1987 World Wrestling Federation pay-per-view event
WrestleMania III
Promotional poster featuring Hulk Hogan and André the Giant
Promotion
World Wrestling Federation
Date
March 29, 1987[1]
City
Pontiac, Michigan[1]
Venue
Pontiac Silverdome[1]
Attendance
78,000[2]
Tagline(s)
Bigger! Better! Badder!
Pay-per-view chronology
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WrestleMania chronology
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WrestleMania III was the third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). The event was held on March 29, 1987, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. There were 12 matches, with the main event featuring Hulk Hogan successfully defending the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant.
WWF claimed that paid attendance was 93,173, which would have made it the largest crowd for a WWF event as well as the largest recorded attendance of a live indoor event in North America at the time; however, retrospective analyses of the event have determined the actual attendance to be around 78,000.[2] The event is considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom,[3][4][5] with almost one million fans watching the event at 160 closed-circuit locations in North America and the number of people watching via pay-per-view estimated at several million. The WWF generated $1.6 million in ticket sales,[6] and pay-per-view revenue was estimated at $10.3 million, setting a record for the time.[7] The promotion's only event with an official higher attendance was WrestleMania 32, held at AT&T Stadium in 2016. The record for the largest indoor event stood until January 27, 1999, when it was surpassed by the papal mass with Pope John Paul II at the TWA Dome in St. Louis, Missouri, which drew an audience of 104,000.
^ abcCite error: The named reference slam was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference notinflated1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Anderson, Kyle (March 29, 2010). "WrestleMania III Breaks Attendance Record: Wake-Up Video". MTV. Archived from the original on April 4, 2010. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
^Cohen, Eric. "WrestleMania III". About. Archived from the original on February 22, 2008. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
^Schramm, Chris (May 7, 1999). "A history of crowds". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 29, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^Assael, Shaun; Mooneyham, Mike (2002). Sex, Lies and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation. Crown Publishing Group. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-609-60690-2.
^Beekman, Scott M. (2006). Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America. Greenwood Press. p. 128. ISBN 0-275-98401-X.
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