WrestleMania III Was a Lie: The Truth About the Silverdome’s Greatest Moment

Where were you when "The Slam Heard Around the World" happened in the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan?

Many of us had yet to be born, and we were told our entire lives that at WrestleMania III, Hulk Hogan did the unthinkable, the impossible even. Hogan, with 93,173 screaming HulkaManiacs in attendance, lifted the legitimately 7-foot-4, 520-pound Andre the Giant up for a textbook body slam.

The moment revolutionized wrestling and put the Silverdome in the annals of sports entertainment history forever.

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But it was all a lie.

While, yes professional wrestling is scripted entertainment, this isn't about the legitimacy of the move itself. Hogan scooped Andre for the body slam the same as any other performer, even if the task was considerably more difficult.

Surprisingly, according to Hogan, the spot wasn't planned. Andre called for Hogan to slam him in the moment. The video below shows Hogan describing the match and how its biggest moments came to be.

No, the lie is in the fact that the WWE has sold the world a story (intentionally or otherwise) that no one could ever slam Andre and that Hogan doing so at WrestleMania was a first and only type of accomplishment. The truth is, Hogan body slammed Andre years before the event.

On September 13, 1980, at The Hamburg Field House in Pennsylvania, a then-villain Hulk Hogan, managed by "Classy" Freddie Blassie, faced Andre the Giant. The match lasted less than four minutes and ended with Hogan using a foreign weapon in his elbow pad.

Within those four minutes, both wrestlers slammed one another, with Hogan lifting the Giant seemingly out of nowhere with much more grace than he did seven years later at WrestleMania.

Video proof was shared on wrestling legend Tatanka's Facebook page.

Truthfully, it doesn't take away from how important and impressive the WrestleMania slam is and was. The differences in audiences who witnessed the two slams were vastly different and the latter helped legitimize wrestling on a national scale.

So the next time you think about the incredible history made in Michigan at the Silverdome for WrestleMania III, just remember it was an incredible moment, but it wasn't exactly unique.