Posted on 3/26/125 by Alan Wojcik
93,173. That number has been in the professional wrestling
lexicon since it was announced by the legendary "Mean" Gene
Okerlund to those in attendance of WrestleMania 3. The World
Wrestling Federation (now called WWE) held the event in the
Pontiac Silverdome on March 29, 1987. For some reason 93,173
is the center of a storm of controversy and I'm serious. So
much so that renowned author KEITH ELLIOTT GREENBERG wrote
an entire book on the events surrounding WrestleMania 3
entitled BIGGER! BETTER! BADDER!: WRESTLEMANIA 3 AND THE
YEAR IT ALL CHANGED (ECW PRESS 3/25/25, $22.95)
Mr. Greenberg has written extensively on professional
wrestling for decades, so he is the perfect writer to
undertake this journey into the past. The jouney isn't just
about the Pay Per View (now called Premium Live Event by
WWE) but how lots of the stars on the card and people in the
seats got there. Plus how former WWE chairman Vince McMahon
and his staff got to that fateful day in Michigan.
Don't worry each match is covered in detail with comments
from the participants. The journey takes you from how
McMahon and his wife Linda acquired the family business from
father Vince J McMahon and began to build out of a regional
business to a nationwide one. Mr. Greenberg also covers the
other family businesses (or territories) McMahon conquered
on the road to WrestleMania 3. AWA run by the Gagne family,
Mid-Atlantic/NWA run by the Crockett family to name a few.
He covers how they reacted to Vince's hostile takeover of
wrestling, morphing into sports entertainment. The PPV
couldn't be come to being if it wasn't for three icons of
the ring, manager Bobby "the Brain" Heenan and wrestlers
Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan. Without any of them the
event doesn't get to 93,173 or whatever it really is.
Be prepared for a good history lesson from Mr. Greenberg and
the many people he interviewed. I will save the subjects for
you to find out but some are quite candid on the event.
Thanks ECW Press for the preview into this fascinating book.
It is on sale through www.ECWPress.com plus other bookstores
3/25/25. For more work from Alan Wojcik check out
www.Facebook.com/KayfabeWrestlingRadio or MyNameisWojcik on
Twitter/X.