1987: Bigger, Badder, Better
From what I gather about 1987, a lot of it had to do with money. A slogan could go: stock sold on computer; crack sold on street. Michael was the first name of at least five famous people; Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant were the full names of two other ones. I can only kind of explain it.
Endless amounts and questionable avenues of promotion kept a famously inhumane travel schedule running as NBC, cable TV, Mr. T, and MTV — plus a convenient home turf of New York City — got the WWF so big that anywhere from 78 to 93-thousand people (depending on who you ask) went to see Hulk, Andre, and the rest of the gang at WrestleMania III at the end of March for a night of professional wrestling, midget assault, exotic animals, and motorized wrestling ring carts.
Throughout the year names like The Million Dollar Man, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Demolition, and the Ultimate Warrior were introduced as new characters while story themes ranged from man seeking vengeance over attempted murder to man driven by psychosis to become a hairstylist.
The WWF continued to winnow down the tropes that continue today: well-managed production that became micro-managed, a flair for hype bordering on incessant over-promotion, and a preference for the moment over the arc. When they care they care; when they don’t they don’t: sometimes there’s title contenders; sometimes shut up who cares?
There are plenty of boring matches and missed opportunities, but as the WWF continued to expand in 1987 they landed on some of the most fun pro wrestling there ever was.
Previously on the WWF…
When Hulk Hogan pinned the Iron Sheik in January 1984 for the WWF Championship, he was doused in champagne by his friend Andre the Giant — and a few other guys no longer around — while the WWF got a new value proposition in Hulkamania. Three years later, the people were still into it as Hogan spent 1986 feuding with Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and King Kong Bundy, then Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and Paul Orndorff.
Andre and Rowdy Roddy Piper wrestled a pair of cartoon matches at WrestleMania II, then took summer breaks as the WWF relied on Hogan, a refined TV presentation, and a ton of new cast members to keep people watching. Harley Race, Jake Roberts, Butch Reed, and Slick all made their debuts, while Randy Savage and The British Bulldogs headlined the shows that Hogan didn’t as Jimmy Hart, Adrian Adonis, and the Hart Foundation caused most of the trouble that Heenan didn’t.
January to March: 3 Years, It’s a Long Time to be Champion
Time passed. Wrestling evolved. Hulk Hogan was working his last series of matches with Paul Orndorff to cap off the feud that carried 1986, while Bruno Sammartino – the WWF’s top guy for decades – was working some of his last matches with the WWF’s new class like Randy Savage and The Honky Tonk Man. They both wrestled Kamala too, because Kamala was always somewhere.
WrestleMania was annual now, so the first three months of the year were busy as matches got in place for the big event. This wasn’t “run a single WrestleMania from three locations” busy either — for a company that resisted movement, the busy was spectacular.
At the start of the year, everyone (on WWF TV) is wondering who engineered the return of Andre the Giant from his suspension…ish. They never completely explained it, but he was filming the Princess Bride and would be an even bigger star for it when it’s released later in the year so it seems fine. Some of the last classic Piper’s Pits continued the conversation, and eventually the friendly Giant Andre emerged with Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and challenged Hogan for the WWF Championship — straight-up (2/7).
Andre’s decision shocks Hogan into a reaction that covers all bases from tragedy to comedy, and sometimes you need that energy. Promoted as a first-time match before you could fact check that sort of thing, this was wrestling’s most exciting match based on VHS cover potential alone. Andre was ailing with injuries and barely wrestling, but besides maybe Bruno still felt like the only guy Hogan couldn’t beat. His heel turn adds ten more shades to his legend too: serious, scary… a movie villain! He speaks in short garbled sentences, while Heenan plays it more deranged than comedic, like his last big swing at the success he’s owed.
The other championships kept busy too: one with a challenge, one with a change. Macho Man Randy Savage is challenged for his Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania by a raspy-voiced Ricky Steamboat (2/16), who he tried to … kill … at the end of last year by dropping a ring bell on his esophagus. It was a thing. They actually work a ton on house shows prior to WrestleMania too, but Savage keeps sneaking away.
Crooked referee Danny Davis helps The Hart Foundation beat the British Bulldogs for the Tag Team Titles (2/7), which swaps Davey Boy Smith and the deteriorating Dynamite Kid with a team that would carry the division for years. The Bulldogs got a mascot bulldog named Matilda in return. “Dangerous” Danny Davis is eventually banned from refereeing, so he joins the Hart Foundation and takes up wrestling for a year. It was also a thing.
1987: WrestleMania III
WrestleMania III (3/29) was the pinnacle of pro wrestling, or at least belongs on a fictional Mount Rushmore of pinnacles. Hogan defeating Andre after a bodyslam gets all the play, but there was so much going on. Steamboat avenges his throat and wins the IC Title, Bundy elbow drops a midget, The Dream Team splits up and Brutus Beefcake goes full Barber, King Kong Bundy elbow drops a midget and Hacksaw Jim Duggan chants USA.
Roddy Piper beats Adrian Adonis in his final, last appearance ever too (it was 2 years). Andre and Heenan try to escape after their loss as if they could somehow be unseen in any scenario, shame in their bones as they’re pelted with trash from the Pontiac Silverdome crowd that made wrestling look like the biggest thing in the world.
It was a marketer’s dream: they marketed; they got the market! Even the celebrities were better than usual, especially “Mr. Baseball” Bob Uecker who’s few appearances (including 3/2 and a return to Mania next year) make a case that if he didn’t find baseball he belonged in the biz.
WWF pulls no less than a post-Atlantic Records Aretha Franklin for America the Beautiful too, which results in two incredible moments: when she tells Jimmy Hart to shut up (3/9), and when Gorilla Monsoon shits on her (4/6).
1987: The Approach
The WWF has always been in the sports entertainment business and we know that because before the 80s were over they’d use the term to win a lawsuit and spend the next few decades marketing whatever this is as if they coined it.
Before the variety show approach got redundant though, there really was a thing going on here. WrestleMania III in particular is impressive, a 3-hour hour show with 12 matches all setup with stakes and likely accentuated with something extra: payoffs, managers, nationalism, monarchy, celebrities, haircuts. Blood! The WWF made the most of an enormous platform not just audience-wise, but artifact-wise: the Coliseum Home Video cassette would capture plenty of hearts and minds via Blockbuster Video rentals as years went on. Probably because the VHS cover was so cool.
As soon as he won the championship, everything was Hulk Hogan. He traveled across the country, globe, pop culture, department stores, broadcast TV, and anything else that could assist the WWF in its’ Big Expansion. He wrestled a lot too. Underneath him was the launch of a few unique (and marketable!) characters every few months thanks to a hiring spree matched only by the amount of towns they hit and stories they tried to show on television.
By 1987 the merchandise and bullshit machine was on fire: Coliseum Videos are used as part compilation and part wrestler promotional vehicle, another full album of music is recorded, and the obscenely lucrative action figure line is displayed all over the Prime Time Wrestling desk throughout the year. It was important you were gimmicked up and stood out a little because they were flooding the airwaves.
If an act was a hit they could rely on regular feuds, while the undercard was a revolving door of guys who weren’t: Outback Jack gets vignettes in January, does basically nothing, and in July is losing to Killer Khan who was last relevant in 1981 (and leaves soon after too). The gimmicks occasionally ranged very far into embarrassment or stereotype territory, but enough things took and money was made, people got famous, blah blah blah.
They did all this while kind of still keeping things pretty conservative, with formula live event cards and matches where everyone from a Bird Man to a Million Dollar Man loved a good armbar nap. The whole roster wasn’t on TV every week, though with TV increasingly important they were more present, including a news magazine segment called WWF Update (with young Craig DeGeorge!) to digest the big angles. Heel managers usually set the agenda, with Heenan after Hogan’s championship and Jimmy Hart after (or holding) the others.
Mediocre Elvis impersonator The Honky Tonk Man is a big story of the year, either because Vince McMahon was always a weirdo or because he really did have a hand on what he was trying to do and Wayne Ferris admirably performed the duty. Early in the year when he cuts off Cpl. Kirchner (quickly being replaced by Hacksaw Duggan), the crowd is like: “Ah, jeez – him?” Later in the year, they’re like: “Ah, jeez – HIM!!!”
April to June: Cool, Cocky, Not So Bad!
The WWF settled down after WrestleMania III, able to rely on footage of the bodyslam and a new wrestler every other week in lieu of a RAW After Mania: vignette for you, squash for you, short feud for you.
Hogan continued to be a rare TV presence, Andre and Piper took breaks again, Ricky Steamboat and his wife got pregnant, and Jake Roberts nursed an injury. After a semi-featured match with Honky Tonk Man at WrestleMania, he only appears once in a while on commentary or hosting The Snake Pit until later in the year. This is bad, because he is one of the greats — a guy so good at his job a promo with Hogan early in the year scared the brass so much they turned him babyface.
Even Macho Man went off to find himself after Mania — I mean, he worked a full live event schedule… but still. You know who else did? The Honky Tonk Man. Wayne Ferris worked lighter than the Miz but paired with Jimmy Hart comes off as a textbook wrestling dirtbag, which was a great thing to be in 1987: he ends up the catalyst for not only Jake’s face turn (2/23), but he wins their match at Mania and by the time he beats Steamboat for the IC Title (6/14) he’s so easy to hate he’s the catalyst for Savage’s face turn too.
Despite the loss at WrestleMania, Bobby Heenan continued to run the Family: Paul Orndorff, King Harley Race, King Kong Bundy and Hercules, plus new bad guys The Islanders and the incoming “Ravishing” Rick Rude. They were chased by the returning-from-actual-jail Ken Patera, presented (beginning 4/13) as a reformed criminal simply corrupted by Bobby. It’s ridiculous to begin with and doesn’t really work out.
Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake officially premieres and squashes old manager Luscious Johnny V (5/2), Outlaw Ron Bass and Brad Rheingans join the party, Blackjack Mulligan and Superstar Billy Graham come back to work. The Junkyard Dog returns to TV (6/29) from a brief absence too and he looks, according to McMahon and Jesse Ventura, “heavier, but also more jacked.”
For the tag team division, Ax and Smash of Demolition first showed up looking like a couple freaks in February managed by Johnny V, but at the TV tapings the night before WrestleMania (which they aren’t on) they enter with Mr. Fuji and things begin to look up: check MSG reacting to them (4/6), two big fellas so badass that no one is going to question the… look.
Haku and Tama of The Islanders join Bobby Heenan and embrace their heel side, while two young enhancement talents named Paul Roma & Jim Powers become The Young Stallions. In June they have three really long tag matches with The (masked) Shadows, then actually beat Don Muraco and Bob Orton — who aligned at some point based on a mutual dislike of Rowdy Roddy Piper. The Can-Am Connection of Rick Martel & Tom Zenk are a couple of new babyfaces cruising for chicks and looking for wins too… until Zenk bounces and Martel stalls until September.
1987: The Platform
Television was the WWF’s thing; Monday Night RAW still airs on the cable network that let them experiment outside of syndicated wrestling programming in the first place. In 1987 they spent a lot of money to make it more impressive, more unified, more blue. The recognizable blue banners dropped from ceilings of packed arenas became a regular thing, as did a new roving camera crane and stage interviews as the colorful, excited, not-yet-off-putting SNME vibe makes its way into everything.
Saturday Night’s Main Event remained a ratings success and agenda mover every few months, but with more names and stories to develop there was a need for more exciting things to happen on TV weekly. Superstars (of Wrestling) becomes the main show: plenty of squashes but also top guys, recurring segments, and a lot of 6-man tags for some reason. There’s a shift in the Spring where the product becomes more immediate, with Prime Time airing matches and angles taped or aired just days ago. Wrestling Challenge, All-American Wrestling, and Wrestling Spotlight continued to air in syndication, with Challenge usually getting the stuff that didn’t make Superstars.
Prime Time Wrestling’s backdrop brightens up (to blue, naturally) and it becomes a way for people with cable TV to follow the narrative, watch a lot of long house show matches, and enjoy Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan perfecting their co-host act.
Hosts and commentators like Monsoon, Heenan, Jesse Ventura, and more than anybody Mean Gene Okerlund kept the show running by providing not only character and backstory, but banter that kept some of the WWF’s worst efforts watchable: kid got action figure; dad got jokes. It was no longer about keeping people around with grudges and gimmicks at live events every few months; the live event was just where you went to see the TV stars now. A few weeks of TV were taped every few weeks and everyone moved on as Kevin Dunn and whoever did their thing.
The WWF still sent music videos MTV’s way too with the sequel to the first Wrestling Album. Junkyard Dog grabbing them cakes and the Land of a Thousand Dances stood out from the first, but Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II provided a remarkable list of tunes still referenced today. Its’ one of the purest illustrations of McMahon’s insanity, another opportunity for the WWF to speak to the masses and they delivered Hogan doing construction in cut-off jean shorts, Strike Force cruising the streets for the Girls in Cars, and McMahon himself doing a choreographed dance number. At least there was Demolition just… demolishing.
Still not sure if it would be a fun gig or not to be the guy who had to fill out Prime Time shows and find some B. Brian Blair vs. Moondog Spot from 1984 to fit the 25 minute block of time needed. I’m kidding. Of course it would be.
July to September: Everybody Has a Price
Jim Crockett Promotions was building their summer shows around WarGames and violence, while the WWF just kept introducing new people — the big stories were coming later. One of those stories involved the latest bad guy to show up in the territory, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. He introduces himself from the back of a limousine (7/6) flanked by bodyguard slash butler in a sparkly occasionally skin-tight tuxedo: the legend, Virgil.
All summer they use DiBiase’s vast fortune (from somewhere don’t worry about it) to do what anybody would do if they had that money: prove a point. DiBiase bribes and humiliates people with cash both on-location and live in the arena, creating a run of promos and vignettes so legendary that they’re still being referenced to this day. Seriously, they just re-aired one as a bit for Cameron Grimes on NXT in July 2021. It all hits a nerve back then because if you remember from the first sentence, 1987 was something about money.
McMahon writes the hypothesis and conclusion, each promo punctuated with DiBiase’s catchphrase, “Everybody has a price for the Million Dollar Man!” and eventually that trademark insane laugh. It’s the perfect mix of infuriating and hilarious that creates an instant star.
Slick brings in One Man Gang (he’s big), Mr. Fuji brings back Sika (Roman Reigns’ dad), and Bobby Heenan introduces “Ravishing” Rick Rude (Manny Fernandez’ tag partner). Rude introduces his ready-made gimmick at MSG (8/3) and first feuds with Paul Orndorff, who fires Heenan again (8/24) after getting jealous over Rude’s upper body. You can think about the implications of Orndorff, who just made the WWF a ton of money opposite Hogan in 1986 and would be gone by 1988, exhibiting a declining physique here opposite this new juiced up guy is coming into the territory. You don’t have to, but you can.
Oliver Humperdink had a name, resume, and look that screamed heel creep but he debuts around this time as the rare WWF babyface manager. He manages Orndorff, but more notably he wins the Battle for Bam Bam: over the summer, every heel manager in the company begins angling for the contract of this large newcomer beast man with a tattooed skull: Bam Bam Bigelow. It’s a big intro considering they last used this gimmick to introduce Randy Savage two years ago, but in a twist Bam Bam takes on ol ‘Dink and comes in ready to be a top good guy. He’d end up on Starrcade 1988, but that’s another story for another time.
Remember Tito Santana? He was a much quieter presence in 1987, phased down the card but still carrying new heels to good matches at live events. He saves Rick Martel from purgatory when he saves him from an attack by the Islanders, which is followed up with a really forced promo where they combine two words and become STRIKE FORCE (8/31)!
The Honky Tonk Man is also calling himself the Greatest Intercontinental Champion of All Time, a big claim after just a few successful title defenses via disqualification or other nefarious means. It fires up Randy Savage enough to go full babyface and pin King Kong Bundy to win that year’s King of the Ring tournament (9/4), all at the same time Andre the Giant triumphantly emerges back onto the scene to the sound of loud, unappreciative boos (9/7).
Texas gofer Bruce Prichard gets hired around this time too.
1987: The Wrestling
WWF matches have always been pretty strict and simple, which helped plenty of guys get their thing across in the easiest way possible but also produced a catalog of very boring matches. The things they did in 1987 that are still remembered were special, but the actual wrestling was usually there to just fill time in between.
This roster had some of the greatest wrestlers of all time, but some of their best (if not most lucrative) work could usually be found in other regions or eras. There’s still plenty to appreciate about the way the best of this era adapted to working for Vince McMahon during Hulkamania: Randy Savage, Harley Race, Jake Roberts, Tito Santana… whether called on to deliver a TV moment or just make a guy look credible, these were the greats. The Hart Foundation of Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart were incredible in pretty much any scenario too, whether having a hundred effective matches with Rougeaus or just setting up and reacting to hot tags in the biggest way possible.
Great bell-to-bell matches were rare, though that might depend on your definition — the word efficiency comes to mind. Koko B. Ware bumping for the Honky Tonk is not art at first glance, but the crowd buys in and it’s good fun. The roster was over and if they weren’t, there was usually a big Hulk Hogan pop or Jimmy Hart screaming on a megaphone somewhere to give people the whole experience they wanted anyways.
The TV matches definitely speed up, though live events continued to feature methodically executed filler that made the top guys look even more impressive when people stuck around. Paul Roma vs. Barry O (1/26) gets split up by commercial break, Junkyard Dog and Ron Bass go to a double countout (8/24), Billy Jack Haynes and Paul Orndorff went to a 20-minute draw (7/13) – in fact, multiple Billy Jack draws. People were making choices.
Plenty of basic stuff like throwing up dukes and general fire continued to work, but so did the fact that a lot of these guys were semi-famous and in the middle of one or two rivalries. Plenty of boring chants too, plenty of Vince and friends burying guys on commentary — an experience.
October to December: Survivor! Piledriver! Bribe…r?
Andre the Giant is back, Randy Savage is a good guy, and The Million Dollar Man is still being an ass: time for Saturday Night’s Main Event (10/3). After Randy Savage and Bret Hart have one of the best matches of 1987, the Hart Foundation and Honky Tonk Man prepare to smash a guitar over Savage’s head. Miss Elizabeth pleads with them to stop, but Honky Tonk goes from successful doofus to pure evil when he pushes her down.
Savage takes a beating until Liz emerges from the back to a big league reaction with Hulk freakin’ Hogan. Hogan and Savage, natural rivals due to just being two of the most charismatic pro wrestlers of all-time, cement their charisma as fact as they milk a HANDSHAKE for everything — really, everything — it is possibly worth. That handshake forms The Mega Powers, a saga that would carry the WWF through the next couple years. It is recapped in all its expository glory on Prime Time Wrestling (10/19).
Music videos from The Wrestling Album II air every week, Superstar Billy Graham mentors Magnificent Muraco, Ricky Steamboat returns from paternity, Hacksaw Jim Duggan returns from court, and Demolition look cool as hell as they beat up everybody from the Killer Bees to Billy Jack Haynes & Brady Boone. So naturally, Strike Force beats the Hart Foundation for the WWF Tag Team Titles (11/7).
The Mega Powers wouldn’t actually team with cameras rolling until SummerSlam ‘88. When the WWF held the first Survivor Series in late-November, they led separate teams on an evening of 5-on-5 (or 10-on-10) elimination matches put on pay-per-view and closed-circuit TV to counter-program JCP’s Starrcade ‘87 (it did). Not much happens beyond another way to extend Hogan/Andre and the (amazing) visuals created any time the Survivor Series teams would get together for promos year after year.
The freaking Ultimate Warrior debuts too (11/26), and he is SO bad but they just lean in.
Then Ted DiBiase gets tired of wrestling Koko B. Ware and Billy Jack Haynes or whoever and declares that the “everybody” in his “Everybody has a price!” mantra includes Hulk Hogan and he’s going to buy the WWF Championship (11/28). Heenan is incredulous given how hard he’s worked — and that he hadn’t thought of it. After a couple weeks of Craig DeGeorge pursuing the story like some kind of co-opted journalist, Hogan says NOOOOOOOOO (12/19)!
On the 12/31 Prime Time, the year closes with both familiarity and insanity: the WWF way. The Honky Tonk Man (still the Greatest!) defends his Intercontinental Title against Jake Roberts in a Prime Time Exclusive, while Bobby Heenan (wearing a neckbrace from attacks through the year by Patera and Hogan) orchestrates the kidnapping of the British Bulldogs’ actual bulldog, Matilda (12/31).
1988: Year in Preview
Right after the Survivor Series, the WWF quickly announced the first Royal Rumble for January, aired free on USA to (again) compete with a JCP PPV. The Rumble as a concept had staying power, but it was a rare non-Saturday NBC special called “The Main Event” in February that would alter the whole Federation. A new World Champion, twin referees, and another big batch of new hires were just a few of things that defined the WWF’s 1988.
