Also, Wendi Richter (accompanied by manager Cyndi Lauper) defeated Leilani Kai to win the WWF Women's Championship, and Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik defeated The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

Celebrity guests included former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali as referee, baseball player/manager Billy Martin as ring announcer, and musician-actor Liberace as timekeeper.

[5] A technical glitch ended the closed circuit broadcast early into the showing at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

To appease angry fans who pelted the screen with garbage, WrestleMania was broadcast in its entirety on local ABC affiliate WTAE-TV two weeks later.

[6] WWF announcer Gene Okerlund sang the national anthem, and Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura performed commentary.

Celebrity guests in attendance included Billy Martin, Cyndi Lauper, Mr. T, Muhammad Ali, and Liberace accompanied by The Rockettes.

Vince McMahon countered Jim Crockett's successful Starrcade annual events, which began airing in 1983, by creating the WrestleMania franchise.

The first one was The Brawl to End It All, aired on July 23, 1984, in which a match from a live Madison Square Garden broadcast was shown on MTV.

Wendi Richter, allied with Cyndi Lauper, defeated The Fabulous Moolah, backed by Lou Albano, to win the WWF Women's Championship on the card.

In February 1985, the two men faced each other at The War to Settle the Score, where Hogan won by disqualification after interference by Paul Orndorff and Mr. T. Their on-going feud led to their match at WrestleMania.

[18] As part of the promotion for the event, Hogan appeared on Hot Properties four days prior to WrestleMania, where he put host Richard Belzer into a front chinlock —a move that cuts off the flow of blood to the brain.

Following the match, King Kong Bundy (accompanied by Jimmy Hart) and Special Delivery Jones made their way to the ring.

[4][24] The first championship defense of WrestleMania was between Junkyard Dog and the reigning WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion Greg Valentine, who was accompanied to the ring by his manager Jimmy Hart.

The U.S. Express dominated the early part of the match until Volkoff and The Sheik began to gain the offensive advantage over Rotundo.

[24] The next match on the card was a $15,000 Body Slam Challenge between André the Giant and Big John Studd, who was accompanied by Bobby Heenan.

[7] The main event and last match of the night pitted Hulk Hogan, the reigning WWF World Heavyweight Champion, and Mr. T, accompanied by Jimmy Snuka, against "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr.

Midway through the match, all four men began brawling in the ring, and Muhammad Ali punched Piper in an attempt to restore order.

In frustration, Piper knocked out the in-ring official, Pat Patterson, before he and Orton retreated backstage leaving Orndorff alone in the ring with Hogan, Mr. T, and Snuka.

[7][25] Approximately three months after WrestleMania, on July 6, 1985, Greg Valentine lost the Intercontinental Championship back to Tito Santana in a cage match.

[27] On July 8, 1985, Don Muraco won the inaugural King of The Ring tournament by defeating the Iron Sheik in the finals.

Despite his overall rating, he praised several moments, including Orton hitting Orndorff with his cast, King Kong Bundy's win, and André the Giant throwing the money into the crowd.

The event was included in a July 2007 special that aired on the MSG Network titled "The 50 Greatest Moments at Madison Square Garden", ranking at No.

[31] Echoing John Powell's thoughts, Kevin Eck of Wrestling Digest stated, "The match itself was far from a technical-wrestling classic, but it delivered in terms of entertaining the crowd.

"[31] In another Wrestling Digest article, written by Keith Loria, the main event was ranked third in the top ten matches in WrestleMania history.