How Cyndi Lauper made pro wrestling what it is today

What would eventually be known as the “Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection” kicked off with a cameo by outsized WWF personality Captain Lou Albano in the music video for Lauper’s debut single, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” The hirsute Albano played Lauper’s disapproving father, whom Lauper affectionately hammerlocks into their apartment wall. With Albano now instantly recognizable to millions of Gen X-ers, Lauper’s manager, Dave Wolff (a pro wrestling fanatic), arranged for his client to appear on Rowdy Roddy Piper’s ringside talk show “Piper’s Pit.”

For an artist who’d just scored her first Billboard smash with a song about female empowerment, going on “Piper’s Pit” was like Helen Reddy victory lapping “I Am Woman” with a live set at the National Tractor Pulling Championships. Piper played a narcissistic boor notorious for ending his “interviews” by physically assaulting his guests. Subjecting the lovably perky Lauper to this meathead milieu felt remarkably ill-advised. At best, no one would notice; at worst, her fun-loving feminist image would take a hit.

Lauper, however, was completely game for “Piper’s Pit,” fully committing to a manufactured tiff with Albano, who’d bragged to Piper that he not only discovered her, but also wrote the lyrics to “Time After Time.” When Albano veered into sexist insults, an indignant Lauper leapt to her feet and bashed him over the head with her purse. It was brilliantly silly theater sold by a trio of first-rate performers. The crowd went nuts, and a wrestling feud was born.

The dispute would be settled at “The Brawl to End It All,” a women’s wrestling match where Lauper’s “rock-and-roll” champion Wendi Richter battled Albano’s nefarious associate The Fabulous Moolah. MTV relentlessly promoted the fracas, airing it live on July 23, 1984, and ringing up a then network-best 9.0 Nielsen rating. Richter’s win could’ve served as a tidy conclusion to the spat, but MTV and WWF were eager to top that eye-popping ratings number. What happened next put wrestling on the path to becoming the $700 million a year revenue producer it is today.

On Dec. 28, 1984, Lauper attended a highly publicized WWF card at Madison Square Garden to bury the hatchet with Albano by presenting him with an honorary gold record for his very real multiple sclerosis fundraising efforts. Piper crashed the ceremony, smashed the award over Albano’s head, power-slammed Wolff and kicked Lauper in the head. It was a jaw-dropping turn of events. Just when it looked like no one could stop Piper, the WWF’s recently crowned World Champion and newfangled golden boy Hulk Hogan stormed the ring and saved the day.

This villainous act set up “The War to Settle the Score,” another MTV/WWF co-production that attracted major '80s celebrities like Tina Turner, Dee Snider and Kenny Loggins. There were multiple matches on the Feb. 18, 1985 card, including Lauper’s champion Richter defending her title against Moolah’s new protégé, Leilani Kai. But what was promoted as an evening of squared-circle catharsis went unexpectedly sideways for the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Connection: Hogan “won” by disqualification after being assaulted by Piper, Bob Orton and Paul Orndorff (this time, Mr. T raced to Hogan’s rescue), while Lauper watched on forlornly as Richter was defeated by Kai.

It was wrestling’s “The Empire Strikes Back,” the difference being that millions of wrestling fans wouldn’t have to wait three years for the payoff because Vince McMahon already had it booked for March 31, 1985. He called it WrestleMania.

In 2004, the rechristened World Wrestling Entertainment added a “celebrity wing” to its Hall of Fame. Fourteen years later, Lauper has yet to be inducted to an institution that likely wouldn’t exist had she never paid a visit to “Piper’s Pit.”