WWE WrestleMania VI

WWE WrestleMania VI
April 1, 1990
Sky Dome
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

This is a classic case of a show that isn’t very good from a workrate perspective (though it has its moments) but is just fun top to bottom and the electric atmosphere gives the show an epic feel to it. It is extremely well booked as most of these shows from the late 80’s are, and of course it has one of the best main events you could possibly ask for.

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura

Koko B. Ware vs. “The Model” Rick Martel
Koko is always good for some really good fun offense and a great JTTS. Martel was in the middle of being re-branded as a heel with his “Arrogance” cologne. I always liked that gimmick and it would turn out to be very instrumental in Martel’s best feud with Jake Roberts later in 1990. This is pretty much what you would expect as Martel wins by submission with the Boston Crab. *1/2

WWE Tag Team Championship
Colossal Connection (champions) (Andre the Giant and Haku) w/ Bobby “The Brain” Heenan vs. Demolition (Ax and Smash)
Rather historic match here, as Demolition regains their tag titles for a third time cementing themselves as one of the greatest tag teams of all time. It’s a true mark out moment when they finally beat Andre and Haku, and really, this is the pinnacle of Demolition. It is also historic because it is Andre’s chance to ride off in the sunset, as he gets revenge on Haku and Heenan after the match and rides away on the ring cart to a standing ovation. It was a fitting way to send the Giant off and one of my personal favorite WrestleMania moments. The match is as good as you would expect given the limitations of all involved. **

Earthquake w/ “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart vs. Hercules
This served its purpose as Earthquake was in his mega push towards a main event feud with Hulk Hogan so the match was a formality and a glorified squash match. Hercules was about to turn heel not long after this and team up with Paul Roma as the Team Power and Glory. Earthquake hits his vertical splash a couple times for effect and Hercules sells the injury. Earthquake was a monster. *3/4

Mr. Perfect w/ Genius vs. Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake
As we saw at the Royal Rumble these two had issues, and this was the culmination. This would be as far as I know, Perfects first on-screen loss as Beefcake wins after the slingshot into the post (one of my favorite spots). Beefcake was pretty much at his peak as a worker, and these two were supposed to feud into SummerSlam before Beefcake’s tragic parasailing accident in July, that pretty much ended his WWE career. After the match the Genius gets another haircut. ***

Rowdy Roddy Piper vs. Bad News Brown
This would be an extension of their feud that began at the Royal Rumble where they eliminated each other and brawled to the back. Piper comes out in a very disturbing way as he has half of his body painted black, and nothing on the other side which illustrates the needless racial tension in this match. Speaking of the match, it’s one of the worst in WrestleMania history as they brawl to a double dq. DUD

Hart Foundation (Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart) vs. Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov)
Total squash here as the Harts win in less than a minute. DUD

Tito Santana vs. Barbarian w/ Bobby Heenan
Barbarian was recently acquired by Heenan, and Santana was pretty much a JTTS at this point in his WWE career and Barbarian was just starting his so the outcome here wasn’t in doubt. Tito is a true pro and can usually get something out anyone. This match is okay but nothing outstanding and pretty much just more filler on a show with not much in the way of great matches. Barbarian hits his always awesome clothesline from the top rope which Santana sells like death. *

Mixed Tag Team Match
“Macho King” Randy Savage and “Sensational Queen” Sherri vs. “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire w/ Miss Elizabeth
Good booking here as the addition of Sherri and Sapphire was a nice added attraction to the match. Sapphire was kept to a minimum here, as the other 3 were polished pros. Elizabeth comes into play by pushing Sherri into a schoolboy roll up by sapphire for the 3 count. Match wasn’t terrible. **

Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka) w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty)
Disappointing match here between two teams that would have great matches together. This one is ok but not near as good as they would have. Fuji hits Jannetty in the face with salt for a lame count out win. Very disappointing on the Shawn Michaels scale. **1/4

Dino Bravo w/ Jimmy Hart and Earthquake vs. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan
Oddly enough these two had been feuding with each other for the better part of the last two years, but never really had a marquee (I say that sort of facetiously) Duggan comes out on the cart and starts chanting USA in Canada. You can almost see all of them rolling their eyes. This match is awful, but the payoff is Earthquake squashing Duggan further making him into the monster. Match is awful though. DUD

Million Dollar Championship
“Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase (champion) w/ Virgil vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Ahh, the days of long storylines that lasted longer than a few weeks. These two basically feuded from WrestleMania V to WrestleMania VI. Dibiase puts up his million dollar belt here and it’s a pretty good match. It’s severely clipped down on the coliseum video version of this, so you miss the Toronto crowd doing the wave (it was probably clipped because of that). As usual, Dibiase can never ever get a clean win, but here it makes sense because you don’t want one of your biggest baby faces to lose on the midcard, but at the same time you don’t want Dibiase to lose his belt (so why put it up to begin with). Dibiase wins by a cheap count out. After the match, Jake gets the DDT on Dibiase, but Virgil makes the save before Ted gets the Damien treatment. Jake hands out some money to the crowd at ringside, including Mary Tyler Moore. Good way to end a great feud. ***

Akeem w/ Slick vs. Big Bossman
Dibiase is still at ringside here and attacks the Bossman to escalate and put some heat on their feud during the spring of 1990. Bossman makes a quick baby face comeback and beats Akeem in a squash match as clearly the show is pressed for time. ¼*

“Superfly” Jimmy Snuka vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude w/ Bobby Heenan
Rude was about to re-start his program with the Ultimate Warrior after this so this was pretty much a formality. Rude gets the win in a virtual squash match. Comedian Steve Allen joined Jesse and Gorilla for commentary here in one of the un-funniest comedic appearances in WrestleMania history. This match was nothing. ¼*

Main Event
WWE Championship – WWE IC Championship
Hulk Hogan (WWE Champion) vs. Ultimate Warrior (IC Champion)
*Rated #25 on my Greatest WrestleMania Matches of All time list*
I started watching wrestling not long after this event when my mom finally gave in and let me watch it regularly. Before that I had be sneaky and watch shows here and there on Saturday mornings without her knowing. I also was out of town with just my dad during a Saturday Nights Main Event where Hogan and Warrior faced Genius and Mr. Perfect. I remember that was one of the events that led to the ultimate challenge here. The point is, this was my first time getting to see a lead up to a big match. They don’t get much bigger than this either. This might have been Hogan’s finest performance as a worker because he carried Warrior here as Warrior blew up about a quarter of the way through the match. Legend has it that Pat Patterson basically scripted this match move by move, and spot by spot. It worked out perfectly. It’s a back and forth contest that has you on the edge of your seat the whole way through, until finally Hogan jobs clean (extremely rare) and a new era is born as Warrior wins with the big splash. Hogan does the baby face thing in congratulating the new champion and presenting him with the belt in a great moment. ****

Final Analysis: Overall, the wrestling can be downright brutal at times on this show, but everything was booked perfectly from top to bottom here and the atmosphere with the sky dome crowd is terrific. The matches are bad at times, but it’s a show that you can sit through and not feel that underwhelmed by the lack of match quality, and the main event is required viewing for any wrestling fan. The aftermath of WrestleMania VI was also intriguing. They tried so hard to make the Ultimate Warrior into Hulk Hogan but it just wasn’t meant to be, and a lot of that had to do with Hogan himself. The fans weren’t quite ready for someone else yet, so even though Warrior was made to be Hogan’s equal, he needed to be made to be stronger if he was going to take the torch and run with it.