- On the way to wrestlemania, this past year,

We were in at&t stadium, in dallas, texas.

And we were driving to the stadium with a police escort

And ac/dc blaring on the car speakers.

And I turned the radio down and asked vince,

"is this what it was like 38 years ago

"as you made your way to madison square garden,

Not knowing whether you would be in business the next day?"

[bell dings]

- Greetings, wrestling fans,

And welcome to another action-packed card

Of all-star wrestling promoted by phil zacko.

- Before wrestlemania 1, there were territories.

Our territory was Monday night, the metro coliseum.

Tuesday night, louisville gardens.

Wednesday night, evansville, indiana.

You know what? It's just like ef hutton, baby.

When jimmy hart talks, everybody listens.

You understand that?

- Wwe, of all the regional territories,

Was geographically the largest.

These territories were carved out like mafia fiefdoms.

- Hello, everybody. Vince mcmahon here,

At ringside, in madison square garden,

Waiting for a tremendous evening

Of professional wrestling.

- The way things were during the territory days

Is basically you would run your territory,

And the other folks ran their territories,

And there was no crossover.

- I've heard him say this a million times.

If my dad had known what I was going to do with the business,

He would have never sold it to me.

- Vince mcmahon, back then,

Was a young, little, wobbly-dobbly promoter.

- And I remember the story

Of my grandfather speaking to my dad and saying,

"vinny, vinny, why do you have to rock the boat, vinny?"

My dad likes to rock the boat, in case anyone hasn't noticed.

- Vince mcmahon decided to go ahead,

Violate all the gentlemen's agreements

That his father subscribed to,

And just go nationally, and pay people money.

It was criminal in people's minds.

- Everybody looked at it as, "freaking vince mcmahon,

"he's trying to take over the world.

He's trying to put us all out of business."

- Vince became probably the most hated man

In the history of our business.

He had death threats against him.

He was buying all the top stars.

- Jesse "the body" ventura.

- The junkyard dog.

- It is sergeant slaughter.

- "rowdy" roddy piper.

[bell dings]

- 320 pounds.

From venice beach, california, hulk hogan.

- Take a look at the immense proportion of hulk hogan.

- The wrestling business really needed an attraction.

[cheers and applause]

- There had been some history

Between vince and james mcmahon and hulk hogan.

Hogan was firmly entrenched in the awa,

The rival wrestling promotion in minneapolis.

And vince mcmahon had just started a magazine,

So steve taylor,

Who was the photographer for wwe's magazine,

Was dispatched to minneapolis to an awa show.

He walks up to hulk hogan,

Slips him a little piece of paper

With vince mcmahon's phone number on it.

- He handed me a card and said, "call vince."

I said, "okay, I'll give him a call

And see what's up," 'cause I like vince.

I'm going to the top of the ladder,

And I thank each and every one of you!

When vince started talking to me,

I knew the momentum I had--

If I could pull the same plug in new york,

It would be worth going back.

And it was basically the perfect storm.

- A lot of people believed that,

Without hulk hogan, there wouldn't have been a wwe.

- America needed a hero they could believe in.

- They needed a superhero,

And they needed a live superhero

That was tangible and right in front of them.

He just needed to find the right one.

- Bob backlund had been a dependable champion,

A highly athletic champion...

- A dream come true!

- But he didn't have the razzle-dazzle,

The color that vince mcmahon was looking for.

- They're out cheering for you and getting behind you.

It makes you reach down and get something extra

To maybe win that match.

- It really made it easy

To go from black-and-white to full spectrum color.

This is a different hulk hogan,

And hulkamania already running wild!

Just check it out, man.

It just turns me on, brother.

- Hulk hogan, at the time, had this pristine image.

300 pounds of solid muscle,

You know, the 24-inch pythons.

"say your prayers. Eat your vitamins."

The epitome poster child

Of what you would put up as your american hero.

- And indeed, the fans go wild

Every time they witness this extraordinary athlete.

- The way he could relate to the fans

On talking on the mike.

That was his attribute. That was his ace card.

- Sometimes, when you get on a roll, man,

It seems like you can't do nothing wrong.

Whether we're talking about "rocky iii,"

Little, skinny sylvester stallone.

- The movie sure didn't hurt him at all.

What a character he played.

He just had everything going for him.

- Hulk hogan could ignite a room

Just by walking into it.

- There was nobody bigger than hulk hogan.

- History could be made in madison square garden.

There he is, hulkamania.

- January of 1984,

Something happened that night in madison square garden.

- The hulk...

Coming down the hallway.

- And I came through the curtain.

I was spinning, and...

- He is enormous!

♪ ♪

- Went to the ring, and it's the iron sheik.

♪ ♪

I could feel the volcano getting ready to explode.

- I don't know if there's ever been

A more perfect good guy/bad guy situation

Than the iron sheik and hulk hogan.

- The iron sheik!

- You know, this is patriotism.

This is hulk hogan with the american flag

Against the most hated villain in the business.

- He'll use any means, in any way, in his power,

To win this match, and the fans love it.

- You have the all-american hero coming at him

Like a hurricane, to take our people back,

Our country back, and our belt back.

I mean, it was the perfect storm.

It does not get better than that.

- The fans are going wild, and I'm so excited.

I don't even want to talk. I want to watch the match!

- Sheik going up. Hulk hogan.

And he drops a big leg on him.

He's down for the count! Hold the leg.

One. Two. He got him!

[cheers and applause]

We have a new champion as hulk hogan.

Lowered the bull on the iron sheik.

History made in madison square garden,

And the fans on their feet.

Hulkamania is here.

- It changed the wrestling world, without a doubt.

- Oh! Oh!

- It exploded. It just went wild.

It went from being a closet wrestling fan

To everybody talking about how they were hulkamaniacs.

- Whether you were in chicago at the rosemont horizon,

Philadelphia spectrum, seeing the smiles

On all the people's faces.

This is our savior. This is our hero.

This is the man that we bought a ticket to see.

We love him.

- World wrestling entertainment

Heavyweight champion hulk hogan!

♪ ♪

- Hulk just mesmerized you in a way that nobody else did.

♪ ♪

That's what it's about.

Like, what are you feeling during that moment?

He was born to be that guy.

- I feel the energy. Hulkamania's running worldwide.

- Hulkamania was without peer.

To me, it was a combination

Of just wackiness and mainstream star power

That just somehow intersected

And launched it into a stratosphere

That nobody saw coming.

- One thing my father has always understood is,

In order to have a successful product,

You need a big star.

There was no such thing as social media or digital,

So how were you gonna get your product/your star

In front of as many people as possible?

What were we gonna hang our hat on?

And that became wrestlemania.

- People are tuning in and turning on

To cable television.

The potential for cable tv is endless.

- Cable television arrived, and the landscape of our sport

Changed forever.

- Cable is kind of like somebody

That's been blind their whole life,

And then, all of a sudden, you open your eyes.

"oh, my gosh."

- Welcome, everyone.

This is gorilla monsoon

Welcoming you to the usa network.

- Vince jr. Knew about cable tv.

He saw that as an opportunity to expand.

- On behalf of wtbs, it's a pleasure to welcome

The world wrestling entertainment.

Exciting new matches.

Great competitors from all over the world,

And here's the man to tell you all about it.

Here's vince mcmahon. Vince? - Thank you very much, freddy.

- Welcome aboard. - Thank you.

It is indeed a pleasure to be associated with wtbs,

And we promise to bring you the greatest

In professional wrestling entertainment

In the world today.

- I don't think my father gets enough credit

For what he was able to do and how

We've been able to pioneer the business.

When you look at wtbs and usa network,

They were primarily the only two

Major cable stations at the time.

- Usa was going across the country.

Tbs was going across the country.

This was totally different than what

Was seen before syndicated television

Where it was just really local markets.

- But to leverage those platforms,

To reach as many people as possible,

My dad has always been ahead of the curve.

- All of a sudden, vince said, "my tv show

"is showing not just in new york

"where I can run madison square garden.

"my tv show is showing in california,

"and it's showing in florida,

"and it's showing all over the country.

"why can't I run a live show in los angeles?

"why can't I run in miami, florida,

Instead of just staying in the northeast?"

And that's what he started to do.

- Fans, the great stars

Of the world wrestling entertainment will be here.

- Vince figured all these things into the equation.

It was a sum of all the parts, and he knew cable,

And he basically knew that that would

Help execute the plan to get us everywhere, all at once.

- Vince mcmahon has always been really good

At figuring out ways to incorporate

His product into pop culture.

No better example exists than the relationship with mtv.

- People ask me, you know, what was one

Of the biggest moments in your career?

I would say the rocket blastoff

August the 1st, 1981, 12:01 midnight,

Was probably the biggest.

[upbeat rock music]

[imitating rock music]

- To do that every hour, at the top of the hour

With da da-da. [imitates rocket blasting off]

The whole thing. Still gives me cold chills.

- Mtv was really fresh back then,

And it was the hottest thing on tv.

- Mtv was the new kid in town,

And it showed pretty quickly the effect

It could have on someone's career.

- We would watch the newest videos

From artists we'd never heard of,

So we pop in the video for cyndi lauper.

[cyndi lauper's "girls just want to have fun"]

[upbeat pop music]

- "girls just want to have fun."

The whole room started having fun.

I remember it brought us to life,

And it just had this momentum, and it had this energy.

- We needed somebody in that video to play cyndi's dad.

There was only one person that could

Play cyndi's dad in that video,

And that was captain lou albano.

- ♪ the phone rings in the middle of the night ♪

♪ my father yells ♪

♪ "what you gonna do with your life?" ♪

- Where did she meet captain lou albano?

- Oh, captain lou. There he is.

- I met lou on a plane coming back from puerto rico.

- And they just struck up a conversation on the plane

And swapped numbers.

And that was that.

- That's when I felt like,

"oh, we could do something fun.

We'll use captain lou albano."

- The producer of the video, a guy named ken walz,

Knew vince.

And he called vince and said, "would it be okay

"if captain lou appeared in this new artist's video

Named cyndi lauper and played her father?"

And he said yes.

That was the beginning.

That was the beginning of it all.

- All of a sudden, we're seeing captain lou,

Not only with us every night, but all of a sudden,

He's a music star.

- It kinda made sense that a man with a rubber band

Stapled to his cheek might be the father

Of that bizarre creature known as cyndi lauper.

- Cyndi lauper will be the greatest

Entertainer of all time!

- Her debut album is called "she's so unusual."

Would you welcome, please, cyndi lauper.

[cheers and applause]

- Cyndi lauper, cyndi lauper, cyndi lauper.

All over the world, you'd see cyndi lauper.

- I think you dress unusual.

- Really? [laughter]

- Look, wrestling is rock and roll,

And rock and roll, in a way, is wrestling.

It's theatrical. It's entertaining.

Why not have this bizarre mashup

Of this gal from queens

Who had a mouth on her, you know?

[in queens accent] she talks like she could maybe

Smack you good!

- Cyndi was the central figure in making this

At all possible, and then, of course,

The rest is, as she puts it, herstory.

♪ ♪

- It was really dave wolf who kind of said, "you know,

Maybe we could do a cross-promotion here,"

And he loved wrestling since he was a little kid.

- Here I am with captain lou, and we bonded

From the minute we shook hands

And hugged each other and said hello.

And that would grow to be

This incredible rock and wrestling connection.

- Cyndi, get over here!

- I want to see cyndi lauper.

I got my pass here. Let me talk to cyndi.

- Hey, how are you?

- Cyndi, how are you, sweetheart?

How have you been?

- An idea to do something with world wrestling on mtv

Never crossed my mind, which you would probably think

It would have been obvious that it might have, but it didn't.

Not until I saw that video with captain lou.

So I arrive in new york city in 1981.

A dear friend of mine said, "you gotta come

To wrestling with me on Monday night."

I'm like, "uh, what?"

"you've gotta come to the garden.

There's this wrestling thing," and I go, "really?"

I met vince.

Met the iron sheik, hulk hogan,

And I'm mind-blown by what's going on just backstage.

The energy. It was a rock concert.

It's like I was at a festival or something.

It was crazy.

I go, "that's the mtv crowd out there."

- Pandemonium and excitement here

At madison square garden.

- Us five vjs, as the faces of mtv,

Were constantly being hit with,

"wait, what? We're gonna do what now?"

We are here with captain lou albano and cyndi lauper.

And that was kind of the ethos of mtv.

"let's do something new."

"oh, yeah. Let's get in bed with the wwe."

[laughs] it was like, "what?"

- Yes, sir. History is being made.

You have just tuned in to the rock and wrestling connection

Right here on mtv, and I'm your guest vj,

The incredible hulk hogan.

Every time I'd guest vj with mtv, it was something

That kinda, like, raised my stock.

Right here on mtv.

Just being here with all the rock and rollers,

I'm already wound up tight, and I want you

To stick around all night long.

- Mtv in 1985 is not 24 hours of "teen mom"

And "ridiculousness," okay?

This is what everyone's talking about.

- I want my mtv.

♪ girls, they wanna have fun ♪

All: I want my mtv!

- I want my mtv.

- I want my mtv.

- Everyone is watching videos on mtv,

And now they can find wwe there too?

- And so stick around, because there's a lot going down,

Daddy, and there's a lot more video music coming up here

On the mtv rock-and-roll connection.

- And find mtv personalities on wwe?

- The greatest entertainer, pound for pound,

In the world today, in the universe.

My friend. Your friend. Our friend, cyndi lauper.

- And I gotta credit cyndi's video,

Really reignited pretty much the world's interest

In professional wrestling.

- We've talked about it.

The rock and wrestling connection.

The hottest ticket in town.

- I think I was on the phone to vince every three days.

"hey, I got an idea," and he was searching

For those mainstream ways to build wrestling.

And in walks this insanity, and bang, zoom.

Away we go.

- Tell me something, do you think that

You could bring cyndi lauper on my pit?

- Why not, roddy? - [laughs]

- The first time we saw cyndi lauper in wwe

Was when she appeared on "piper's pit."

- Ladies and gentlemen, I want to introduce to you

The female entertainer of the year,

Ms. Cyndi lauper herself!

[cheers and applause]

- Cyndi lauper, she had suddenly burst on the scene.

You're like, "what is she doing here?"

- First of all, I would like to say to you,

You look wonderful, cyndi.

- The number one pop singer in the country

On a wrestling show?

That never happened before.

- It's nice to see all the wrestling fans,

And you, roddy. How are you?

- And everybody kinda knew what was about to happen.

- Cyndi, tell all these people out here

How I took you, cyndi, and found you

In new york city and queens, and how I made you a superstar.

Tell 'em what I did for you, cyndi.

- Albano just starts talking this really sexist talk.

- Tell 'em how women--shouldn't they belong in the kitchen

And pregnant, cyndi.

That no woman's ever accomplished anything

Without a man behind her.

Cyndi, tell them that. - Wait, wait, wait. Lou.

Lou, you know I don't like that.

You're only fooling around, right?

Because I don't like that stuff.

- The crowd is like, "wow, why is cyndi going off on lou,"

Just 'cause he's saying things that wrestlers say."

- Tell 'em how I took you,

A broad hanging around new york--

- What? A broad?

- Go ahead, tell 'em! A barroom broad!

Make it, cyndi. Go ahead, cyndi.

Tell 'em the truth, cyndi.

- Man!

- And the fight that ensued

Was really the theatrical setup.

The first real craziness that was gonna be happening

With the wrestling world and the rock-and-roll world.

And it was real, and she nailed it.

Just nailed it.

- And that is the beginning of a number

Of incidents that will ultimately

Culminate in wrestlemania 1.

- We will take you now to rowdy roddy piper,

And again, his very special guest, ms. Cyndi lauper.

- We wanted to create an event

That would be the perfect lou against cyndi.

- Let me tell you something, mr. Albano.

I challenge you, you fat bag of wind.

- You know what, cyndi lauper?

You're a disgrace to your mother, to your family,

To your grandmother, and to anyone in rock.

- In one week, I will have a female wrestler,

And you can get anybody you want, fat man.

You can get anybody you want.

- I accept. I accept, roddy.

I accept! Got it, lauper?

- The champion at that time was moolah.

Lou would manage moolah.

- You know who I'm gonna pick, moolah?

- No. Tell me. - I'm gonna pick you!

- That's great. - I'm gonna pick a champ!

- Well, I found myself a wrestler.

I got wendi richter. What do you say?

Wendi, show 'em what you got.

- At the time, I was, like, 22, 23.

It was, like, the highlight of my life.

There were wrestlers that had been around for decades

That kind of look haggard and tired,

So I was easy on the eye, I guess. [laughs]

- When wendi richter popped up on the screen,

It was a little more appealing than when moolah

Popped up on the screen.

- Cyndi has really helped me.

Like, I'm proud to be a woman.

She's really for women's rights,

And she's told me a lot of things,

And I just--I don't know.

I feel like I'm a new person and everything.

- Cyndi lauper had wendi richter.

Beautiful, young.

It was youth versus the establishment.

They were gonna collide.

What better place than mtv to do it?

- We're gonna now set the stage for the first big event.

The brawl to end it all.

And we had to have a press conference for that.

The show is a disgrace to professional wrestling

And to journalism.

Your so-called interviews are nothing more

Than ridicule, humiliation--

- Alan did an amazing job.

- Wait a second. Wait, wait, wait.

- Bang, he was in the middle of a roddy piper situation.

- Obviously fake. Taking female steroids.

- That's roddy piper standing over me

Saying he's going to kill me.

- You ain't nothing but a piece of garbage!

- We'll take that outside, okay?

- We don't have to take it no place!

We can do it right here!

- I thought, "well, he's not gonna do anything dangerous.

"this is like a disney ride.

"it's scary, but you know, no one's gonna die.

Maybe."

- Hey, you skinny, little geek! I can do it right here.

I don't have to take this!

Answer to nobody. You want it, [indistinct]?

- Totally lifted me off my feet.

And after the press conference, I had people coming up

Asking if I was okay.

And they were into it and couldn't wait for the brawl.

And I was like, "me either."

If you have small children in the house,

Lock them in the basement now.

On to the garden.

- When we did this together and took it

Out of just vince's stations into the mainstream...

- Hey, paul. - How you doing, gene?

- This has gotta be the moment that everybody

Has been waiting for. - I'll tell you, gene.

- Especially cyndi and yourself.

- We are definitely ready for this fight.

There is no question about it.

- Man, this is fantastic. - Yeah.

- Look how entertaining this is.

Marrying these two industries together.

It's a natural.

- Hey, "I want my mtv" and our wrestling connection

Were the biggest impactful incidents

In programming history of mtv.

- Vince sees opportunity.

What's hot? What's popular? What are people watching?

Mtv was the perfect opportunity to then

Promote wrestlemania 1.

- Just moments from now, the fabulous moolah,

To defend the ladies' crown

Against challenger wendi richter.

Ladies and gentlemen, this title belt

Will be on the line at madison square garden.

Just moments from now,

This lady to defend. - I'm ready!

- ♪ momma dear, we're not the fortunate ones ♪

- Oh, my! There she is. - Lauper.

- Cyndi lauper!

- ♪ oh, girls just wanna have fun ♪

- With wendi richter

And then her manager, dave wolf.

- I was pumped.

Very excited.

Very excited, and just hearing the roar of the audience.

[audience cheering]

- My dad, he was trying to think of,

"how can I get my product

"in front of as many people as possible

And hopefully turn them into fans?"

And he saw mtv as that vehicle.

- 20,000 people in the garden,

And it was just complete mayhem.

- Wendi richter has got things under control.

- Oh, there she goes! - Oh!

I don't believe it.

- Oh, my god. She's gone nuts too.

What has happened to sweet, little cyndi?

- Wendi is in excellent physical condition

And is just pummeling the fabulous one.

- Oh, look at that.

- I felt fantastic, because I'm seeing

It unfold in front of my eyes.

This is happening,

And it was incredibly exciting.

- Our new world's women's champion,

Wendi richter!

[cheers and applause] - oh, my word.

Wendi richter

Guided to that title by cyndi lauper.

Oh, my.

- Well, I don't really have to say nothing,

'cause this belt right here says it all.

- Hey! - Hold it. Wait a minute.

I see one man here that I know was in the wings.

Hulk hogan,

World wrestling entertainment heavyweight champion.

- I love it. I love it, man. You are so fine.

This is the marilyn monroe

Of the professional wrestling world.

The real champion, daddy.

♪ ♪

- Everybody was wondering how

This rock and wrestling connection

Was gonna work, and as it turned out,

It was the highest-rated show on mtv, up to that point.

- The ratings went ten times bigger than they were

At any other part of the day.

The broadcast-- cable cast station.

- On a music station. - On a music channel.

- We're doing wrestling. - Yes.

On this new thing called cable.

- This has gotta be a big moral victory for you, cyndi.

- It certainly was.

- That gave it a lot of legitimacy very quickly.

- And all of a sudden, we stated hearing about

Vince is setting up this mega show.

- Vince said, "I went on a vacation,

"and I was lying there on the beach,

And then when I came back I had the idea."

- My father was talking to my mother,

Coming up with this idea,

And it was, "what is our super bowl?

What is our oscars? What's our grammys?"

I mean what was it?

What was that big, special event to put wwe on the map?

- He was trying to come up with a name

For what we could call the event.

I said, well, the beatles,

When they came to the united states back in 1964,

Their phenom was dubbed beatlemania.

Why can't we call our event wrestlemania?

- When vince had come out

That he was gonna do a "wrestlemania,"

And I'm going, "what the hell is a wrestlemania?"

- There were a lot of people who thought,

"this thing is not gonna fly."

- There was a lot of wrestlers that had got it in their heads

That vince had overextended himself,

And that he'd spent everything on this one show,

And if it wasn't a huge success,

Everything was gonna go under.

- Vince had actually purchased the company from his father

And from his father's partners.

And the deal that vince made was

That he would make payments

And then make one large balloon payment at the end.

- Vince didn't have the money,

So it was all smoke and mirrors.

You know, borrowing from this guy to pay that guy

So he could pay his dad.

- If wrestlemania didn't work,

The wwe would have tanked.

- My dad literally bet the farm.

He mortgaged everything my parents owned.

- I was hoping that it would fail

Because we felt like if it was successful,

That would spell the end of our territories

And life as we knew it.

- Vince needed to expand

The whole rock and wrestling connection,

'cause that was kinda the launching pad.

- I have one more award

For a guy who's really turned around.

Captain louis albano!

[cheers and applause]

- Cyndi, brothers and sisters,

I don't know what to say.

I'm so grateful to receive this award--

- And here comes roddy piper.

- But just a minute, roddy. Just a--yeah. Roddy.

- Inserts himself into the equation.

Takes over the scene.

- Even though it was me that set this up,

And it was me that started it,

I want to present you with this.

- Oh! Look out!

Look at roddy piper's just gone bananas!

- You got cyndi lauper, you know,

Getting thrown around the ring.

I mean just think about that.

Getting physically assaulted by a grown man.

- David wolf trying to come to the rescue, but he's no match.

Oh, he pile-drived him right down into the canvas.

- Just picked me up and body slammed me to the mat.

- Cyndi lauper is down!

David wolf is down!

- Every great hero needs a foil,

And there was no foil as devious

As "hot rod" roddy piper.

- Piper just went bananas!

- Well, let me tell you how to be roddy piper.

[chuckles] have a nice [bleep] day.

Go [bleep] yourself.

Give me the microphone, and get out of my way.

The future of professional wrestling is me.

When rp talks, people listen.

You think you got something, hot shot, huh?

Just when they think they got the answers,

I change the questions.

Just imagine this.

I had kicked the female vocalist of the year,

Cyndi lauper, in the head.

I had tortured hogan.

I chased dick clark back to the dressing room.

- What a despicable, disgraceful display,

On the part of roddy piper.

- Roddy piper had this uncanny ability

To infuriate you

And ratchet up your emotions

Without stepping foot in the ring.

And then eventually, he got in the ring.

You're like, "oh, this guy's also a badass too."

- February 18, 1985.

There's another show at madison square garden,

Also broadcast on mtv.

- Tonight, on mtv,

The war to settle the score.

- This is all leading to wrestlemania.

- I'm alan hunter,

And tonight it's the war to settle the score.

A wrestling match with social, political,

And artistic implications

Far beyond any wrestling match in history.

A wrestling match with social, political,

And artistic implications

Far beyond any wrestling match in history.

Was that serious enough for you? [chuckles]

♪ ♪

- Everybody was involved.

Wrestling is going down.

It's the rockers. We're gonna win this.

- Well, don't mess with the rock-and-rollers, bro.

We'll snuff you out. Under my thumb.

It's you, rod.

- Well listen, piper.

Rock and roll's gonna get you, man.

There were a lot of people out there

Who were talking about how evil rock and roll was,

And rowdy roddy piper was backing their play.

He was speaking to those people.

- Roddy piper is not gonna get away with this.

Roddy, you're a ratbag.

- Patty smyth. I mean so adorable, you know.

"rowdy roddy piper, you ratbag."

I think she must have made that word up.

- When this rock and wrestling thing started happening

There were people who just seemed to clamor.

I guarantee you they were calling up the executives

Saying, "can I go on that?"

- This roddy piper is a disgrace to rock and roll.

He certainly is not fit to wear a skirt,

And he's gonna pay for what he's done to cyndi lauper.

- And gloria steinem. I mean, good god.

- All of a sudden, like, geraldine ferraro,

Who was running for the vice president

Of the united states.

- When geraldine ferraro did her little one-liner,

There was a women's event in new york.

That's why they were all there.

I went up to her, and I just said, "hey, man,

"would you mind just saying a quick thing

And put down roddy piper?" and she did it.

- Roddy piper, why don't you come out and fight like a man?

- Her office was calling us for weeks.

"take that down! Take that down!"

She thought it was gonna ruin her whole political career.

- Politics, acting, tv, film, music.

It just had it all.

["real american" playing]

- ♪ you gotta day a stand, it don't help to hide ♪

- Guess who's sitting in the front row?

Mr. T.

The hottest star in american television.

["a-team" theme playing]

- He was one of the hottest properties of the time.

I mean, he was on fire,

Just like the wrestling business was.

♪ ♪

- That's my man. Told me what he wanted to do,

And so I did it,

And all of the stuff-- we finally got

Everything worked out. Now okay.

Now, okay, I said, "I'm gonna bring it.

This is what you're gonna get with me."

♪ ♪

- Things get pretty chaotic,

And cyndi lauper feels compelled

To jump into the ring herself,

To assist her good friend hulk hogan.

- Mr. T to the aid of cyndi lauper!

- He slapped her hat off.

You know, I said, "you can't do that to no lady."

- Inviting him inside the ring.

That could be a big mistake.

- Oh! - He nailed him from behind.

- They just pearl harbored onto him.

- It was on from then on.

That was the start of me getting into wrestling.

- What is going on? Ladies and gentlemen--

- It's pandemonium.

- Mr. T and hulk are fit to be tied.

New york's finest trying to help out.

- Well, in the ring, we have two individuals shaking hands,

The hulkster and mr. T.

- Talking about pop culture.

Holy moly. Mr. T and hulk hogan together.

You couldn't get any bigger than that.

- As thousands upon thousands of fans

Continue to file out into the streets of the big apple,

I'd like to get your impressions of what happened.

- Well, I think I saw it all, gene, I don't know.

It was so confusing that it's hard to have impressions

As to what just happened.

Mean gene sort of spoke like he did on camera, in person.

"hello, alan. How are you doing, alan?"

I was like, "dude, I'm just right here."

[laughs]

- Alan hunter, I'm gonna bring in a man that defended

The heavyweight title on this particular occasion,

Here on mtv.

- That room was packed. It was crowded.

It was tension-filled.

- It was the rock-wrestling connection.

Everything we stand for.

Everything we believe in, man.

It's not a dream. It's the way we live, man,

And piper tried to destroy it.

- This was, like, you know,

Faux-serious, and journalistic,

And mean gene knew how to work that.

- Any time you need me, I'll be there, brother.

- Well, now, wait. - Because you my man.

I think you're the greatest heavy wrestler there ever been,

Man. - Gentlemen. Gentlemen, please.

- To have mean gene be the ringmaster

Of the 50-ring circus,

And it didn't matter whether he knew you from adam

Or knew what you did.

- If I could bring in other dignitaries,

Who do we have standing by? Please.

What happened here? - It was incredible.

- That was really exciting. I would compare it

To a springsteen concert. It was pretty hot.

- If he smashes any more guitars,

He has to answer to me personally.

- Have you ever seen

Such total bedlam and pandemonium,

In your entire life? - Never.

- Gosh. Andy warhol's there. [laughs]

- It's just so exciting I just don't know what to say.

- "by the way, andy, good luck in all your things

And your career," you know what I mean.

- Now, wait a minute, now.

I don't know if I want to conduct this interview

Or not with you.

- I don't really care what you want, man.

- Piper, you will take a microphone and dress up,

If you're gonna come on. This is not--

- Dress up? I can do exactly what I want to do.

- I'm out in the wings,

Watching mean gene do his thing, and roddy comes

Hurtling down the hallway.

- Did they see him pin me? No!

All's they saw is a piece of crap!

That's all they saw, man.

They didn't see him do nothing to me!

- The lens wet.

- Thank you very much.

- Danny devito comes walking around,

To wipe the spit off the camera.

- Alan, I am out of gas. I am exhausted.

- "the mayhem just happened, and we're all gonna try

"to calm down now.

Where we go from here, no one knows."

- I don't think it's over.

I think we have just seen the tip of the iceberg.

- Vince brought mr. T in at that moment,

Because it was time

To really take it up

And out of the ballpark.

- The big news: Wrestlemania.

Coming March the 31st.

- Vince's vision of trying to make this work.

He wasn't gonna let it fail.

- Let's do it.

- He's putting everything into hulk hogan.

Mr. T. Roddy piper.

All the superstars that are on that lineup.

I'm putting all my money. I'm putting all my marbles.

Everything into you, because I believe in you.

- The greatest wrestling extravaganza of all time.

- It was vince's game to win or lose,

And it was all based on wrestlemania 1.

- Hulk hogan, a world wrestling entertainment champion,

Has chosen a tag team partner by the name of mr. T.

- One thing you taught me a long time ago.

You gotta stay hungry, and tonight,

I see the eye of the tiger in you.

I see you're the man that I always thought you were.

I appreciate it,

And I love you like a brother. - Thank you.

- I understood this is how you get attention,

And no one was capable of grabbing attention,

At that stage in american pop culture history,

Than mr. T.

- The name is mr. T.

First name is mister.

Middle name is that period.

Last name is t.

- So I remember I got a mr. T doll as, like,

A little figure from the "a-team"

With, like, the fake gold chains.

You're like, "hey, this dude's involved now too?"

And then he aligns himself with hulk hogan.

- We did "rocky iii" together, you know,

'cause he played thunderlips,

And naturally, I'm clubber lane, you know.

- Well, when I did "rocky iii"

That's when I first ran into mr. T.

We clicked from the start.

- What team is meaner than laurel and hardy,

More dangerous than bonnie and clyde?

Who else but hulk hogan and mr. T?

- Mr. T was a tv star.

Like, he was on "a-team."

When I heard he was getting involved

With the first wrestlemania, I was in.

It's like one channel is mr. T,

And then I flip to the other channel,

And it's like, "oh, here's wrestlemania with mr. T in it."

- There was a lot of animosity among the talent,

Among the boys, you know.

What's this guy doing coming in there?

- T. Kinda would rub people the wrong way, you know.

He just-- that's just the way he was.

- Piper. Orndorff. They dead meat.

I pity the fool.

- The rumor was going around that mr. T and piper

Didn't get along very much.

They didn't have a good relationship with each other.

- Roddy didn't like him too much.

- We got in it a little bit.

More than a little bit.

- Mr. T, hello. I know you can hear me,

And I don't mean to bother you--

- Roddy piper was on the set of "the a-team."

- My name's hot rod. Of course, you know who I am,

And I know who you are,

'cause your name's written on the back of the chair,

And I'm assuming that that's there so you don't get lost.

- Roddy had a bit of a chip on his shoulder.

Did not like mr. T.

He didn't like mr. T at wrestlemania 1.

- What we got here is what we found

Hanging around the restroom.

You see, we have a new feature now on "piper's pit."

It's called the hot seat.

- He resented mr. T making the money he was making.

- All the money that you have,

And all the following that you have.

This is your chance to back out of the closed-circuit fight

Without getting hurt, man.

- Then he was talking about--he said, "I'ma do that to mr. T."

He was talking about my haircut.

- Bring it on.

Give me the best you got.

I'll take it.

Mr. T. We're supposed to call him "mister."

Are you ribbing me? T and hogan.

They want to take on the both of us.

- It doesn't sell without piper,

Without piper stirring the pot.

So you've got this whole, under-the-surface,

Bubbling, blossoming feud.

- The children of america today

Must be sick to look at some-- hey, mr. Hey, hey, hey.

Wait. Hey, wait.

No, no, no. Hey.

I'll tell you. You mess with me, t,

I'll put an x on your name, brother.

- You could tell roddy piper, again,

Was probably an inch away

From trying to break this guy's neck.

- How can I say it without sounding cocky?

They didn't understand that bringing me in

Would broaden they thing.

- He was thinking, "this is gonna help me in my career,

"as much as me being with these guys,

To help them with theirs."

- So if you bring in-- you got cyndi lauper there.

You got the mtv crowd.

You got mr. T from the "a-team."

Say, "hey, man. This is good for us.

This is gonna help us."

- So now it's mr. T, hulk hogan,

And cyndi lauper over here,

And roddy piper, paul orndorff,

And "cowboy" bob orton, jr. Over here.

And the stage is set for wrestlemania 1.

- There are gonna be a lot of guests at ringside

And some guests involved in the main event

That's coming Sunday afternoon.

Billy martin, whom we heard from earlier on,

Is the guest ring announcer.

Muhammad ali the guest referee in the event.

And of course, liberace, the guest timekeeper.

We do invite you to see it at your local coliseum or theater,

Which will carry it on a closed-circuit

Television basis, on the giant color screen.

- So at the time of wrestlemania 1,

Vince was trying to think of,

"how can I reach our fans in the biggest way possible?"

We used closed-circuit television,

Which basically means that you would go to an arena

To watch big, giant television screens

Of what was happening somewhere else.

- I'd been to several closed-circuits,

And one of the closed-circuits I'd been to

Was the evel knievel snake river canyon jump.

♪ ♪

- Come on. - Okay.

Evel, stay with the bird. Stay with the bird.

Looks like you're gonna go into the canyon.

♪ ♪

- You know who that was promoted by?

Vincent kennedy mcmahon, jr.

- You lost a spring?

- It went sideways.

♪ ♪

- Vince had done a lot of other things.

He'd dabbled in other promotions

With closed-circuit television.

The evel knievel snake river canyon

Closed-circuit event bombed terribly.

- He lost his ass on that, so we figured,

"well, here goes another one." [laughs]

- Closed-circuit television was the only delivery system

To get wrestlemania out to the masses

And do it live and be able to have a gate

And have revenue from that gate.

It was as if you were running a live event

Simultaneous in over 100 locations

Across the country.

- You're gonna go to this theater or something,

And then it's gonna be on closed-circuit television,

And you're gonna sit and watch television

With all these other people. It just--

It was so odd to think of it in that manner.

- Movie theaters.

People are gonna pay a ticket to go to a movie theater

To watch professional wrestling?

It ain't gonna happen, baby.

Vince has lost his mind.

- Is vince crazy? Yes.

Vince is crazy.

Vince is absolutely insane,

But it takes an insane, crazy man

To come up with these ideas and bring them to fruition

And make them a reality.

- When I first heard the term "closed circuit"

It felt like trying to watch this thing on saturn.

- Nobody had done it before, and it was kinda like

Vince was this ringleader with this vision

That pushed everybody to make these moves.

- Vince mcmahon, he didn't care,

Because he wanted to make his statement,

And there's no way to make that statement better

Than putting wrestlemania in theaters

All over north america.

- We will be rolling, underneath our commentary,

A number of locations coast to coast

In which you can see wrestlemania.

You will not be able to see wrestlemania

On your home television set.

- Every major arena where we wrestled

Had set up the giant screen, you know,

And people were beating each other up

Trying to get a ticket.

- Many stating it as the greatest sports entertainment

Closed-circuit extravaganza of all time,

And I'd certainly agree with that.

- And our imaginations I think ran wild,

Like vince's did.

As it got closer and closer,

More and more ideas kind of popped into his--

"how can I make this bigger?"

- Liberace is the guest timekeeper.

- You know, I come from a long line of wrestling fans,

Of which number one was my mother.

- And the ring announcer billy martin.

- Billy martin was a character like no other character

I've ever run into before.

Billy martin. Good to see you again.

- Hey, nice to see you.

- World wrestling entertainment.

You're gonna be a part of that big extravaganza

Called wrestlemania.

- Vince is gonna get muhammad ali.

- And special guest referee-- listen to this--

Former boxing great heavyweight champion

Of the world, muhammad ali.

- Oh, my gosh.

I took pictures with him.

- This is an event.

Wrestling history will be made.

- It made the event more than,

"oh, are you going to the wrestling matches?"

No. You're not going to the wrestling matches.

You're going to wrestlemania.

It's bigger than a wrestling match.

This is an event that is a can't-miss event.

- Like ed sullivan would say, this is a really big show.

Hey, hulk, look here.

Everybody know we started training

For the March 31st date, man.

- You know what's so funny about this team, man?

The whole world knows about this, man.

Hulk hogan and mr. T start to train for the 31st.

- Right. The dream team, man.

Both: The dream team.

- Want to a thing with me doing 'em, or t doing 'em, or?

- Both combination.

You know, one helping the other one

Or encouraging the other one on type of thing.

- In the buildup to wrestlemania 1,

Hulk hogan and mr. T made a lot of media appearances.

- And the best new artist is...

- The moment we walked in, and our asses hit the seats...

- Cyndi lauper.

- For about three seconds, they were calling

Us up for best new artist.

It was magic.

It just added on to everything else.

- This was just another wall that came down

When hulk hogan shows up as cyndi lauper's

Escort to the grammys.

The hallowed grammys.

- And a little special thing.

[cheers and applause]

- Cyndi lauper, when she got her actual award,

The last thing cyndi lauper says,

"roddy piper, you're going to get yours."

- Every dog has his day,

You know what I'm talking about?

And that one's gonna get his.

- People would come in cars beside me, and they'd see,

And they'd turn up "girls just want to have fun."

It was crazy. - I got to get ready.

This ain't no joke.

I said, "my reputation's on the line."

- I've burned off many training partners,

But I can't get rid of you, man.

- I'ma keep up with you, brother.

- The training montage with mr. T was kinda brutal.

Get your head right! Look.

- Ugh!

- I was young.

Could run fast and jump high, back then, and you know,

Mr. T wasn't on that training schedule that we were on.

We'd run from here to the corner.

"that's it. I'm done. Okay.

No more jibber-jabber. I'm done."

Wait! Don't give up, 'cause that's your motion.

Keep coming. - Ugh!

Ugh! Ugh! Get me pumped, brother.

Get me. Get me, for the piper.

I think maybe two weeks before the wrestlemania

We were doing press and stuff like that.

- Hulkamania hype-a-mania is going

Full bore for Sunday's tag team wrestling match.

- The night before wrestlemania,

Me and hulk hogan, we was the hosts

Of "Saturday night live."

- Ladies and gentlemen, mr. T and hulk hogan!

- Hosting "Saturday night live" was putting

The icing on the cake, for us.

We got a really big match coming up.

About 12 hours from now.

Madison square garden.

Wrestlemania that is.

Hulk hogan. Mr. T.

- They call it the world's most famous arena.

- It's madison square garden.

It is the legendary place.

- The garden is the coliseum where all the gladiators fight.

- Mr. Mcmahon, in honoring his dad's legacy, said,

"my father told me, 'vinny, the garden

Will always be the garden.'"

- Good morning. 50 degrees.

March 31st. Here's what's happening.

- We're staying at a hotel over here in midtown,

Going over to the garden.

I'm riding with jesse "the body" ventura.

- Took a cab.

Picked me up at the hotel, and I said,

"take me to the garden."

- When king kong bundy and myself were

Driving to the garden, bundy goes,

"this is gonna be big, jimmy."

- Tickets for Sunday's sold-out tag team

Brawl at the garden have been going

For as much as $100 a pop.

- All right, herb. Why are you here?

- I'm here because this is the best entertainment around

In the city of new york.

This is where it's at. Forget the super bowl.

The super bowl is super boring.

This is exciting. - The place was packed.

People were telling us that people

Had snuck into the garden overnight

Waiting on till the event.

- Wrestlemania is the thing of today.

Hulkamania's running wild.

[dramatic electronic music]

♪ ♪

- From madison square garden,

World wrestling entertainment presents wrestlemania.

♪ ♪

- That day of the garden, t comes rolling in,

You know, about 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning,

And I went, "where have you been?"

You know, t, this is what it's all about, man.

"I was sleeping in the park.

"central park. With the bums.

Had to get my head right." um, what?

- Man, we've been training for six weeks, man.

And we ready now, man. All these people,

They want to see us get down, man.

- He either needed a break from us,

Or he might have had some second thoughts.

And I grabbed him.

I sat in the dressing room, and I just stared at him.

I would not let him out of my sight,

Till it's time to go to the ring,

'cause I was afraid he'd say he's going to the bathroom,

And then go down and get in a car or something.

I'm gonna look into your eyes. You look into mine.

- That's right, man. - You stay hungry!

- We gonna be ready. We gonna be ready!

We gonna be ready!

- It's the eye of the tiger, man.

♪ ♪

- Backstage, of course, all the wrestlers had

Where they were getting ready.

- I open one door where our dressing room was,

And in the room, in there, there was john studd

Putting his boots on.

Then it was "rowdy" roddy piper hanging his kilt up.

- We got there, and you know, nosed around.

See what we could find.

Got a glimpse of the rockettes.

- I didn't even see the rockettes.

I was, like, awe-stricken with muhammad ali.

- I remember walking down the hall

And saw muhammad ali's name on the door.

And I knocked on it, and I said,

"I'm just one of the wrestlers here.

"ricky steamboat.

"you know, just wanted to pop in and just say hello

To, you know, the great one." - all right.

At 1:00 p.M. This afternoon, it is wrestlemania.

The biggest wrestling extravaganza of all time.

- And you felt it.

The hair on the back of your neck was standing up.

There was electricity in the air, no doubt,

For that one point in time.

March 31st. Madison square garden.

♪ ♪

- Vince is in the backstage, and vince

Is negotiating with talent, back and forth,

And trying to lay out a show unlike anything

That had ever been done before.

- What was it like to sit ringside for wrestlemania 1?

This electricity that just surrounded the ring

And emanating from the fans, and it was unprecedented.

- I was only eight years old, and I remember

Right where I was sitting for wrestlemania 1.

I do remember thinking and feeling, really,

That it was something different.

There was a different kind of energy.

♪ ♪

- Welcome, everyone.

Gorilla monsoon here at ringside

With my colleague jesse "the body" ventura,

As world wrestling entertainment presents

The wrestling extravaganza of all time, wrestlemania.

Right now, let's go up to our ring announcer howard finkel.

- I'll never forget getting in that ring,

In madison square garden, and performing

And doing what I do best.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to wrestlemania.

[wild cheering]

- When I saw the monstrosity, like, the overhead view,

The zoom-in of the garden, it felt like hollywood.

- We're seeing the greatest spectacle

In wrestling history right now.

- We had 15,000 people in the original miami arena,

Downtown in miami.

- Fans packed the miami beach convention center

To watch the show.

- Rowdy roddy piper's gonna kick his butt!

- This is world history made right here.

[wild cheering]

- Wrestlemania is something very important.

You have mixture of movie stars, singers, and wrestlers,

So you combine the whole thing together,

And you have a lot of fun.

- This is the greatest card I've ever heard of.

[wild cheering]

- I mean, we're just in madison square garden,

But the way it went down with the closed-circuit,

The overhead, the celebrities,

Everything was on the line.

It had to work, or we would have tanked.

- I can only imagine vince pulling

Into madison square garden,

And having everything on the line,

And what happens in the next few hours of his life

Is going to be instrumental in what happens

For the rest of his life.

- The card has been scheduled for one fight.

- What an unbelievable ovation as they're hanging

Off the rafters, jess, here in madison square garden.

- Madison square garden was the mecca.

For wrestlemania 1,

You couldn't have had it any other place.

- I mean this is the biggest crowd in history.

1.2 million.

Nobody wants to lose in front of that many people, gino.

- Absolutely.

- You could just see, like, cameras going off,

And there was this palpable buzz that just did not leave.

You need everything to be perfect.

You've gotta be so far ahead of the curve,

In terms of having an idea that nobody's

Even conceptualized before.

And we were hungry for it, and it was on.

- Wrestlemania.

It's living up to everything I expected it to be,

Gino monsoon. - It was unbelievable.

I had chill bumps up and down my arm.

- Introducing first, to my left, the manager.

The mouth of the south, jimmy hart.

- My knees were so weak.

I'm telling you I always keep my hair like this, right?

Freeze and shine, right?

My hair, all of a sudden, it went from this tall

Up to about, like, here. I was like, "wow."

I was sweating profusely, you know.

- Just crushed him! Oh, my god.

- And a giant smash. - It's over!

- And I was so excited I ran and jumped in bundy's arms,

And I went, "number one! Number one!"

- The opposing corner, ricky steamboat.

Big test for you this afternoon.

- It's the big test in my life

And everybody's wrestling career that's involved

In this particular day.

This is the biggest wrestling extravaganza.

It's coming across the nation.

I remember walking out to the ring

For the madison square garden wrestlemania 1.

- Ricky steamboat!

- I think the fans were starting to gravitate

Towards the dragon.

- Wow! Jumped 15 feet across the ring.

He got him. - He got him.

- Getting the nod of being able to get

A win at the very first wrestlemania--

It meant a lot to the dragon.

Yeah. It did.

- Take a look at the fantastic crowd here,

At madison square garden, for this wrestlemania...

- Unbelievable. - Extravaganza.

- Working with the caliber of talent

That was on that card--

Andre and studd and king kong bundy--

And it's just like main event, main event, main event,

Main event all the way to the end.

And it just kept getting better and better.

- Weighing 273 pounds,

Brutus beefcake!

[wild cheering]

- Brutus beefcake was dressed to the nines,

And you know, blowing kisses to the girls.

And I got a big smile on my face,

'cause I'm just-- that's bruce beefcake.

I'm the cocky sob.

- Sometimes people say it's better

To be lucky than to be good.

250 pounds, baby. The biggest day of our life.

Well, let me tell you how lucky jimmy hart was,

At wrestlemania 1.

I didn't go out just one time.

I went out two times.

King kong bundy, of course,

And greg "the hammer" valentine.

- He's got jimmy hart,

But he's taken his eyes off the hammer.

- Look out!

Valentine throws his own man

Over the top.

Jimmy hart fell.

- All right, fans. One of the big feature matches

This afternoon, windham and rotunda

To defend against these two men,

Nikolai volkoff and iron sheik,

With fred blassie in their corner.

- You know what you need?

This is my best time of life!

- The iron sheik was a figure.

When you go back to those real important years for the wwe

Transforming from little gyms and, you know,

Territorial venues to-- [makes boom sound]

This monstrosity of what it became

And what it is today,

The iron sheik was a big part of that.

This is the height of the cold war,

And you've got this guy coming out and spitting.

"iran number one! U.S.--" [spits]

- Iran number one!

U.S.A.--[spits]

[wild cheering]

- And you couldn't stand-- you wanted to ring his neck.

- From the soviet union, nikolai volkoff.

- When he would sing the national anthem...

- [singing in russian] [crowd jeering]

♪ ♪

I don't care how old you were.

You wanted to put your hand through the screen

And suffocate the guy.

- The finish called for the iron sheik

To grab the walking stick from his manager

"classy" freddie blassie

And bust it over the head of one of his opponents.

- Referee now just admonishing mike rotunda.

Look at this. Oh!

He nailed him with a cane!

- And the iron sheik told me this.

He was so fired up.

He was so excited about being there,

He literally busted that cane over the guy's head.

- Look at this.

Iron sheik climbing up on the apron

With blassie's cane and just nails windham from behind.

- And there was this palpable buzz that just did not leave.

- Holy mackerel.

This wrestling extravaganza, wrestlemania,

Has been nothing short of sensational.

- If the gentleman to my left is slammed,

He loses $15,000 in cash.

If his opponent does not slam this man in the ring,

He will retire from professional wrestling.

♪ ♪

- The sheer threat of andre having to retire--

Those things were gripping.

- Bell is rung, and we're underway here.

- You really fed into that, as a fan,

So you were on the edge of your seat.

"oh, come on, dude. Don't get slammed."

- Look at this.

Scott trying to slam andre.

Forget about it.

- I mean, it felt so real.

It felt so final, so there was angst to that whole match.

There was real tension, and there was real theater.

- You know, I was so nervous for my friend andre.

If he couldn't slam big john studd,

Andre was gonna have to retire and go away.

And I believed it.

Oh, my god. What was gonna happen?

- Look at this!

Andre picks him up!

He slams him!

[bell dings] it's all over!

- Unbelievable!

[wild cheering]

- Andre looking for the money. He's got it.

♪ ♪

25,000-plus on their feet, as andre slams.

Look at this!

He's throwing the money out.

- But then bobby heenan, that weasel,

Grabbed that bag of money.

- Uh-oh. Look at that.

Bobby "the brain" heenan grabbed

The bag with the money!

- And nobody knew this was going to happen.

Bobby was going into business for himself.

My dad's in the back losing his mind that this money's

Just being thrown around, and finally,

Andre was able to grab the bag out of heenan's hands.

And so goes the story.

- It's the ladies' wwe title match,

And it is also the first of our--

Good gracious, or good luck.

Something like that, but it is the first

Of our wrestling rock connection matches.

- Cyndi lauper, wendi richter, a big one for you.

- That's right, mean gene.

Shmoolah, lani kai, you better watch out,

Because these are powerful words,

Because this is a powerful woman,

And I'm a powerful manager now,

Because I was taught by "captain" lou albano

Just how to manage.

- It's something that I trained for, for years.

I started wrestling when I was 18,

And even though that was wrestlemania 1,

It had never happened before,

It was the biggest event I'd ever wrestled.

- Wrestlemania.

The greatest thing in the world.

Like I said before, woodstock was to rock and roll

What wrestlemania is to wrestling today.

- It's an adrenaline unlike any other.

Nothing replaces how I felt in wrestling,

Especially that night.

I wanted to be a role model for the girls,

So I tried very hard to be that role model.

- Punch comes back with a right of her own

And sends leilani flying across that ring.

- It was like a dream.

I knew what was going on, but yet,

It was kinda like I was floating almost.

I was that excited about it.

- Boom. Whoa.

Throwing us a little power move there.

- Just like an athlete for the olympics,

You train to peak.

At that time, I was peaked.

I was prepared that night.

- Wendi richter now.

- Well, it was the first time my father ever saw me wrestle,

So having him, you know, one-on-one sport like that,

And at madison square garden, and cyndi lauper.

It was probably the highlight of my life.

I'll never forget it.

♪ ♪

[wild cheering]

- I know it was electric at the garden.

Just--it was wired.

- The winner of this bout-- wendi richter!

- Ecstatic as cyndi lauper and wendi richter,

And the fabulous one bent completely out of shape.

[upbeat music]

- Look at the flashes going all over the garden, gino.

[wild cheering]

- And the masses were loving it.

The people--young, old.

Wrestling fans. Rock fans.

Everybody was just rolling with this.

- History made again here, at wrestlemania.

- I mean it was just amazing.

I could feel the rumbling.

You'd have to be dead not to feel it.

- Man, the energy and the people.

- There he is! - God, it was something.

I will never forget that.

- What's it gonna be like for that main event?

♪ ♪

- I started going, "oh, my god."

Now that I realize what's going on here--

This is not a dress rehearsal.

This is actually happening, and you have an opportunity.

You better take it and run with it, because you don't

Go around the block twice.

- Can he wrestle? - Soon we'll find out.

It won't take long to find out.

He'll be put to the test immediately.

- Oh, my gosh.

If I have a bad match, you know,

And wrestlemania falls flat on its face,

We're done.

- Ladies and gentlemen, in just a few moments,

We will have our main event.

- I have thought many times

About what it would have been like

To be at the garden for wrestlemania 1.

Honestly, I don't think I could have physically handled it.

I think I probably would have combusted.

I would have had to be hospitalized.

- Big scores to be settled here,

As the happening of the century

Is about to go down here on wrestlemania.

- After my match, I remember standing behind the curtain

Watching the main event.

- I was peeking through that curtain,

'cause I didn't want to miss this main event.

- May I introduce to you the guest ring announcer,

New york's number one billy martin!

[wild cheering] [bell dings]

- Liberace about to make an appearance here

In the garden.

- Here we're at a wrestling match,

And you've got liberace and the radio city rockettes

Doing "new york, new york."

♪ ♪

- He's got a pretty fair kick there, gino.

♪ ♪

- Give me a break.

- You can hear the fans chanting, "ali! Ali!"

For whom I consider the greatest heavyweight champion

In the world. - There he is!

[wild cheering] unbelievable individual.

The greatest.

- The mere presence of muhammad ali validated wrestlemania.

- Ali stepping through the ring ropes

To a standing ovation.

- Because think about what muhammad ali

Meant to that ring.

Meant to that venue.

To the world.

- I hear the drums, gus.

[cheers and applause]

- Sounds like bagpipe city, baby.

[crowd jeering]

[bagpipes playing]

- Then the building exploded, because here comes

Mr. T and hulk hogan, and jimmy "superfly" snuka.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- This can be none other than you-know-who.

World wrestling entertainment champion.

There he is.

The incredible hulk hogan with bad man himself, mr. T.

- How about a tag team for the main event of wrestlemania 1?

Has there ever been a tag team match in the main event

Of wrestlemania since?

- 25,000-plus hundred.

Pete, the electricity is unbelievable!

- So there was this palpable trepidation

The day of wrestlemania

Where nobody knew what was gonna happen.

- Look at the bell by liberace.

Oh, and look at that bell.

Just unbelievable.

- Both teams precision trained.

Unbelievable. Coming to this moment.

This moment. The biggest moment.

The biggest match in the history of wrestling.

- So now it's piper and hulk hogan

In the middle of the ring.

Then I'm jumping on the side.

"now, I want him. I want him.

Let me get him! Let me get him!"

- Well, the crowd's now telling the hulkster.

You look, and t says, "please let me in."

Can you believe this?

- Then you point toward him.

Want me to tag him, huh?

You want me to tag this guy here?

♪ ♪

He wants a piece of-- both: There's the tag!

- When those two stepped into the ring for wrestlemania,

Roddy piper was watching himself.

He was expecting mr. T to double cross him somehow.

- Here's the thing about piper.

Piper is so smart.

He's smart like a fox.

Sometimes he didn't let the guys in the dressing room

Even know what he was thinking or what he was doing.

- Fans are chanting, "t! T! T!"

And they're going nose-to-nose.

- Look at nose-to-nose.

- Mr. T and "rowdy" roddy piper nose-to-nose,

In the center of the ring.

- When piper and mr. T go nose-to-nose,

I mean it was electric, dude.

- Mr. T had a skill set from being an amateur wrestler,

And we accentuated his, you know,

Strong points and just stayed away from any weaknesses.

- With the wrestlemania 1, with vince,

Vince was, "oh, there's many ways to do this, hot rod."

I said, "no, vince.

With mr. T, if he comes in and starts banging heads,

And throwing, you know, hokey punches,

It's gonna kill it.

I'm telling you, vince. I've been there before.

Keep it amateur with t," and we did.

- He slapped me. Bang!

- Oh, slapped across the face!

- And I slap him. Bang!

- And a return slap by mr. T!

- And he slapped me again. Bang!

- Look at this.

They're exchanging slaps. Oh!

- We were like fools, you know.

We was enemies.

- One point, he put mr. T in a front face lock,

Just to keep him honest.

He just wanted mr. T to know,

"I'm the one in charge over here."

- My job was to make sure he didn't get hurt

And get killed, because, you know,

I hate to say it this way,

But piper and orndorff didn't like him.

- Later on in the match,

It was roddy piper who told mr. T,

"pick me up in a fireman's carry,"

And mr. T put him over his shoulders and spun him around.

- Whoa! Nice fireman's carry.

Another amateur move put to good use here,

As mr. T hoists up piper.

What's he gonna do with him?

Oh! - Oh!

- Drops him like yesterday's newspaper!

- And that was the photo that went all over the world.

- Look out, t. Now in the wrong corner.

Here comes the hulk.

- And all four of 'em are going at it, in the corner,

And it's [inaudible] already.

- Lost control here.

Ali's moved in. - Ace is up there.

Muhammad ali is getting into the ring,

And look at chaos five minutes into the match, gino monsoon.

- Here comes ali in the ring, and he's swinging.

He's trying to get orndorff. He's trying to get piper.

- Ali stepped right in there.

Oh, look at ali. Took a shot at piper!

- We're all standing behind the curtain,

And when muhammad took the shot,

And piper went down, I cringed.

I cringed.

And when he came through the curtain backstage,

He just--

"okay," and I went, "roddy!"

I said, "man, it looked like he caned you!"

"ricky, his knuckle did this."

And he just tapped my chin.

That's how good he still was.

- Muhammad ali chasing ace out of the ring.

The former champion of the world

Is taking control of the ring and driving

"ace" bob orton back to the floor.

- There was a decision made

To let pat patterson be the referee in the ring

And put ali on the outside.

He took a couple wild swings, you know,

That if he'd have connected, it'd been party over.

- I had to control this whole goddamn thing.

Man, man. The pressure.

- It was unbelievable.

And then finally the finish comes to the match,

And the place explodes.

[inaudible] would say, "man, the crowd gonna pop."

- Double team, maybe triple team effort here.

- Well, in my mind, there was always the threat

Of--who's the threat?

Cowboy bob.

- Paul had hogan hooked,

And I went up on the top roof,

And come off, and hogan moved,

And I hit paul.

- As piper was about to lower him--look out!

- Oh, and then orndorff. Unbelievable!

- With the cast.

Going for the cover, pat patterson.

- He got him! - They got him!

- Unbelievable pandemonium here in the garden.

[wild cheering]

- They were lucky. They were lucky, gino,

That hulk hogan moved out of the way,

And "cowboy" bob orton hit mr. Wonderful,

Paul orndorff, with the cast.

- I stayed there as long as I could,

And I said, "I've gotta remember this.

I've gotta remember this the rest of my life,"

And I still do, to this day.

- Wrestlemania 1 was a missile fired

At the rest of the industry.

If you were doing anything else that day

But watching wrestlemania, you were a sucker,

Because you were missing something.

- What an ending to wrestlemania.

The most phenomenal wrestling card

Ever put together, in the history

Of professional wrestling.

- It's hard to grasp what hulk hogan meant at that point.

And we all know what muhammad ali means,

In hindsight, obviously.

But to have those two in that ring,

In the center of new york city?

I mean this is top-shelf stuff.

- Muhammad ali.

He would always put his arm around me,

And he would whisper in my ear,

"you're the greatest of all time, hulk hogan.

You're the greatest of all time."

Every time I saw him, he'd do that.

I said, "no. You're the greatest of all time."

- Everything that a kid could want in 1985

Happened at wrestlemania 1.

Hulk hogan. Mr. T.

Cyndi lauper. Muhammad ali.

It was just bananas.

[soft dramatic music]

- Pandemonium.

Bedlam breaking out at the garden.

Wrestlemania. And what a fitting conclusion.

Jimmy "superfly" snuka, hulk hogan,

And mr. T, what was it like?

What was going through your mind?

- It was rough. Like I said, I trained hard.

We've been training a long time.

World wrestling entertainment. Hulk hogan.

And I'm glad to be a part. It's rough out there.

Like I said, I didn't take the guys lightly.

- I came from the traditional wrestling group

That was very skeptical about wrestlemania,

And how dare they allow outsiders

And celebrities to get into our ring.

- But you know something?

Wrestlemania, hulk hogan, mr. T,

"superfly" jimmy snuka, we reign supreme.

Can you dig that? [chuckles]

- At the same time, very intrigued.

From an insider's point of view, it was like,

"okay. They did that. Now what?"

- There's a new craze sweeping the nation,

But it's nothing more than the old-time

Professional wrestling, but with a new twist.

- The morning after wrestlemania 1,

The associated press reported that 1 million people

Watched the spectacular on closed-circuit television.

- And I come into school the next day.

I'm like, "dude, it was sick. It was crazy.

Hogan. Mr.--" it was wild. Oh, my god.

It was the super bowl.

- And once this thing hit, you know,

It's like pushing the nuclear button.

We didn't realize that once vince pushed that button

The rockets were launched.

That we were going to the moon.

- The promoters say the combination of bear hugs,

Rock and roll, glamour, and brutality

Always means a sellout house.

- Lately, it's been emerging from second-rate arenas

To attract a whole new generation of fans.

- As soon as wrestlemania hit, and we had all that publicity,

And we were on every damn media show or every tv station,

I don't care what network or what--

- Available this June, in a video retailer

In your area--wrestlemania.

The world wrestling entertainment home video

Series presents a two-hour cassette

Of the greatest professional wrestling event of all time.

- Yes. I've seen wrestlemania 1.

I had the vhs tape.

I watched it till it basically stopped working.

- All of the merchandising that came after wrestlemania 1

Was a star marketing scheme.

- Wrestling superstars take on a whole new twist,

With the new wwe stretch wrestlers!

- I remember linda mcmahon telling me

That they were driving somewhere,

And vince was looking at his son shane

Playing with gi joes, in the back seat.

And he said, "one day, people are gonna be playing

With wwe action figures."

- With wrestling super stars.

It's like having a real match right in your own home.

- Did I have any wwe merchandise?

Boy, did I.

Any time I went to the toy store,

I was going straight to the action figures.

- The iron sheik,

Hulk hogan, and big john studd.

- I got t-shirts. I had towels.

They made an ice cream bar with me on it.

Superstars ice cream bars.

Go to the store. Go to the 7-11.

Get a big gulp, and you turn the cup around.

"well, jeez.

There's brutus beefcake on the cup."

- Now, you're asking mom and dad and santa

For all these toys, and the hot rod shirts,

And the hulkamania shirts,

And everything else that they sold.

It was a wwe takeover.

- Really reeled the kids in, and of course,

They went to the parents, to buy merchandise.

And vince just went crazy with it, because everything sold.

Everything worked.

- Wrestling entertainment heavyweight

Champion hulk hogan!

Oh, my!

Yes, sir.

Hulkamania is running wild!

- Man, after that, we were like,

"this ain't nothing, man.

We can do this."

Wrestling every night.

Wrestling twice on saturdays

And twice on sundays sometimes.

Wrestlers had never seen anything like that.

- Wendi became a household name.

I went to visit my grandparents,

Right after wrestlemania,

And I was jogging with my father.

People ran out of their houses, and said,

"there's wendi richter," and I'm thinking, "oh, my gosh."

♪ ♪

- The country took off with us as superstars,

As rockstars, as movie stars,

As every star under the universe.

- We were part of this unbelievable pop culture

That was taking place.

- Prior to the wrestlemania year,

There were families that didn't allow

Their children to watch wwe.

Now, their kids are watching cartoon shows

Featuring roddy piper and the iron sheik.

- Is his name mr. King?

- How did you know?

- Because he invited us for a free cruise too.

- Oh, no.

He's going to sign us.

- They kind of, like, made me the superhero

That vince wanted me to be.

The "rock 'n' wrestling" cartoon.

This thing's catching on, man.

It's like a fever, and there are thousands and thousands

Of hulkamaniacs around.

- It is deafening in here, in the skydome!

- Seeing hulk hogan all of a sudden go from hulk hogan

To "hulk hogan."

- Hulkamania is running wild,

And the hulkster giving 'em exactly what they want.

- He is the focal point of the entire

United states of america and most of the free world.

- After wrestlemania, you couldn't stop me.

I mean, I was invincible.

- I don't know if anybody's ever been over

Like hogan was at that time.

Gosh almighty. People just loved him.

- Their champion.

The world's champion, hulk hogan.

- Hulk hogan was box office.

Hulk hogan was ratings.

- That's why I'm carrying the red, white, and blue, brother.

I'm proud of america.

I stand for this country.

- He was everywhere.

"sports illustrated." I mean my gosh.

You couldn't turn a tv on without seeing

Hulk in everything.

♪ ♪

- I loved hulk hogan.

I was saying my prayers.

I was taking my vitamins.

I mean I was a hulkamaniac.

- Hulkamania needs to be fought for every day.

Training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins.

- Anybody could point to a crowd.

Anybody can do that, but he punctuated it perfectly.

He had the perfect physique.

The perfect presentation.

The perfect connection.

He just resonated with everybody.

♪ ♪

- Well, I jumped on this crazy lightning bolt

That vince had sparked, and I was riding it.

It just never, ever stopped.

Hulkamania shall live forever,

Long after I'm gone! - All right.

He is the heavyweight champion of the world,

Ladies and gentlemen.

He is number one, hulk hogan

[cheers and applause]

- Look at the stare of the champion

Against the challenger.

- Wrestlemania has kind of become

That visual point of wwe.

- Look at this!

- He slammed him!

I don't believe it!

- Wrestlemania is a phenomenon,

And it kinda transcends pro wrestling.

Like, the average person who doesn't

Pay attention to wrestling, at all,

Knows what wrestlemania is. - Oh, look at this!

- It's a household name.

- Hulk presented the belt and raised

The hand of the warrior!

- It was vince expanding the business.

Taking over the whole world.

- Elizabeth. Tears flowing.

She loves him.

- It takes so much hard work.

It takes so much creativity.

So much vision.

He really saw a product that would appeal to the masses

In a way that it never had before,

And that was what his goal was when he started

To make changes in wwe, and he coined the phrase

"sports entertainment."

♪ ♪

- Some of these insiders hate the term

"sports entertainment."

You know, screw them. I was in rasslin'.

It didn't pay any money. Sports entertainment does.

- Pro wrestling wasn't a thing.

Wwe was a thing, and it was all at once,

There was a shift in how people thought about it.

And wrestlemania-- that was the stamp.

- That was the launching point to take the business

Of what we call professional wrestling.

They're watching what vince mcmahon

Created and saw,

On this one day, March 31, 1985,

Wrestlemania, in madison square garden.

Everything sprung out and happened from there.

- Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to wrestlemania.

- He had a dream, and buddy, the dream came true.

♪ ♪

- Wrestlemania-- while the name itself

Conjures up images of celebrity, of pageantry,

Of extraordinary athleticism, of pomp, of circumstance,

It is the quintessential sports entertainment event.

- Vince was 38 years old when he presented

The first wrestlemania.

- You know, I didn't realize that 38 years later,

Things would still be rocking as they are today.

- 70,000-plus here, at at&t stadium.

- A lot of the superstars that I've spoke to, over the years,

Privately about it, thought, "this is just a one-and-done.

I'm gonna do this big event. Cool.

Get a bit of publicity.

Get a big payday, and we'll move in,

But this is never gonna happen again."

Little did they know.

- Welcome to wrestlemania!

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- What people thought was gonna be the thing

That killed wrestling

Is what took it to the next level,

And that was deciding to come out

And tell people it was entertainment.

- This entire building has become unglued,

As once again, the hulkster holds up the gold!

- It's very rare that you meet a person who has

Never heard of wrestlemania.

- When you really think about how far wrestlemania's come,

100,000 people in some of the stadiums that we're in now.

- Wrestlemania is not one night.

It's two nights.

However many people the building can hold,

That's how many people are going to be there.

And that is the staple.

That's how far we have come,

And it's only gonna get bigger,

And it's only gonna get better.

- When the rock says wrestle, the people will say mania.

Wrestle. All: Mania!

- Wrestle. All: Mania!

- Wrestle. All: Mania!

- The super bowl is cool, but the game might suck.

Wrestlemania never sucks.

You are always going to have multiple moments

During wrestlemania where you go, "that was awesome."

- I'm still stunned at how big it is.

It has gone from being wrestlemania, a lone show,

To wrestlemania weekend, to wrestlemania week,

To wrestlemania season.

It's a season.

- When you get into this business I think

The first goal that goes into your head is,

"I want to main event wrestlemania."

- Roman reigns will main event.

- It's such a dangling gold carrot

That everybody is chasing.

It gets in your blood, and you want to do it

Again, and again, and again.

- Every year, is this gonna sell?

Is it gonna do well?

Are people gonna dig it?

Is it gonna be as big as it could be?

Every year, vince still holds his breath at wrestlemania.

- Every year, I go, "there's no way

We're gonna top this year,"

And then the next year comes, and I go, "oh, wow.

We just topped it."

- Vince was creating the ultimate spectacle,

And the success was mind-blowing.

- I mean it literally takes every single different person,

From so many different walks of life,

To make an event like this happen.

And all of these people bet their money

And their passion and their heart

On vince mcmahon making it happen.

And like usual, he came through.

♪ ♪

- You know, it's amazing how you can sit back sometimes

And think about how lucky we are

To be part of wrestlemania 1.

- It was amazing and an honor to be able to participate,

And be part of the show, and be part

Of those special group of guys.

- History made again here, at wrestlemania!

- Remember those who dug the hole.

- It's true, because without those that came before us,

We wouldn't have what we have today.

- We're just getting down to just

The last handful of guys that were at the very first mania.

- It's just amazing to look around

And see that I'm one of the last people left,

Of the original crew.

- Sounds like bagpipe city, baby.

- I get choked up sometimes when I think about it,

Because sometimes I sit back and think,

"you know, I'm peeking through a curtain,

And there's 'rowdy' roddy piper,"

Who's no longer with us.

- I really loved lou and roddy as brothers.

- Hey, I gotta say I miss lou a lot.

- My friend, your friend, our friend, cyndi lauper!

- When they passed, that whole era

Kind of passed, for me, as well.

♪ ♪

- It's one of the few things in my life

Now that brings me back to a place in my childhood.

I remember the presentation of wrestlemania

Almost more than I do my earliest world series memory.

It's seared into my mind.

It's seared into my heart.

- Going for the cover. Pat patterson.

- If that one moment, that one event,

That one spectacular moment in time of wrestlemania 1

Doesn't happen, arguably you can say none of this is here.

- The date--March 31, 1985, and the greatest happening

In the long and illustrious history

Of professional wrestling.

It's known as wrestlemania.

- Well, wrestling fans around the world,

We certainly want to thank everyone for being with us

This wrestlemania.

This wrestling event of all time.

♪ ♪