Mike Rickard
The Story of Wrestlemania
By Mike Rickard II
Mar 29, 2008 - 5:29 PM

With Wrestlemania in its 24th year, it's hard to imagine a world without Wrestlemania. However the first Wrestlemania had no guarantee of success and many believed it would be a colossal failure, the end of Vince McMahon's ambitious attempt to take the WWF to national status as a promotion.  Join me as I look back at the perilous road to the first Wrestlemania and how the event's success transformed the wrestling world.

Inspired by the success of rival Jim Crockett Promotions’ (JCP) wrestling show Starcade and driven by his dream of transforming the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from a regional promotion into a national one, Vince McMahon met with his advisors in the fall of 1984 to discuss his plans for a show that he hoped would make Starcade look like a high school gymnasium card undefined undefined [1] .   Jim Crockett Promotions’ Starcade event had brought in over half a million dollars thanks to additional revenue from the show airing in closed circuit television in arenas across three states, a tremendous achievement that showed a new potential for ticket sales.  
After taking control of the WWF from his father, Vince McMahon was dedicated to transforming the WWF from a regional promotion into a national one.  He had begun doing so by signing some of the top talent in the United States and Canada as well as picking up television rights throughout the United States (in order to broadcast television in new markets).   Aided by the success of his new star Hulk Hogan, McMahon managed to bring the WWF into new markets but he needed something to cement the WWF as a national promotion.  Realizing the potential of pay-per-view broadcasting, McMahon set out to outdo JCP's Starcade by broadcasting his show across the country and in the process establish the WWF as a national promotion.

McMahon’s advisors were not so confident and in fact, they had every right to be worried.   The last time someone had attempted a national wrestling show it had miserably and not coincidentally, the promoter’s name was Vince McMahon undefined undefined [2] .   To make matters worst, McMahon’s failure was a case of lightning striking twice.   His first venture into pay-per-view (as closed circuit events were known before technological advances made home viewing pay-per-view commonplace) was a disastrous showing of stuntman Evel Knievel’s ill-fated attempt to cross Snake River Canyon.   Undeterred by the Knievel fiasco, McMahon tried a second run at closed circuit promotion by airing the much maligned boxer vs. wrestler match-up involving Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki.   Like the Knievel event, this too failed, giving McMahon a dismal track record when it came to pay-per-view undefined undefined [3] .

This time around, McMahon had every reason to believe that his wrestling pay-per-view would work where his other pay-per-view ventures had failed.   Not only did he have one of the hottest acts in wrestling (Hulk Hogan) but he had worked hard to get the WWF broadcast in homes across the United States .   McMahon had established a national presence via weekend syndication of WWF programming along with a weekly show Tuesday Night Titans which aired across the country on the fledgling USA Network.    The last piece of the puzzle went into place when McMahon entered into a partnership that catapulted the WWF into the national spotlight; a venture with singer Cyndi Lauper and her manager David Wolff.
Lauper, a rising star in the pop music field first became involved with the WWF thanks to the machinations of her manager/boyfriend David Wolff.   Wolff, a wrestling fan himself, initially recruited WWF manager Captain Lou Albano to participate in Lauper’s music video Girls Just Want to Have Fun.   The success of the video (in part due to the crossover audience garnered by Albano’s appearance) caused the two to realize that the sky was the limit when it came to a partnership with the WWF.   Wolff met with McMahon and proposed a match between a wrestler managed by Lauper and a wrestler managed by Albano.   It didn’t take long for McMahon to set up an angle where Albano claimed the lion’s share of success for Girls Just Want to Have Fun and insulted Lauper and women in general.   An enraged Lauper then challenged Albano to a battle by proxy, selecting Wendi Richter to represent her against Albano’s wrestler, WWF Woman’s Champion the Fabulous Moolah.   Thus was born The Brawl to Settle It All, where Lauper’s wrestler battled Albano’s in Madison Square Garden and MTV aired the encounter to record ratings.

The success of The Brawl to Settle It All clearly showed just how big wrestling could be with the right mainstream publicity. McMahon knew that the publicity was just one part of the equation.   In order to build Wrestlemania up as a must-see show, the WWF kingpin knew he had to have a red-hot angle just as JCP had done with Starcade and McMahon Sr. had done with the Showdown at Shea’s, a popular series of shows held at Shea Stadium.   Drawing upon the success of the Brawl to Settle It All,    McMahon staged an angle around an awards ceremony in Madison Square Garden involving Cyndi Lauper and Captain Lou Albano.   The event was supposed to honor the duo’s fund-raising work for research into multiple sclerosis and featured a presentation by TV and radio personality Dick Clark.   In true wrestling fashion, the celebration broke down thanks to the unwanted arrival of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, the WWF’s number one heel at the time.   Piper took Albano’s award and smashed it over the Captain’s head, knocking him senseless.   The carnage continued as Piper powerslammed Lauper’s manager David Wolff and kicked Lauper in the head undefined undefined [4] .   Only the timely arrival of Hulk Hogan saved Lauper and her friends from further punishment. Happy to capitalize on the ratings of The Brawl to Settle It All, MTV vee-jays reported on the incident in Madison Square Garden, treating it as the equivalent of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The angle generated tremendous publicity for Lauper but more importantly, for McMahon’s WWF.   It couldn’t have come at a better time either as the WWF was facing the very real possibility that Wrestlemania was going to be a failure.   As discussed in the book, Sex, Lies, and Headlocks, the ticket sales on Wrestlemania were so low that there wasn’t enough money to cover the cost of renting the two hundred theaters scheduled to carry the pay-per-view.   McMahon purchased the services of Bozell and Jacobs, a New York public relations firm in his bid to save Wrestlemania but that was just one part of his strategy.   The WWF was putting all of its eggs in one basket with Wrestlemania and it couldn’t afford anything less than a success.

Bozell and Jacobs’ efforts helped but the success of the MTV angle was the catalyst that drove Wrestlemania into high gear.   After the ratings brought in by The Brawl to Settle it All,   MTV eagerly agreed to air The War to Settle the Score, a sequel of sorts involving WWF champion Hulk Hogan battling Roddy Piper to avenge the honor of Cyndi Lauper.   The hour-long special aired live on MTV and while the actual match didn’t begin until late in the program, viewers were enthralled by the larger than life theatrics of the wrestlers (including an unforgettable interview by Piper in which he mocked rock and roll music and said MTV stood for “music to vomit by”).  

The short match was nothing memorable until the referee was inadvertently knocked out and Piper’s partners in crime. “Cowboy” Bob Orton and Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff arrived on the scene to lend Piper a helping hand.  Cyndi Lauper raced to the Hulkster’s rescue but the fans knew she was nothing more than a guppy facing off against three sharks.   Fortunately for Lauper and Hogan, television tough-guy Mister T was also in the audience and he made his way towards the ring help the Hulkster.   While T got beat down for his efforts, he gave Hogan enough time to recover and rally against Piper and his allies.

The War to Settle the Score outdid the ratings of The Brawl to Settle It All and the mainstream publicity for the WWF was just as impressive.   Before long, the publicity began to build up like the chain reaction of a nuclear explosion, each event feeding off of the previous one and growing stronger.   An appearance on Richard Belzer’s Lifetime television show Hot Properties saw Hogan knock the host out with a headlock, earning additional publicity for the Hulkster (as well as a lawsuit from Belzer for injuries sustained during the headlock demonstration undefined undefined [5] ).  Unquestionably, the piece de resistance in the WWF’s Wrestlemania publicity campaign was Hulk Hogan and Mr. T guest hosting NBC’s late night comedy show Saturday Night Live the night before Wrestlemania.

Thanks to the tremendous buzz from all of these appearances, people swarmed to see Wrestlemania.   Just weeks before the show, WWF officials had considered canceling some of the closed circuit shows in order to cut their losses but virtually overnight, defeat had turned to victory.   Wrestlemania became a success and it completed the transformation of the WWF from a northeastern territory to a national juggernaut.

The road to Wrestlemania was not without its potholes.   The WWF faced challenges from within and without the company.   Foremost was the grumblings of certain wrestlers that Mr. T was unworthy of a main event spot.   One wrestler in particular by the name of “Dr. D”, David Schultz took umbrage with T being featured in the main event.   Stories vary but Schultz reportedly tried to attack Mr. T before the show, either to knock T out of the event or to create such a buzz for himself that he would take Paul Orndorff’s spot as Piper’s tag team partner in the main event. 

Mr. T proved to be troublesome himself.    Unlike most programs between wrestlers, the bad blood between Piper and T wasn’t limited to the squared circle.   Behind the scenes, it seemed as if Mr. T and Piper couldn’t wait until Wrestlemania to lock up.   Things got off to a bad start during a press conference at Rockefeller Center when Piper squeezed Mr. T’s head and commented that it felt soft.   Unbeknownst to Piper, that was a big no-no as far as Mr. T was concerned.    This led to a second press conference at Rockefeller Center where T tackled Piper off of a stage and security swept in to separate the two undefined undefined  (Piper & Picarello, 2002, p. 155). .  

The problems with Mr. T continued to the day of the big event.   Two hours before the show, Mr. T was nowhere to be seen.   When he finally showed up, his entourage of celebrities was barred from entering Madison Square Garden, leading to T threatening to walk out.   Fortunately everything worked out and the event proceeded as planned. The main event saw Hulk Hogan and Mr. T go on to defeat the team of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff after interference from Piper’s bodyguard “Cowboy” Bob Orton backfired.   Despite previous clashes with Mr. T, Piper and the star of The A-Team wrestled the match without trouble (T and Piper would meet in a boxing match the following year at Wrestlemania II).    Mr. T carried his weight in the match despite some concerns about his lack of experience and the main event was well received.

In addition to the main event, Wrestlemania saw the return of fan favorite Tito Santana (Santana’s real-life knee injury was incorporated into a storyline that saw him suffer an injury at the hands of the much hated Greg “The Hammer” Valentine), the shocking defeat of the U.S. Express (Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda) at the hands of the foreign villains Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik, a wild brawl between Greg Valentine and the Junkyard Dog, the impressive debut of King Kong Bundy, and the career-saving victory of Andre the Giant over arch-rival “Big” John Studd (Andre had put his career up against Studd in a special match that could only be won by body-slamming your opponent).    The card also saw rising women’s wrestling star Wendi Richter (accompanied by Cyndi Lauper) regain the WWF Woman’s championship from Lelaini Kai, a win for newcomer Ricky Steamboat (defeating Matt Borne), and a bout between Brutus Beefcake and David Sammartino that ended in a no contest.


The card itself featured a number of celebrity appearances from guest ring announcer Billy Martin to guest timekeeper Liberace.   Wrestlemania was an eclectic combination of showbiz and wrestling and it would herald the arrival of “The Rock and Wrestling Era”, a period in wrestling dominated by the WWF.   While other promotions differed in their style of wrestling, the WWF’s style of larger than life characters featured in short matches would become the product that the mainstream public associated with wrestling.  

Wrestlemania’s phenomenal success opened up many doors for Vince McMahon as well as for all of professional wrestling (although McMahon was the promoter who would best capitalize on this).   First and foremost, professional wrestling was now a mainstream success.   While the Rock and Wrestling Era might be called a fad, wrestling enjoyed resurgence in popularity that translated to more casual fans checking out the sport.   It also led to mainstream networks carrying wrestling such as NBC’s Saturday Night’s Main Event program. This increased audience meant additional revenue in terms of tickets and merchandise.   Secondly, the success of Wrestlemania demonstrated that pay-per-view was no flash in the pan.   Pay-per-view became a major source of revenue for promoters and over time, would become one of the biggest sources of income.   Thanks to pay-per-view, promoters were no longer limited by how many seats an arena or stadium held.