Mr. T entered the world of professional wrestling in 1985. He was Hulk Hogan's tag-team partner at the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) WrestleMania which he won. Remaining with the WWF, Mr. T became a special "WWF boxer". He took on "Cowboy" Bob Orton on the March 1, 1986 Saturday Night's Main Event V, on NBC. This boxing stunt culminated in another boxing match against Roddy Piper at WrestleMania 2. As part of the build-up for the match, Piper attacked Mr. T's friend, midget wrestler the Haiti Kid on his Piper's Pit interview slot, shaving his head into a mohican style like that of Mr. T. Mr. T won the boxing match in round four by disqualification after Piper attacked the referee and bodyslammed Mr. T. He returned to the World Wrestling Federation as a special guest referee in 1987 as well as a special referee enforcer confronting such stars as The Honky Tonk Man.
On July 21, 1989, Mr. T. made an appearance in World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), seconding Kerry Von Erich. Five years later, Mr. T reappeared in WCW, first appearing in Hulk Hogan's corner for his WCW World Title match against Ric Flair at Bash at the Beach 1994. He would next appear as a special referee for the Hogan–Flair rematch in October 1994 at Halloween Havoc, and then went on to wrestle again, defeating Kevin Sullivan at that year's Starrcade.
Another seven years later Mr. T appeared in the front row of the November 19, 2001, episode of WWF Raw. On April 5, 2014, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Mr. T was inducted by Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame's celebrity wing.