Thursday, July 29, 2021

Mr. T in Wrestlemania I


The main event of Wrestlemania I in 1985 was a tag team match: Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndoff. 

A few highlights:

One of the guest referees was Muhammad Ali of which Gorilla Monsoon remarks, "Muhammed Ali has been assigned as the outside referee which is just as important as the inside and maybe more so!" Nice try, marketing!

But then outside refereeing does come into play about mid-way through the match - if wrestlers leave the ring for a 10 count, they automatically get disqualified. Piper and Orndorff leave the ring for a full minute and eleven seconds and magically it's ignored and the match continues. You had one job to do, Ali!

Then there was one part of the match where Piper and Orndorff are completely waling on Hulk Hogan and taking turns, tagging back and forth so they can optimize their beatdown. Monsoon says, "The continuity being shown by the team of Piper and Orndorff - which really, I can honestly say I haven't seen yet on the part of the champ and Mr. T, maybe it's coming but - that continuity is so important if you want to be successful." I don't know exactly why but that tickled me. When someone is getting curb-stomped and you have to justify your job as commentator, talk about how the difference is "continuity."

Finally, a word about the refereeing. It really seemed to me that the refereeing on this match was terrible. Every time Mr. T tried to bend the rules, the referee was right on it but Piper's team was routinely breaking the rules completely unnoticed. Where is the fairness? It's pathetic. Train your referees better,  WWF!

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