page_title: Professional wrestling in the United States
section_title: 1980s wrestling boom
hierarchical_section_title: Professional wrestling in the United States / Explosion (1980–2001) / 1980s wrestling boom
caption_attribution_description: WWE wrestler Hulk Hogan
context_page_description: Professional wrestling in the United States, until the 1920s, was viewed as a legitimate sport. This view did not endure into the 1930s, as professional wrestling became identified with modern theatrics, or "admitted fakeness", moving away from being a showcase for true competition. The scripted nature of the art has made critics view it as an illegitimate sport, particularly in comparison to boxing, mixed martial arts, amateur wrestling, and the real sport itself, wrestling. No major promoter or wrestler denies that modern professional wrestling has predetermined match outcomes.
  Through the advent of television in the 1950s and cable in the 1980s, professional wrestling began appearing in powerful media outlets, reaching never before seen numbers of viewers. It became an international phenomenon with the expansion of the World Wrestling Federation. Throughout the 1990s, professional wrestling achieved highs in both viewers and financial success during a time of fierce competition among competing promotions, such as WWF, World Championship Wrestling, and Extreme Championship Wrestling.
context_section_description: The 1980s represented professional wrestling's greatest period of televised entertainment, reaching widespread popularity among American youth, as well as producing some of its most spectacular characters. In comparison to the declining support of media outlets during the 1960s and 1970s, professional wrestling, notably the emerging World Wrestling Federation (WWF; abridged from WWWF in 1979), received great exposure through its reappearance on network television. The WWF expanded nationally through the acquisition of talent from competing promotions and, because it was the only company to air televised wrestling nationally, became synonymous with the industry, monopolizing the industry and the fanbase. The WWF's owner Vince McMahon revolutionized the sport by coining the term "sports entertainment" to describe his on-screen product, admitting to its fakery as well as enhancing its appeal to children.
  The WWF became the most colorful and well-known wrestling brand to children because of its child-oriented characters, soap opera dramaticism and cartoon-like personas. Most notable was the muscular Hulk Hogan, who marked the 1980s with his "all-American" persona. His sheer size, colorful attire, charisma and extravagance made his main events into excellent ratings draws. By January 1984, Hogan's legions of fans and his dominant role in the industry was termed "Hulkamania." Hogan sold-out arenas all across the United States and earned the WWF millions of dollars, making it the number one entity in all of professional wrestling; moments after Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik for the WWF World Heavyweight Title, Gorilla Monsoon famously proclaimed "Hulkamania is here."
  Around this time, faces and heels became a generally more obvious and important part of wrestling. 'Gimmicks' were more popular, and it widely became a popular sport again. Wrestling was generally seen more as a form of fun and entertainment, however, than an official sport. It was more about building up face/heel feuds such as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper/Hulk Hogan and going into a big blow off match, which people loved. The WWF broke its way into mainstream entertainment and regularly brought in celebrities for events.
  The "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection" was a period of cooperation and cross-promotion between the WWF and elements of the music industry. The WWF attracting a degree of mainstream attention with Cyndi Lauper joining in 1984 and WWF personalities appeared in her music videos. Hogan gained mainstream popularity for appearing in the film Rocky III, reaching to an even greater level of celebrity. In 1985, Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, an animated television series starring the character of Hogan, expanded Hogan's young fanbase.
  Meanwhile, the NWA's renowned and highly successful territory system was slowly dying, with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) becoming the center of the entire NWA. While the WWF had their major stars at almost all of their shows, the NWA could only manage to have a few of its stars at one show at a time, so as to promote the product in every territory. After the WWF gained huge dominance with Wrestlemania, Crockett responded to the success of the WWF and successfully acquired time slots on TBS, and would continue to buy out NWA promotions between 1985 and 1987 as well. The advent of nationwide television also weakened the system. Wrestlers could no longer travel to a new market and establish a new persona, since fans there already knew who they were. Meanwhile, McMahon took advantage of this phenomenon by purchasing promotions all over the continent, in order to produce a widely popular nationwide television program and make the WWF the only viewing choice.
  To counter the NWA's primary supercard, Starrcade, the WWF created its flagship show, WrestleMania, available on 135 closed-circuit networks. The show was a huge success with Hogan, who won in the main event, going on to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. After the swimsuit issue, it was the magazine's best seller, and following WrestleMania, four WWF programs were among the te
caption: Hulk Hogan was the face of the WWF during the 1980s, and it is for this reason that the decade is also known as the Hulkamania era
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