On an episode of the ‘comPODres’ podcast, 2014 WWE Hall of Famer Mr. T spoke about Vince McMahon bringing him into the world of professional wrestling as a Hollywood Actor during the 80s, which led to quite a lot of jealousy from some of the boys, who didn’t appreciate an outsider coming in and getting a top spot, which they all wanted for themselves.
Here’s what Mr. T had to say:
“See, when I came in, at first some of the wrestlers were a little jealous. They didn’t realize the business of wrestling.
Vince McMahon brought me in to elevate wrestling. I’m bringing light to wrestling.
They didn’t see that, so they were a little jealous at first.”
During the 80s, Mr. T was a huge celebrity and pretty much everyone knew who he was, after starring as a main character in all 5 seasons of the popular TV show ‘The A-Team’, as well as playing the main villain Clubber Lang in ‘Rocky III’.
Vince McMahon brought him to the World Wrestling Federation in 1984 and eventually booked him to main event the inaugural WrestleMania in 1985, alongside his tag team partner ‘The Immortal’ Hulk Hogan.
After that, Mr. T performed 2 (worked) Boxing Matches, in which he defeated ‘Cowboy’ Bob Orton by count-out in the 2nd round at Saturday Night’s Main Event (March 1986), and ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper by DQ in round 4 at WrestleMania II (April 1986).
In 1994, his close personal friend Hulk Hogan brought him to Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling, where he defeated Kevin Sullivan at the annual Starrcade pay-per-view.
Mr. T was inducted to the Celebrity Wing of the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014 by ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund.
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