I know that it is not real, and I stopped following it a long time ago. And I knew it was not real as a kid, too.
But back in the eighties, wrestling was really a lot of fun, and my family (at least the males) followed wrestling, and enjoyed all of the drama and back stories.
It seems that our favorite wrestler was Andre the Giant, which is not a surprise, since he, like us, was French.
He was not often seen on the Sunday morning wrestling shows. Nor was Hulk Hogan, for that matter. They rarely wrestled on this shows, although they made some guest appearances and interviews every now and then.
Andre had been billed as unmovable and unbeatable over the years, and the claim was that he had never been defeated in the ring - at least not by being pinned.
Of course, Hulk Hogan was the WWF Champion, and had been for a long time. Andre had never had a shot at the title, because they were both good guys. They were allies and friends, and so never had a chance to wrestle against one another during that era when they were both, in their own way, the kings of the ring.
All of that changed, of course, in 1987. Andre became a bad guy, and turned oh Hulk Hogan. In a series of steps, the two had episodes that, ultimately, let to their huge match at WrestleMania III, in Detroit, Michigan, in late March of 1987.
The build-up lasted several weeks, and anticipation grew. Wrestling may have done a solid job of propaganda before, an surely has since. But I do not believe that they ever did as good a job of it as they did leading up to that match. Everyone wanted to see it. Everyone wanted to know what would happen. These were the two biggest icons in wrestling!
I remember that I made a bet with a few kids, because my father had expected Andre the Giant to win, with Hulk Hogan probably winning his title back in a rematch. That sounded like an attractive and plausible storyline, and so I placed the bets.
Foolishly, in retrospect.
Of course, we did not have cable, and that may even have been on pay-per view.
I found out the results the next morning, at the bus stop to school. Heard that Andre had lost, and felt crushed. Betrayed, even.
Andre had been slammed, which sounded impossible. After inquiring whether or not he was badly hurt, I was told that Andre had gotten up, eventually. Bu only after several minutes.
As it turned out, that was not true. He rolled out of the ring fairly quickly after being pinned, although his back was surely screaming in pain after being body slammed like that.
Eventually, they had a rematch. And, yes, Andre won the rematch. I actually suspect that the WWF could have drawn out the drama, and perhaps had two huge matches like that WrestleMania III if, indeed, they did have Andre win that first match. Even though the rematch was big, being the main match on Saturday Night's Main Event, it nonetheless paled in comparison to WrestleMania III.
Even though I am now obviously fully an adult now, it is fun sometimes to go back and revisit some of the things that seemed so important back then. And I ran into this article (see link below) that got me on the topic, and made me want to revisit some of those big events that led to the historic match, which was probably wrestling's highest point ever. After that, there are some video clips of the drama that led to the big match, then the big match itself, and then the eventual rematch.
Enjoy!
http://yahoo.thepostgame.com/blog/throwback/201412/wrestlemania-iii-andre-giant-hulk-hogan-pontiac-silverdome-attendance-wwe
Andre appears with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, the first sign that he has become a bad guy (what wrestling terms used to be called a "heel"):
Andre attacks Hogan
Finally, the match itself, which set an attendance record for largest crowd for an indoor sporting event (unless you consider wrestling entertainment, rather than a sport):
After the historic match, Andre and Hogan clashed once again in 1988, starting with Andre attacking Hogan on Saturday Night's Main Event:
That incident led to this title match on Saturday Night's Main Event, where this time, Andre took the title, but then immediately gave it to the Million Dollar Man:
Hogan discusses the match years later:
Andre did not stay a bad guy, as he slapped Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and returned to his customary role as a good guy:
Here is a clip going way back to when Andre and Hulk Hogan allegedly first met:
An old match between Hogan and Andre from 1980, held at Shea Stadium:
Sadly, the announcement of the death of Andre the Giant in January of 1993:
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