WrestleMania (1985)

From Freepedia

The inaugural WrestleMania supercard event in the WWF's annual series of WrestleMania events aired on March 31, 1985 and took place at the Madison Square Garden Arena in New York.

However, contrary to popular belief, WrestleMania was not the inaugural pay per view event in the WWF's history. It aired only on closed circuit televsion, set up in various venues throughout the United States. The first actual pay per view event the WWF, held on November 7, 1985, was called Wrestling Classic. The first WrestleMania to be shown on pay per view was WrestleMania 2, held on April 7, 1986.

For the first WrestleMania, Vince McMahon began cross promoting with MTV, with several celebrities like Muhammad Ali, Liberace and Cyndi Lauper appearing at the pay-per-view. The rock and wrestling era was characterized by bright, colourful, and sometimes terrible circus-like gimmicks. McMahon once stated that he was more interested in competing with Disney on Ice than other wrestling federations. Both WrestleMania and Hulk Hogan were a smash success. WrestleMania became an annual event, while Hogan would lead the WWF's golden age on camera.

Contents 1 Match Results 2 Main Event 3 Celebrities 4 Notable

Match Results

• Tito Santana defeated The Executioner by pinfall.
• David Sammartino and Brutus Beefcake wrestled to a double disqualification.
• Ricky Steamboat defeated Matt Borne by pinfall.
• King Kong Bundy (managed by Jimmy Hart) defeated S.D. Jones by pinfall (in seven seconds!)
• André the Giant defeated Big John Studd (managed by Bobby Heenan) in a Body Slam match (André slammed the "unslammable" Studd.)
• Junk Yard Dog defeated Greg Valentine by countout; Valentine retained the Intercontinental Championship
• Nikolai Volkoff and Iron Sheik defeated Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.
• Wendi Richter (managed by Cyndi Lauper ) defeated Leilani Kai to win the WWF Women's Championship

Main Event

• Hulk Hogan and Mr. T defeated Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff
  • In the corner for Hogan and Mr. T: Jimmy Snuka
  • In the corner for Piper and Orndorff: Bob Orton, Jr.
  • Special referee was Muhammad Ali
  • Special ring announcer was Billy Martin
  • Special guest time-keeper was Liberace (accompanied by The Rockettes)

Celebrities

• Billy Martin (guest ring announcer for main event)
• Cyndi Lauper (Wendi Richter's manager)
• Mr. T (tagged with Hulk Hogan in main event)
• Muhammad Ali (guest official for main event)
• Liberace (guest time keeper for main event)
• The Rockettes (led Liberace to time keeper's table)

Notable

A technical glitch ended the closed circuit broadcast early into the showing at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To appease angry fans who pelted the screen with garbage, WrestleMania I was broadcast in its entirety on a local television station two weeks later.

Bruiser Brody was rumored to have been offered a large sum of money by a rival promoter to jump over the protective guardrail during Hulk Hogan and Mr. T's entrance and injure Hulk Hogan before the main event.

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