WWE Hall Of Famer Jimmy Hart was recently a guest on KTRE during which he spoke about the growth of WrestleMania his favorite from WWE's biggest show of the year.
Check out the highlights below:
 âI didnât know what was gonna happen. I was in Memphis, TN when I got the call from WWF then. I said, âFeet, donât fail me now.â I went straight to New York City. I was up there for about three months before the first WrestleMania, and I got my feet wet a little bit on what was happening up there. When we did the show, I thought, well, if this is one night for me, Iâll be going back home to Memphis to Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman. It would be a thrill of a lifetime, but there was just something special.â âWhen we went out to the ring, the crowd was so wild and crazy, and over to my right was Dick Clark and Cyndi Lauper. And then over to my left, there was Muhammad Ali. Liberace was there. The list was just on and on and on and Mr. T. Hulk [Hogan] and I had been friends since the Memphis days, even though he was a good guy and I was a bad guy. Like I said, there was just something special about everything that happened. Itâs something Iâll never forget. Those are the two fondest memories for me in this business, itâs WrestleMania III, which I participated in and of course, WrestleMania I.â
âWell, the ones I participated in, I love WrestleMania III. That was, of course, in Detroit, MI. What was so special, I got to go out three different times! I went out with the Honky Tonk Man against Jake Roberts and Alice Cooper. Came back, changed jackets, went back out with The Hart Foundation and Danny Davis, our referee, going against The Bulldogs and Tito Santana. âCame back, changed jackets again and went back out with Adrian Adonis, who I managed against âRowdyâ Roddy Piper. It was just unbelievable. 93,000+ people and it was just a thrill for me to be a part of that, and of course, being part of WrestleMania I because how many people now, that are still around, can say they participated not once but twice at WrestleMania I. Of course, I managed Greg âThe Hammerâ Valentine and then I had King Kong Bundy also.â
âWell, a quick story here, two different parts of a story, one, is the reason I where the colorful jackets is because before I got into the world of wrestling, I was in a band called The Gentrys. We toured with Dick Clark back in the day with The Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher. It was all bus tours back then, and I remember something Dick Clark said once in a meeting. âHe said, âLook, some nights when you get on stage, you might not feel good. Do the best you can but you can always do one thing. When youâre on that stage, if you dress like the audience, one day youâre gonna be sitting in the audience. Be colorful. Give the people their moneyâs worth. They donât want to buy a ticket to see somebody who looks like them.â I remembered that, so when I went into this business, I made sure to wear colorful jackets. âNumber two, the megaphone, itâs been around the world two or three times. Vince McMahon was the one that brought this to me from Japan and said, âYou can use this at ringside, just donât over do it.â I said, âCan I paint it,â and he said, âAnything you want to with it.â Two people who have helped out my career, Dick Clark and Vince McMahon.â
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