1985 was a big year. The San Francisco 49ers were dominating the NFL, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics were fighting for NBA supremacy, and Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers turned the NHL into their proving ground. Everybody was watching The Cosby Show, Cheers, and The A-Team at the time; and music from Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper were dominating the airwaves.
Wrestling however was hitting its stride, with stars like Ric Flair, Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan were the greatest sports figures of the day. But one event changed the way wrestling was presented, and it happened on March 31, 1985 in one of the most storied buildings in pro wrestling history, Madison Square Garden.
Back in 1983, Jim Crockett Promotions, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, started Starrcade, their signature event. And it was a big deal in the wrestling world. But in 1985, Vince McMahon and the WWE (Known as the World Wrestling Federation at the time) wanted to counter the successful Starrcade pay-per-view with something the world has never seen before. With the celebrity involvement of Cyndi Lauper, Muhammad Ali, Mr. T and many others, WrestleMania was born.
From King Kong Bundy’s 9-second squashing of SD Jones to the successful stats for Ricky Steamboat and Tito Santana, WrestleMania has gotten off to a hot start. The big money matches at the time proved to be momentous in the wrestling history books.
With $15,000 on the line as well as his career, Andre The Giant went head to head with Big John Studd in a match that would be considered a classic. Plenty of brawling throughout, but when Andre body slammed Studd, the crowd went wild. The Giant also threw the money into the crowd, only to be taken away by Bobby Heenan, who was Big John Studd’s manager at the time. It was that match that Andre proved he was the real giant that night.
Also on the card saw defending Women’s Champion Leilani Kai with The Fabulous Moolah taking on Wendi Richter with the incomparable Cyndi Lauper accompanying Richter at ringside for this match. Back and forth these ladies went, but it was a roll up by Richter that captured her first WWE Women’s Championship reign.
The main event of the night featured Rowdy Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff with “Cowboy” Bob Orton by their side against Mr. T and World Champion Hulk Hogan with “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka in their corner.
It wasn’t a technical bout, but the highlight of the night was Muhammad Ali knocked Roddy Piper out in an effort to restore order. When order was restored later on, Piper and Orndorff had the advantage, but when Mr. Wonderful locked Hogan into a full nelson hold, Orton went up top to nail the Hulkster. But that failed when Orton nailed Orndorff instead and Hogan pinned him to win the match for his team.
While the main event earned Match of the Year honors by the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, it was panned by modern day wrestling columnists like Kevin Eck and John Powell. But the 19,121 people in attendance and millions watching on closed-circuit television were tuned in to what was a happening in the sport at the time, and ever since, it became a tradition unlike any other. Without the first WrestleMania, there wouldn’t be a John Cena or an Undertaker or maybe a Daniel Bryan, because it wasn’t just culturally important in the wrestling industry, but it was important in entertainment itself.
The first WrestleMania was and still is the most influential wrestling event of all time.