WrestleMania. It’s what put the world of Sports Entertainment on the map. Sports Entertainment being the keyword. If you wanted Professional Wrestling, if you were a hardcore fan, you had the NWA’s Starrcade event but that only ran in the territory. If you wanted action, drama, emotion, larger-than-life athletes, and celebrities, you had… nothing.

That was until Vincent Kennedy McMahon thought up the incredible event of WrestleMania. McMahon turned an idea into reality using his own fortune, using Cindy Lauper, using Mr. T, using MTV, and using the top athletes from each territory from around the world to make his idea of WrestleMania into the most exciting, the most captivating event in sports and entertainment history. More exciting than the Academy’s Oscars, more exciting than the MLB’s World Series, even more exciting than the NFL’s Super Bowl.

WrestleMania took every risk possible to become what it is today. It isn’t an event, it’s a feeling. A feeling that comes one week a year to anyone viewing either in-person or through PPV. This is the story of the risks taken to make WrestleMania what it is today and the story of the reward it received to have tens of thousands of average people from around the world to view the incredible spectacle dubbed as “WrestleMania Week.” 

It all started in the Summer of 1984. Vince McMahon had thought up the idea of WrestleMania: “I remember in 1984, in the Summertime, there was a meeting room, literally a little meeting room. I remember Vince said, ‘I’m gonna do this,’ and he explained his vision, what he wanted to do. We all thought he was nuts, but we all knew one thing about Vince McMahon, when he sets his mind onto doing something, he’s going to do it.” – Howard Finkel on Vince McMahon pitching the idea of WrestleMania (Source: WWF WrestleMania: The Official Insider’s History DVD). 

Now the question is, “Why?” The answer is simple: Domination. Vince Jr. had bought out the World Wrestling Federation from his father, Vince Sr., Gorilla Monsoon, and Arnold Skaaland. Vince was always known as wanting more. Well, in 1984, he sought after it. He sought after that mysterious “More” that no single promoter really understood or ever had at the time. One singular domination over the entire country is what McMahon wanted, and this was the start. 

There, of course, was an issue. No promoter wanted any performer involved in WrestleMania, or else, they’d be shunned: “This guy’s gonna piss everybody off. Vince is gonna get everybody so mad that everybody that’ll work on the WrestleMania card will be blackballed,” Hulk Hogan noted in the WrestleMania Rewind series on the WWE Network. “This was the first real move on Vince McMahon’s expansion. The promoters were telling wrestlers that if you go work for him, you may never come back again,” Bill Apter noted in WrestleMania Rewind. If WrestleMania succeeded, everyone involved would never be forgotten. If it failed, their names could’ve very well been scratched from every record book by every promoter personally. 

Now obviously, you can’t get a reward with no risk. It is well known by many insiders that Vince had put every single penny of his own fortune into his crazy idea of WrestleMania.

“It was the general consensus around the country that Vince McMahon was taking the biggest risk of his life and there was still some other wrestling companies around the country who were actually hoping that Vince would fail,” is what Jerry Lawler said on WrestleMania Rewind about Vince’s massive risk. “It was a huge gamble, the biggest gamble I’ve ever been involved with. It was a roll of the dice,” Vince said. “The risk for Vince McMahon was his entire life so to say. He had everything, all his money down on WrestleMania betting that this would make his business soar,” said Bill Apter on WrestleMania Rewind. 

Vince had to gain buzz about the event, and he did so by working two shows with MTV. The first show being “The Brawl to End It All” which went down on July 23, 1984. It featured multiple dark matches including a WWF Intercontinental Championship match which showed champion Tito Santana and Bob Orton Jr. wrestle to time-limit draw, a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match which featured champion Hulk Hogan defeated Greg Valentine in ten minutes, and WWF World Martial Arts Championship match which featured champion Antonio Inoki defend against Charlie Fulton in a little under four minutes, a WWF Tag Team Championship match which showed the incredible Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch defend against Sgt. Slaughter and Terry Daniels in an outstanding 17:16 bout.

The featured event though was for the WWF Women’s Championship. It featured The Fabulous Moolah, accompanied by Lou Albano, defend against Wendi Richter, who was accompanied to the ring by musician Cyndi Lauper and David Wolff. The entire world was shocked when Richter had ended Moolah’s 10,000+ day reign as WWF Women’s Champion. 

The second event, “The War to Settle the Score”, occurred a month before WrestleMania. It featured many dark matches which included The U.S. Express (Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda) successfully defend their WWF Tag Team Championships against The Spoiler and The Assassin. Another title match was for the WWF Women’s Championship. Leilani Kai, accompanied by The Fabulous Moolah, had beaten Wendi Richter, who was accompanied to the ring by Cyndi Lauper, in 11:49. The Women’s Title change was aired via tape delay on the March 5th edition of Prime Time Wrestling.

The Main Event was aired on MTV, it was the set-up for WrestleMania. It featured Roddy Piper get disqualified in his match against champion Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship after Hogan was attacked. This would be the set-up for the Main Event of WrestleMania. 

The day had come: WrestleMania.

It had nine bouts. The first one showed Tito Santana defeating The Executioner (FKA “Playboy” Buddy Rose) in 4:50. The second bout showed King Kong Bundy defeat Special Delivery Jones in an astonishing twenty-three seconds! The third bout showed Ricky Steamboat defeat Matt Borne in 4:38. The fourth match was a homecoming for the Sammartino Family, as it showed Bruno Sammartino’s son, David Sammartino compete against Brutus Beefcake. Unfortunately for both competitors, that match ended in a double-DQ. The fifth match was the first title event of the night, it showed champion Greg Valentine defend the WWF Intercontinental Championship against Junkyard Dog. While JYD had beaten Valentine, it was via countout, so Greg Valentine kept his title.

The sixth bout was also a title match, this time for the WWF Tag Team Championship. It showed The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, who was accompanied by Freddie Blassie defeat the team of The U.S. Express, which consisted of Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo, and manager Lou Albano. The seventh bout was the $15,000 Body Slam Challenge. It showed André the Giant put his career on the line against Big John Studd. If André won, he would get Studd’s $10,000. If not, Big John would have the tremendous honor of getting to say he retired the Eighth Wonder of the World. Of course, André won in 05:54. The Semi-Final Bout showed Wendi Richter with Cyndi Lauper take back the WWF Women’s Championship from Leilani Kai in 06:12.’ 

The Main Event was ready. It was promoted every second Vince McMahon could get the chance, including the night before when Hulk Hogan and Mr. T hosted Saturday Night Live. The Main Event went incredible. It featured world-class boxer Muhammad Ali and inaugural WWE Intercontinental Champion Pat Patterson as special guest referees, New York Yankees manager Billy Martin as the special guest ring announcer, and musician Liberace, accompanied by The Rockettes, as the special guest ring announcer. The Main Event consisted of every celebrity possible. It showed the team of WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and Mr. T (accompanied by Jimmy Snuka) defeat the team of “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper (accompanied by Bob Orton Jr.) after Orton had tried to hit a double-ax handle on Hogan when the ref wasn’t looking but Hogan moved away, and Orton had hit Mr. Wonderful instead. 

The Original WrestleMania had concluded, and it left a legacy no one could dare imagine. Obviously, it had succeeded. Vince McMahon went onto say this on WrestleMania Rewind, “After the event was over in Madison Square Garden, the very first one, I began to get phone calls from the rest of the Eastern Sea Board. That to was a success, now we’re onto something. What about the Midwest? Chicago came in, hey that’s working. So, at the end of the night, we had been parting quite heavily.” Hulk Hogan said on WrestleMania Rewind, “We had a guy, Vince McMahon, who believed in us and he put everything he into that night and I just knew that if everybody stepped up to their A-game, we’re onto greatness, one way or the other. Vince McMahon went onto call this the defining moment of the WWE on WrestleMania Rewind: “With the success of WrestleMania, it really put us on the map and that was the defining moment of what we know now as the WWE.” 

The legacy of WrestleMania is well documented. There have been 34 annual WrestleMania events, and one more confirmed to be happening. WrestleMania became more than a day though… now it’s a week. WrestleMania Week is home to an NXT TakeOver event, the WWE Hall of Fame, WrestleMania Axxess, ROH Supercard of Honor, and other independent shows. Thanks to WrestleMania, World Wrestling Entertainment is now a household name. Vince McMahon is now a billionaire, and the company alone is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. To think, it all started with that one meeting in the Summer of 1984.