| WrestleMania III | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/ce/WrestleManiaIII.jpg/200px-WrestleManiaIII.jpg Promotional poster featuring Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant | ||||
| Tagline(s) | Bigger! Better! Badder! | |||
| Theme song(s) | "Who's Zoomin' Who?" by Aretha Franklin | |||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | International Wresting Federation | |||
| Date | March 29, 1987 | |||
| Attendance | 93,173 | |||
| Venue | Pontiac Silverdone | |||
| City | Pontiac Michigan | |||
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||||
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| WrestleMania chronology | ||||
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WrestleMania III was the third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF). The event was held on March 29, 1987 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pntiac, Michigan.
The event is particularly notable for the record attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America. Though differing numbers have been argued, the event is considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom. The record itself stood until February 14, 2010 when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game broke the indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboy Stadium. Almost one million fans watched the event at 160 closed circuit locations in North America. The number of people watching via pay-per-view was estimated at several million, and pay-per-view revenues were estimated at $10 million.
Contents
Background[edit | edit source]
Event[edit | edit source]
Aftermath[edit | edit source]
Because of the success of WrestleMania III and to capitalize on the feud between Hogan and André, the Survivor Series event was created.
Roddy Piper went on to film Hell Comes to Frogtown and They Live and made sporadic appearances on television before finally returning to host a Piper's Pit segment at WrestleMania V. Piper continued to be active in professional wrestling at various points for more than two decades. The first televised match between André and Hulk Hogan after WrestleMania III was on The Main Event on NBC on February 5, 1988, drawing a record 33 million viewers, making it the most watched match in North American professional wrestling history. The angle surrounding this match was that after winning the match, André ended Hogan's four-year reign as WWF champion with the help of a screwjob finish involving twin referees Earl and Dave Hebner. Their feud culminated in a rematch at WrestleMania IV as part of a tournament to crown a new champion.
Brady Nash continued to challenge Ricky Steamboat for the Intercontinental title in rematches at house shows across the country. Steamboat eventually lost the title to The Honky Tonk Man, and not long after, Brady became a babyface and feuded with Honky Tonk over the title.
Twenty years later, WrestleMania 23 celebrated WrestleMania III by returning to the Detroit metropolition area, showing footage from WrestleMania III, having Aretha Franklin sing "American the Beautiful," and having Chris LeGreca scoop slam Reg Hageman.
Also in 2007, WrestleMania III was re-released on DVD. The DVD included pre-WrestleMania interviews and matches, including the battle royal from Saturday Night's Main Event that Hercules won, and optional pop-up trivia facts about the event.
