WrestleMania III

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WrestleMania III
File:WMIII.JPG
PromotionWorld Wrestling Federation
DateMarch 29 1987[1]
CityPontiac, Michigan[1]
VenuePontiac Silverdome[1]
Attendance93,173[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Pay-per-view chronology
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Survivor Series 1987


WrestleMania III was the third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The event was held on March 29 1987 from the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.[1] Its tagline was "Bigger, Better, Badder". The official theme song was Aretha Franklin's "Who's Zooming Who?", which was used during the ending video montage.

The event is particularly notable for the reported attendance of 93,173: the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America and the largest paying crowd in the history of professional wrestling.[1][2][7] However, this number has been disputed, where many claim the real attendance to be around 75,000.[1][8][9] the event is still widely considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom.[8] Almost one million fans watched the event at 160 closed circuit locations in North America.[1] The number of people watching via pay-per-view is estimated at several million.[1] Pay-per-view revenues were estimated at $10 million.[10]

Report

Background

Just like every WrestleMania, the event was hyped during the several months before. The main feud was André the Giant's betrayal of kayfabe ally, the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan.[11] The feud began when Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF Champion for three years.[12] André the Giant, a good friend came out to congratulate him.[13][14] Shortly afterwards, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years."[12] In actuality, André had suffered a handful of countout and disqualification losses in the WWF, yet had never been pinned in a WWF ring.[15] Hogan came out to congratulate André, but André walked out during his congratulation speech. Then, on an edition of the interview segment Piper's Pit with Roddy Piper and Jesse Ventura, Piper had invited Hogan and Ventura had invited André the Giant and Bobby Heenan. Heenan then announced that he was André's new (kayfabe) manager,[4] following André challenging Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, and ripping the T-shirt and crucifix off of Hogan.[1][5][13][14] Coming into the match, Hogan had been the WWF Champion for more than three years.[4]

Another main feud leading up to the event, was between Ricky Steamboat and the Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage. The feud began when Savage (kayfabe) crushed Steamboat's larynx.[11] This was a long, bitter feud which lasted for six months, included several bloody match-ups and finally culminated at the event.[7] Also, this feud included George Steele, as he had developed a crush on Savage's valet, Miss Elizabeth.[4]

Also, Bobby Heenan was continuously taunting Billy Jack Haynes, by telling him that Hercules was the real master of the full nelson. This came to a boiling point when Hercules attacked Haynes on an edition of Superstars of Wrestling, which led to their Chain match at this event. Haynes and Hernandez had reignited a feud that went back through every federation the two were ever in together.[citation needed] This battle was advertised as the Full Nelson Challenge.[16]

Another heated feud leading up to this event was between Harley Race and the Junkyard Dog. When The WWF Wrestling Classic became the King of the Ring tournament, Harley Race went on to win it, and began referring to himself as "King" Harley Race, coming to the ring in a royal crown and cape, to the ceremonial accompaniment of the classical music piece "Great Gates of Kiev" by Modest Mussorgsky.[17] After winning every match, Race forced his defeated opponent to "bow and kneel" before him. Usually, Race's manager, Bobby Heenan, helped the defeated opponent to "bow and kneel" by grabbing their hair and forcing him to bow before King Harley Race.[18] The Junkyard Dog protested against Race's self-proclaimed monarchy in the WWF and stated there would never be a complete ruler in the WWF. This led to a match on the March 14 1987 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, where the King and his manager both tried to make Junkyard Dog bow for them. This set the stage for the WrestleMania match, where the loser had to bow to the winner.[16]

On January 26 1987, the British Bulldogs lost the WWF Tag Team Championship to The Hart Foundation in a match that saw the Dynamite Kid so debilitated that he was carried to the ring by Davey Boy Smith and did not see much physical action. Danny Davis was the referee and allowed The Hart Foundation to use illegal double-team maneuvers in the match.[19] After being given some time off to recuperate, the Bulldogs continued their rivalry with The Hart Foundation, when they teamed up with Tito Santana against the Foundation and the referee-turned-wrestler, Danny Davis, in a six-man tag team match at this event.[16]

Rock music singer Alice Cooper was in Jake Roberts's corner during his match with The Honky Tonk Man. The Honky Tonk Man attacked Roberts with a guitar on Roberts's interview segment The Snake Pit, which legitimately injured Roberts's neck.[20][21] This event began Roberts's turn into a babyface and began the feud between the wrestlers, which culminated in their WrestleMania match.

The feud between Adrian Adonis and Roddy Piper began when following a leave of absence from the WWF, Piper returned to find his Piper's Pit segment replaced by The Flower Shop, a segment hosted by the then-effeminate wrestler Adrian Adonis.[22] Piper, who returned as a face, spent weeks crashing Adonis's show and trading insults, leading to a "showdown" between the two segments that ended with Piper being assaulted and humiliated by Adonis, Piper's former bodyguard "Cowboy" Bob Orton and Don Muraco. The trio left Piper with his face covered in red lipstick lying in the middle of the remnants of the Piper's Pit set, which had been destroyed. In response, Piper stormed the set of Adonis's show and destroyed it with a baseball bat. This led to their Hair vs. Hair match at WrestleMania III, which was billed as Piper's retirement match from wrestling before becoming an actor full-time.[5]

The event also included Butch Reed's pay-per-view debut, in a match against Koko B. Ware, The Dream Team against The Fabulous Rougeaus, which was part of a rivalry that had been rekindled various times, a Mixed Tag Team Match between Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid and Little Beaver against King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook, and a tag team match between The Can-Am Connection and the former WWF Tag Team Champions The Magnificent Muraco and "Cowboy" Bob Orton.

Event

Other On-Screen Talent
Role: Name:
Commentator Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
(Rougeaus/Dream Team match)
Gorilla Monsoon
Jesse Ventura
Referee John Benella
Dave Hebner
Jack Kruger
Jack Lutz
Joey Marella
Interviewer Mary Hart[23]
Vince McMahon
"Mean" Gene Okerlund
Bob Uecker[23]
Ring announcer Ray Combs[1]
Howard Finkel
Bob Uecker[1][23]
Timekeeper Mary Hart[1]
Supporting Alice Cooper
(in Jake Roberts's corner)[1][23]
Vocalist Aretha Franklin[1][23]

Vince McMahon claims that as he was about to announce "Welcome to WrestleMania III!", he felt the spirit of his father Vincent J. McMahon who had died three years earlier. The show opened with Aretha Franklin singing "America the Beautiful".[23]

The first match of the night was The Can-Am Connection vs. Bob Orton and The Magnificent Muraco. The match ended when Rick Martel gives Don Muraco a high cross body to get the win for his team.[1][24]

The second match that aired, was Hercules (with Bobby Heenan in his corner) against Billy Jack Haynes in The Full Nelson Challenge. The match ended when Haynes locked Hercules in the Full Nelson outside the ring and both were counted out.[1][24] After the match, Bobby Heenan assaulted Haynes, and Haynes chased him into the ring. Hercules then continuously assaulted Haynes with his chain, before locking him in a Full Nelson of his own.[25]

The third match of the night was the Mixed Tag Team Match of King Kong Bundy and his midget team of Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokyo against Hillbilly Jim and his own midget team of The Haiti Kid and Little Beaver. King Kong Bundy's team was disqualified when Bundy attacked Little Beaver. The referee called for the bell, as Bundy was not supposed to be in the ring with the midgets.[16]

The fourth match of the night is the Loser Bows match between The Junkyard Dog and King Harley Race. "Mean" Gene Okerlund was with Bobby Heenan, Harley Race, and The Fabulous Moolah, and Moolah announced that Junkyard Dog would have to bow to the King as he is supposed to do.[25] Bobby gave Moolah the crown and told her to put it on the King's head after the match.[25] Junkyard Dog then came out to the ring to a big ovation in the Silver Dome.[26] During the match, the two battle back and forth, and Harley Race gives the Junkyard Dog a belly to belly suplex when he's distracted by Bobby Heenan, to get the win. Due to the stipulation, The Junkyard Dog must bow and kneel to the King. He did a little bow and then hit Harley Race with a steel chair. After all of that is said and done, the JYD took the royal robe of the King and left the ring with it.[1][24]

The next match that aired was The Dream Team against The Fabulous Rougeaus. Raymond Rougeau started off the match by locking it up with Brutus Beefcake. The two guys get the tag, and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine brawls with Jacques Rougeau as Dino Bravo looks on from the outside of the ring. Raymond got a sleeper on Greg Valentine and Brutus jumped off the ropes and gave the Hammer a double ax handle inadvertently. The Rougeau Brothers give the Hammer a double team move, but the referee was arguing with Brutus. Dino Bravo jumped off the top rope and hit Raymond while he's pinning Greg, and Greg pinned him for the win.[25] The Dream Team argued into the match so Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo to leave together, leaving Beefcake in the ring alone.[2]

Interview footage of Roddy Piper then aired. As the interview was shown, Piper made his way to the ring to face Adrian Adonis in his retirement match.[25] Jimmy Hart is in the corner of Adrian Adonis. Piper and Adrian began the match assaulting each other with a belt. Adonis put a sleeper hold on Piper in the middle of the ring and releases the hold thinking that he won the match. Jimmy Hart got in the ring to celebrate with Adrian, but Brutus Beefcake came to the ring to bring Piper back to reality, and Piper unloads on Adrian and gives him a sleeper hold of his own.[27] Beefcake then shaved Adonis's head, who subsequently ran from the ring in embarrassment.[27] Piper won, and after the match was over, Brutus got in the ring and cut Adrian Adonis' hair as Piper holds down Jimmy Hart.[1][24]

Following was a six-Man tag team match between Danny Davis and The Hart Foundation against The British Bulldogs and Tito Santana. This match had a lot of near-falls for the Bulldogs, yet The Anvil stopped most. When all six wrestlers got in the ring, Danny Davis hit Davey Boy Smith with Jimmy Hart's megaphone and pinned him for the win.[25]

The next match aired was Butch Reed's pay-per-view debut against "The Bird Man" Koko B. Ware. Butch won the match with a rollup after a high cross-body from Koko. After the contest, Slick got in the ring and hammered away on Koko B. Ware, but Tito Santana quickly rushed to the ring and stopped Slick. Tito ripped some of the clothes off of the Slickster, who retreated as Butch got back in the ring, only to get a double drop kick from Koko and Tito.

The next contest was a title match involving WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat. Savage attacked Steamboat as he greeted fans at ringside.[1] Savage then pushed Steamboat over the security rail and delivered an elbow that thrust Steamboat's throat into the rail, sending him to the hospital.[1] The match itself lasted for nearly fifteen minutes near-falls.[4][7] At one point, Savage went to use the ring bell as a weapon, but was stopped by George Steele, who knocked him off of the top rope.[4] When Savage went to give Steamboat a scoop slam, Steamboat reversed it into a small package to get the win and become the new WWF Intercontinental Champion,[4][7] marking the first time in WrestleMania history that the Intercontinental Championship changed hands.[2][28] This match is considered by many to be one of the greatest matches in World Wrestling Entertainment history.[3][4][7][28]

The tenth match of the night was between The Honky Tonk Man and Jake Roberts, who had Alice Cooper in his corner. When Jake went for the DDT, Jimmy Hart pulled his legs, and the Honky Tonk Man rolled up Roberts from behind, held on to the ropes, and pinned him for the win.[1][24] After the match, Alice Cooper got in the ring and used Robert's python, Damien, to attack Hart.[25]

The next match of the night was a tag team match between The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff against The Killer Bees. Slick asked all of the fans to rise to respect Nikolai Volkoff's singing of the Soviet National Anthem. He began singing and Hacksaw Jim Duggan came to the ring with his two by four, which has an American flag attached to it. Duggan got on the microphone and said that Volkoff was not going to sing because America is the land of the free and the home of the brave.[25] Duggan stayed at ringside while the match ensued. The Iron Sheik locked a camel clutch on one of the Killer Bees, and Jim Duggan hit him with his two by four. The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff won as a result of disqualification.

In what was billed as the "biggest main event in sports entertainment",[13] the main event pitted WWF Champion Hulk Hogan against André the Giant for his WWF World Championship.[1] Howard Finkel introduced Bob Uecker as the guest ring announcer for the main event, and Mary Hart is introduced as the time keeper. Bobby Heenan was in the corner of Andre the Giant as he came to the ring. The fans boo Andre heavily, and Hogan comes to the ring to a huge ovation.[25] Approximately two minutes into the match, Hogan attempted a bodyslam on André, which failed and nearly cost him the match.[13] Later in the match, Andre gave Hogan an Irish whip to the far side of the ring and attempted a big boot on Hogan, but Hogan gives Andre a clothesline to take him down. Hogan then scoop slammed the 540 pound Andre and executed a leg drop to get the win and retain the World Wrestling Federation Championship belt.[4][6][13]

Aftermath

Piper went on to film Hell Comes to Frogtown and They Live, then made sporadic appearances on television, before finally returning to host a Piper's Pit segment on WrestleMania V.[27] He continued to be active in professional wrestling for more than a decade.[2]

After WrestleMania III, Hogan and André the Giant continued their feud, culminating at WrestleMania IV.[1] Their first televised match after WrestleMania III was on NBC on February 5, 1988 and drew 33 million viewers, making it the most watched match in professional wrestling history.[4] The angle surrounding this match-up was that after being absent for approximately a year, André was ready to return to wrestling, but only for the money and not for the glory.[4] In the match, André ended Hogan's four-year reign as champion with the help of a screwjob finish involving referee Earl and Dave Hebner.[4][29] This also set up a rematch at WrestleMania IV as part of a tournament to crown a new champion.[4]

Twenty years after the event, Aretha Franklin once again opened a WrestleMania pay-per-view by singing "America the Beautiful" at WrestleMania 23.[30]

Results

File:WMIIIsteamboat.jpg
Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage for the Intercontinental Championship

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj Powell, John. "Steamboat - Savage rule WrestleMania 3". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  2. ^ a b c d e "WrestleMania III Facts and Stats". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  3. ^ a b Yandek, Chris (October 2003). "Interview: Randy Savage". Wrestling Digest. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Eck, Kevin (December 2002). "The main events: ladies and gentlemen, may we present the 25 most memorable matches in the last 25 years". Wrestling Digest. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  5. ^ a b c Shields, Brian (2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Simon and Schuster. pp. pp. 26. ISBN 1416532579. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  6. ^ a b Loverro, Thom (2006). The Rise & Fall of ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1416510583.
  7. ^ a b c d e Loria, Keith (April 2003). "Mania madness: The top 10 matches from the fabled history of WWE's showcase event". Wrestling Digest. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  8. ^ a b Cohen, Eric. "WrestleMania III". About. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  9. ^ Schramm, Chris (1999-05-07). "A history of crowds". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
  10. ^ Beekman, Scott M. (2006). Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America. Greenwood Press. pp. pp. 128. ISBN 027598401X. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  11. ^ a b "Top 22 Matches in WrestleMania History". World Wrestling Entertainment. March 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
  12. ^ a b McAvennie, Mike (2007-03-30). "The Big One". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  13. ^ a b c d e "WrestleMania III Main Event". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  14. ^ a b Shields, Brian (2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Simon and Schuster. pp. pp. 38. ISBN 1416532579. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  15. ^ "Wrestler Profiles: Andre The Giant". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-10-19. {{cite web}}: horizontal tab character in |title= at position 20 (help)
  16. ^ a b c d "WrestleMania III Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
  17. ^ "Hall of Fame Bio: Harley Race". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
  18. ^ Owens, Chris. "Harley Race Page 2". Kayfabe Memories. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
  19. ^ "Hart Foundation's first reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  20. ^ "Honkey Tonk Man nearly kills Jake "The Snake" Roberts". Wrestling Gone Wrong. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  21. ^ Foley, Mick (2000). Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks. HarperCollins. pp. pp. 288. ISBN 0061031011. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  22. ^ Cohen, Eric. "Roddy Piper Biography". About. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
  23. ^ a b c d e f "WrestleMania III Celebrities". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "WrestleMania III". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Wrestlemania III Results". Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  26. ^ "WrestleMania III". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  27. ^ a b c Shields, Brian (2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Simon and Schuster. pp. pp. 49. ISBN 1416532579. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  28. ^ a b Shields, Brian (2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Simon and Schuster. pp. pp. 42. ISBN 1416532579. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  29. ^ Shields, Brian (2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Simon and Schuster. pp. pp. 57. ISBN 1416532579. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  30. ^ "WrestleMania 23". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
  31. ^ "WrestleMania PPV Cards". Wrestling Information Archive. Retrieved 2007-10-13.

Further reading

External links

Template:WrestleMania

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