This Day In Wrestling History – March 29th (Recaps of WrestleMania III, XIV, and XXXI)

For everything else that happened on March 29th, click on this link.

1987 – WrestleMania III is held at the Pontiac Silverdome, in Pontiac, Michigan.  It sets the all-time attendance record for an indoor sports arena in North America, with 93,173 fans in attendance.  The record was only broken by the 2010 NBA All-Star game in Dallas (108,713).  Contrary to what WWE had announced, WrestleMania III’s attendance record was NOT broken at WrestleMania 32 in 2016 (which was also in Dallas).  The announced attendance (101,763) was actually 80,709 according to the Arlington (TX) Police Department.

– In a tag team match, The Can-Am Connection (Tom Zenk & Rick Martel) defeat Bob Orton & The Magnificent Muraco (with Mr. Fuji).
– Billy Jack Haynes vs Hercules (with Bobby Heenan) ends in a double count out, after Haynes locked Hercules in the full nelson outside the ring.
– In a Six-Man Tag Team Match, Hillbilly Jim, Little Beaver, & The Haiti Kid defeat King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo, & Lord Littlebrook, via disqualification.  Bundy got his team disqualified when he attacked Little Beaver, despite the rule that he and Hillbilly Jim could not attack the midgets.
– Harley Race (with Bobby Heenan & The Fabulous Moolah) defeats the  Junkyard Dog in a Loser Must Bow Match.
– In a tag team match, The Dream Team (Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake) defeat The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques & Raymond).
– Roddy Piper defeats Adrian Adonis (with Jimmy Hart) in a Hair vs Hair Match.  Adonis’ hair is cut off in the middle of the ring by Brutus Beefcake, while Piper held down Jimmy Hart.
– In a six-man tag team match, The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) & Danny Davis defeat The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & The Dynamite Kid) & Tito Santana.
– Butch Reed (with Slick) defeats Koko B. Ware.
– Ricky Steamboat (with George Steele) defeats Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth), to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
– The Honky Tonk Man (with Jimmy Hart) defeats Jake Roberts (with shock rocker Alice Cooper).
– In a tag team match, The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff (with Slick) defeat The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell) via disqualification.  “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan had interfered and hit Sheik with his 2×4.
– Hulk Hogan defeats Andre The Giant (with Bobby Heenan), to retain the WWF Championship. Bob Uecker (actor and baseball announcer) served as guest ring announcer, while Mary Hart (host of Entertainment Tonight) served as guest timekeeper.  This was the match where Hogan famously scoop slammed the 525-pound Giant (video below).

1998 – WrestleMania XIV is held at the FleetCenter in Boston, in front of 19,028 fans.  This event is generally cited as the beginning of the Attitude Era, and saw the last in-ring appearance of Shawn Michaels until 2002.

– LOD 2000 (Hawk & Animal) (with Sunny) win a 15-Team Battle Royal, last eliminating The New Midnight Express (Bombastic Bob Holly & Bodacious Bart Gunn) (with Jim Cornette), to determine the #1 contenders for the WWF Tag Team Championship.
– Taka Michinoku defeats Aguila, to retain the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship.
– Triple H (Chyna) defeats Owen Hart, to retain the WWF European Championship.
– In a Mixed Tag Team Match, Marc Mero & Sable defeat The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust & Luna Vachon.

– The Rock (with Kama Mustafa, Mark Henry, and  D’Lo Brown) defeats Ken Shamrock via disqualification, to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship.  Had The Rock had been disqualified, he would have lost the title to Shamrock.  However Shamrock was disqualified for refusing to break the ankle hold he had on The Rock.
– Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie defeat The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg), in a Dumpster Match, to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.
– The Undertaker defeats Kane (with Paul Bearer).  Pete Rose was the special guest ring announcer and, after insulting the crowd in Boston and introducing Kane, Rose would fall victim to a tombstone piledriver from Kane.
– Stone Cold Steve Austin defeats Shawn Michaels (with Triple H & Chyna), to win the WWF Championship.  Mike Tyson served as special outside enforcer.

2015 – WrestleMania XXXI is held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, in front of a reported crowd of 76,976 fans.  Actual attendance was reported to be 67,000.

– In a Fatal 4-Way Match, Tyson Kidd & Cesaro retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.  Kidd & Cesaro defeat The Usos (Jimmy & Jey), Los Madatores (Diego & Fernando), and The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston).
– Big Show last eliminates Damien Mizdow, to win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
– In a Ladder Match, Daniel Bryan wins the WWE Intercontinental Championship.  Bryan defeats Bad News Barrett, Luke Harper, Dolph Ziggler, Stardust, R-Truth, and Dean Ambrose.
– Randy Orton defeats Seth Rollins (with Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury).
– Triple H defeats Sting, in a No Disqualification Match.
– In a Divas Tag Team Match, Paige & AJ Lee defeat The Bella Twins (Brie & Nikki).  This is AJ Lee’s final WWE match;  she would retire from professional wrestling April 3, 2015.
– John Cena defeats Rusev (with Lana), to win the WWE United States Championship.
– The Undertaker defeats Bray Wyatt.
– Seth Rollins cashes in his Money In the Bank Briefcase, making the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns a Triple Threat Match.  Reigns speared Lesnar, who would roll out of the ring.  Rollins executes a Curb Stomp on Reigns, and scores the pin fall, to become the new World Heavyweight Champion.  Lesnar loses the title despite not being pinned.

SOURCES: fightful.com, WrestleView, gerweck.net

Follow me on Twitter at @Bill_Fenbers.