November 4, 1988: "They Live" Premieres

November 4, 1988: The film They Live premieres. This is not an especially good movie – when the lead is played by a pro wrestler, in this case "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, and directed by John Carpenter, that]s to be expected – but it was really fun.

This movie came out in the final days of the Reagan Administration, but most Americans weren't willing to accept that it was an allegory for what was actually happening. Now, after the Crash of 2008 and the way rich people from Romney to to Bloomberg to Trump have acted, maybe now people will give this film another look, and listen. Or maybe there could be a remake: Dwayne Johnson, maybe? (No: The Rock is a Republican.)

Considering that Piper and Keith David battle a fascist government, maybe it should have been released the next day, the 5th of November.

Carpenter cast Piper as a common laborer who becomes a rather uncommon hero, uncovering an alien conspiracy. All along, we thought Hulk Hogan was a good guy and "Rowdy Roddy" was a jerk. In real life, it was the other way around all along.

Most alien invasion movies are about the successful attempt to stop the invasion, or about the rebellion to reverse the invasion after it's taken over. They Live was different: It was about an invasion that had succeeded, and the world didn't even know it.

I was working in a theater when it came out, and loved it -- ironically, to the point where it became one of the reasons I quit that lousy job.

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November 4, 1988 was a Friday. All-Pro Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant was born.

Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. There were 10 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 122-115 in overtime at the Boston Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 113-105 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands. Dominique Wilkins scored 35 points in defeat for the Hawks.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles clippers, 129-110 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the expansion Charlotte Hornets, 133-93 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Indiana Pacers, 117-103 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Chicago Bulls, 107-94 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks, 116-113 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Houston Rockets, 120-117 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Utah Jazz, 104-97 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dale Ellis led all scorers on the night with 46 points.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Phoenix Suns, 120-105 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

There were 3 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 4-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 7-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

And in New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, beat Bayonne, 38-21 at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick.

March 31, 1985: The 1st WrestleMania Is Held

Hulk Hogan (left) and Mr. T

March 31, 1985: The 1st WrestleMania is held. It marked the peak of fandom for what had come to be known as "professional wrestling."

The event -- I won't call it a "sport" -- was a natural for TV in its early days, the 1940s and '50s, because, like boxing, the size of the "playing field" was small enough that a camera could easily cover the whole thing. Men like "Gorgeous" George Wagner, Wladek "Killer" Kowalski and Bruno Sammartino became legends.

In 1984, Terry Bollea, using the name Hulk Hogan, became the heavyweight champion of the World Wrestling Federation. The year before, he had appeared in Rocky III, as a pro wrestler named Thunderlips. His blond hair, biker mustache, ripped physique, braggadocio, and 1980s-style patriotism -- his ring entrance song was "Real American" by McCoys singer Rick Derringer -- made him the most popular pro wrestler ever. He called the phenomenon of his fandom "Hulkamania."

Vince McMahon, president of the WWF, decided to strike while the iron was hot. So he set up WrestleMania for Madison Square Garden, which billed itself as "The World's Most Famous Arena." At the time, the biggest feud in the WWF was between Hogan and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, a Canadian who played up his Scottish heritage.

So while there were several bouts on the undercard, here was the main event: Hogan, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and actor Lawrence "Mr. T" Tureaud, who had played the antagonist in Rocky III, and was there less for his skill than for his fame and his trash-talking; vs. Piper, Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff, and "Cowboy" Bob Orton, a.k.a. Bob Orton Jr., son of a legendary wrestler.

As the script usually called for him to do, Hogan looked for much of the match like he was going to lose. But, as usual, he did a Rodney Dangerfield-style eye bulge, signaling that he was switching to his A-game, and got better. But it wasn't his "Popeye eating his spinach" moment that decided the match: Orton made a mistake in interfering with the fight -- or, perhaps, he was told to, and followed orders -- and that led to Hogan pinning Orndorff.

It had to be Orndorff that Hogan pinned, not Piper, to keep the feud going, so that Piper could say, "You didn't beat me!" Of course, in professional wrestling, nobody stays a hero forever, and nobody stays a villain forever. This bout led to a rift between Orndorff and Piper, and eventually a teamup between Hogan and Orndorff. This didn't last, either, as Mr. Wonderful and the Hulkster started feuding again.

In 1988, Piper starred in the science fiction movie They Live, which included a WWF-style fight between him and Keith David. The film showed that Piper could be a hero, too. Hogan eventually "turned heel," and became a villain, "Hollywood Hulk Hogan," before going back to his former good-guy persona.

But his personal life got exposed on the MTV "reality show" Hogan Knows Best. As it turned out, most of the era's wrestling villains -- Piper; Orndorff; André René Roussimoff, a.k.a. André the Giant, who dethroned Hogan in 1988; Hossein Vaziri, a.k.a. the Iron Sheik; William J. Myers, a.k.a. George "The Animal" Steele; Christopher Pallies, a.k.a. King Kong Bundy; Ted DiBiase, a.k.a. the Million Dollar Man; and others -- were great guys in real life, loved by all who knew them in their true personalities, including their in-ring opponents; while Hogan was rotten.

In 2002, following a legal dispute with the World Wildlife Fund, the WWF was renamed "World Wrestling Entertainment." In 2011, the promotion ceased branding itself as World Wrestling Entertainment, and began solely branding itself with the initials WWE.

André the Giant died in 1993, Roddy Piper in 2015, Jimmy Snuka and George Steele in 2017, King Kong Bundy in 2019, Paul Orndorff in 2021. As of March 31, 2022, Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, Cowboy Bob Orton, the Iron Sheik, Ted DiBiase and Vince McMahon are still alive. (UPDATE: The Sheik died in 2023, Hogan in 2025.)

*

March 31, 1985 was a Sunday. Baseball was in Spring Training. The NFL was in its off-season, but there were 3 games played in the USFL, the United States Football League:

* The Baltimore Stallions beat the Houston Gamblers, 27-14 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Denver Gold beat the Orlando Renegades, 21-17 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* And the Oakland Invaders beat the Los Angeles Express, 30-6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics, 113-105 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan. WrestleMania III would be held at the Silverdome on March 29, 1987, with a paid attendance of 93,173. This set an attendance record that lasted until 2016, when WrestleMania 32 brought 101,763 to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. (From 2013 onward, the tendency has been to not use Roman numerals, but that's not set in stone.)

* The Washington Bullets beat the Indiana Pacers, 111-105 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 126-115 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns, 123-98 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-5 -- at Madison Square Garden, earlier in the day.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Quebec Nordiques, 3-1 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 7-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Calgary Flames and the Winnipeg Jets played to a tie, 4-4 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Minnesota North Stars, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.