"Girls Just Want To Have Fun", the incredible story of how Cyndi Lauper helped start WrestleMania

Some girls just want to have fun, others want to play a key role in establishing one of the biggest events in sports entertainment. Cyndi Lauper is the rare middle ground, able to do both with aplomb...

This story begins on a plane in 1982. Cyndi Lauper was returning from Puerto Rico when a long-haired guy with a bushy beard and weighing 160 kilos sat down next to her. He introduced himself as soon as he sat down: "Hi, I'm Lou Albano. I'm a fighter." From this meeting, a highly fruitful friendship would emerge.

At that time, Cyndi Lauper was beginning her solo career. David Wolff, the singer's manager and partner, had carefully prepared an LP, 'She's So Unusual', with a cover photo for the record taken by Annie Leibovitz. They were hoping this would be a smash hit.

Lauper needed something memorable for her first single, 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. With MTV revolutionizing the music scene, recording a music video was essential.

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Despite the limited budget (they only had 35,000 dollars), Cyndi Lauper had an idea. Despite initial resistance, David Wolff would eventually give in and allow Lauper to enact her vision.  Cyndi Lauper's own mother would play herself, and for the role of father, Wolff proposed Lou Albano. Everything seemed to click, as long as Lou Albano's contract allowed it...

Lou Albano's boss was Vince McMahon, a businessman who had bought the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from his father and was looking to unify all the wrestling federations. As a businessman, the music video proposal sounded like dollars in the bank to him, and he did not hesitate to accept, as it would allow him to reach a new and unexpected sector: music fans.

The song was such a success that it immediately became a generational anthem and one of the best pop songs in history, according to 'Rolling Stone'. But best of all was the chemistry between Cyndi Lauper and Lou Albano as father and daughter.

Once again, the business nouse of Vince McMahon came into play. "What if we mix pop-rock and wrestling with a great show at Madison Square Garden?" Combining music and wrestling was a master-stroke from McMahon, becoming known as the era of 'Rock 'n' Wrestling'.

More than 20,000 tickets were sold for that event and, best of all, MTV broadcast it live with a production quality rarely seen before, with cameras almost inside the ring. McMahon had risked the future of Wrestling with this daring move, which if he had miscalculated could have seen the end of the WWF. As ever, McMahon's business sense proved correct, with the show being a marked success.

Among the attractions of the evening, there were fights between Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, Andre the Giant and Big John Studd, Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik, and many others. Muhammad Ali and Liberace appeared alongside the wrestling to add a pinch of stardust to the evening's proceedings.

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But the biggest draw of the whole event was going to have Cyndi Lauper and Lou Albano as protagonists. The rest of the night was just an undercard for what came next, with Lauper and Albano accompanying two fighters to the ring for the biggest fight of the night.

Cyndi Lauper would train Wendi Richter, a rising young superstar, to fight against the veteran Leilani Kai, who now had Lou Albano in her corner. Upon seeing the four enter the ring, the crowd erupted with cheers and boos ringing down from the stands in equal measure.

The fight lived up to expectations, with Leilani Kai seemingly winning it before the referee overturned the decision. In a dramatic comeback, the youngster Richter was able to battle her way to a victory whilst being cheered on by Cyndi Lauper.

The program became the most watched in the history of MTV and, a year later, WrestleMania 2 would arrive. There was a clear objective, to turn the one-off success into a long-term show which would be the flagship event in the WWF's calendar.

A year after the first show, Wrestlemania 2 wowed audiences once again with Hulk Hogan staking his claim as the biggest and best wrestler in the world. Continuing to mix music and wrestling, Ray Charles performed during the broadcast. The garish display of wrestling and entertainment would prove a great success, with even the ultra-cool Andy Warhol admitting to finding the show overwhelming.

Cyndi Lauper has remained linked to WrestleMania and has appeared in various editions in recent decades. Fans and fighters have asked, on numerous occasions, that she enter the Hall of Fame to forever remember the impact she had on the sport. Not bad for a girl who just wanted to have some fun...

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