Frederick Kenneth Blassie was an American professional wrestler and manager, known by the ring name "Classy" Freddie Blassie. Renowned as "The Hollywood Fashion Plate", he was a one-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion, and was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1994. He is regarded as one of the greatest wrestling heels, or villains, of all time.
The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club, originally founded in 1933, which served as the Minnesota-based territory of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1948 onward, before breaking away from the NWA and becoming an independent territory in 1960.
Rick Derringer is an American musician, producer, and songwriter. He achieved success during the 1960s with his then band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was a number-one hit in 1965 and became a classic track of the garage rock era. The McCoys then had seven songs that charted in the top 100, including versions of "Fever" and "Come on Let's Go".
WrestleMania was the inaugural WrestleMania and inaugural professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on March 31, 1985, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The attendance for the event was 19,121. The event was seen by over one million viewers through closed-circuit television, making it the largest pay-per-view showing of a wrestling event on closed-circuit television in the United States at the time.
WrestleMania VIII was the eighth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on April 5, 1992, at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana in the United States. Nine matches were shown during the live broadcast, with one dark match occurring before the event.
James Morris is an American retired professional wrestler and current radio host, better known by his ring name, Hillbilly Jim. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1984 to 1991, and in the series Hillbilly Moments.
Louis Vincent Albano was an Italian-American professional wrestler, manager and actor, who performed under the ring/stage name "Captain" Lou Albano. He was active as a professional wrestler from 1953 until 1969, before becoming a manager until 1996.
Eugene Arthur Okerlund was an American professional wrestling interviewer, announcer and television host. He was best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Okerlund was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006 by Hulk Hogan. He was signed to a lifetime contract with WWE and later worked for promotional programs. He has been described by some journalists as the best interviewer in the history of professional wrestling.
Saturday Night's Main Event is an American series of professional wrestling television specials that were produced by WWE. Premiering in 1985, it originally aired on NBC in the United States in place of Saturday Night Live for weeks when that show did not have new episodes until 1991. Two additional episodes aired on Fox in 1992. It was revived in 2006 for five NBC episodes before ending in 2008. In Canada, it also aired on Citytv and Global Television Network in order to meet simultaneous substitution rights.
Alfred George James Hayes was an English professional wrestler, manager and commentator, best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation between 1982 and 1995 where he was known as Lord Alfred Hayes. Hayes was distinguished by his "Masterpiece Theatre diction" and "Oxford accent".
The Wrestling Classic was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on November 7, 1985, at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois in the United States. It was the promotion's second ever pay-per-view.
WWF Championship Wrestling is a professional wrestling television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It aired from 1971 to August 30, 1986, and was the original television show of the WWF. Originally produced under the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) banner, Championship Wrestling featured all the stars of the WWF, interviews and championship matches. It was the flagship program of the WWWF/WWF's syndicated programming until it was replaced by Superstars of Wrestling in 1986.
Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling is an American animated television series that originally aired on CBS Saturday mornings from September 14, 1985 to October 18, 1986, with reruns airing until June 27, 1987.
Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II is the second soundtrack album released by the World Wrestling Federation. It was released on September 21, 1987, by Epic Records. It featured actual vocal performances from several of the wrestlers themselves.
"The Goonies 'R' Good Enough" is a song by American pop singer Cyndi Lauper. It was released as a single in 1985, and is from the soundtrack of the film The Goonies. It was her fifth top-10 single on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Wrestling Superstars were the first action figures based on the wrestlers of the WWF. Wrestling action figures were the brainchild of Richard Derwald of Buffalo NY who sold the idea to LJN in the summer of 1984.. They were made by the toy and video game company LJN from 1984 to 1989. The figures were made of solid rubber and paint and were very accurate in appearance to their real life counterparts.
The 1980s professional wrestling boom, more commonly referred to as the Golden Era or the Rock 'n' Wrestling Era, was a surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and elsewhere throughout the 1980s. The expansion of cable television and pay-per-view, coupled with the efforts of promoters such as Vince McMahon, saw wrestling shift from a system controlled by numerous regional companies to one dominated by two nationwide companies: McMahon's World Wrestling Federation and Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The decade also saw a considerable decline in the power of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a cartel which had until then dominated the wrestling landscape, and in the efforts to sustain belief in the kayfabe of wrestling.
The Brawl to End It All is a professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and broadcast live on MTV. It took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York in the United States on July 23, 1984. The show was a major event in the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection in the mid-1980s WWF, and began a storyline that ultimately culminated in the first WrestleMania. The main event featured The Fabulous Moolah defending the WWF Women's Championship against Wendi Richter. Richter pinned Moolah to win the Women's Championship. It was the only match of the event that was shown on national television. In the main event from closed-circuit television Hulk Hogan pinned Greg Valentine to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
The War to Settle the Score is a professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York on February 18, 1985. The main event featured Hulk Hogan defending the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Hogan retained the title after Piper got disqualified in the only match of the event that was shown on MTV.
MicroLeague Wrestling is a professional wrestling simulation video game, the first based on the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), released in 1987 for Commodore 64 and Atari ST and in 1989 for Amiga and DOS. It was developed by MicroLeague and published by MicroLeague. The game is part of the company's MicroLeague sports series, which included MicroLeague Baseball.
