The first WrestleMania was a big gamble, as Vince McMahon put a lot of money into a mega-show that would be shown nationwide on closed-circuit television.

WrestleMania turned out to be a big hit, so here we are 40 years later with a two-night extravaganza in Las Vegas next month.

Hulk Hogan was the World Wrestling Federation champion, and he teamed up with “Rocky 3” co-star Mr. T.

They took on the top two villains in the WWF, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff.

Hogan and T appeared on “Saturday Night Live” on the night before the show to finish the massive hype job.

TRIVIA QUESTION

What was the first match at WrestleMania? Tito Santana beat The Executioner.

King Kong Bundy squashed S.D. Jones in an “official time” of nine seconds. The match lasted a little longer than that.

Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat defeated Matt Borne, who would show up at WrestleMania IX as the evil Doink the Clown.

Brutus Beefcake fought David Sammartino to a double-disqualification after Johnny Valiant and Bruno Sammartino got involved.

TITLE MATCHES

Greg “The Hammer” Valentine used his feet on the ropes to pin The Junkyard Dog. Santana tattled to the referee, who restarted the match. Valentine walked away and got counted out.

Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik won the WWF tag team title from Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo after a shot from Freddie Blassie’s cane.

Pop star Cyndi Lauper managed Wendi Richter to victory over Leilani Kai to recapture the WWF women’s title.

BIG MONEY

Andre the Giant avoided retirement by defeating Big John Studd in a $15,000 bodyslam challenge match.

Andre threw some money to the crowd before Bobby “The Brain” Heenan stole the bag.

THE MAIN EVENT

Liberace danced with The Rockettes before the main event. Baseball manager Billy Martin was the ring announcer, with Muhammad Ali as the guest enforcer referee.

Mr. T looked great in the ring, especially for a non-wrestler. At the end of the match, Cowboy Bob Orton tried to interfere with his loaded cast.

But he accidentally blasted Orndorff, and the Hulkster scored the victory.