The Unsung Hero Of WrestleMania III

[The Brain]

Take a look at the user name and avatar. Yeah, that’s the unsung hero of WrestleMania III. We all know the story, right? Hulk Hogan was WWF champion for three years and was wildly popular. Andre The Giant was undefeated for fifteen years and was wildly popular. The two formed a friendship and were frequent tag team partners. In early 1987 Andre started to think maybe he deserved a shot at the title. He turned against his friend and challenged the Hulkster for the title at WrestleMania III. Of course the match was heavily hyped and drew over 90,000 people to the Pontiac Silverdome. Eventually Hogan slammed the Giant firmly establishing WrestleMania as the WWF’s premier event.

Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant is credited for making WrestleMania what it has become. Those two were obviously legends among legends and a match of that magnitude was going to draw no matter what, but I believe Bobby Heenan’s involvement in the match made it much bigger than it otherwise would have been. If you think about it Andre was perfectly justified in challenging Hogan for the title. He was undefeated for fifteen years and was certainly deserving of a title shot. Maybe he didn’t need to rip the crucifix form Hogan’s neck but he had every right to challenge the champ. Given Andre’s popularity had he simply challenged Hogan, even after ripping the crucifix, many fans probably would have sided with Andre during the match. Heenan was the key ingredient in completing Andre’s heel turn. For years Heenan made it his personal mission to rid the WWF of both Hogan and Andre. It was unimaginable to picture Andre actually joining the Heenan Family. Heenan was necessary in order to get the fans to hate Andre. I think it speaks volumes to how over Heenan was that he was the one man to bring this huge angle to where it needed to be. Maybe I’m off base here, and even a little biased, but I truly believe that Hogan vs. Andre would not have been as big without Heenan. What do you think?

 

[HBKperfect23]

No doubt Hennan helped that feud big time. Andre wasnt a talker and Hennan was amazing on the mic. Hennan got everyone over. There would have to be too much of an explanation by Andre for his heel turn and I dont think he could have done it as well with Hennan.

 

[klunderbunker]

It wouldn't have been. The whole angle was built around Andre being brainwashed by Heenan into finally demanding a title match. The look on Hogan's face and the sound of his voice when Andre came onto Piper's Pit with Heenan tells the whole story. Heenan had tried for years to take out Hogan and he finally had his perfect weapon to do it with. Hogan's biggest rival in the WWF was Heenan, and this was more or less the culmination of that feud. Heenan was indeed a huge part of it and made the feud work.

 

[GameOver]

agree totally, though in the match he played little role in the leadup i don't see how they could've built Andre to suddenly turn without someone tricking him into believing Hogan was really dodging him. it wasn't cause Andre suddenly wanted a title shot cause he never did in the past that we are aware of, the only thing i could think of is that when Hogan was a heel he and Andre did go at it and Andre was victorious several times so maybe he woulda thought Hogan never showed him respect and give him a title shot in all that time but ultimately in sotryline they went with Heenan is very persuasive and he turned the one guy that seemed to be uncorruptable by convincing him that Hogan was only his friend so he wouldn't ask for a title shot. and it worked

The match was pretty awful from a visual perspective but noone can deny it was the biggest match in history at that point and brought the world to the SkyDome and WWF to it's biggest height.

 

[Unknown]

i disagree.. the match still would have been big, but to be honest Wrestling was LAME back in the day.. How boring would it be to see a guy go undefeted for 15 years.. Or to see a guy hold the championship for 3 years. The match had a huge build up. but the build up was definitly lame and boring. But im just sharing my opinion. So no hate comments please..

 

[HBKperfect23]

i disagree.. the match still would have been big, but to be honest Wrestling was LAME back in the day.. How boring would it be to see a guy go undefeted for 15 years.. Or to see a guy hold the championship for 3 years. The match had a huge build up. but the build up was definitly lame and boring. But im just sharing my opinion. So no hate comments please..

Not a hate comment but I totally disagree. Wrestling "back in the day" was about stories being built for months at a time. Hogan/Andre didnt wrestle each other on raw each week. It made the match special when it finally happened. The problem with today is how can Wrestler A vs. Wrestler B be special when they fight on tv every week. Now this has improved drastically in the last year or two but its no where near as good as it was in the Hogan/Andre days.

And to have a guy like Bobby Hennan involved made it even better. His primary feud for YEARS was to take down Hulkamania. He built the big match feel to that match perfectly.

 

[HBsam31]

The truth is Heenan was probably the unsung hero of a lot of other feuds too. He was that good. Heenan finally got the man that could take down Hogan, and it was Andre, Hogan's best friend. Heenan on Piper's pit was amazing and he really got the story across through the whole thing. Without a doubt Heenan helped make that match.

 

[asiatic7]

Not a hate comment but I totally disagree. Wrestling "back in the day" was about stories being built for months at a time. Hogan/Andre didnt wrestle each other on raw each week. It made the match special when it finally happened. The problem with today is how can Wrestler A vs. Wrestler B be special when they fight on tv every week. Now this has improved drastically in the last year or two but its no where near as good as it was in the Hogan/Andre days.

And to have a guy like Bobby Hennan involved made it even better. His primary feud for YEARS was to take down Hulkamania. He built the big match feel to that match perfectly.

This is an interesting post... don't hate on MY comment, but wrestling storylines didn't suck back in the 80's....just my opinion. The Hogan/Andre story was in fact good BECAUSE it was spread out over a few months without weekly contact. But that is how it was back then. Matches meant more when PPV's were about four months apart, and the top stars were kept off TV.

Now we live in a short attention span society where we get tired of things quickly. That's why Champions only last a few month's as opposed to a few years.

But as far as Heenan gos, the OP is 100% right. Heenan had to play devil's advocate and get Andre to see things his way. A face Andre vs. an uber face Hogan would have been big, but not on the level that it was with a heel Andre and Heenan was perfect in his role. His distain for Hogan and toppling Hulk of the mountain was the perfect story for WMIII.

Good Post OP!!!

 

[RadicalCraig]

Hennan was a big movement in the process, therefore pushong Andre to do it. But due to Hogans superface gimmick, he came out as champion, and long time legend.

 

[HBKperfect23]

This is an interesting post... don't hate on MY comment, but wrestling storylines didn't suck back in the 80's....just my opinion. The Hogan/Andre story was in fact good BECAUSE it was spread out over a few months without weekly contact. But that is how it was back then. Matches meant more when PPV's were about four months apart, and the top stars were kept off TV.

Now we live in a short attention span society where we get tired of things quickly. That's why Champions only last a few month's as opposed to a few years.

But as far as Heenan gos, the OP is 100% right. Heenan had to play devil's advocate and get Andre to see things his way. A face Andre vs. an uber face Hogan would have been big, but not on the level that it was with a heel Andre and Heenan was perfect in his role. His distain for Hogan and toppling Hulk of the mountain was the perfect story for WMIII.

Good Post OP!!!

I think we are on the same page here? I do like the top stars not being at tv EVERY week and the ppvs being spread out. Monthly ppvs are such an overkill.

What your saying about the short attention span totally makes sense, but I do think a storyline built well for a long period could still be apperciated.

.....And there will never be another Bobby the Brain to get people over the way he did.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The important thing to realise is that this particular feud had built over 2 previous Manias.. Andre had dominated at both, you could even think of his Mania 2 win in the Battle Royal as kind of like The Royal Rumble of it's day. With no other PPV's at the time and Andre going off for surgery/filming you didn't SEE Andre that much but there was no question that Andre was ALWAYS the number one contender to Hogan. Vince was set on Faces and Heels, so the only way to do it was to turn Andre.

I personally think Hogan could have been the heel in that match, and until Andre grabbed so hard he cut Hogan... he was... Till that point, Hogan was heeling in that segment, refusing the challenge, proving Andre right that he was ducking him..."No, Brother, It's not happening". Then he begged off, begged him to reconsider... It took Andre ripping off the crucifix and leaving Hogan bleeding. I think it was the first blood ever seen in the Hogan era... Till that point in the segment, Heenan was the voice saying "Look, Hogan is doing exactly what we said he would...and you cheer this guy?" There wasn't anything particularly heelish in Heenan's actions till Andre ripped the chain, thats what made it work. They could easily have turned Hogan at that point, had him refuse the challenge, hit Andre or even better go with Heenan himself.

For my money, the unsung hero of Mania 3 is actually Roddy Piper. On a one match card, Savage and Steamboat tore the house down and get the plaudits for stealing the show, but Piper was the emotional centre of it, by then the Hogan/Andre match had lost it's emotional connection and was a "battle of the giants". Piper was wrestling what at the time was his retirement match, which meant more because he had only recently turned face. The fans were going to miss Piper a lot and it showed. The match was a good brawl and nice counterpoint to the technical wizardry of the IC match and the titanic struggle in the main event.

 

[spaldoni]

I agree. I will never forget when Bobby Heenan walked on to Piper's Pit with Andre. When Jessie Ventura made the introduction of Andre and saw Heenan come out, his "Whoa!" reaction was just like mine. That whole angle set up on Piper's Pit was perfect. Bobby Heenan was huge in putting that over.