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Worst in the World: Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III

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This is probably the hardest match I've had to write about. This match is bad. Very bad. But this very bad match is also one of the most important matches in the history of professional wrestling. Not only did it main event the WrestleMania that used to boast the largest WrestleMania attendance of all time (that was definitely not inflated in any way), but it features one of, if not the, most iconic moment in wrestling history. However, in order too look at this match from a technical standpoint, you have to take out the historical importance of it, and look at it for what it is, a truly bad wrestling match. With that being said, here it is; Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania 3; WWF Championship on the line
The match starts off with a long stare-down. Gorilla Monsoon says Andre has a look of disdain on his face, but he's very clearly making the face he always makes. Both push each other and throw strikes before Hogan goes for a bodyslam, but Andre's too heavy and Hogan caves under his weight, almost getting pinned. Andre takes control with strikes every ten seconds or so. Luckily, Andre looks better now than he did in the previous two times he's been on the list, as he's actually able to walk around and not lean on the ropes the entire match. Despite this, his offense is still incredibly slow, waiting extra long periods of time before doing another move. I'd say the match crawls to a snail's pace, but that would be an insult to snails.
Hogan gets battered for the entire match, as Andre slowly beats him down before sneaking out of the corner, causing Andre to headbutt the turnbuckle. Hogan looks to Hulk up, but he can't knock Andre off his feet. Hogan throws some chops and rams his head into the turnbuckle, but Andre blocks a charging Hogan with a big boot. Andre locks in an endless bearhug, which prompts the arm drops spot where Hogan keeps his arm up on the third drop. Hogan is able to fight out of the bearhug with punches and hits some shoulder tackles, but Andre chops him to the ground, picking him up afterwards and booting him from the ring.
Outside the ring, Hogan avoids a headbutt, causing Andre the headbutt the post, and removes the padding on the floor. Hogan goes for a piledriver (yeah right), but Andre reverses it by lifting Hogan off the ground, resulting in just about the safest bump in history, with Hogan falling so slowly over Andre he was basically just gently placed on the ground. Jesse Ventura says it was "poor sportsmanship" by Hogan to remove the outside padding,  which it was, good call, Ventura. Back in the ring, Hogan avoids a big boot and clotheslines Andre to the ground. Hogan Hulks Up and hits the huge bodyslam, followed by the leg drop for the win.

The Verdict

The story and drama of the match; perfect. Couldn't have been done any better. But the match itself? A slow, plodding affair. Andre, while in better shape, still wrestles incredibly slow and can't do much outside of punches and strikes. But I will say that this is easily Andre's best match by far.

Rankings (Best to Worst)

  1.  Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
  2. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
  3. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
  4. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
  5. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
  6. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
  7. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
  8. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
  9. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
  10. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
  11. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
  12. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
  13. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
  14. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
  15. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
  16. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
  17. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
  18. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
  19. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
  20. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
  21. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
  22. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
  23. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania 3
  24. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
  25. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
  26. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
  27. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
  28. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
  29. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
  30. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
  31. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
  32.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
  33. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
  34. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
  35. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
  36. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
  37. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
  38. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
  39. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
  40. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
  41. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
  42. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996 
  43. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/10)
  44. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
  45. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
  46. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
And now that it's after the Hall of Fame, the next entry is...


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