100 Greatest WWE WrestleMania Moments
17. Ricky Steamboat & Randy Savage Produce A Classic (WrestleMania III)
Take a quick poll on 'Mania III's Intercontinental Title match and you'll probably get 80% positivity and 20% 'meh, there have been much better matches since'. WWE stars have topped Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat, but it's important to put things into the proper context of the time. When this went down, people lost their minds. The WWF of 1987 just didn't do bouts with this one's technical quality. End of story.
Savage vs. Steamboat was more akin to something you'd see over in the NWA, and it'd only come from the very tippy top star names like Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Barry Windham or somebody like that. Pure match quality wasn't Vince McMahon's priority in the mid-to-late-80s. He wanted to create WWF "Superstars" who were larger than life personalities perfect for action figures, cartoons and cereal boxes.
'Macho Man' and the 'Dragon' took it upon themselves to produce what was the best WrestleMania match up until that point. Literally nothing had come close to this IC Title classic, and agents still found a way to cram some sports entertainment value in by having George 'The Animal' Steele around ringside. He had a crush on Miss. Elizabeth, which the still-heel Randy clearly hated.
He and Steamboat went about their business like the rent was due. They tore into one another and had a clash so fun-filled that even Chris Jericho played it out move for move with family members and friends in his living room. Quick, get the couch cushions on the floor and reverse that scoop slam into a small package!
What a finish. What a match.