Remembering Wrestlemania 3

I don’t remember where I read it, but this was the year that the WWF got Wrestlemania right. The first Wrestlemania was a success on pay per view and press. There were celebrities and pomp. The matches were mostly tag teams and of little consequence when it was over.  The second WrestleMania broadcast over three locations simultaneously and it was disjointed. This one had titles up for grabs. It had build up. It was a wrestling fan’s card and it could be enjoyed if you didn’t follow wrestling. 

The event opens with Aretha Franklin singing “America the Beautiful.” Aretha Franklin! 

The first match was a tag team match. The second match featured two wrestlers that used the same finish. Billy Jack Haynes and Hercules Hernandez. Who would apply the move first? They drop the ball on this because it ended in a double count out. They fought more outside the ring after it was over than the actual match.

The next match was terrible, let’s skip it. 

Harley Race vs. Junkyard Dog. Over the years, I would see this title and think this must be interesting. It doesn’t live up to the hype. The WWF didn’t use either of them well at all. Junkyard Dog was a fan favorite, but I read in the south, that he could be hardcore. He could do long matches. He would bleed. In the WWF, he was safe at times comical. The company wanted a mainstream fan base and families to watch so JYD played it safe. He was successful as he was a fan favorite. He sold merchandise. Was he a headliner? No. 

Harley Race was the man in the south in the 1970s and early 1980s. He was the NWA champ on multiple occasions. He put the hurt on Ric Flair for years. Terry Funk and Race would battle for month long programs. Race was another wrestler that could do hour long matches. He would blade and have bloody messes of matches. He was legitimate too. He could hurt people if he had to. No one messed with him. Bob Backlund was more of a holds and falls wrestler. Backlund and Race had an hour match with no winner. You think if a wrestlers’ wrestler comes to the company, he would dominate and be a big player. 

Nope. 

McMahon used him as a mid carder, just to stick it to the NWA. He would make Race an early King of the Ring, but he wore a cheap velvet crown that had a string on the bottom to hold it on his head. It was a comic crown. 

Even if McMahon downplayed these two giants, they would figure a way to steal the show. They weren’t given the chance. The match lasted four minutes. That is warm up time for these guys. There were fast moves and action. It was a highlight reel of moves. Race wins. Fans lose out on an epic battle. 

Then we have tag team matches that had flair, but no consequence for four minutes. 

Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis. Piper was leaving the company to make movies. This match is problematic for modern audiences. Adonis was effeminate and played homosexuality for goofs and stereotypes. He dressed in pink and wore leg warmers in the ring. Even more odd was that Adonis had been in the WWF for a few years and won the tag team title with Dick Murdock as vicious rule breakers. Adonis was very agile and could tie himself up in the ropes or fly over the ropes. When they lost the title, he changed his image. This angle character would become what he was best remembered for. To a modern viewer, you are missing his best work. To add to this terrible character, Adonis was married to a woman with kids. This character was just a gross over done stereotype to get heat with macho wrestling viewers. 

If you can get past this, the gimmick didn’t follow to the ring. The guy threw punches, he flew over the top rope and landed outside the ring. He pretty much dominates the Wrestlemania match. Before writing this I looked up some articles, other wrestlers said Adonis was a great worker. 

All the matches here come in around 5 minutes. They were quick but not squash matches. At this halfway point, the matches get longer but go so quick, they feel shorter. 

The matches at Wrestlemania were quick and full of action. WWF hyped this Wrestlemania like never before. It had to be a success. There are loads of legendary names on the card, unfortunately with the short matches you get a flavor what they could do instead of great unforgettable matches. 

After Roddy Piper and Adrian Adonis go all out for six minutes, they bring out the Tag Team champs and their biggest adversaries. The Hart Foundation vs The British Bulldogs. There is a bonus that it’s a six man match so no title on the line. These two had a feud going on for a year and it was talked about over some big names. This match tries but doesn’t do much in the end.

Butch Reed was another NWA Star that didn’t get over in the WWF. He faced mid carder Koko B Ware for three minutes. It didn’t do anything for either career.

Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat. These guys wanted to steal the show. Steamboat was another big NWA star that McMahon didn’t use fully. Ric Flair ranks Steamboat as one of his best feuds. The guy was quick, agile and versatile. Savage was more muscular and could move like a smaller wrestler. They had almost 15 minutes, longer than several of the matches that night combined. Savage liked to work out the plan for matches before hand so each person knew what to do, when to do a high spot and when to take a bump. Steamboat could adjust to any circumstance. There were multiple two-counts, jumps off the top rope, holds and breaks. They bumped and held and pushed. They tired the audience out with all the action. Macho Man tried to hit Steamboat with a timekeepers bell and that’s when George “the Animal” Steele intervened and took the bell. It gave Steamboat a chance to recover and take the win.

Jake “the Snake” Roberts had a cult following even when he was active. I don’t recall him winning titles, but he didn’t need to. The guy could headline on his own character strength. He had his real live python snakes that he came to the ring with. He toured the country constantly and he had this cool underspoken charisma that got him over wherever he went. He made wrestlers famous. He may have been the inspiration for the Mickey Rourke character in The Wrestler. On this night, he faced the Honkytonk Man. Honkytonk was seen as a lightweight, but he held the Intercontinental title longer than anyone. He was a tag team title holder and had a long career. Two wrestlers with a solid gimmick.

I skipped a few tag team matches to get to the big event. Podcasts have been done on this one match. Documentary movies have been done. The hype went on for months. It would become the Pro Wrestler Illustrated match of the year. 

At the time, I didn’t think it lived up to the hype. Hogan tried to body slam André and doesn’t. There are punches and kicks. Andre steps on Hogan. Slow paced and simple. On a night when Macho Man flew off the top rope. Adonis got pushed over the ropes. Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith traded mat holds, Andre pushed Hogan down. Heads butted. To close the match, we got the usual body slam-leg drop-pin. Years later it would come out that Andre was really hurting and they tried to protect him while pushing him. You can see the effort that went in if you have that knowledge. At the time it was “that’s it?” 

Wrestlemania 3 was a 1980s milestone for wrestling. It had hype. It made money. A lot of wrestlers went on to bigger and better things. It’s was glitzy and neon. Big hair. Big men. Campy and serious. For those who didn’t have access to comic books, these were the superheroes. It would be considered the best Wrestlemania for years.