Wrestlemania III

release year: 1987
genre: vintage wrestling pay-per-view
viewing setting: home DVD, 9/2/12

synopsis: This third annual wrestling mega-event set a new attendance record for a live indoor sporting event (93,173 - a record which lasted until 2010.)

where it happened: Pontiac, Michigan

impressions: As always, I won't go into great detail, but rather mention some highlights. Hercules uses his chain to bust open Billy Jack Haynes' scalp. King Kong Bundy and Hillbilly Jim each team up with two midgets for a 6-man match, but when Bundy smacks one of the midgets, the other three all turn on him and he gets disqualified. Would-be royalty Harley Race beats the Junkyard Dog, but Dog steals his kingly robes and runs away laughing. Brutus Beefcake gets abandoned by his teammates after a match. Roddy Piper beats Adrian Adonis, then helps now-good-guy Brutus Beefcake cut off Adonis' golden locks. Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart have a great tag-team match against the British Bulldogs, and then their bulldog attacks evil manager Bobby "the Brain" Heenan. A gigantic Butch Reed beats Koko B. Ware, but his manager Slick gets his pimp suit ripped to shreds by an enraged Tito Santana. Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage have an outstanding 15-minute match in which George "the Animal" Steele helps. Alice Cooper helps Jake "the Snake" Roberts terrorize Jimmy Hart. Jim Duggan runs up and belts the Iron Sheik with a 2x4. Last but not least, in the biggest and most-hyped match ever, Hulk Hogan body-slams the 500+ pound now-bad-guy Andre the Giant after a grueling battle, much to the delight of the crowd. As noted elsewhere, even the bad matches in this PPV were entertaining, and the fans loved the whole thing. Celebrities on hand for this one (in addition to any already mentioned above) were Mary Hart, Bob Uecker (who was a really funny commentator), and Aretha Franklin.

fun quote:
Elvira (reacting to Hogan busting Bundy's head open) "Why don't they stop it?!?"
Jesse Ventura: "It can't be stopped."

final word: The biggest and best (and certainly most entertaining) of these to that point - a must-see for fans of this sort of entertainment.

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