How Would Orndorff Have Fit In To WM3?

I can see him being thrown into a quick feud with Outback Jack who just debuted on TV not long before Mania that year.

And I agree, Him beating Hogan for the belt in 86 wouldve been great. Have em beat em at the Big Event then hold it until January on SNME where he would lose it back to Hogan in the cage.

Well if Andre couldn’t go and Paul wasn’t injured I would have had him win the title at SNME and then they could have had the big rematch at WM 3. Since Andre was able to go, maybe instead of the midgets being involved he could have teamed with Bundy to face Hillbilly Jim and someone else?

Well then he retains and with that Hogan goes back to the end of the line!

All seriousness though the finish would most likely be big boot,leg drop with Hogan leaving the cage with no shenanigans.

I use to love that logic about wrestling. Nowadays, a guy loses a title match and gets another one the next night or the next PPV, ridiculous. I remember the Hart Foundation lost to the Brain Busters at SSL89 in a non-title match, they didn't get another Tag Team Title shot for another year (at least not on TV). I can even remember Jesse saying that if the Hart's win they go to the front of the line but if they lose, they don't get another shot for another year or so. But, this was back when titles mattered. 

As for the Orndorff feud, I like the idea of Orndorff winning the belt at the Big Event in 1986, they could use the SNME where they both land on the floor at the same time to continue the feud (match ends as a no contest and Hogan and Orndorff brawl as the TV fades to black) with a rematch at WM3 for the belt - sadly, with Hogan winning. But that would only be the case if Andre wasn't in the picture. 

Paul was wrestling at this time frame. He was tagging with Bundy on house shows.

The rumour was years ago, that they kept Orndorff off Wrestlemania 3 in case Andre couldn't wrestle. The back up plan was Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Wonderful as the main event at Wrestlemania III. That is why they had that cage match on SNME with both men hitting the ground at the same time. I know Hogan ended up winning that match when it restarted. but the plan was for Mr. Wonderful vs. Hogan if Andre couldn't compete cause of his back injury.

WWF needed a pin fall win of Hogan over Orndorff and I can see them selling out the stadium if they were able to prolong the feud a bit, maybe not have the cage match but have the battle royal and Paul eliminates Hogan. It's a shame he went from a huge crowd in CNE main eventing to not even being on the card but it was probably either his arm injury or a worst case scenario with Andre not appearing. I doubt he would ever consider not appearing, at least for Vince at the time. Andre had to know this would be a swan song even though it was a few years before his passing.

I think a good match would be Orndorff and Bundy versus Hillbilly and Bruno. It's pretty much a makeshift match but a lot of Bruno matches at the time were makeshift tag matches and both were still active employees. WM III is also my all time favorite show. I became a fan around WM VI so I like that a lot especially with a lot more colorful gimmicks but WM III is THE PPV of all time. WWE can do stadium mania after stadium mania but it's not about the card anymore. It's not about the buildup or the quality of the show or characters it's about the fans being able to say "I attended a Wrestlemania." The characters, storylines and overall matches or main event don't bring the fans and that's what WM III was all about, bringing in fans who wanted to see Hogan/Andre or maybe a few undercard matches like Savage/Steamboat or Piper/Adonis or maybe all of the characters in general. But with WM in the infancy, fans weren't going just go be able to say they attended a Wreslemania and that's what makes the early mania's so special, especially the ones with huge crowds.

Lastly, to put over how popular the Hogan/Orndorff feud was, I think the Big Event had a pretty crappy undercard. It's one of my favorite shows but this literally was a house show and you can tell by the wrestlers they used. They didn't have Macho, Tito, Bob Orton, Hart Foundation, Sheik and Volkoff or Bulldogs but rather Dick Slater, Mike Sharpe, Ted Arcidi, past their prime Tony Garea and Pedro Morales, pre Islanders Haku and Jimmy Jack Funk all of whom were guys at the time that probably wouldn't have made a PPV otherwise if not for a battle royal or survivor series.