50 Fun Facts About 80s Wrestling

In which 1987 fairy-tale film did wrestler André the Giant play Fezzik, the gentle rhyming giant?

The Princess Bride gave André his own favorite role. Its screenwriter William Goldman later called him one of the gentlest and most generous people he ever knew.

Which rubber-band-wearing WWF manager of the 1980s went on to play Mario in a Super Mario Bros. TV show?

Lou Albano copied his rubber-band look from a homeless man he had seen. He played the plumber in both the live-action and cartoon parts of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.

Which comedian did Memphis wrestler Jerry Lawler slap out of a chair on David Letterman's show in 1982?

Andy Kaufman and Lawler were in fact friends who had staged the whole feud, including that on-air fight.

Which 1980s wrestler and WWF commentator nicknamed The Body was later elected governor of Minnesota?

Jesse Ventura won the 1998 election as a Reform Party outsider. He had already been a mayor, a job he held while still calling wrestling matches on television.

Which TV action star was Hulk Hogan's tag partner in the main event of the first WrestleMania in 1985?

Mr. T returned a year later for a boxing match at WrestleMania 2, which ended when his opponent was disqualified in the fourth round.

Which WWF wrestler of the 1980s draped a python named Damien over beaten opponents and popularized the DDT?

Jake Roberts was cast as a villain, but crowds chanted for his finishing move so loudly that the WWF dropped a planned feud between him and Hulk Hogan.

Which pop singer managed Wendi Richter to the WWF Women's title on MTV's The Brawl to End It All in 1984?

Cyndi Lauper was back in Richter's corner at the first WrestleMania eight months later, when Richter won the championship for a second time.

Which military-themed wrestler of the 1980s was turned into a G.I. Joe action figure and cartoon character?

Sgt. Slaughter joined the toy line in the mid-1980s, even though Robert Remus, the man who played him, never served in the military.

In which 1982 boxing film did Hulk Hogan play Thunderlips, a wrestling champion who fights the hero for charity?

Rocky III cost Hogan his WWF job at first: accepting the part got him released, and he became a star in the rival AWA before returning.

Which Michigan stadium hosted WrestleMania III, where Hulk Hogan slammed André the Giant before a claimed 93,173 fans?

The Pontiac Silverdome figure was the WWF's own claim. Later analyses put the real crowd nearer 78,000, still enormous for an indoor show.

Which champion did Hulk Hogan beat in January 1984, escaping the dreaded camel clutch, to win his first WWF title?

The Iron Sheik had once been a bodyguard to the Shah of Iran. He held the WWF title for just four weeks before Hogan became the first man to break out of his finishing hold.

Which manager, already his real-life wife, walked Randy Savage to the ring throughout the late 1980s in the WWF?

Miss Elizabeth had married Savage in December 1984, after meeting him at a gym where she worked, months before the pair arrived in the WWF.

Which wrestler nicknamed The Dragon beat Randy Savage for the Intercontinental title in a WrestleMania III classic?

Ricky Steamboat's win was voted 1987's Match of the Year. He later suggested he was punished afterwards for upstaging the Hogan main event.

Which kilt-wearing WWF villain smashed a coconut over Jimmy Snuka's head on a 1984 interview segment?

Roddy Piper was billed from Glasgow but was Canadian. He went on to star in John Carpenter's 1988 cult film They Live.

Which Elvis-impersonating WWF villain held the Intercontinental title for 454 days, a record that lasted until 2023?

Honky Tonk Man finally lost the belt in about half a minute at the first SummerSlam in 1988, beaten by a surprise substitute for his injured challenger.

Which WWF villain of the late 1980s, flanked by bodyguard Virgil, tried to buy the world title with cash?

Ted DiBiase lived the part off screen too: the WWF booked him first-class travel and handed him petty cash so he could throw money around in public.

Which WWF manager nicknamed The Brain led a villainous stable called his Family and was taunted as a weasel?

Bobby Heenan was first called a weasel by rival Dick the Bruiser years earlier in the AWA, and the insult followed him for the rest of his career.

Which bald WWF giant demanded a five-count on his pins and faced Hulk Hogan in a steel cage at WrestleMania 2?

King Kong Bundy also won at the first WrestleMania in an announced nine seconds. The record stood until 2008, though the bout really ran about 17 seconds.

Which chain-and-collar-wearing star, a huge draw in Mid-South before joining the WWF, danced with children in the ring?

Junkyard Dog took his name from the Jim Croce hit Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, and his matches regularly sold out the Louisiana Superdome.

Which green-tongued WWF wild man who chewed open turnbuckles was really a Michigan high school teacher and coach?

George Steele got his green tongue from Clorets breath mints. Away from the ring he held a master's degree and coached football and amateur wrestling.

Which elite 1980s NWA stable had Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard among its original members?

The Four Horsemen owe their name to an Arn Anderson interview, in which he compared the havoc the group caused to the riders of the Apocalypse.

Which NWA champion billed from Kansas City lost the world title to Ric Flair in a Greensboro steel cage in 1983?

Harley Race had offered a $25,000 bounty in the storyline to have Flair put out of wrestling, only to lose the championship to him inside the cage.

Which NWA hero of the 1980s, billed as the son of a plumber, called himself the American Dream?

Dusty Rhodes built his appeal on looking and talking like an ordinary working man, and his sons Dustin and Cody both followed him into the ring.

Which face-painted young star wrestled NWA champion Ric Flair to a 45-minute draw at the first Clash of the Champions?

Sting became a star that night in 1988: the show aired free on TBS at the same time as WrestleMania IV, and the ringside judges could not pick a winner.

Which face-painted tag team of Hawk and Animal took their spiked-armor look from a Mad Max film?

The Road Warriors took their name from it too, since the second Mad Max film is called The Road Warrior. They were among the first wrestlers to build an act around a movie.

Which Texas family of brothers were the heroes of Dallas-based World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980s?

The Von Erichs were really named Adkisson. Fritz, born Jack Adkisson, was billed from Germany as a villain long before his sons became Texas heroes under the same ring name.

Which trio of Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts inspired a rule letting any two members defend tag titles?

The Fabulous Freebirds built their whole act on the Lynyrd Skynyrd song Free Bird, which they used as entrance music for most of their early years.

Which 1980s tag team of Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson got its name in Memphis before winning NWA world tag team titles?

The Rock 'n' Roll Express were named by Jerry Lawler, then head booker in Memphis, and won the NWA belts in their very first match for Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985.

Which 1980s NWA star billed as the Russian Nightmare was really an American born in Minneapolis?

Nikita Koloff was born into the Simpson family. After the Soviet Union dissolved, his billed home was quietly changed from Russia to Lithuania.

Which media mogul's company bought Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988 and relaunched it as WCW?

Ted Turner had seen wrestling's value for cable television since the early 1970s, years before his Atlanta station went nationwide by satellite.

Which New York arena, where Hulk Hogan won his first WWF title in 1984, hosted the first WrestleMania a year later?

Madison Square Garden held the live crowd, while more than a million other fans watched the show on closed-circuit television.

Which flamboyant pianist served as guest timekeeper at the first WrestleMania, arriving with the Rockettes?

Liberace shared the celebrity duties with Muhammad Ali, who refereed from outside the ring, and Yankees manager Billy Martin, the guest ring announcer.

Which star of the Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears entered a battle royal with wrestlers at WrestleMania 2?

William Perry, the Refrigerator, was one of several NFL players in the 20-man match, which André the Giant won by throwing out both members of the Hart Foundation last.

Which promoter bought the WWF from his ailing father in 1982 and turned the regional company into a national one?

Vince McMahon had spent most of the 1970s as the company's TV commentator. As owner he all but monopolized a business that had been split into separate regions.

Which annual WWF event began on Thanksgiving Day 1987 with a card made up entirely of elimination tag matches?

Survivor Series was scheduled against a rival promotion's biggest show of the year, and the WWF demanded that cable companies carry only its event that night.

Which WWF event debuted in January 1988 with a 20-man free-for-all whose entrants arrive at timed intervals?

The first Royal Rumble was dreamed up by wrestler Pat Patterson, held in Hamilton, Ontario, and shown free on the USA Network against a rival pay-per-view.

Which annual NWA supershow began in 1983 as a Thanksgiving closed-circuit broadcast from the Greensboro Coliseum?

Starrcade came more than a year before the first WrestleMania, and the NWA went on treating it as the flagship event of its calendar.

Which NWA match, introduced in 1987, locks two teams inside one giant cage built over two side-by-side rings?

WarGames was dreamed up after its creator watched the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and it became a yearly tradition in the NWA and later in WCW.

Which casino resort hosted both WrestleMania IV and WrestleMania V at a venue promoted as Trump Plaza?

Atlantic City really staged both shows in its Convention Hall. Hulk Hogan won back the WWF title from Randy Savage there in the main event of the 1989 card.

Which former amateur star owned the Minneapolis-based AWA, where Hulk Hogan became a top hero before rejoining the WWF?

Verne Gagne preferred technical mat wrestlers and resisted making the hugely popular Hogan his champion, then lost him to the WWF at the end of 1983.

Which WWF champion's reign of over five years ended in December 1983 when his manager threw in the towel?

Bob Backlund never actually submitted: manager Arnold Skaaland gave up for him. The finish steered the title toward Hulk Hogan without Hogan having to beat a fellow hero.

Which team name did Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage use for their 1987–89 WWF alliance before turning on each other?

The Mega Powers sealed their alliance on a 1987 television special, then split over jealousy and settled the feud in the main event of WrestleMania V.

Which WWF tag team of cousins Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid came to the ring with a pet named Matilda?

The British Bulldogs were given Matilda near the end of their tag title reign, and she became the center of a feud when a rival team dognapped her.

Which WWF wrestler nicknamed the Birdman danced to the ring with a blue-and-yellow macaw named Frankie?

Koko B. Ware also sang the title track of the WWF's 1987 album Piledriver, which then became his own entrance music.

Which WWF brawler nicknamed Hacksaw, a former SMU football captain, carried a length of 2x4 lumber to the ring?

Jim Duggan was signed by the NFL's Atlanta Falcons after college, but knee injuries got him released before he found fame with his plank of wood.

Which submission hold was the signature finisher of 1980s NWA champion Ric Flair, the self-styled Nature Boy?

The figure-four leglock is so tied to Flair that crowds shout his trademark yell whenever another wrestler applies one.

Which song became Hulk Hogan's long-running WWF entrance theme during the 1980s?

Real American was not written for Hogan at all. It started out as the entrance theme of a WWF tag team, the U.S. Express, before he inherited it.

Which 1989 action film starred Hulk Hogan as wrestling champion Rip Thomas, who faces an ex-convict fighter named Zeus?

No Holds Barred was Hogan's first starring role, and he was also billed as one of the film's executive producers.

Which veteran, the leading holder of the women's world title for 28 years, lost it to Wendi Richter on MTV in 1984?

The Fabulous Moolah took the belt back in 1985 disguised under a mask as the Spider Lady, a controversial finish that came after Richter fell out with the WWF.

Which interviewer left the AWA for the expanding WWF at the end of 1983 and hosted its backstage interviews for years?

Gene Okerlund was nicknamed Mean Gene, yet many wrestlers and promotion staff considered him the friendliest person in the business.