All language subtitles for Biography WWE Legends S02 E09 (Biography.Wwe.Legends.S02e09.720P.Web.H264-Bae.m4v) (ENGLISH)

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 travel 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.

Who will try?

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

athletes in the world's
most entertaining sport.

And they go on and on.

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 have tanked.

My dad literally bet the farm.

He mortgaged everything
my parents owned.

The World Wrestling Federation outdoing
itself in presenting this hot baloney.

This is an unbelievable
part of wrestling.

WrestleMania 1 was a missile
fired at the rest of the industry.

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

Look at this!

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.

With an unbelievable
ovation as they're hanging

off the rafters just here in
Madison Square Garden.

I had chill bumps
up and down my arm.

This is the biggest
crowd in history.

1.2 million.

1.2 million.

Everyone entered the ring.

It was insanity.

You can't replicate that.

He got him!

He got him!

That one spectacular moment in
time of WrestleMania 1 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?

Ramone 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 Dallas, 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 Vincent, is this what it was like?

And he said, it was like 38 years ago as
you made your way to Madison Square Garden

not knowing whether you
would 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
1 there were territories.

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

Louisville Gardens, Wednesday
night, Evansville, Indiana.

You know what?

It's just like E.L.

Putnam baby.

When Jimmy Hart
talks, everybody listens.

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 were 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 then 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

that 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.

Here is Sergeant Slaughter.

Rowdy, rowdy Pipe Bird.

Three hundred and twenty pounds
from Venice Beach, California.

Hulk Hogan.

Take a look at the mixed
proportion Hulk Hogan.

The wrestling business
really needed an attraction.

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

Hogan was firmly entrenched in the AWA, the
rival wrestling promotion in Minneapolis.

And Vince was not alone.

Vince McMahon had just started a magazine,
so 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.

He handed me a
card, 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
it 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, buddy.

Hulk Hogan at the time had this pristine
image, 300 pounds of solid muscle,

you know, the 24-inch python, say your
prayers, eat 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 ace card.

Sometimes when you get out
of a role, man, it seems like you

can't do nothing wrong
whether it's the right thing or not.

We're talking about Rocky III,
little skinny Sylvester Stallone.

The movie sure
didn't hurt him at all.

What a character he 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 of 1984.

Something happened that
night in Madison Square Garden.

The Hulk!

And I came through the
curtain and I was spinning.

Went to the ring and pfft,
look at that, 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 against 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.

He had 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.

Fans are going wild
and I'm so excited.

I don't even want to talk,
I want to watch the match.

She's going up!

Changed the wrestling
world without a doubt.

Oh!

Oh!

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.

Raw wrestling violation!

Heavyweight champion, Hulk!

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

It is a card that tells you
that the man is here for you.

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's 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,
What we're interested in is in order to

have a successful
product, you need a big star.

There's no such thing
as social media or digital.

So how were you going
to get your product, your

star, in front of as many
people 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 is kind of like somebody that's been
blind their whole life, and then all of a

sudden you open your
eyes and go, oh, my gosh.

Welcome, everyone.

This is Gorilla Monsoon
welcoming you to the USA Network.

Vince Jr. knew 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 and how we've been
able 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
always 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, and it's 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 Northeast?

And 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.

MTV 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'd 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 Cyndi's dad.

There was only one person
that could play Cyndi's

dad in that video and that
was Captain Lou Albano.

Where did she meet
Captain Lou Albano?

Oh, Captain Lou, there he is.

I met Lou on a plane
coming back from Puerto Rico.

And they just struck up a conversation
on the plane and swapped numbers.

And that was... that was that.

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

We'll use Captain Lou Albano.

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

And he called Vince and said, would it be
okay if Captain Lou appeared in this new

artist's video named Cyndi
Lauper and played her father?

And he said yes.

That was the beginning.

That was the
beginning of it all.

Out of a sudden, we were like, we're
seeing Captain Lou not only with us

every night, but all 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 Cyndi Lauper.

Cyndi Lauper will be the
greatest entertainer of all time.

Her debut album is
called She's So Unusual.

Would you welcome,
please, Cyndi Lauper.

Cyndi Lauper, Cyndi
Lauper, Cyndi Lauper.

All over the world,
you'd see Cyndi Lauper.

I think you dress unusual.

Really?

Look, wrestling
is rock and roll.

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

It's 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.

Cyndi 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 cross 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 this
incredible rock and wrestling connection.

Cyndi, you got it!

I got my pass here.

Let me talk to Cyndi.

Cyndi, how are you, sweetie?

How have you been?

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

which 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 rock 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.

Us five VJs as the faces of MTV were
constantly being hit with, 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.

I was 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 raised 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.

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

This is what
everyone's talking about.

I want my MTV.

You 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, in the universe.

My fan, your fan,
our fan, Cindy Lauper.

And I got to credit Cindy's
video really reignited pretty

much the world's interest
in professional wrestling.

We've talked about it.

The Rock and
Wrestling Connection.

The hottest ticket in town.

I think I was on the phone
to Vince every three days.

Hey, I got an idea.

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

And in walks this insanity.

And bang, Zoom.

Away we go.

How many times do you think that
you could bring Cindy Lauper on my pit?

Why not, Ronnie?

The first time we saw Cindy Lauper in
WWE was when she appeared on Piper's pit.

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to introduce
to you the female entertainer of the year,

Miss Cindy Lauper herself.

Oh, my God.

Look at her.

Look at her.

Comment, comment.

I'm happy to be here.

I'm happy.

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 ya?

And everybody kind of knew
what was about to happen.

Cindy!

Tell all these people
out here how I took you,

Cindy, and found you
need to come back here.

...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.

Telling how women, Cindy, belong
in a kitchen and pregnant, Cindy.

That no woman's ever accomplished
anything without a man behind her.

Cindy, tell them that.

Wait, wait, wait.

Luke, Luke, 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 Luke?

Just because he's saying
things that wrestlers say.

Tell them how I took you
abroad, hanging around New York.

What?

Abroad?

Go ahead, tell them a
viral broad made you, Cindy.

Go ahead, Cindy, tell
them you took Cindy.

And the fight that ensued
was really the theatrical setup.

The first real craziness that
was going to be happening

with the wrestling world
and 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 I.

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

Miss Cindy Lauper.

We wanted to create an event that
would be the perfect Loo against Cindy.

Let me tell you
something, Mr. Albano.

I challenge you,
you fat bag of whips.

You know, Cindy Lauper, you're a
disgrace to your mother, to your family,

to your grandmother,
to everyone involved.

In one week, I will have a female
wrestler and you can get anybody you want,

fat man.

You can get anybody you want.

I accept.

I accept, Roddy.

I accept.

Got it, Lauper?

The champion at
that time was Moolah.

Loo would manage Moolah.

You know who I'm
gonna pick, Moolah?

I'm gonna pick you.

I'm gonna pick the champ.

Well, I found myself a wrestler.

I got Wendy Rester.

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 than 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 told

me a lot of things
and I just, I don't know.

I feel like I'm a new
person and everything.

Cyndi Lauper had Wendy Richter.

Beautiful, young.

It was youth versus
the establishment.

They were gonna collide.

What better place
than MTV to do it?

We're gonna 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-called interviews are
nothing more than ridicule, humiliation.

Alan did an amazing job.

Wait a second,
wait, wait, wait, wait.

Bang, he was in the middle
of a Roddy Piper situation.

Obviously they're
taking female steroids.

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

You ain't nothing but
a piece of garbage.

We don't have
to take it, nobody.

We can do it right here.

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

This is like a Disney ride.

It's scary, but, you know,
no one's going to die.

Maybe.

Hey, you skinny little dick.

I can do it right here.

I don't have to take it.

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 the moment
that everybody has been waiting for.

I'll tell you, Gene.

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.

Vince's opportunity.

What's hot?

What's popular?

What are people watching?

MTV was the perfect opportunity
to then promote WrestleMania 1.

Just moments from now.

The fabulous Moolah to defend the ladies'
crown against challenger Wendy Richter.

Ladies and gentlemen, this title belt will
be on the line at Madison Square Garden.

Just moments from now.

This lady to defend.

I'm ready.

Oh, my.

There she is.

Cindy Lauper.

I was pumped.

Very excited.

Very excited.

And just hearing the
roar of the 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.

Wendy Richter has
got things under control.

I don't believe it.

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.

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 as it turned out, it was the highest
rated show on MTV up to that point.

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 saw this.

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
mother, 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 wondering,
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
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 so he could pay his dad.

If WrestleMania didn't work,
the WWE would have tanked.

My dad literally bet the 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.

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.

I don't want to
present you with this.

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 right of the canvas.

Just picked me up and
body slammed me to the mat.

Cyndi Lauper is down.

David Wolfe is down.

Every great hero needs a foil.

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

Piper just went bananas.

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

Have a nice day.

Go yourself.

Give me the microphone.

Get out of my way.

The future of professional
wrestling 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 Lauper, 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 MTV.

Tonight 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 match with
social, political, and artistic

implications far beyond any
wrestling match in history.

A wrestling match
with social, political, and

artistic implications far
beyond any wrestling match.

Imagine history.

Was that serious enough for you?

Everybody was involved.

Wrestling is going down.

It's the Rockers.

We're going to win this.

Don't mess with the
Rock and Rollers, bro.

We'll snuff you out.

Under my thumb.

It's you, Rod.

Listen, Piper.

Rock and Roll is
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 rat bad.

Patti Smith, I mean, so adorable,
going, 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 executives saying, can I go on that?

This Roddy Piper is a
disgrace to Rock and Roll.

He certainly is not
fit to wear a skirt.

And he's going to pay for
what he's done to Cyndi 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 Ferrara
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, hey 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 thought 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 about 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.

This is what you're
going to get with me.

Things get pretty chaotic.

And Cyndi Lauper feels
compelled to jump into the

ring herself to assist her
good friend, Hulk Hogan.

Mr. T to the aim
of Cyndi Lauper.

He slapped her head off.

Did I say you can't
do that to no lady?

Fighting him inside the ring.

It was on from then on.

That was the start 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, Hulk!

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

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

Well, I think 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.

Anytime you need
me, I'll be there, brother.

You're my man.

I think you're the greatest heavyweight
wrestler I've ever been, man.

Gentlemen, gentlemen, please.

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.

That 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 personally.

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.

Dial away, 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 with 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 Mean Gene do his

thing and Roddy comes
hurtling down the hallway.

Did they see him pin me?

No!

All they saw was
a piece of crap.

That's all they saw, man.

They didn't see him
do nothing to me.

The lens is off.

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.

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
because 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 1.

Hulk Hogan, the 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 got to stay hungry

and tonight I see the eye of
the tiger and you're an I.S.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 you.

You're the man that's
getting attention at that

stage in American pop
culture history, the 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 doll as
like a little figure from the A-Team.

We like to fake old change.

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

And then he aligns
himself with Hulk Hogan.

We did Rocky III together,
you know, because he played

Thunder Lips and now I'm
natural, I'm Clubber Lane, you know.

Well, 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, he was an A-Team.

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

it's 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
the 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, that's
just the way he was.

Piper!

Oh no!

It's dead meat!

I pity the fool!

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

They didn't have a good
relationship with each other.

Well, Roddy didn't
like him too much.

We got in it a little bit,
more than a little bit.

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 A-Team.

My name is Hot Rod, of
course you know who I am.

And I know who you are!

Because your name's written
on the back of the chair and

I'm assuming that that's
there 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 have a new
feature now in Piper's pit.

It's called the hot seat.

He resented Mr. T making
the money he was making.

All the money!

He was talking about, he
said, I'm gonna do that to Mr. T.

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 wanna
take on the both of us.

It doesn't sell without Piper.

Without Piper stirring 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, Mr. T.

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 me.

Well, Roddy Piper, again,
was probably an inch

away from trying to
break this guy's neck.

How can I say it
without sounding cocky?

They didn't understand that bringing
me in would broaden their feed.

He was thinking, this is
gonna 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.

Say, hey, man,
this is good for us.

This is gonna help us.

So now it's Mr. T, Hulk Hogan, and
Cyndi Lauper over here, and Roddy

Piper, Paul Orndorff,
and Cowboy Bob Orton Jr.

over here, and the stage
is set for WrestleMania I.

There are gonna 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 I,
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 you 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.

Oh, come on!

Okay, Evel, stay with
the bird, stay with the bird.

It looks like you're
gonna go into the canyon.

You know who that
was promoted by?

Vince 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.

So 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 gonna go to this theater or
something, and then it's gonna be on

closed-circuit television, and
you're gonna sit and watch TV.

You're gonna watch television
with all these other people.

It was so odd to think
of it in that manner.

People are gonna
pay a ticket to go to a

movie theater to watch
professional wrestling.

It ain't gonna 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
this thing on Saturn.

Nobody had done it before, and it was kind
of like, Vince was this ringleader with

this vision that pushed
everybody to make these moves.

Vince McMahon, he didn't care,
because he wanted to make his statement.

And there's no way to make
that statement better than

putting WrestleMania in
theaters all over North America.

We'll be rolling underneath
our commentary a number of

locations coast-to-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.

And 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 can 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 my 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.

The World Wrestling
Federation, you're gonna be a

part of that big extravaganza
called WrestleMania.

Vince is gonna 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, man.

You know what's so funny
about this team, man?

The whole world
knows about this, man.

Hulk Hogan and
Mr. T start the training.

The dream team, man.

The dream team.

Do you want to do a thing with
me doing them or T doing them or...

Both combination, you
know, one helping the other,

one encouraging the
other one on type of thing.

The buildup 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, our asses hit the seats.

Cindy Lauper.

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

It was magic.

It just added on
to everything else.

This was just another wall that came down
when Hulk Hogan shows up as Cindy Lauper's

escort to the Grammys,
the hallowed Grammys.

And a little special thing.

Cindy Lauper, when she got her actual
award, the last thing Cindy Lauper says,

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 they'd

turn up girls to see and
I just want to have fun.

It was crazy.

I got to get ready.

This ain't no joke.

I said, my reputation
is on the line.

I've run a many
training partners off.

Now I can't get rid of you, man.

I'm going to keep
up with your brother.

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

Get your head right.

I was young.

I 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 jibba jabba.

I'm done.

Don't give up.

Perpetual motion.

Keep coming.

Get me, Hulk, baby.

Get me.

Get me for the paper.

I think, baby, two weeks
before WrestleMania,

we were doing press
and stuff like that.

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

The night before
WrestleMania, me and Hulk

Hogan, we was the hosts
of Saturday Night Live.

Ladies and
gentlemen, the little guy.

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, Vinny, the Garden
will always be the Garden.

Good morning, 50 Degrees.

March 31st.

Here's what's happening.

We're staying at a hotel over here
in Midtown, going over to the Garden.

I'm riding with Jesse
the Body Ventura.

Took a cab, picked me up at the hotel,
and they said, take me to the Garden.

When King Kong Bundy and myself
were driving to the Garden, Bundy goes,

this is gonna 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
in the city of New York.

Is this the best entertainment
around in the city of New York?

This is where it's at.

Forget the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl is super boring.

This is exciting.

The place was packed.

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.

WrestleMania.

That day of the Garden, T
comes rolling in, you know, about

10 or 11 in the morning, and
I went, where have you 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 going, what?

Man, we've been training
for six weeks, man.

Are we ready or not, man?

All these people, they want
to see us get 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.

And who would not let him out of my
sight until 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 in your eyes,
you're going to look in mine.

That's right, man.

You'll stay hungry.

We're going to be
ready either time.

We're going to be
ready either time.

That's right, man.

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

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

room in there, 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, Look around, see what we can find.

Got a glimpse of the Rockettes.

I didn't even see the Rockettes.

I was like, all strucken
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, uh, 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.

Alright, at 1pm this
afternoon, it is WrestleMania,

the biggest wrestling
extravaganza of all time.

You felt that 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 is in the backstage and Vince is
negotiating with talent back and forth and

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

What was it like to sit
ringside for WrestleMania 1?

This electricity that just surrounded
the ring and emanating from the fans.

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 garden,

it felt like Hollywood.

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

We had 15,000 people.

And they riddled Miami
Arena downtown Miami.

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

Rowdy Roddy Piper's
gonna kick his butt.

This is world history
meet right here.

WrestleMania is
something very important.

You have a mixture of movie
stars, 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.

I mean, 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 to work or we would have tanked.

I can only imagine
Vince pulling into Madison

Square 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.

Unbelievable ovation
as they're hanging off

the rafters just here in
Madison Square Garden.

Madison Square Garden was
the mecca for WrestleMania 1.

You couldn't have
had it any other place.

I mean, this is the biggest
crowd in history, 1.2 million.

Nobody wants to lose in
front of that many people, Gino.

Absolutely.

You could just see
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 curve in 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 Mansoor.

It was unbelievable.

I had chill bumps up
and down my arms.

Introducing first to my 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 went
from this tall up to about like here.

I was like, wow, I was
sweating profusely, you know?

Just crushed him.

Oh, my God.

And a giant smash.

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 involved
in 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 15 feet across the ring.

He got him.

He got him.

Getting the nod of being
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 at 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.

And it's just like main
event, main event,

main event, main event,
all the way to the end.

And it just kept getting
better and better.

Weighing 273 pounds,
Brutus Beefcake.

Brutus 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 Brutus Beefcake.

I'm the 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 didn't go out just one time.

I went out two times.

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

We got Jimmy Hart.

All right, fans, what are the big
feature matches this afternoon?

Wind of a Rotundo to
defend against these two men.

Nikolai Volkov and Iron Cheek
with Fred Blassie in their corner.

You know what you mean?

This is my best time of life.

The Iron Cheek 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 this

monstrosity of what it
became and what it is today.

The Iron Cheek
was a big part of that.

This is the height
of the Cold War.

And you've got this guy
coming out and spitting.

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
screen and suffocate the guy.

The Finnish called for
the Iron Sheik to grab

the walking stick from
his manager, Clay.

The Iron Sheik was a
classy Freddie Glassy.

And busted over the head
of one of his opponents.

Referee now just admonishing
Mark, but nailed it with a cane!

And the Iron Sheik told me this.

He was so fired up, he was
so excited about being there.

He literally busted that
cane over the guy's head.

Look at this!

Iron Sheik climbing up and
just nails Windham from behind.

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

Holy mackerel, this
wrestling extravaganza,

WrestleMania, has been
nothing 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.

Bell's rung and
we're underway here.

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.

Look at this!

Stunt trying to slam Andre.

Forget about it.

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.

You know I was so
nervous for my friend Andre.

If he couldn't slam Big John Stunt, Andre
was going to have to retire and go away.

And I believed it.

Oh my god, what
was going to happen?

Look at this!

Andre picks him
up, he slams him!

It's all over!

Andre looking for
the money, he's got it!

$25,000 plus on
their feet is Andre.

Slams, look at this!

He's throwing the money out!

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

Uh oh, look at that!

Bobby the Brain Heenan
grabbed the bag with the 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.

He was able to grab
the bag out of his hand.

And so goes the story.

It's the ladies'
WWF title match.

And it is also
the first of our...

Good Gracious.

Or Good Luck,
something like that.

But it is the first of our Wrestling
Rock connection matches.

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

That's right, me, Gene.

Shmula, 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 had never happened before.

It was the biggest
event I'd ever wrestled.

WrestleMania, the
greatest thing in the world.

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 group.

For the girls.

So I tried very hard
to be that role model.

Punch comes back with a right of her own
and sends Lani high and across that ring.

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.

Showing us a little
power move there.

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

I was peaked.

I was prepared that night.

Wendy Richter now.

Well, it was the first time my
father ever saw me wrestle.

So having him in a one-on-one sport like
that and at Madison Square Garden and

Cyndi Lauper, it 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
bout, Wendy Richter.

The static is Cyndi
Lauper and Wendy Richter.

It's

going all over the Garden, Gino.

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 not a dress rehearsal.

This is actually happening.

When you have an
opportunity, you better take it and

run with it because you don't
go around the block twice.

Soon 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, in

WrestleMania, falls flat
on his face, we're done.

Ladies and gentlemen, in just a few
moments, we will have our main event.

Yes!

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 event.

I was peeking through that curtain because
I didn't want to miss this main event.

May I introduce to
you the guest of honor.

Last 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 got Liberace

and the Radio City Rockettes
doing New York, New York.

Liberace's got a pretty
fair kick there, Gino.

Give me a break.

You can hear the fans check out.

The

mere presence of Muhammad
Ali validated WrestleMania.

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

to the world.

Then the building exploded
because here comes

Mr. T and Hulk Hogan
and Jimmy Superfly Snuka.

The

only thing that matters is that he's
a wrestling federation champion.

There he is.

The incredible...

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?

25,000 plus on their feet.

The electricity is unbelievable.

So there was this palpable
trepidation the day of

WrestleMania where nobody
knew what was going to happen.

Look at the bell by Liberace.

Oh, look at that bell, Jed.

Unbelievable.

Both teams precision trained.

Unbelievable coming
to this moment.

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

So now it's Piper and Hulk
Hogan in the middle of the ring.

Then I'm jumping on the side.

No, I want him.

I want him.

Let me get him.

Let me get him.

Well, the crowd's now
telling the Hulkster.

You're looking.

T says, please let me in.

Can you believe this?

When you point your foot,
you want me to tag him, huh?

You want me to
tag this guy here?

He wants a piece of hair.

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 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 Piper and Mr. T go nose to
nose, I mean, it was electric, dude.

Mr. T had a skill set from
being an amateur wrestler.

And we accentuated his,
you know, strong points

and just stayed away
from any weaknesses.

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

I'm an 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.

We were like foes, you
know, we was enemies.

At 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 over here.

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 the 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.

Oh, nice fireman's carry.

Another amateur move put to good
use here as Mr. T hoists up Piper.

What's he going to do with him?

Oh, drops him like
yesterday's newspaper.

And that was the photo
that went all over the world.

Look out, T now
in the wrong corner.

Here comes the Hulk.

And all four of them are
going at it in the corner.

And it's not out of his already.

Oscar Joel here, Ali
Smuka aces up there.

Muhammad Ali is
getting into the ring.

And we're getting chaos five
minutes into the match, Tino Mansoor.

Here comes Ali in the ring.

And he's swinging.

He's trying to get Orndorff.

He's trying to get Piper.

Ali stepped right in there.

Piper!

We're all standing
behind the curtain.

And when Muhammad took the
shot and Piper 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.

Muhammad Ali chasing
Ace out of the ring.

The former champion of
the world is taking control of

the ring and driving Ace
Bob Orton back to the ring.

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 of 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.

Hopefully we'll see, man,
the crowd gonna 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 him, but look out!

Oh!

And Orndorff!

Unbelievable!

With the cast, not gonna
cover Pat Patterson.

He got off!

Did you

know that Hulk Hogan
moved out of the way?

And Cowboy Bob Orton 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 1 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 to 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.

He would always put his arm
around me and whisper in my ear.

You're 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 time.

Everything that a kid could want in
1985 happened at WrestleMania 1.

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 snuck
a 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.

And 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 you know 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

million 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 this thing hit, 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.

Available 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 I.

I had the VHS tape.

I watched it until it
basically stopped working.

All of the merchandising that came after
WrestleMania I 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

somewhere, and Vince was looking
at his son Shane playing with G.I.

Joe's in the backseat, 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 home.

Did I have any WWE merchandise?

Boy, did I.

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

The Iron Sheik.

Hulk Hogan.

And Big John Studd.

You know, 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.

Got a big gulp.

And you turn the cup around.

Well, jeez, there's
Brutus Peavy.

Oh, my God.

Now, you know what?

Everybody were 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.

Wrestling every night.

Wrestling, I've never
seen anything like that.

Wendy became a household name.

I went to visit my
grandparents right after

WrestleMania, and I was
jogging with my father.

People ran out of their houses
and said, there's Wendy Richter.

And I'm thinking, 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...

Before 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. Kane?

How did you know?

Because he invited
us for a free 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 they're afraid.

There might be thousands and
thousands of Hulkamanias around.

It is definitely in
here in the Sky Dome.

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

Hulkamania is running wild.

Here's the focus point of the United States
of America and most of the free world.

After WrestleMania,
you 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.

Gosh almighty,
people just loved him.

Third champion, the world's
champion, Hulk Hogan.

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.

I was 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 to a 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 gentlemen.

He 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 never 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.

Now, screw them.

I was in wrestling.

They didn't pay any money.

Sports entertainment does.

Pro wrestling wasn't a thing.

WWE was 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 circumstance,

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.

We're 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 again.

Little 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 WrestleMania.

When you really think about
how far WrestleMania has come,

100,000 people in 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!

Mania!

Wrestle!

Mania!

Wrestle!

Mania!

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 go, that was awesome.

I'm still stunned
at how big it is.

It has gone from being WrestleMania,
a lone show, to WrestleMania weekend,

to WrestleMania week,
to WrestleMania season.

It's a season.

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

head is, I want to main
event WrestleMania.

Roman Reigns will main event!

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

It gets in your blood and you want
to do it again and again and again.

Every year, is
this going to sell?

Is it going to do well?

Are people going to dig it?

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

Vince was creating
the ultimate spectacle.

And the success
was mind-blowing.

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 can sit back sometimes and

think about how lucky we are
to be part of WrestleMania I.

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 Bank
Pipe City, baby!

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

think, you know, I'm
peeking through a curtain and

there's Rowdy Roddy
Parker who's no longer with us.

I really loved Lou
and Roddy as brothers.

I gotta say, I...

I miss Lou a lot.

My fan, your fan, our fan,
shouldn't they love him?

When they passed, 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 I 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.