With the success of the first two editions of WrestleMania, WrestleMania III was promised to be the biggest ever, in more ways than one. The event would be held on March 29, 1987 from the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.
To live up to the billing, there needed to be a blockbuster main event. There was no other choice but to have WWF Champion Hulk Hogan in the main event, but they needed someone big, rather a giant to face off against Hogan for the title. That man was none other than Andre the Giant.
Andre had been in the WWF for about 15 years at that time and was pushed as being unstoppable as he never lost a match or been pinned or even been body-slammed. None of those are true as he lost matches (well mostly by count out and disqualification but never was pinned or submitted in the WWF) that weren't televised and even been bodyslammed a few times, even by Hulk Hogan himself. But none of these were ever on TV so it was never considered factually true.
Hogan feuded with Andre back in 1980 during Hulk's first tenure in the WWF when Hogan was a heel and Andre was the top face in the company. Hulk jobbed to Andre throughout the summer and fall of 1980, including the Showdown at Shea event at Shea's Stadium in Queens, New York. Hogan bodyslammed Andre after the match was over when Andre was slimmer and more athletic than he was in 1987.
On an edition of Piper's Pit in January 1987, Hogan was given a big trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three years. Andre came out to congratulate his friend Hogan. The next week on Piper's Pit, Andre was given a smaller trophy for being the "only undefeated wrestler in wrestling history." Hogan came out to congratulate Andre, but he made the whole segment all about him and Andre walked out.
Then on the February 7, 1987 edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was to meet with Andre, who came out with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan much to the shock of everyone. Heenan accused Hogan of hiding from Andre and pretending to be his friend so he wouldn't have to defend the title against him.
Andre then challenged Hogan to a match for the title at WrestleMania III. Andre then ripped Hogan's shirt and crufix off of him and his fingernail scratched Hogan's chest and caused him to bleed. A dejected Hogan accepted the challenge.
On an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event a couple of weeks before WrestleMania, Andre threw Hogan over the top rope and eliminated him from a battle royal they were participating in with Andre gaining a psychological advantage over Hogan. Hogan had his toughest challenge ahead of him
Hogan and Andre fought in the main event for WWF Title at WrestleMania III in front of a record crowd of 93,173 fans jam packed in the Pontiac Silverdome to see if Hogan could give Andre his first official WWF defeat and possibly even bodyslam him or if Hogan will finally lose the WWF Title. Andre was listed at 520 lbs., but he was in constant pain from the effects of his acromalgy as he could not move around the ring like he used to.
Early in the match, Hogan tried to bodyslam Andre, but Andre fell on top of him and almost accidentally won the WWF Championship as the referee nearly counted three just a smidgen before Hulk got the shoulder up. Hogan eventually got to bodyslam Andre for the first official time and pinned him following the leg drop to retain the title and give Andre his first official loss in the WWF.
While this was the big match on the card, the most exciting match belonged to "Macho Man" Randy Savage defending his Intercontinental Championship against Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. This match is considered by many to be the greatest match in wrestling history or at least one of the best ever.
Savage and Steamboat worked on this match, move for move, at Savage's home down in Florida and the precision and accuracy showed through. After 19 two-counts, Savage tried to use the ring bell on Steamboat off the top rope, a move he used on Steamboat several months before and "injuring" his larynx and started the feud between them.
However, George "The Animal" Steele pushed Savage off the top rope. As Savage tried to pick up Steamboat, Steamboat rolled him into an inside cradle to win the match and end Savage's reign as Intercontinental Champion after 14 months. This match was named 1987's Match of the Year by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer.
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper was set for his retirement match with the effeminate Adrian Adonis. Piper took a hiatus after WrestleMania 2 and came back only to see his Piper's Pit segment be replace by Adonis' Flower Shop. Piper destroyed the set with a baseball bat. Piper announced that he was retiring from wrestling following WrestleMania to become a full-time actor.
Piper defeated Adonis with the Sleeper Hold and put him to sleep. After the match, Brutus Beefcake ran in and helped Piper cut Adonis' long blonde hair after Adonis accidentally cut Beefcake's hair before WrestleMania. Beefcake became known as Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake from this point on and his trademark was to cut his opponent's hair after he beat them with the Sleeper Hold.
There were other matches featuring top stars as WWF Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation teamed with crooked referee Danny Davis to defeat The British Bulldogs and Tito Santana in a six-man tag team match. The Hart Foundation defeated the Bulldogs to win the titles early in 1987 with help from Davis as referee.
The Honky Tonk Man defeated Jake "The Snake" Roberts with rock music legend Alice Cooper in his corner following interference from Honky's manager Jimmy Hart. Cooper held Hart so Roberts could unleash his snake Damien on him.
WrestleMania III was so profitable for Vince McMahon and the WWF. They made $1,6 million in ticket sales. Almost one million people watched the event at numerous closed-circuit TV locations and several million watched it on PPV with the PPV generating a then-record $10.3 million revenue.
The Elvis "wannabe" Honky Tonk Man had a very successful year in 1987 that started by defeating Jake Roberts at WrestleMania. He started the feud when he hit Roberts with his guitar during an episode of the Snake Pit, which accidentally caused Roberts to suffer a legitimate neck injury.
Honky, with his manager Jimmy Hart, defeated Ricky Steamboat in June 1987 to win the Intercontinental Championship. He started to proclaim himself as "the Greatest Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion of All-Time." This angered former champion Randy Savage, who now turned face due to his overwhelming popularity, and Savage challenged Honky for the title.
He eventually got his chance as he took on Honky for the title on the October 3, 1987 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. Savage looked to have won the title when Jimmy Hart's other wrestlers, The Hart Foundation, ran in and attacked Savage, getting Honky disqualified but retaining the title.
The three men triple-teamed Savage as the Harts were holding Savage as Honky was about to hit him with his guitar. Elizabeth ran in front of Honky to prevent him from hitting Savage with the guitar. However, he shoved Liz down and proceeded to hit Savage with the guitar.
An upset Liz ran to the back and came back out with Hulk Hogan, who ran into the ring to attack the trio, along with Savage. After the duo cleared the ring, they bumped into each other with their backs and turned around and were about to hit each other. Savage then offered his hand to which Hogan shook it and the two along with Elizabeth embraced each other and celebrated as this was the start of "The Mega Powers."
Jimmy Hart was perhaps the most successful of all managers in 1987 as he managed the Intercontinental Champion Honky Tonk Man and the WWF Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation for most of 1987. The Hart Foundation showed they were the top tag team in the business and it eventually spawned Bret "The Hitman" Hart into a WWF/E legend in later years.
The WWF introduced its second annual supercard to join WrestleMania on PPV TV as it introduced the Survivor Series. The Survivor Series was run on Thanksgiving Night, November 26, 1987, the same night as Jim Crockett Promotions' biggest event Starrcade. Coincidence? I think not.
In order to get fans to watch his PPV instead of Crockett's, McMahon told cable companies if they didn't only offer his PPV instead of Starrcade, they could not broadcast WrestleMania IV. Fearing on losing lots of viewers not watching WrestleMania, most cable companies offered Survivor Series only and not Starrcade. It was 10-1 in favor of cable companies showing Survivor Series over Starrcade as the WWF drew a 7.0 buy rate over Crockett's 3.30.
The Survivor Series became an annual event that was run either on Thanksgiving night or the night before to eventually the weekend before. The Survivor Series is the second-oldest and second-longest running PPV in WWF/E history only behind WrestleMania.
The Survivor Series mostly features two teams of four-men each or five-men each and it's an elimination match where every member of one team has to be eliminated by pinfall, submission, count out, or disqualification for the other team to win the match.
Hulk Hogan captained a five-man team to take on the five-man team captained by Andre the Giant in the main event of the inaugural Survivor Series. Andre's team won when he last pinned Bam Bam Bigelow to be the lone survivor. Hogan was eliminated when he was counted out when members of Andre's team kept him from entering the ring. The Hogan-Andre feud fired back up and would continue into 1988.
Randy Savage captained a five-man team against The Honky Tonk Man's five-man team and Savage's team won when Honky left the ring and got himself counted out by avoiding Savage. The Fabulous Moolah's team defeated Sensational Sherri's team in a five-on-five women's elimination match.
The other match on the card was a very unusual 10-on-10 tag team elimination matches featuring two teams of five tag teams (10 men each team). The Killer Bees and The Young Stallions were survivors of their team that featured them teaming with Strike Force, The Rougeau Brothers, and The British Bulldogs to take on the team of The Hart Foundation, Demolition, The Islanders, The Bolsheviks, and The Dream Team.
This was not the first and certainly not the last time Vince McMahon and Jim Crockett scheduled events on the same night as 1988 would show us. Also, Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant would continue their feud for the WWF Championship.
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