WrestleMania 2 Flashback: Three cities in one night

The WrestleMania Flashback series continues, as we take a look at the second installment of the event. WrestleMania 2 was very special for the the fact that three different cities hosted the event in the same night. This will be a little longer than most of the flashbacks, just for that reason. Either way, let's get started.

The Rosemont Horizon just outside of Chicago, the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, and the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island were all host to an event that was shown for the first time to a national pay per view audience.

The main event at the Nassau Coliseum saw Mr. T and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper face off in a boxing match. Piper and Paul Orndorff were on the losing end of the previous year's main event, as they were defeated by Mr. T and Hulk Hogan, so Piper had plenty of revenge on the mind that night. But Piper let his wild side get the better of him, and was disqualified at 1:15 into the fourth round for using a bodyslam.

Chicago had a pair of high-profile matches, the first being a 20-man battle royal featuring WWF stars as well as NFL players. The Hart Foundation, Andre The Giant, Bruno Sammartino and the Iron Sheik were among the WWF stars that joined the gridiron greats such as Willam "The Refrigerator" Perry, Bill Fralic, Russ Francis and Ernie Holmes. The match came down to Andre and the Hart Foundation, with Andre eliminating Jim Neidhart and then Bret Hart to win.

Also at the Rosemont Horizon was a high-profile tag team match. The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid) challenged then-WWF Tag Team Champions The Dream Team (Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Brutus Beefcake). Seven months earlier, The Dream Team won the titles and had already defeated the Bulldogs in two other title matches leading up to their WrestleMania 2 rematch.

The Bulldogs came to the ring accompanied by Black Sabbath front man Ozzy Osbourne and legendary manager Captain Lou Albano. During what turned out to be a spectacular final match between these two teams, Davey shoved Valentine into the corner. This caused Valentine to collide with Davey's partner, allowing him to roll up Valentine and slam the door on The Dream Team's seven-month reign as champions.

The third and final main event of WrestleMania 2 was in Los Angeles, and featured WWF Champion Hulk Hogan defending the title against King Kong Bundy. Hogan went into the match injured, from a beating at the hands of Bundy just a couple of weeks prior to the event. Bundy locked in on Hogan's ribs at the start of the match and went to work. However Hogan fought back and was able to bust open Bundy's forehead after ramming him into the cage.

After hitting his signature leg drop on Bundy, Hogan was able to escape the cage with his WWF Championship intact. Hogan would hold on to the title for another two years, before finally being dethroned by Andre The Giant in 1988. Hogan's title reign has stood as the one of the top five longest in company history.

In addition to the NFL players, WrestleMania 2 continued what would be a tradition of celebrities attending the event. Ray Charles, who sang the national anthem, was at the Nassau portion of the event along with Joan Rivers, Joe Frazier, and G. Gordon Liddy. Chicago celebrities included Dick Butkus and Ozzie Osbourne, and Los Angeles saw the likes of LA Dodgers great Tommy Lasorda and Elvira.

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