Wrestlemania III/The First Survivor Series 1987

II and the build for III are here

Wrestlemania III – 1987 (Detroit)(Dark – Demolition v. Islanders)

Gorilla/Jesse on the announce.

1. Killer Bees d. Hercules/Muraco
-Rinse/repeat from II.

2. Legend's Match: Andre the Giant d. Harley Race
-Andre's the template for this spot, a guy with a following, who can add color to the event but who you don’t put at the top. Vince can take five minutes out of his workrate based show for a match like this. We sell Harley’s 7 NWA runs here and call him a legend. It’s Andre’s third legends win.

3. Rick Martel d. Greg Valentine
-We debut Martel, pure young babyface. Valentine again serves as enhancement talent. Just putting guys over for the big show.

4. Tito Santana d. Brutus "The Butcher" Beefcake
-Didn't Brutus always have the crazy eyes? The crazy, "one day I'll shut down Boston because I have a pound and a half of anthrax that turned out to be blow so it's okay" eyes? So, when Brutus turns over the course of the year, he doesn't grab the garden shears (although, consider the idea of Brutus The Medieval Barber Beefcake - Brutus bringing a bag of leeches to the ring, saying he can rid Tito of an excess of bodily humors) Instead though, Vince sticks with a tried and true method of hiding poor workers, making them garbage wrestlers. The feud between the former partners culminates with the better worker going over.

5. Hulk Hogan d. Roddy Piper (Guest referee: Pat Patterson)
This is Piper’s farewell match. He's re-turned heel, doing the Andy Kauffman Hollywood stuff, saying he’s leaving wrestling forever. So, we use it as the blowoff to the Hogan/Piper feud. It further gets Hogan over, which Vince wants to do, just do it at this part of the card. Hogan wins, Piper leaves. Big pop.

6. Tags: Hart Foundation d. Rougeaus
Harts turned face at the top of ’86, as they’re just too cool to get booed. Stick them with the obvious heel Rougeaus and we both get good matches and build the Canadian following. Harts have now held the tag straps for a full year.

7. IC Title: Randy Savage d. Jake Roberts
Randy’s turned face too, and this culminates a feud between he and, again, the purely evil Jake. The things Jake did to Elizabeth over the course of the year...not as bad as the things Lex would do to her many years later, but good enough for government work. Randy was at the top of his game in ’87 and Jake could go well enough to make this work. A year with the IC strap for Savage.

8. WWF Title: Ricky Steamboat d. Dynamite Kid
The Steamer chases for a year – and regains his strap in the new best match in company history. Need to give the big crowd what they want. First 2 time WWF Champ since Backlund. It’s all babyfaces, Harts, Savage, and Steamboat – and all four men come to the ring to hold their belts as the show ends. Dynamite swearing at his former comrades as they stand in the ring with Savage and Steamboat.

Same formula as II. An all time match, a great match, 4 good matches, and that’s your show. Another fine PPV.

6 months later – WWF adds another PPV. The Survivor Series elimination gimmick is fun, but didn’t so much lead to great wrestling matches. So, we stick with the Mania format. If there's anyone actually reading this, a dubious proposition, as the PPVs increase, the level of storyline narrative will increase exponentially.

Coming into Survivor Series, they turn Jake face, similar to the recent cool heel turns, where the act didn’t change it was the fans who did. Our big addition is Rude, who gets the enormous push upon his entrance with Bobby. They do vignettes with women swooning, young women, old women, nuns, a celebrity if we can find one. Rude doesn't wrestle, doesn't appear in an arena, they just do vignettes putting over the Ravishing character. They use Heenan (love, love Bobby Heenan) as heel color commentator who starts criticizing all the workers, face and heel alike, as not as good as this guy Rick Rude. His target becomes Savage. Savage has lost his edge now that he cares what the humanoids think. Savage is actually held back because he's so whipped by Liz, eventually, Rude does the Clubber Lang promo, albeit on videotape, "Hey woman, hey woman, why don't you come back to my apartment, and I'll show you what it's like to be with a real man." Savage blows up - goes after Bobby - and that's where Rude appears, hitting the Rude Awakening, leaving Savage laid out, swiveling his hips over a terrified Liz.

There's also a babyface feud, Tito and Martel are both chasing the same undercard babyface spot, and they're going to hook up at Survivor Series. Hogan promos that he ran Mr T out of the WWF, he ran Roddy Piper out of the WWF, and now it's time to finish up all the old business and run Paul Orndorff out of the WWF.

The purpose of the PPV is, of course, because the fans are dying to see Steamboat/Dynamite hook it up again, as this all time classic wrestling feud continues. Dynamite, who is being held together by bailing wire, pharaceutic, and a burning desire to recapture the WWF title, is frenzied in the summer of '87. He beats Bret, he beats Davey Boy, he beats Neidhart -- he teams with Jacques and Ray, and they go over the Harts in a 6 man - when Jacques and Ray attempt to get him to share in some brotherly hugging, he stomps them out too. Dynamite leaves all five men laying as he screams at the camera, "I WANT MY BELT - GIMME MY GODDAMN BELT!"

Harts defend again against the Rougeaus and Steamboat once again meets Dynamite. It's a Thanksgiving tradition!

Survivor Series – 1987 (Cleveland)  

Gorilla and Jesse again are the announcers.

(Dark Ted DiBiase d. Tom Zenk)

1. Kiler Bees d. Hercules/Paul Roma
-Who doesn't love the Killer Bees! Masters of the Opening Tag!

2. Bam Bam Bigelow d. Brutus The Butcher Beefcake
- Beefcake attacks Bigelow with his chainsaw - and then the Beast from the East annhilates him.

3. Rick Martel d. Tito Santana
- Both faces, a hard fought match culiminates their summerlong feud and convinces both guys to go into the babyface tag business together as Strike Force. Arriba~

4. Hulk Hogan d. Paul Orndorff
-Hogan goes over and Orndorff goes away. Played up heavy that Hogan ran Piper, Orndorff and Mr. T out of the WWF

5. Jake Roberts d. Greg Valentine
- Jake, recall, lost his IC shot at III – he then turns face, doing the face Jake act, which wasn’t all that different than the heel Jake act – ‘cept that the fans thought it was cool when Jake attacked people with a snake.

6. Tags: Rougeaus d. Hart Foundation
- 18 months later – the Harts drop the straps. Happens here when Neidhart turns on them, ‘cause he’s really a heel, after all, and joins the Rougeaus. Anvil then becomes their manager and Bret and Davey Boy begin their singles careers. Love some Hart Foundation - but it's time to move on.

7. IC Title: Randy Savage (w/Liz) d. Rick Rude (w/Brain)
- Savage run at the IC continues 18 months in. Monster face Savage meets the hot newcomer, the heel Rick Rude with Heenan in his corner. It’s Rude’s first match and although he doesn’t go over – a great match against a top, top guy get him over as a big time heel.

8. WWF Title: Ricky Steamboat d. Dynamite Kid
- Steamboat keeps in this one, going up on Dynamite 2-1 in this PPV feud that now stretches 18 months, every single match an all time classic. Dynamite gets desperate after this match - and as we turn to 1988, he challenges Steamboat one last time...to a Loser Leaves Town at WM IV.

So, the singles titles stay the same – and going into WM IV we have two longrunning babyface champions and a new heel tag team champ. Anvil’s a heel again, Jake’s a face, we’ve formed Strike Force, and Hogan declares that he is the true legend of professional wrestling.

'87 ends with Starrcade

Starrcade – 1987 Chicago
NWA Title: Steve Williams d. Ric Flair
US Title: Barry Windham d. Tully Blanchard
Tags: Road Warriors d. Rock n Roll Express
Sting d. Eddie Gilbert
Lex Luger d. Arn Anderson
Rick Steiner d. Dusty Rhodes
Terry Taylor d. Larry Zybysko
Midnight Express d. Garvins

Four months later, we’re at that awful Trump casino venue they used the next two years. Be that as it may --

DiBiase, who entered with his tremendous schtick after III, is in the midcard now. They do a big man match with monster heel Bigelow against babyface singles Davey Boy. How about the Rude/Jake program with Cheryl Roberts on Rude’s tights? They do that now. Hogan, feeling his oats, calls out Andre, and they do a "who's the legend" program for IV. Rougeaus, with Neidhart as their mouthpiece, three way hugs for everyone, "All American Boys" one of the great entrance themes ever, blaring coast to coast -- they'll take on the hot babyface tag team: Strike Force, forged out of the Tito/Martel program.

Bret gets the singles push, and he’s got Randy in a face/face for the IC. Have you ever heard Bret talk about Randy? They had an interesting relationship - not tight, not like Bret/Hennig, but there was a mutual respect, they saw each other as guys who did things the right way. And Bret saw that as Randy faded, he was picking up the workrate ball.

With Savage now going into 2 full years as IC Champ - he's clearly the established guy here -- Bret's young - recognize it's still 1988 as Vince starts his singles run early. So, while this is a babyface program - it's Bret who is fighting from underneath. Recall the Hart Foundation dynamic - Bret was still Bret, cool guy, sunglasses -- but he was overshadowed by Dynamite, "big brothered" if you will -- and now here's Bret, stepping out on his own against the 2 year champ Savage.

And the big angle is the Loser Leaves Town for the strap, Steamboat and Dynamite finish their feud. They headlined II, III -- and now they headline IV. Steamboat and Dynamite, state of the art workers, putting their WWF careers on the line in Atlantic City!

It's Wrestlemania IV! Call your local cable company! Call it! Call it now!

Wrestlemania II - 1986

Note - this is the 3rd in a series. My suggestion, go to "It begins" and read in chronological order.  Wrestlemania and the build for II is here

And hey - thanks for reading. Proud of you.

Wrestlemania II – 1986 (Chicago)(Dark – Rougeaus d. Lanny Poffo/Adrian Adonis)
-We’re gonna see a lot of Rougeaus. Same gimmick. I always loved how, even though they were legit brothers, when Jacques and Ray would hug, they got gay heat. This is the gayest dark match in wrestling history.

Gorilla/Jesse on the announce.

1. Killer Bees d. Muraco/Hercules
-Every show begins with an opening tag. Get used to it. Bees are doing the standard quick tagging babyface gimmick. Muraco/Herc are your stock heel power team. Brian Blair lost that election in Tampa, right? And how did Rick Steiner get on the school board? Who thought this was a good idea?

2. Legends Match: Andre the Giant d. Bruno Sammartino (Guest referee-Pedro Morales)
-No, this isn't workrate, but again, I'm limited to people who worked the card, and I didn't feel like using Russ Francis. Think of this as equivalent to the opening match at a big NOAH show. It'll be kept short - and eventually, when we have to use guys who are subpar workers, we'll make them bleed. There's enough juice in this match not to have to any extra, however. Andre took out David at I, prompting Bruno to come out of retirement for one last match. If there’s going to be a WWF legend crowned, he wants to be it. But Andre overwhelms him and takes his second legends win.

3. Hulk Hogan d. Paul Orndorff (w/ Mr. T)
- Hogan gets his heat back from the previous year. We keep Mr. T in the angle by turning him heel, the people will enjoy a little Thunderlips/Clubber Lang action. I bet they could get Carl Weathers to stand in Hogan's corner. Seriously, why did they have to kill Apollo? You don't kill The Count of Monte Fisto. Talia Shire you could have killed. Not Apollo.

4. Jake Roberts v. Greg Valentine
- Jake does his Jake thing. Hammer's a good introductory opponent, rarely had a bad match, he'd let Jake get in his stuff, DDT pinfall.

5. No DQ: Terry Funk d. Dory Funk, Jr.
- This is the first thing on the show that excites me; we let them do whatever they want; there isn't a garbage match on the show, so that makes some sense, but if they wanted to trade holds for 15 minutes, I'd watch that too. It's the Funks at Wrestlemania II, what's to complain about?

6. Tag Titles: Hart Foundation: Bret Hart/Davey Boy Smith (w/Anvil) d.
Tito/Beefcake
Recall the rules, winners from the previous PPV defend, when we add the remaining 3 PPVs, it avoids the result of Tito and Beefcake holding for a year, but there's no beef with Tito and 1986 Beefcake, they just aren't the Hart Foundation. Tito/Beefcake still the babyface tag champs. Davey Boy is a significant work upgrade over Neidhart. But Neidhart’s fun, so he replaces Jimmy (of whom I was never really a fan, he was awfully distracting) as the manager. Harts go over clean with the Hart Attack.  Neidhart is really a third man here, the Harts work in multiple combinations throughout the year.

7. IC: Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) d. Roddy Piper
Now we’re talking. Piper’s defending, over the course of the year, the fans turned him face, largely the way they did at the time. Randy’s doing his heel schtick and goes over clean with the big elbowdrop.

8. WWF Title: Dynamite Kid d. Ricky Steamboat
The best match in the two year WM history. The best match in company history to this point. The beauty part is Steamboat doesn’t carry the company, wrestling carries the company – specifically, this feud. Two of the greatest workers who ever lived, and while Dynamite in '86 wasn't Dynamite of '82, I'm guessing if given the chance to run at the top of the company, he gives what was left of his body. Steamboat is a pure babyface, one of the few top guys who never turned. And Dynamite’s a pure heel, although he never brought the act to the WWF – in Japan in ’83 he was going after Tiger Mask with a broken beer bottle. Not only that, but he was legit. nasty – Billington was drunk, coked up, roided up, popping painkillers, a complete pain in the ass in the back – and absolutely flat crazy-fearless in the ring. Everyone was scared to death of him and he was years ahead of his time in terms of work. They rip down the building and a heel walks out of WM with the strap. The Hart Foundation grabs the tag belts and the big strap, all 4 men hitting the turnbuckles and daring the fans to boo as the show ends.

The result? WM II, a terrible PPV, becomes a really, really good PPV. No need to thank me.

(Horsemen running hard all ’86, as we get to Starrcade, our new additions are the huge babyface tag the Road Warriors and the superconfident babyface Rude.)

Starrcade – 1986 Greensboro
NWA Title: Ric Flair d. Rick Rude
US Title: Tully Blanchard d. Hector Guerrero
Tags: Rock n Roll Express d. Midnight Express
Arn Anderson d. Dusty Rhodes

Ole Anderson d. Wahoo McDaniel
Brad Armstrong d. Ivan Koloff
Bubba Rogers d. Nikita Koloff
Road Warriors d. Ron Garvin/Jim Garvin



A year later, we're going to the Silverdome…we’ve broken up Tito and Beefcake over the course of the year, turning Brutus, except instead of giving him the shears, we're gonna give him a chainsaw. Their feud comes to a head at III. We’ve turned Piper back as he was heading off to go make movies and put him back with Hogan again. Piper does the Andy Kauffman gimmick, bigtiming Hogan and adopting the attitude that he doesn't really need to rekindle their feud, as it's beneath him. Piper's ducking Hogan over the course of the year, avoiding physical contact as much as possible with anyone, will serve to turn him, even despite a pretty rabid following in '87.

The Harts turn. The dynamic inside the Hart Foundation is that Dynamite is always pressing Bret and Davey Boy, always ribbing them, always putting them down - Dynamite's particularly brutal on Bret - insults his wrestling, his manhood. The Harts will tear down a house against any of the babyface tags at the time, and then Dynamite will rip into them. Dynamite, who continues feuding with Steamboat, has a particularly ugly attack against him - ideally, I'd like Steamboat's wife to take a bump from an attacking Dynamite - it's 1987, turning to Mania, if she'd just take a hard shove, that would be pretty good heat. I'd like her to take a headbutt from the top. That will be too much for the Harts, who will run in, and instead of aiding Dynamite, as he requests, they turn face. Dynamite repays the favor when, in a nontitle between the Harts and the Rougeaus, Dynamite interferes to give the Rougeaus the win - and get them the title shot at III.

Steamboat, shockingly, will look for revenge against Dynamite. Aren't they too small, someone might ask Vince, "That's ridiculous, what does a man's size have to do with his ability to work in the ring? Personally, I think wrestling fans enjoy the athleticism that the WWF brings to Pay Per View."

God bless Counterfactual Vince McMahon.

We've got the annual legend's match - this year is Andre against Harley Race - we hard sell Race's 7 NWA straps, as much as we can, we suggest that Race is the ultimate NWA legend.

We’ve also turned Savage. We'll do some Hogan/Savage v. Piper/Jake tags over the course of the year - I want to put Jake and Piper together a little bit, they seem crazy combustible, toss Savage into the mix, make them all travel together. Jake can do whatever he wants here, torment Liz, torment Randy - I think as we drive toward Mania this is a pretty hot feud.

We're going to the Silverdome for Wrestlemania III - it's the Dynamite/Steamboat rematch, Savage and Jake for the IC, the Harts defending against the Rougeaus, Piper's farewell match against Hogan, Tito against the chainsaw wielding Brutus Beefcake, Andre and Race in the Legends Match - Bigger, Better, Badder, it's Wrestlemania III!