The Year in PPV- 1987

Towards the end of the '80s, pro wrestling had become a mainstay in pop culture, but Vince McMahon wanted to take it to the next level. What was his plan? To host the BIGGEST WrestleMania they had had to date by giving the fans the main event match they had wanted to see for a while: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant. To make matters even greater, Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat used this opportunity on the grandest stage of them all to change how the overall structure of a wrestling match would forever be told.

With WrestleMania an obvious success, Vince once again took it to the next level by beginning to feature more PPVs on the calendar year. That November, the Survivor Series debuted and instantly gave the NWA a bit of competition by going against their November PPV Starrcade, which was their version of WrestleMania. The formula proved to be a success, since we continue to have WrestleMania and Survivor Series every year and have not had a new Starrcade since WCW went under as a company.

So let's begin 1987 with a look at the definitive WrestleMania of the early years of PPV... 


1. WrestleMania III

What is there that even needs to be said about WrestleMania III? 93,173 fans packed the Silverdome to see an amazing supercard of 12 matches and the WWF did not disappoint. From the celebrity involvement (including Mary Hart, Aretha Franklin, Alice Cooper, and Bob Uecker), to Roddy Piper's "last" match, to King Kong Bundy bodyslamming a midget, this show offers so much quality for the fans to enjoy. The match that stole the show and paved the way for the superstars of today was Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat for the Intercontinental Championship. Wrestling had never been as fast paced and have as many near falls before this match, which is why many wrestling historians cite it as one of wrestling's most important matches and one of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history.

But the Macho Man and the Dragon only got the crowd pumped for the main event of the evening: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant for the WWF Championship. Just the idea of Hogan and Andre colliding at Mania are the things that legends are made of. It's that first real iconic WrestleMania moment that wrestling fans of all ages know about. Sure the match is a technical disaster, but this match is all about the moment of seeing over 93,000 Hulkamaniacs cheer Hogan on to defeat Andre, who had been undefeated for 15 years. Both Savage/Steamboat and Hogan/Andre are must watch matches for every wrestling fan.

Highly Recommended


2. Survivor Series

Here we have the second longest running PPV in WWE history: Survivor Series. Would you believe that the inaugural edition of this show only featured 4 matches? That's because each match was given a lengthy amount of time to get the crowd invested in the now traditional elimination tag team matches. From the opening contest of Team Savage (Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Jim Duggan, Brutus Beefcake, and Jake Roberts) against Team Honky Tonk Man (Honky Tonk Man, Ron Bass, Danny Davis, Harley Race, and Hercules), to the women's elimination match (Fabulous Moolah, Velvet McIntyre, Rockin Robin, and the Jumping Bomb Angels vs. Sensational Sherri, Donna Christanello, Dawn Marie, and the Glamour Girls), to a 20-man match consisting of 10 tag teams (Strike Force, the Killer Bees, the Fabulous Rougeaus, the Young Stallions, and the British Bulldogs vs. the Hart Foundation, the Bolsheviks, the Dream Team, the Islanders, and Demolition), each match offers something different in terms of wrestling quality while all introducing the guidelines of this new match gimmick.

But all of this was also building up to the main event of Team Hogan (Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Ken Patera, Don Muraco, and Bam Bam Bigelow) vs. Team Andre (Andre the Giant, Butch Reed, Rick Rude, One Man Gang, and King Kong Bundy). With the amount of giant superstars that are in this main event like Hogan, Andre, and Bundy, this match has a much different tone than the opening match of mid-card talent like Savage, Steamboat, and Roberts. Not to mention, this match also breaks conventions of what many of fans were expecting. Rather than have it come down to Hogan and Andre so the feud can end, Vince knew there was more they could do with the feud and found a way to throw everyone off and make sure Hogan and Andre would continue their legendary feud following the events of the Survivor Series.

Recommended


Thoughts: 1987 was a turning point for the company as it produced one of the most celebrated shows in PPV history and introduced us to the expansion of PPVs in the WWE. Looking at these two shows it's easy to see where a lot of company focus was: the Hogan/Andre feud, an amazingly diverse tag team division, the ascension of the "Macho Man" to the main event level, and the collection of cartoony but iconic characters (Jake "the Snake" Roberts, Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake, The Honky Tonk Man, and many more). There are only 2 entries for this year, so I definitely think these are worth a watch for a lesson in history, as well as quality of shows instead of quantity.


All rights and images are copyrighted and owned by World Wrestling Entertainment