Biggest-Geek-Ever
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Three decades ago, the biggest match in professional wrestling history (a distinction that it arguably still holds) helped to create the show that would become the true precursor to what we now call WrestleMania. Sure, 1 and 2 were in their own rights historic shows, but they were in many ways overshadowed by the efforts of the NWA Starrcade pay-per-views. It was WrestleMania III that would define the sort of spectacle and grandeur the show would reach for. Bigger! Better! Badder! was the tagline, and the change to Roman numerals to emulate the Super Bowl all screamed "This is the one," and this was the dream Vince always had of WrestleMana
Added caveat: In his head, it was called the Colossal Tussle.
So just how great was this show? Well...
Dave Meltzer said:
So from a wrestling perspective, not exactly a great show outside of one match. Especially the main event. But that's missing the point of what makes this a special show: the sheer scale of it all.
An unprecedented 93,173 fans descended on the Pontiac Silverdome, and the WWF did not shy away from the perfect camera angles to truly sell the size of this crowd.
In reality, the true attendance of WM 3 was likely around 78,000. For the uninformed on this matter, many stadium events (including wrestling, concerts, etc) will inflate attendance figures for entertainment purposes, often by the tens of thousands. There's nothing nefarious about it, but in this case, it was done to ensure that no indoor event could possibly claim a larger record. What happened next was borderline Onion-esque. Pope John Paul II would actually come to the Silverdome and attract a larger crowd. It was certainly not bigger than the 93,173 figure reported for WrestleMania, so the Silverdome decided to create their own fake number for the Pope: 93,682.
In addition to the sheer size of the venue, as mentioned before, the main event was the biggest match in pro wrestling history: Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant. It was the true definition of The Unstoppable Force meets The Immovable Object. Was it a good match? No. In fact, it features Hogan who was not known for his quality matches in the WWF and Andre who could barely move. It sucks and probably deserves a minus 4 star rating. But dammit, is it something special to witness.
Slam me, boss
Just how big was this match, and wrestling in general, at the time? The rematch between this two on February 5, 1988 drew 33 million viewers and a 15.2 rating. Or about 10 times as many viewers as this week's Monday Night Raw achieved. WrestleMania 4 would feature an extraordinary crummy rematch as well, which would go 5 minutes and end in a double DQ. Despite that, it's still the featured match on the VHS cover, heh.
Of course, it all just intangible grandeur that defines this show. If it wasn't the Intercontinental Championship match, there wouldn't be much substance to this event at all. Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage went out there and put on the first truly great match the WWF had seen, and it would remain uncontested as the best match in the company for over 5 years. Some still believe it's the best match in WrestleMania history. I am not one of those people, but I still use this match as an example of why I love prowrestling so damn much.
There are wrestlers that believe this match is not that special, because Steamboat and Savage practiced it relentlessly to get everything perfect. They are wrong, and you'll find many of the most well-regarded wrestling matches were planned out in the same way.
So how has history treated the players in this event? Well....
Hulk Hogan would be exposed as a racist of the highest order on a sex tape by Gawker. He would then (with some help from everyone's favorite billionaire, Peter Thiel) utterly destroy Gawker in court. There were rumblings that Hogan would make an appearance this year at WrestleMania 33, but we seem to have dodged that bullet
Thank the Lord
The Pontiac Silverdome unfortunately is a dead husk. Though there has been attempts made to renovate and/or sell it off, those were for all for naught, and it is now scheduled for demolition SnakeSalute.jpg
Vince McMahon is now the uncontested king of professional wrestling. A mad king, that is. He may have been a genius in the past, but the quality and booking of the current product makes many question just how out of touch he is. Despite that and his age of 71, don't expect him to step down anytime soon.
Even in face of falling popularity of the overall product, WrestleMania itself continues to become bigger and bigger, regularly selling out stadium venues despite soaring ticket prices. Last year's show would finally achieve the dream of having over 93,000 people in the building, and in the process generated a massive $17.3 million gate. III's in comparison was $1.6 million.
Oh, and the stage this year is a fucking theme park:
THE ULTIMATE THRILL RIDE
Special credit to:
strobogo's www.legitshook.com for the gifs
Dave Meltzer and The Lapsed Fan discuss some of the backstory of the show, including going more in depth about the attendance facts.
OSW reviews WrestleMania III
