March has always been a critical month in the history of World Wrestling Entertainment. When WrestleMania began, March was the month that the Show of Shows was held in. It had become the time of year when WWE put on its biggest show. As the years moved on and more shows were added to the schedule, March and April began to share hosting duties. It has now been over a decade since March had the honour of hosting WWE’s biggest show.
The third month of the year no longer seems to be sharing hosting duties with April, but that shouldn’t take away from the impactful moments that have taken place at March WrestleManias. There have been some monumental championship changes that have taken place at March ‘Mania, and we will be taking a look at those changes below.
Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff Win The WWE Tag Team Championships (WrestleMania; March 31st, 1985)
The inaugural WrestleMania was a huge success for WWE. It contained the biggest wrestlers and celebrities competing in the biggest matches. It was a massive night for the company, but an evening that also contained a single title change. That took place when the “evil” foreign invaders toppled the U.S. Express in front of a rabid Madison Square Garden crowd.
Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik were the most hated men in the company. This was when anyone not from the United States was a heel, and WWE was more than willing to lean into that idea. They paired the men together and pushed them towards crowd favorites Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo.
The crowd wanted to see Volkoff and The Sheik get their comeuppance, but were disappointed when the heels cheated their way to victory. It was a nice deviation from the babyface-heavy victories of the first WrestleMania, and the only title change that happened on that historic evening.
Ricky Steamboat Achieved Greatness In Victory (WrestleMania 3; March.29th, 1987)
WrestleMania 3 was the biggest PLE that WWE had ever put on. Attendance is disputed, but even the lowest estimate of 78,000 is impressive. It was a gamble to go into the Silverdome, but WWE was ready to amaze, and its battle for the mid-card was at the top of the list.
Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat’s battle for the Intercontinental Championship had become a thing of legend. It was a type of match that would have been taken for granted today, with how wrestling matches are put together.
There was such a contrast between the chain wrestling and numerous near falls that we saw compared to the big man matches of the age. The world instantly fell in love with this match, and it’s rightfully considered one of the best in WWE history.
Ricky Steamboat winning the Intercontinental Championship was the feel-good moment of WrestleMania 3. He ended the historically long reign of Randy Savage and established the long history of the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania.
