Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat put on a classic, The Hart Foundation and The British Bulldogs put on a clinic and Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant shook the planet in the biggest and most entertaining PPV extravaganza the wrestling world had so far seen.

Seen by a massive crowd of somewhere between 75,000 and 80,000 people, (the figure of 93,000 the WWE so often trots out is a fiction) this PPV changed the WWE forever and gave the company an exciting new direction that would set it up for the next two years.

Like most of the early PPVs, this one is heavy on matches, so I'll just go through the card and only talk about the big matches.

In the show opener Rick Martel and Tom Zenk defeated Bob Orton and the Magnificent Maruco in a tag match, Hercules and Billy Jack Haynes were both counted out in a Full Nelson challenge match with Haynes putting Hercules in the full nelson outside the ring. Evil manager Bobby Heenan lured Haynes into the ring where Hercules took him by surprise and put him in a full nelson. Dastardly.

Hillbilly Jim and his midget friends Little Beaver and The Haiti Kid defeated King Kong BUndy and his midget allies Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokyo by disqualification after Bundy hit Beaver. Harley Race defeated the Junk Yard Dog in a "loser must bow" match. Dog bowed and then smashed Race in the head with a steel chair.

In the next match Dino Bravo helped the Dream Team of Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine to defeat the Fabulous Rougeaus. Beefcake and Valentine argued the whole match and Beefcake was left in the ring on his own as Bravo and Valentine walked to the back. Roddy Piper then defeated Adrian Adonis in a retirement match. Fun to watch with a false ending.

Next up was the best match of the night so far as Danny Davis and the Hart Foundation defeated Tito Santana and The Britiush Bulldogs in an excellent six man tag match after Davis knocked out Davey Boy Smith with Jimmy Hart's megaphone. Butch Reed then defeated Koko B Ware.

The next match was one of the best in any Wrestlemania as Ricky Steamboat defeated Randy Savage to win the Intercontinental Championship. Savage cheated a few times, even going for the bell, he hit the flying elbow, but Steamboat kicks out, Savage stayed on the offensive but Steamboat came back, Savage kicking out of a couple of pinning predicaments but Steamboat eventually won with a small package. The crowd applauded the match, which was an absolute classic. The next match saw Alice Cooper attack the Honky Tonk Man with a python after he had cheated to defeat Jake Roberts.

Evil foreigners The Iron Shiek and Nikolai Volkoff defeated the Killer Bees by disqualification in our next match. Hacksaw Jim Duggan smashed Sheik with two by four when he had one of the bees in the camel clutch.

This brings us to the Main Event. Bobby Heenan had been trying to get the WWE Title off Hulk Hogan for years, enlisting the help of Big John Studd, Paul Orndorff and King Kong Bundy among others but this time he had Andre the Giant, supposedly undefeated for 15 years, in his corner.

Hogan looked to have lost the match early on, but the referee claimed he hadn't counted to three. Hogan came back and body slammed Andre!!!!! Impossible, unbelievable, earth shattering. Leg Drop 1,2,3! Hogan wins! Hulkamania is still running wild! A lot of people take all the fun out of this match by trying to rate it technically. But really, who cares? This match was a gift, just enjoy it.

This is still a terrific spectacle today, well worth watching. Hogan/ Andre was the biggest match the wrestling world had seen at that time and Savage/ Steamboat was as good as anything ever seen at a Wrestlemania event. Now available in a DVD Champiosnhip Edition. Well worth tracking down.

Ricky the dragon ? steamboat v Macho man Randy Savage sets the standard for what could be possible in a wrestling ?‍♀️ match add to that Hulk Hogan and Andre the giant show how the tension can reach fever pitch without ever throwing a punch ? The two men standing toe to toe in the ring will forever be one of the most iconic wrestling pictures need I say more ..... this is wrestlemania 3

Some say arguably the most important Wrestlemania of all time. I agree in a way partly because of The Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant match. WWF expertly produced this match so that as you were a fan in those days (I was 1 in 1987, so I didn't know what a television was never mind wrestling) you felt that you had to see it. However WWF falsely claimed that Hogan had never body slammed Andre and that Andre was undefeated, both claims were false. The match will go down as a classic because of Hogan and Andre's drawing power in the 1980's but the match was the pits.

The best match on the card was the classic Ricky Steamboat vs Randy Savage confrontation for the Intercontinental Championship. Fast paced, expertly timed and tonnes of near finishes and pins this is still remembered today as being one of the greatest matches ever.

However there were terrible matches on the card, for instance who in their right frame of mind would want to see Koko B Ware vs Butch Reed? and The Iron Sheik and Nicolai Volkoff vs The Killer Bees? Not this reviewer. However it also features a memorable 6 man match featuring King Kong Bundy and Hill Bily Jim and four midgets (the sight of Bundy splashing Little Beaver (RIP little fellah) at the time was considered shocking), and it also featured another memorable match this time pitting Roddy piper vs Adrian Adonis in a hair vs hair match. Sadly Adonis died in 1988 in a car accident.

This Wrestlemania also featured Alice Cooper who looked terrible and the sight of Jimmy Hart terrified of Jake 'the snake' Roberts python Damien will have you laughing out loud.

Results from the show which was held at the Pontiac Silver Dome in Detroit, Michigan before a crowd of 78,000, not 93,000 as some fans think, the WWF said this to set a brand new attendance record apparently: The Cam Am Connection (Rick Martel and Tom Zenk) downed 'Cowboy' Bob Orton and Magnificent Muraco in a good opener.... Hercules defeated Billy Jack Hayes in a terrible match.... Hilly Billy Jim, Little Beaver and The Haiti Kid beat King Kong Bundy, Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokoyo via DQ in a memorable 6 man match.... Harley Race defeated Junk Yard Dog in a colossal bore.... The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) defeated The Rougeou Brothers (Jaqcues and Raymond) in a good tag match.... Butch Reed defeated Koko B Ware in a an instantly forgettable collision.... Roddy Piper defeated Adrian Adonis in a hair vs hair match (Brutus Beefcake who turned face previously on the card, ran down to ringside and helped Piper cut of Adonis' hair).... The Hart Foundation (Jim 'the anvil' Neidhart and Bret 'hitman' Hart) and Danny David defeated Tito Santana and The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite kid) in a fine match.... Ricky Steamboat downed Randy Savage to win the Intercontinental Championship in a superb match.... The Honky Tonk Man downed Jake 'the snake' Roberts.... The Iron Sheik and Nicolai Volkoff defeated The Killer Bees (Jim Brunzell and B Brian Blair) via DQ when Jim Duggan hit Sheik with the 2 by 4.... Hulk Hogan pinned Andre the Giant to retain the Heavyweight Championship in a match which bombed, but is still remembered as a classic because of their drawing powers in the 1980's.

Many of you may not remember this but Ricky Steamboat did not have the belt for long. Here's the story, Steamboat asked for time off to be with his wife and young son after his match with Savage, the WWF complied but he had to drop the belt first. It was originally going to be Butch Reed (erm, why?) but Reed failed to show up to a house show and the decision was made to make The Honky tonk Man the champion and he shockingly defeated Steamboat for the gold. Honky still claims to be the greatest IC champ even to this day and that's not his character speaking either. If he generally believes this then perhaps he needs to continue to shake rattle and roll on the Indie Circuit where he occasional wrestles to this day.

Overall Grade - B