Original subtitles

Welcome! Welcome!

Welcome! To Wrestlemania!

It's very rare that you meet a person who has never heard of Wrestlemania.

AT &T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. Home to over 70 ,000 members of the WWE

Universe. However many people the building can hold.

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

from all across the world to be part of WrestleMania.

When you get into this business, I think the first goal that goes into your head

is, I want to main event WrestleMania.

This has all of the makings of one hell of a WrestleMania match.

Oh, my gosh!

Vince McMahon has created something that has withstood the test of time,

where... You kind of have to watch it because everybody's going to be talking

about it. WrestleMania showcased the world's finest athlete and the world's

entertaining sport.

The Austin era has begun!

My dad had a vision. He saw Hollywood.

And he knew cable and he knew that that would help execute the plan to get us

everywhere all at once.

The date, March 31, 1985. If WrestleMania didn't work, the WWE would

tanked. My dad literally bet the farm.

He mortgaged everything my parents owned.

The World Wrestling Federation outdoing itself in presenting this unbelievable

card of wrestling. WrestleMania I was a missile fired at the rest of the

industry. I'd been in the business and I'd felt those vibes before.

But this was something different. Unbelievable.

We're seeing the greatest spectacle in wrestling history right now. There was

electricity that just surrounded the ring.

Salvation as they're hanging off the rafters just here in Madison Square

I had chill bumps up and down my arm. This is the biggest crowd in history, 1

million. When Hulk Hogan entered the ring, it was insanity.

You can't replicate that.

That one spectacular moment in time of WrestleMania I

doesn't happen.

Arguably, you could say none of this is here.

Because that was the launching point, and everything sprung out and happened

from there. Now you know what it's all about, brother. Oh, boy, we're going to

be changing the game. What a move by Macho Man.

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

Believer Ramon is the undisputed Intercontinental Champion.

The boyhood dream has come true.

Undertaker is 18 -0.

This is a WrestleMania moment.

On the way to WrestleMania this past year, we were in AT &T Stadium in

Texas. And we were driving to the stadium with the police escort and ACDC

blaring in the car speakers.

And I turned the radio down and asked Vince, is this what it was like 38 years

ago as you made your way to Madison Square Garden, not knowing whether you

be in business the next day?

Greetings, wrestling fans, and welcome to another action -packed card of all

-star wrestling promoted by Phil Zacco.

Before WrestleMania I, there were territories.

Our territory was Monday night, the Memphis Coliseum, Tuesday night,

Gardens, Wednesday night, Evansville, Indiana.

You know what? It's just like E .L. Putnam, baby. When Jimmy Hart talks,

everybody listens. You understand that?

WWE of all the regional territories was geographically the largest.

These territories were carved out like mafia fiefdoms.

Hello, everybody. Vince McMahon here at ringside in Madison Square Garden

waiting for a tremendous evening of professional wrestling. The way things

during the territory days is basically you would run your territory and the

other folks ran their territories and there was no crossover.

I've heard him say this a million times. If my dad had known what I was going to

do with the business, he would have never sold it to me. Vince McMahon back

was a young, little wobbly -dobbly.

Promoter. And I remember the story of my grandfather speaking to my dad and

saying, Vinny, Vinny, why do you have to rock the boat, Vinny? My dad likes to

rock the boat in case anyone hasn't noticed.

Vince McMahon decided to go ahead, violate all the gentleman's agreements

his father subscribed to, and just go nationally and pay people money.

That was criminal in people's minds.

Everybody looked at it as freaking Vince McMahon.

He's trying to take over the world. He's trying to put us all out of business.

Vince became probably the most hated man in the history of our business.

He had death threats against him. He was buying all the top stars.

Jesse the body of Ventura. The Junkyard Dog.

It is Sergeant Slaughter.

Rowdy, rowdy, pipe fur.

From Venice Beach, California, Hulk Hogan. Take a look

at the immense proportion of Hulk Hogan. The wrestling business really needed an

attraction.

There'd been some history between Vince and James McMahon and Hulk Hogan. Hogan

was firmly entrenched in the AWA, the rival wrestling promotion in

and Vince McMahon had just started a magazine.

Steve Taylor, who was the photographer for WWE's magazine, was dispatched to

Minneapolis to an AWA show. He walks up to Hulk Hogan, slips him a little piece

of paper with Vince McMahon's phone number on it.

You handed me a card. I said, call Vince.

I said, okay, I'll give him a call and see what's up, because I like Vince.

I'm going to the top of the ladder, and I thank each and every one of you. When

Vince started talking to me, I knew with the momentum I had, if I could pull the

same plug in New York, it would be worth going back, and it was basically the

perfect storm.

A lot of people believed that without Hulk Hogan, there wouldn't have been a

WWE. America needed a hero they could believe in. It needed a superhero, and

needed a live superhero that was tangible and right in front of them.

He just needed to find the right one.

Bob Backlund had been a dependable champion, a highly athletic champion.

But he didn't have the razzle -dazzle, the color that Vince McMahon was looking

for. Crowd cheering for you and getting behind you, it makes you reach down and

get something extra to maybe win that match. It really made it easy to go from

black and white to full -spectrum color.

This is a different Hulk Hogan, and Hulkamania already wasn't running wild.

Just check it out, man. It just turns me on, brother.

Hulk Hogan at the time had this pristine image.

300 pounds of solid muscle, you know, the 24 -inch python, say your prayers,

your vitamins, the epitome poster child of what you would put up as your

American hero.

And indeed, the fans go wild every time they witness this extraordinary athlete.

The way he could relate to the fans on talking on the mic.

That was his attribute.

That was his age card. Sometimes when you get on a roll, man, it seems like

can't do nothing wrong. Whether we're talking about Rocky III, Little Skinny,

Sylvester Stallone. The movie sure didn't hurt him at all. What a character

played. He just had everything going for him. Hulk Hogan could ignite a room

just by walking into it. There was nobody bigger than Hulk Hogan.

History could be made in Madison Square Garden.

There he is.

Hulkamania. January 1984.

Something happened that night in Madison Square Garden.

I came through the curtain. I was spinning.

Went to the ring and pointed at the Iron Sheik.

I could feel the volcano getting ready to explode.

I don't know if there's ever been a more perfect good guy, bad guy situation

than the Iron Sheik and Hulk Hogan.

You know, this is patriotism. This is Hulk Hogan with the American flag

the most hated villain in the business.

He'll use any means in any way in his power to win this match.

And the fans love it. Yeah, the all -American hero.

Coming at him like a hurricane to take our people back, our country back, and

our belt back.

I mean, it was a perfect storm. It does not get better than that.

changed the wrestling world without a doubt.

It exploded.

It just went wild.

It went from being a closet wrestling fan to everybody talking about how they

were Hulkamaniacs.

Whether you were in Chicago at the Rosemont Horizon, Philadelphia Spectrum,

seeing the smiles on all the people's faces, this is our savior. This is our

hero. This is the man that we bought a ticket to say we love him.

Paul just mesmerized you in a way that nobody else did.

That's what it's about. What are you feeling during that moment?

He was born to be that guy. I feel the energy.

Hulkamania is running worldwide.

Hulkamania was without peer. To me, it was a combination of just wackiness and

mainstream star power that just somehow intersected and launched it into a

stratosphere that nobody saw coming. One thing my father has always understood

is in order to have a successful product, you need a big star.

There was no such thing as social media or digital.

So how were you going to get your product, your star, in front of as many

as possible? What were we going to hang our hat on? And that became

WrestleMania.

People are tuning in and turning on to cable television.

The potential for cable TV is endless.

Cable television arrived, and the landscape of our sport changed forever.

Cable. It's kind of like somebody that's been blind their whole life, and then

all of a sudden you open your eyes, and you're like, oh my gosh.

Welcome everyone, this is Gorilla Monsoon welcoming you to the USA

That's Jurner and know about cable TV.

He saw that as an opportunity to expand.

On behalf of WTBS, it's a pleasure to welcome the World Wrestling Federation.

Exciting new matches, great competitors from all over the world. And here's the

man to tell you all about it. Here's Vince McMahon.

Vince? Thank you very much, Freddie. Welcome aboard.

Thank you. It is indeed a pleasure to be associated with WTBS, and we promise to

bring you the greatest in professional wrestling entertainment in the world

today. I don't think my father gets enough credit for what he was able to do

how we've been able to... to pioneer the business.

When you look at WTBS and USA Network, they were primarily the only two

major cable stations at the time. USA was going across the country.

TBS was going across the country. This was totally different than what was seen

before syndicated television, where it was just really local markets. But to

leverage those platforms to reach as many people as possible, my dad has

been ahead of the curve.

All of a sudden, Vince?

said, my TV show is showing not just in New York where I can run Madison Square

Garden. My TV show is showing in California and it's showing in Florida

showing all over the country. Why can't I run a live show in Los Angeles?

Why can't I run in Miami, Florida instead of just staying in the

that's what he started to do.

Fans, the great stars of the World Wrestling Federation will be here.

Vince figured all these things into the equation.

It was the sum of all the parts. And he knew cable and he basically knew that

that would help execute the plan to get us everywhere all at once.

Vince McMahon has always been really good at figuring out ways to incorporate

his product into pop culture. No better example exists than

the relationship with MTV.

People ask me, you know, what was one of the biggest moments in your career?

I would say the rocket blast off August the 1st, 1981, 12 .01 midnight, was

probably the biggest.

To do that every hour at the top of the hour with the

whole thing still gives me cold chills.

MTV was really fresh back then.

And it was the hottest thing on TV.

MPV was the new kid in town and showed pretty quickly the effect it could have

on someone's career.

We would watch the newest videos from artists we'd never heard of.

So we pop in the video for Cyndi Lauper.

Girls just want to have fun.

The whole room started having fun.

I remember it brought us to life, and it just had this momentum, and it had this

energy. We needed somebody in that video to play Cindy's dad.

There was only one person that could play Cindy's dad, and that was Captain

Albano.

Where did she meet Captain Lou Albano?

Oh, Captain Lou, there he is.

I met Lou on a plane.

Come back from Puerto Rico. And they just struck up a conversation on the

and swapped numbers.

And that was that.

That's when I felt like, oh, we could do something fun.

We'll use Captain Wilbano.

The producer of the video, a guy named Ken Walsh, knew Vince.

And he called Vince.

And said, would it be okay if Captain Lou appeared in this new artist's video

named Cindy Lauper and played her father?

And he said yes.

That was the beginning.

That was the beginning of it all.

All of a sudden, we're seeing Captain Lou, not only with us every night, but

of a sudden, he's a music star.

It kind of made sense that a man with a rubber band stapled to his cheek might

be the father of that bizarre creature known as Cindy Lauper. Cindy Lauper will

be the greatest entertainer of all time.

Her debut album is called She's So Unusual. Would you welcome, please,

Lauper.

Cindy Lauper, Cindy Lauper, Cindy Lauper. All over the world you see Cindy

Lauper. I think you dress unusual.

Really?

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

theatrical, it's entertaining.

Why not have this bizarre mashup of this gal from Queens who had a mouth on her,

you know? She talks like she could maybe smack you good.

Cindy was the central figure in making this at all possible.

And then, of course, the rest is, as she puts it, herstory.

It was really Dave Wolf who kind of said, you know, maybe we could do a

-promotion here. And he loved wrestling since he was a little kid.

Here I am with Captain Lou, and we bonded from the minute we

shook hands and hugged each other and said hello. And that would grow to be

incredible rock and wrestling connection.

An idea to do something with world wrestling on MTV never crossed my mind,

you would probably think it would have been obvious that it might have, but it

didn't. Not until I saw that video with Captain Lou.

So I arrive in New York City in 1981.

A dear friend of mine said, you got to come to wrestling with me on Monday

night. I'm like, what?

You've got to come to the Garden.

There's this wrestling thing. And I go, really? I met Vince. I met the Iron

Sheik, Hulk Hogan.

And I'm mind blown by what's going on just backstage. The energy. It was a

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

I go, that's the MTV crowd out there.

Pandemonium and excitement here at Madison Square Garden.

Wait, what? We're going to do what now?

We are here with Captain Lou Albano and Cyndi Lauper. And that was kind of the

ethos of MTV.

Let's do something new. Oh, yeah, let's get in bed with the WWE.

Like, what?

Yes, sir, history is being made. You have just tuned in to the Rock and

Wrestling Connection right here on MTV.

And I'm your guest, VJ, the incredible Hulk Hogan. Every time I'd guest VJ with

MTV, it was something that...

Kind of like raise my stock.

Right here on MTV, just being here with all the rock and rollers, I'm already

wound up tight, and I want you to stick around all night long.

MTV in 1985 is not 24 hours of teen mom and ridiculousness, okay?

This is what everyone's talking about.

I want my MTV.

I want my MTV.

I want my MTV.

I want my MTV.

Everyone is watching videos on MTV, and now they can find WWE there, too. And so

stick around because there's a lot going down, Daddy, and there's a lot more

video music coming up here on the MTV Rock and Roll Connection. And find MTV

personalities on WWE.

The greatest entertainer, pound for pound, in the world today.

And I gotta credit Cindy's video really reignited pretty much the world's

interest in professional wrestling.

I think I was on the phone to Vince every three days. Hey, I got an idea.

he was searching for those mainstream ways to build wrestling. And in walks

insanity and bang, zoom.

away we go how much do you think

that you could bring cindy lauper on my pit why not running first time we saw

cindy lauper in wwe was when she appeared on piper's pit ladies and

want to introduce to you the female entertainer of the year miss cindy

herself

Cindy Lauper just suddenly burst on the scene. You're like, what is she doing

here? First of all, I would like to say to you, you look wonderful, Cindy.

Number one pop singer in the country on a wrestling show?

That never happened before.

It's nice to see all the wrestling fans.

And you, Rodney, how are you?

Everybody kind of knew what was about to happen.

Cindy. Tell all these people out here how I took you, Cindy, and found you in

New York City and Queens, and how I made you a superstar.

Tell them what I did for you, Cindy. Albano just starts talking this really

sexist talk.

Tell them how a woman, Cindy, belonged in a kitchen and pregnant, Cindy, that

woman's ever accomplished anything without a man behind her.

Cindy, tell them that.

Wait, wait, wait, Lou.

Lou, you know, I don't like that. You're only fooling around, right? Because I

don't like that stuff.

The crowd's like, wow, why is Cindy going off on Lou?

Just because he's saying things that wrestlers say.

And

the

fight that ensued was really the theatrical setup. The first real

craziness that was going to be happening with the wrestling world.

in the rock and roll world. It was real and she nailed it. Just nailed it. And

that is the beginning of a number of incidents that will ultimately culminate

in WrestleMania 1.

We will take you now to Rowdy Roddy Piper and again his very special guest,

Cindy Lauper. We wanted to create an event that would be

the perfect

The champion at that time was Moore.

Moo would manage Moo. You know who I'm going to pick, Moo? I'm going to pick

you. I'm going to pick the champ. Well, I found myself a wrestler. I got Wendy

Ressler. What do you say?

Wendy, show them what you got.

At the time, I was like 22, 23.

It was like the highlight of my life.

There were wrestlers that had been around for decades that kind of looked

haggard and tired. I was easy on the eye, I guess.

When Wendy Richter popped up on the screen, it was a little more appealing

when Moolah popped up on the screen. Cindy has really helped me.

Like, I'm proud to be a woman. She's really for women's rights, and she's

me a lot of things, and I just, I don't know, I feel like I'm a new person and

everything. Cindy Lauper had Wendy Richter.

Beautiful, young.

It was youth versus the establishment.

They were going to collide.

What better place than MTV to do it? We're going to now set the stage for the

first big.

event the brawl to end it all and we had to have a press conference for that

show is a disgrace to professional wrestling and to journalism your so

interviews are nothing more than ridicule humiliation alan did an amazing

wait a second wait wait wait wait bang he was in the middle of a roddy piper

situation obviously they take a female steroid

That's Roddy Piper standing over me saying he's going to kill me.

I thought, well, he's not going to do anything

dangerous. This is like a Disney ride. It's scary, but, you know, no one's

to die. Maybe.

Totally lifted me off my feet.

After the press conference, I had people coming up asking if I was okay.

They were into it and couldn't wait for the brawl. And I was like, me either.

If you have small children in the house, lock them in the basement now.

On to the garden.

When we did this together and took it out of just Vince's stations into the

mainstream. How you doing, Gene?

This has got to be...

A moment that everybody has been waiting for, especially Cindy and yourself.

We are definitely ready for this fight. There is no question about it. Man, this

is fantastic.

Look how entertaining this is.

Marrying these two industries together.

It's a natural. I want my MTV and our wrestling connection. We're the biggest

impactful incidents in programming history on MTV.

Vincey's opportunity.

What's hot? What's popular? What are people watching? MTV was the perfect

opportunity to then promote.

Just moments from now, the fabulous Moolah to defend the ladies' crown

challenger Wendy Richter. Ladies and gentlemen, this title belt will be on

line at Madison Square Garden. Just moments from now, this lady to defend.

I'm ready.

I was pumped, very excited, very excited, and just hearing the roar of

audience.

My dad, he was trying to think of how can I get my product in front of as many

people as possible and hopefully turn them into fans. And he saw MTV as that

vehicle. 20 ,000 people in the garden, and it was just complete mayhem.

Oh, my God. She's gone nuts, too.

What has happened to sweet little Cindy?

Wendy is in excellent physical condition and is just pummeling the fabulous one.

Look at that.

I felt fantastic because I'm seeing it unfold in front of my eyes. This is

happening. And it was incredibly exciting.

Nothing, because this belt right here says it all.

Hold it. Wait a minute. I see one man here that I know is in the way.

Hulk Hogan, World Wrestling Federation heavyweight champion. I love it. I love

it, man. You are so fine. This is the Marilyn Monroe of the professional

wrestling world, the real champion, daddy.

Everybody was wondering how this rock and wrestling connection was going to

work, and it turned out it was the highest rated show on MTV up to that

The ratings went ten times bigger than they were at any other part of the day,

the broadcast.

On a music station.

On a music channel.

We're doing wrestling.

Yes. On this new thing called cable.

This has got to be a big moral victory for you, Cindy.

It certainly was.

That gave it a lot of legitimacy very quickly.

And all of a sudden we started hearing about Vince and setting up this mega

show.

Vince said, I went on a vacation and I was lying there on the beach.

And then when I came back, I had the idea. My father was talking to my

coming up with this idea, and it was, what is our Super Bowl? What is our

Oscars? What's our Grammys? I mean, what was it? What was that big, special

event to put WWE on the map?

He was trying to come up with a name for what we could call the event.

I said, well, the Beatles, when they came to the United States back in 1964,

their phenom was dubbed Beatlemania.

Why can't we call our event WrestleMania?

When Vince had come out that he was going to do a WrestleMania, I'm

what the hell is a WrestleMania?

There were a lot of people who thought, this thing is not going to fly.

There were a lot of wrestlers that had got it in their heads that Vince had

overextended himself and that he'd spend everything on this one show, and if it

wasn't a huge success, everything was going to go under.

Vince had actually purchased the company from his father and from his father's

partners. And the deal that Vince made was that he would make payments and then

make one large balloon payment at the end. Vince didn't have the money, so it

was all smoke and mirrors, you know, borrowing from this guy to pay that guy

he could pay his dad.

If WrestleMania didn't work, the WWE would have tanked. My dad literally bet

farm. He mortgaged everything my parents owned.

I was hoping that it would fail because we felt like if it was successful, that

would spell the end of our territories and life as we knew it. Vince needed to

expand the whole rock and wrestling connection because that was kind of the

launching pad. I have one more award for a guy who's really turned around.

Captain Louis Delgado!

Send me brothers and sisters.

I don't know what to say. I'm so grateful to receive this award.

And here comes Roddy Piper. Just a minute, Roddy.

Yeah, Roddy.

Inserts himself into the equation, takes over the scene.

Even though it was me that set this up, and it was me that started it, I want to

present you with this.

Oh, look out!

Look it, Roddy Piper's just gone bananas!

You got Cyndi Lauper.

You know, getting thrown around the ring.

I mean, just think about that. Getting physically assaulted by a grown man.

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

Oh, he pile drives it right down into the canvas.

Just picked me up and body slammed me to the mat. Cindy Lauper is down.

David Wolfe is down.

Every great hero needs a foil.

And there was no foil as easy as Hot Rod Roddy Piper.

Well, let me tell you how to be Roddy Piper.

Have a nice day.

Go south.

Give me the microphone. Get out of my way. The future of professional

is me. When RP talks, people listen. You think you got something hot shot, huh?

They think they got the answers.

I change the questions.

Just imagine this. I had kicked the female vocalist of the year, Cyndi

in the head. I tortured Hogan.

I chased Dick Clark back to the dressing room.

What a despicable, disgraceful display on the part of Roddy Piper.

Roddy Piper had this uncanny ability to infuriate you and ratchet up your

emotions without stepping foot in the ring. And then eventually he got in the

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

February 18th, 1985, there's another show at Madison Square Garden, also

broadcast in Madison Square Garden.

On MTV, the war to settle the score.

This is all leading to WrestleMania.

I'm Alan Hunter, and tonight it's the war to settle the score. A wrestling

with social, political, and artistic implications far beyond any wrestling

in history. A wrestling match with social, political, and artistic

far beyond any wrestling match in history. Was that serious enough for

Everybody was involved.

Wrestling is going down.

It's the rockers. We're going to win this. Well, don't mess with the rock and

rollers, bro. We'll snuff you out under my thumb. It's you, Rod.

Well, listen, Piper, rock and roll's going to get you, man.

There were a lot of people out there who were talking about how evil rock and

roll was, and Rowdy Roddy Piper was back in their play. He was speaking for

those people.

Roddy Piper is not going to get away with this.

Roddy, you're a ratbag.

Patti Smith, I mean, so adorable.

Roddy, Roddy Piper, you rat bag.

I think she must have made that word up. When this rock and wrestling thing

started happening, there were people who just seemed to clamor. I guarantee you

they were calling up the executive saying, can I go on that?

This Roddy Piper is a disgrace to rock and roll. He certainly is not fit to

a skirt. And he's going to pay for what he's done to Cindy Lauper. Gloria

Steinem, I mean, good God.

All of a sudden, like Geraldine Ferrara, who was running.

For the vice president of the United States. When Geraldine Ferraro did her

little one -liner, there was a women's event in New York. That's why they were

all there.

I went up to her and I just say, man, would you mind just saying a quick thing

and put down Roddy Piper? And she did it. Roddy Piper, why don't you come out

and fight like a man?

Her office was calling us for weeks. Take that down. Take that down. She

it was going to ruin her whole political career.

Politics.

Acting, TV, film, music, it just had it all.

Guess who's sitting in the front row?

Mr. T, the hottest star in American television.

He was one of the hottest properties at the time. I mean, he was on fire just

like the wrestling business was.

That's my man talking what he wanted to do and stuff like that and all of the

stuff. We finally got everything worked out. Now, okay, I'm going to bring it.

Just what you're going to get with me.

Things get pretty chaotic.

And Cindy Lauper feels compelled to jump into the ring herself to assist her

good friend Hulk Hogan.

He slapped her head off.

And I say, you can't do that to an old lady.

It was on from then on.

That was the thought of me getting into wrestling.

What is going on, ladies and gentlemen? It's pandemonium.

Mr. T and Hulk are fit to be tied. New York's finest trying to help out.

While in the ring, we have two individuals shaking hands.

The Hulkster and Mr.

T.

Talking about pop culture.

Holy moly, Mr. T and Hulk Hogan together.

You couldn't get any bigger than that.

As thousands upon thousands of fans continue to file out into the streets of

Big Apple, I'd like to get your impressions of what happened. Well, I

saw it all, Gene. I don't know. It was so confusing that it's hard to have

impressions as to what just happened. Mean Gene sort of spoke like he did on

camera in person.

Hello, Alan. How are you doing, Alan? I was like, dude, I'm just right here.

Alan Hunter, I'm going to bring in a man that defended the heavyweight title on

this particular occasion here on MTV.

That room was packed. It was crowded. It was tension filled.

It was a rock wrestling connection.

Everything we stand for.

Everything we believe in, man. It's not a dream. It's the way we live, man. And

Piper tried to destroy it. This was like, you know, faux serious and

journalistic. And Mean Gene knew how to work that.

To have Mean Gene be the ringmaster of the 50 ring circus.

And it didn't matter whether he knew you from Adam or knew what you did. If I

could bring in other dignitaries, who do we have standing by?

Please. What happened here? It was incredible.

It was really exciting. I would compare it to a Springsteen concert. It was

pretty hot. If he smashes any more guitars, he has to answer to me

Have you ever seen such total bedlam and pandemonium in your entire life? Never.

Gosh, Andy Warhol.

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

All the way, Andy. Good luck in all your things in your career.

Wait a minute now. I don't know if I want to conduct this interview or not

you. Piper, you'll take a microphone and dress up if you're going to come on. I

can do exactly what I want to do. I'm out in the wings watching me and Gene do

his thing, and Roddy comes hurtling down the hallway.

Did they see him pin me? No!

Oh, they saw the piece of crap. That's all they saw, man. They didn't see him

nothing to me. Thank you very much.

Danny DeVito comes walking around to wipe the spit off the camera.

Alan!

I am out of gas. I am exhausted.

The mayhem just happened, and we're all going to try to calm down now.

Where we go from here, no one knows. I don't think it's over. I think we have

just seen the tip of the iceberg.

Vince brought Mr.

T in at that moment because it was time to really take it up and

out of the ballpark.

The big news, WrestleMania.

Coming March the 31st. Vince's vision of trying to make this work, he wasn't

going to let it fail.

He's putting everything into Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, Roddy Piper, all the superstars

that are on that lineup. I'm putting all my money, I'm putting all my marvels,

everything into you. I believe in you. The greatest wrestling extravaganza.

Of all time. It was Vince's game to win or lose, and it was all based on

WrestleMania I.

Hulk Hogan, a World Wrestling Federation champion, has chosen a tag team

partner.

By the name of Mr.

T. One thing you taught me a long time ago, you gotta stay hungry. And tonight,

I see the eye of the tiger in your eyes, T. You're the man that I always thought

you were. I appreciate it, and I love you like a brother. I understood this is

how you get attention.

And no one was capable of grabbing attention at that stage in American pop

culture history.

Mr. T.

The name is Mr. T.

First name is Mr.

Middle name is that period.

Last name is T.

I remember I got a Mr. T dollar, like a little figure from the A -team. We like

the fake gold change.

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

And then he aligns himself with Hulk Hogan. We did Rocky III together, you

because he played Thunder Lips and I'm natural, I'm Clover Lane, you know.

when I did Rocky III, that's when I first ran into Mr. T.

We clicked from the start.

What team is meaner than Laurel and Hardy?

More dangerous than Bonnie and Clyde. Who else but Hulk Hogan and Mr.

T?

Mr. T was a TV star like 2018.

When I heard he was getting involved with the first WrestleMania I was in,

like one channel is Mr. T and then I flipped the other channel and it's like,

oh, here's WrestleMania with Mr. T in it. There was a lot of animosity among

talent, among the boys, you know.

What's this guy doing coming in there?

T. kind of would rub people the wrong way. You know, he just, that's just the

way he was.

The rumor was going around that Mr. T and Piper didn't get along very much.

didn't have a good relationship with each other.

Roddy didn't like him too much.

Mr.

T, hello, I know you can hear me and I don't mean to bother you.

Roddy Piper was on the set.

of the 18.

My name's Hot Rod, of course you know who I am, and I know who you are,

your name's written on the back of the chair, and I'm assuming that that's

so you don't get lost.

Roddy had a bit of a chip on his shoulder, did not like Mr.

T, didn't like Mr. T at WrestleMania 1.

What we got here is what we found hanging around the restroom. You see, we

a new feature now in Piper's pit. It's called the Hot Feet. He resented Mr.

T making the money he was making.

He was talking about my haircut.

Bring it on.

Give me the best you got.

I'll take it.

Mr. T, we're supposed to call him Mr. Are you ribbing me? T and Hogan, they

to take on the both of us. It doesn't sell without Piper. Without Piper

the pot. So you've got this whole...

under -the -surface, bubbling, blossoming feud.

The children of America today must be sick to look at someone.

Hey, mister.

Hey, mister.

Hey, no, no, no, hey. I'll tell you, you mess with me, T, I'll put an X on your

name, brother.

You can tell Roddy Piper, again, was probably an inch away from trying to

this guy's neck.

How can I say it without sounding cocky? They didn't understand that bringing me

in would broaden their theme. He was thinking, this is going to help me in my

career as much as...

Me being with these guys helped them with theirs.

So if you bring in, you got Cyndi Lauper there, you got the MTV crowd, you got

Mr. T from the A -Team. Hey, man, this is good for us. This is going to help

So now it's Mr.

T, Hulk Hogan, and Cyndi Lauper over here, and Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff,

Cowboy Bob Orton Jr.

over here.

And the stage is set for WrestleMania 1. There are going to be a lot of guests

at ringside and some guests involved in the main event this coming Sunday

afternoon. Billy Martin, whom we heard from earlier on, is the guest ring

announcer. Muhammad Ali, the guest referee in the event. And, of course,

Liberace, the guest timekeeper. We do invite you to see it at your local

coliseum or theater, which will carry it on a closed -circuit television basis

on the giant color screen.

So at the time of WrestleMania 1...

Vince was trying to think of how can I reach our fans in the biggest way

possible. We used closed -circuit television, which basically means that

would go to an arena to watch big, giant television screens of what was

happening somewhere else.

I'd been to several closed circuits, and one of the closed circuits I'd been to

was the Evel Knievel Snake River Canyon Jump.

You know who that was promoted by?

Vincent Kennedy McMahon Jr.

You lost the spring?

It went sideways.

Vince had done a lot of other things. He dabbled in other promotions with closed

circuit television.

The Evel Knievel Snake River Canyon closed circuit event bombed terribly.

He lost his ass on that.

We figured, well, here goes another one.

Closed -circuit television was the only delivery system to get WrestleMania out

to the masses and do it live and be able to have a gate and have revenue from

that gate. It was as if you were running a live event simultaneous in over 100

locations across the country. You're going to go to this theater or

and then it's going to be on closed -circuit television, and you're going to

sit. and watch television with all these other people. It was so odd to think of

it in that manner.

Movie theaters, people are going to pay a ticket to go to a movie theater to

watch professional wrestling. It ain't going to happen, baby.

Vince has lost his mind.

Is Vince crazy?

Yes.

Vince is crazy.

Vince is absolutely insane.

but it takes an insane crazy man to come up with these ideas and bring them to

fruition and make them a reality.

When I first heard the term closed circuit, it felt like trying to watch

thing on Saturn. Nobody had done it before, and it was kind of like Vince

this ringleader with this vision that pushed everybody to make these moves.

Vince McMahon, he didn't care because...

He wants to make his statement, and there's no way to make that statement

than putting WrestleMania in theaters all over North America.

We'll be rolling underneath our commentary a number of locations coast

in which you can see WrestleMania. You will not be able to see WrestleMania on

your home television set. Every major arena where we wrestled had set up the

giant screen, you know, and people were...

beating each other up, trying to get a ticket. Many stating it is the greatest

sports entertainment.

closed -circuit extravaganza of all time, and I'd certainly agree with that.

our imaginations, I think, ran wild like Vince's did.

As it got closer and closer, more and more ideas kind of popped into us. How

I make this bigger?

Liberace is the guest timekeeper.

You know, I come from a long line of wrestling fans, of which number one was

mother. And the ring announcer, Billy Martin. Billy Martin was a character.

Like no other character I've ever run into before.

Billy Martin, good to see you again. Good to see you. The World Wrestling

Federation, you're going to be a part of that big extravaganza called

WrestleMania. Vince is going to get Muhammad Ali.

And special guest referee, listen to this, former boxing great heavyweight

champion of the world, Muhammad Ali.

Oh, my gosh. I took pictures with him. This is an event. Wrestling history will

be made. It made the event more than, are you going to the wrestling matches?

No, you're not. going to the wrestling matches. You're going to WrestleMania.

It's bigger than a wrestling match.

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

Like Ed Sullivan would say, this is a really big show.

Hey, look here. Everybody know we started training for the 131st date,

know what's so funny about this team, man? The whole world knows about this,

man. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T start to track. The dream team, man. The dream

Want to do a thing with me doing them or T doing them or both combinations? One

helping the other, one encouraging the other one on type of thing. The build

to WrestleMania 1, Hulk Hogan and Mr. T made a lot of media appearances.

And the best new artist is... The moment we walked in and our asses hit the

seats.

For about three seconds, they were calling us up for best new artist. It

magic. It just added on to everything else. This was just another wall that

down when Hulk Hogan showed up at Cyndi Lauper's escort to the Grammys. The

hallowed Grammys.

And a little special thing.

Cyndi Lauper, when she got her actual award, the last thing Cyndi Lauper

Roddy Piper, you're going to get yours.

Every dog has his day. You know what I'm talking about?

And that one's going to get his.

People would come in cars beside me to see, and the turn -up girls just want to

have fun. It was crazy.

I got to get ready. This ain't no joke. My reputation is on the line.

The training montage with Mr. T was kind of brutal.

I was young.

could run fast and jump high back then.

And, you know, Mr. T wasn't on that training schedule that we were on.

We'd run from here to the corner. That's it.

I'm done.

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

Don't give up. Keep coming.

I think maybe two weeks before WrestleMania, we were doing press and

that. Hulkamania, hypomania is going full bore for Sunday's tag team

match. The night before WrestleMania, me and Hulk Hogan, we was the host of

Saturday Night Live.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr.

P and Hulk Hogan.

Hosting Saturday Night Live was...

Putting the icing on the cake for us. We got a really big match coming up about

12 hours from now. Madison Square Garden.

WrestleMania, that is. Hulk Hogan, Mr. T.

They call it the world's most famous arena.

It's Madison Square Garden. It is the legendary place.

The Garden is the coliseum where all the gladiators fight.

Mr. McMahon, in honoring his dad's legacy, said, my father told me, Vinnie,

garden will always be the garden.

Good morning, 50 degrees, March 31st. Here's what's happening. We're staying

a hotel over here in Midtown, going over to the garden. I'm riding with Jesse,

the body Ventura.

Took the cab, picked me up at the hotel, and take me to the garden. When King

Kong Bundy and myself were driving to the garden, Bundy goes, this is going to

be big, Jimmy. Tickets for Sunday's sold -out tag team brawl at the garden have

been going for as much as $100 a pop.

All right, Herb, why are you here? I'm here because this is the best

entertainment around the city of New York.

It wouldn't be worth that. Forget the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is super

boring. This is exciting. The place was packed.

The police were telling us that people had snuck into the garden overnight

waiting on to the event. WrestleMania is the thing of today.

Hulkamania is running wild.

From Madison Square Garden, the World Wrestling Federation presents

WrestleMania.

That day of the garden, T comes rolling in, you know, about 10 or 11 in the

morning, and I went, where has he been?

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

I was sleeping in the park, Central Park, with the bums.

I had to get my head right. I'm like, what? Man, we've been training for six

weeks, man. Are we ready or not, man? All these people, they want to see us

down, man. He either needed a break from us, or he might have.

Had some second thoughts.

I grabbed him and I sat in the dressing room and I just stared at him. Who would

not let him out of my sights when it was time to go to the ring?

Because I was afraid he'd say he's going to the bathroom and then go down and

get in the car or something. I'm going to look into your eyes. You look into

mine. That's right, man.

We're going to be ready either time. We're going to be ready. We're going to

ready either time. That's right, man.

Backstage, of course, all the wrestlers had where they were getting ready.

I opened one door where our dressing room was, and in the room in there,

was John Studd putting his boots on.

There was Rowdy Roddy Piper hanging his kilt up. We got there and, you know,

nosed around, see what we could find. Got a glimpse of the Rockettes.

I didn't even see the Rockettes. I was like off trucking with Muhammad Ali.

I remember walking down the hall and saw Muhammad Ali's name on the door.

And I knocked on it. And I said, I'm just one of the wrestlers here, Ricky

Steamboat. You know, just wanted to pop in and just say hello to, you know, the

great one.

All right, at 1 p .m. this afternoon, it is WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling

extravaganza of all time. You felt it. The hair on the back of your neck was

standing up.

There's electricity in the air, no doubt, for that one point in time.

March 31st, Madison Square Garden.

Vince was in the backstage, and Vince was negotiating with talent back and

and trying to lay out a show unlike anything that had ever been done before.

What would you like to see at ringside for WrestleMania 1? This electricity

just surrounded the ring and emanating from the fan.

And it was unprecedented.

I was only eight years old, and I remember right where I was sitting for

WrestleMania 1. I do remember thinking and feeling, really, that it was

something different.

There was a different kind of energy.

Welcome, everyone.

Gorilla Monsoon here at ringside with my colleague Jesse the Body Ventura as the

World Wrestling Federation presents the wrestling extravaganza of all -time

WrestleMania. Right now, let's go up to our ring announcer, Howard Finkel. I'll

never forget getting in that ring in Madison Square Garden and performing and

doing what I do best.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to WrestleMania.

When I saw the monstrosity, like the overhead view, the zoom in of the

it felt like Hollywood. We're seeing the greatest spectacle in wrestling history

right now. We had 15 ,000 people in an original Miami arena downtown Miami.

Fans packed the Miami Beach Convention Center to watch the show.

WrestleMania is something very important. You have a mixture of movie

singers, and wrestlers. So you combine the whole thing together and you have a

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

We're just in Madison Square Garden, but the way it went down with the closed

circuit, the overhead, the celebrities, everything that was on the line, it had

the worker really tanked. I can only imagine Vince pulling into Madison

Garden and having everything on the line.

And what happens in the next few hours of his life is going to be instrumental

in what happens for the rest of his life.

Madison Square Garden was.

The mega. For WrestleMania 1, you couldn't have had it any other place. I

this is the biggest crowd in history, 1 .2 million. Nobody wants to lose in

front of that many people. Absolutely. You could just see, like, cameras going

off, and there was this palpable buzz that just did not leave.

You need everything to be perfect. You've got to be so far ahead of the

terms of having an idea that nobody's even conceptualized before.

We were hungry for it, and it was on.

WrestleMania, it's living up to everything I expected it to be, Gino

was unbelievable. I had chill bumps up and down my arms. Introducing first to

left, the manager, the mouth of the South, Jimmy Hart.

My knees were so weak. I'm telling you, I always keep my hair like this, right?

freeze and shine right my hair all of a sudden it went from this tall up about

like here i was like wow i was sweating profusely you know just crushed him oh

my god and a giant it's over it's over i was so excited i ran and jumped in

bunny's arms and i went number one number one

The opposing corner, Ricky Steamboat, big test for you this afternoon.

It's a big test in my life and everybody's wrestling career that's

this particular day. This is the biggest wrestling extravaganza that's coming

across the nation.

I remember walking out to the ring from the Madison Square Garden, WrestleMania

I. Ricky Steamboat!

I think the fans were starting to gravitate towards the dragon.

Oh, wow!

It's a 50 feet across the ring! He got him! He got him! Getting the nod of

able to get...

a win at the very first WrestleMania.

It meant a lot to the Dragon. Yeah, it did. Take a look at the fantastic crowd

here in Madison Square Garden for this WrestleMania extravaganza.

Working with the caliber of talent that was on that card, Andre and Stud and

King Kong Bundy, it's just like main event, main event, main event, main

all the way to the end, and it just kept getting better and better.

Weighing 273 pounds, Brutus!

Bruce Beefcake was dressed to the nines and,

you know, blowing kisses to the girls. And I got a big smile on my face because

I'm just, that's Bruce Beefcake. I'm a cocky SOB. Sometimes people say it's...

Better to be lucky than to be good. 250 pounds, baby, the biggest day of our

life. Well, let me tell you how lucky Jimmy Hart was at WrestleMania I. I

go out just one time. I went out two times.

King Kong Bundy, of course, and Greg the Hammer Valentine.

All right, fans, one of the big feature matches this afternoon, to defend

against these two men, Nikolai Volkov and Iron Sheik with Fred Blassie in

corner. You know what you mean?

This is my best time in life.

The Iron Sheik was a figure. When you go back to those real important years for

the WWE, transforming from little gyms and, you know, territorial venues to

peace. this monstrosity of what it became and what it is today.

The Iron Sheik was a big part of that. This is the height of the Cold War, and

you've got this guy coming out and spitting, Iran number one, USA have a

Iran number one, USA have a tui.

And you couldn't stand, you wanted to wring his neck. From the Soviet Union,

Nikolai Volkov.

When he would sing the national anthem.

I don't care how old you were, you wanted to put your hand through the

and suffocate the guy. Finish called for the Iron Sheik to grab the walking

stick from his manager, Classy Freddie Glassie, and bust it over the head of

of his opponents.

And the Iron Sheik told me that he was so

fired up, he was so excited about being there, he literally busted that cane

over the guy's head.

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

Holy mackerel, this wrestling extravaganza of WrestleMania has been

short of sensational. If the gentleman to my left is slammed, he loses $15

,000 in cash.

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

from professional wrestling.

The sheer threat of Andre having to retire, those things were gripping.

You really fed into that as a fan.

So you're on the edge of your seat. Oh, come on, dude, don't get slammed.

I mean, it felt so real. It felt so final. So

there was angst that whole match. There was real tension and there was real

theater.

so nervous for my friend andre if he couldn't slam big john stud andre was

to have to retire and go away and i i believed it oh my god what was going to

happen

But then Bobby Heenan, that weasel, grabbed that bag of money.

And nobody knew this was going to happen. Bobby was going into business

for himself.

My dad's in the back losing his mind that this money is just being thrown

around. And finally, Andre was able to grab the bag out of Heenan's hand.

And so goes the story.

It's the ladies' WWF title match.

And it is also the first of our...

Good gracious.

Oh, good luck. Something like that. But it is the first of our Rattling Rock

connection matches.

Cindy Lauper, Wendy Richter, a big one for you.

That's right, me, Gene.

Lanny Carr, you better watch out because these are powerful words because this

is a powerful woman. And I'm a powerful manager now because I was taught by

Captain Lou Albano just how to manage. It's something that I trained for for

years. I started wrestling when I was 18.

And even though that was WrestleMania I, it never happened before. It was the

biggest event I'd ever wrestled. WrestleMania, the greatest thing in the

Like I said before, Woodstock wants to rock and roll what WrestleMania is to

wrestling today. It's an adrenaline.

unlike any other. Nothing replaces how I felt in wrestling, especially that

night.

I wanted to be a role model for the girls, so I tried very hard to be that

model.

It was like a dream.

I knew what was going on, but yet it was kind of like I was floating almost. I

was that excited about it.

Just like an athlete for the Olympics, you train to peak at that time. I was

peaked. I was prepared that night. Well,

it was the first time my father ever saw me wrestle. So having him, you know,

one -on -one sport like that and at Madison Square Garden and Cyndi Lauper,

was probably the highlight of my life.

I'll never forget it.

I know it was electric at the garden. It was wired.

The winner of this vote, Wendy Richter.

The static is Cindy Lauper and Wendy Richter, and the fabulous one bent

completely out of shape.

Look at the flashes going all over the garden, you know.

And the masses were loving it. The people, young, old.

Wrestling fans, rock fans, everybody was just rolling with this. History made

again here at WrestleMania.

I mean, it was just amazing.

I could feel the rumble.

You'd have to be dead not to feel it. Man, the energy and the people.

God, man, it was something I would never forget that. What's it going to be like

for that main event?

I started going, oh my God, now that I realize what's going on here, this is

a dress rehearsal.

This is actually happening, and you have an opportunity.

You better take it and run with it because you don't go around the block

We'll see. We'll find out. It won't take long to find out. He'll be put to the

test immediately.

Oh, my gosh. If we have a bad match, you know, and WrestleMania falls flat on

his face, we're done.

Ladies and gentlemen, in just a few moments, we will...

have our main event.

I have thought many times about what it would have been like to be at the Garden

for WrestleMania I.

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

probably would have combusted. I would have had to be hospitalized.

Big scores to be settled here as the happening of the century is about to go

down here on WrestleMania.

After my match, I remember standing behind the curtain watching the main

I was peeking through that curtain.

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

May I introduce to you the guest ring announcer, New York's number

one, Billy Martin.

Liberace about to make an appearance here in the garden. Here we're at a

wrestling match and you've got Liberace and the Radio City Rockettes doing New

York, New York.

Liberace's got a pretty fair kick there, you know.

Give me a break.

You can hear the fans saying, Ali, Ali, for whom I consider the greatest

heavyweight champion in the world. Here he is.

Unbelievable individual.

The greatest.

The mere presence of Muhammad Ali validated WrestleMania.

Ali stepping through the ring ropes to a standing ovation.

Because think about what Muhammad Ali meant to that ring, meant to that venue.

To the world.

I hear the drums, Jess.

Sounds like Bagpipe City, maybe.

Then the building exploded because here comes Mr. T and Hulk Hogan and Jimmy

Superfly Snooker.

This could be none other than you -know -who, World Wrestling Federation

champion, there he is, the Incredible Hulk.

How about a tag team for the main event of WrestleMania 1? Has there ever been a

tag team match in the main event of WrestleMania since?

So there was this palpable

trepidation the day of WrestleMania where nobody knew what was going to

Team's precision train.

Unbelievable coming to this moment.

This moment, the biggest moment, the biggest match in the history of

So now it's Piper and Hulk Hogan in the middle of the ring. And I'm jumping on

the side. No, I want him, I want him. Let me get him, let me get him.

Where the crowd's now telling the Hulkster.

You're looking.

Teasers, please let me in.

Can you believe this? Can you point your foot? You want me to tag him, huh?

You want me to tag this guy here?

When those two stepped into the ring for WrestleMania, Roddy Piper was watching

himself. He was expecting Mr.

T to double -cross him somehow.

Here's the thing about Piper. Piper is so smart. He's smart like a fox.

Sometimes if he didn't let... The guys in the dressing room even know what he

was thinking or what he was doing. Fans are chanting, T, T, T, and they're going

nose to nose.

Mr. T and Rowdy Roddy Piper, nose to nose in the center of the ring. When

and Mr.

T go nose to nose, I mean, it was electric, dude. Mr. T had a skill set

being an amateur wrestler, and we accentuated his, you know, strong points

just stayed away from any weaknesses.

With the WrestleMania I with Vince, Vince was, oh, there's many ways to do

hot rod. I said, no, Vince.

With Mr. T, if he comes in and starts banging heads and throwing, you know,

hokey punches, it's going to kill it. I'm telling you, Vince, I've been there

before. Keep it amateur with T. And we did.

He slapped me, bang.

Oh, slap across the face.

And I slapped him, bang.

And a return slap by Mr.

T. And he slapped me again, bang.

Look at this. They're exchanging slaps. Oh, Mike.

You know, we was enemies.

One point, he put Mr.

T in a front face lock just to keep him honest. He just wanted Mr.

T to know I'm the one in charge of it.

My job was to make sure he didn't get hurt and get killed because, you know, I

hate to say it this way, but Piper and Orndorff didn't like him. Later on in

match, it was Roddy Piper who told Mr.

T, pick me up in a fireman's carry.

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

And

that

was the photo that went all over the world.

Here comes Ali in the ring, and he's swinging. He's trying to get Orndorff.

trying to get Piper. Ali stepped right in there.

Oh, look at Ali. He took a shot at Piper.

We're all standing behind the curtain, and when Muhammad took the shot and

went down, I cringed.

I cringed. And when he came through the curtain backstage, he just,

okay. And I went, Roddy.

I said, man, it looked like he tagged you.

Ricky, his knuckle did this.

He just tapped my chin.

That's how good he still was.

Ali chasing Ace out of the ring.

The former champion of the world is taking control of the ring and driving

Bob Orton back to the floor.

There was a decision made to let Pat Patterson be the referee in the ring and

put Ali on the outside. He took a couple wild swings.

You know, that if he had connected, it would have been party over.

I had to control this whole goddamn thing.

Man, man, the pressure.

It was unbelievable.

And then finally the finish comes to the match, and the place explodes.

Probably see, man, the crowd going to pop.

Double team, maybe triple team up in here. In my mind, there was always the

threat of, who's the threat?

Cowboy Bob.

Paul had Hogan hooked, and I went up on the top rope and come off, and Hogan

moved, and I hit Paul.

As Piper was about to lower the move, look out!

Unbelievable!

When the cast stopped to cover Brett Patterson, he got out!

We know that Hulk Hogan moved out of the way, and Cowboy Bob Horton hit Mr.

Wonderful Paul Orndorff with the cast.

I stayed there as long as I could, and I said, I've got to remember this. I've

got to remember this the rest of my life, and I still do to this day.

WrestleMania I was a missile fired at the rest of the industry.

If you were doing anything else that day but watching WrestleMania, you were a

sucker because you were missing something.

What an ending for WrestleMania.

The most phenomenal wrestling card ever put together in the history of

professional wrestling.

It's hard to grasp what Hulk Hogan meant at that point.

And we all know what Muhammad Ali means in hindsight, obviously.

But to have those two in that ring in the center of New York City, I mean,

that's just top shelf stuff.

Muhammad Ali, you always put his arm around and whisper in my ear.

Just the greatest of all time,

Hulk Hogan.

You're the greatest of all time.

Every time I saw him, he'd do that. I said, no, you're the greatest of all

Everything that a kid could want in 1985 happened at WrestleMania I. Hulk Hogan,

Mr. T, Cyndi Lauper, Muhammad Ali.

It was just bananas.

pandemonium bedlam breaking out of the garden wrestlemania and what a fitting

conclusion jimmy superfly sucker hulk hogan and mr t what was it like what was

going through your mind it was rough like i said i trained hard we've been

training a long time the world wrestling federation hulk hogan i'm glad to be a

part it's rough out there like i said i didn't take the guys lightly i came from

the traditional wrestling group that was very skeptical about wrestlemania and

how dare They allow outsiders and celebrities to get into our ring. But

something? WrestleMania, Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, Superfly, Jimmy Snuka, we reign

supreme. Can you dig that? At the same time, very intrigued.

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

They did that. Now what?

There's a new craze sweeping the nation, but it's nothing more than the old

-time professional wrestling, but with a new twist.

The morning after WrestleMania I, the Associated Press reported that one

people watched the spectacular on closed -circuit television.

And I come into school the next day. I'm like, dude, it was sick. It was crazy.

Hogan missed it. It was wild. Oh, my God. It was the Super Bowl.

Once the thing hits.

You know, it's like pushing the nuclear button. We didn't realize that once

Vince pushed that button, the rockets were launched, that we were going to the

moon. The promoters say the combination of bear hugs, rock and roll, glamour,

and brutality always means a sellout house. Lately, it's been emerging from

second -rate arenas to attract a whole new generation of fans.

As soon as WrestleMania hit and we had all that publicity and we were on every

damn media show, every TV station, I don't care what network it was.

this June in a video retailer in your area, WrestleMania, the World Wrestling

Federation home video series presents a two -hour cassette of the greatest

professional wrestling event of all time. Yes, I've seen WrestleMania 1. I

the VHS tape. I watched it until it basically stopped working.

All of the merchandising that came after WrestleMania 1 was a...

Star marketing scheme.

Wrestling superstars taking on a whole new twist with the new WWF Stretch

Wrestlers. I remember Linda McMahon telling me that they were driving

and Vince was looking at his son Shane playing with G .I. Joe's in the

And he said, one day people are going to be playing with WWE action figures.

With wrestling superstars. It's like having a real match right in your own

Did I have any WWE merchandise?

Boy, did I.

Anytime I went to the toy store, I was going straight to the action figures.

The Iron Sheik.

Hulk Hogan.

And Big John Studd. T -shirts. I had towels.

They made an ice cream bar with me on it.

Superstars. Ice cream bars.

Go to the store. Go to 7 -Eleven. Get a big gulp. And you turn the cup around.

Geez, there's Brutus.

Now you're asking mom and dad and Santa for all these toys and the Hot Rod

shirts and the Hulkamania shirts and everything else that they sold.

It was a WWE takeover. Really reeled the kids in. And, of course, they went to

the parents to buy merchandise. And Vince just went crazy with it because

everything sold.

Everything worked.

Man, after that we were like, this ain't nothing, man, we can do this.

Wrestling every night, wrestling twice on Saturdays and twice on Sundays

sometimes. Wrestlers have never seen anything like that.

Wendy became a household name.

I went to visit my grandparents right after WrestleMania and I was jogging

my father. People ran out of their houses and said, there's Wendy Richard.

saying, oh my gosh.

The country took off with us.

As superstars, as rock stars, as movie stars, as every star in the universe.

We were part of this unbelievable pop culture that was taking place.

Prior to the WrestleMania era, there were families that didn't allow their

children to watch WWE.

Now, their kids are watching cartoon shows featuring Roddy Piper and the Iron

Sheik. Is his name Mr. King?

How did you know?

Because he invited us for a brief cruise, too.

Oh, no!

He's going to sign us!

It kind of, like, made me the superhero that Vince wanted me to be, the rock and

wrestling cartoon.

This thing's catching on, man. It's like the fever, and there are thousands and

thousands of Hulkamaniacs around.

It is definitely an superhero in the sky now!

Seeing Hulk Hogan all of a sudden go from Hulk Hogan to...

Hulk Hogan.

He is the focal point of the entire

United States of America and most of the free world.

After WrestleMania, he couldn't stop me. I mean, I was invincible.

I don't know if anybody's ever been over like Hogan was at that time. Gosh, how

many people just loved him.

Hulk Hogan was box office.

Hulk Hogan was ratings.

That's why I'm carrying the red, white, and blue, brother. I'm proud of America.

I stand for this country. He was everywhere.

Sports Illustrated. I mean, my gosh, you couldn't turn a TV on without seeing

Hulk and everything.

I loved Hulk Hogan.

Saying my prayers. I was taking my vitamins.

I mean, I was a Hulkamaniac. Hulkamania needs to be fought for every day.

Training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins. Anybody can point

crowd. Anybody can do that. But he punctuated it perfectly.

He had the perfect physique, the perfect presentation, the perfect connection.

He just resonated with everybody.

Well, I jumped on this crazy lightning bolt.

that Vincent sparked, and I was riding it. It just never, ever stopped.

Hulkamania shall live forever, long after I'm gone.

All right, he is the heavyweight champion of the world, ladies and

is number one, Hulk Hogan.

Look at the stare of the champion against the challenger.

WrestleMania has kind of become that...

visual point of WWE.

WrestleMania is a phenomenon, and it kind of transcends pro wrestling.

Like, the average person who doesn't pay attention to wrestling at all knows

what WrestleMania is. It's a household name.

It was Vince expanding the business,

taking over the whole world.

It takes so much hard work.

It takes so much creativity, so much vision.

He really saw a product that would appeal to the masses in a way that it

had before.

And that was what his goal was when he started to make changes in WWE. And he

coined the phrase sports entertainment.

Some of these insiders hate the term sports entertainment.

Screw them. I was in wrestling. It didn't pay any money. Sports

does. Pro wrestling wasn't a thing.

WWE wasn't a thing. And it was all at once. There was a shift in how people

thought about it.

And WrestleMania, that was the stamp.

That was the launching point to take the business of what we call professional

wrestling.

They're watching what Vince McMahon created.

and saw on this one day, March 31st, 1985,

WrestleMania in Madison Square Garden.

Everything sprung out and happened from there. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to

WrestleMania!

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

WrestleMania, while the name itself conjures up images of...

celebrity, of pageantry, of extraordinary athleticism, of pomp, of

It is the quintessential sports entertainment event.

Vince was 38 years old when he presented the first WrestleMania.

You know, I didn't realize that 38 years later, things would still be rocking as

they are today.

70 ,000 plus here at AT &T Stadium. A lot of the superstars that I've spoke to

over the years privately about it thought, This is just a one and done.

going to do this big event.

Cool. Give it publicity.

Get a big payday. And we'll move on. But this is never going to happen.

How did they know?

Welcome to Wrestlemania!

What people thought

was going to be the thing that killed wrestling.

is what took it to the next level, and that was deciding to come out and tell

people it was entertainment.

This entire building has become unglued as once again the Hulkster holds up the

gold. It's very rare that you meet a person who has never heard of

When you really think about how far WrestleMania has come, 100 ,000 people

some of the stadiums that we're in now.

WrestleMania is not one night. It's two nights.

However... many people the building can hold, that's how many people are going

to be there. And that is the staple.

That's how far we have come.

And it's only going to get bigger. And it's only going to get better.

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

Wrestle!

Wrestle!

Wrestle!

The Super Bowl is cool.

But the game might suck.

WrestleMania never sucks.

You are always going to have multiple moments during WrestleMania where you

that was awesome.

I'm still stunned at how big it is. It has gone from being WrestleMania, a lone

show, WrestleMania weekend, to WrestleMania week, to WrestleMania

season.

When you get into this business, I think the first goal that goes into your head

is, I want to main event WrestleMania.

It's such a dangling gold carrot that everybody is chasing. It's just in your

blood and you want to do it again and again and again. Every year, is this

to sell? Is it going to do well?

Are people going to dig it? Is it going to be as big as it could be? Every year,

Vince still holds his breath at WrestleMania.

Every year I go, there's no way we're going to top this year. And then the

year comes and I go, oh wow, we just topped it.

Vince was creating the ultimate spectacle, and the success was mind

I mean, it literally takes every single different person from so many different

walks of life to make an event like this happen. And all of these people bet

their money and their passion and their heart on Vince McMahon making it happen.

And like usual, he came through.

You know, it's amazing how you could sit back sometimes and think about...

How lucky we are to be part of WrestleMania 1.

It was amazing and an honor to be able to participate, be part of the show, be

part of those special group of guys.

History made again here at WrestleMania.

Remember those who dug the hole.

It's true because without those that came before us, we wouldn't have what we

have today.

We're just getting down to it, just the last handful of guys that were at the

very first Mania.

It's just amazing to look around and see that I'm one of the last.

people left of the original crew. Sounds like bagpipe city, baby.

I get choked up sometimes when I think about it because sometimes I sit back

think, you know, I'm peeking through a curtain and there's Rowdy Roddy Harper

who's no longer with us. I really loved Lou and Roddy as brothers.

I gotta say, I miss Lou a lot.

My fan, your fan, our fan, sitting there, lover. When they passed, And that

whole era kind of passed for me as well.

It's one of the few things in my life now that brings me back to a place in my

childhood. I remember the presentation of WrestleMania almost more than I do my

earliest World Series memory. It's seared into my mind. It's seared into my

heart.

If that one moment, that one event, that one...

spectacular moment in time of WrestleMania 1 doesn't happen.

Arguably, you could say none of this is here. The date, March 31, 1985, and the

greatest happening in the long and illustrious history of professional

wrestling. It's known as WrestleMania.

Well, wrestling fans around the world, we certainly want to thank everyone for

being with us. This WrestleMania, this wrestling event of all time.