WrestleMania III was the third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The event was held on March 29, 1987 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.

The event is particularly notable for the record attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America. Though differing numbers have been argued, the event is considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom. The record itself stood until February 14, 2010 when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game broke the indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium. The WWF generated $1.6 million in ticket sales. Almost one million fans watched the event at 160 closed circuit locations in North America. The number of people watching via pay-per-view was estimated at several million, and pay-per-view revenues were estimated at $10 million.

Like all other WrestleMania events, WrestleMania III was hyped for several months in advance. The main feud stemmed from André the Giant's kayfabe turn and betrayal of his ally, the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, which began when Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF Champion for three years, and André, his good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterwards, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years" and Hogan came out to congratulate André, but ended up being the focal point of the interview. Annoyed by this, André walked out during Hogan's congratulation speech and not long after that, on an edition of the interview segment Piper's Pit, Bobby Heenan, a long-time Hogan adversary, announced himself to be André's new manager. André then challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III and attacked Hogan, ripping off Hogan's T-shirt and crucifix necklace.

Randy Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler, best known for his time in World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Savage held twenty championships during his professional wrestling career. He held six world heavyweight championships between the WWF and WCW, having won the WWF Championship twice and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship four times. In addition, he won the ICW World Heavyweight Championship three times and the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship once. Also a one-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, WWE has mentioned Savage as the greatest Intercontinental champion and credited him for bringing "a higher level of credibility to the title through his amazing in-ring performances." Aside from championships, Savage was the 1987 WWF King of the Ring and the 1995 WCW World War 3 winner. For much of his tenures in the WWF and WCW, he was managed by his real life wife, "Miss Elizabeth" Hulette.

Terry Gene Bollea (born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

Hogan enjoyed mainstream popularity in the mid 1980s through the early 1990s as the all-American character Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF—now WWE), and was notable in the mid-to-late 1990s as Hollywood Hogan, the villainous nWo leader, in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Following the closure of WCW, he made a brief return to WWE in the early 2000s before revising his heroic character by combining elements of his two most famous personas.

Hogan was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. He is a 12-time world champion being a six-time WWF/WWE Champion, six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, as well as a former WWE World Tag Team Champion with Edge. He won the Royal Rumble in 1990 and 1991, making him the first to win two consecutive Royal Rumbles. He was also the first WWE wrestler to win the WWE Championship three times. In his first reign as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan held the title for 469 days from July 17, 1994 to October 29, 1995—the longest ever reign for this championship.

Jim Morris (born July 5, 1952), best known to fans as Hillbilly Jim, is an American professional wrestler and disc jockey. He was one of the World Wrestling Federation's most popular wrestlers of the mid-to-late 1980s.

Before appearing in the WWF (now WWE) as Hillbilly Jim, Morris wrestled with the Continental Wrestling Association in the Memphis area under the name Harley Davidson, a biker gimmick. While there, Morris formed a popular tag team with Roger Smith, who went by the ring name "Dirty Rhodes" because of his resemblance to Dusty Rhodes.

In late-1984, Morris first appeared in the WWF as a wrestling fan who routinely sat in the front row of live events and who eventually decided to try his hand at wrestling himself. A series of vignettes were aired on WWF's TV programming in the early weeks of 1985, showing Hulk Hogan training Jim and providing him with his first set of wrestling boots. This introduced the character of Hillbilly Jim; a simple-minded, shaggy-bearded Appalachian hillbilly clad in bib overalls, and hailing from Mudlick, Kentucky. Hillbilly Jim appeared in a few tag team matches with friend Hulk Hogan, and had his first high-profile singles match at The War to Settle the Score event on February 18, 1985 in which he defeated Rene Goulet. Unfortunately, Morris was sidelined by an injury a few days later. At a show in San Diego, he appeared in Hogan's corner in a match between Hogan and Brutus Beefcake. While chasing Beefcake's manager Johnny V around ringside, Morris slipped on a wet spot and (legitimately) broke his leg. To help fill in the seven months during his recovery, similarly-dressed "family" members Uncle Elmer, Cousin Luke, and Cousin Junior were introduced for Morris to accompany to ringside as a manager.

Christopher Alan "Chris" Pallies (born November 7, 1957) is an American professional wrestler, stand-up comedian and actor, better known by his ring name, King Kong Bundy.

Pallies graduated in 1974 from Washington Township High School in Sewell, New Jersey. He currently lives in Glassboro, New Jersey.

Pallies took the King Kong Bundy name during a storyline while working with World Class Championship Wrestling. Bundy was discovered and developed as Big Daddy Bundy (a combination of Shirley Crabtree's "Big Daddy" moniker, and the surname of psychopathic serial killer, Ted Bundy) by the Von Erich family. He wore blue jeans with a rope belt and was a fan favorite. After a dispute with the Von Erich family, Bundy was recruited by manager Gary Hart and dramatically reintroduced as King Kong Bundy, with the "Big Daddy" portion of his moniker replaced by the name of cinematic monster, King Kong, wearing the black singlet for the first time to signify his change. He lost his hair during the feud, adding to his signature look.