Hulk Hogan vs. André the Giant (Jan 1987 – Aug 1988)

Background

By January 1987, Hulk Hogan had been WWF Champion for three years, and the company marked it on television with a trophy.[1][14] The challenger it built for him was a former tag partner and friend.[1]

André the Giant was billed as undefeated for fifteen years, though he had lost several matches by count-out and disqualification.[1] He and Hogan had also met before, in 1980, when Hogan was a heel managed by Freddie Blassie and André was a fan favorite.[1][13] Hogan bodyslammed André at Shea Stadium on August 9, 1980, and did it again a month later in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.[5]

André still won at Shea, in front of 36,295, with a bodyslam and a splash at 7:48, even though Hogan visibly kicked out at two and the referee missed it.[13] At the Hamburg taping, which aired that September, Hogan bloodied André with a lariat, using a foreign object loaded in his elbow pad, and walked out while André yelled for him to come back.[13] Most of their other 1980 meetings went to André or ended in count-outs.[13]

The two became allies after that, and from 1981 to 1983 they often teamed together.[1] Bobby Heenan had seen both men as threats from the start, and it was Heenan who talked André into going after the title.[1][18]

André was 40 at WrestleMania III.[20] He had been born with acromegaly, the condition behind his size, though he wasn't diagnosed until his twenties.[21][22] By 1987, in Hogan's words, he "had come off huge back surgery, and he was in a lot of pain."[5] One account describes his health as "in dire straits" after a back surgery that left him dependent on a cane.[7]

He had taken leave in 1986 to tend to his health, which the acromegaly was starting to wear down, and to tour Japan. He had also been cast in The Princess Bride.[23]

Build-up

The turn was built almost entirely on one talk-show set: Piper's Pit. On the January 17, 1987 WWF Superstars, WWF president Jack Tunney presented Hogan with a trophy for three years as champion.[14] André came out to congratulate him but remarked, "Three years to be a champion, it's a long time," and walked out during Hogan's speech.[2]

A week later André got his own trophy, slightly smaller, for being the only undefeated man in WWF history.[1][14] Hogan came out and congratulated him as "the real champion of Superstars all over the world," and André walked away without acknowledging him.[14][18]

On the January 31 Superstars, Jesse Ventura hinted he knew something about André and said he could produce him on the Pit the following week, asking Piper, "Can you produce Hogan?"[2][14] The next day Gorilla Monsoon interviewed André, who said he would be there for the showdown.[14]

On the February 7 Superstars, Piper opened the Pit with Ventura, Hogan came out, and then André arrived with Bobby Heenan by his side.[19] Hogan pleaded with André about Heenan being there.[19] Heenan said Hogan had used André, had stolen André's moment when he received his trophy, and had never offered him a title match.[1][19]

André's demand was direct: "I'm here for one reason: to challenge you to a [WWE] Championship at WrestleMania."[18] At Heenan's direction, he tore away Hogan's shirt and the crucifix around his neck, cutting Hogan's chest, and left the champion on his knees.[1][18][19]

Hogan gave his answer on the Pit the following week.[14] Piper asked him whether he would face André, and Hogan answered with a long "Yeeessss!"[18]

By the start of February, the Wrestling Observer was reporting that the show would go to the Silverdome. The office picked Detroit so that fans from Ontario, then the WWF's hottest market, could drive over, without the promotion paying Canadian taxes on the gate.[24] To run the stadium, the WWF had to pay Joe Louis Arena $50,000 to get out of an exclusive contract.[25]

On March 7, Captain Lou Albano interrupted André and Heenan on the Pit and tried to talk André out of throwing in with Heenan.[14] When André sat down on Jake Roberts' Snake Pit on Wrestling Challenge the following week, Heenan answered every question for him and wouldn't let him speak.[14]

The two got their hands on each other before the Silverdome. On the March 14 Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC, both were in a 20-man battle royal.

André busted Lanny Poffo open with a headbutt and sent him out on a stretcher, then eliminated Hogan with a headbutt from behind at 6:09.[14] It took eight men to get André over the top rope, and afterward he and Heenan bragged to Gene Okerlund about it.[14] The show had been taped in Detroit in front of a sellout of 21,000.[26]

On the March 21 Superstars, Tunney unveiled a new, larger championship belt on the Pit for whoever won at WrestleMania.[14] A week later, the day before the show, André and Heenan made Bob Uecker announce André as the new world heavyweight champion.[14] Heenan's prediction was simple: "Nobody can defeat this man. Nobody can even come close to defeating this man.... Hogan, you had three good years."[18]

Ticket sales tracked the angle. About 17,000 had been sold before the André turn aired.[25] By early March the count was 40,000.[26] It passed 70,000 in mid-March, beating the 69,000 the Big Event had drawn in Toronto, and stood at 78,000 two weeks out.[28][29]

WrestleMania III sold out the Pontiac Silverdome.[14] Almost a million more fans watched at 160 closed-circuit locations in North America, and pay-per-view revenue was estimated at a record $10.3 million.[2]

The Matches

WrestleMania III took place on March 29, 1987, at the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit. The WWF announced the crowd as 93,173, a number disputed ever since and covered below in Legacy.[16] André and Heenan rode to the ring on a motorized cart while fans booed and pelted them with trash.[2] Bob Uecker was the guest ring announcer and Mary Hart the guest timekeeper.[14]

About a minute in, Hogan went for the slam and couldn't lift André, who fell on him and nearly pinned him.[2] Hogan had written the slam in early on purpose. "When I tried to pick him up [for the bodyslam] in the beginning as I had planned, he sat down on me, and I fell backward with him," he said later.[5] Ten months later, the WWF was replaying that near fall as footage of André seemingly pinning Hogan.[15]

At one point André gave Hogan a back body drop onto the exposed concrete outside the ring.[8] After the match had gone back and forth, André whipped Hogan across the ring and went for a big boot, and Hogan ducked it.[2] Hogan came off the ropes and knocked André off his feet for the first time in the match, then hulked up.[2][8]

Hogan has said the slam came on André's call. "About three-quarters of the way through the match, the place is rumbling," he said. "All of a sudden, out of nowhere: 'SLAAAM!'"[5] He got under André and turned him over, and said he tore his back, his bicep and his deltoid doing it.[5]

Hogan hit the ropes, dropped the leg, and got the three count just over 12 minutes in.[2][8] After the match he was presented with the new, larger title belt.[14]

The Wrestling Observer was brutal about the match at the time. Dave Meltzer rated it minus four stars, wrote that Hogan couldn't carry it, and complained that the two were out of the ring for about 90 seconds without Joey Marella counting.[30] He also noted it had done more business than every Flair-Steamboat, Thesz-Gotch and Brisco-Funk match combined, and a week later revised the rating up to one star because Hogan had been trying hard.[30][31]

Later reviews have been kinder, though not by much. One called it historic but only fine, noting that "the finish does come out of nowhere."[8] Earlier on the card, Ricky Steamboat beat Randy Savage for the Intercontinental Championship, the first time that title changed hands at a WrestleMania.[16] Ticket sales brought in $1.6 million.[2]

Aftermath

The program ran another full year. At Survivor Series on November 26, 1987, in front of a sellout of 21,000 at the Richfield Coliseum in Ohio, Hogan and André captained opposing teams. It was André's first match back after seven months away.[14]

Hogan was counted out at 18:05 when King Kong Bundy and the One Man Gang kept him from getting back in the ring, and André was his team's sole survivor, pinning Bam Bam Bigelow.[1][14] After the bell Hogan came back and knocked André to the floor with the title belt.[14]

The Saturday Night's Main Event that aired January 2, 1988, taped December 7 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, had Hogan beating Bundy with André in Bundy's corner.[14] André looked ready to fight, left, then came back and choked Hogan from behind until he passed out.[14]

He threw the British Bulldogs to the floor when they tried to make the save. Jake Roberts, the Junkyard Dog, and tag champions Tito Santana and Rick Martel couldn't pull him off until Jim Duggan hit André across the back with his 2x4 long enough to drag Hogan clear.[1][14] André held the title belt up in the ring.[14]

By then the rematch had a twist. Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man, had tried to buy Hogan's title, Hogan had refused, and André had said he would win the title and hand it to DiBiase.[15] At the in-ring contract signing on the Royal Rumble broadcast on January 24, 1988, André had to be told repeatedly to join Hogan and Tunney at the table, and DiBiase told Hogan he was signing his career away.[15]

André read the contract carefully and signed it. Then, at DiBiase's prompting, he stood up and rammed Hogan's face into the table, which flipped over on top of the champion.[1][15]

The rematch aired February 5, 1988, on NBC's The Main Event from Market Square Arena in Indianapolis and drew a 15.2 Nielsen rating and 33 million viewers, both records for American televised wrestling.[11][15] André pinned Hogan at 9:05 even though Hogan got his shoulder up at the count of one.[15][17] The referee counting was not Dave Hebner, who had been assigned the match, but his identical twin Earl, who was in DiBiase's pocket.[10][11]

When Dave Hebner ran in to argue, his twin knocked him to the floor, and Hogan threw the impostor over the top rope onto DiBiase and Virgil.[15] Moments later, with Gene Okerlund interviewing him from the ring apron, André surrendered the title to DiBiase, who strapped the belt on.[15][17]

Tunney ruled that the title could change hands only by pinfall or submission, not by being handed over, and declared it vacant.[11] On WWF television on February 13, he announced a 14-man tournament at WrestleMania IV to fill it.[15] Hogan and André met in the quarterfinals and were both disqualified at 5:23 after trading shots with a steel chair, and Hogan slammed André again afterward.[12][15] In the final, Hogan came to ringside and hit DiBiase with a chair, and Randy Savage won the vacant championship.[12]

The singles rivalry wound down on the house show circuit, headlined by a steel cage match at WrestleFest in front of 25,866 at Milwaukee's County Stadium on July 31, 1988. Hogan hit André with a foreign object Heenan had brought in, tied André's arms in the ropes, threw Heenan into the cage, and climbed out at 10:03.[15] The tag blow-off came at the first SummerSlam, where the Mega Powers beat André and DiBiase's Mega Bucks.[1] They met once more in March 1990, when Hogan teamed with the Big Boss Man to beat André and Haku.[1]

Behind the Scenes

The best-known story about André's back surgery is that doctors couldn't work out an anesthesia dose for a man his size and based it instead on how much he drank. André reportedly told them, "It usually takes two liters of vodka just to make me feel warm inside."[9] Even the account that repeats it says it is difficult to separate reality from myth. It also says McMahon paid for the operation to get André back for Hogan, and dates it to 1987.[9]

The office knew how little André had left. The Observer reported in early March that he wasn't wrestling in the weeks before the show because of worries his back couldn't handle more than one match.[27] By late March he was wearing the black outfit from the Machines gimmick full time to hide a back brace, and he wore a brace under his singlet at WrestleMania itself.[23][29]

The oversized title belt was part of the misdirection. The WWF had it made to be unveiled on TV the week before the show so that fans who thought they knew the business would expect a title change.[27] CNN reported beforehand that André would turn on Heenan and retire after losing to Hogan, a story Meltzer was skeptical of.[29]

Hogan's account of the finish is the one most often told. McMahon came to his hotel room with a yellow legal pad, and the two of them planned the whole match without André, something Hogan said he had never done before because André always called his own matches.[5] "Please, don't tell him," Hogan remembered telling McMahon. "He'll break my legs."[5]

Hogan has said it came down to the wire, with the match scripted the night before WrestleMania. He wrote it all down but left the finish open, and McMahon took the pad to André.[7] If McMahon knew the finish, Hogan said, he never passed it on: "I don't remember him telling me that 'You're gonna win.'"[7] Writer David Shoemaker has explained why Hogan never simply asked: "Terry had so much respect, again, for Andre, he just wouldn't come up to Andre and say, 'Are you gonna put me over?'... So it was always this bit of doubt."[7]

On the day, André told Hogan to sit with him in the dressing room, and Hogan did, for eight or nine hours.[5] André drank two quarts of Crown Royal and wanted Hogan drinking with him. Hogan said he got rid of his whenever André wasn't looking.[5]

Right before they went out, Hogan asked him who was going to win. "DON'T WORRY, BOSS!" was all he got. "I had no idea what was really going to happen," Hogan said.[5]

Hogan's version has grown over the years. He told Bill Simmons that André weighed "6-700 pounds" before settling on "650 something," and told another interviewer André was "around 685, 690," for a man billed at around 520.[20][21] On MTV's Cribs in 2005, Hogan said André died shortly after their match. André lived almost six more years.[20]

Whatever André told Hogan or didn't, the result made Hogan. "Even in a career as prolific as Hogan's, this show, this match and this moment will forever define his career," one retrospective put it.[6]

Legacy

Start with the number: 93,173. WWE still bills it as the largest indoor attendance for any event in history.[16] It is very probably not true. Two weeks before the show, the Wrestling Observer reported that the advance was 78,500, which it put at 9,500 short of an 88,000 sellout.[3]

Years later Zane Bresloff, whose company promoted the event locally, faxed Dave Meltzer the ticket accounting, which showed about 78,500.[3] When WWE gave Meltzer access to its internal records for his April 9, 2001 issue, they showed about 78,000, with about 75,700 paid, the same figures the results records carry.[3][14]

Not everyone lands that low. A 2023 count of the Silverdome's seats from photos and drone footage of the empty stadium, plus an estimate of the floor seating from WrestleMania III photos, put the crowd at around 84,718.[4] Steve Harms, a ring announcer who worked for the local promoter, has said: "I'm quite sure there weren't 93,000 people or 90,000 for that matter at the event."[3] He also said the promoters ramped up the complimentary tickets so the building would look full on TV.[3]

The comparison fans reach for is Pope John Paul II's Mass in the same building later in 1987. The Silverdome's own website at one point listed that crowd at 88,000, then changed it to 93,682 after it began listing WrestleMania III at 93,173.[3]

André went back into semi-retirement to rest his back after WrestleMania, while a Hogan rematch at Shea Stadium on July 4 was being discussed that spring.[31] He died in his sleep in Paris in January 1993, at 46.[21][22] He was the first inductee into the WWF Hall of Fame that year.[22] The 2018 HBO documentary André the Giant, produced by HBO Sports, WWE and Bill Simmons' company, premiered on April 10 and covered the WrestleMania III match.[7][22]

See Also

Sources & Further Listening

1. André the Giant–Hulk Hogan rivalry — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_the_Giant%E2%80%93Hulk_Hogan_rivalry
2. WrestleMania III — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_III
3. How Many People Were Actually At WrestleMania III? A Deadspin Investigation — Deadspin. https://deadspin.com/how-many-people-were-actually-at-wrestlemania-iii-a-de-1824178481/
4. Counting seats of the Silverdome to estimate WrestleMania III's true attendance — Wrestlenomics. https://wrestlenomics.com/2023/08/26/estimating-wrestlemania-iiis-true-attendance-seat-by-seat/
5. Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant: Secret History Behind Their Feud (Hogan interview excerpts) — Pro Wrestling Stories. https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/hulk-hogan-andre-the-giant-rivalry/
6. WrestleMania Moments: Hulk Hogan slams Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III — ESPN. https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/19013391/wwe-wrestlemania-moments-hulk-hogan-slams-andre-giant-wrestlemania-iii
7. Andre the Giant Didn't Let Hulk Hogan Know Whether He'd Go Along with Scripted WrestleMania Plan — People (via Yahoo Sports). https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/andre-giant-didnt-let-hulk-152854882.html
8. Match Spotlight: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant, WWE WrestleMania III — Wrestling Inc. https://www.wrestlinginc.com/2143921/match-spotlight-hulk-hogan-andre-the-giant-wwe-wrestlemania-3/
9. The Myth Behind Andre The Giant's Anesthesia Story — Wrestling Inc. https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1111185/the-myth-behind-andre-the-giants-anesthesia-story/
10. Reliving Andre The Giant's Controversial WWE Championship Win over Hulk Hogan — Bleacher Report. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2613881-reliving-andre-the-giants-controversial-wwe-championship-win-over-hulk-hogan
11. WWF The Main Event — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWF_The_Main_Event
12. WrestleMania IV — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_IV
13. 1980 WWF results (television, pay-per-view and house shows) — The History of WWE. https://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/80.htm
14. 1987 WWF results (television, pay-per-view and house shows) — The History of WWE. https://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/87.htm
15. 1988 WWF results (television, pay-per-view and house shows) — The History of WWE. https://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/88.htm
16. "Facts & Stats: WrestleMania III" — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/shows/wrestlemania/3/factsstats
17. "19880205 - Andre the Giant" (WWE Championship title history) — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/classics/titlehistory/wwe-world-heavyweight-championship/304454122
18. "The Big One" (Rugged Roads to 'Mania: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant) — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/inside/listthis/ruggedroadstomania/roadstomania1
19. "WWF Superstars of Wrestling February 7th, 1987" (episode recap) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2014/12/24/wwf-superstars-of-wrestling-february-2/
20. "700 pounds: Telling Facts and Fictions around WrestleMania III" by Andrew Cartwright (Sep 29, 2017) — The Normal School. https://www.thenormalschool.com/blog/2017/9/29/700-pounds-telling-facts-and-fictions-around-wrestlemania-iii-by-andrew-cartwright
21. "Andre the Giant" (Superstar profile and bio) — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/superstars/andrethegiant
22. "HBO Sports and WWE team up for 'Andre the Giant' documentary" — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/article/hbo-sports-wwe-andre-the-giant-documentary
23. André the Giant — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_the_Giant
24. "Wrestling Observer Flashback–02.02.87" (recap of the February 2, 1987 Wrestling Observer Newsletter) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://blogofdoom.com/index.php/2016/06/23/wrestling-observer-flashback-02-02-87/
25. "Wrestling Observer Flashback–02.23.87" (recap of the February 23, 1987 Wrestling Observer Newsletter) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/06/27/wrestling-observer-flashback-02-23-87/
26. "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.02.87" (recap of the March 2, 1987 Wrestling Observer Newsletter) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/06/29/wrestling-observer-flashback-03-02-87/
27. "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.09.87" (recap of the March 9, 1987 Wrestling Observer Newsletter) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/06/30/wrestling-observer-flashback-03-09-87/
28. "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.16.87" (recap of the March 16, 1987 Wrestling Observer Newsletter) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/07/03/wrestling-observer-flashback-03-16-87/
29. "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.23.87" (recap of the March 23, 1987 Wrestling Observer Newsletter) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/07/04/wrestling-observer-flashback-03-23-87/
30. "Wrestling Observer Flashback–04.06.87" (recap of the April 6, 1987 Wrestling Observer Newsletter) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/07/05/wrestling-observer-flashback-04-06-87/
31. "Wrestling Observer Flashback–04.13.87" (recap of the April 13, 1987 Wrestling Observer Newsletter) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/07/06/wrestling-observer-flashback-04-13-87/

Further Listening

• André the Giant (2018) — HBO documentary directed by Jason Hehir
• Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard — WrestleMania III episode
• WWE Rivals: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant — A&E, Season 2 Episode 1