WWF Wrestlemania 3

 

WWF Wrestlemania 3

Venue: Pontiac, Michigan

Date: 29/03/87

Attendance: 93,173

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

Wrestlemania 3 took place in the Pontiac Silver Dome before 93,173 fans although that number has been disputed by many over the years who place the attendance closer to 78,000. Either way it was a tremendous crowd and a huge success for the WWF. The big draw was the world title clash between Hulk Hogan and the recently turned Andre the Giant, the first meeting between the two since Hogan's return the company in 1984.

 


The ever impressive sight of the Silver Dome crowd

 

Review

Wrestlemania 3 got off to a good start as The Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel and Tom Zenk) beat Bob Orton Jr and Don Muraco in a solid opening contest. The Can-Am would disband in July as Zenk left the company over a pay dispute which would lead to the formation of Strike Force... Billy Jack Haynes and Hercules fought to a double count out in a decent bout which was a small improvement on their Big Event contest. The match was supposed to settle their issue and prove who was the "Master of the Full Nelson" but in the end nothing was resolved. Hercules attacked Haynes after the match, an act which was cut from the video release... King Kong Bundy and Hillbilly Jim were involved in a novelty matchup featuring midget wrestlers, quite a comedown for Bundy from last year's event. Hillbilly along with Little Beaver and The Haiti Kid were victorious by disqualification when Bundy assaulted Beaver. Let's be honest, Beaver was asking for it. Bundy's team consisted of Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokyo for the record... Harley Race beat The Junkyard Dog in a rubbish match which made JYD look weak. He went down far too easily to Race here...

 

JYD is on top in his match with Harley Race. It wouldn't last.

 

The match between The Dream Team and The Rougeau Brothers was okay but only really existed to split up Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine. Beefcake objected to Bravo's interference in the match even though it led to victory for The Dream Team. Bravo, Valentine and manager Johnny Valiant ditched Beefcake to form The New Dream Team... "This will be absolutely my last professional match" said Rowdy Roddy Piper at the Wrestlemania 3 Press Conference as he prepared for life as an actor in Hollywood. He would be back in the ring in 1989. His 'farewell match' with Adrian Adonis was an entertaining brawl even if the match itself wasn't much technically. The fans roared as Piper pounded Adonis and launched Jimmy Hart around the ring for good measure. Brutus Beefcake revived Piper from the effects of Adonis' sleeper hold to cement his babyface turn allowing Piper to win the match with his own sleeper which in truth, rendered Adonis unconscious far too quickly to be believable. Beefcake cut Adonis' hair after the match as per the stipulation... The Hart Foundation and Danny Davis versus The British Bulldogs and Tito Santana should have been better considering who was involved. Davis, as a referee was instrumental in costing Tito Santana the Intercontinental Title and more recently The British Bulldogs the Tag Team Title so the good guys were surely going to get revenge here right? Wrong. In fact Davis scored the winning fall after nailing Davey Boy Smith with Jimmy Hart's megaphone but not before taking a sustained beating from Santana and Smith. The trouble is as a referee-turned-wrestler, Davis should never have been allowed to make such a miraculous recovery to win the match for his team...

 

Classic Hart Foundation double team action

 

Butch Reed beat Koko B Ware in a short match only really memorable for Tito Santana tearing up Slick's suit in the aftermath... So much has been written about Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat's famous Intercontinental Title match that there's little I can say that hasn't already been said. If you like your wrestling fast paced with great intensity and lots of back and forth action then this is the match for you. Even the build was great with Steamboat returning from a crushed larynx at the hands of Savage to settle the score on the big stage. It was a fantastic display by both men. My only gripe is the interference from George Steele which was unnecessary. It would have been nice to see a clean finish... Another grudge match followed as The Honky Tonk Man battled Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who had recently turned face following Honky's guitar aided attack on him. Their match never really stood a chance following the Savage/Steamboat classic but it was okay even if the finish was a little anticlimactic. Honky stole a victory using the ropes for illegal leverage... The team of Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik defeated The Killer Bees by disqualification in a match overshadowed by Hacksaw Jim Duggan's presence. Duggan caused the disqualification after levelling Sheik with a 2x4. The match was average... The attraction that packed the Silver Dome of course was the showdown between former friends Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, arguably the biggest match in the history of professional wrestling. The match itself was never going to be very good as Andre was barely mobile at this point in his life and was unable to do much. In the end it didn't matter as the match produced iconic moments that WWE still highlight to this day, in particular the stare down and Hogan's body slam. Perhaps more than any other, this match proves that professional wrestling is about more than just erm… wrestling. The Silver Dome went crazy for Hogan’s victory and while the wrestling purists revelled over Savage/Steamboat, all the majority of fans could talk about as Wrestlemania 3 came to a close was Hogan/Andre.

 

Steamboat chokes Savage early on in their classic battle

Overall

Wrestlemania 3 was a monumental night in WWF/WWE history and marked the pinnacle of the 80's boom period. Images of the packed Silver Dome remain as impressive today as they did back in 1987, it really was quite a spectacle. The atmosphere generated by the massive crowd really added to the event and made it feel truly huge. As far as the in-ring product goes there was a definite step up in quality from Wrestlemanias 1 and 2. Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat provided us with an all time classic for the Intercontinental Title but there were also five other decent matches on the show. The main event was only passable as far as the action went but as mentioned above it was about much more than that. On the whole the show was pretty good for the time and a highly significant one in terms of professional wrestling history. Wrestlemania III drew 400,000 buys on pay-per-view plus a further 450,000 at closed circuit television locations.

The famous stare down between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant

 

Results

1 The Can-Am Connection def Bob Orton Jr & Don Muraco by pinfall (5:37) **3/4

2 Billy Jack Haynes & Hercules fought to a double count out (7:44) **1/2

3 Hillbilly Jim, Little Beaver & The Haiti Kid def King Kong Bundy, Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo by disqualification (3:23) 1/2

4 Harley Race pinned The Junkyard Dog (4:22) 3/4

5 The Dream Team def The Rougeau Brothers by pinfall (4:03) **

6 Rowdy Roddy Piper def Adrian Adonis by referee stoppage in a "Hair vs Hair Match" (6:54) **1/2

7 The Hart Foundation & Danny Davis def The British Bulldogs & Tito Santana by pinfall (8:52) **3/4

8 Butch Reed pinned Koko B Ware (3:39) *

9 Ricky Steamboat pinned Randy Savage (c) to win the WWF Intercontinental Title (14:35) ****1/2

10 The Honky Tonk Man pinned Jake Roberts (7:04) **1/4

11 Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik def The Killer Bees by disqualification (5:44) *1/2

12 Hulk Hogan (c) pinned Andre the Giant to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (12:01) *1/2

Rating

24.50/60 = 40.83%

 

Star Rating Guide

***** Excellent/World Class

****   Very Good

***     Good

**       OK/Acceptable

*         Poor

DUD   Abysmal

SQ      Squash (Less than 1 min)