The first championship defense of WrestleMania was between Junkyard Dog (JYD) and the reigning WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine, who was accompanied to the ring by his manager Jimmy Hart. JYD began the match in the offensive position, performing headbutts and roundhouse right hands on Valentine. As the action went back and forth, Hart climbed on the ring apron, where Valentine accidentally hit him. Later, Valentine pinned JYD with his feet on the ropes for leverage, which is an illegal maneuver. As a result, Tito Santana ran down to the ring and explained what had happened to the match's official. The match was restarted, and JYD eventually won the match by count-out. Valentine, however, kept his title as titles do not change hands through count-out. The following match was a for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Nikolai Volkoff and Iron Sheik, accompanied to the ring by Freddie Blassie, challenged the reigning champions, The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham), who were accompanied by Lou Albano. The U.S. Express dominated the early part of the match until Volkoff and The Sheik began to gain the offensive advantage over Rotundo. After Rotundo tagged in his partner Windham, Windham performed a bulldog on The Sheik. After nearly being pinned, The Sheik hit Windham in the head with Blassie's cane as the referee had his back turned. After Volkloff got the pin, Volkoff and The Sheik were crowned as the new tag champions.