WrestleMania III Review

Welcome to the first ever JackDownVSRaw PPV review, today we take a look back to WrestleMania III taking place in my hometown of Detroit (Pontiac) Michigan in the Pontiac Silverdome in 1987.

Let’s make this clear from the start, WrestleMania III is the most important and most iconic PPV in wrestling history. The first two WrestleManias were big, but this was the first time that WrestleMania felt like a truly monumental event, due to the size of the crowd and an iconic moment that wwe will get to later. We know the show is iconic, but in terms of an actual wrestling show is it good? Let’s find out.

The show begins with a shot of the massive crowd in attendance, when then go to the ring to see Mr. McMahon to introduce “The Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin. As someone from Metro Detroit, this has got to be the most perfect way I could think of to kick off a Detroit WrestleMania. Aretha gives a beautiful rendition of “America the Beautiful” with your typical WWE America video package and we get introduced to the legendary commentary team of Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura, and here we go.

Match 1: The Can-Am Connection vs Bob Orton Jr and The Magnificent Muraco

Our first match of the evening starts out fairly slow with Muraco showing off the power that made him famous, both Rick Martel and Tom Zenk of the Can-Am Connection show off their clear speed advantage. Martel and Zenk both use quick counter moves and work together for great double team moves. This match is your standard heel tag team vs face tag team match as well as your standard power vs speed match. The match ends with a great finish as Martel hits Muraco with a cross-body with Zenk on the ground to make Muraco fall over with the momentum of the cross-body, and Muraco falls right into a pinfall combination and the Can-Am Connection picks up the big babyface win to open the show and pop the crowd.

This match was really fun with the constant quick counters and double teams, and had a creative and strong finish, the only downside was the match is very short, clocking in at 5 minutes and 37 seconds, leaving me wanting a few more minutes of the action after the final bell rings.

Rating: 3 Stars

After the match we cut to the back for a promo for the upcoming Billy Jack Haynes vs Hercules match where we establish two things, one, Hercules takes his name being taken from a Greek legend very literally, which I love, and two, this show is going to have a formula of match, quick backstage promo or quick in-ring promo, and then immediately to the next match. This formula keeps things very simple and very unlike the PPVs we see now with much more elaborate segments between matches. So after a quick promo we’re right on to the next match.

Match 2: Billy Jack Haynes vs Hercules

To start, I want to say that Billy Jack Haynes (Billed from Portland, Oregon) is wrestling in ring gear inspired by The University of Oregon, and it’s a nice touch and looks really good. This match sees two big strong guys being big and strong. The central story of this match is the full nelson and how if Hercules can lock it in, the match is as good as finished. There’s a spot where Hercules doesn’t quite have his hands clasped to fully lock in the hold (shoutout to Monsoon and Ventura for making that clear) yet Haynes is still fading from the hold, we then get the classic dropping of the arm three times where Haynes lids his arm before it drops a third and final time, to a massive pop from the crowd (side note, I like to refer to these as “arm kickouts”) Eventually in a non-Hardy related twist of fate we see Haynes lock in his own full nelson on Hercules, Hercules eventually manages to roll both wrestlers through the ropes to the outside where the two stay long enough for us to have a double count-out. Yes, a double-count out finish to a WrestleMania match, this is where I feel obligated to remind you that the hate mail section of my blog goes to me and not WWE.

After the match we see Hercules take a cheap shot with a steel chain to Haynes, Haynes is busted open and Hercules manages to lock in the full nelson completely (or a full full nelson) and after a post-match beatdown Hercules leaves to a nice chorus of boos while he rides off in those WrestleMania III mini rings (I love those by the way)

Rating: 1 ½ Stars

Match 3: Hillbilly Jim, Haiti Kid and Little Beaver vs King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook

Disclaimer: I did research and I found that “little people” is the correct and inoffensive term to use here, I mean no offense here and I apologize if there is a better term to use, if so, let me know please.

Well here we go, the famous little people six-man tag, and I must say, I am impressed at how this was treated like a legitimate match and not some ridiculous segment. The match starts with Haiti Kid and Little Tokyo in a legitimate wrestling match with a strong series of moves before Little Beaver and Lord Littlebrook enter the ring and it becomes a four person brawl for some reason. Bundy gets hit with a cheap shot from Little Beaver before Bundy tags in, feeling terrified at his current situation, Little Beaver manages to go through Bundy’s legs to a huge pop to make legitimately one of the best hot tags in wrestling history to Hillbilly Jim. Hillbilly Jim and King Kong Bundy then proceed to have a classic big strong guy brawl. We then see Little Beaver run in and take cheap shots at Bundy at various times before Bundy finally manages to grab him. Bundy body slams Little Beaver into WrestleMania IV and drops a hug elbow, leading to a DQ finish as it was clearly stated on commentary that this follows mixed tag team rules where Bundy and Hillbilly Jim could only wrestle each other and the little people could only wrestle each other as well, nice to see the rules actually enforced, remember me saying this for later.

After the DQ we see all four little people align with Hillbilly Jim after Bundy tried to murder one of them, and King Kong Bundy leaves the ring mad about everything like King Kong Bundy is known to be. I have to say, I was expecting this match to be a typical WWE offensive “comedy” match, but it was a legitimate match, but there really wasn’t anything special about the wrestling here

Rating: 2 Stars

We go backstage to see Macho Man Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth being interviewed for the upcoming Intercontinental Championship match between Savage and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. We then get a video package for the upcoming match between King Harley Race and Junkyard Dog, and an interview that showcases Harley being very committed to the King gimmick and that JYD has more charisma than most other wrestlers on the show combined.

Match 4: King Harley Race vs Junkyard Dog

Here we have a “loser must bow” matc, a stipulation I don’t think I need to explain. Junkyard Dog doesn’t appear to be the most technically sound wrestler in the world, however Harley sells his offense incredibly well to ensure that JYD is over as a big babyface. At one point, Harley goes for a diving headbutt that ends up hurting himself far more than it hurts JYD, shifting all momentum in the match. This momentum stays until Bobby Heenan distracts Junkyard Dog allowing Harley to execute a belly-to-belly suplex into a pinfall that looked like JYD kicked out off, but the bell rang and Harley was declared the winner.

In this situation of an arrogant “king” versus a down to earth wrestler, in a “loser must bow” stipulation it’s really surprising to see Harley race win. Even more unexpected is when we see Junkyard Dog actually bow to Harley….and then proceed to obliterate Harley with a chair before stealing the king’s robe and leaving with a big smile and to big cheers from the crowd.

Rating: 1 ½ Stars

Cut backstage to see Mr. Mcmahon interview Hulk Hogan, Hogan rips his first shirt of the night and he says that Andre the Giant will “face the truth” and it’s “the purest form of truth” and if anyone in the world has the slightest clue what Hogan is talking about here please let me know.

Match 5: The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine) vs The Rougeau Brothers

This match starts out similar to the opening tag team match of the show, we see the Rougeau brothers executing very similar moves to the Can-Am Connection. One big difference from the opener is that Brutus and Valentine show good team work with strong double team moves. We then see, or I guess hear, Bobby Heenan run to the commentary table to brag about the triumphs of two of his other clients, Hercules and Harley Race. We get a really cool Doomsday Device like tag team move from the Rougeaus but with a top-rope knee strike. This leads to a pin fall that is broken up by Dino-Bravo who was at ringside, who’s interference allows Greg Valentine to pick up a sneaky victory.

After the victory, we see an argument from the Dream Team which results in Brutus Beefcake being left behind in the ring as Valentine and company leave.

Rating: 2 ½ stars

Match 6: Rowdy Roddy Piper vs Adrian Adonis

We have a WrestleMania hair vs hair match. Adrian Adonis approaches the ring with massive hedge-trimmers that I don’t even think would actually work to cut hair. Roddy Piper enters the ring on foot, deciding to not use the mini ring as miniature wrestling rings are in fact illegal in Piper’s home country (Canada of course) This is being booked as Piper’s farewell match and the crowd is giving him the ovation he deserves. In one of the greatest Irish Whips in wrestling history, if someone ever bothered to track those, we see Adonis Irish Whipped into the corner and he full on flips over the ropes and outside the ring , and as a follow up act we see Adonis Irish Whipped into manager Jimmy Hart, and they both flip over the top rope and out of the ring. If that somehow wasn’t enough Jimmy Hart being embarrassed, we see Piper throw Jimmy Hart from the top rope right on Adonis, proving that Jimmy Hart is the most dangerous weapon in wrestling. Adonis eventually manages to put Piper in the sleeper hold, he thinks he won the match but Piper did one of those good old fashioned arm kickouts that I don’t know why heels still forget to check for. Despite this, Pier is still dazed from the sleeper hold when Brutus Beefcake enters the ring to wake Piper up like a mom to her child on Monday morning. We then see Roddy Piper pick up the win with what else, the famous Roddy Piper sleeper hold.

In a great hair vs hair match moment, we see Brutus “the Barber” Beefcake cut the hair of Adrian Adonis while Roddy Piper looks on with Jimmy Hart pinned to the mat beneath his foot. Piper shows Adonis his hair in a mirror, Adonis chases him unsuccessfully for a bit before running to the back in shame

Rating: 3 ½ stars

Match 7: The Hart Foundation & Danny Davis vs The British Bulldogs & Tito Santana

First thing I notice about this match is during the entrances when Gorilla Monsoon is talking over Howard Finkel trying to do the ring announcements, this angered me more than it probably should’ve. Anyway this match is all about Danny Davis being a cowardly heel referee, yes a WrestleMania match with The Hart Foundation and The British Bulldogs is about a heel referee, that feels like a bit of a waste if you ask me. We start with frequent tags from Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart as they isolate and dominate (Really obvious why FTR loves Bret Hart isn’t it) We then see Danny Davis tag in, pull off like one kick and immediately tag out, again Hart Foundation and British Bulldogs. Ina great triple team spot, we see The Hart Foundation use the ropes to launch Davis over the top onto Davey Boy Smith, who was ready and had his knees up to counter the move. We then see the hottest of hot tags as in comes Tito Santana to get revenge on Davis, and he gets his revenge all right, he straight up dominates Davis, before….quickly tagging Smith back in for some reason, anyway Smith hits Davis with a Tombstone Piledriver! And then all hell breaks loose with all the wrestlers and then next thing we know Davis sneaks in a cover on Davey Boy Smith to pick up the victory.

It is only in the replay they show immediately after the finish that the commentators realize that Davis actually hit Smith with Jimmy Hart’s megaphone when all hell was breaking loose, allowing him to secure the pinfall, this match was decent enough, but still, this is what we’re doing with two of the most iconic tag teams at WrestleMania?

Rating: 2 stars

Match 8: Butch Reed vs Koko B Ware

This match tries to establish another strength vs speed dynamic, I think, to be honest I really have no clue what this match was trying to do, it lasted less than four minutes and the camera zooms in for a good 10 seconds on Koko’s bird, Frankie, which is undoubtedly the most entertaining part of this match. It ends with a high cross body into a pin while holding the tights for a Butch Reed victoy, cool that’s over it’s time to talk about Savage vs Steamboat

Rating: 1 star

Match 9: Macho Man Randy Savage vs Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat for the Intercontinental Championship

It is about time I get to talk about this match, it’s one of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history and it is deserving of every single ounce of praise it has gotten. So this is the first huge match of the show and as such the lighting of the arena has drastically changed, it is much darker and makes everything feel much more dramatic. We see Savage execute some absolutely brutal moves here; elbow strikes and raking of the eyes, this goes a long way to making the fans sympathetic for Steamboat. Steamboat starts to work Savage’s arm to gain an advantage, and Savage consistently sells the arm being damaged. Savage attempts to target the throat, which was shown to be injured previously by Savage in a video package before the match. Steamboat hits a series of lightning-quick arm drags to pick up the pace and get the crowd going, eventually Savage is able to throw Steamboat over the top rope, Steamboat manages to skin the cat to get back in the ring, and instead of standing there waiting to be attacked, Savage immediately clotheslines Steamboat right back over and outside the ring. After more Savage offense, Steamboat attempts to make a fiery babyface comeback, before Savage rakes the eyes to squash the comeback attempt. Steamboat eventually hits a huge counter to get the momentum back with a back body drop to Savage over the top rope, Steamboat hits Savage with a top rope chop and goes for a pin to get a three count! But unfortunately for Mr. Richard Blood, Savage managed to get his foot on the rope to keep the match going. We then see one of the most lowkey amazing sequences in a match that I have ever seen. Steamboat attempts a sunset flip into a roll up, and Savage kicks out, Steamboat then attempts an additional FIVE pinfall attempts, all of them being a unique style of cover and Savage barely being able to kick out of all of them. An Irish Whip attempt is reversed into an accidental ref bump and we have a dead referee. Savage then hits his signature top rope elbow drop and goes for the cover, but the referee is too busy being dead to make the count, Savage then grabs the ring bell that the video package showed him using on Steamboat before, but Steamboat’s corner man and Detroit’s own (which they never mention) George “The Animal” Steele is there to take the bell away from Savage, Savage manages to take it back and go to the top rope with it, but Steele is right there to shove Savage off the top rope and save Steamboat from getting a severe case of ring bell to the head. Savage goes for a body slam but Steamboat counters it into a small package and picks up the win and captures the Intercontinental Championship!

Wow, just wow, what a phenomenal match, it deserves all the hype it gets, it was so ahead of its time with the fast pace, it showed a clear heel champion with an underdog but great and sympathetic babyface, and both wrestlers sold the injuries that from a psychology perspective, make sense and add to the legitimacy of the match, the easy choice for match of the night.

Rating: 5 stars

Match 10: Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs The Honky Tonk Man

Jake Roberts comes out to the ring with music legend Alice Cooper and the fact that Jake THE SNAKE Roberts was aligned with Alice Cooper just a few years before Cooper released “poison” makes me so sad at the golden opportunity we missed out on. This match starts with Roberts attacking Honky Tonk Man before he could even get in the ring, the two brawl on the outside before they go back in the ring and Honky Tonk Man gains the advantage. At this point, we see Honky Tonk Man execute so many moves that conventional wrestling logic would dictate that the babyface would counter, only problem is, Roberts never makes that counter, we just keep going and going with no big counter to pop the crowd. Then when Roberts finally does counter, Honky Tonk Man goes right back on the offensive until Roberts counters again to gain the momentum. This makes absolutely no sense to me, we get the babyface counter to shift the momentum, but we do it in a way that robs us of the crowd cheering for the momentum swing, I really fail to see why it was done this way. As Roberts approaches Honky Tonk Man on his knees, Honky Tonk Man calls for timeout, Roberts lays off for some reason before going back on the offensive, making the timeout a complete waste of everyone’s time. Roberts goes for his signature DDT when Jimmy Hart interferes and grabs The Snake’s leg (that was weird to write) Honky Tonk Man takes advantage of the distraction to get a roll-up pinfall victory.

Honky Tonk Man dodges a brutal looking guitar shot from Roberts before he runs away as fast as an Elvis impersonator can, leaving Jimmy Hart behind. At this point Alice Cooper gets into the ring for a pop that was bigger than any of the wrestlers got, Cooper brings out everyone’s favorite reptile, Damian and teases throwing him onto Jimmy hart, who is being held by Roberts. Hart sells incredibly well… and then for some reason he escapes but doesn’t roll out of the ring even though he’s right there, and Roberts takes Damian from Cooper and throws him onto Hart, stealing Alice Cooper’s WrestleMania moment for reason that I’m too done with this match to care about at this point.

Rating: 1 ½ stars

We then get our obligatory WrestleMania attendance record spot, 93,173, which according to Wikipedia is a figure that is disputed, which implies that anyone actually believes that number to be true.

Match 11: the Iron sheik and Nikolai Volkoff vs The Killer Bees

You guys want to know how this show fits right into the 80s? Obligatory Russian heel who is only a villain for being born in Russia Nikolai Volkoff (who was from Croatia by the way) signs the Soviet national anthem to a crowd that boos like he just murdered the pope on live TV. Hacksaw Jim Duggan (HOOOOOOOOO) runs into the ring to stop the communists because America. Anyway The Killer Bees are here and there’s a wrestling match apparently, All four wrestlers start fighting in the ring before the referee is finally able to get control, I’m sure it will last. Minutes after the bell rang and The Iron Sheik was getting beat down without a single move of offense, Volkoff ran in to break up the pin attempt and give the advantage back to the evil foreigners. Now this part is very important: Volkoff came in to the ring to break up the pin, and he never tagged in, yet the referee makes sure The Iron Sheik leaves the ring so the match can continue properly, so the ref was not distracted, he was not knocked out, he saw everything but I guess just decided tag rules mean nothing (If you listen very carefully you can hear Dax Harwood absolutely beside himself with rage, as he should be) and soon after this blatant ignoring of tag team rules, the ref does not see The Killer Bees make a tag, and doesn’t allow the Killer Bees to switch active wrestlers, because well I guess in the last minute the importance of tag team rules has drastically changed, god I hate this, anyway Hacksaw (HOOOOOOOO) chases Volkoff around with a 2x4 while The Iron Sheik locks in the Camel Clutch in the ring, Hacksaw (HOOOOOO) sees Iron Sheik have the hold locked in and puts us all out of our misery and hits Iron Sheik with the 2x4 resulting in a DQ finish that I might actually care about if I didn't despise this match. A word of advice, instead of watching this, just go to The Iron Sheik’s Twitter and scroll through that, you’ll get far more entertainment from 5:44 of that than you will from this match.

Rating: ½ star

Match 12: The Main Event: Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship

Here we are, the most important wrestling match in history, a match with the single most iconic and important WrestleMania moment in history, a match that Dave Meltzer rated -4 stars, yes -4 stars, Dave I love you and you’re an inspiration but spoiler alert I am going to have to strongly, strongly disagree with you on this one. The camera flashing and atmosphere from the crowd make this feel like a truly huge match, you know because it’s literally the biggest wrestling match ever. The bell rings and we get an incredible stare-down from the two legends with Gorilla Monsoon giving us the chilling and iconic line “The irresistible force meeting the Immovable object” and let's do this! It’s main event time, it’s Hogan, it’s Andre, it's WrestleMania and it’s amazing. Hogan blocks a strike from Andre before he lands his own strikes, the crowd is losing it, the impossible feels like a reality, Hogan is hurting the giant, Hogan goes for the bodyslam.. But he just can’t do it, the weight of Andre causes Hogan’s back to give in, and Andre falls onto Hogan for a pin attempt that gets a two count. From this point, Hogan sells the back injury one would get from trying to body slam someone who is over 500 pounds, Andre hits Hogan with brutally powerful strikes, he gets Hogan into a corner and taunts the crowd with “What do you think of your champion now” Hogan manages to escape from the corner, the crowd pops huge, he goes for a running move in the corner only to be met by Andre the Giant and possibly the best big boot in the history of professional wrestling. Hogan’s momentum is once again stopped by the giant. Andre puts Hogan in a bear hug which is a terrifying thought, the hold is locked in for a very long time, Hogan is fading before eventually “hulking up” while still being in the hold, with the rush of the little energy he has left, Hogan starts to strike the giant, again and again until Andre’s grip loosens just enough to allow the Hulkster to escape. Hogan attempts two shoulder check into Andre, they have very little effect, Hogan springs off the ropes to attempt a third, and he is hit with one of the most intense looking chops I’ve ever seen, here’s your damn strong style. With a big boot to Hogan’s midsection, Hogan gets knocked out of the ring. Andre attempts a headbutt on Hogan, which Hogan dodges causing Andre to headbutt the ring post, which causes me to have a headache just thinking about , Hogan rips off the mats on the outside to expose the concrete to try to hit Andre with a piledriver on, which, I don’t even want to joe about that just sounds like a horrible idea in so many ways, thankfully Andre reverses it and doesn’t quite back drop Hogan onto the mat, more of a light flip over his back, which I must admit is a huge missed opportunity to really work Hogan’s back injury. AThw two get back in the ring, Hogan dodges a big boot from Andre, springs off the ropes to strike Andre and knock him to the ground, the crowd’s buzzing and then it happens. The single biggest moment in professional wrestling history, Hulk Hogan body slams Andre the Giant, if someone knows one moment in wrestling, this is what they know, forget that it happened earlier in their careers before WrestleMania III, this is a show with 90,000 people in attendance and countless people watching on PPV, this moment solidified the future of professional wrestling, this is as important as it gets. After the slam, Hogan hits the leg drop and does the impossible, he defeats Andre the Giant

Seriously Dave -4? I don’t see it that way in the slightest, here I see the most perfectly-booked David vs Goliath match in wrestling, Hogan was a dominant champion, but he had never faced anyone like Andre, Andre was booked like an unbeatable monster and it seemed impossible that Hogan could win, Andre’s offense looked legitimately bone-shattering,and Hogan knew exactly what to do to build the hope and anticipation in the crowd until one giant climax to get the crowd to lose their minds as Hulk Hogan did the impossible in a time in wrestling where the fans viewed things a lot more like they do a legitimate sporting event. This match is great, it’s the perfect main event for WrestleMania, especially in 1987, is it the most technically brilliant match? Of course not, but not every match needs to be a technical marvel to be a great match.

Rating: 4 stars

After a huge feel-good finish to the main event, the show ends with a video package recapping all the matches from before, set to Aretha Franklin. Now I have to say that while this show has far too many pointless matches and bad finishes, the good parts of this WrestleMania, the two really good matches and the overall presentation and the grand scale of everything, along with, you know, the most important spot in the history of wrestling, WrestleMania III is a show that I absolutely recommend everyone to watch at least once in their life. If you’re an older fan looking to reminisce on your childhood, go back and watch this show again. If you’re a young fan like me, use this show as a great history lesson of how good the 80s were for professional wrestling.

Overall Show Grade: B

Wrestling Trivia:

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