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When Keith Elliot Greenberg set out to write Bigger, Better, Badder, a book chronicling the road to and impact of WrestleMania III, he knew he wasn’t just writing about a wrestling show. He was writing about a cultural detonation that redefined what wrestling could be—and how it could be seen by the world.
“WrestleMania III didn’t just change the business,” Greenberg said. “It gave wrestling credibility. It made people realize—whether they liked wrestling or not—that this was something big, something important.”
A veteran journalist and former WWF Magazine writer, Greenberg had a front-row seat to the boom of the 1980s. But even with that proximity, writing this book helped him realize how much more there was to uncover.
“I lived through it. I was backstage. I was on the road. But I still discovered so much in the research process,” he said. “There were entire layers of the story I had never considered. That’s the beauty of looking back with fresh eyes.”
Published in March 2025, Bigger, Better, Badder: The Story of WrestleMania III and the Year That Changed Wrestling Forever is a comprehensive deep dive into not just the show, but the world of wrestling in 1987, when Vince McMahon’s national vision collided with pop culture, television, and the remnants of the territorial era.
“This wasn’t a wrestling book about just one night,” Greenberg explained. “It’s about the transformation of an entire industry. WrestleMania III was the exclamation point.”
And it was one no one could ignore.
“People like to talk about the ‘Hogan slam’ moment, and they should—it was iconic. But what I wanted to do was show everything that had to happen behind the scenes, in the locker rooms, on the business side, to even get to that moment.”
WrestleMania III didn’t just happen—it was constructed by a sprawling cast of visionaries, workers, and personalities. Greenberg highlights unsung figures like photographer Steve Taylor, publicist Mike Weber, and other execs whose decisions shaped the show’s aesthetic and impact. Indeed, his research took him far beyond the familiar tales. He spoke with people who had never opened up about WrestleMania III publicly—photographers, marketing execs, super fans, and more.
“People forget, there were no massive LED stages. They had to invent ways to make this show look huge,” he said. “Those ring carts? That wasn’t just flair—it was logistics. The walk was too far. So they built a way to bring the wrestlers to the fans in a way that made them look like gods.”
“Steve Taylor told me, ‘Keith, I don’t usually talk about this stuff,’” Greenberg recalled. “But once we got going, it was like time travel. Even he learned things he didn’t know.”
One story that surprised even this writer, who thought he knew everything there was about Roddy Piper.?
A near-tragic electrocution of Piper just weeks before the show.
“Mike Weber told me Roddy slipped, and while looking to steady himself, touched the inside on an empty light socket, and agot shocked. If things had gone differently, Piper wouldn’t have been at WrestleMania III. And that’s unfathomable.”
The book also dives into the absence of Paul Orndorff, rumored to be on standby if Andre couldn’t go.
“I spoke to Travis Orndorff—he’d never heard the story,” Greenberg said. “And I think if that was true, it would’ve been known. There was no replacing Andre.”
Greenberg says writing the book was less about nostalgia and more about preservation.
“We’re not just telling cool stories—we’re chronicling history,” he emphasized. “Someone will Google this 20 years from now. It has to be right.”
That mindset was especially vital when documenting the production side of WrestleMania III—the strategic decision to hold the event in the Pontiac Silverdome, and what that choice meant for the company’s national perception. More than just an architectural backdrop, the Silverdome becomes a central figure in the book—a literal and symbolic colossus towering over the wrestling world.
“That building was a statement,” Greenberg said. “Vince McMahon wanted to plant a flag and say, ‘We’re not a regional product anymore. We’re America’s promotion. We’re the promotion.’”
“They could’ve picked anywhere. They chose Detroit for a reason. It was accessible by car from Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland. They weren’t flying fans in yet. It had to be reachable, and it had to be huge.”
“Vince wasn’t just picking a venue,” Greenberg said. “He was picking a stage that said: ‘We are everywhere now. We are not regional. We are America’s wrestling company. He didn’t do it in New York or LA,” Greenberg continued. “He picked Detroit—a place you could drive to from Toronto, Chicago, Cleveland. He was thinking strategically, not just theatrically.”
Greenberg also wanted to ensure the book captured the emotional heart of the night: the fans. He interviewed longtime super fans Vladimir Abouzeide and Charlie Adorno, whose friendship spanned decades of arenas.
“Charlie told me something beautiful,” Greenberg said. “‘Vlad said he’d look after me when I was a kid. Now it’s my turn to look after him.’ That’s what wrestling does—it creates bonds, real ones.”
“When you look at the crowd at WrestleMania III, 93,000 fans—it’s not just a number,” he added. “It’s people from every background, every part of the country, all sharing this one experience.”
While Steamboat vs. Savage often takes the prize as the “match of the night,” Greenberg says the entire show deserves a second look—especially the contributions of unsung heroes.
“Jimmy Hart worked three matches that night and took crazy bumps in every one,” he noted. “And nobody talks about it! But that’s what made the show flow. Everybody knew their role.”
Greenberg also praises the production team who devised the now-iconic ring carts to shuttle wrestlers through the Silverdome.
“That wasn’t just a gimmick—it was a necessity,” he laughed. “They had to move talent a football field’s length. That kind of thinking is part of what made WrestleMania III feel like an event from the future.”
Asked about Bigger, Better, Badder's reception, Greenberg shared that feedback from industry veterans has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Steve Taylor sent me a note that made my day,” he said. “‘There were things in your book that even I didn’t know,’ he wrote. That’s the best praise I could hope for.”
“Ed Linsky from the original Victory Magazine team messaged me. Jerry Brisco too. These are people who lived it. And if they say I got it right—that means the world.”
So what’s next?
“I have another big wrestling project coming later this year,” Greenberg teased. “I can’t talk about it yet, but I’ll be back to discuss it when the time is right.”
Greenberg closes the book—and the conversation—with a heartfelt message to readers.
“If wrestling ever mattered to you—even just once—this book is for you,” he said. “It’s about how something that was always dismissed became undeniable. And how one night, in one dome, 93,000 people proved the world wrong.”
Bigger, Better, Badder: The Story of WrestleMania III and the Year That Changed Wrestling Forever is available now in print, eBook, and audiobook formats via Amazon and bookstores worldwide.
It’s not just a book about wrestling—it’s a story about how wrestling landed on the greatest stage of them all and become forever intertwined in the mainstream consciousness.
Keith Elliot Greenberg will be in Las Vegas signing his book Thursday the 17th at DDT Downtown, 124 South 6th Street, off Fremont, 6-8 pm PST.
This will be followed by a chat and signing after a presentation of "Kayfabe," a "puppet wrestling spectacular" the same night at 8 PM at the Vegas Theatre Company, 1025 1st Street, Law Vegas.
The Busted Open pre-Wrestlemania party on Saturday 4/19 will also feature a giveaway of 5 copies of Bigger! Better! Badder as well.
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