WWE News: Hulk Hogan Reveals Original Plans For ‘WrestleMania’ Main Event And Reason For Change

Back in 1985, the pinnacle of sports entertainment had its first-ever event as WrestleMania took place from Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was an event that has now continued for 35 years in a row and is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. The main event of that iconic event is one that will be remembered forever, but Hulk Hogan has now revealed the original plans for it and why a major change was made.

Nine big matches lined the card for the initial WrestleMania and that included three big title matches. Many old-school wrestling fans also remember the “Career vs. $15,000 Bodyslam Match” between Andre the Giant and Big John Studd which resulted in the former throwing the money out to the audience.

It was the main event, though, that not only had huge wrestling fans watching but also those who were obsessed with celebrities. Hulk Hogan partnered with Mr. T to take on the team of Rowdy Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff in a match that will be remembered forever.

When all was said and done, Mr. T held his own as a non-wrestler in the ring with WWF/WWE superstars, and the good guys sent the fans home happy. According to Hulk Hogan, the incredibly hated Orndorff was never even supposed to be in the match.

Hogan was a recent guest on The Steve Austin Podcast and he discussed a number of topics including the original WrestleMania. After talking about all the hype regarding the initial event, Hogan decided to talk about the main event and how Orndorff wasn’t originally in it.

As transcribed by Wrestling Inc., “Dr. D” David Schultz was the wrestler who was scheduled to tag with Rowdy Piper. Hogan said that the match even started being built up as Dr. D and Piper vs. him and Mr. T, but an incident at another event led to the change being made.

“The match, which really crazy between me, Mr. T and Piper and Orndorff was Dr. D (David Schultz) idea. All the sudden we started building it up as Piper and Dr. D vs. me and (Mr.) T. David decided to do his own angle. At the Forum, I had T sitting ringside, because he was a friend of mine. And out of nowhere, Dr. D rolled out of the ring and b***h slapped him, a shoot slap. Chief Strongbow had him arrested. Vince was p*ssed, that was pretty much the bullet that did him in.”

Schultz ended up retiring from professional wrestling just two years later, but he still makes appearances now and again. In the early ’90s, Schultz was one of many former WWF wrestlers who testified against Vince McMahon in a trial accusing the boss of illegally distributing anabolic steroids.

As things currently stand, the original WrestleMania started one of the biggest events of every single year. The main event of that first-ever event is iconic and will always go down as Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Paul Orndorff and Rowdy Roddy Piper. If Dr. D hadn’t ended up going off script and losing his cool, though, he would have been a part of sports entertainment history.