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Rock star Cyndi Lauper, who's popularity in the 1980s helped propel WWF towards the first Wrestlemania as she was involved in angles with Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan and The Fabulous Moolah, was officially named as a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today.
Lauper first got involved with professional wrestling after she and her then-husband and manager Dave Wolff met Lou Albano on a flight, leading to Albano being cast to play Lauper's father in the music video for Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, which was an insanely massive hit in an era where videos running on MTV meant all of the difference for an artist becoming a success. This led to appearances on Piper's Pit where Albano tried to take credit for Lauper's career, setting up Lauper getting her own star to manage, Wendi Richter, to show she could be a successful manager.
It also led to a major angle in Madison Square Garden where Roddy Piper came and attacking Albano and Lauper when they were being honored in the ring, including kicking Lauper, setting up Hulk Hogan and Mr. T (at the time, as massive movie and TV star) getting involved to set the stage for the first Wrestlemania and after that, WWE began its journey to where it is today. Without Lauper and the MTV connection, WWF loses a massive chunk of what set them up for national and later international success:
On that first Wrestlemania, Lauper managed Richter against Leilani Kai, who was managed by Moolah.
WWF and Lauper later separated and it wasn't until decades later that Lauper, while filming a reality show, returned to a WWE taping in Long Island, NY, where she took part in a segment with Roddy Piper.
Still, Lauper never ever let her appreciation of that era go. During a 2018 concert tour, Lauper regularly made Lauper made specific mentions of Lou Albano, Roddy Piper, The Fabulous Moolah, Freddie Blassie and Andre the Giant before dedicating her song The Goonies R Good Enough to "All the people from wrestling" who made that part of her life so special. As Lauper performed the song, they played clips of the WWE Hall of Famers from the music video of the song:
Wendi Richter was named to the WWE Hall of Fame, but as irony has it, somehow Lauper has never been named to the Celebrity Wing:
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