List of WrestleMania III Venue and Event Details

Event Name and Tagline

WrestleMania III — 'Bigger! Better! Badder!'

The official event name was WrestleMania III — using the Roman numeral format rather than the Arabic numeral used for WrestleMania 2. The event's official tagline was 'Bigger! Better! Badder!' — three adjectives that accurately described the event's ambition relative to its two predecessors. The tagline emphasised the scale increase from the three-venue WrestleMania 2, the quality improvement of the match card, and the heightened villain threat represented by André the Giant's heel turn.

Date and Day

Sunday, March 29, 1987

WrestleMania III took place on Sunday, March 29, 1987 — the traditional Sunday format that had been established by WrestleMania I and would continue through subsequent events. The Sunday scheduling contrasted directly with WrestleMania 2's Monday format and confirmed Sunday as WrestleMania's permanent home.

Venue: Pontiac Silverdome

Pontiac, Michigan — Home of the Detroit Lions

The Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan was the home of the Detroit Lions NFL franchise and one of the largest domed stadiums in the United States. The Silverdome had an air-supported fiberglass roof dome — the largest such structure in the world at the time of WrestleMania III. Its capacity of approximately 80,000 for sporting events (expandable further for concerts) made it the largest indoor venue the WWF had ever used for a wrestling event. The Silverdome was demolished in December 2017, making WrestleMania III the most significant event held there in the building's history.

Broadcast: Pay-Per-View and Closed-Circuit

National PPV Distribution and 160 Closed-Circuit Locations

WrestleMania III was broadcast nationally on pay-per-view — following the template established by WrestleMania 2 — and simultaneously at 160 closed-circuit television locations across North America. The combination of PPV and closed-circuit distribution allowed the WWF to maximise its commercial reach across the widest possible audience. Pay-per-view revenues of $10.3 million and nearly 1 million closed-circuit viewers combined to make WrestleMania III the most commercially successful professional wrestling event in history at the time.

Hosted in a Single Venue

Direct Contrast to WrestleMania 2's Three-City Format

WrestleMania III was deliberately and explicitly a single-venue event — a direct strategic reversal of WrestleMania 2's logistically complex three-city format. The decision to concentrate all 93,000 fans in one building created an atmosphere, communal energy, and shared experience impossible to achieve across three separate arenas. The unified crowd reaction to the Hogan bodyslam — 93,000 people experiencing simultaneous disbelief and euphoria — could only have happened in a single venue.