Wrestlemania #1 – Did It Have The Right Main Event?
The main event was Hulk Hogan/Mr. T. vs. Roddy Piper/Paul Orndorff. Was that the right main event?In short, no it wasn’t. The main event should have been Hogan vs. Piper for the title, preferably with Piper defending the belt that he won at War to Settle the Score after Piper cheated like there was no tomorrow and stealing the title while Hogan threw a total fit afterwards, demanding a rematch here. Hogan winning the title back here would have been great and they could have found a way to get T. in there somewhere else.
Thoughts on this?
I’ll say yes and no. I was the right main event for the time, simply because with all the history on this first show, the WWF HAD to deliver something special and buzzworthy, and with this main event, I feel they delivered in spades. On the flipside, I say no, it wasn’t the right main event, because considering where the Hogan vs. Piper feud was at this point, that could’ve been the main event right there. It could’ve went a lot of ways, as in Piper could’ve came in as champion (but then we may not have gotten Hogan’s historic title win over Iron Sheik at MSG).
I don’t have a problem with the Main Event. I do wish the Title was on the line, but at the end of the day, the point of The War to Settle the Score as a way to build towards WrestleMania, and they probably did it the best way possible.
By having the title match not go to a finish at The War to Settle the Score, people didn’t get any type of resolution, and the addition of Mr. T made the people watching the program want to see what Mr. T does to Piper. If Piper won at the War to Settle the Score (even by cheating), the casual fan/non-fan would have a bit of resolution, and not be as enamored with the idea of making sure to catch WrestleMania to see the resolution to the feud.
If this was building up to any other event, I would agree. But WrestleMania was about getting as many people interested in the product, hence why the main event featured Mr. T (wrestling), Billy Martin (Ring Announcer), Liberace (Timekeeper) with the Rockettes, and Muhammad Ali (Outside Ref). Hell, it had more celebs (5) then wrestlers (3).