Wrestlemania 6: A Retrospective Look

[Dagger Dias]

In this thread we will be talking about Wrestlemania 6. It's the 6th entry of 29 in a Retrospective look back on all of the previous Wrestlemania events before the 30th Wrestlemania takes place in April. I'm submitting these one by one, to slowly observe all of the history behind the biggest PPV brand of them all.

Wrestlemania 6 took place on April 1st, 1990. The event was held at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 67,678 fans came to attend the show. Here are the results of Wrestlemania 6:



1. Rick Martel defeated Koko B. Ware in a singles match (03:51)

2. Demolition (Ax and Smash) defeated The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) (c) (with Bobby Heenan) in a tag team match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (09:30)

3. Earthquake (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Hercules in a singles match (04:52)

4. Brutus Beefcake defeated Mr. Perfect (with The Genius) in a singles match (07:48)

5. Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown fought to a double countout in a singles match (06:48)

6. The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov) in a tag team match (00:19)

7. The Barbarian (with Bobby Heenan) defeated Tito Santana in a singles match (04:33)

8. Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Randy Savage and Sensational Queen Sherri in a mixed tag team match (07:52)

9. The Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka) (with Mr. Fuji) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) by countout in a tag team match (07:38)

10. Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeated Dino Bravo (with Jimmy Hart and Earthquake) in a singles match (04:15)

11. Ted DiBiase (c) (with Virgil) defeated Jake Roberts by countout in a singles match for the Million Dollar Championship (11:50)

12. The Big Boss Man defeated Akeem (with Slick) in a singles match (01:49)

13. Ravishing Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan) defeated Jimmy Snuka in a singles match (03:59)

14. The Ultimate Warrior (as Intercontinental Champion) defeated Hulk Hogan (as WWF Champion) in a singles match to win the WWF Championship (22:51)



Now, here are some discussion questions concerning the show:


What was your favorite match on this show, and why did you like it the most? What about the worst match of this show, why did you like it the least?

If you could change a few things about Wrestlemania 6, what would it be and why?

You may only use wrestlers who were available at the roster at that time or make changes that could have realistically taken place in April 1990. Please keep in mind the situations going into the show such as who could actually have been pushed into a title match, or what songs existed back then if you wanted to change the show's theme music, and so forth.

You may only discuss Wrestlemania 6 in this thread. The other Wrestlemania events will be getting their own retrospective threads shortly, any posts regarding other events will be considered spam and you risk getting an infraction.

Discuss!

 

[The Brain]

WrestleMania VI was similar to WrestleMania V as both had 14 matches and half the matches had storylines and half was filler. The Skydome provided an awesome atmosphere for mania and this felt like a huge show. Manias 3-8 was the golden age of WrestleMania for me and here we were right in the middle of some great childhood memories.

My favorite match was once again the main event. Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior was a highly anticipated and unique match as the face vs. face match was very rare in the WWF at that time. The crowd was legit split in half and the energy was electric. I’ve heard some people say this match is boring but I can’t understand that thought at all. They must be conditioned to just hate Hogan and Warrior based on their IWC reputations. This match was brilliant. It was such a simply worked match and the crowd ate up every second of it. Hogan losing clean was shocking and him presenting the belt to Warrior was a special moment.

As usual for the early manias I don’t really have a least favorite match. All these matches delivered as expected. If I have to pick I guess I’ll go with Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Dino Bravo. This feud was long over by 1990 and even though this was filler I prefer something more fresh for mania. Also it was kind of weird for Duggan to come to the ring with the American flag and fight a Canadian wrestler in Toronto.

I’ve tried to think of way to change WM6 to make it a little better and my ideas mostly revolve around the filler matches. I mentioned in the WM5 thread that everyone in the filler matches was perfectly matched up with their opponent based on their position on the roster. That wasn’t the case for all the matches at WM6. I would have liked Rick Rude to have had a better opponent as he was way ahead of Jimmy Snuka at the time. Same goes for Rick Martel in relation to Koko B. Ware. I thought of different ways to juggle the card around to get these guys better opponents but I don’t know that I have the right solution. I was thinking maybe Rude could have wrestled Roddy Piper as that was one of the hottest feuds in 1989. The problem was the feud started before SummerSlam so stretching this feud to mania may have been a bit much. Ronnie Garvin and Red Rooster crossed my mind (sorry KB) but really neither of those guys would have been any better at all. I also thought maybe Rude vs. Bret Hart since the Hart Foundation spent a lot of 1989 in singles action. Then I remembered that the Harts had already challenged the winners of the tag title match so it made more sense for them to wrestle together at mania as they were entering the title mix again.

Speaking of the Hart Foundation I do have a change in mind for them. They wrestled The Bolsheviks and beat them in about 20 seconds. The Bolsheviks were clearly below the Harts but by 1990 the WWF was starting to get a little lower on tag teams compared to years past. Maybe they were booked to beat the Bolsheviks so quickly to look strong as they were about to challenge for the titles. I would have preferred to see them against The Powers of Pain. The Warlord and Barbarian had just recently split up. There was no ugly breakup or feud. Mr. Fuji simply sold the Warlord’s contract to Slick and The Barbarian’s to Bobby Heenan. This happened right before WM6 so it could have easily been postponed until after. The Powers of Pain would have made for better opponents for the Harts. This would have also freed up Tito Santana to go against either Rude or Martel. Martel would have probably been the more ideal opponent considering their history. They feuded throughout 1989 and even though the feud was over by mania I think this one could have been stretched out to go to mania. Sometimes there are two guys that can just renew a rivalry at any given time even years apart and that was the case with Santana and Martel.

One last thing, I would have changed the result of Brutus Beefcake vs. Mr. Perfect. Perfect should have won that match. He still had the perfect record and was about to win the vacant IC title after Warrior gave it up. There was no reason for Beefcake to end his streak at that time. Perfect could have gotten the win thanks to interference from the Genius and Beefcake still could have cut Genius’s hair the please the fans.

 

[Radical Canadian Goose]

This was my first ever wrestling event that I attended. As a 9 year old boy I was over the moon with excitement and really looking forward to see the Ultimate Warrior. The match between Hogan and Warrior was my favorite on the card. The action was great the crowd went wild and was clearly split in half and the right man won the belt. I actually enjoyed all the action that night. However, now that I have scene the event a couple of times on video, I have to say the Hart Foundation squash match was disappointing. I hate 19 second matches even if the team that you want to win comes out on top. All in all a good card, and one of my favorite childhood memories.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

WrestleMania 6 was about one thing: Hogan and Warrior, and justifiably so. The WWF was treading new ground for themselves with a face vs. face match, and you wondered how this was all going to end. I think there was a sense throughout that Hogan was going to take the loss here, but to me as a kid at that time, that wasn't totally obvious. The match showed how proper buildup, keeping the competitors apart, could create a heightened drama for what was really a pedestrian by the numbers match. But at the time, we ate this up and asked for seconds. The crowd was red hot for the match, and the ending was one of those memorable moments, what with Hogan shaking Warrior's hand, the slow exit from the ring, the pyrotechnics going off in the ring, etc.

Beyond that, the rest of the card was fairly bland. I think if I were going to change anything, I would've cut back on a couple of matches just to give some other matches a bit more time. Roberts and DiBiase had the second best match of the night, but I've seen them battle in other WWF videos at the time, and felt they had better wrestled matches. Demolition vs. The Colossal Connection was okay...but with Andre being so limited, only so much could've been done there. In my perfect world, The Brain Busters stuck around and defended the title against Demolition or The Harts (in a Summer Slam rematch). I had hoped that the Rockers and Orient Express would've been a more exciting match, but sadly Tanaka and Sato couldn't really provide many fireworks against Michaels and Janetty. Missed opportunity there for a much faster paced, exciting match.

It was also the return of my late 80s/early 90s pet peeve: Bad News Brown in a PPV. Result: Double Countout. Shocker.

I think another match that should've been on the card was Tito Santana Vs. Rick Martel. I don't know what was going on with Santana at the time, i.e. if he was hurt, but I always felt that their feud never received proper closure and deserved a solid stage like Summer Slam or WrestleMania. Perfect and Beefcake was decent, and I was okay with Perfect's loss since at the time he had already been pinned several times by Hogan in house shows, and I believe they had dropped the Perfect Record schtick.

In the end, a fantastic main event boosted a fairly average WrestleMania to something memorable and special.

 

[Big Sexy]

8. Cody Rhodes and Sapphire (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Randy Savage and Sensational Queen Sherri in a mixed tag team match (07:52)

It was quite the shock to see 4 year old Cody Rhodes was on this card. I've seen Wrestlemania 6 quite a few times and can't believe I missed it! (obviously you meant Dusty)

Anyways, Mania 6 was the definition of a one match show, but what a match it was. Hogan vs Warrior was one of the most anticipated title matches in WWE history and it did not disappoint. Warrior was always my favorite wrestler as a young child so renting this ppv from Blockbuster and watching him win the title is one of my early favorite childhood memories from watching wrestling and the match has certainly stood the test of time.

There were a couple other good moments as well. Demolition winning the tag titles back from the Colossal Connection and the subsequent Andre the Giant face turn stands out. Another memorable moment was Roddy Piper coming out with his body painted half black in his grudge match against Bad News Brown.

 

[Dagger Dias]

It was quite the shock to see 4 year old Cody Rhodes was on this card. I've seen Wrestlemania 6 quite a few times and can't believe I missed it! (obviously you meant Dusty)

Oops. Yeah I did. Thanks for catching that.

I agree with you on it being a 1 match show too. My favorite match, and what a good number of people remember Wrestlemania 6 for, was the iconic main event between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. What a moment! I do not have a least favorite match, as nothing really stood out as terrible. I cannot think of any major changes I would want to make either. It's a good show, but to me all the other matches did get overshadowed by the main event.

 

[MCMG]

This Wrestlemania is all about the main event. I watched it a few months ago and you cannot be in awe. It really was an awesome match and perhaps what pro wrestling, or Wrestlemania, should be. Two superhero-esque guys battling to be the champ.

As for the whole show: there were perhaps too many matches. Bret Hart wrestled a match in Canada lasting 19 seconds: seems a little crazy. There was a lot of talent: Rhodes, Savage, Rude, Piper, Dibiase, Roberts, Henning and overall could have been a show of higher quality.

It's all about the main-event and it delivered. Also, pretty cool that Edge is in the audience and this event helped to inspire him.

 

[LODemolition]

Other than the main event, this is a pretty forgettable Mania for me. Piper coming out with half of his body painted black and Demolition regaining the tag team title are the only other moments that even ring a bell. Savage should've wrestled Rhodes 1 on 1, for starters. It was just an overall weak card that was really only saved by crowning the Warrior new champion at the end. This was 1 of only 2 times Hogan lost clean at WM, the 2nd time coming at the hands of The Rock at WM18.

In hindsight, here's some changes I'd make to this card to make it a bit stronger:

Piper vs Mr. Perfect
Hart Foundation vs The Rockers
Beefcake vs Rude

 

[Greek_God666]

Would anyone else have put Honky Tonk Man & Greg Valentine vs The Bushwhackers as a match on it, or would they have kept it the same, as Rhythm & Blues singing Honka Honka Honka Honky Love and have the Bushwhackers attack them after they finished.

 

[deadman talking]

i love this ppv. cause it was the first i was prepared for the whole time through. all the others i just happened to be there. our family/friends took turns pay for each ppv. it was our turn, and i was ready. the koko match i covld live without. demolition getting their titles made my day. bvt andre bitch slapping heenan was the bert. Andre was back baby. Now to the task at hand. The Ultimate Warrior vs Hulk Hogan was the best on the bill. as a kid i loved it. i also would have loved to see the rockers vs the hart foundation for the number 1 contdenders. would also have liked to see piper v perfect, dibiase vs tito and rude vr roberts. wow. still hogan vs warrior wovld have stolf the show/money

 

[oneofakind318]

Someone else mentioned the Brain Busters. I've often wondered how much different this card would have looked had they stuck around. Given how far ahead WWF would plan in those days, I'm guessing the long term vision was to build to Demolition finally winning the titles back at 6. When Tully & Arn gave notice in November the belts went right back to Ax & Smash and then Andre & Haku were basically substituted into the building feud.

Overall it worked pretty well. The pop Demolition got for overcoming even greater odds was enormous, but it makes me wonder what Andre's role on the show would have been had Tully & Arn been there. Would the Andre/Heenan blow have come sooner to set up some sort of send off match?

For the most part I'm fine with the card, though it always irked me that Tito Santana & Rick Martel never had a real blow off to their feud. This would have been a good spot for that. Piper/Bad News was pretty pointless. A Piper/Rude blow off may have been a better idea. Maybe even give Rude a win to build him as a threat to Warrior. Mr. Perfect should have won here too because they really needed strong heels for Warrior to feud with.

 

[Elchicano15]

This is where it all started for me. Yes, I have caught some wrestling shows with my older brother here and there in the mid-late 80s and rented some events but being able to attend this event live had me hooked in wanting to catch superstars and every weekly show religiously up to this date

We had a great opener with Koko B Ware and Frankie as the curtain jerker for the evening, I remember the huge pop Demolition got after winning the titles. It seemed like that was the loudest pop of the evening, and some kid dancing with Dusty Rhodes at the end of his match in which I would later find out that it was actually Cody Rhodes. Hacksaw did get heat when he was riding to the ring.

Of course match of the night for me was the Ultimate Challenge between Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan. The whole match was like "edge of your seat", with an outcome where it felt like everybody won.

As to what I would have changed, I'm not too sure. My first full out mania to experience live I'm not sure if I would have messed with how things would have gone. Perhaps have the Rockers go over the Orient Express. Give them that first PPV win. I was seeing something in that group and it wasn't their flashy bright gear, I liked what they brought to the ring agility wise.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

The first Wrestlemania I watched. I started getting into WWE after watching Summerslam 1990, so Wrestlemania VI seemed a logical starting point for historical 'research'.

In my opinion, VERY disappointing card overall. The epitome of a one-match card: and what a match it was; it is just a shame the rest of the card suffered because of it.

The two matches I hated the most were the Hart Foundation vs the Bolsheviks and the Big Boss Man vs Akeem - there is rarely a need for such squash matches on ppv cards IMO. Therefore, my opinions on how to make this card better focus largely on those two matches.

Firstly, the tag team match. I understand the WWE wanted to establish the Hart Foundation as the number 1 contenders (and their subsequent title win at Summerslam is still one of my favourite ever tag matches, though that's another story); and obviously the Bolsheviks had run their course due to the Cold War coming to an end. But by having the Harts crush Nikolai and Boris so decisively didn't so much build the Harts as show the Bolsheviks as weak opponents who did not deserve to compete at such an event. Taking a previous poster's comments further, it would have made much more sense to keep the Powers of Pain together and have them lose to the HF at WMVI, preferably in a 10+ minute match, thus making Bret & Jim look stronger straight away. There was also a few spots between Bret Hart and the Warlord in the Royal Rumble that could have teased this match (hey, that's how the Piper-Bad News feud began!)

Taking this to its' logical conclusion, the Harts look a lot stronger than the reality showed them to be, and the PoP split could come straight after 'Mania - since Heenan 'bought' the contract of the Barbarian, who could simply (storyline wise) have been filling the vacancy that Andre the Giant opened up.

Secondly, the Boss Man and Akeem. They had been a tag team for nearly 18 months, and split due to Boss Man's face turn as part of the DiBiase-Roberts build up. Yet the blowoff to all that is a match over in less than two minutes? Granted, you rarely want to have big-man matches last too long, but give them around 7 minutes and, again, Boss Man looks stronger rather than dominant over an opponent who doesn't belong.

Other than those, I would have had the opener be the culmination of the Martel-Santana feud, and Perfect go over Beefcake, due to outside interference. Since Perfect was soon to win the IC title, and with the plan being for him to drop it to Beefcake at Summerslam, this would have made more sense, and created more of a buzz when Beefcake won the title in August (obviously this would require the parasailing accident to never happen)

All in all it was 'miss-match Mania, and I genuinely think the booking suffered - not just for this card but the rest of the year. But such simple changes could have made a much more compelling Wrestlemania VI in my opinion.

 

[Pedigree1]

Wrestlemania 6 took place on April 1st, 1990. The event was held at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 67,678 fans came to attend the show. Here are the results of Wrestlemania 6:



1. Rick Martel defeated Koko B. Ware in a singles match (03:51) A Decent match,The model Ricky Martel really was quite athletic in his day. I think they should have given him a IC reign albeit even a short one! He was that good IMO!

2. Demolition (Ax and Smash) defeated The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) (c) (with Bobby Heenan) in a tag team match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (09:30) By the Time this match took place Andre was well past his prime,and quite out of shape. I didnt know it at the time,how bad andres health was. I am quite surprised he was medically cleared to wrestle thinking back. But he did slap Heenan a bit which was funny! Demolition,my favorite all-time tag team rose again to capture the Tag titles.

3. Earthquake (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Hercules in a singles match (04:52)

A squash match if there ever was one. No one expected hercules to get the Quake in his torture rack..

4. Brutus Beefcake defeated Mr. Perfect (with The Genius) in a singles match (07:48)

Brutus while a good performer had nothing on the athletic style of Mr Perfect! But they could have honestly done without this match IMO

5. Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown fought to a double countout in a singles match (06:48)

No ending to this match leaves a sour taste. The battled at the Royal Rumble,and the match had promise with Piper painting himself Half Black. BTW no way in hell,could this be done in this day n age. Not with all the PR stuff out there.. Piper was well ahead of his time!

6. The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov) in a tag team match (00:19)

What was the point in this squatch match? Again they could have done without this one!

7. The Barbarian (with Bobby Heenan) defeated Tito Santana in a singles match (04:33)

Its shame they could never build the Barbarian up he was quite athletic for someone his size. This match was okay,a win over a former IC title holder and tag team champion was quite a coo for teh Barbarian.. Unfortunately his career highlight

8. Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Randy Savage and Sensational Queen Sherri in a mixed tag team match (07:52)

From the main event a year earlier to a rather random tag team match was quite the letdown for Randy Savage. This match made no sense!

9. The Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka) (with Mr. Fuji) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) by countout in a tag team match (07:38)

A lot better than the demoliton vs CC match earlier on the card. The rockers were flying rather high in their careers at this point,and the most popular Tag Team at this point in the WWF!! Good match

10. Hacksaw Jim Duggan defeated Dino Bravo (with Jimmy Hart and Earthquake) in a singles match (04:15)

I never understood why the WWF buried Dino Bravo by this time! Bravo,who i always liked was never utilized to his full potential IMO! But with guys like Savage,Hogan,Warrior,Rude there was no room for him!! Going into this match there was no secret that Duggan was going to win! HOOOOOOOOOO!!

11. Ted DiBiase (c) (with Virgil) defeated Jake Roberts by countout in a singles match for the Million Dollar Championship (11:50)

I personally thought Roberts should have gone over in this match.. THE MDM belt,even though really never recognized would have been a great feather in the cap for the Snake Man! But a countout victory for the MDM,i wanted to see a decisive winner!



12. The Big Boss Man defeated Akeem (with Slick) in a singles match (01:49)

Another match they could have done without! This match would have been best saved for Superstars it didnt belong on a WM Card!

13. Ravishing Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan) defeated Jimmy Snuka in a singles match (03:59)

By this time Ravishing was really coming into his own as a competitor. A good solid win over a then future HOF Snuka! Rude Awakening indeed


14. The Ultimate Warrior (as Intercontinental Champion) defeated Hulk Hogan (as WWF Champion) in a singles match to win the WWF Championship (22:51)

I still go back and look at this match. Warrior who was known to gas out in less than five minutes really put on a awesome effort. I heard Hogan say Warrior wanted to pack it in five minutes into the match,but i doubt that. It was a great match WM worthy,and ME worthy. A definite classic

 

[sanefan_har]

One of my favorite Wrestlemanias. Jake vs Dibiase, Rhodes/Sapphire vs Randy/Sherri, Demolition vs Colossal Connection and Hogan vs Warrior were my favourites. I can't remember the Rick Martel match though. I agree with the people who say Hart Foundation should've wrestled a longer match, against the Rockers preferably.

 

[PingPongBundy]

My favorite would have to be Demolition winning the belts. For that reason and for the Andre face turn. As Jesse said during the turn, we got double our money's worth lol. My least favorite would be Rude v Snuka. Not because of the match itself but because of the short time it was given. Plus the Steve Allen jokes were pretty annoying for this match. "I like Jimmy Snuka because he's wearing my wife's underwear."

 

[thebarber]

What was your favorite match on this show, and why did you like it the most?
Hogan vs Warrior, hands down this show was a one match show.

What about the worst match of this show, why did you like it the least? Rude vs Snuka, Martel vs KoKo. Throwaway matches where guys were given burials. Earthquake vs Herc, Duggan vs Bravo...better off having a battle royal with the winner becoming the Number 1 contender to the IC Title. Hennig and Beefcake could have been in it as well. Valentine and Honky werent even on the card so theres 12 men. Im sure we could come up with 8 more guys who were in the federation. Then the card is 10 matches long.
MARTEL, KOKO B WARE, EARTHQUAKE, HERCULES, DINO BRAVO, JIM DUGGAN, RICK RUDE, JIMMY SNUKA, CURT HENNIG, BRUTUS BEEFCAKE, GREG VALENTINE, HONKYTONK MAN, BRET HART, JIM NEIDHART(BUSHWHACKERS could have foughtt the Bolsheviks. Im sure Paul Roma and the Brawler were around back then also, that match could have opened the show

If you could change a few things about Wrestlemania 6, what would it be and why?

My card would have been:


1. BATTLE ROYAL with the guys listed above, won by Curt Hennig

2. Demolition (Ax and Smash) defeated The Colossal Connection (André the Giant and Haku) (c) (with Bobby Heenan) in a tag team match to win the WWF Tag Team Championship (09:30)

3. Roddy Piper and Bad News Brown fought to a double countout in a singles match (06:48)

4. Bushwhackers vs The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov) in a tag team match (00:19)

5. The Barbarian (with Bobby Heenan) defeated Tito Santana in a singles match (04:33)

6. Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated Randy Savage and Sensational Queen Sherri in a mixed tag team match (07:52)

7. The Orient Express (Sato and Tanaka) (with Mr. Fuji) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) by countout in a tag team match (07:38)


8. Ted DiBiase (c) (with Virgil) defeated Jake Roberts by countout in a singles match for the Million Dollar Championship (11:50)

9. The Big Boss Man defeated Akeem (with Slick) in a singles match (01:49)

10. The Ultimate Warrior (as Intercontinental Champion) defeated Hulk Hogan (as WWF Champion) in a singles match to win the WWF Championship (22:51)

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

This was my favorite Mania from back in the day because Warrior was my favorite as a kid and seeing him beat Hogan for the title was special. Before I grew up and learned to appreciate good technical wrestling I always thought this was the best match ever (and in some ways it is).

As for changes, I would entertain doing a singles bout between Savage and Rhodes and save the inter gender stuf for SummerSlam and probably have Piper face Martel or Rude.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

This WrestleMania ended the awful Trump Plaza string of big events and brought it back to a stadium...one that gave this huge main event a fitting arena, as opposed to the great Macho/Hogan main event that was stuck in that over-sized conference room.

They not only blew the end of Perfect's streak (on TV/to most of the world), but they did it poorly, with him hitting his head on the post. They also didn't make a big deal of it on the broadcast, which was horribly unforgiveable. And Beefcake was a terrible choice to do it....friends with Hogan or not. Give me a break--brutal job there by the WWF!

Demolition regaining and Andre slapping Heenan around was cool.

Rockers and Orient Express would go on to have a MUCH better match at Royal Rumble 91. Had the RR91 match been on this WM card, it would be a much more memorable match. However, it often gets overlooked because of the more memorable Warrior/Savage/Slaughter issue and Hogan winning the RR. Check out the RR91 match some time...great great match.

I remember Steve Allen being very funny at WMVI. He had a few good lines in the bathroom scene with the Bolsheviks and also a funny line about finding out that Duggan did not using a foreign object because the 2x4 did come from Canada. Haha!

Harts were my favorite team back then, but the squash was ok. Not like we got ripped off from a classic had the match gone longer.

I never realized how lackluster this card was until just now. I still love this WrestleMania, as it was still from my favorite era of the WWF, 1986-1992. And, as I said, it was at a proper venue for such a big show. But, looking at the card...there are memorable moments (Piper black body paint, Elizabeth dancing with Dream/Sapphire) but not any of my favorite moments, just memorable ones. However, that just shows how HUGE this main event was...it was a questionable card and I sure didn't notice. Every match was leading up to Warrior/Hogan, so I was fine with seeing a ton of wrestlers before it was time for the big boys.

I was over Hogan at this point as a fan and was rooting for Warrior. I thought when Hogan looked up to the heavens in a "What happened?" look and gesture, we might see a heel turn...but nothing came of that. And, even as an 11-year-old, I didn't feel Hogan handing the belt over was good sportsmanship, I felt it was Hogan trying to get his face on camera and to come out of it as the good guy---phony, not genuine. But hopefully other kids got a lesson in good sportsmanship out of it. I already knew what sportsmanship was and didn't feel doing anything in front of a huge audience was the way to go about it. A handshake would have been fine, but the drawn out getting the belt and handing it to him and hugging....self-serving. I was starting to see Hogan in a different way at that time and then was totally sick of him after he pulled Sid out of the 92 Rumble like a sore losing bitch....but that's another post.

Warrior was cool for a while there and him winning made sense. And they got the belt off of him less than a year later, so it wasn't as big a mistake as most have made it out to be.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

Im sure Paul Roma and the Brawler were around back then also, that match could have opened the show[/B]

Haha! I don't know what else you wrote because any "here's how I would have fixed this show" list that includes opening the event with Paul Roma and The Brooklyn Brawler can't be taken seriously.

Not to mention that this was actually a dark match at WMVI, so being "pretty sure" that they were "around" is lame. Coincidentally, they were around and faced each other that night?? Nice try!

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Much like WM5 this was booked around the main event and "blooding" some new talent they hoped would get over. 6 saw debuts for Earthquake, Dusty and The Orient Express.

A few more of the matches had true story and build than V did, they certainly learned their lesson on that score although there was still some dross. Some decisions seemed a little odd as well, like using The Barbarian but not the Warlord (even if they weren't feuding) it seemed odd to delay Warlords push. Again Duggan and Bravo are the two who stand out as being "surplus" and not needed on the show.

One thing that was memorable about this was it being the last Jesse Ventura commentary and he was on rare form with his gags about "Chico's food" amongst others. As good as Heenan and Gorilla were, I do miss Jesse in the announce booth even today.

Some stuff I struggle to believe even today... Was Roddy shooting or high when he showed up in half blackface? or was Vince for allowing it... oh wait... Dusty and Sapphire..ok I get it now...

There was some shockingly bad booking for Dust, Savage and Piper at that time... they should have been going at each other rather than the feuds they had. Savage never seemed a good fit for Rhodes in that feud and it seemed almost lip service to Rhodes and insulting to Randy to demote him to a mixed tag after being Champ a year earlier. I'd have actually gone with Savage v Piper at 6 with Rhodes facing off against Rick Rude. I'd have deployed Snuka to face Warlord or a heel turned Jim Neidhart.

Vince was clearly not serious about Rhodes, so losing to Rude would have helped Rude a lot more and Warlord squashing Snuka would have started him off far stronger. But I am guessing by then that Warrior and Hogan were already deciding not to work with/job to Rude as was needed so he was, perhaps not knowing it yet on the outs hence why this feud didn't happen. Imagine it starting cos Sapphire loved Rick Rude and he was nasty to her...so Rhodes got involved, Rude's facial expressions could have gotten that over like a boss and it would have been a good "rap" for Dusty's common man patter defending Sapphire's honor.


The tag match was way short, but understandable considering Andre's involvement. His split from Heenan is one I always count as my fave face turn, purely cos of how loathesome Heenan was yelling "I'm the fucking boss" and slapping him. Of course now we know more of Andre and his fondness for that phrase to describe his friends so you can see why it worked so well...perhaps it was a little bit of a rib, probably to make Andre that little bit "madder" and to regain some of that fire he had lost losing so often. When he grabs Bobby it doesn't look fake and Heenan is either selling beautifully or genuinely scared. It's sad it was his last Mania match and his next appearance at Mania saw him so beat up he was on crutches as him pasting Heenan was the perfect end to his Mania career.


Aside from the main event, the show is probably most remembered for "That Promo" from Jake. It's the one that always shows when they illustrate how good he was and I think it even made the "best promo ever" top 5 on WWE.com a few weeks back. It really was that good but it's a shame the match didn't reflect it. Sure a loss for DiBiase for the belt would have hurt him, but it would have been a far more interesting turn of events for Jake had he won the belt and it "corrupted him" much as he ended turning 18 months later this way could have seen him turn more gradually, bypass the ridiculous blindfold match and maybe see a new stable with DiBiase form.

The Harts were wasted here, again due to another aborted singles run for Bret... I'd have put him in a solo match against either Perfect or Brutus... The thing you have to remember is that Perfect wasn't going to win that IC belt for long, he was going to lose it to Brutus at Summerslam. When that went wrong they tried to bring forward the debut of the already signed Davey Boy Smith but he too got hurt, so they rushed through Kerry Von Erich's signing instead. Brutus didn't need that win if he was getting the belt anyway but giving it to Bret would have meant there were 2 strong challengers for Perfect's IC title throughout the summer. Sure we might not have seen Kerry win the IC, but that isn't really a loss... Bret could have won it a year earlier.

Bossman v Akeem did it's job, bury Akeem who was on the outs and get Bossman over as a strong face... I always felt it was a bit wasted as his initial turn came against DiBiase - a tag match between DiBiase & Akeem vs Bossman and Jake could have helped my Jake turn idea and would certainly have been preferable to that mixed tag.

Of course at the time it was a larger than life show and it did it's job as an undercard, I just feel they put so many eggs into the Warrior v Hogan basket that it set Warrior up to fail a little as the undercard didn't recover for a long time.

The match itself was as good as it could be, too much reliance on rest holds as Warrior was blown up by the time he reached the ring but at the end of the day Warrior DID look like the rightful champ by the end of it... shame he was such a douche that he blew his opportunities, and Hogan was so intent on making the final moments all about him... No wonder guys like Dusty and Rude never stood a chance.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

I've probably watched this card more than any other. Again not really much you could have changed as far as match opponents, but I would have changed quite a bit as far as outcomes are concerned.

The best match on the card was obviously Hogan & Warrior, and arguably the best match either has ever had in terms of overall excitement.

Things I would have changed:

First and foremost, I would have had Warrior drop the IC title before Mania. I realize one of the major taglines for the match was Title vs. Title, but it didn't make or break the match, and Warrior ultimately ended up dropping the IC title and it was up in a tournament shortly after anyway... I think it would have added a little more shock value heading into the match if Hogan had accidentally cost Warrior the IC title... Maybe a scenario where Warrior was defending the title against Mr. Perfect, and one of the Heenan family got involved... Hogan could have come down and accidentally hit Warrior, leading to Perfect capturing the belt and gaining some momentum... which leads to...

-Mr. Perfect going over Brutus Beefcake and retaining the IC title(why in the world would Beefcake ever be chosen to go over Perfect?)

-A decisive decision one way or the other on Piper/Bad News... Though if I was booking I probably would have given Bad News the win based on Piper's stupidity by painting himself half black. That was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in pro-wrestling.

-I would have changed Savage & Dusty to a singles match with the women at ringside, where they could have had a little scuffle but it wouldn't have been a detriment to the overall match quality. I'd probably cut Martel vs. Koko, and Barbarian vs. Tito to add another solid 7 minutes onto this match one it was made Singles.

-Put the Rockers over Orient Express by a decisive decision. There was no reason for the Orients to go over here as they were clearly jobbers.

-I would have put Jake over Ted for the Million Dollar Belt, even if it was a short-term exchange.

-Incoming controversy... I would have still put Warrior over Hogan cleanly, but in the post-match I would have Hogan turn heel on Warrior which would have solidified his title reign a little more instead of splitting the audience during Warrior's celebration. They would have gotten a lot more traction out of this match by turning it into a feud that lasted into the Summer. People would have gotten a break from same-old Hogan and seen a new side of him. Again, that's all perfect world stuff, but that's the point right?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I've probably watched this card more than any other. Again not really much you could have changed as far as match opponents, but I would have changed quite a bit as far as outcomes are concerned.

The best match on the card was obviously Hogan & Warrior, and arguably the best match either has ever had in terms of overall excitement.

Things I would have changed:

First and foremost, I would have had Warrior drop the IC title before Mania. I realize one of the major taglines for the match was Title vs. Title, but it didn't make or break the match, and Warrior ultimately ended up dropping the IC title and it was up in a tournament shortly after anyway... I think it would have added a little more shock value heading into the match if Hogan had accidentally cost Warrior the IC title... Maybe a scenario where Warrior was defending the title against Mr. Perfect, and one of the Heenan family got involved... Hogan could have come down and accidentally hit Warrior, leading to Perfect capturing the belt and gaining some momentum... which leads to...

-Mr. Perfect going over Brutus Beefcake and retaining the IC title(why in the world would Beefcake ever be chosen to go over Perfect?)

-A decisive decision one way or the other on Piper/Bad News... Though if I was booking I probably would have given Bad News the win based on Piper's stupidity by painting himself half black. That was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in pro-wrestling.

-I would have changed Savage & Dusty to a singles match with the women at ringside, where they could have had a little scuffle but it wouldn't have been a detriment to the overall match quality. I'd probably cut Martel vs. Koko, and Barbarian vs. Tito to add another solid 7 minutes onto this match one it was made Singles.

-Put the Rockers over Orient Express by a decisive decision. There was no reason for the Orients to go over here as they were clearly jobbers.

-I would have put Jake over Ted for the Million Dollar Belt, even if it was a short-term exchange.

-Incoming controversy... I would have still put Warrior over Hogan cleanly, but in the post-match I would have Hogan turn heel on Warrior which would have solidified his title reign a little more instead of splitting the audience during Warrior's celebration. They would have gotten a lot more traction out of this match by turning it into a feud that lasted into the Summer. People would have gotten a break from same-old Hogan and seen a new side of him. Again, that's all perfect world stuff, but that's the point right?

There is only one reason Brutus ever got any wins or push... Hogan wanted it. The IC title picture was fine without Warrior dropping the belt as at the time they had talent lined up for the division. Perfect was planned to win it perhaps drop to Beefcake at Summerslam to keep Hulk sweet and then regain it shortly afterwards. By then they had Davey Boy The Mountie and Bret they were planning to bring into the picture as well. WWF Magazine even went so far as to put Davey on the cover late that fall announcing the feud for the IC. It was only Brutus' injury which sent things a new way. Davey was injured so couldn't make Summerslam as the replacement so they signed Kerry as well.

A Hogan heel turn then wouldn't have worked well, had both not been a douche then someone like Rude could have played them off against each other and "stolen" the title with a win over Warrior that he blamed on Hogan... that would have been far more interesting than heel Hogan when he was off making movies and unquestionably better than Sgt. Slaughter.

 

[thebarber]

Haha! I don't know what else you wrote because any "here's how I would have fixed this show" list that includes opening the event with Paul Roma and The Brooklyn Brawler can't be taken seriously.

Not to mention that this was actually a dark match at WMVI, so being "pretty sure" that they were "around" is lame. Coincidentally, they were around and faced each other that night?? Nice try!

You said it yourself, you just commented without reading the rest of the post, more fool you.
I was not aware actually they were the dark match for Mania 6, I was only thinking of talent that were around in 1990, as the OP has stated, in regards to making up the numbers for a 20 man battle royal where the winner would become the No 1 contender for the IC Title. Roma's tag team with Jimmy Powers was well over and he had not hooked up with Hercules at this time, and Lombardi has been with the company forever and a day. If having an opinion offends you Gorilla, I feel for you.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

You said it yourself, you just commented without reading the rest of the post, more fool you.
I was not aware actually they were the dark match for Mania 6, I was only thinking of talent that were around in 1990, as the OP has stated, in regards to making up the numbers for a 20 man battle royal where the winner would become the No 1 contender for the IC Title. Roma's tag team with Jimmy Powers was well over and he had not hooked up with Hercules at this time, and Lombardi has been with the company forever and a day. If having an opinion offends you Gorilla, I feel for you.

Nothing you say "offends" me, because reading your posts prove you aren't bright. That would be like being offended that a a two-year-old signed a birthday card and spelled one of the letters backwards. I considered the source, believe me.

Yep, you just happened to pick the actual dark match as your great idea. Brawler was there forever and a day, yet you just happened to feel WMVI was the time to give him a WrestleMania match. I guess these were just coincidences. ...and even if they were, the idea itself is awful. My main point still stands. You tried to improve a WRESTLEMANIA card by implanting Roma vs. Brawler. Again, with ideas like that rolling around in your brain, I have no right to be offended. I would just pat you on your helmet and say "nice try, kiddo".

I do, however, think the idea of having Hogan cost Warrior the IC belt before WMVI would have been a good idea. It would have added some fuel to the main event fire. I also like the idea of a battle royal. I would open the show with it and then have the last two remaining combatants fight later in the show for the IC title. The IC belt still meant something back then, so I wouldn't fill it with Brawler types just to get to 20. You could have legitimate wrestlers along with former IC champs like Tito, Valentine, Honky. I wouldn't include Rude or Savage because they had eyes on a bigger prize, as was proven at SummerSlam 1990 and Royal Rumble 91.

Tito
Honky
Valentine
Beefcake
Perfect
Earthquake
Duggan
Bravo
Rude
Barbarian
Martel
Koko
Warlord
Hercules
Hart
Neidhart

Let Bushwhackers face the Bolsheviks. The rest of the card's matches could be left alone. You would now have 10 matches, including a battle royal. 14 to 10 is a big drop, but Boss Man/Akeem could go longer and taking out the Hart squash is no big deal. So, the timing would work out fine. Plus, the overall quality of matches would be stronger, though the quantity is lower.

Or if you need one more match, we could have Paul Roma and Brooklyn Brawler square off on the biggest event of the year. That match alone would improve any card...especially a WrestleMania. In fact, I would have the winner of that match face Warrior as the Mega Main Event and possibly have Warrior pull an early Yokozuna and drop the title immediately to "forever and a day" Steve Lombardi.