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 WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan successfully defending his title 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, although the total has been disputed. The event is considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom, 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, and pay-per-view revenue was estimated at $10.3 million, setting a record for the time. 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. Production Background WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. Unlike the previous year's WrestleMania 2, WrestleMania III was only scheduled to be held at one location. It was scheduled to be held on March 29, 1987, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. Storylines Like the previous WrestleMania events, WrestleMania III was promoted for several months in advance. The main feud stemmed from André the Giant's heel turn and betrayal of his friend, the WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan, which began on an episode of Piper's Pit when WWF President Jack Tunney presented Hogan with a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three years, and André, his good friend, came out to congratulate him but cryptically remarked: "Three years to be a champion, it's a long time". A week later on another episode of Piper's Pit, Tunney presented André with a visibly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years" and