The Birth of WrestleMania and Hulkamania

You can’t have a Vince McMahon movie without covering WrestleMania or Hulk Hogan. Both are key to pro wrestling’s popularity boom in the ‘80s, as well as the mega success McMahon achieved.

As an answer to NWA’s Starrcade event, in 1985 Vince put together his own super show WrestleMania, which would become the Super Bowl of wrestling. WWE’s biggest show of the year also marked a move away from “wrasslin” turning to sports entertainment. Tapping into mainstream media like MTV, Vince relied heavily on the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling connection of mixing music and wrestling. Celebrities like Cyndi Lauper, Mr. T, Muhammad Ali and Liberace were all prominently featured.

While McMahon packed his extravaganza with Hollywood glitz and glamour, the jewel of the event was the face of the company, Hulk Hogan. Gambling big on the new platform of pay-per-view, there was arguably no bigger wrestling/sports star on the planet than the WWF champion Hulk Hogan. The Hulkster’s natural charisma and main event drawing power is what really cemented WrestleMania as a big-time success. His pairing with Mr. T against “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff is what got all of the headlines the next day.

The partnership between Vince and Hogan launched the company into a global force, making Hogan an icon in the process. At WrestleMania 3 in 1987, the zenith of this duo came when Hulk battled Andre the Giant in front of 93,173 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome, which became the measuring stick for all sports entertainment events since.