V.
Later today, Wrestlemania will take place yet again.
It has become the big annual event for pro-wrestling, the Super Bowl, if you will, for the sport, or entertainment, or whatever you want to call it. In the decades since it first came into being, Wrestlemania has had numerous huge, iconic faces and personalities take part, including Andre the Giants, Hulk Hogan, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, the Undertaker, Mr. T,, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, Chris Jericho, and John Cena. A few of those names are quite famous outside of wrestling circles.
So, I thought that this day, which also happens to be the anniversary of probably the biggest Wrestlemania of them all - Wrestlemania III - would be an appropriate time to discuss the biggest match from that biggest of all Wrestlemanias. I am talking, of course, about Andre the Giant versus Hulk Hogan.
I know that so-called professional wrestling is not real, so please do not think that that is beyond my understanding as I write this.
However, my family (at least the males) followed it regularly when I was a kid. That included my grandfather (although I am not sure the extent to which he actually followed it, although he was familiar with some of the major wrestlers of the WWF at the time), my father, my brother, and myself.
There were some wrestlers that I enjoyed more than others at the time and, looking back on it now, there were some wrestlers that I would appreciate much more when older than I did at the time, just in terms of sheer entertainment value.
One example of this was "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. At the time, being a kid, I enjoyed wrestling and accepted the story lines. Yes, I understood then, as now, that it was fake and staged. However, each weekend, it was relatively easy to suspend disbelief and simply enjoy the show, and I believed in Piper's character. He was an arrogant loudmouth, which seemed like a big no-no at the time, even if he did back it up in the ring (usually, anyway).
But the talent that went into his persona, the work behind his seeming lack of likability as a "heel", actually betrayed a lot of talent. At the time, viewing him as a bad guy, I did not fully appreciate his "Piper's Pit." Yet, some years ago, when nostalgia for all of those WWF memories came to me, one of the first things that I made a point of watching were those "Piper's Pit" episodes. I found them actually more enjoyable as an adult than I had as a child, ironically.
Another character that I came to appreciate more as an adult than I ever did as a child was Don "The Magnificent" Morocco. My father certainly appreciated that guy's talents (particularly with talking), because he mentioned him numerous times, and that is the one wrestler that I remember my father and grandfather having a conversation about, with my father saying that he was unbelievable and talented. There was also a clip many years later of another wrestler, Glenn Foley, who spoke about how he had intensely disliked Don Moroco as a child, but did not know exactly why he disliked him. Only later, as an adult, did he recognize how much talent went into that act of being a heel like that, and he came to appreciate that man's talent later in life. Same here. I did not like him as a kid, but as an adult, I definitely came to appreciate him.
There were other wrestlers that I enjoyed now much more than I did back then. Another was Rick "The Model" Martel, who was the obligatory resident, arrogant and obnoxious Frenchman (actually, he was Québécois, but that did not seem to matter so much in the WWF). There came a point when every French wrestler was a bad guy, and being from a Franco-American family, that was both a source of humor and mild annoyance (more of a rolling of the eyes kind of thing).
Another wrestler that I came to appreciate in terms of their entertainment value later on in life, rather than when I actually watched wrestling, was Mr. Perfect. His wrestling persona came across as just such over the top arrogance, that it is actually quite amusing to watch all of these years later. This was quite typical of the entertaining acts that wrestling had, and perhaps still has (again, I no longer really follow it).
My favorite wrestler of all, then and now, was Andre the Giant (his real name was André René Roussimoff ). As his name suggests, he was truly a giant, although he was probably not quite as big as he was billed in the WWF.
By the time of the big match with Hulk Hogan in 1987, Andre was officially 520 pounds, according to the WWF. It is worth noting, however, that after slamming Andre, a feat which many believed impossible, Hulk Hogan said that Andre had felt like he had weighed around 700 pounds.
Now, the sad part of this was that his weight actually worked against him. When you look at clips of Andre in the seventies and early eighties, he is athletic, and can move very well for such a big man. But he slows down, his back clearly bothering him. By the time of that big match with Hogan, his back is clearly bothering him. There are clips of him from just a few years later where Andre is essentially bent throughout, his back pains clearly recorded in his movements and posture.
Andre the Giant had been the most iconic wrestler of the 1970's, and he remained one of the most famous faces of wrestling in the 1980's, as well. Still, it was Hulk Hogan, and not Andre, that became the WWF Champion, and held the title for most of the decade. Hulk Hogan was the new face of wrestling, but Andre, at least officially, had never been defeated.
Really, the story line was just too appealing, and it was just a matter of time before those two men locked horns.
Inevitably, they did. But the story had to fit, and so Andre went from being a "face", having always been a likable, gentle giant of sorts, to a "heel". Like all of the Francophone wrestlers, he was a bad guy.
He played the part very well, too. He never smiled anymore, even though his smile had always been iconic, and a symbol of how well-liked he tended to be.
In the meantime, Hulk Hogan, who was already phenomenally popular, became even more so, due to the enormity of the sudden rivalry with such a behemoth. The WWF story line incorporated a subtle nationalistic aspect to the rivalry, as the "real American" Hulk Hogan aimed to become the first ever to slam Andre in the ring, as well as the first to ever defeat Andre, at least by pinfall. Technically, Andre had lost by disqualification before, although the WWF billed him as undefeated.
The match took place on this day, March 29, 1987, in the Pontiac Silverdome. According to official estimates, 93,173 people were in attendance on that day, a record for an indoor sporting event in North America that still stands today. I remember that it made the news on every major regular station (cannot speak for cable, since we did not have cable back then).
So, I wanted to both remember and honor the memory of that huge match, as well as the memory of Andre the Giant, still my favorite wrestler, on this occasion of the 28th anniversary of that epic event. Maybe wrestling got huge in the nineties and beyond, but I was not really watching it as consistently as I had in the eighties, as a kid. But it had an effect on me, and I remember enjoying it immensely as a kid - enough to write about it now, as an adult, obviously! So, here is something that I wrote just a few months ago about the build-up to that match, which also includes some videos.
The Build-up to WrestleMania III Epic Match Between Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan
(originally published on December 15, 2014)
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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