20 Pro Wrestling Firsts You Need To Know

1. WrestleMania

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Okay, an obvious one to end on, but it was the night that changed everything as far as professional wrestling is concerned. On March 31st 1985, the World Wrestling Federation put on the very first WrestleMania, live from Madison Square Garden. The show was seen by over a million people on closed-circuit television, breaking all records when it came to that medium.

The event was conceived in retaliation to Jim Crockett Promotion's Starrcade, which first aired in 1983. It was at this time that Vince began to cross-promote with MTV, and it was this partnership as well as McMahon's readiness to embrace celebrities that set the WWF aside from its competition in professional wrestling.

The show was headlined by Hulk Hogan & Mr. T taking on 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff, a match that also featured the first guest referee in the shape of Muhammad Ali. The event hasn't aged well in terms of in-ring quality, but that matters little. The first WrestleMania was where professional wrestling was hurtled into the modern world, and that night shaped everything that came after it.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.