The WWE has chosen to celebrate
To
celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest WrestleManias ever, the
WWE has re-released a "Championship Edition" of WrestleMania III. This
double disc set contains the entire PPV which took place at the Pontiac
Silverdome on Sunday, March 29th, 1987.
From Aretha
Franklin's opening rendition of "America the Beautiful" to ...umm... Aretha Franklin's
opening rendition of "America the Beautiful" during the "WrestleMania
III Recap" (she originally closed with "Who's Zoomin'
Who", but i'm sure Vince didn't want to pay for the rights - which he
should've), WrestleMania III lasts a full three hours and five minutes long.
Now, since this was the late 80's, we had fancy chyron graphics, but there was a
drastic difference with the recap packages presentation. Essentially, there
was no nu-metal music played in the background...and they weren't choreographed
like an MTV video - they were essentially cut the way a recap for a TV show might be - with simple edits. Likewise, there were no fancy pyro-filled
entrances and most wrestlers were shuttled on a platform (that, at times, served to
double as a moving target for audience members to pelt with various
projectiles).
All the great WWF personalities are featured -
Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race, King Kong Bundy, Jake "the Snake" Roberts,
"Cowboy" Bob Orton, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Bobby Heenan...I could go on and on and
on. Disc two of this two-disc set contains the "Championship Experience" - which
is the entire PPV, but with occasional "pop-ups" (ala Vh1's "Pop-Up Video") with
past wrestling personalities sharing recollections or little tidbits of
information. I'm not going to do my usual match-by-match comments, because that would be
foolish. For me, every single thing on here was like a breath of fresh air
compared to what Vince has been serving up for the past few months. Here's the
magnificent card:
- Aretha Franklin Sings "America the
Beautiful"
- the Can-Am
Connection vs. "Cowboy" Bob Orton &
"the Magnificent" Don Muraco
-
Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules Story Recap
-
Gene Okerlund Interviews Hercules and Bobby
"the Brain" Heenan
- Full Nelson Challenge [Billy Jack Haynes vs. Hercules]
- Hillbilly Jim, the Haiti Kid & Little
Beaver vs. King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook
- Mary Hart Interviews "Macho Man" Randy
Savage w/ Miss Elizabeth
- Junkyard Dog vs. Harley Race
- Vince McMahon Interviews Hulk Hogan
-
the Rougeau Brothers vs. the Dream Team: Brutus Beefcake & Greg
"the Hammer" Valentine
- Hair Match ["Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis]
- Six-Man Tag Team Match [the British Bulldogs & Tito Santana vs.
the Hart Foundation & Danny Davis]
- Gene Okerlund Interviews Andre the
Giant & Bobby "the Brain" Heenan
-
Koko B. Ware vs. "the Natural" Butch Reed
- Intercontinental Championship Match [Randy "Macho Man" Savage vs. Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat]
- Jake "the Snake" Roberts vs. Honky Tonk Man
-
Gene Okerlund Makes Announcement On
Record-Setting Attendance
- the Killer Bees vs. the Iron Sheik &
Nikolai Volkoff
- Gene Okerlund Interviews Andre the Giant & Bobby "the Brain" Heenan
- Gene Okerlund Interviews Hulk Hogan
- Bob Uecker Introduction
- Mary Hart Introduction
- WWE Championship Match [Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant]
- WrestleMania III Recap
In addition to the main event, each disc
contains a separate set of extras:
- Featured on disc one:
- Intercontinental Championship Match
["Macho Man" Randy Savage vs. George "the Animal" Steele - Saturday
Night's Main Event, 1/3/87]
- Ken Resnick Interviews Ricky "the
Dragon" Steamboat [Wrestling Challenge, 1/31/7]
- Gorilla Monsoon & Ken Resnick
Interview "Macho Man" Randy Savage [Boston Garden, 2/7/7]
- Gorilla Monsoon Interviews Ricky "the
Dragon" Steamboat [Boston Garden, 2/7/87]
- Gene Okerlund Interviews Ricky "the
Dragon" Steamboat [Superstars, 2/2/87]
- Gene Okerlund Interviews Ricky "the
Dragon" Steamboat [Superstars, 3/14/87]
- Gene Okerlund Interviews "Macho Man"
Randy Savage [Prime Time Wrestling, 3/23/87]
- Featured on disc two:
- Gene Okerlund Interviews Ricky "the
Dragon" Steamboat and Hulk Hogan [Wrestling Challenge, 2/21/87]
- Andre the Giant & Hulk Hogan
Contract Signing [Wrestling Challenge, 2/27/87]
- 20 Man Battle Royal [Saturday
Night's Main Event, 2/27/87]
- Gene Okerlund Interviews Andre the
Giant [Wrestling Challenge, 3/27/87]
- Gene Okerlund Interviews Ricky "the
Dragon" Steamboat [Superstars, 2/2/87]
Video
Quality: Though WrestleMania III is twenty years old, it looked almost as
good as current WWE PPVs. Almost. In fact, i'd say it was closer in quality to a
VHS that was professionally transferred to DVD. Even though there weren't any pyrotechnic elements, I still
noticed some slight
compression issues around the ring ropes and the occasional anti-aliasing, but
not enough to take anything away from my
enjoyment of this disc.
Audio Quality: Presented in Dolby
Digital 5.1, the audio quality, as with the video, shows the limitations of a
pre-digital age. The center channel is where the majority of the sound was
found, but there was occasional crowd ambience from the fronts at time. However,
I didn't have a problem with it whatsoever. Also, there were
occasions where the entrance music for some wrestlers was looped and it briefly
overpowered Gorilla and Jesse's commentary.
Conclusion: Initially released as part
of the pricey WrestleMania Anthology box set, WrestleMania III is
re-released as a great double-disc set. In addition to the main event, they've
added some exclusive extras not found on the previous release and included a
second version of WrestleMania III with brief recollections from participants
and facts about the event that "pop-up" at various times (along with a "WWE
24/7" watermark in the top right-hand corner). The hardcore fans might not think
much of the popup factoids, but they'll definitely want to check this set out
for the extras. Me? I thoroughly enjoyed this blast from the past. In fact, I
believe that this was the last WrestleMania I saw before the WWF and I
temporarily parted ways. And while it was necessitated due to music rights, I
thought rebroadcasting Aretha's show-opening performance during the WrestleMania
recap at the end was genius. It provided a fitting soundtrack for the melancholy
I was feeling at the end of the event. It'd be nice if other WrestleManias were
released this way. Highly Recommended.
Buy: