WrestleMania (sequentially known as WrestleMania I) was the inaugural WrestleMania and inaugural professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event (only in selected areas), produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). 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. The show consisted of nine professional wrestling matches. In the main event, Hulk Hogan and Mr. T defeated Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper. Also, Wendi Richter (accompanied by manager Cyndi Lauper) defeated Leilani Kai to win the WWF Women's Championship, and Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik defeated The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. Celebrity guests included former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali as referee, baseball player/manager Billy Martin as ring announcer, and musician-actor Liberace as timekeeper. Production The attendance at the event was 19,121. In addition, the event was seen by over one million viewers through closed-circuit television, making it the largest wrestling event on closed-circuit television in the United States at the time. A technical glitch ended the closed circuit broadcast early into the showing at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To appease angry fans who pelted the screen with garbage, WrestleMania was broadcast in its entirety on local ABC affiliate WTAE-TV two weeks later. WWF announcer Gene Okerlund sang the national anthem, and Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura performed on commentary. Okerlund also did interviews backstage, and Alfred Hayes did interviews near the entrance to the locker room, right outside the ring. Howard Finkel was the ring announcer. The opening theme for the event was the instrumental portion of the Phil Collins and Philip Bailey hit "Easy Lover", while the closing theme for the credits was "Axel F" by Harold Faltermeyer. Celebrity guests in attendance included Billy Martin, Cyndi Lauper, Mr. T, Muhammad Ali, and Liberace accompanied by The Rockettes. Background During the 1980s, World Wrestling Federation's main competition in the professional wrestling industry was from Jim Crockett Promotions. Vince McMahon countered Jim Crockett's successful Starrcade annual events, which began airing in 1983, by creating the WrestleMania franchise. A rights agreement which Barry Diller, head of USA Network co-owner Paramount, pushed by 1983