Home / Sport / Fighting / WWE / 1987 / WrestleMania III

Event
WrestleMania III

Date
Sun 29th March 1987 UTC

Timestamp


Time
00:00:00 UTC

Timezones
24-04-25 17:00 (PST Los Angeles)
24-04-25 19:00 (CST Chicago)
24-04-25 20:00 (EST New York)
24-04-26 01:00 (GMT London)
24-04-26 02:00 (CET Paris)
24-04-26 04:00 (GST Dubai)
24-04-26 05:30 (IST Kolkata)
24-04-26 09:00 (JST Tokyo)
24-04-26 10:00 (AEDT Sydney)

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League
WWE

Season
1987

Round
1

Status


Location

(93,173 Attendance)

Video Highlights


Event Statistics

Description
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, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. There were twelve matches, with the final event being WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan successfully defending his title against André the Giant.

WrestleMania III is particularly notable for the WWF's claiming a record attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America. The event is considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom. The record itself stood until February 14, 2010 when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game broke the indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium. The WWF generated $1.6 million in ticket sales. Almost one million fans watched the event at 160 closed circuit locations in North America. The number of people watching via pay-per-view was estimated at several million, and pay-per-view revenues were estimated at $10.3 million, setting a record for the time.

Like all other WrestleMania events, WrestleMania III was hyped for several months in advance. The main feud stemmed from André the Giant's turn and betrayal of his ally, the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, which began when Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF Champion for three years, and André, his good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterwards, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years" and Hogan came out to congratulate André, but ended up being the focal point of the interview. Annoyed by this, André walked out during Hogan's congratulation speech and not long after that, on an edition of the interview segment Piper's Pit, Bobby Heenan, a long-time Hogan adversary, announced himself to be André's new manager. André then challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III and attacked Hogan, ripping off Hogan's T-shirt and crucifix necklace.

Another main feud leading up to the event was between Ricky Steamboat and the Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage. The feud began during a title match between the two when Savage attacked Steamboat as he greeted fans at ringside. Savage then pushed Steamboat over the security rail and delivered an elbow shot that thrust Steamboat's throat into the rail and dropped the ring bell onto his throat from the top rope, injuring his larynx and sending him to the hospital. This resulted in a long, bitter feud that lasted for six months, included several bloody match-ups and finally culminated at WrestleMania. George "The Animal" Steele was in Steamboat's corner, having developed a crush on Savage's valet, Miss Elizabeth.

Billy Jack Haynes and Hercules Hernandez' feud started when Bobby Heenan continuously taunted Haynes, telling him that Hercules was the real master of the full nelson; which came to a boiling point when Hercules attacked Haynes on an edition of Superstars of Wrestling, which led to their match at WrestleMania. This battle was advertised as the "Full Nelson Challenge."

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 the tournament and began referring to himself as "King" Harley Race, and 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. After each of his victories, Race forced his defeated opponent to "bow and kneel" before him. Usually, Race's manager, Bobby Heenan, forced the defeated opponent to "bow and kneel" by grabbing his hair. Junkyard Dog protested Race's self-proclaimed monarchy in the WWF and stated there would never be a complete ruler in the WWF, which led to a match on Saturday Night's Main Event, in which the King and his manager both tried to make Junkyard Dog bow for them. This set the stage for the WrestleMania match, which included the stipulation that the loser had to bow to the winner.

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 with a back injury that he was virtually 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. 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 WrestleMania III. The match was billed as a revenge match with Santana's inclusion due to Davis being the referee in the Boston Garden in early 1986 when he had lost the Intercontinental title to the Macho Man who used a foreign object to get the win.

Rock singer and Detroit native Alice Cooper was in Jake Roberts' corner during his match with The Honky Tonk Man. The Honky Tonk Man had attacked Roberts with a guitar on Roberts' interview segment The Snake Pit, which legitimately injured Roberts' neck. This event began Roberts' turn into a babyface as well as 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 then-effeminate wrestler Adrian Adonis. Piper, who returned as a face, spent weeks crashing Adonis' 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 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 destroyed Piper's Pit set. In response, Piper stormed the set of Adonis' 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 a full-time actor.


Reports
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Result List


Result Description
Tag Team Match
The Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel & Tom Zenk) defeat Bob Orton & The Magnificent Muraco (w/Mr. Fuji) (5:37)

Singles Match
Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules (w/Bobby Heenan) - Double Count Out (7:44)

Six Man Tag Team Match
Haiti Kid, Hillbilly Jim & Little Beaver defeat King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook by DQ (4:24)

Loser Must Kneel And Bow Match
King Harley Race (w/Bobby Heenan & The Fabulous Moolah) defeats The Junkyard Dog (4:22)

Tag Team Match
The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine) (w/Dino Bravo & Johnny V) defeat The Rougeau Brothers (Jacques Rougeau & Raymond Rougeau) (4:03)

Hair vs. Hair Match
Roddy Piper defeats Adrian Adonis (w/Jimmy Hart) (6:54)

Six Man Tag Team Match
The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Danny Davis & Jim Neidhart) (w/Jimmy Hart) defeat The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & The Dynamite Kid) & Tito Santana (8:52)

Singles Match
Butch Reed (w/Slick) defeats Koko B. Ware (3:39)

WWF Intercontinental Title Match
Ricky Steamboat (w/George Steele) defeats Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) (c) (14:35) - TITLE CHANGE !!!

Singles Match
The Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart) defeats Jake Roberts (w/Alice Cooper) (7:04)

Tag Team Match
Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik (w/Slick) defeat The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell) by DQ (5:44)

WWF World Heavyweight Title Match
Hulk Hogan (c) defeats Andre The Giant (w/Bobby Heenan) (12:01)


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WWE 1987-03-29 WrestleMania III.mkv WWE 1987-03-29 WrestleMania III.S1987E1.mkv (Scraper) WWE 1987-03-29 WrestleMania III.mkv

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