WrestleMania I Main Event

[THTRobtaylor]

Originally Posted by thebarber

Rocky 3 came out in 1982, so it was 3 years later that Mania happened, he was still well known then for being in The A Team.
Hogan refused to let Snuka be his partner in the match, the guy who Piper was fueding with in 1984...he felt Snuka would "steal his thunder" due to how over he was. In hindsight, Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Snuka vs Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff with Mr T in Hogans corner would have been much better regarding the in ring quality, but as we know the actuial in ring is only a portion of what makes a great storyline and match

It was a Vince call not to have Snuka promoted, all it would have taken was the media to pick up on the investigation Snuka had only just escaped from (her parents later got a civil judgement against him and even the police said they thought he'd done it but could never prove it) and that negative publicity would have taken T and Ali out of the equation, as they wouldn't want to be associated publicly with that. Also there had been a lot of media botches in the build-up with the Dr. D. and "bad" Mr. T. interview, so it was safer to keep Snuka on the periphery than be directly involved, and he was gone quite soon after.

If Hogan had worries about Snuka stealing his thunder then I am sure he didn't argue with Vince but it wasn't until Mania worked that he had the kind of stroke needed to make those kind of demands.

To this day Snuka's HOF ring and that he still gets used onscreen is the biggest hypocrisy WWE has ever made...