Nowadays, televised pro wrestling on a grand scale is pretty darn common: World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has weekly live shows on Netflix and the USA Network (with bigger events broadcasting on NBC and Peacock), while All-Elite Wrestling broadcasts weekly on TNT and TBS. Even with all that content to watch, wrestling fans still salivate for the one annual event that they consider the biggest broadcast of the year: Wrestlemania, which presents its 41st iteration on April 19th and 20th (yep, it’s grown into a two-night show these days).
The brainchild of WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation, or WWF) owner Vince McMahon, Jr. (who was ousted from the company in recent years amidst a variety of legal allegations), Wrestlemania I was a defining moment in the move to take pro wrestling from dark, smoke-filled rooms to family-friendly stadiums, prime time television and toy stores. A lot has changed since 1985, when the very first Wrestlemania changed pro wrestling and pop culture forever. Now in its 40th anniversary year, let’s look back at seven little-known facts about the very first Wrestlemania!
