20 Things You Didn't Know About WrestleMania (1985-1994)

19. WrestleMania I - Muhammad Ali Was Supposed To Be A Traditional Referee

Speaking of the original WrestleMania, one of the big draws was to be former heavyweight boxing champion, Muhammad Ali, as he would referee the main event tag-team match between Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff. On March 31, 1985, however, when the legendary boxer arrived at Madison Square Garden, Pat Patterson quickly saw that Ali was not in a great mental or physical state and, due to AlI's Parkinson's disease, an audible needed to be called. Patterson then took over duties of officiating the match from inside the ring as the traditional referee while Ali was moved to the outside as a special enforcer. This proved to be a wise move since, during the match, there were a couple of spots where Ali, supposed to be judging the contest in an unbiased fashion, went after Roddy Piper, but because the scuffle took place outside the ring, it was overlooked by the commentary team. Had Ali been kept as the traditional referee and then exhibited unfair treatment and biased refereeing towards the heels, it could've wreaked havoc on the main event of the biggest event in company history up to that point. Luckily, this potential disaster was able to be avoided while still keeping the heavily promoted boxing icon in a prominent position.