10 Things You Didn't Know About Pat Patterson

5. The Real Referee Of The First WrestleMania

Pat Patterson
WWE.com

It feels redundant to state it, but Vince McMahon wanted to put as many elements in place to make the first WrestleMania a major success. Thankfully for McMahon and his World Wrestling Federation, the event proved hugely popular, and thus we now see the WWE we have today.

Despite one of the numerous selling points of the first WrestleMania being the iconic Muhammad Ali as the referee for the PPV's main event contest, it turned out that Ali was used in merely a ringside enforcer role at the Granddaddy of Them All's debut.

Instead, it was actually Pat Patterson who would serve as the real referee of the 'Mania main event, with Patterson's mind for the business seen as the perfect way to make sure that this make-or-break bout went as intended.

Of course, WrestleMania I would be closed out by Hulk Hogan and Mr. T defeating Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff, and it was the inclusion of Mr. T that was of particular concern here. If the A-Team star couldn't get to grps with the in-ring workings of a wrestling match, or even if he and Piper's genuine hatred for each other sent the match array, Pat Patterson was there to steer the ship back on course.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.