Original subtitles

[cart rattling]

[dramatic music]

* *

- Lot of exciting and unexpected things

happening here at this WrestleMania IX.

- One of my most important jobs here

is to keep track of our massive archive.

For years people have been asking me,

when are we gonna do the story of WrestleMania IX?

[crowd cheering]

* *

- Let me get you on camera here.

- Doing what? - This is the making of.

- Making of WrestleMania? - Yeah.

- Then you should get me doing some push-ups

or something over here.

- It was such an undertaking

that we wanted to document it internally.

- Clean that up once. Oh, excellent, excellent.

[blows sharply] Perfect.

- Honestly, I'm not sure what we did with the footage.

Do you know?

- Oh, I miss those days. Wow.

Who shot this footage?

- [laughs] Oh, my--

I've never seen any of that footage,

so thank you for sharing that with me.

That is really cool.

- It's only appropriate that you sunbathe

head and shoulders above all the rest.

Who thought that shot was OK?

- I'm already giving the cameraman a hard time.

Giving him the death stare. Like, why are you filming?

- Ah, get that camera off of me.

- You're peeling back the curtain.

- What are you doing?

- You got some strange looks.

Like, why is there a camera in my face?

- This is the biggest event that's out there.

This is the Super Bowl of wrestling.

- WrestleMania, man.

- At that time, Vegas was yearning to be accepted.

WWE felt like, oh, we're accepted.

We're in the big boys' club.

[all cheering]

- Dude, it was crazy.

In the back, it was, like,

a bunch of farm animals everywhere.

- I don't like elephants.

I don't like anything bigger or faster than me.

- Vince calls me and says, "We got a problem.

"Hulk's injured.

We're not sure whether he's gonna be able to perform."

* *

- Yeah, there's definitely tension there.

I'm not sure how much Vince really knew

about what was going on.

- Mm, probably should have bobbed instead of weaved.

It was a pretty nasty black eye.

- Hey, hey.

- He told what really happened.

- Bret Hart's telling Hulk to go for it!

- Everybody's going, like, what?

- Got a ton of heat from everybody.

[chuckles] Whatever.

- It went against everything he'd told me up to that day.

- Welcome to WrestleMania IX!

- It was the first WrestleMania that felt

like it had a vibe to it.

- This was really the first step

towards sensationalizing WWE.

[crowd cheering]

- It was a gamble. It truly was a gamble.

- It was Vegas. It was lavish.

- That show showed everybody there are no limits.

- You don't evolve... [elephant trumpets]

Without taking chances and doing different things.

- Got to do something special.

Hang on, OK? - OK.

- And that's what WrestleMania IX was.

* *

- Welcome to Caesar's Palace

and the largest toga party in the world!

[cheers and applause]

- Welcome to WrestleMania!

- What WrestleMania did for the WWE is two things.

One, it created a culmination event.

The universe of fans were all gonna be focused

on one thing at one time.

- The greatest wrestling extravaganza of the century.

- That's the glory of WrestleMania,

a single shared experience by everybody in every time zone.

Sounds simple now, but prior to WrestleMania I,

never happened.

- Everybody at Madison Square Garden,

all the way around the world, now you know

what it's all about, brother.

- But it also did another thing.

It created an on-ramp.

Prior to WrestleMania, there was no on-ramp.

It's like picking up in the middle

of a soap opera or a movie.

Don't know who's going on, what's going on.

How do you enjoy it?

But if once a year--

wow, this is cool. What happens next?

- The irresistible force meeting the immovable object.

- We wanted our audience that wanted

to be a part of WrestleMania to be excited,

to be thrilled to be watching.

- 93,173.

- At that time in the late '80s,

pay-per-view was king.

We had done a million buys for WrestleMania.

The goal really was to branch out into boxing pay-per-view.

- Holyfield versus Holmes.

The World Heavyweight Championship

live on pay-per-view.

- Vince had always been very interested in boxing.

And of course, Caesars, they had done big boxing.

- Sugar Ray Leonard was in town promoting his fight

with Donny "Golden Boy" Lalonde.

Fight November 7th at Caesars Palace.

- Donny Lalonde and Sugar Ray Leonard

was not, oh, my God, I've got to see this fight.

Caesars was looking for a promoter

that knew how to make things larger than life.

Look no further than WWE.

- Tickets today went on sale in our 15,300-seat stadium.

- I went to Vince McMahon,

and he brought WWE in to do

the television production, TV distribution.

- We're very much looking forward

to broadening our horizons with this very special event,

and that's the business that we're in.

- Date is gonna be November the 7th,

and it's gonna be happening at Caesars Palace.

- We got tremendous exposure on that fight.

- When I fight Don Lalonde, it's gonna be all boxing.

- Probably the biggest pay-per-view event of 1988,

referring to the Lalonde-Leonard fight,

to go down November 7th.

- We brought a WWE sensibility to production,

which prior had never been done in boxing.

- Oh, that's a nice program.

I've got a couple of those we'll take home.

- We had Roy Firestone on the roof

of Caesars Palace for the open.

- Hi, everybody, I'm Roy Firestone.

Sugar Ray Leonard, Donny Lalonde

for the light heavyweight championship of the world.

- Thinking out of the box, pushing the envelope,

because, at the end of the day,

it was about entertaining the viewer.

- There is Sugar Ray Leonard. Nice outfit.

- I directed the Leonard-Lalonde fight.

It was the only time I ever directed boxing.

It worked out very well, actually.

- Leonard with a good right hand.

Lalonde says, it didn't bother me at all.

- I was there. I remember thinking,

Sugar Ray in trouble?

- Glancing right hand off the top of the head by Lalonde.

End of round three. - It's like a movie.

This is a Hollywood fight, it seems like.

- That fight ended up being surprisingly good.

- Could be stopped at any moment.

Right hand. It's all over!

- I think we did impress Caesars in '88,

but the difference, we realized,

in boxing is, they all come together for one night,

and as soon as those two boxers go in the ring, it's done.

So there was not that continuity,

like, wow, let's do the next one.

It just dissipated.

And it really did not fit with the brand,

as the WWE was continuing to do every day.

[projector clicks]

* *

- That boxing match in 1988 was really

the beginning of our relationship

with Caesars Palace.

I remember in 1991, we actually did an episode

of "Prime Time Wrestling" in Caesars Palace.

I have that tape right here.

[upbeat music]

* *

- We're here in Caesars Palace,

Las Vegas.

- Man, I remember Ted DiBiase

and Macho Man were all on that show,

but at that time, there was one huge star,

Hulk Hogan.

- There he is, the greatest professional athlete

in the world today,

the world's heavyweight champion,

Hulk Hogan.

- The fans were so locked into Hulkamania.

Whether it was Germany, England,

or even a town in the United States,

say Hulkamania is coming.

I didn't even need an opponent,

and the arenas would sell out.

That's how much the WWE had gotten the character over.

- That guy right there

has made history all over the world.

- There's the Hulkster, bigger than life.

And back then, there was just one superstar,

and it was Hulk Hogan.

- What are you gonna do

when Hulkamania runs wild on you?

Hulkamania, it lasted for eight or nine years,

but just got to the point, we're in the '90s,

and Vince didn't believe in the character.

- Hulk presented the belt

and raised the hand of the Warrior.

- Roll on a couple more years into WrestleMania VIII,

and the tension was more between me and Vince

than me and the company.

- This WrestleMania, is this the last time

we see you step into the ring?

- So it kind of, like, felt better for me to kind of, like,

take a step back when my boss really didn't believe

that I was viable anymore and I was an attraction.

Kind of like, well, OK.

When I sit here and actually think

about my last match at WrestleMania,

it chills me to the bone.

- Hulk left after WrestleMania VIII

and felt it was time to move on and try other things,

try doing some movies.

- Now Hulk says wrestling

may be in the past.

He's trying a different role as an actor.

- Hulk Hogan, he's what made all the wheels turn,

so it was a big time in the WWE for change.

- And now the Hitman, Bret Hart!

- The truth was that when Hulk kind of left the company

after WrestleMania, it was guys like me

and Undertaker and Shawn

who had to kind of pull the wagon.

- Bret "The Hitman" Hart just gained

the World Wrestling Entertainment Championship!

- Shawn Michaels, the sexiest man

walking the face of God's green Earth.

It was the beginning of this new generation of performers,

trying to see if us younger performers

could carry the company.

- Oh, Tombstone city!

- It was kind of out with the old

and in with this new era of talent.

- Undertaker is one of the most popular superstars

in the World Wrestling company today.

- Towards the end of 1992,

you witnessed this elevation,

wrestlers that you had watched for the last few years,

but now you are looking at as,

oh, these are the main event guys.

At the same time, you had this huge influx

of new talent that started to paint the picture

of what the WWE actually would be going into '93.

- There is Scott. There is Rick.

The Steiner Brothers.

Gentlemen, welcome to the WWE.

- We'd been to a couple other places

but hadn't really been to the WWE yet.

The opportunity came up. That was a good option.

We decided to go up.

- We had our own different mindset,

different moveset. - Look at that maneuver!

- Made our presentation different.

- Take a look at this motley crew,

the Headshrinkers!

- When we came through as the Headshrinkers,

we knew that we were that damn good.

- Pow! Forget about it.

[bell clangs]

- We dominated the tag team scene,

and we also dominated the singles competition.

- 505 pounds.

Yokozuna, former sumo wrestler.

- He would take his robe off every night,

and you'd hear that same reaction.

[gasps] Oh, my God,

he is that big.

- How on Earth are you gonna stop

this humongous individual?

- We had to get new guys over.

We had to create new stars to fill

that changing of the guard.

- It is the Survivor Series.

And for ticket information for WrestleMania,

tune in to the WWE Network.

Check your local listings.

- Through the years, the ebb and flow

of how WrestleMania was placed

varied year to year.

WrestleMania VIII was in Indianapolis in a dome.

It was a fine event, but it lacked

that pizzazz that had really begun to build

since WrestleMania III,

and there's nothing like Vegas for the glitz and glamour,

so that's how it came together.

- They know the property.

They liked how they were treated when we did the fight.

I think it would be a slam dunk,

and that's what happened.

- It's coming to the Palace.

WrestleMania is coming to Caesars Palace.

[dramatic music]

- In the early '90s, there wasn't a lot going on

in Las Vegas sports-wise.

You know, you had UNLV basketball.

- Johnson's on his left.

[crowd cheering]

- They were the biggest show in town.

So, like, if you had a Rebel ticket and you were courtside,

you were a big deal.

- Then all of a sudden, all the NCAA controversy

catches up with Tarkanian.

He is forced out.

- Some have said the leaks were designed to get the bad,

meaning Tarkanian, out of the university.

- Tark was Vegas.

He was an outlaw. It was an outlaw city.

When you took the outlaw out of Vegas,

it didn't feel the same.

- We're down in the dumps,

and then here comes this sporting event.

It's the biggest sporting event in its genre

coming to Las Vegas.

- It created energy in town,

energy in town that we badly needed.

Something positive, something good.

At that time, Las Vegas was trying to find its identity.

[upbeat jazz music]

[slot machines dinging]

- Las Vegas had been kind of, like,

this adult playground for years,

certainly not a family-friendly atmosphere.

Going into the '90s, they started making

attractions that were for children,

like the Excalibur and the Luxor.

Mirage had the volcanoes in the front.

- It was just the beginning of the concept

of drawing more of a broader audience,

so Caesars wanted to be at the front of that.

- WrestleMania is coming to Las Vegas,

the new family entertainment capital of the world.

And you and your family can experience all the fun

and excitement live and in person.

- At that time, Vegas was yearning to be accepted.

They didn't have pro sports.

People looked down at gambling.

WWE felt like, oh, we're accepted.

We're in the big boys' club.

- We're in the hometown, my hometown, of Las Vegas.

Are you joking me, man?

I was hoping that I was going to be on the card.

Oh, please, just let me wrestle in front of the people.

- As a boxing fan, it was like, oh, that's big-time.

It's kind of the analogy of working

at Madison Square Garden.

When you work there for the first time,

knowing all of the historic events

that have happened, you're just like,

wow, this is really cool. This is gonna be fun.

- Having an outdoor show in Vegas was a good idea.

I just wanted to hit it out of the park.

- WrestleMania IX. Here we are.

I really enjoyed scaling the houses.

I really--I really did.

It was always interesting puzzle to do,

and hit a number that made some sense.

We did want to generate a million dollars

out of 16,700 seats.

Top ticket price was $250.

We went $250, $150, $100, $50, and $25.

And at that time, we were always striving

to have a ticket for $25, and that was a stated goal.

[tense music]

So December 7th of 1992,

in my inimitable style,

I sent a note to Vince McMahon saying that after eight days

on sale and two weekends of full syndication promotion,

we've sold just 2,000 tickets.

Overall, this isn't bad,

but sales slowed very fast after the first weekend.

I'm a little scared right now reading this, actually.

We were used to just putting them on sale

and selling them out.

- I can recall the initial site survey.

If you've got video footage, show the site.

It's a parking lot.

That's the nicest way I can say it.

- I'm just passing through. I put the ring up.

- You put the ring up. - Ring crew.

- And it was at that moment that Vince was like,

we are going to transform this place

into a Roman coliseum.

- I think that just became

part of, how do we integrate to this venue?

Because there is nothing there.

It's just a parking lot.

That's what gave birth to the idea of making Caesars

the setting, the world's biggest toga party.

- The world's largest toga party

will be part of the festivities.

- At that point, I'm in Vegas, worried about selling tickets.

[crowd cheering]

So we brought Caesar and Cleopatra to the Royal Rumble,

and that really was our kickoff.

- Let it be known that I, Caesar,

ruler of the Roman Empire,

personally invite each and every one of you

to WrestleMania IX.

- Well, at the time, WWE had its bread and butter

putting out over-the-top characters.

So at the Royal Rumble,

they debuted not one but two new superstars.

- For the last four weeks,

I've been talking about this man,

Narcissus, the greatest...

- Initially, Vince wanted to call me just Narcissus.

And I'm like, "Man, that almost sounds kind of--

not, like, the strongest name, Narcissus."

We compromised on "The Narcissist" Lex Luger.

This here is interesting, like, a master description

of different color choices and everything.

I remember they went over some of it with me.

They did want my input, but not too much.

I kind of like that one the best.

Made my shoulders look extra broad.

Yeah, here's the final version.

Yeah, this is all-- all part of--

brings back great memories. Thanks.

I remember sitting in front of these things

many, many years ago.

- Narcissus, Lex Luger!

- Bobby Heenan couldn't say "narcissist."

Couldn't we just give him an easier name?

- I was thrilled that my intro was gonna be Bobby.

Bobby was--Bobby was funny.

- I know how you feel about yourself.

Oh, yes. Look at that.

Look at that. Look at that.

Oh, my God.

- That was a cool debut, with the mirror

and Bobby out there as my manager.

That was--yeah, I was very pleased with that, for sure.

- Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time

for the Royal Rumble!

To be eliminated,

a wrestler must be thrown out of the ring,

over the top rope, and onto the floor.

- Oh, that's right here.

- As fans, we take for granted now

that the winner of the Royal Rumble

always goes to WrestleMania to face the champion,

but it wasn't always the case.

'93 is the first time that that happens.

Completely amped up this level of excitement

and forever joined the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania.

- One of them will become the challenger at WrestleMania IX!

Oh, my God, what is that? Wait a minute!

This guy is not one of the official entries

in the Royal Rumble.

- How big is that guy?

Looks like he's 20, 30 feet tall.

Who is that?

- The debut of the Giant Gonzalez.

You want to have as many different characters

as you can.

- Look at the size of that monster!

- It's hard to take him seriously

when he's got an airbrushed bodysuit on,

with abs and muscle striations and everything,

and then these random patches of fur.

It was just like, what is this?

- He has just humiliated the Undertaker.

- Now, to be fair, the idea was

that the fur would be, like,

hanging off of him and free-flowing

and allow him to look more like a monster

and not a bodysuit with fur sewn on it.

I know that sounds--

Bruce, you're saying the same thing.

But it was meant to look and feel different.

- Everybody looks at this Giant Gonzalez in hindsight.

- I've never seen anything like this.

- When you are nine and you see the way

he handled the Undertaker...

- [jabbering]

- Nine-year-old Sammy was absolutely terrified

of the Giant Gonzalez.

It was pretty clear that these two

were on a collision course

going straight for WrestleMania.

[energetic music]

- Let's see who's next. [horn blares]

- Uh-oh.

- Uh-oh. - Yokozuna.

Look out!

He got 'Quake out of there!

- He is awesome.

- Oh, there he goes.

- He threw him out from the floor.

- Wow.

Yokozuna on his way

to WrestleMania IX.

- WrestleMania, how's business?

- Coming out of the Royal Rumble,

you knew that Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Yokozuna

were going to main-event at WrestleMania.

You had Bret, who was very popular, very seasoned,

but he'd never been in that position before.

Then you had Yokozuna, who was the spectacle,

but he was untested.

He was new to the WWE.

Here they were, going to be in the main event

in Las Vegas.

The pressure was definitely on.

- Good afternoon, everybody.

My name is Gene Okerlund with the World Wrestling company.

We've got a great group here, convening for the announcement

of the big card of WrestleMania IX,

coming to Caesars Palace here on Sunday afternoon,

April the 4th.

- This is the biggest event that's out there.

This is the Super Bowl of wrestling.

On April 4th, we will present the heavyweight championship

of the world, featuring the World Wrestling

Entertainment champion, Bret "The Hitman" Hart.

Didn't get any better than that.

[dramatic music]

- The current World Wrestling Entertainment champion,

the Hitman, Bret Hart. Yes.

Ooh, yeah! Come on down.

- WrestleMania IX was something that

I really was excited about.

Like, I was really looking forward to my moment,

my first WrestleMania as champion,

so I was pretty excited about it.

I don't know if anyone's familiar with my past,

but it took me 8 1/2 long years

to become the World Wrestling Entertainment champion,

and I've tried to be the people's champion.

I'm a lot different than the 29 guys

he wrestled in the Royal Rumble,

and I don't know how long he's thought about

becoming World Wrestling Entertainment champion,

but I don't want anyone to end this dream too quickly for me.

You know, I think, being honest,

that I was a little bit intimidated.

I guess that's about it.

[applause]

It was an awful lot of weight on my shoulders,

to be carrying the company.

The belt is more real than people think.

People always think, oh, it's all--

doesn't make any difference.

It makes a difference.

It's--it's--

definitely takes its toll on you

physically, mentally, emotionally.

I can tell even in that moment

that I'm still grasping with the idea

that I'm even champion.

Like, am I really champion?

I got to pinch myself every morning and go, really?

Didn't believe it myself.

- Thank you very much for coming.

We'll see you back here for WrestleMania.

Thank you, folks.

- I remember, at the time, wondering,

OK, there's no Hulk Hogan.

He's the biggest-- biggest star in the sport,

but he was not part of it.

- I was told, Hulk is not part of this.

So when I was selling it to Caesars, I said,

look, no Hulk.

- But on the side, Basil and I were talking.

And I said, come on, you know Hogan's gonna be there.

And he said, come on, you know me well enough.

I would tell you if he's coming.

He's not gonna be there.

- You and the entire family could be at Caesars Palace

to experience all the excitement of WrestleMania IX.

- People weren't buying this WrestleMania extravaganza

the way they had in the past.

- And we all knew that Hulk meant money at the arena.

- It's crazy here in the Hoosier Dome!

Everybody on their feet!

- So I always knew Vince felt an enormous responsibility

to the whole organization because they had kids,

they had husbands and wives, they had lives,

and it was all dependent

on the ability to run this business.

Me personally, I got two kids that went

through college on Hulk Hogan.

So they--you should never--

Hulk in the mix was always good for me.

- During that time period, I had gone back

to my theatrical agent

and said, I'm ready to go back to work.

I hated the process, getting up at 5:00 in the morning

and being in the makeup trailer

and then sitting there till 5:00 or 6:00 at night.

I missed being around the guys.

I missed the fans.

I missed the rush of the business.

- Vince and Hulk started speaking again.

- Wouldn't take much to get me back

in the ring at that point.

- [chuckles] This is the Bible.

We each had a book that looked exactly like this.

Vince, Pat, and I each had our own book.

Inside of this book, you have a week.

You go Monday to Sunday.

This is where we wrote the--

the cards for every single night.

You know, you would see on here

all these represented a different town

and a different night.

When you look at this and you're looking about bringing

Hulk Hogan back, you're looking to bring Hulk back

to boost sales for WrestleMania,

so that there's more awareness,

and Hulk Hogan being at WrestleMania is a big deal.

And I think that that was probably

too much of a hard sell because then that

kind of gave Hulk that much more stroke.

You need me for this.

And that's what kind of brought him back.

February 22nd, Hulk live.

The return of Hulk Hogan.

[crowd cheering]

- Here he is, Hulk Hogan!

[upbeat rock music playing]

* *

- Unless you got this big machine,

the WWE, behind you, you can do movies,

you can do whatever you want,

but you need this wheel behind you, man,

this WWE, because it's a strong force.

And I think Hulk got to a point where he realized

that on what he wanted to promote,

and I think Vince got to a point where, you know,

my houses might need another little shot in the arm here.

We need to put some high-test gas in this thing.

- I'm here on a mission, brother,

and I want to state publicly right now

that I'm back in the WWE.

[crowd cheering]

So all I've got to say right now is,

the first person I want standing in the ring

with me is my friend to the end,

Brutus "The Bionic Barber" Beefcake!

[crowd cheering]

- Brutus had undergone a devastating accident

to his face in which he was kneed in the face.

[soft electronic music]

- We were out doing some parasailing on the lake.

* *

We've got a girl who's never been in a parasail,

and she was just coming off the ground

about 30 miles an hour,

and her knees hit me in the face.

[dramatic music]

It hit me so hard that it actually ripped me

out of the water, like a reverse flip.

Flips this way, then a reverse flip.

Totally disintegrated everything in my face.

The surgery took 15 to 16 hours

and 140 steel staples

behind one ear to the other.

Most people would never survive this type of an accident.

And thanks to the big man upstairs,

I came through this thing in one piece,

and now I'm bigger and badder than I've ever been.

I had to make a choice eventually.

You know, am I gonna wrestle or not, you know?

And so eventually, we said, yes, I'm gonna do it.

- With Jimmy Hart,

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, and Hulk Hogan!

* *

- The pitch was for me to do this tag situation.

Brutus had had a run of bad luck,

and so, you know, to bring him back in the fold

and give him that second chance.

Thank God for the big man upstairs

that Brutus the Barber is OK.

- Who were the safest guys, and who were the best team

that can work with Brutus and Hulk,

and everybody's gonna feel good about it?

And that was Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster, IRS.

- We'll put our titles on the line

at the biggest wrestling event

in World Wrestling Entertainment history,

WrestleMania IX, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Being a heel, you know, for this guy to be coming back,

I was going, OK, let's-- let's get it on again.

Let's go have another run for the money.

- The odds are against you.

I was excited about it, you know,

just because Hogan was such a huge star.

Oh, man, you got to work with Hogan in a WrestleMania?

Yeah. So it was cool.

- That's what ended up selling out the place.

- Just like boxing,

if you could add a big fighter to a card, it's a bigger card.

- Just like that, we've got a double main event,

and the greatest WrestleMania ever just got better.

- Obviously, Hogan was by far the biggest name at that time,

maybe ever, in wrestling.

So you like that he's there,

but also, there were some question marks.

- We're creating, at that point,

new talent, so you have these guys

that are making the house shows,

that are coming up and working their tails off

to get over and to be this new talent,

and then you bring in a little bit of the past back.

- So what you gonna do when the Mega-Maniacs run...

[together] Wild on you?

- With Hulk Hogan, he came back,

and he was the same as he was.

- See the drops of sweat dripping

onto Hulk Hogan's pythons.

- We knew that the WWE

was definitely having a shift, a transition.

It seemed like the business had taken steps forward.

It had evolved.

So it was very strange seeing him in this new setting.

- At this point in my career, I'm all about, like,

whatever it takes, right?

Whatever it takes to get butts in seats.

You still have to move the product forward.

- Your main event at WrestleMania,

Bret "The Hitman" Hart facing Yokozuna for this,

the World Wrestling Entertainment title.

- When Hulk Hogan surfaced,

I was told that he was only there

to promote a movie and he had nothing to do

with the world title and nothing to do with me,

and for me not to worry about him at all.

- Eye to eye.

- I was very aware that they were pushing other talent,

but perception is reality.

They'd worked all year to get Bret and Yoko

in that position, and I think once

they put them in that position,

they realized they didn't have that hot sauce

they needed to do the box office buzz.

When I came in, I remember several pieces

of talent saying, Hogan, you know, be careful, champ.

Things have changed around here.

I went, I don't think so.

- It's happening at WrestleMania!

Hulkamania returns!

- The original advertising material for WrestleMania IX

was advertising how much was on the show,

all the superstars of today.

- And you and your family can experience all the fun

and excitement live and in person.

- And then the announcement came

that Hulk Hogan was coming back,

and that promotional material changed.

- This April 4th, live on pay-per-view,

the immortal Hulk Hogan returns.

WrestleMania, live, Sunday, April 4th,

on pay-per-view.

- He's ready! - He's ready, all right.

- Fairly late in the promotion,

Hulk gets added into a tag match.

So I called and I said, hey, I got good news.

Hulk is gonna be added to the card,

and he's gonna be in a match, but not the main event.

- And I said, am I clairvoyant?

Or what's going on here?

- He said, well, how is he gonna win the title back?

I said, he's not gonna win the title back.

[energetic music]

- Here we are at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

A lot has changed here over the last 30 years.

Behind me now is the 21st century convention center.

Where I'm standing is about 20 feet away

from the Caesars Palace outdoor stadium.

- It's a pleasure to welcome you

to Championship Night here at Caesars Palace.

- Some of the greatest fights in boxing history

took place on this site.

Muhammad Ali against Larry Holmes.

Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns.

All of that was a part of the great events

that we did on this spot.

In particular, WrestleMania IX.

- Caesars Place was, at that time, like, the place to be.

If you were gonna go hang out at a pool

and see the beautiful people, it was at Caesars Palace.

I was young and single,

and that's where you went on a Saturday night.

So there was an aura about it that was just different.

And so when WrestleMania's gonna happen there,

it felt big.

[wheels rumbling]

[drill whirring]

[tape creaking]

- This is their Super Bowl.

You had to make it bigger than life.

- How do you take a Roman roamin'?

- It was different for us.

It was a risk.

- It was a gamble.

It truly was a gamble.

- Up!

- It was such an undertaking

to build the stadium out,

to pull off this event,

and it truly was an extravaganza

that we wanted to document it internally.

- Ah!

- Get some sound bites about how this whole thing flows.

- Clean that up once. Oh, excellent, excellent.

[blows sharply] Perfect.

[projector clicks]

[dramatic music]

[tape clattering]

* *

- I'm allowed in here.

OK? So let me through right now.

Look at that handsome guy over there.

I was a PA when I started, and I still have my credentials

here from that event,

and I'll tell you what, I'm really excited now.

First of all, we're at Caesars Palace.

We're doing an outside event,

which we have never done before.

And, second, I'm watching this masterpiece come together,

and I'm right there. This is amazing.

- Hi. Setting up for WrestleMania.

- Welcome to WrestleMania. Going to Disneyland.

- Yep, out here working on my tan.

- Maybe there were plans in the back of somebody's mind

to eventually release it.

- Welcome to Las Vegas.

- In those days, we would never in a million years

think of releasing something like that.

- Welcome to Olympus. [laughs]

- Vegas. Lost all my money.

Here I am.

- The fact that we have it, I think,

is tremendous, because it brings back

a lot of great memories.

- I'm a good-looking man even when I wake up in the morning

and my hair's all wet.

Ooh, still doing Dusty even at WrestleMania IX,

with my credentials.

[tools whirring]

You had to build a lot behind the arena.

All those trailers were our dressing rooms,

our offices, and our bathrooms.

When I say it was a parking lot,

it was an empty parking lot.

- It's an enormous challenge. Enormous.

It's an outdoor venue,

and that is a myriad of problems.

- All this cable has to lay out in the sun so it loosens up,

then it coils better when you lay it up

on the trusses and everything.

- Why is that thing off center?

Is there a reason for that?

- Yes, there was an initial problem with the scaffolding.

- And there's Dollar Bill. His name was Bill.

Every time we wanted something more,

he would give an answer, how much it was gonna cost him.

So we started calling him Dollar Bill.

That's a good answer, Bill.

- At WrestleMania IX, I was backstage cameraman.

Walking into WrestleMania IX in Las Vegas,

your anticipation is, what can we do?

It starts with nothing,

and it becomes its own little city,

and it was up to Nelson to make that all happen.

- If I don't care, who would care?

- You're gonna care. - I don't care.

- Where's your video guy?

- We wanted to make it highly theatrical,

but the kind of theatrical terms

that WrestleMania IX was, it never had been done before.

Be aware that in the corner of each of these things

are these giant griffins.

It was an experiment in a sense of,

could we bring this off?

Look at this whole side over here.

You've got three separate pieces.

- He was responsible for Mr. Paint

having the right column color.

- I'm a little concerned about just

the look of this column here.

- That can be painted.

- Or that over here is 2 inches to the left too far.

- What's it supposed to be? - 14.

- Get somebody else to measure that.

- He had a lot on his shoulders at the time,

because it was just one person, where now we have several.

- Trying to prepare for what can go wrong.

If we come straight back, I think it'll be OK.

What could possibly fail?

Oh, Jesus!

He's got to cut his wheels the opposite direction.

- Nelson Swegler, one of those guys

that ruled with an iron fist.

- Yo, Ben, let's get this thing up in the air.

- I can still hear his voice in my head.

- For God's sake, don't just stand there.

Help with the old villa cable here.

- Very grumpy.

- Hurley, didn't they tell you anything?

Did he share that information with anyone?

- I always used to say that's why people really liked me,

because I wasn't Nelson.

- Old metal motherfucker can do it.

It is not--scratch that.

- But we always got what we needed.

- He was a character in a group of characters.

[laughter]

Being a character was what half of this was about.

- If I put my glasses on,

these guys won't have a clue who I am.

- The fact of the matter is, it was a family.

Everybody was doing everything to help out

however they could.

- This is a special one for WrestleMania.

Black, gold, and black.

Usually gets the red, white, and blue.

- I wonder if we could paint this face like a clown

and, like, get it off quickly.

We would get there 8:30, 9:00 in the morning

and we would work until 1:00, 2:00

in the morning easily.

- Everything that we see here, I just want to be able

to open it up and to say, oh, here's another toy we can use.

Here's another toy. You know, I mean--

Cutting your promo or whatever it may be, and...

[water trickling]

And then get that type of boom, you know?

Is this water potable?

You know, what is it?

- At this moment they are putting

the finishing touches on Caesars Palace stadium,

which has been transformed

into a Roman coliseum.

- Handrails are all bent, and they look--

you know, whatever we can do to wrap them with something.

- Vince spent over $100,000 to dress the arena.

- Thank you.

- It wasn't going to sell one ticket.

We were already sold out, but the company had an image.

We have to look top-shelf.

- Whatever we do, I want to do it

first-class or not do it.

- We were praying that it wouldn't rain.

- I mean, if it rains, it rains.

- In the desert.

- You know, you cross your fingers.

You hope and pray to whoever it is

you may pray to and you say,

please give me good weather.

You seriously look at the "Farmer's Almanac,"

look at the history, you look at the predictions,

and you roll the dice, because that's all you can do.

- When you go outside, you risk extreme heat

or quick rain shower.

You rarely got those.

But the fan man, I remember. I was there.

You know, the fight goes on

between Holyfield and Riddick Bowe.

- Somebody in a parachute

has just landed on the edge of the ring.

- It was chaos.

- This is the most bizarre thing

I've ever seen at a prizefight.

- So anytime you had an event in Caesars,

there was always an unpredictability to it.

[mellow music]

- We were leaving on Friday for WrestleMania.

I was blown away at the airport because they had

those little commercials on the screens

all the way through the airport,

and it was Bret Hart everywhere.

Made me feel like a million dollars.

I was really proud of that.

- Most of our family is from the West Coast.

Everybody came from San Francisco,

from Los Angeles.

They all came into Las Vegas

just to come support him being

the main event at WrestleMania.

- Just being in Vegas for the week,

you know, was fun. You could go gamble.

[laughs]

IRS always comes up with the money.

We took our kids to restaurants

and stuff like that.

- Just staying at Caesars was cool.

I made buddies with some of the security guys,

so I had a special-- they had a tunnel.

They got me where I could go in and out to the gym

and back down through that tunnel,

and also to go over to the set, where the set was.

So I had some fringe benefits

from getting to know the staff. It was great for me.

* *

- My name is Charlie Adorno, also known as Ringside Charlie.

Been a WWE fan for almost 50 years

and have been to every WrestleMania,

including WrestleMania IX, which was quite an experience.

My official room key.

We were able to stay at Caesars,

and it was great because the wrestlers were everywhere.

They were going to shows and going to clubs

and restaurants and bars,

and I got a couple of pictures that I saved.

I have me and Rick Steiner, me and President Jack Tunney.

- WrestleMania IX. You ready?

[crowd cheering]

- We went to a lot of events, a lot of meet and greets,

a lot of autograph signings.

- This woman has been here since 3:00 in the morning.

- Right.

- There's never been anything like being at Caesars Palace.

Everybody knew WrestleMania was in town.

Here we are, signing autographs.

It made you feel good inside.

[crowd cheering]

- That was one of the first WrestleManias

that I really remember a concerted effort

to get the product out there, outside of the arena.

- Kill him, Undertaker.

- There was a groundswell.

It was the first time you'd see it around

a lot of places because the goal

was to really take over the strip as best we could.

- WrestleMania, man. Go, baby, go.

- To do that in Las Vegas is a big deal,

because there's a gazillion different things

going on in Las Vegas.

It's only appropriate that you sunbathe

head and shoulders above all the rest.

Who thought that shot was OK?

It's just straight into the nut sack.

[laughs]

I might walk into WrestleMania with a tan line.

[laughter]

I'm one guy doing something out by the pool.

There's another crew that's going down the strip.

There's another crew that's going to other places

with, you know, 'Taker and Paul Bearer.

- The sands now fall

rapidly through the hourglass.

- Not just WrestleMania, but WrestleMania the brand,

is starting to expand and grow as well.

- Bobby Heenan, so many things are happening,

developing now as we look to WrestleMania IX,

which is gonna be taking place right here.

- I think we used every square inch of Caesars Palace

that could possibly be used.

- You OK? - Step moved.

- I'm a little concerned you could end up

falling in the drink here.

- It made noise at a casino.

When the WWE people were around and hanging out,

you knew it, you felt it, you saw it.

- But you know something?

Yokozuna is gonna find out

that I'm the excellence of execution.

- To see those two worlds come together,

to see that Las Vegas energy match that WWE energy,

it was really cool.

- Randy Savage recorded

for the operators an on-hold message.

- Are you sure that that's your luggage?

It looks a lot like the piece that I'm missing.

Yeah!

I'm the Macho Man Randy Savage

of the World Wrestling company

welcoming you to Las Vegas, yeah.

- You could not put a value on it.

Even the biggest fights,

we don't get that kind of exposure.

- Dig it! Don't miss WrestleMania!

Yeah!

- The atmosphere in the town was amazing,

but we knew, at the end of the day,

there was more over-the-top things that we had planned.

- How do we make this larger than life

and do things we've never done before?

[relaxed jazz music]

[ball rattling]

* *

- Vinnie. - What do you say, buddy?

- Long time no see. - How are you, bud?

- How you been? - Here we are again.

We were just here yesterday, right?

I'm Vinnie Magliulo.

At the time of WrestleMania IX,

I was the race and sports director

here at Caesars Palace.

This board you see here is the actual board

that had the odds for WrestleMania IX on it.

If you look, it says,

"for entertainment purposes only."

- And Howard Finkel goes up to the counter.

Says, gee, I want to bet.

And they said, I'm sorry, sir.

This is for entertainment purposes only.

- So he started, though, an avalanche

of inquiries, because when people saw it,

we got so many requests to bet it.

- I saw on-screen that you could bet on the matches,

and I was like, well, that's interesting.

They were all betting their money

on Bret Hart to beat Yokozuna.

- There were more requests to bet WrestleMania IX

than all the other sports going on at that time combined.

So, finally, I had to call Rich and I had to call publicity.

I said, listen, you know, it's out there.

We talked about it.

I have to take it down because everybody

wants to bet on WrestleMania.

But it was great.

- It was exciting.

All of this craziness,

it starts to come together.

- Caesars Palace outdoor stadium

is transformed into a coliseum

right out of the ancient Roman Empire.

- If this is the only option, it's OK.

- People are being fitted for togas.

- * A toga with no underwear *

- I thought, boy, that is the best idea I ever heard,

because it was just funny.

- Howard! Pizza, pizza!

[laughter]

- Friends, Romans, and countrymen,

I've got two of them, so don't lend me your ears.

[laughs]

- Have somebody else write your material for you, pal.

- I thought it was all pretty cool.

I was glad that they put some thought

into all that kind of stuff.

You know, the wrestlers are marveled

by it as much as the fans are.

- Oh, they did a great job on an outdoor set.

They did it up, man.

Epic, epic set.

- It was kind of like a movie set, you know,

more so than being in an arena.

- May the fleas of a thousand camels

harass your balls.

- Watching Gorilla Monsoon joking around

with that outfit on, it's kind of priceless today

to watch that, knowing his character

and what kind of a legend he was.

- Hey, look at this!

[speaking indistinctly]

- Round and round and round he goes.

And so Muhammad Ali doesn't know where he is.

- I don't go any farther than this, guys.

[laughter]

- What is this for? - Making of 'Mania.

- The making of 'Mania? Oh, no.

- I don't want no camera here.

- They were protecting the business

a lot more back then,

so it was weird to have cameras following you around.

Or you're just sitting there and a camera crew comes by,

and you're like, the hell is this?

- What are you doing?

- No, that's-- that's for you ladies.

- How you doing, fellas?

I like this fuzzy mic you got here.

- And you're like, what are you--

you doing back here?

You know, it was just-- it just wasn't the norm.

- You got some strange looks.

Like, why is there a camera in my face?

- You're peeling back the curtain.

- Hi, guys.

- I can remember looking at the Undertaker,

like, just staring across the room,

like, why are you shooting me?

- Backstage was kind of my safe place,

where I could be me and not have to worry

about being in character,

so anytime that I saw cameras, like,

I went out of my way to find out

what they were doing.

I'm already giving the cameraman a hard time.

You can see in this footage, I'm deadpanning somebody.

I'm giving them the death stare,

like, why are you filming?

You know better.

Got to protect the character.

- I got her drinking.

[laughter]

- Pepsi. Just Pepsi. Just Pepsi.

- Pepsi and... [laughter]

On the rocks.

- No, on the rocks, that's it.

- It was different and it was fun,

and everyone else was having fun with it.

- Doing what? - This is the making of.

- Making of WrestleMania? - Yeah.

- Then you should get me doing some push-ups

or something over here. - [laughs]

Some of those famous one-armed push-ups.

- Where's all the girls?

There's supposed to be girls here.

[laughs] - They're at the pool.

- I'll make sure.

I remember it was such a hot day.

Even when we were in the ring here,

it's pretty hot.

It's about 80 degrees out.

- It was new for us then.

It was a different atmosphere.

To me, that day, one of the most enjoyable things

was watching the rehearsals.

- Next one is gonna be,

ladies and gentlemen, I present to you

the Macho Man, Randy Savage.

[brass fanfare]

- What's up?

- Rehearsals of this magnitude

really started at WrestleMania IX

because there was so much involved.

And I love the fact that we had Randy

in the steaming hot sun in all of his complete outfit.

That's good shit.

- Yeah. Uh-huh.

- There needed to be a degree of, let's practice this,

because what can go wrong?

- What's happening there? One more grape, please.

- Definitely the beginning of where we are today.

- I get into the ring, and then when do I get out?

Just get out as soon as I get in?

- I'll cue you. - OK.

- You do--you open everything up, OK?

You throw it to Jim Ross.

Soon as you throw it to Jim Ross,

just duck right behind the curtain,

and stay away from the elephant, that's all.

- OK. - OK?

- Thinking back on it, you were truly in the circus.

- Want my money? I didn't win no money.

- You know, everybody was kind of enamored with the elephant.

- My new tag team partner, Thai.

Thai and Bam-Bam.

- I don't like elephants.

I don't like--I don't like anything bigger

or faster than me.

- Dude, it was crazy, because in the back,

it was like a farm,

a bunch of farm animals everywhere.

It was crazy.

You're like, what the hell? Where are we?

- It was almost like in the Bible,

the Book of Solomon, had these huge parties

with animals and monkeys and food everywhere.

It was so lavish. It was Vegas.

It was lavish is the word that pops to mind as we're talking.

- Everywhere you walk, you're dodging elephant dung.

- It was like, cleanup in aisle five.

[water spraying]

- No, back a little bit,

and come on in the shot.

- We had a menagerie in the first five minutes of the show.

- Because we were dealing with animals,

we had to do a complete rehearsal.

So Randy's gonna cover the first half

and then get behind them...

[laughs] Starting with the elephant.

[chuckles] Get behind the elephant.

That doesn't sound productive.

Send Savage.

It was very theatrical.

We had never been real theatrical before that.

- As they made their entrance,

it was an incredibly tight parade

into the live open areas.

I kept my fingers crossed that somebody

wasn't gonna get bitten.

I mean, really.

You have no control over a bunch of animals.

I mean, we're not talking puppy dogs here.

We're talking big animals.

- When you're working with animals,

there's just too much that can go wrong.

You just never know what an animal is gonna do.

If it works, it's a great idea,

but if it doesn't work, oh, man,

you're gonna be remembered forever

for the wrong reasons.

- The Undertaker!

[dramatic pipe organ music playing]

- I thought it was gonna be a cool-looking visual.

I wasn't real thrilled about the vulture

being right there by me.

I didn't find any of it out until maybe the day before.

This vulture is already going crazy.

I'm thinking, this is a horrible idea.

During rehearsals, I was just like,

is this bird gonna crap on me?

Or it's gonna flip out and--

you can kind of see a couple of times

where I'm just shaking my head a little bit.

It's just like, man, this is a horrible idea.

I'm just thrilled about it.

[laughs]

- I was excited, for sure.

The pyro and the giant mirrors and the showgirls.

I was like, oh, man.

- Hold them above your head. OK.

Get them level, if you would.

And fire them off.

- Oh, my goodness, I remember this.

[energetic music]

And with the pyro come out of the mirrors, right?

That was a good touch.

[laughs] Oh, my.

What's not to love, right?

- [screams] - Get 'em up there.

- The pyro comes off of the mirrors,

and the pyro's flying everywhere.

Everybody's getting hit.

We're going, OK, issue number one, weather, the wind.

We were looking to be as close to perfect as possible,

and if it wasn't, then don't do it.

- Well, if they're gonna carry Yoko,

it's not up on the shoulder.

- No, no, no, no, no.

- The plan was to--

to carry Yokozuna, you know, the prize winner

of the Royal Rumble,

to the ring in this sedan like,

you know, Caesar, and get him up.

- I'm just wondering, first of all,

if it's gonna be able to support him.

- Yoko was just too big. - Like, right here.

- Boy, I don't know if that's-- - No.

And I tell you, it's not gonna work if I do it.

Lift him up.

- OK, don't-- don't go too high.

Here we go. - Forget it.

- Yeah.

- The weight distribution didn't work.

- Yoko was scared too. Yoko was like--

Yoko didn't want to be up there.

- We spent all day doing rehearsals.

The one odd thing was, is there's no Hulk Hogan.

[dramatic music]

- Two days before WrestleMania--

it might have been Friday, might have been Saturday,

whatever it is-- Vince calls me into this room.

He says, we got a problem.

I said, what?

Hulk's injured.

We're not sure whether he's gonna be able to perform.

- The day of WrestleMania, everybody is psyched.

Everybody is ready to go,

but there's one thing that's going on.

Nobody knows where Hulk Hogan is yet.

This is for real. Nobody knew where Hulk was.

And soon enough, we see him walking in.

Nobody knows what's going on. Check this out.

- Hulk comes.

He's got wraparound sunglasses on.

He's got stitches. His eye looks really bad.

[ominous music]

- I remember seeing it, and then I was thinking,

hmm, brother should have--

[chuckles] He should have bobbed

instead of weaved on that.

It was a pretty nasty black eye.

- That was the funny thing about it.

It was like, he really got a good shot in the eye,

so it was one of those really good black eyes

that was pretty obvious when you see it.

Like, what happened to you?

- That doesn't look like makeup.

That's--that's for real.

- I didn't give it to him. Wasn't me.

- Of course, you know, everyone knows

that Savage and Hogan didn't get along,

so it didn't take long for the rumors

to start flying around.

- Hey, hey.

- Well, there's, you know, stories,

Macho Man punched him and, you know, beat him up,

but I wasn't there, so I don't know,

but that was the story going around, you know?

You know, and I rolled with Macho Man.

It was like, he told me what really happened,

and I believe Macho Man's story,

so I believe what he told me,

but he wasn't happy about it.

Shit happens.

- Interesting.

I guess he bought the story Randy told him.

I've never had a fight with Randy.

If they still want to believe it

after you tell them what really happened,

it's fine with me.

- I've heard all of the stories,

but the only story I've ever heard

from Hulk and from Vince, what we were told

was that he was out on a Jet Ski

and got popped in the eye.

- Brutus came over, and I was riding a Sea-Doo.

So I get on it, and as I was riding

towards Clearwater Pass where we were jumping waves,

I didn't know my thumb had pushed the button

that made the nose stay down.

So as soon as I took off,

this thing was like a rocket ship, man.

It goes 75, 80 miles an hour.

I hit that first big swell, and I went up,

and I didn't come down right away,

and so it threw me over the front of the ski,

and when I hit the water, I tried to cover

because I knew the ski was coming at me.

I tried to go underwater and cover,

but my life jacket pulled me back up,

and the ski, 700-pound ski,

hit me in the face and knocked me out.

I was knocked out facedown in the water.

[dramatic music]

- He was flying in the air, and the ski did a 360,

and the front of the ski hit him on his eye orbit

here and fractured it.

He was almost-- not quite unconscious

but pretty much out of it.

And pull him from the water, get him up on the beach.

- The first thing he did was call Jimmy Hart.

Big mistake. Oh, baby, baby.

Oh, my God, oh, my God, Vince is gonna kill you.

Oh, my God. You know, Jimmy went nuts.

- Oh, my gosh, you would not believe it.

His face-- I mean, eye socket,

like--ugh, it was just-- it was horrible.

Hulk goes, I ain't missing WrestleMania.

Because Hulk's from the old school.

No matter if you're hurt or not, you make your gig,

you make your shot, and so I said,

Hulk, what are we gonna do?

- I said, Jimmy, we're going to WrestleMania tomorrow.

So I went and got stitched up at the emergency room

and flew in.

* *

- Yeah, there was definitely tension there.

I'm not sure how much Vince really knew

about what was going on there.

I mean, he's got it covered up real well.

If you pulled that bandana off and those sunglasses,

his face did not look good.

It was pretty brutal.

* *

- Hmm.

Vince saw me. He wasn't happy at all.

- [laughs]

[deep thump]

- We risked a big show here on nonsense.

You know, riding Jet Skis

normally wouldn't be a big deal.

There was a lot on the line,

so he probably was a little pissed.

- Vince says, you're not wrestling.

And I said, yeah, I am.

And he goes, no, you're not wrestling.

You never passed the physical.

I said, well, if I pass the physical, I'm wrestling.

He goes, OK, because he knew I wouldn't pass the physical.

- Nevada being a commission state,

they would not have cleared Hulk to go in the ring.

So the downplaying of the injury

to let the commission know

that this is all part of it.

This is all part of the show.

- OK. Thank you. - All right.

- I went to the doctor.

I said, hey, Doc, can you believe what we did?

We got this new storyline to trick the fans,

and we're gonna tell everybody that Macho Man

beat me up and gave me a black eye,

and this is all makeup and all these stitches,

they're fake stitches.

Please don't tell anybody.

Doctor says, OK, OK, I won't, all right.

So he signed my physical.

I went back and I said, hey, Vince, look,

I passed my physical.

- Mike and I assured him,

look, we're gonna stay away from your head.

We'll pound on your back, we'll grab a leg,

or do something to your gut,

and if we hit you in the head,

it's gonna be the opposite side.

You know, wrestlers know where to throw a punch.

- Hey!

- OK. All right.

Outdoors is different anyhow,

because you'll be screaming as usual,

but it goes up to the heavens. - Right, right.

- If it feels a little different,

it will be. - Yeah.

- Right.

- That was very early on in me,

you know, having any kind of rapport with Vince.

- It will be bright, bright, bright when you're there.

- He was sincerely trying to explain to me

something about the performance and starting the show,

and I'm not much in life, but I can be

pretty laser-focused when it comes to this job.

* *

- Where I'm standing right now is where

we had the west bleachers.

On Sunday afternoon, April 4th,

I was standing with Basil DeVito,

and we were getting ready for the start of WrestleMania IX.

[crowd cheering]

- I'd given Caesars props...

- We want our tickets!

- About the idea they really know how to do an event

at their venue, and they'd done all these boxing events,

with one exception.

One thing that we never talked about

and Caesars did not plan about...

- WrestleMania!

- Was the idea that when you do a boxing event,

they open the gates at 6:00.

The main event is not till 9:30,

and people filter in.

It's--it's mellow.

When WrestleMania starts, you got to see it all.

[indistinct chatter]

- It was just a massive influx of people.

The gates were packed with people trying to get in.

- Enjoy the matches.

- Our ticket takers, who were great,

were not used to that kind of action.

- Make sure it says WrestleMania on it, guys.

- There was only two entrances to get in...

- Hottest ticket in town. - Hot ticket!

- So you had two long lines of probably about

5,000 people on each line.

- The people are lined around the pool

15 minutes before this event is supposed to start.

You can't get them in fast enough.

Linda McMahon and I

were taking tickets at the entrances.

- WrestleMania IX, Caesars Palace, WWE.

[grunts] Dig it!

- We went in.

I bought my T-shirt, my program, got to my seat.

Because I know that every WrestleMania,

you're gonna have a match

that's not gonna air on television.

The dark match, just to get the crowd into it.

- El Matador, Tito Santana!

[upbeat Latin music playing]

- That match was Tito Santana versus Papa Shango.

- The day of WrestleMania, it was my Super Bowl.

It was my Super Bowl.

It was my hometown.

I was so happy to be there.

- [grunts]

- All these people had known me as Bear the Biker,

and I'd made it through the small organizations

and the farm leagues, and I've finally

made it to Caesars Palace.

You ain't made it till you play Caesars.

Me and Tito had one job,

come out with a bang.

But we went out there and had a really good match.

[banging on floor]

[crowd cheering]

[bell clanging]

- It was the dark match, but doesn't matter.

All my people that I really wanted to see it got to see it.

It let my friends know that I had made it.

It's meant more to me than anything.

[dramatic music]

- I can see that we are just about out of time.

Do not let this unique opportunity pass you by.

So many tremendous matches on the way

that will include the exciting double main event.

- Well, the last couple minutes before WrestleMania,

everything goes silent.

It is so peaceful, and you know that

all hell is gonna break loose.

- Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to let you know,

at this time, we are one minute from going on coast-to-coast

on pay-per-view and around the world with WrestleMania IX!

[crowd cheering]

- This was the opportunity to go out

and be larger than life in every aspect...

- We're 30 out now, 30 out.

And when it goes to black, you come to us.

- This is the event.

It's like being at a movie.

[tape clattering]

- I'm seeing a lot of this stuff for the first time

since we were there.

And I'm not kidding,

I can actually feel being there.

I can feel the heat, the anxiety before the show

began, and all the work that you've done that day,

all the work that you've done that month,

all the work that you've done, you know,

on the road to WrestleMania,

and I remember that feeling.

- This is the countdown to X. And six...

- Feeling anxious. Oh, my God, here we go.

We're live. - Three, two, one.

- Roll X and track it. - And we're...

- Welcome to Caesars Palace!

Welcome to WrestleMania IX and the largest toga party

in the world!

I could get used to this.

There'll be a lot of firsts here in WrestleMania IX,

and here's one of them.

Latest addition to the WWE broadcast team, Jim Ross.

- Thanks very much, Gorilla Monsoon.

Indeed, it will be a day of firsts, ladies and gentlemen.

My very first WrestleMania.

- It was Jim Ross' first day in the company

doing play-by-play

in a toga.

And no, it wasn't a rib.

- First time that yours truly, from the great state

of Oklahoma, has ever been in a toga myself.

This is quite an impressive outfit.

I did WrestleMania IX in '93.

I had never broadcast an event outdoors before.

How do you think this is for pressure?

You've got your dream job.

You worked 19 years to get there,

and your first assignment is live, outdoors.

Sun glare on your monitor, where you couldn't see

the monitor, and it's only this little event

called WrestleMania,

and you're wearing a toga.

Good luck.

It is indeed the world's largest toga party.

What a day we're gonna have.

- Every year, one of the discussions we have is,

what's the set gonna look like for WrestleMania?

WrestleMania IX is the first year that WrestleMania

has a specific look.

- May I present Caesar and Cleopatra!

[crowd cheering]

- Ladies and gentlemen, our opening ceremonies

here at WrestleMania IX

will certainly be a memorable one.

- WrestleMania IX looked completely different

not only from any other WrestleMania

but from any other show that WWE had ever done

and, quite frankly, has done since.

- As you can see, Caesars Palace transformed

into the Roman Colosseum.

- You need one second of footage from WrestleMania IX,

and you know exactly what show that came from.

- It was the first WrestleMania

that felt like it had a vibe to it,

like, that whole Caesars Palace vibe.

You know, you see the pageantry of Las Vegas.

- Two wide, please.

Four, stay with the elephant for the coming-up shot.

- Everything's larger than life.

It was really cool.

- Llama! Llama.

- Llama, center.

- Macho Man Randy Savage!

- What an ovation for the one and only

Macho Man Randy Savage.

- Next thing you know, you see Macho Man coming out,

and he's being fed grapes.

- Grape action there.

- Anybody that was involved in this was part of the show.

- Take four.

- What a spectacle.

- Wide crowd on five, please. Ready one. Take one.

Ready two. - Camel, let's go!

- We had all these animals here,

and we're kind of picking who's gonna--

who's going to ride what.

[upbeat music]

- Stop this now. Will you stop it?

- Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.

Here he comes on the camel.

He's holding on for dear life.

- Come on, stop this camel!

- That was just so funny. Only Bobby, right?

Very cool idea.

Whoever came up with that was genius.

- Instead of riding it out forward,

Bobby spun himself around and rode backward,

holding on for dear life,

because he just thought that was funnier.

- He is literally shaking in his sandals.

- Bobby, knowing the more humiliated

he looked, the more over he was going to be,

and he sold it big-time.

Even getting a shot of the tighty-blueys

he was wearing that day.

- Bobby Heenan, what happened?

- What happened? I don't know.

They put this huge animal underneath me...

- By the time we got to the event,

I'm now in crowd management.

All of the Caesars VIPs weren't there.

Dan Reichartz, a German gentleman,

very persnickety, starts jawing at me

pretty hard saying, our VIPs aren't here.

We need to start over, and--

[laughs] Now, I know the ridiculousness

of this thinking,

but I got no idea what to say other than,

well, let me work on it.

* *

I'll work on it, but let's get your people

in here right away.

* *

I don't know that I ever even mentioned it to anybody.

I just disappeared.

- What are you making? - Shawn Michaels' jacket.

- OK, why is it so late coming together?

- [laughs]

Because I couldn't fit him until this morning.

- Julie Youngberg, who always did my gear,

but WrestleMania IX was one of my favorites.

- Yep.

- It's the biggest show of the year.

Anytime you can look different,

that you can stand out, you take advantage of that.

You know, that gear was so pivotal to my career

and to my character.

Looked like the coolest dude in the room.

Just was perfect for the time.

- Michaels, a very talented competitor, quite obviously.

He's the intercontinental champion.

- Tatanka was always great to work with.

We're starting out the show. That's a coveted spot.

Sets the tone for everything going forward.

[dramatic music]

- Taking a chance, and what better place

to do it than Las Vegas, where gambling is legal?

What a match.

- And Tatanka climbing up top. Oh, my God!

- What a kick!

- I'd managed to make it to WrestleMania,

but I can promise you, this was the show

that then had me looking at wanting to be a guy

that was main-eventing WrestleMania

and winning the world championship at WrestleMania.

- Well, Shawn Michaels retains the championship

in an extremely hard-fought kickoff

here at WrestleMania IX.

- WrestleMania IX had a little bit of everything.

You had Bob Backlund taking on Razor Ramon.

- Whoa!

- The old guard taking on the new guard.

- And it's Ramon, inside cradle.

He's got him locked out!

- There's the three count. - He beat him!

He beat the wrestler with wrestling, the bad guy.

- And then you had a pretty good tag team matchup

with the Headshrinkers taking on the Steiner Brothers.

- The whole world is focusing on WrestleMania IX.

This match means so much to the Steiners

and to the Headshrinkers.

- We wasn't nervous.

We're excited...

- Oh, headbutt!

- Let me tell you something, the Steiner Brothers

is gonna be their biggest challenge

so far in the WWE.

The Headshrinkers are unbelievable.

- We're part of something that--

that him and I had worked our whole lives to accomplish,

and this was our opportunity to shine

and show people what we can do and actually have a stage,

one of the biggest stages you could ever be on.

- Here we go.

- The beginning of the end right here.

- Bye-bye, Steiners.

- Then here we are. Here we go.

- Oh! - Look at that!

- He caught it in midair!

- What an amazing move!

- What a physical tag team war!

A hard-fought victory for those two brothers.

- I enjoyed the Headshrinkers versus the Steiner Brothers.

There was some good matches on the show

that people don't really talk about much.

I even enjoyed the Crush and Doink match.

- Get out of here, man.

- [laughs]

Ah, get that camera off me.

- People don't realize this Doink versus Crush story

had been told immaculately.

Doink the Clown showing up in the crowd,

nobody knowing who he was.

There were pranks. There was brutal violence.

- Did you see that?

Broke his arm off!

- [grunts]

- Hitting Crush with that fake arm.

This clown wrestler was going to have

to answer for the tricks that he was playing.

- After WrestleMania IX,

Crush may be seeing double vision.

- But the thought was that once this got in the ring,

Doink didn't have a prayer.

- Crush has been very dominant here in this contest thus far.

- But Doink will have something.

He's got a trick up his sleeve.

- The clown--wait a minute. Wait a minute.

- Oh, no. - What's going on here?

Oh, another one!

- I remember my dad watching WrestleMania with me.

My dad, not a wrestling fan.

And another Doink pops out from under the ring,

and I just hear behind me, that's great!

Because who saw it coming?

And then when the two Doinks

start doing the mirror image...

- Remember what Doink said about double vision?

This is one of the greatest tricks I've ever seen.

- It's still, to this day, one of the truly brilliant

pro wrestling finishes ever, and I will go to my grave

arguing that point.

- A couple of wild fans over here.

Look at this. Where are you guys from?

[together] Southern California.

- And how'd you get out here? - Oh, we drove out on a Harley.

He was in the sidecar. - No, he was in the sidecar.

- All right. Stand up, guys.

Where'd you get the togas? Come on.

- Motel 6. - Motel 6 down the--

- Are you gonna bring them back?

- We tore them off the bed. No, no.

I'm giving mine to Lex Luger.

- We are wild. We are in the seats.

All right, all right.

- Of course, one of the matches that everybody

wanted to see was the return of Hulk Hogan

and the Mega-Maniacs.

[tense music]

- I was full of stitches, so you could push my cheek

and it was like baby powder.

You know, I said you had--

you gotta be careful with my face.

And of course, Mr. Titanium over here,

you know, he's got face problems too.

He had that big mask made.

That really was to protect him,

even though it looks really cool.

- The storyline being that the damage to my face,

we were gonna use this to protect me

because we knew they were gonna go for my face

and blah, blah, blah. This is...

[tapping mask]

Rigid and hard.

Not easy to wear on your face and stuff.

So it added some spice to the whole, you know.

Yeah, it was so clumsy.

I felt--I felt really weird wearing it.

Yeah. Yeah.

- We gonna kick some ass!

We gonna kick some ass! We gonna kick some ass!

- Hulk, you need your ass kicked.

- We gonna kick some ass!

- I'm recovering from a horrible accident,

and he just had a bad accident.

- We gonna kick some ass! Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- He wasn't really sure how he was gonna feel

when he got in the ring.

The main thing was just, let's get through this match

without either one of us dying.

- Jesus, can't believe I got hit in the face

24 hours ago by that Jet Ski.

That's crazy.

If you get that energy locked in, man,

you can just feel what they want, you know?

Just--you can feel the vibe.

And, you know, it kind of, like,

gave me my confidence back.

[upbeat rock music playing]

[crowd cheering]

- Listen to this.

- This place is gonna go nuts.

- A standing ovation for the return of Hulk Hogan!

Look at his face.

Hogan's face has been damaged.

- I saw Hulk Hogan with a black eye,

and I'm like, what the heck happened to him?

- Had to be a cheap shot.

- I think it was Randy Savage that did it,

but I can't prove it.

[chuckles]

- Well, obviously, he got himself a boo-boo.

- Probably a whole lot more to the story.

- He knows who's behind it.

- We heard Hulk Hogan got into a little accident

coming out of the gym last night.

That's what money can do.

It goes with the storyline, right?

It just enhances the story that we gave Hogan a black eye.

- The visual was pretty crazy, if you really

got a good look at my eye.

But I knew Brutus' gimmick was over,

I knew my stuff worked,

and we were in there with two of the best pros

in the business.

- And Hulk Hogan... - Ring the bell.

[bell clangs]

- You can see right there...

- Brutus was the guy who was gonna take our

punching and kicking and what have you.

- They're working over Beefcake right away.

- We protected him.

- Hurt his hand. Tried to go for the face.

- I could carry the match a little more, you know,

keep him on the side there and bring him in,

let him do the easy stuff.

- And there's a tag.

- Let's see what he's gonna do.

I don't think he can see out of that eye.

That eye is swollen shut.

- I just couldn't see out of it.

It made it really hard with depth perception,

especially throwing a punch.

I didn't realize with just one eye,

I couldn't judge distance.

- Would you say that Hulkamania is running wild?

- I don't work tag matches.

I was like Stevie Wonder on a surfboard, man.

I was like--

- Uh-oh, DiBiase from behind. - Oh!

- Referee down.

- Mike and I, we made a good tag team,

and, you know, everything went as planned.

- He's using that-- - He's got the titanium thing!

- I had one of my jackets done like a referee shirt.

The referee was knocked out,

so I took my jacket off, turned it inside out,

put the shirt on. - No, no, no, no, no.

- A striped jacket, like he's the referee.

- One, two, three! - That doesn't count.

That doesn't count.

- Counting one, two, three!

It was kind of a cute finish for everything,

and after all, it is entertainment.

- How can you just make the rules up as you go?

- Without a referee's license,

Jimmy Hart declares Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake

the winners of this match.

- Here comes another official. - I'm not sure about this.

- But Money Inc. still ended up retaining

the tag team championships.

- The winner of this bout as a result of a disqualification

and still World Wrestling Entertainment

tag team champions,

Money Incorporated!

- And then they had to reverse the decision

so that Money Inc. won the match.

- What's Jimmy doing now?

- He's telling the Mega-Maniacs not to level Danny Davis.

- Who wanted to keep-- - Oh, he wanted to do it.

- Awesome!

- Jimmy Hart threw the referee over the top.

- We made it through the match and everybody was still OK.

You know, I'm very excited about that, just--

just to have made it through.

- That's Money Incorporated's briefcase.

- That is-- that's not their property.

- I'd like to know what's in that.

- So after the match, Hulk Hogan opens up

the briefcase and finds all this money.

- Cash! Cold hard cash.

- The Million Dollar Man's money!

- On this beautiful windy day, that money could go everywhere!

- They're not trying to keep it.

That's what I thought.

- Hogan is giving the money away!

- I can't believe it!

- The money that Hulk Hogan was throwing around was real money.

- They were grabbing me, trying to get

the money out of my hands.

And I just went... [blows raspberry]

And threw it up in the air.

- Everybody's a winner at Caesars Palace.

- I was in the fourth row. I actually did get a $5 bill.

There was $20s and there was $100s in there.

I only got a $5 bill.

- What a pair.

- When I was laying in the hospital

trying to just survive, and I never had

an idea that I was gonna be one of the main events

in WrestleMania.

- Double struts in all their glory!

- It was nice to have that last match with him,

because I didn't know if we'd ever have another one.

- Well, it was my last WWE match.

I was grateful that I actually got to go out on top,

so to speak.

Pretty great moment, you know.

- It was great. It all worked out.

They were so great together on everything.

- Well, plenty of exciting and unexpected things

happening here at this WrestleMania IX,

and you can be sure there'll be plenty more.

- And then when I get in the back, Hogan goes,

look, I might be doing something else tonight too.

[dramatic music]

- During the event, somebody said,

hey, Vince wants to see you, and I went backstage,

and in the middle of WrestleMania IX,

Vince says to me, go up to the main cage.

He said, get $25,000 in $20s and $50s

because I want to give it to the boys

to go out and play at all the tables.

We'll give Caesars a real benefit of 30,

40 guys out all over the casino.

So I went, and our CFO was a guy named Doug Sages.

And I said, Doug, come with me.

And we went up, I took an empty briefcase,

signed out $25,000, put it all in, counted it up.

When you walk right in Caesars,

they had this famous pit

where all the craps tables were.

So we're walking back from the main cage, and I--

I'm a gambler.

And I said to Doug Sages, Doug, take $12,500.

Put it on the pass line.

We win, we get $6,000 each, nothing.

If we lose, we got another $12,500 to get even.

He grabbed that briefcase from me,

and he ran through Caesars.

I couldn't catch up to him till we got to the back.

Now, I was only kidding, I think.

- The Narcissist, Lex Luger!

- So we're used to gauging what we're doing in the ring

just by the crowd noise, the constant crowd,

and the roar of the crowd all the time.

It's weird because the noise escapes upward.

That part was a little unusual,

a little different.

It was windier when I got out there to the ring.

There's my hair blowing.

Look at the pyro.

It's almost blowing completely perpendicular.

Those poor girls, because they were getting

all of that pyro blowing on them.

- Showgirls, they're all holding mirrors

and they're smiling, and he's looking up,

and he's flexing,

and now all the pyro is going off.

The presentation was just incredible.

- I loved the entrance,

and then working with Curt Hennig, oh, my gosh.

- A man that does it all, well, perfectly, Mr. Perfect.

- Curt's, like, one of the greatest workers

in the ring ever.

So I'm like, man, they handpicked me a good one.

I got, like, a night off.

I thought I'd be really nervous,

but I was so not nervous,

but Curt, he was either over-caffeinated or something.

- The Lexer-- the Lexercist--Lar--

- The Narcissist, Lex Luger.

- I'm gonna go do it right now.

I've had it. I'm so excited.

It's WrestleMania. Watch what happens.

[crowd cheering]

- He's more experienced, so he's gonna just

lead us through the match.

- I don't know if I've ever seen

a more gifted all-round athlete than that young man there.

- You're right. Lex Luger is something else.

- Curt's known for being a ribber.

We lock up, he goes, what are we doing?

What are we doing? What are we doing?

What are we doing? I'm like, oh, come on, Curt.

- Collar and elbow. Tie him.

- I'm serious. What are we doing?

What are we doing?

I go, you don't know what we're doing?

He goes, no.

I thought at first he was ribbing me

on the first couple lockups, but he actually

completely blanked out.

Oh, damn it!

I learned a lesson there.

Always be prepared in case you have to lead the match,

because we botched a couple of spots.

- Irish whip, far side.

Oh! - Oh!

- Something's wrong here.

I'm trying to lead Curt through a match?

But Curt's so good, it still turned out OK.

- Oh, he caught him!

He caught him with that-- that big forearm, that elbow.

- He is out cold!

- And now Perfect is motionless.

He has been knocked out.

- Perfect is hot. He's mad.

And ordinarily, you'd see it cut off

as soon as you see him storm backstage.

Oh, what happened? I don't know.

- Yes, we're gonna stay right here.

- Stay with Mr. Perfect, man. He's hot.

- To have the camera follow him back there

was just groundbreaking.

- I was, like, pausing my VHS tape,

trying to just take in every detail

of what was going on behind the scenes at WWE at the time,

because you just never saw that view.

- Walking outside here-- - There he is.

- There's Luger with Shawn Michaels.

- Cameras are everywhere.

Mr. Perfect and I got into a scuffle in the backstage.

- Shawn Michaels from behind.

- Intercontinental champion with a cheap shot.

- It is the normal now, but it was new for us then.

It was a different atmosphere.

[bell tolling]

- Let's see this.

- Yeah, this is gonna be something.

- The Undertaker!

[ominous music]

- I've worked really hard to make people believe

in the supernatural powers of this character.

I'm concerned about what this vulture

is gonna do at any given time.

- Look at the vulture! Look at the vulture!

- It was much calmer in the live show

with all the people there than it was at rehearsal.

The bird did all right.

He didn't crap on me or knock my hat off.

Yeah, the vulture is still kind of flipping out.

If there's ever a more appropriate time

to have a vulture, it was--

it was for this match.

It's one of the rare times where I'm standing there

and my head is cocked all the way back trying to,

you know, have a face-to-face with him.

There's not many times I was ever

in that position in my career.

- Look at this for a stare-down, or a stare-up.

- That was probably the highlight of that match.

- There are days the Undertaker

still won't speak to me

because I put him in the ring...

[laughs] With, you know, the Giant.

- Once you got to match time,

you were very limited in what you could do.

- It was a hard job for 'Taker to lead that guy.

- He took up a lot of real estate.

He had trouble with bumping and falling.

- Well, it's relatively quick.

It seemed much longer.

- He's smothering the Undertaker!

- What's that smell? What's that smell?

- It's chloroform!

- Everybody, it's stinking up the--

- Oh, what a stench!

Referee's calling for the bell here.

- Everybody can smell it. - Oh.

- The match ends with the Undertaking winning

but by disqualification.

It's almost as if, like, for a second,

the streak may not have existed.

- The Undertaker being carted out of here.

- Kind of one of those matches made in heaven.

Or hell. [laughs]

This one particularly, probably hell.

- Well, you can still smell the stench--

what's that? - That's the Undertaker.

- Oh, no! - Wait a minute!

Here he comes! Here he comes!

Gonzalez can't believe it!

- Now we have to try and make chicken salad

out of chicken crap.

And that was what I was doing.

- The Undertaker rocks the Giant Gonzalez

with right hands.

- The moment that you really take away

is when the Undertaker is still able to get up

and stand tall.

- And he takes the big man down!

- He's down!

- Gonzalez down!

- It gives me chills, and not for a good reason.

- Give me the gimmick here.

- I was watching my cousin there,

and I know he was getting in his zone.

He was main event against Bret Hart.

He was a person that welcomed that type of responsibility.

Because when you're the main event,

all eyes on him.

- The oddsmakers here in Vegas have Yokozuna

as the heavy favorite, we are told.

- Wanted to prove that he can go with the best of them.

- We must point out, it has been tough

for Bret Hart. He's giving away 271 pounds.

- Vincent told me that I would be a champion for long-term.

My position was rock solid, or at least I thought it was,

and so all I thought about

was how I was gonna wrestle Yokozuna.

- I just left the WWE champion's dressing room,

Bret "The Hitman" Hart, and the one thought

I want to leave him with was that all the Hulkamaniacs

and Hulk Hogan are in his corner.

[dramatic music]

- Oh, my gosh.

I'm standing there with--

I feel like I got a big knife in my back

and that I've been cut short by politics.

Tried to be a good soldier that day

and just do what I was told.

- That belt means so much to Bret "The Hitman" Hart.

- Never felt more betrayed by Vince McMahon

than I did that day.

- Listen to this ovation. The WWE champion.

- I actually went to the ring that day

to give Yoko the best match of his career.

- The excellence of execution. Running dropkick.

Takes the big man back into the corner.

- I put a lot of thought into our match.

- And a martial arts kick!

- I was just off of ringside

for the championship match

between Bret Hart and Yokozuna.

I never sat down.

The talent that they have, you put them up against

the best athletes in the world.

- And he bulldogs! Yokozuna down.

- With a guy like Yoko,

you can tire him out pretty quick.

- Every split second that goes by

is precious to the Hitman.

- When a guy like Yokozuna runs out of gas,

he runs out of gas,

and he went into the ending prematurely.

And all of a sudden Yoko goes into the ending,

and I'm putting him in a sharpshooter.

- Bret Hart's got the sharpshooter on Yokozuna.

- Mr. Fuji isn't ready.

It took forever, and I'm, like, holding Yoko.

- He's been in the sharpshooter right now longer than anyone.

- Fuji, what's he doing? - Oh, man.

- He threw something right in his eyes,

and the referee could not see--

- The ref did not see that.

- Yokozuna hooks the leg!

- Oh, we got a new champion!

- Yokozuna has won the title!

- We've got a new champion!

- I was so proud.

You know, my cousin loved the industry,

and he wanted to be the best at it.

And then I think that's when Hogan came out.

- Here comes the Hulkster!

Here comes Hulk Hogan!

- I was just backstage and saw him going down to the ring.

- Everybody's going, like, what?

[dramatic music]

- Fuji threw something right in Hart's eyes.

Yokozuna took advantage of it.

- So Yokozuna, with the help of Mr. Fuji,

cheats to beat Bret.

And then all of a sudden,

here's Hogan to right the wrong.

- Hulk Hogan here.

- Fuji grabbed the mic.

He challenged me.

- My Yokozuna issue you a challenge.

- Now you're gonna just give Hulk a shot right here?

- The champion wants to challenge Hulk Hogan

after the champion has just won the title

by main-eventing WrestleMania.

OK.

- Mr. Fuji has said that they will

put the WWE title on the line right now against the Hulkster.

- I'm waving Hulk on and telling him to go in there

and win the title for me.

- Bret was holding his eyes, and he was saying,

Get in there. Get in the ring.

- Bret Hart's telling Hulk to go for it!

He said, go for it, big man!

- So with Bret's approval, the fans getting behind Bret,

I rolled in there and...

- Hulk Hogan's in the ring! - Ding, ding!

- Jumped me right away.

He's going for the salt, throwing the salt.

- Salt or whatever.

Oh, right in the eyes of Yokozuna!

Hogan knocks Fuji down.

Hogan with a clothesline, and down goes Yokozuna.

Hogan drops the leg.

Hogan to the cover. - No!

- Hooks him in.

Hulk Hogan won the title!

- I cannot believe this!

- Like I had predicted, Hogan came to WrestleMania

and won the title, although I never thought

it would happen that way.

* *

- Got a ton of heat from everybody.

I mean, Macho Man was very upset.

[as Macho Man] Why don't you give him

the tag belts while you're at it?

Why don't you give him the whole show?

[normally] So...[laughs] Whatever.

- There was definitely some eyebrows raised in the back

because nobody knew that was gonna take place.

It was just kind of like-- like, really?

- Hulk comes back in and wins-- wrestled for two minutes

and wins the belt.

It's kind of a, you know, slap in the face, really.

- That was the time when we all felt like we were going

to be moving on into this new generation of people,

and Hogan came back, and obviously Bret

was very upset that day

and was, you know, discussing with a lot of us,

you know, his displeasure in that,

and of course, we were-- we were in agreement with him.

- There was heat in the dressing room with Hogan

and a lot of the boys,

but, you know, business is business.

- Rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

I see both sides of it.

I see the draw power of a Hulk Hogan,

but I also see the side of the guys that are

working to be the next Hulk Hogan.

Coming in and winning the title

right out of the get-go was just like, oof, OK.

[inhales sharply] Politics.

[chuckles]

I'm sure there was quite a bit of politicking going on.

* *

- I found out on a Friday night.

When I went to Vince's room on Friday,

I got the whole ending.

Hogan's gonna come out.

And I remember I was like, Hogan's gonna come out?

Vince might as well have hit me over the head

with a sledgehammer when he told me,

because it went against everything

he'd told me up to that day.

I said, are you doing this because I wasn't good enough?

He said, no, it's just a change in direction,

which I didn't accept as a very good answer.

- Oh, I knew ahead of time.

I told Vince, I said, look, if I'm coming back

for this tag match, let's do something different.

Vince had already talked to me

about passing the torch, you know?

He talked to me about passing it to Yokozuna,

and the plan was to get him over and,

the very next pay-per-view, drop the belt back to him,

and Bret got very upset about that.

- I was misled in a lot of ways,

because I was under the impression

that they were really happy with everything I was doing

and that everything was full steam ahead,

and it wasn't.

- Hogan knocks Fuji down.

Hogan with a clothesline, and down goes Yokozuna.

Hogan drops the leg.

Hogan to the cover. - No!

[crowd cheering]

- Like, no one saw that coming.

You could never see that ending coming.

- Hulk Hogan has won the title for the fifth time!

What a startling--

- It is something to be said

for endings that you never expect.

- Never before in the WWE has a WWE title changed hands

two times in one night, and it is deafening

here at Caesars Palace.

- Today's audience would say it's a holy shit moment.

- People are going crazy!

- There were a lot of people that were very happy

that Hulk won the title that night.

- What did you enjoy the most? - Hulk Hogan winning the belt.

- Hulk Hogan winning his title back.

Yeah! Whoo!

- Hulkamania is alive and well and running wild.

- Hogan is the champion! - Unbelievable!

- I cannot believe this!

- To get that reception, it was amazing.

Gave a good vibe to the end of that 'Mania.

- My best friend Vladimir, interviewing him

after WrestleMania IX, he was just in heaven.

- Hulk Hogan was the most exciting match tonight!

I'm glad he won the belt. He's number one!

- I would have preferred Bret Hart.

- Should we go ahead?

Can we ask this gentleman right here?

- Yeah.

- Well, right now, I don't think so.

We got to do something special.

Hang on, OK? [button clicks]

- See that right there?

That's Nick Khan, president of WWE.

- Thank you, everyone, very much for coming today.

- He was an usher working the event

in 1993, 30 years ago.

- From being an usher to being the CEO.

He's running the whole damn show.

[chuckles]

- It just shows that, you know, the American dream

is something that's alive.

Nick Khan was a Hulkamaniac. That's great, man.

I love that.

- [laughs]

That's crazy.

From that green Caesars shirt to a tailored suit.

Nick was built to do big events.

He was built for big moments.

That's great. [laughs] That's so good.

- Thank you, everyone, for getting together today.

It's important that Paul and I have an opportunity

to always speak with you directly about the progress

that you are making, you being the company

and the integral members of the company.

- Being here at WWE and where I am right now

and looking back over the years,

you're, like, blessed.

You feel special that you've been able to be part of this.

- Just being a fixture, that's a big deal.

- Things that I'm most proud of for this company

is that nothing stops us from doing our thing.

Always know the context and where you're at.

We may not hit a home run every time,

but we get pretty damn close.

- Seeing a lot of this stuff for the first time.

I'm fortunate enough to be here 30 years later.

It just brings me back, man, and it's kind of--

it's a little bit emotional, man.

We're talking 30 years, so yeah.

[projector clicks]

- Oh, the fireworks going off!

- WrestleMania IX was the peak

of my personal responsibility

and involvement around WrestleMania.

I didn't want it to end.

- What a day it has been!

Thanks for being with us, and so long, everybody!

- Once we went to black at the end of WrestleMania,

I was looking forward to the next one.

- To have been maybe even a small part of that

is something that we look back on

and say, hey, that was great.

- I was very proud walking away

at the end of the night thinking, damn it, we did it.

- This is absolutely top-notch entertainment.

It doesn't get any better than this.

- Yeah!

- Vegas wasn't the big celebration

that I expected it to be.

I was robbed.

But from my standpoint, it was a fun event.

I wish I could have been a fan going to that event.

It's a spectacle.

This is a show that we want people to think about

for a long time.

- WrestleMania IX, have a good time!

[camel grunts]

- Jesus!

- Oh, I want a box of doughnuts for Christmas.

- I want some Twinkies.

- This is the making of WrestleMania.

- It is so amazing to have this time capsule...

- Of WWE in a position where they're trying

to figure out who they are.

- Welcome to WrestleMania IX!

- What I think that show showed everybody

is that there are no limits to what this company can do.

- [screams]

- That was our showcase.

- It was awesome to be a part of it.

- When you do something like that,

then it's expected to be a spectacle.

- Unbelievable! What a night!

- It is the greatest live event

in all of entertainment.

It is an event that has turned into a worldwide phenomenon.

- This was really the first step

towards sensationalizing WWE.

- You don't evolve without taking chances

and doing different things,

and that's what WrestleMania IX was.

It laid the building blocks.

We don't get to 41 without what we did at IX.

- It is deafening here at Caesars Palace!

[dramatic music]

* *

- I appreciate everybody coming out to WrestleMania.

* *

Can't believe this is the fifth time for me.

* *

Had a great time tonight,

and I'd like to thank Caesars Palace.

That's pretty cool.

- I knew from the moment I walked into the casino

here at Caesars, mirrors everywhere...

Hair is pretty good for after the match.

- Rolled the dice for about 25 minutes.

One guy won 45 grand at the table.

I was just rolling the dice. I didn't even know how to play.

- So many of the OGs in this. My goodness.

- Everybody around me went, that's Perfect.

- Now, where's all the sushis you guys ate, man?

- Hey, you ate all the sushi. - You ate them all.

- [laughs]

- Thank you, Gene.

Stick to your day job, if you would.

What does George Clooney have that I don't have?

- Seeing Shawn and all of us at that time,

it was a fun time.

- Ah!

- How you doing, camera?

- Got it! Yeah!

- I've never seen any of that footage,

so thank you for sharing that with me.

That is really cool.

- You guys are... [retches]

[sparse applause]

- Fabulous.