Warrior Hogan WM 6

[Killercam]

Did Warrior do the best job to build up a Mania main event ever? I'm going to say yes and list a few reasons why
1. Entering 1990 Hogan was as big as any wrestler of all-time at any given moment. Warrior had been gaining steam for a while but was pretty much thrust in the main event seen. WM 6 was the first WM without a lengthy (year long type) build up to promote the main event.
2. Anyone who has not seen the Warrior promos leading up to this WM needs to go watch them. Warriors promos sold this Mania. At this time nobody believed Hogan could/should loose and there were no opponents really left vat the time to challenge Hulk. Warriors promos made the casual fan a believer and as in my case a fan of the challenger
3. Hogan was the alpha of wrestling and there was absolutely no stopping him and with no Internet the casual fan had no idea he was planning to take some time off to pursue Hollywood. At least the Warrior intrigued enough people to sell-out the SkyDome and break a ppv record at the time
4. He was the freaking I.C. Champion. I know that doesn't mean a lot these days but back then it was absolutey unheard of for the IC Champ to challenge the big dog
5. He was a baby-face. I don't recall Hogan ever feuding with another face from 85-90.
6. The crowd was behind him at Mania. This should prove my point. The fact the crowd was behind him could have something to do with them being worn out on Hogan but I believe it had more to do with Warrior igniting a new generation of fans. Keep in mind at the time he beat Hogan at Mania it was at the time and still may be the most shocking moment in WM history.

 

[Honkey_Kong]

Killer, I was at WM6. Let me tell you Hogan got just as much of a pop as The Warrior.

The Warrior wasn't an unknown by then. And as you stated, the IC belt was a big deal back then. Before Warrior's reign it was just under the WWF championship in value. In fact they constantly told us the IC champ was the real #1 contender to the WWF Championship, it's just their title commitments interfered from challenging constantly. But when Warrior regained that belt, he was on fire. I mean, he squashed Hogan's big adversary in WM3, Andre!

By the Royal Rumble, the IC title was on par with the WWF championship. It was another World title in value. Remember, WM6 wasn't just Warrior challenging Hogan for the WWF Championship, Hogan was challenging for the Intercontinental Championship.

These were two superstars that were both unbeatable (cleanly). I mean what was Warrior going to do when Hogan "hulked" up after taking the beating Warrior was going to dish and vise versa?

As far as Warrior's promos go, they were so intense leading up to WM. I mean they were totally insane and didn't make sense, but who didn't get caught up in them?

The buildup for this match was actually so great, that after it peaked at WM, what else could Warrior do to top it? I think it actually hurt his career and actual lasting power as a champion.

 

[GameOver]

I agree it was one of the best of that era leadups, best promo's from both sides to a mania main event and the magnitude of the two combatants plus add that it was title for title.

personally looking back i think the match itself was awfull overall, but it still has that huge feel. The greatest entertainment machine of the WWF going against at that time the rising dominant force in entertainment, love him or hate him Warrior was captivating and Hogan was the man regardless, and to top it off as Jessie said at the end

Least it wasn't a Don King, Mike Tyson type affair, the man lost it and he went out like a true champion. Well other then the camera panned to Hogan leaving instead of the new champion celebrating

Also that match was one of few better matches on the card, the other being Demolition vs Collosal Connection. the rest of the event was pretty lackluster. even Macho Man was in a dud match against Dusty Rhodes. and how far he fell, went from the face of the company to jobbing to a guy and a dog in polka dots, but atleast it did set the wheels in motion for Macho Man and Elizabeth reuniting 1 year later.

 

[I Heart Cena]

1)There were other WMs that didn't have a lengthy (year long type) build up to promote the main event. So you're wrong right there.

6)Only the minority of the crowd was behind him. It was like 75-25 in favor of Hogan. Maybe even 80-20. Hogan was still crazy over. VKM has since regretted giving UW the title, and would preferred to have kept it on the Hulk.

To answer your Q... He didn't do the best job to build up a Mania main event ever. Rock did better in 99. SCSA and DX did better in 98. Both Rock and SCSA did better in 01.

UW did well, don't get me wrong. The best he did was to invoke the gods into his feuds. He would tell us about his conversations with them. And then during his matches, we can see him look to the heavens to talk with the gods. Good stuff.

 

[lil bitch Kid]

4) it was actually fairly regular on he house show circuit for the IC champ to fight Hogan. Savage, Honky, and Perfect all, as IC champ, all had runs with Hogan.

 

[HBsam31]

The crowd was about 50/50 in this match, but Warrior was the first guy to come around that really took fans away from Hulk Hogan. I saw it even in my friends. We were all lifelong Hogan fans, and Warrior took most of my wrestling friends to his side. That to me is what really made this match special. It was the face vs face at Mania that we hadn't seen before. The IC belt was hot as well, and it's importance was right there with the WWF title. The match itself was not a five star classic, but that did not take away from its greatness. They through everything at each other, and both kept coming. Still a rabid Hogan fan I was in shock when he lost. I also agree that the Warrior's promos were intense leading to Mania. Insane, but intense none the less. Warrior did a great job with the program, and still one of my favorite matches ever even though my hero at the time came up on the losing end.

 

[sanefan_har]

I agree. I loved the buildup to the match. The Tag team match Hogan/UW v Perfect/Genius, UW saving Hogan from the earthquake among others also showed how much they wanted to take each other out without having the other even slightly physically worn down before their match at Wrestlemania. And who could forget the " HO Kogan" promos from the warrior? Just awesome. I agree the match wasn't so great, but it was good enough for the top 2 superheroes at the time.

 

[Wald]

I loved the build to this feud. I remember after Warrior defeated Rick Rude at Summerslam 89 he just took off. I mean he was over when he held the IC belt the first time, but winning it back brought him to a whole new level.

That back to back moment with Hogan at the Rumble is one of the most iconic moments in wrestling history too, both sold it well going into the event and as far as the match goes, no-one expected a classic and they delivered on a main event type showdown.

Great feud

 

[Waylon Mercy]

Probably the greatest thing about this match, and the lead-up and hype around it, was that it inspired a young fan in attendance to strive towards becoming a professional wrestler. That youngster, of course, was Adam Copeland. You think you know him? Absolutely, Edge Heads!

 

[FlairFan2003]

the build was great yes, UW promo wise had little to do with hit. He did the same, non sensical rants all the time, he had little if any memorable catch phrases, simply put UW was a great example of VKM's ability to make average guys stars. The real genius here is McMahon, despite all the limitations UW had Vince still succeeded in making him a credible main eventer who for a brief time was way over with fans. The great work in the build to this match was UW's push leading into it and that goes to Vince as well as Rick Rude.

As for the comment about it being "unheard of" for the IC champ to challenge the World champ as many other posters have pointed out that is patently false. Savage had a lengthy feud, in part due to his status as IC champ vs Hogan in 86. Henning & Honky Tonk both had runs vs Hogan during their IC title runs. Shawn Michaels headlined Survivor Series as IC champ vs World Champ Brett Hart in 92. If one was a heel and the other was a fan fave then it was actually quite normal for the IC champ to get title shots vs World Champ. They just didnt give World title matches to face IC champs like Hart & Santana during Hogan's run. It was the same back then in the NWA when US champs like Magnum TA & Nikita Kolloff got title shots vs World Champ Ric Flair. Heel US champs like Tully Blanchard and Barry Whyndam did not. Once Flair turned face and Lex Luger turned heel his status as US champ got him title shots all through out the fall of 1989.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

I remember renting this video over and over just to see the Hogan/Warrior match. You have to keep in mind back than we didn't get to see the top guys wrestle all that much. WWE TV back than was used more as a tool to continue stories. As such, we wouldn't see Hogan and Warrior fight every week like we do with Punk and Cena, or even like we did with Rock and Austin back in the Attitude Era, or even Bret and Shawn before them. So not only was it special to see them wrestle, but wrestling each other just made it that much more insaine.

As many have said the match itself is nothing to go crazy about, but the crowd was amp and it just felt huge, so thus it is and was huge. I was a little too young back when Hogan came to prominence in the WWE during his first run, but I was the perfect age when Warrior did the same so even though I liked Hogan, I was Warrior all the way. Kicking out of the leg drop was epic.

 

[duxdelrio]

I was there live to see this match, and I can honestly say that the crowd went crazy when Warrior won the strap. I even popped/marked out myself. It wasn't because I was a Warrior fan, it was just nice to see a changing of the guard.
While Warriors promos were somewhat nonsensical leading up to the event, you could see a change in him that made you believe he could actually beat Hogan.

 

[thebarber]

The crowd was about 50/50 in this match, but Warrior was the first guy to come around that really took fans away from Hulk Hogan.

Thsi is incorrect. Jake Roberts had his major fued with Hogan in 1986 scrapped after their first confrontation on the Snake Pit. The crowd were going nuts for Roberts and actually booed Hogan. Vince was in attendance this night and when Snake came back stage, Vince told him that he could not go against what the fans wanted and they spoke in volumes. And Vince was not doing face vs face feuds in those days. So Vince turned Roberts face instead and Hulk resumed his feud with Paul Orndorff, leading to their famous steel cage match January 1987. Hogan vs Roberts was supposed to be the house show circuit main event leading to Mania 3.

"Around this time, the WWF was trying to get a feud between Roberts and Hulk Hogan going, but after Roberts DDT'd Hogan during an episode of The Snake Pit, too many people started chanting for the DDT rather than for Hogan, forcing them to step away from this like it never happened." source Wikipedia, Jake Roberts page

 

[OnceMeansOnce]

Loved the build-up, loved the match, loved the ending! Warrior takes a lot of crap these days for whatever reason but any fan who watched WWF in those days can tell you we were all hooked on the Warrior character! Amazing unique character! He was on fire during that period. and thats why WM6 was such a huge success!

 

[HBsam31]

The crowd was about 50/50 in this match, but Warrior was the first guy to come around that really took fans away from Hulk Hogan.

Thsi is incorrect. Jake Roberts had his major fued with Hogan in 1986 scrapped after their first confrontation on the Snake Pit. The crowd were going nuts for Roberts and actually booed Hogan. Vince was in attendance this night and when Snake came back stage, Vince told him that he could not go against what the fans wanted and they spoke in volumes. And Vince was not doing face vs face feuds in those days. So Vince turned Roberts face instead and Hulk resumed his feud with Paul Orndorff, leading to their famous steel cage match January 1987. Hogan vs Roberts was supposed to be the house show circuit main event leading to Mania 3.

"Around this time, the WWF was trying to get a feud between Roberts and Hulk Hogan going, but after Roberts DDT'd Hogan during an episode of The Snake Pit, too many people started chanting for the DDT rather than for Hogan, forcing them to step away from this like it never happened." source Wikipedia, Jake Roberts page

Yeah you are right. Now that you say that I remember seeing that on the Jake Roberts DVD. I guess the Warrior was the first person that Vince really let take fans away from Hogan in the long haul.

 

[lowandmighty]

Its a lot of statements that aren't all true is all I can say about this post.

Contrary to what the poster thinks about everyone thinking Hogans wouldn't lose, all my friends and I at the time knew that Warrior was going to win it was just so obvious. Hogan throwing him out of the rumble, a new decade and a new champion. It was just so obvious. However we did wonder what the warrior would do after that. It was a gamble to say the least and it didn't pay off. Warriors fans would have stayed fans of wwe even if he's lost but sadly because Hogan lost they lost half their fans. They actually had to end up making Hogan champion again the next year and wave American flags everywhere just to stay on top.

Warrior was no where near the outright favourite of the match either and quite frankly the match itself sucked to the max. I actually found the whole thing quite forgettable.
It wasn't shocking. Maybe shockingly predictable.