WWF Wrestlemania III
March 29, 1987
Detroit, MI

While the first Wrestlemania was a huge success, the second one was a bit of a disappointment. Vince McMahon looked to expand the Wrestlemania idea by having it split between three venues didn’t completely work, and the main events were a bit lackluster. Vince McMahon had a solution to this though…the biggest main event you could put together in 1987: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant. Oh, and instead of three venues Mania III will be in the 94,000 seat Pontiac Silverdome.

An insane idea for sure. But why couldn’t the WWF pack the Silverdome to the rafters? This is perhaps the golden era of professional wrestling. Vince McMahon had been riding this wrestling boom super high and there looked to be no end in sight. Hulkamania was running wild…and going against the “undefeated” Andre the Giant just seemed like printing money. Could Mania III fix the issues of Mania II?

The Card

I know it really isn’t 93,000 people, but those long viewed shots are incredible.

Aretha Frankin with the iconic “America the Beautiful”. Even in the opening moments you had a sense that this may have been the biggest professional wrestling card ever.

The Can-Am Connection vs. Bob Orton and Don Muraco

The Connection is Rick Martel and Tom Zenk.

The Connection win when Martel pinned Muraco in 5:37. Crossbody for the win. Fun opener that got the crowd into it as Zenk and Martel were popular.

Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules

Build-up involves Haynes offering Hercules to lock him in the Full Nelson, but Hercules taking him out instead. It’s Chris Masters 18 years early.

Haynes survives the Full Nelson and locks Hercules in one of his own!

Double Countout in 7:44. Haynes has the Full Nelson locked in, but Hercules is able to roll to the outside and takes Haynes with him. Haynes locks in the hold again and both men are counted out. Hated the finish, match told a good story though. Hercules levels Haynes with a steel chain afterwards, busting him open.

Hillbilly Jim, Haiti Kid and Little Beaver vs. King Kong Bundy, Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokyo

Littlebrook, Tokyo, Beaver and Kid are all midget wrestlers. The real issue was with Jim and Bundy.

Quite a drop off from Mania II for Bundy.

Rules state big guys fight big guys and little guys fight little guys.

Beaver actually elbows Bundy. This leads to a funny sequence where Beaver drops kicks Bundy before running to tag in Jim.

Beaver keeps attacking Bundy, who’s had enough.

Jim, Beaver and Kid win by DQ in 3:25. Bundy slams Beaver and drops an elbow on him for the DQ. Jesse Ventura makes a good point that Beaver kept attacking Bundy and shouldn’t have been DQed. The midgets all turn on Bundy too. This was more of a comedy match.

Junkyard Dog vs. Harley Race

If JYD loses, he has to bow to Race, if he wins he gets the wear the crown.

I don’t really know the details backstage I guess, but Harley Race seemed absolutely wasted in the WWF.

Harley Race pinned Junkyard Dog in 4:22. Belly to belly wins it. JYD bows to Race…then attacks him with a chair and wears the robe himself. Some good guy. Of course the crowd cheers him too. Ventura again makes a great point that JYD was wrong to do that to Race. Also, in the internet era JYD would have been booed out of the building for that.

The Rougeau Brothers vs. Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake

Really great double team move midway in when Beefcake holds Jacques over his head and Valentine comes down with a forearm. Beefcake ends it with a backbreaker.

We get some Bobby Heenan on commentary which is great. He’s 2-0 because the double countout was a win in his book!

Beefcake accidentally nails Valentine, leading too…

Valentine and Beefcake win in 4:03. Raymond has Valentine beat, but Dino Bravo breaks up the pin when coming off the top rope for Valentine to steal the win.

Afterwards Bravo celebrates with Valentine and leave Beefcake in the ring, which turns Beefcake. Odd choice to have the Rougeaus lose here if they were gonna break up Valentine and Beefcake.

Hair vs. Hair
Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis

The build-up to this seems incredible. Piper was retiring, but he had been attacked by Adonis and took a flower pot to the face. Piper destroying the Flower Shop set is incredible as well.

It took an hour, but we finally have a big match to make this feel like Wrestlemania.

Piper starts off by whipping Adonis with a belt. Adonis gets revenge though. Already the intensity of this match sets it apart from the rest of the card.

Piper throws Jimmy Hart at Adonis and that sets him over the top rope. Entertaining stuff so far.

I like how Adonis’ sleeper is called “Good Night Irene”.

Roddy Piper wins when Adonis passed out in 6:33. Adonis has Piper beat it seems, but releases Good Night Irene too early. While celebrating, Brutus Beefcake comes down and helps revive Piper. Piper gets the sleeper for the win. Beefcake cuts Adonis’ hair as revenge for an earlier situation where Adonis cut Beefcake’s hair. This led to Beefcake being called “the Barber”. Maybe not the best match, but it was fun and told a good story. When the character are over, matches become better automatically. Piper’s retirement wouldn’t last of course. Adonis left the WWF shortly after this.

It is beginning to get dark in the Silverdome which really helps the atmosphere.

Danny Davis and the Hart Foundation vs. The British Bulldogs and Tito Santana

Big heat for Davis as he’s was a heel ref that got “banned”. He gets in a few kicks everytime he’s tagged in and immediately tags out. Good stuff.

Davis tries a slingshot and the Dynamite Kid gets his knees up, allowing Tito to come in and attack Davis.

Davey Boy Smith gets an awesome Tombstone on Davis. Wow!

The Harts and Davis win when Davis pinned Davey Boy in 8:54. Big brawl erupts, but Davis gets the megaphone and takes out Davey for the win. Good, fun match. Davis gets huge heat. This was kind of a last hurrah for the Bulldogs, as Dynamite Kid had hurt his back a few months prior and was never the same worker again.

Butch Reed vs. Koko B. Ware

This is Reed’s PPV debut.

Reed pins Ware in 3:40. Reed reverses a crossbody and holds the tights for the win. Slick attacks Ware, but Tito Santana evens the odds and helps Ware fend off Reed and Slick. Not much to say about this one really. All these short matches are hurting the card for sure.

Intercontinental Championship
Randy Savage© vs. Ricky Steamboat

George “The Animal” Steele is in Steamboat’s corner, and of course Miss Elizabeth is in Savage’s.

Hot start with two perfect armdrags from Steamboat and a tree slam.

So far everything Steamboat and Savage have done has been intense and crisp. In North American Steamboat was arguably the best worker in the world at this point, and Savage had to be top 10 at worst.

Savage knees Steamboat in the back and sends him into the crowd. In 1987!

Savage comes off the top with an axhandle smash to Steamboat on the floor.

Steamboat backdrops Savage over the top rope and onto the floor. Savage goes over the top rope amazingly as well!

Steamboat jumps over the ref and takes Savage out with a flying karate chop! Two count only as Savage gets the ropes…but the crowd popped huge there!

Tons of near falls on Savage…and again they fool the crowd!

Great irish whip reversal takes out the referee.

Big elbow from Savage! But still no referee.

Ricky Steamboat wins the title by pin in 14:35. Savage grabs the ring bell, but Steele grabs it from him. Savage attacks Steele then grabs the ring bell again, but Steele pushes Savage off the top rope. A dazed Savage tries to slam Steamboat, but he rolls through and gets the pin and the title. The first great Wrestlemania match, and for a while it was the best Wrestlemania match of all time (some would say it still is, and some would say it’s the greatest match of all time). The story is tremendous, the in-ring action is tremendous and the match itself serves as the prototype to great matches of the future (up until about 1998). This match also showed that Savage could both be main event level guys, although Steamboat wouldn’t reach that level in the WWF. Both men were World Champions a couple years from this match as Savage was World Champion at the next Wrestlemania and Steamboat would win the NWA World Title from Ric Flair in 1989.

Honky Tonk Man vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts

Jake has Alice Cooper in his corner.

Cool spot on the outside where Jake gets slammed into the post and sells it so well he ends up crashing into the railing.

Honky Tonk Man pins Jake in 7:04. Jake goes for the DDT, but Jimmy Hart holds onto Jake’s leg which stops him. Honky then rolls Jake up and holds the ropes for the pin. Not a bad match by any means. Alice Cooper and Jake get Jimmy Hart at the end and allow Damien, Jake’s snake, to get him.

The Killer Bees vs. Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik

Jim Duggan prevents Volkoff from singing the Russian National Anthem.

Sheik and Volkoff win by DQ in 5:48. Duggan whacks Sheik with the 2×4 for the DQ. Ventura complained about Duggan being on the outside the entire time and it turned out he was right. Match was fine. Duggan starts a USA chant which somehow offsets the fact that he ruined the match. Ah well.

WWF Championship
Hulk Hogan© vs. Andre the Giant

Arguably the biggest match in professional wrestling history at this point. Hogan, the invincible superman against Andre, the undefeated 8th Wonder of the World. Andre turned heel when he was given a smaller trophy than Hogan for being undefeated for 20 years. This was the Dream Match at the time.

There’s some perfect about Bob Uecker’s introduction of Andre the Giant.

To this day nothing for me matches Hogan and Andre’s initial staredown in terms of intensity and big match feel.

Hogan goes for the slam..but Andre falls on him! He gets a two count only.

For as bad match quality wise this match is, the beginning isn’t too bad. Andre just tosses Hogan around like he’s nothing, which was a perfect way to book this match considering Hogan never went through anything like that before.

Other than a small offensive from Hogan, this has been all Andre. Once again, its smart booking because you have no idea if Hogan could come back from this.

I couldn’t help but laugh that Hogan goes for a piledriver on the floor to Andre. Like that was going to happen.

Hogan slams Andre!

Hogan retains the title in 12:02. Legdrop wins. Easily the greatest smoke and mirrors match ever as the match itself was pretty bad (although it definitely could have been worse), but it doesn’t matter one bit. Historically this match was the perfect example of hype and being able to deliver despite obvious limitations. The feud would remain hot and continue through 1988, where Andre would win the title on the first Saturday Night’s Main Event. Hogan slamming Andre is still arguably the biggest moment in Wrestlemania history.

We had one of the most historic matches in wrestling history with Andre vs. Hogan, one of the greatest matches in wrestling history with Steamboat vs. Savage, and a few good matches (Harts/Davis-Bulldogs/Santana, Piper-Adonis). I can’t give it the perfect A+ because there was a lot of short stuff that wasn’t good, but this definitely was a great Wrestlemania.

This was the peak of the golden age of professional wrestling. While 1987 and even 1988 would remain strong for the WWF, things would go downhill after that.

But as of Mania III, Hulkamania was still running as wild as ever.

Final Grade: A