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In front of a record-setting crowd at WrestleMania III, Hulk Hogan body slammed Andre the Giant to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It would end up changing the face of wrestling history forever.
Wrestling is a unique form of entertainment in that if often revises its own history. For example, leading up to the famous "I Quit" Match between Terry Funk and Nature Boy Ric Flair at Clash of the Champions IX, the announcers stated that neither man had ever submitted or tapped out. This was despite the fact that Flair had been seen verbally giving up to Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat during a Two Out Of Three Falls Match several months prior.
Much of this occurred more often in the past because of the regional territory system. For example, if Rocky Johnson had just moved to a new territory the promoters were not going to mention that he lost a match to Abdullah the Butcher in his old territory.
It's no surprise, nor something novel, that wrestling promotions like to revise history for the sake of creating a new narrative. The Hollywood movie industry does this too, with their constant reboots and remakes.
When Andre the Giant became exclusively contracted to WWE in the early 1980s, the company pushed a particular narrative: Andre the Giant had never been body slammed, nor had he been cleanly defeated by any opponent.
In reality, many men have slammed Andre, such as Big Cat Ernie Ladd and Stan Hansen. Also on that list was Hulk Hogan, who had slammed Andre in other promotions.
The WWE narrative stuck, largely because the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection made them a globally dominant promotion, and drew in many new fans who weren't familiar with the old territorial system.
This is the story of the body slam heard around the world, when Hulk Hogan faced Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III.
The Build Up: The $15,000 Body Slam Challenge.
If you're wondering how good the booking was during WWE's classic era, take this into consideration; WWE started building up toward Wrestlemania III YEARS ahead of time.
When Terry Bollea AKA Hulk Hogan was traded to WWE from the AWA, he was set to be the company's biggest star. Vince McMahon knew that at some point there would have to be a match between Andre the Giant - arguably the biggest wrestling star of the 1970s - and Hogan, who was set to become the biggest star of the 1980s.
WWE needed to get over the idea that Andre was an invincible giant who couldn't be slammed. To that end, Andre was booked into a program with fellow giant Big John Studd. It all began when Studd and manager Freddie Blassie offered ten thousand dollars to any man who could slam the big man.
Weeks passed and no one was able to answer the challenge, until Andre the Giant hit the ring. Andre was about to slam his rival when Studd grabbed the ring ropes to save himself.
The feud culminated at the first Wrestlemania, where the stakes were raised to fifteen thousand dollars. After a lengthy bear hug, Andre scooped up Studd and easily slammed him before passing out the money to fans at ringside.
Andre had established dominance, and the narrative was that if Big John Studd couldn't slam Andre, then who else possibly could?
It was a well thought out build-up that was also marketed aptly to instill curiosity in the minds of the fans on who could lay out Andre.
The Super Friends: Hogan and Andre.
Hulk Hogan spent the first Wrestlemania main event teaming with Mr. T. against Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff, so he didn't defend the WWE World title at that event.
While Hogan vs. Andre was considered for Wrestlemania II, it was felt that Hogan needed more of a build-up before facing off against the Giant. To that end, he was booked to face King Kong Bundy in the Wrestlemania II main event.
In the meantime, WWE made certain that fans knew Hogan and Andre were friends. They sometimes did interviews together, and were even tagged as a team on occasion.
One can only ponder what might have happened, if these two super friends had formed a full time tag team. The WWE World Tag Team Titles might never have left their waists.
Nevertheless, WWE succeeded and Andre was considered by fans to be one of Hogan's closest allies, even appearing in that role on the animated show Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling.
Andre turns Heel.
For most of his career, Andre the Giant had never worked as a heel. Given his size and jovial personality, he was a natural babyface.
In order for Hogan to establish dominance as the new top star of the pro wrestling world, he would have to overcome the Giant. Given Hogan's status as the face of wrestling during this era, he could not turn heel himself, so Andre would turn instead.
The set up was brilliant. Hogan was given a trophy by WWE signifying his three years as World Champion. A bit later, Andre was given a trophy as well, for being the only 'undefeated' star in the history of pro wrestling. Remember, WWE was pushing the narrative that Andre the Giant had never lost a single match, although many fans knew this was not true.
Apparently, the smaller trophy Andre received was the spark that lit the fires of betrayal. During a segment on Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Andre who was now being manged by the evil Bobby Heenan.
Andre challenged Hogan, and when 'The Hulkster' tried to convince his former friend to reconsider, the Giant ripped his shirt right off. The symbolism was that Andre could shred Hulkamania just as easily as he had shredded the red and yellow tee shirt.
The whole segment is loaded with emotion, and Hogan's eventual acceptance of the challenge remains one of the best moments in sports entertainment history.
It was during an era where there was no internet or fan conspiracies. People had to tune in to figure out the repurcussions of Andre's actions and this helped build up the feud to great levels.
The Match Begins.
The Irresistible Force meets the Immovable Object.
That is how the dearly departed Gorilla Monsoon described the epic encounter at the end of Wrestlemania III, and it still holds true today.
A record-setting indoor crowd packed into the Pontiac Silverdome to see the ultimate battle of juggernauts. The match was set to determine who would be the most dominant face of pro wrestling moving forward.
Would Hulk Hogan be able to do the impossible and defeat the Giant? Or would Andre continue his fifteen-year undefeated streak and claim the WWE championship to boot?
The match began with an epic stare down. As Hogan psyched himself up, a confident Andre remained placid, a smile fixed on his face.
Hogan went for an early body slam and toppled over, nearly losing the match in the opening minutes. The crowd gasped in fear, and it seemed as if Hulkamania was in serious jeopardy.
It was a tense affair and both Andre and Hogan did their best to elevate their game. It was a feud like no other and the crowd absorbed every moment of what transpired.
The Slam Heard around the World.
There has been some criticism leveraged at Wrestlemania III's main event for lacking in technical wrestling. While this is a fair assessment, the fact remains that technical wrestling spots were unneeded. The drama, pageantry, and compelling storytelling in the match far exceed its technical limitations.
For most of the bout, Hogan struggled to recover from Andre's assault. This was pretty normal for Hogan, who often 'fought from the bottom' and allowed his heel opponents plenty of offense.
Fans gasped in shock as Andre dominated the match. He stomped on Hogan, squished him in the corner, and finally applied a bear hug that appeared to sap the WWE World Champion's strength.
Hogan rallied and managed to pull of the impossible: He scooped Andre up and hit him with a body slam in the middle of the ring.
Hogan quickly hit his leg drop finisher for the one, two, three, but it was all over after that body slam. 'The Hulkster' had established dominance and was now unquestionably and undisputedly, the face of pro wrestling.
Conclusion: What goes around, Comes around.
Hogan defeated Andre the Giant, establishing himself as the dominant force of pro wrestling in the 1980s.
Hogan would reign several more times as WWE World Champion before jumping to rival World Championship Wrestling in 1995. There, he would morph into the villainous Hollywood Hulk Hogan and reign multiple times as the WCW World Champion.
Then the Monday Night Wars ended when Vince McMahon purchased the flagging WCW promotion. The WWE vs. WCW/ECW angle left many fans disappointed, as it featured almost none of the major stars of WCW.
That would be rectified roughly a year later, when Hollywood Hogan reared his ugly head in WWE for the first time. Hogan was in the twilight of his in-ring career, and the pressure was on for him to pass the torch, just as it had been passed to him by Andre.
The man chosen to succeed Hogan as the face of pro wrestling was The Rock. At Wrestlemania, Hogan would be defeated by the new generation, continuing the cycle. It was a match of epic proportions and Hogan still showed us that he had plenty of gas left in the tank.
In the world of wrestling, what goes around comes around.
Thanks for journeying back with us through WWE History, and we'll see you next time! If you have questions or comments, please leave them below, and as always thanks for reading.
