Stuttgart, who spent most of last season fighting relegation and employed three coaches, beat last season's German Cup winners and Champions League semi-finalists Schalke 04 to celebrate the opening of their rebuilt stadium.
Wolfsburg overcame the absence of playmaker Diego to win at Cologne, who look to be in for another arduous season and were jeered off by the 47,000 crowd.
Promoted Augsburg, playing in the top flight for the first time, twice came from behind to hold Freiburg 2-2 and Werder Bremen, hoping for a vast improvement on last season's uninspiring 13th place, beat Kaiserslautern 2-0.
Stuttgart, who have avoided the temptation to splurge in the transfer market, took the lead when Brazilian-born forward Cacau diverted Francisco Rodriguez's header into the net eight minutes before half-time.
"SPECIAL DAY"
"That was a special day for Stuttgart, a newly opened stadium and a win against such strong opponents," said coach Bruno Labbadia, who took over halfway through last season and led the underachieving side to safety.
Patrick Helmes scored twice and Marcel Schaefer helped himself to the other goal in Wolfsburg's win at Cologne as the visitors repeatedly caught their defensively sloppy hosts on the counter-attack.
