Jimmy Hart On His Favorite WrestleMania Moments, Origin Of His Jackets & Megaphone

Jimmy Hart recently discussed his favorite moments in WrestleMania history and the origin of his famous jackets and megaphone. Hart spoke with KTRE promoting the WrestleMania 38 ticket on-sale date and you can see highlights below, courtesy of Wrestling Inc:

On if he expected WrestleMania to become as big as it has: “I didn’t know what was gonna happen. I was in Memphis, TN when I got the call from WWF then. I said, ‘Feet, don’t fail me now.’ I went straight to New York City. I was up there for about three months before the first WrestleMania, and I got my feet wet a little bit on what was happening up there. When we did the show, I thought, well, if this is one night for me, I’ll be going back home to Memphis to Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman. It would be a thrill of a lifetime, but there was just something special.

“When we went out to the ring, the crowd was so wild and crazy, and over to my right was Dick Clark and Cyndi Lauper. And then over to my left, there was Muhammad Ali. Liberace was there. The list was just on and on and on and Mr. T. Hulk [Hogan] and I had been friends since the Memphis days, even though he was a good guy and I was a bad guy. Like I said, there was just something special about everything that happened. It’s something I’ll never forget. Those are the two fondest memories for me in this business, it’s WrestleMania III, which I participated in and of course, WrestleMania I.”

On his favorite WrestleMania moments: “Well, the ones I participated in, I love WrestleMania III. That was, of course, in Detroit, MI. What was so special, I got to go out three different times! I went out with the Honky Tonk Man against Jake Roberts and Alice Cooper. Came back, changed jackets, went back out with The Hart Foundation and Danny Davis, our referee, going against The Bulldogs and Tito Santana.

“Came back, changed jackets again and went back out with Adrian Adonis, who I managed against ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper. It was just unbelievable. 93,000+ people and it was just a thrill for me to be a part of that, and of course, being part of WrestleMania I because how many people now, that are still around, can say they participated not once but twice at WrestleMania I. Of course, I managed Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine and then I had King Kong Bundy also.”

On the origin of his jackets and megaphone: “Well, a quick story here, two different parts of a story, one, is the reason I where the colorful jackets is because before I got into the world of wrestling, I was in a band called The Gentrys. We toured with Dick Clark back in the day with The Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher. It was all bus tours back then, and I remember something Dick Clark said once in a meeting.

“He said, ‘Look, some nights when you get on stage, you might not feel good. Do the best you can but you can always do one thing. When you’re on that stage, if you dress like the audience, one day you’re gonna be sitting in the audience. Be colorful. Give the people their money’s worth. They don’t want to buy a ticket to see somebody who looks like them.’ I remembered that, so when I went into this business, I made sure to wear colorful jackets.

“Number two, the megaphone, it’s been around the world two or three times. Vince McMahon was the one that brought this to me from Japan and said, ‘You can use this at ringside, just don’t over do it.’ I said, ‘Can I paint it,’ and he said, ‘Anything you want to with it.’ Two people who have helped out my career, Dick Clark and Vince McMahon.”