Long before the social media driven age of modern day WWE, there were the see-it-for-yourself or the word-of-mouth generations of wrestling. On certain occasions, these two would correlate. There were often situations that unfolded in the early days of televised pro wrestling that left you wondering if what you had heard about had actually taken place. The beauty of this era was that the element of surprise was safely in Vince McMahon’s pocket. There were no “spoilers” via Twitter or posts on Facebook attempting to give away the results in advance. Fans could still draw their own conclusions as to what they thought would happen, but you truly did not know for sure what might take place.

Such was the case for this writer on March 29, 1987 when McMahon’s phenomenon known as Wrestlemania reached an entire different stratosphere in the Pontiac Silverdome at Wrestlemania III. Like many kids from that generation, wrestling was an obsession. Hulkamania was running wild and had reached a fevered pitch leading into his biggest match of all-time versus the “8th Wonder of the World” Andre The Giant!

However, there was one slight problem for this fan. This writer was only seven years old. When you are seven, your bedtime comes really early. Certainly we would not be watching the biggest event ever LIVE! So, the next day at school (Monday, March 30, 1987), wondering what might have taken place the night before. Thankfully, my friends at school were all in the same boat. They did not know what had happened. At recess on the playground, nobody came up and told me the results of the Main Event. I survived lunch as well and before I knew it I was on the bus on my way home.

Naturally, once home, we set up our daily game of road hockey with the rest of the children in the trailer park. For a bunch of Canadian kids this was not at all out of the norm. On that particular day though, the game would be cut short.

For years my Dad worked as a painting contractor. As fate would have it, on that Monday he was painting a house for a family whose son was a wrestling fan. Not only that, but he had actually purchased Wrestlemania III on Viewer’s Choice Pay-Per-View! AND, he had “taped” it. So, at around 5:00 my Dad arrived home from work with the proverbial Holy Grail of VHS tapes. I could hardly contain my excitement. I couldn’t believe that my Dad had managed to get his hands on something I wanted to see so badly.

Needless to say, road hockey was over for the day. I rushed into the house and plunked the tape into our trusty old VCR. Even at that young of an age, I was completely blown away by the magnitude of the size of the crowd in the opening moments of Wrestlemania III. To see over 93,000 people packed into an arena for a wrestling event was simply remarkable. For the next three hours the anticipation continued to build as I inched closer to the Main Event! Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage was a classic as expected. I was awfully excited that Steamboat had finally gotten his revenge. Little did I know at that time, how much I would come to love Macho Man for being the ultimate performer that he really was.

But, as it was for most fans, Wrestlemania III was all about the Main Event for me! The anticipation surrounding this match had reached its crescendo. Our radio station even held phone-in polls asking locals for their predictions on who would win the Main Event in those days. That is just how BIG wrestling was in these parts in the 1980’s. The excitement I felt watching that old VHS tape that evening as Hogan and Andre squared off almost made it feel like I was at the Pontiac Silverdome. And believe me, when you grow up in a trailer park, you are probably not watching anything remotely close to HDTV! That hardly mattered.

Obviously when “The Hulkster” handed Andre his first ever defeat after the epic body slam and big leg drop I was ecstatic. It was yet another moment of pure joy from my childhood, which currently has me smiling as I reflect upon that day! Tonight will mark the 28th anniversary of that magical night. It’s a safe bet that the WWE will provide some more young fans with memories to last a lifetime. THEY ALWAYS DO!

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About the author
Ryan Somers
35 year old proud Miramichier with a healthy sports addiction. Phys-Ed teacher @ Eel Ground First Nation School! Married to my beautiful wife, Heidi. Life-long dream is to get to Dodger Stadium and perhaps somehow meet Vin Scully! Huge fan of the Montreal Canadiens and the Denver Broncos, but my real passion is for the Los Angeles Dodgers!