3. Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat WrestleMania 3
For decades, this was the standard-bearer for great WrestleMania matches and in many ways, still is. The lead-up to this classic Intercontinental Championship match was tremendous. Macho Man and the Dragon had an IC title match that saw champ Savage attack Steamboat and injure his throat on the guardrail. Savage then punctuated it by dropping the ring bell onto Steamboats throat, knocking him out of action. (Dragons selling of the beating was tremendous.) At WrestleMania 3, Steamboat made his return and was seeking revenge. In reality, he and Savage had painstakingly mapped out an intense, intricate match that had fans on the edge of their seats. They battled back and forth with more than a dozen two counts during their nonstop affair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rQn65xG8fs The end came with the famous moment where Savage went to use the ring bell again, only for George The Animal Steele another wrestler who had been abused by Macho Man to interfere on Steamboats behalf. A dazed Savage went for a bodyslam, which Steamboat turned into a small package for the win and the title. The pop from the crowd tells you how heavily invested they were in the match.
Scott Carlson
Contributor
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
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