One of the best ever sporting eventsAsk any agency that conducts surveys on sports to take a list of 10 most successful sporting events in history and I would assure you that on all the lists published, you would see WrestleMania 3.No exaggeration! It’s just the magnificence of this event that made me utter the above line. This event boasts itself of providing the gamut of matches that no other WWE PPV has ever given to the WWE fans, which makes this night especially memorable.The third event under the WrestleMania brand blew the roof off the Silverdome, witnessing a record 93,173 audience. This held the record for maximum attendance for an indoor event in North America for 23 long years.As part of this slideshow, let us have a look at the things that made this so remarkable and recollect some of the ever fresh memories from WrestleMania 3:
#3 Date, place, venue and match card
WrestleMania 3 was held on March 29, 1987 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. The match card for WrestleMania 3 was incredible and it remains one of the best match cards to this day. A lot of variety was offered to the WWE fans and matches like Hair vs. Hair, Loser Must Bow and Mixed Tag were introduced on the grandest stage for the first time.
Now, let us quickly glance through the match card of WrestleMania 3 which contained 12 matches - 7 singles and 5 tag matches.
Singles Action
Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules
Harley Race vs. Junkyard Dog (Loser Must Bow match)
Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis (Hair vs. Hair match)
Butch Reed vs. Koko B. Ware
Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage (c) (WWF Intercontinental Championship Match)
The Honky Tonk Man vs. Jake Roberts
Hulk Hogan (c) vs. André the Giant (WWF Championship Match)
Tag Team Action
The Can-Am Connection vs. Bob Orton and The Magnificent Muraco
Hillbilly Jim, Haiti Kid, and Little Beaver def. King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo, and Lord Littlebrook by disqualification (Mixed tag team match)
The Dream Team vs. The Rougeau Brothers
The Hart Foundation and Dangerous Danny Davis vs. The British Bulldogs and Tito Santana (Six-man tag team match)
The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff vs. The Killer Bees
#2 Title changes and highlights from the Show
This event mostly comprised of tag matches and matches with stipulations rather than title matches. Of the 12 matches that were on the card, there were only 2 title matches and apart from that there were 5 non-title tag matches and 5 non-title singles matches.
The first title match of the night was between Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Steamboat used his signature ‘Small Package’ to gain the victory against Randy and this was the first time that a new Intercontinental Champion was crowned at the WrestleMania PPV because on the first two occasions, the title never changed hands.
There were a couple of matches on the card with interesting stipulations. Harley Race defeated Junkyard Dog in a ‘Loser Must Bow’ match and Roddy Piper defeated Adrian Adonis in a Hair vs. Hair match. Adonis’ hair was cut after the match making it a humiliating night for him.
#1 The Main Event
The main event of WrestleMania 3 could still be ranked among the top 5 WWE main events in all the PPVs combined. Hogan and Andre, once the best of friends, fought each other in the main event.
Hogan came into the match as the fan favourite and Andre as the heel. In the weeks heading to WM 3, Andre challenged Hogan for a match at Mania for the WWF Championship which was accepted by the Hulkster.
In a match that lasted just over ten minutes, Andre dominated Hulk throughout the match. It was during the closing moments that the Hulkster regrouped and managed to deliver a clothesline to the giant.
Once Andre was taken off his feet, Hogan did not rest. He followed it up with his signature leg-drop which gave him the victory and allowed him to retain the title. Just to mention, this match had Bob Uecker as the guest ring announcer and Mary Hart, the host of Entertainment Tonight as the guest time keeper.
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
