A couple of days prior to the event, Bobby Heenan was in a hospital in Tampa, Florida, having an MRI done. Heenan was discovered to have two fractured vertebraes, which doctors said would require two bone pieces to be taken from his hip and placed in his neck. The night before WrestleMania 2, WWF bookers told Heenan that if he didn't make it to Los Angeles for King Kong Bundy's main event match against Hulk Hogan, Heenan would be fired. In Heenan's words, "I left the hospital, flew from Tampa to L.A., went to the ring, worked the match, took a bump for Hogan. After that, I immediately caught a redeye back to Tampa, went back to the hospital, and they said, 'Where have you been?' and I said, 'I went to L.A. to wrestle.' They said, 'You're nuts!' I said, 'No, it's my neck.' So you have to do what you have to do sometimes."
Shortly after the previous year's WrestleMania I (1985), WWF Chairman Vince McMahon secretly pitched an angle where Jimmy Snuka would turn heel, starting a feud with Hulk Hogan that would culminate in a steel cage match between Hogan and Snuka at WrestleMania 2. Hogan declined, reportedly saying "I don't want to wrestle with that crazy maniac." Soon after, Snuka left the Federation in August 1985, and would not return to the company until WrestleMania V (1989).
The Hulk Hogan vs King Kong Bundy match was the only steel cage match in WrestleMania history until WrestleMania 38.
Roddy Piper truly resented Mr. T because T was an actor with no wrestling ability. Their real-life dislike for each other was written into the show.