10 Shocking Moments from Wrestlemania 1

#5 Mr T and Roddy Piper nearly come to blows backstage

Best of enemies.

The importance of Mr T's involvement at Wrestlemania I cannot be exaggerated. The A-Team actor didn't just make a passing contribution to the show as a timekeeper or ring announcer, he actually immersed himself in the very thick of the action, teaming up with Hulk Hogan to take on Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff.

Despite how useful T proved in the long run, his involvement didn't come without resistance and controversy. The details have become rather sketchy over the years, but the consensus seems to be that Piper was not entirely happy with a celebrity taking on such a prominent in-ring role.

This did not go unnoticed by T who openly expressed his concerns that Piper and Orndorff would make him look foolish during their tag match. T wasn't exactly in bad shape for the show, but his wrestling talents were all but minimal and if his opponents were unwilling to play ball, he could have been made to look like the ultimate fish out of water in front of the Madison Square Garden audience.

Things even got to the point where Hogan had to verbally convince T to stay after his tag partner threatened to walk out. Luckily for the generations of WWF/E fans to come, cooler heads prevailed and the match went by without a hitch.