WrestleMania Rewind: WrestleMania I - Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff

The granddaddy of them all, WrestleMania is just about a month away. The anticipation for the extravaganza is sky high among the WWE Universe. And since the pay-per-view is richer than Richie rich when it comes to history, we have decided to take a look back at some of the best WrestleMania matches with this latest series. Now let’s go back to the point where all of this started.The first annual PPV of WrestleMania by WWF took place on March 31st 1985 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event comprised of 9 matches on the card and was attended by 19,121 WWF fans. The show stealing match in WrestleMania-I was between the teams of Hulk Hogan, Mr. T and Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff. This was the only WrestleMania till now without a World title defence.

#1 The Build-Up:

Roddy Piper started a talk show named ‘Piper’s Pit’, in the months leading to WrestleMania. Piper appointed Bob Orton as his body guard. In an episode of ‘Piper’s Pit’, Roddy spoke out against the ‘Rock ‘n’ Wrestling’ connections and this lead to a confrontation between Hogan and Piper. In February 1985, Hogan and Roddy Piper fought at ‘The War to Settle the Scores’ where Hogan won by disqualification due to interference from Orndorff and Mr. T. The feud between these two sides led to this match on the grand stage.

All the iconic superstars of the day were involved in this match.

#2 The Match:

Jimmy Snuka accompanied Hogan and Mr. T while Bob Orton accompanied Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. Muhammad Ali was the special guest referee outside the ring. Mr. T and Roddy Piper started the match and a series of traditional blows were exchanged between the superstars. Mr. T and Hogan were dominant in the most part of the match. In the closing moments of the match, all hell broke loose and all the 4 superstars fought in the ring.

The in-ring referee could not control the chaos when Ali took control and punched Piper and restored order in the match. After this separation, Orndorff and Piper gained advantage in the match. Orndorff locked the ‘Full Nelson’ on Hogan and while Hogan was struggling, Orton planned a top rope jump on Hogan to finish him once and for all. But he missed the target and instead landed on Orndorff which knocked him down cold. Hogan covered Orndorff for a count of 3 and won the match.

A frustrated Piper knocked down the in-ring referee and walked away with Orton leaving Orndorff in the ring with Hogan and Mr. T.

#3 The Fallout:

After WrestleMania, Piper trained Bob Orton as a boxer. He challenged Mr. T for a match at ‘Saturday Night's Main Event’. Hogan accepted the challenge on behalf of Mr. T. The match was won by Mr. T and after the match, both Orton and Piper attacked him and this led to a boxing match at WrestleMania-II between Piper and Mr. T.

Hogan on the other hand successfully defended his WWF Championship in several encounters and became a great champion. He was involved in bouts with King Kong Bundy, Randy Savage, Andre and some others.

All these four legends were inducted into the WWE ‘Hall of Fame.’