One MIND-BLOWING Secret From EVERY WWE WrestleMania
The secret stories behind the biggest wrestling show ever.
The biggest show of the year, WWE WrestleMania, is so synonymous with the pro wrestling big-time - the formal idea of “making it” - that WWE will reportedly make lower offers to prized free agents by using it as an incentive to join the promotion over AEW.
The show is indeed so fabled and massive that what used to be a humiliating defeat is reframed now. In the old world, Joe Hendry losing in three minutes to Randy Orton following a slapstick comedy spot would have scanned as a mean-spirited burial to the cynical audience. Now, the pull of WrestleMania is so profound - and the core WWE audience is so completely different - that Hendry was considered a star in waiting. WWE wants you to believe that WrestleMania is the single-most important and life-affirming pro wrestling experience imaginable. For a company often accused of blinkered, revisionist history, this is very much true. Mostly.
The first draft of WrestleMania is rarely what you see on the actual grandest stage. Over the years, Vince McMahon had far grander plans that never came to pass. McMahon wanted certain outrageous dream matches that he could not negotiate in time. Certain WrestleMania cards, as you’ll discover, might even be considered very weak consolation efforts.
WrestleMania is now under the direction of Triple H of course, and he put forward a show - 39 - that you could argue is the very best in WWE history, provided you analyse it in tandem with the closing scenes of WrestleMania 40. But here’s the thing: the guy who was actually meant to succeed Vince had one phenomenal idea of his own, too…
41. WrestleMania 1 | A Carny’s Claim
The most reductive synopsis of WrestleMania 1 is that Vince McMahon brought in a bunch of celebrities to steer attention towards Hulk Hogan, who was such a bonafide megastar that he himself became a celebrity. And thus, the boom.
In a fantastic black comedy spectacle at WrestleMania 19, Vince and Hogan fought over this idea. Who, ultimately, was responsible for the success of WrestleMania - and by extension, WWE itself?
WWE should have booked a Triple Threat match, because Mr. T was pivotal in elevating the WWF in the public consciousness. (Cyndi Lauper’s contribution cannot ever be overstated, either.)
At its peak, ‘The A-Team’, in which Mr. T starred, was regularly watched by a quarter of the entire U.S. television audience. In the olden days of monoculture, Mr. T was a supergiant. WrestleMania 1 was ultimately a huge success, but trended towards disaster before an eleventh hour publicity drive. The show really did hang in the balance; without Mr. T, the modern history of pro wrestling looks unrecognisable.
While he was a far bigger star than time remembers, Sgt. Slaughter was no Mr. T - and yet, the former WWE Champion and alleged valor thief reckons that he nearly replaced him at the inaugural WrestleMania. Slaughter made this claim when touring with Inside The Ropes in 2024. This was shot down by Dave Meltzer, who pointed out that Slaughter was working for the American Wrestling Association at the time.
You’ve gotta love the old wrestler’s brain. They’re all different strains of Hulk Hogan in the end.