WrestleMania, sequentially known as WrestleMania I, was a 1985 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the inaugural WrestleMania and took place on March 31, 1985, from Madison Square Garden in the New York City borough of Manhattan, New York. The attendance for the event was 19,121. The event was seen by over one million viewers through closed-circuit television, making it the largest PPV showing of a wrestling event on closed-circuit television in the United States at the time.
The event consisted of nine professional wrestling matches. In the main event, Hulk Hogan and Mr. T defeated Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper. Also, Wendi Richter, accompanied by manager Cyndi Lauper, defeated Leilani Kai to win the WWF Women's Championship, while Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik defeated The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. Celebrity guests included former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali as a referee, baseball player/manager Billy Martin as a ring announcer, and musician-actor Liberace as a timekeeper.
Retrospective reviews of WrestleMania I have been mixed, with critics generally ranking it as one of the most average WrestleManias in history. While the main event earned generally positive reviews, many of the undercard matches were negatively received. Despite this, its success led to a follow-up the next year, subsequently becoming the largest annual professional wrestling event in history, later described as the "Super Bowl of sports entertainment".
Production
Background During the 1980s, the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) main competition in the professional wrestling industry was from Jim Crockett Promotions of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Vince McMahon countered Jim Crockett's successful Starrcade annual events, which began airing in 1983, by creating the WrestleMania in 1985. A rights agreement which Barry Diller, head of USA Network and co-owner of Paramount, pushed by 1983, also allowed for better access to programming at Madison Square Garden in the New York City borough of Manhattan, New York, including on any regional pay television network.
For the first WrestleMania, McMahon began cross-promoting with MTV, which aired two wrestling specials. The inaugural broadcast was entitled The Brawl to End It All and aired on July 23, 1984, in which a match from a live Madison Square Garden broadcast was shown on MTV. Wendi Richter, allied with Cyndi Lauper, defeated The Fabulous Moolah, backed by Lou Albano, to win the WWF Women's Championship on the card. At the second MTV broadcast, entitled The War to Settle the Score on February 18, 1985, Leilani Kai, accompanied by Moolah, defeated Richter, once again accompanied by Lauper, to win the Women's Championship. Aside from Lauper, other celebrities also appeared during the buildup to and at the event; most notably, Muhammad Ali, Liberace (with The Rockettes), Major League Baseball manager Billy Martin, and actor Mr T all appeared during the main event.
WWF announcer Gene Okerlund sang "The Star-Spangled Banner", while Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura provided commentary. Okerlund also conducted interviews backstage, while Alfred Hayes conducted interviews near the entrance to the locker room, right outside the ring. Howard Finkel served as the event's ring announcer. The opening theme for the event was the instrumental portion of the Phil Collins and Philip Bailey hit song, "Easy Lover", while the closing theme for the credits was "Axel F" by Harold Faltermeyer.
Storylines
The card consisted of nine matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Three championships were defended at WrestleMania: the WWF Women's Championship, WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, and the WWF World Tag Team Championship.
Leading up to the event, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine had feuded with Tito Santana over the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. Valentine defeated Santana on September 24, 1984, for the title. Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham won the WWF Tag Team Championship three months before WrestleMania from the team of Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch.
In the months leading up to WrestleMania, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper began a talk-show segment on WWF television entitled "Piper's Pit". On one episode of the show, Piper hit Jimmy Snuka over the head with a coconut after verbally berating him, leading to a heated feud between the two men. As part of the storyline, Piper recruited "Cowboy" Bob Orton to be his bodyguard. Some time later, during another episode of "Piper's Pit", Piper spoke out against the burgeoning Rock 'n' Wrestling connection, which led to a confrontation with Hulk Hogan. In February 1985, the two men faced each other in a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match at The War to Settle the Score, where the reigning champion, Hogan, won by disqualification after interference by Paul Orndorff and Mr. T. Their ongoing feud led to their tag team match at WrestleMania.
As part of the promotion for the event, Hogan appeared on a talk show entitled Hot Properties four days prior to WrestleMania, where he put host Richard Belzer into a front chinlock. It was a move that cuts off the flow of blood to the brain, as a way to prove to Belzer and the audience just how "real" professional wrestling is. Belzer, however, fell to the floor unconscious and began to bleed profusely. His injury required eight stitches. Belzer later sued Hogan for US$5 million, but they eventually settled out of court. The night before WrestleMania, Hogan and Mr. T hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live to help promote the event.
Event
Preliminary matches
Gene Okerlund opened the event by singing the national anthem. The originally intended singer, a celebrity guest that Okerlund and Vince McMahon refused to name, failed to appear.
+Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorsGorilla MonsoonJesse VenturaInterviewersGene OkerlundLord Alfred HayesRing announcersHoward FinkelBilly Martin RefereesJack LotzDick KrollJoey MarellaPat PattersonHenry TerranovaSpecial Guest TimekeeperLiberace Special Guest Outside RefereeMuhammad Ali Special GuestsThe Rockettes The opening match was between Tito Santana and The Executioner (Buddy Rose). Santana won the match by submission after applying a figure four leglock on The Executioner, which was a shot at current Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine, as the figure four was his finishing move.
Following the opening match, King Kong Bundy (accompanied by Jimmy Hart) and Special Delivery Jones made their way to the ring. After crushing Jones against the turnbuckle and executing a big splash, Bundy won the match. The WWF's official time for the match is a then-record time of 9 seconds (a record since surpassed by The Rock defeating Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32), although the match actually lasted 24 seconds.
The next match was between Ricky Steamboat and Matt Borne. Steamboat took the early advantage in the match-up, until Borne flipped him over and slammed him to the mat using a belly-to-belly suplex. After performing a flying crossbody, Steamboat pinned Borne for the win.
After the match ended, David Sammartino, accompanied by his father Bruno Sammartino, and Brutus Beefcake, accompanied by Johnny Valiant, made their way to the ring. The action favoured both contestants, as each wrestler alternated having the advantage. After Beefcake threw David Sammartino out of the ring, Valiant lifted him and slammed him to the cement floor. He then pushed Sammartino back into the ring before being attacked by Bruno. A short while later, all four men began fighting in the ring, and the match ended in a no-contest.Shields, Brian. Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s, p.149.
The first championship match of WrestleMania was between Junkyard Dog and the reigning WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion Greg Valentine, who was accompanied to the ring by his manager Jimmy Hart. Junkyard Dog began the match in the offensive position, performing headbutts and punches on Valentine. As the action went back and forth, Hart climbed on the ring apron, where Valentine accidentally hit him. Later, Valentine pinned Junkyard Dog with his feet on the ropes for leverage, which is an illegal maneuver. As a result, Tito Santana ran down to the ring and explained to the referee what had happened and the match was restarted. Junkyard Dog eventually won the match by count-out as Valentine failed to re-enter the ring. Valentine, however, kept his title as titles do not change hands through count-out.
The following match was for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik, accompanied to the ring by Freddie Blassie, challenged the reigning champions, The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham), who were accompanied by Lou Albano. The U.S. Express dominated the early part of the match until Volkoff and The Sheik began to gain the offensive advantage over Rotundo. Rotundo then tagged in Windham, who performed a bulldog on The Sheik. After nearly being pinned, The Sheik hit Windham in the head with Blassie's cane as the referee had his back turned. After Volkoff got the pin, Volkoff and The Sheik were crowned as the new tag champions, becoming the first wrestlers to win a championship at WrestleMania.
Main events
The next match on the card was a $15,000 Body Slam Challenge between André the Giant and Big John Studd, who was accompanied by Bobby Heenan. The stipulation of the match was that André the Giant had to body slam Studd to win $15,000, and if he failed, he would be forced to retire. After beginning the match in the defensive position, André countered with chops and a headbutt. From then on, André controlled the match and after weakening Studd's knees with multiple kicks, André was able to lift Studd over his shoulders and execute a body slam to win the match. After André collected his prize money, he started throwing the money out to the audience. Heenan, however, grabbed the bag holding the remainder of the winnings and ran from the ringside. As a result of the match, André was able to continue his career and his WWF undefeated streak was unscathed.
After all the men had left ringside, it was time for the WWF Women's Championship match between Wendi Richter, managed by singer Cyndi Lauper, and Leilani Kai, managed by former champion The Fabulous Moolah. Shortly after the match began, Moolah grabbed Richter as she was outside on the floor, but Lauper saved her from an attack. Kai then performed a flying crossbody from the top rope, but Richter used Kai's momentum to roll-up Kai in a pinning position. With this pin, Richter became the new Women's Champion.