As we left off in 1984, Hulk Hogan was the WWF Champion and the top face ever in the company. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper was the top heel and Hogan's archenemy. Also, the WWF grew more mainstream as they had a connection with MTV as it would become known as the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection.
It didn't help matters that Cyndi Lauper was involved in storylines involving Piper and Hogan at the end of 1984 going into 1985 which created The War to Settle the Score that was televised on MTV. The event was broadcast from New York's legendary Madison Square Garden on February 18, 1985.
The main event of the event saw Hogan defending his WWF Championship against Piper. Hogan won by disqualification when Piper's allies Paul Orndorff and "Cowboy" Bob Orton attacked Hogan. Hogan's friend and actor Mr. T was sitting at ringside as he along with Lauper ran into the ring after the match, only to be attacked by Piper and his cronies.
This setup the main event of the inaugural WrestleMania event live from where else? Madison Square Garden on March 31, 1985 in front of 19,121 fans. Vince McMahon wanted his own pay-per-view (PPV) super card event to respond to Jim Crockett's Starrcade event that was created in 1983. This started the annual biggest event in the WWF/E that still runs to this very day.
The inaugural WrestleMania was not shown on PPV as it was instead shown on closed-circuit television. In addition to Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper appearing, other celebrities such as former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali, Liberace, and New York Yankees manager Billy Martin all appeared at the inaugural WrestleMania event.
Hogan teamed with Mr. T to take on Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff in the main event. The end came when Orndorff held Hogan as Bob Orton climbed to the top rope in an attempt to hit Hogan with the cast on his arm. Hogan got out of the way as Orndorff was hit with the cast. Hogan pinned Orndorff as he and Mr. T won the match.
Lauper accompanied WWF Women's Champion Wendy Richter as she defended the title against Leilani Kai who had former Women's Champion the Fabulous Moolah in her corner. Lauper prevented Moolah from interfering as Richter defeated Kai to retain the title.
Another big match that occurred at WrestleMania was the $15,000 Body Slam Challenge between the giants of the industry at that time, Andre the Giant and Big John Studd, managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Andre had to bodyslam Studd and if he did he would win $15,000. If he didn't, then he would have to retire from wrestling.
Andre bodyslammed Studd to win the match and the $15,000. Andre took the duffle bag with the $15,000 and started throwing the money into the audience. Heenan eventually grabbed the bag with whatever money was left and ran backstage.
Hogan and Mr. T continued to feud with Roddy Piper and Bob Orton after WrestleMania and pretty much for the remainder of the year. Hogan gained a surprising ally in his fight as Paul Orndorff joined forces with him after being betrayed by both Piper and Orton.
Vince McMahon was losing money on his deal with Ted Turner following the purchase of Georgia Championship Wrestling and was looking to get out of the Saturday evening time slot he had on TBS. McMahon sold the time slot to Jim Crockett Jr. and Jim Crockett Promotions for approximately $1 million to run his show during this time slot.
Eventually, Turner bought out Crockett and owned World Championship Wrestling and started a big rivalry with McMahon and the WWF until McMahon purchased Turner's WCW in 2001. Fortunately the run on Turner did not hurt McMahon and his programming on the USA Network. McMahon needed the money to launch Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC.
McMahon came up with Saturday Night's Main Event to be run on NBC during the late-night time slot when they would air reruns of the hit show Saturday Night Live. Then-SNL executive producer Dick Ebersol agreed to air the show after seeing the high ratings of the two WWF special events run on MTV in 1984-85.
The first episode of Saturday Night's Main Event was held on May 11, 1985 as the event was actually held the night before on May 10, but aired tape-delayed on Saturday night. Hulk Hogan defended the WWF Championship against Bob Orton and won by disqualification.
Saturday Night's Main Event ran until 1992 (which the final year was broadcast on Fox) before it was brought back for a couple of years starting in 2006. The event was usually tape-delayed as the event itself was actually held earlier that week or even sometimes a month before the actual showing. The event was held about 4-5 times a year and was a tremendous ratings success for NBC.
On November 7, 1985, the WWF had its very first event broadcast on pay-per-view called The Wrestling Classic from the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois. There would be a 16-man single elimination tournament held that night. Also, Hulk Hogan defended his WWF Championship against arch nemesis Roddy Piper. The WWF even gave away a brand new Rolls Royce to some lucky fan.
The Junkyard Dog defeated newcomer "Macho Man" Randy Savage by count out in the finals to win the match and the tournament. Hogan defeated Piper by disqualification when Bob Orton hit him with his cast and the two double-teamed him until Paul Orndorff ran in to help Hogan.
It's interesting to see the tandem of Hogan and Orndorff work together going into 1986 as well as the rise of the young Macho Man Randy Savage.
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