31 Manias in 31 Days: Rewriting Wrestlemania VI

[LODemolition]

In today's installment of my "Rewriting WrestleMania" series, we visit the event from 1990 dubbed "The Ultimate Challenge." It's WrestleMania 6 from the Toronto Skydome, the first and only location outside of the United States to host the grandaddy of 'em all. The main event was catastrophic. WWF Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior, title for title. Obviously the main event I wouldn't touch, but the same can't be said for much of the rest of this card. Let's take a look at the results.

April 1, 1990
Skydome (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

"The Model" Rick Martel def. Koko B. Ware

World Tag Team Championship Match:

Demolition def. Colossal Connection w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan to become new champions

Earthquake w/ Jimmy Hart def. Hercules

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake def. Mr. Perfect w/ The Genius

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs. Bad News Brown went to a no contest

The Hart Foundation def. The Bolsheviks

The Barbarian w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan def. Tito Santana

Mixed Tag Team Match:

Dusty Rhodes & Saphire w/ Elizabeth def. Randy "Macho King" Savage & Queen Sherri

The Orient Express w/ Mr. Fuji def. The Rockers by count-out

Hacksaw Jim Duggan def. Dino Bravo w/ Earthquake

Million Dollar Championship Match:

"Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase w/ Virgil def. Jake "The Snake" Roberts by count-out

Big Boss Man def. Akeem w/ Slick

"Ravishing" Rick Rude w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan def. "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka

Main Event - Title vs. Title Match:

Ultimate Warrior def. Hulk Hogan to retain Intercontinental Championship and become new WWE Champion


*Rewriting WrestleMania VI*

1. Big Bossman def. Akeem w/ Slick

This is one of the few undercard matches I'd have kept the same. Made complete sense as they were former tag partners in The Twin Towers. Bossman gets the win as the breakout member with a big face push.

2. Bad News Brown def. Hercules

Piper and Bad News was a mess. Absolutely nothing came of that feud, and the match didn't even have a decisive finish. Keep Bad News somewhat relevant here with a win, even if it is only over Hercules.

3. "Ravishing" Rick Rude w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan def. Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

Having Beefcake go over Mr. Perfect (clean nonetheless) made no sense to me, especially when Perfect would go on to be the new IC Champ just a month later. I'd pair Brutus up with Rude here and give Rude the win. He was challenging for the WWF Title at SummerSlam.

4. Earthquake w/ Jimmy Hart def. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan

Just another slight change I'd make to give the pairings some more logic.

5. WWF Tag Team Championship: Hart Foundation (c) def. The Rockers

Now hear me out. I love Demolition as much as anyone, but I think this year should have been someone else's turn to be in the title match. These 2 teams put on some great matches together, including an untelevised Saturday Night's Main Event match where The Rockers won, but it was never aired due to the top rope breaking. I'd have had the Harts retain here, but in a very close matchup. The Rockers lose another heartbreaker.

6. Dusty Rhodes w/ Sapphire def. "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase w/ Virgil

I'd put these 2 in a match far before wasting Savage against Rhodes. Dusty Rhodes just didn't work in the WWF. Maybe it was the polka dots, but he just never fit. He can go over here, but not over someone like Savage. DiBiase was clearly on the decline here, so no real damage done.

7. Intercontinental Championship: Mr. Perfect (c) w/ The Genius def. Jake "The Snake" Roberts

Here's my thoughts. If Warrior was going to be stripped of the IC Title anyway after winning the WWF Championship, why not have him forfeit the title in advance during his "training" leading up to his WWF Title shot against Hogan? Kinda like the same way TNA makes the X-Division Champ forfeit the belt if they decide to go for the TNA Championship. The tournament takes place a month or so prior to Mania, and Perfect wins his first title defense here against Roberts. 14 matches and only 2 title defenses doesn't work for me.

8. Demolition def. The Colossal Connection w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan

I would've kept everything the same here except I would've given the titles to the Hart Foundation several months earlier. Andre's face turn still takes place just as it did here.

9. "Macho King" Randy Savage w/ "Sensational Queen" Sherri def. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper

These are 2 legends I would've always loved to see step into the ring together at Mania. This match could have stolen the show. Savage and Piper were 100% misused at this event in my opinion.

10. WWF Championship: Ultimate Warrior def. Hulk Hogan (c)

I wouldn't change a thing here except, as I said earlier, I wouldn't have Warrior walk in as IC Champ. I either would have had him forfeit the belt after being named #1 contender, or lose it to Mr. Perfect outright.


Feel free to post your comments and/or your rewritten WrestleMania VI.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

A few things:

• the main event was technically title v title - BOTH titles were on the line

• Bad News Brown was being protected, and being paired with other big names, as he was *supposedly* being primed for a run as #1 contender. Obviously we know he quit in October, mainly because this push kept getting pushed back, but assuming this was WWE's plan in early 1990, a match against Hercules wouldn't have meant nearly as much as a match versus Piper

• remember in an age of 4 ppvs a year, feuds took longer to develop and culminate. This is why Savage fought Rhodes here, and the Collossal Connection lost to Demolition, the very team they won the tag titles from in December.

• Perfect losing to Beefcake was a big deal, Perfect's first pinfall loss in WWE; again, it was done with the winner's future push in mind: Beefcake was due to face Perfect at Summerslam 1990 for the IC title, a match he would likely have won (given his replacement, Kerry Von Erich, DID win the title) but for his dreadful parasailing accident.

 

[LODemolition]

I'm aware both titles were on the line. I'm saying why go that route when they just stripped Warrior of the IC Title after Mania? Give it to Hennig ahead of time so he can defend it and we could see 3 title matches instead of 2.

I loved Demolition, but this was the 3rd Mania in a row they were in the tag title match. I think someone else deserved the spot this time around.

 

[MrTDG]

Many of these matches on paper look a lot better than what was booked, but you have to remember the feuds that existed at the time. To book Jake Roberts against anyone but Ted DiBiase at WrestleMania 6 wouldn't make much sense. In the case of the title verses title match, you make sense in wanting to give the IC title to Perfect earlier, but the champion vs. champion/title for title was one of the selling points of WrestleMania 6. To have the Warrior lose to Perfect takes some of the sizzle out of the main event, don't you think?

I do think Dusty Rhodes as a character worked in the WWF, but I am also well aware of who Dusty Rhodes could be. If someone had no clue who Rhodes was before the WWF, then the polka dot character is a great mid-card face. To know the real American Dream, you're think wtf? But once again, he was in a full fledged feud with Savage at the time. However, I'm ok with scrapping that and running with a Piper match. That would've been tremendously entertaining. I wouldn't book the Dream against the Million Dollar Man however because of the feud about the kick off with DiBiase by the end of the summer. Keep those two apart until it officially begins. The only issue is, you can't leave Rhodes off of the card and there really aren't any heels that would make sense for him to face at the time (without hurting their push) and have Rhodes win.

Having Earthquake go over Duggan is alright with me. I'd keep the Demos in the title match with the Colossal Connection. They were still pretty big at the time (remember the pop when they came out and ultimately won?) and the feud later on with the Hart Foundation led to that great 2 out of 3 falls match at SummerSlam. I think the Harts/Bolsheviks match served its purpose in that it kept the Harts name out there. I don't think having Brutus lose a WrestleMania match is reasonable because I do believe he was being set up for an IC title run. So he stays in his match with Perfect and goes over.

 

[MMK]

First, I would have had Warrior win the Royal Rumble and be named the #1 contender for the WWF title. But in order for him to compete for the WWF title he would have to vacate the Intercontinental Title. That way an 8 man tournament could be held at Mania to crown a new IC Champion.

MY WRESTLEMANIA 6
1.The Rockers vs The Hart Foundation
These two teams met on SNME a few weeks after Mania to determine the new #1 contenders, so why not just hold the match at Mania instead? This ppv was sorely lacking in at least one great technical wrestling match. The story of Shawn vs Bret should have begun at WM 6. We have a face vs face main event, why not a face vs face tag team opener. Harts get the win in Canada.

INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE TOURNAMENT: FIRST ROUND
2.The Model" Rick Martel def Tito Santana
(This rivalry began at last years Wrestlemania but never got a ppv payoff)
3.Jake The Snake Roberts def Ted Dibiase
(Another rivalry that began at the previous years Mania. Only thing I'd change about this match is that it takes place in the tournament instead of being for the rather silly Milliion Dollar Title)
4. Mr.Perfect def Dusty Rhodes
(I like this pairing. Maybe its just that they're both such polar opposites in terms of personality and physique.)
5.Rowdy Roddy Piper def Rick Rude w/Heenan
(This feud started at Summerslam and deserved to go to Mania as opposed to the terrible Bad News/Piper feud we were subjected to. Not to mention that Rude was left with nothing to do at this event)

6. 18 Man Battle Royal
Earthquake, Big Bossman, Akeem, Hercules, Hacksaw, Dino Bravo, Superfly, Honkytonk, Greg Valentine, Luke, Butch, Sato, Tanaka, Zhukoff, Volkoff, Barbarian, Koko BWare, Bad News Brown
(Bossman eliminating Akeem is sufficient enough of a finish to their lackluster feud. Fans really werent behind Bossman just yet and Akeem already had one foot out the door. Throw them in a battle royal won by The Canadian Earthquake. This win makes Quake look like a bigger threat as opposed to just beating Hercules)

7.STEEL CAGE MATCH
Macho King w/ The Genius & Sherri vs Brutus Beefcake w/Elizabeth
(I never cared for the Mr.Perfect/Genius pairing. I always felt Randy and Lanny would have made a better tandom. They don't even have to acknowledge that they're brothers. Brutus still fights the Genius at Royal Rumble but instead of Perfect coming to Lanny Poffo's aid it would be his brother Randy. The Genius character would have fit right in with The Macho King and Queen Sherri. I also like the pairing of Elizabeth with Brutus, perhaps even have her wearing a tattered dress to match Brutus' shredded clothing style.
The Finish: Sherri tries to climb the cage to interfere only to have Liz pull her down, ripping her skirt off in the process. Genius enters the cage and attacks Brutus, allowing Savage to escape over the side. Savage and Sherri take off like bandits, leaving Genius trapped in the cage alone with Beefcake who puts him to sleep while Elizabeth cuts off all his hair.)

INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE TOURNAMENT: ROUND 2
8. Jake The Snake Roberts def Rick The Model Martel
(Post match, a poor sport Martel blinds Jake with his arrogance spray leaving Jake unable to compete in the next round. This begins Jake's blinded storyline and writes him off TV until his return at Summerslam where he could have faced Martel)

9.INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE TOURNAMENT: FINALS
Mr.Perfect def Rowdy Roddy Piper
(With Jake unable to continue, this match now becomes the de facto final. After Piper defeated Rude earlier in the night, Heenan returns for revenge, aligning himself with Hennig and helping him win the IC Title. But just as it looks like everything is going according to plan for Heenan.....)

WWF TAG TEAM TITLES
10. Demolition def Colossal Connection w.Heenan
(The only thing about this match that I would have changed would have been that Demolition should have entered as champions. After they beat The Brain Busters in October 89, they never should have lost the titles. Andre and Haku were too new of a team to deserve a title shot so soon. I would have had them bulldoze through every face team leading up to Mania where they would challenge Demolition. The Andre/Heenan split of course remains in tact after the match. Heenan's night of celebration comes to a crashing end.

WWF CHAMPIONSHIP
11. Ultimate Warrior def. Hulk Hogan
Nothing to change here other than taking the IC title out of the picture as the original poster also suggested. There was no way Hogan would ever lower himself to being IC Champion, so having this be title for title took a lot of the suspense out of this match as it was clear to me Warrior was going to win. I think it would have been more suspenseful if it had just been for the WWF title alone. Other than that, nothing else to rewrite about this classic.

 

[rbv13]

No way you take the strap off Warrior before WM. A large part of the appeal was Champ vs. Champ. The two top acts in the promotion each sporting the "most prestigious" championships in the world. The title vs.title device hyped WMVI as the biggest main event of all time.

 

[daddyJ_t]

not to mention if he dropped the ic title before wm, it would be like saying oh he is gonna win the winged eagle. andres baby face had to happy involving the titles cause them droppping to demolition was what set heenan off in the first place. in theory some of these are decent but the big matches? terrible booking

 

[MMK]

not to mention if he dropped the ic title before wm, it would be like saying oh he is gonna win the winged eagle. andres baby face had to happy involving the titles cause them droppping to demolition was what set heenan off in the first place. in theory some of these are decent but the big matches? terrible booking

Why so nasty?

No matter which way you book it it was predictible that Warrior was going to win. If he drops the IC title going in to Mania, as I agree he should have, it's no more predictible than if he keeps it. Because we all know there's no way Hogan is lowering himself to being IC champ. ANY TIME there's been a title for title match, the guy with the lower ranking title always wins.

So his idea really wasn't "terrible" booking. It was an alternate path, but ultimately ends up at the same destination. I would have had Warrior win the Rumble and become the #1 contender, thus no longer needing the IC title and allowing him to vacate it so a tournament could be held at Mania 6 and won by Mr.Perfect.

I think there would have been more drama with just the one title on the line. Plus, putting both titles on the line made the ppv incredibly top heavy. The midcard were left with nothing to do. Not a good idea for a 3 hour show. One of the reasons why the crowd started doing the wave halfway through the event was because there wasnt much going on in the ring. It was a one match card. A match that still would have been huge without the IC title.

 

[willross]

Keep the tag titles on Colossal because Demoliton being tag champs played huge into their summer feuds with Harts and LOD. The desperation to keep the belts led to Crush, thus heel turn, rejoining Fuji. Could do Rockers vs Harts and play it up like the winner would certainly be #1 contenders.

Jake vs DiBiase was a HUGE FEUD as was Savage vs Rhodes (how old are you? I feel you weren't watching back then to know how big they were).

The Warrior/Hogan match being title for title added to it being the biggest match of all time at that time and also left the door open that Hogan wanted the IC Title which did that belt wonders.

I wouldn't have minded doing Martel vs Santana, Perfect vs Piper, and Bad News vs Beefcake in a rebook of the show but the rest of the card was pretty damn solid and played into some pretty great angles at that time.

 

[willross]

Why so nasty?

No matter which way you book it it was predictible that Warrior was going to win. If he drops the IC title going in to Mania, as I agree he should have, it's no more predictible than if he keeps it. Because we all know there's no way Hogan is lowering himself to being IC champ. ANY TIME there's been a title for title match, the guy with the lower ranking title always wins.

So his idea really wasn't "terrible" booking. It was an alternate path, but ultimately ends up at the same destination. I would have had Warrior win the Rumble and become the #1 contender, thus no longer needing the IC title and allowing him to vacate it so a tournament could be held at Mania 6 and won by Mr.Perfect.

I think there would have been more drama with just the one title on the line. Plus, putting both titles on the line made the ppv incredibly top heavy. The midcard were left with nothing to do. Not a good idea for a 3 hour show. One of the reasons why the crowd started doing the wave halfway through the event was because there wasnt much going on in the ring. It was a one match card. A match that still would have been huge without the IC title.

Hogan wouldn't have been lowering himself to becoming IC Champ. The IC Title was no joke back then and also he still would have been WWF Champion. If anything, your theory of basically Hogan's ego of lowering himself is ass backwards.

The business was also not nearly as exposed and there was no internet to go on and read about how predictable something would be. It was the biggest WM main event in history up until WM17 when Rock vs Austin II happened so why change what worked so amazingly well.

 

[MrTDG]

Keep the tag titles on Colossal because Demoliton being tag champs played huge into their summer feuds with Harts and LOD. The desperation to keep the belts led to Crush, thus heel turn, rejoining Fuji. Could do Rockers vs Harts and play it up like the winner would certainly be #1 contenders.

Jake vs DiBiase was a HUGE FEUD as was Savage vs Rhodes (how old are you? I feel you weren't watching back then to know how big they were).

The Warrior/Hogan match being title for title added to it being the biggest match of all time at that time and also left the door open that Hogan wanted the IC Title which did that belt wonders.

I wouldn't have minded doing Martel vs Santana, Perfect vs Piper, and Bad News vs Beefcake in a rebook of the show but the rest of the card was pretty damn solid and played into some pretty great angles at that time.

A lot of these rebooking WrestleMania threads have me wondering were people really watching the product. On paper, some of these matches are GREAT, but they totally go against the actual story lines at the time.

 

[roipdh123]

WrestleMania VI:

1.Tag Team Match
Demolition def. The Colossal Connection.

2.Singles Match
Rick Martel def. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

3/Singles Match
Big Boss Man def. Akeem.

4.WWF Tag Team Championship Match
The Rockers def. The Hart Foundation {C}.

5.Singles Match
Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake def. "Ravishing " Rick Rude

6.Million Dollar Championship Match
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase {C} def. Jake "The Snake" Roberts via a Count Out.

7.Singles Match
Bad News Brown def. "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka.

8.Tournament Finals for the Vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship
Mr. Perfect def. "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes. {*}

9.Semi-Main Event: Singles Match
"The Macho Man" Randy Savage def. Roddy "Rowdy" Piper.

10.The Main Event: WWF Championship Match
The Ultimate Warrior def. Hulk Hogan {C}.

{*} - the eight man tournament was held in the month of programming before WM and it the finals match was announced about 2 weeks before the event after the semi final matches ended.
Semi Final matches:
Mr. Perfect def. Jim Duggan
Dusty Rhodes def. Rick Rude via a Count Out

 

[MMK]

Hogan wouldn't have been lowering himself to becoming IC Champ. The IC Title was no joke back then and also he still would have been WWF Champion. If anything, your theory of basically Hogan's ego of lowering himself is ass backwards.

The business was also not nearly as exposed and there was no internet to go on and read about how predictable something would be. It was the biggest WM main event in history up until WM17 when Rock vs Austin II happened so why change what worked so amazingly well.

Well the thread is entitled re-writing Wrestlemania 6. Not replaying. So changing it around is the whole point, to see what else could have been done.

I still maintain that having only the WWF title at stake would have made for a better event. If for no other reason than the IC title could be up for grabs in another match. This was the epitomy of a one match PPV. And while the one match was great, the rest of the show suffered. Hence why fans started doing the wave midway through.

I say a tournament for the vacant IC title would have given the show a better supporting undercard.

And even as a kid I knew there was no way Hulk Hogan would win the IC title. It's the champion of the midcard. Hogan only works main events. If he wins the IC title, then what was he going to do with it? Defend both? Wrestle twice a night? He would have to vacate it. Which would defeat the purpose of winning it.
For me title for title only works if the two titles are of equal value. Otherwise why would the guy holding the title that has more value want the title of lesser value?
If it was just face vs face with one title at stake it would have made the match a bit more unpredictable.