A Look Back at WrestleMania III: The Biggest Event in Early WWE History!

Over the years, WWE (formerly known as WWF) has continually transformed the world of wrestling in huge ways. The vision of Vince McMahon was simple: take the backwoods world of regional wrangling and turn it into an international business. Most people – including his father – thought it was crazy. However, he was proven right on March 29, 1987, when WrestleMania III not only broke expectations but became the biggest WrestleMania event in history, even now!

The Background

Now, it’s not as if WrestleMania III was the first event of its type or anything: the III in its title is a good clue to that! The first took place on March 31, 1985, and featured the biggest names in wrestling at the time: Hulk Hogan

• Andre the Giant
• Randy Savage
• Roddy Piper
• Paul Orndorff

Frankly, though, McMahon was throwing the dice a little, as there was no guarantee it would succeed. He gambled even higher by paying some big bucks to bring in big-name guests, like Cyndi Lauper (huge at the time) and Muhammad Ali (to give the event some gravitas).

Its massive and immediate success (alongside the continued star power of Hulk Hogan) gave the event the true cultural cache it needed to stand out in WWE history. The next year’s event was even bigger and took place in three arenas at once. Its hallowed events featured Mr. T beating Roddy Piper in an odd boxing match and a massive Battle Royal beatdown.

Clearly, everything was trending upward for the company when WrestleMania III came around. Taking place in the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, Michigan (an arena no longer with us, sadly), it drew an astonishing 93,173 people! For context, that’s far bigger than most cities in Michigan, especially north of the tri-cities area. Did the event live up to the hype? Of course, it did!

What Happened On That Big Day

Everything started off on the right foot when Aretha Franklin, a Detroit legend, sang the national anthem to get things going. The storylines here were huge: Hulk Hogan was looking to beat Andre the Giant, something nobody had done for 15 years. Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat, two of the best technical wrestlers of all time, were going to go toe-to-toe again.

• A few of the most popular early events that night included:
• The effervescent “Rowdy” Roddy Piper beating “Adorable” Adrian Adonis
• The Hart Foundation, with “Dangerous” Danny Davis, taking out the British Bulldogs
• The Dream Team is throwing The Rogeau Brothers out of the competition
• “The Natural” Butch Reed flattening Koko B. Ware

However, the first truly amazing event was Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage putting on what many people consider a top 10 match of all time. Both of these technical powerhouses knew how to put on a great show, and their high-flying antics and death-defying moves were the highlight for many people that night, even if Savage did something he rarely did: lose.

The Main Event

After that fantastic bout, was the Hogan/Giant matchup a letdown? After all, neither of these wrestlers is known for their technical expertise: Hogan’s mostly an amazing master of charisma, while the Giant is an immovable force. Thankfully, the championship played into their respective strengths and downplayed any weaknesses to create a dramatic and exciting bout.

When Hogan “Hulks Up” at the end and takes out the Giant to a) retain his championship and b) end a 15-year winning streak for the Giant, it’s truly the stuff that makes wrestling fans so dedicated. Drama, athleticism, sudden changes in story, and dramatic come-from-behind wins: who wouldn’t love it? It’s a trend and a quality peak the league has continued to pursue even now.