WrestleMania III - Event

Event

Vince McMahon claims that as he was about to announce "Welcome to WrestleMania III," he felt the spirit of his father Vincent J. McMahon, who had died three years earlier. After he made that announcement he introduced Aretha Franklin, who opened the show singing a rendition of "America the Beautiful."

The first match of the night was The Can-Am Connection versus Bob Orton and The Magnificent Muraco. This match ended when Rick Martel gave Don Muraco a high cross-body to get the win for his team.

The next match that aired was Hercules (with Bobby Heenan in his corner) against Billy Jack Haynes in the "Full Nelson Challenge." The match ended when Haynes locked Hercules in the full nelson outside the ring and both were counted out. After the match, Bobby Heenan assaulted Haynes, and Haynes chased Heenan into the ring, where Hercules then assaulted Haynes with his chain before locking him in a full nelson of his own.

The Mixed Tag Team Match between King Kong Bundy and his midget team of Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokyo against Hillbilly Jim and his own midget team of The Haiti Kid and Little Beaver was next. King Kong Bundy's team was disqualified when Bundy attacked Little Beaver, because Bundy was not supposed to be in the ring with the midgets.

The "Loser Must Bow" match between Junkyard Dog and King Harley Race followed. "Mean" Gene Okerlund was with Bobby Heenan, Harley Race, and The Fabulous Moolah backstage, where Moolah predicted that Junkyard Dog would have to bow to the King as he is supposed to do. Bobby gave Moolah the crown and told her to put it on the King's head after the match. Junkyard Dog came out to the ring to a big ovation in the Silverdome. During the match, the two battled back and forth, and Harley Race gave the Junkyard Dog a belly to belly suplex when he was distracted by Bobby Heenan to get the win. Due to the stipulation, he did a little bow (as he is supposed to, due to the pre-match stipulation) and then hit Harley Race with a steel chair. After attacking Race, Junkyard Dog took the King's royal robe and left the ring with it in hand.

The next match that aired was The Dream Team against The Rougeau Brothers. Raymond Rougeau started off the match by locking up with Brutus Beefcake. The two men later tagged out, and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine brawled with Jacques Rougeau as Dino Bravo looked on from the outside of the ring. Raymond performed a sleeper hold on Valentine and was followed by Beefcake jumping off the ropes and accidentally hitting the Hammer with a double axe handle. The Rougeau Brothers gave Valentine a double team move, but the referee was arguing with Beefcake. The match ended when Dino Bravo jumped off the top rope and hit Raymond while he was pinning Valentine, where Valentine pinned him for the win. The Dream Team argued for most of the match, which led to Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo departing together, without Beefcake.

Footage of an interview with Roddy Piper was aired as Piper made his way to the ring to face Adrian Adonis, who was accompanied by Jimmy Hart, in Piper's retirement match. Piper and Adonis began the match by attacking each other with a belt. Adonis put a sleeper hold on Piper in the middle of the ring and released the hold thinking that he won the match. When Jimmy Hart got in the ring to celebrate with Adonis, Brutus Beefcake came to the ring to help Piper recover, and Piper attacked Adonis and performed a sleeper hold of his own. Piper got the victory, and after the match was over, Brutus got in the ring and cut Adrian Adonis' hair as Piper held Jimmy Hart down. Adonis then ran from the ring in embarrassment.

Up next was a six-man tag team match featuring Danny Davis and The Hart Foundation against The British Bulldogs and Tito Santana, where the Bulldogs had many near-falls, yet Jim Neidhart broke up most of them. When all six wrestlers got in the ring, Danny Davis hit Davey Boy Smith with Jimmy Hart's megaphone and pinned him for the win.

Butch Reed's pay-per-view debut against "The Bird Man" Koko B. Ware, was the following match. Reed won the match with a rollup after a high cross-body from Koko. After the contest, Reed's manager Slick got in the ring and attacked Koko B. Ware, but Tito Santana quickly rushed to the ring and stopped Slick, ripped some of his clothes off, and retreated as Reed got back in the ring, only to get a double drop kick from Koko and Santana.

The next contest was a title match involving WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat. The match itself lasted for nearly fifteen minutes At one point, Savage was about to use the ring bell as a weapon but was stopped by George Steele, who knocked him off of the top rope. When Savage attempted to give Steamboat a scoop slam, Steamboat reversed it into a small package to get the win and become the new WWF Intercontinental Champion, marking the first time in WrestleMania history that the Intercontinental Championship changed hands. This match is considered by many to be one of the greatest matches in WWE history.

The tenth match of the night was between The Honky Tonk Man and Jake Roberts, who had Alice Cooper in his corner. When Jake went for the DDT, Honky Tonk Man's manager Jimmy Hart pulled Roberts' legs, and the Honky Tonk Man rolled up Roberts from behind, held on to the ropes, and pinned him for the win. After the match, Alice Cooper got in the ring and used Roberts' python Damien to attack Hart.

The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff were in action next, against The Killer Bees. Slick asked all of the fans to rise to respect Nikolai Volkoff's singing of the Soviet National Anthem, and when Volkoff began singing, Jim Duggan came to the ring with his two-by-four, which had an American flag attached to it, got on the microphone and said that Volkoff was not going to sing because America is the land of the free and the home of the brave. While the match ensued, Duggan stayed at ringside. When The Iron Sheik locked a camel clutch on one of the Killer Bees, Jim Duggan hit him with his two by four, resulting in a The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff winning the bout by disqualification.

In what was billed as the "biggest main event in sports entertainment," the match pitted WWF Champion Hulk Hogan defending the title against André the Giant. Howard Finkel introduced the guest ring announcer, Bob Uecker, and the time keeper, Mary Hart. Bobby Heenan was in André the Giant's corner as he came to the ring. The fans booed André heavily, yet Hogan came to the ring to a huge ovation. Approximately two minutes into the match, Hogan attempted to bodyslam André, but he was unable to lift The Giant and nearly lost the match when Andre fell on him and almost pinned him. Later on, André gave Hogan an Irish whip to the far side of the ring and attempted a big boot on Hogan, but Hogan gave André a clothesline to take him down. Hogan then scoop slammed the 520-pound André and executed a leg drop to get the win and retain the championship.