‘I’m Getting Goosebumps Just Thinking About It’: Historic ‘WrestleMania III’ to Air on FS1
Wrestling fans should prepare to go back in time, as FS1 is set to air WWE’s iconic WrestleMania III on Tuesday evening.
The show took place on March 29, 1987 in Michigan’s Pontiac Silverdome, and was home to the single most identifiable moment in WWE history when Hulk Hogan slammed Andre The Giant.
“I tried so hard to give people something they’d never forget,” said Hogan. “People still to this day talk about the match. Andre passed the torch to me, but he made me earn it. That’s what you call taking care of the business.”
Only 33 years old at the time, Hogan was already atop the wrestling world. He headlined the inaugural WrestleMania in a tag match that featured mainstream coverage with the inclusion of Hollywood star Mr. T, then closed out WrestleMania II in a steel cage match victory against King Kong Bundy. But WrestleMania III showcased Vince McMahon’s vision for the future of his business. After collecting talent from across wrestling’s various regional territories to stack his roster, WrestleMania III became the company’s signature show.
The Hulkamania phenomenon was born in Minneapolis with the AWA, but reached unimaginable heights in WWE. Hogan’s WWE work in 1986 and ’87 helped cement his status as the top draw in wrestling. In addition to the showcase with Andre at WrestleMania III, Hogan also drew incredibly large fanfare in his feud with “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff.
“You had the best of both worlds,” said Hogan. “Paul Orndorff was young and aggressive and built like a brickhouse, and we had Andre The Giant. It was all about storylines that took months and months to build. We were able to create drama, emotion, and excitement.”
The WrestleMania III card is overflowing with legends. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper defeated Adrian Adonis in a “Hair vs. Hair” match, which was especially meaningful because it was billed as Piper’s retirement match. In customary wrestling fashion, Piper was back in action two years later.
The Hart Foundation met the British Bulldogs and Tito Santana in six-man tag action, while “King” Harley Race met the Junkyard Dog in a “Loser Must Bow” match. The Honky Tonk Man got the best of Jake “The Snake” Roberts, but the must-see moments were the ones with rock star Alice Cooper, who was in Roberts’ corner.
WrestleMania III was also full of celebrities, including Detroit’s own Aretha Franklin singing “America The Beautiful” to open the show. And as captivating as the wrestlers were in the ring, the show was significantly enhanced by a legendary supporting cast that included Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, “Mean” Gene Okerlund, ring announcer Howard Finkel and the broadcast team of Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon.
The show also featured one of WrestleMania’s all-time greatest wrestling matches, as Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat defeated “The Macho Man” Randy Savage for the Intercontinental title.
“I still hear, even from guys generations after me, that we redesigned the blueprint of a match,” said Steamboat. “I hated it fans when could call a match and know how it would finish. We wanted to leave people in suspense.”
In one of wrestling’s classic storylines, Savage had injured Steamboat’s larynx after jumping off the top rope with the ring bell landing on Steamboat’s throat. Savage was accompanied by Miss Elizabeth, while George “The Animal” Steele was beside Steamboat.
Most wrestlers of that era would call the match in the ring, but Savage was different. He meticulously planned out this match, move by move, which was not a popular or endearing move in 1987.
“It was uncommon for the time, but Randy was the type of guy that liked to put together a lot of things before the match going on gut feeling,” said Steamboat. “We put the match together on paper, not really knowing how the crowd was going to react. We decided we wanted to make it a championship-level match, knowing that the closing match was Hogan-Andre. We wanted to make a statement.”
The false finishes added a level of intensity to the Steamboat-Savage match, suspending people’s disbelief through a relentless string of near falls.
“Usually there were no more than six, eight, or ten false finishes, but we had close to 20,” said Steamboat. “Our story was that Randy wanted to hold onto his championship, and I wanted to beat him for it. My mindset was, after a long layoff and coming back from an injury, beating him for his title would be the way to hurt him most.”
The match was brilliantly crafted. Along with Steve Austin-Bret Hart from WrestleMania 13 and Shawn Michaels-The Undertaker from WrestleMania 25, it remains one WrestleMania’s masterpieces.
“The pace was off the hook and the false finishes took people on a wild ride,” said Steamboat. “When it was all said and done, my first thought was, ‘How are we going to follow this?’”
“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan also made his WWE pay-per-view debut at WrestleMania III. Nikolai Volkoff was treating those in attendance at the Silverdome to a live rendition of the Russian national anthem, and though Jesse Ventura compared Volkoff’s singing to that of famed tenor Luciano Pavarotti, the moment was broken up by Duggan and his signature two-by-four.
“I can tell you right now, at 66 years old, WrestleMania III was the thrill of a lifetime,” said Duggan. “I ran down to the ring in front of thousands and thousands of people, and I whacked the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, two established stars, with my two-by-four. I stood in the middle in the ring with the flag of the United States of America chanting ‘U-S-A!’ I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.”
Duggan had been a major star for Mid-South Wrestling before signing with WWE, but he had never experienced anything quite like WrestleMania.
“Coming out of Mid-South, that was a good territory,” said Duggan. “We’d run Superdome shows and I was a relatively big star down there. But I came up to the WWF and it was the big time.
“That was the golden age of wrestling, kind of like John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart in the golden age of Hollywood. You can name 10 guys without even thinking about it. It was a special moment in time, and I’m honored to have been part of it.”
For all of its highlights, WrestleMania III will forever be remembered as the night Hogan slammed Andre, an irresistible force overcoming an immovable object.
“WrestleMania III put WWE on the map,” said Hogan. “And for me, there was no getting into character. If I was in Madison Square Garden or La Crosse, Wisconsin or Sioux City, Iowa, or Rockford, Illinois, the Philadelphia Spectrum, or like you’ll see tonight on FS1, the Pontiac Silverdome, I believed I was Hulk Hogan when I went through that curtain.
“The fans knew I loved what I was doing, and they knew I was all the way in. The fans were so loyal, and after 40 years, they’re still with me. They still treat me like I’m champion of the world, just like I was that night, and I’m so grateful for that.”
Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.
