WWF Wrestlemania VI: The Ultimate Challenge (4.1.90) review 

 

April 1, 1990 

We’re in Toronto, Ontario at the SkyDome for the sixth incarnation of Wrestlemania. We’ve escaped the boundaries of the northern United States, the WWF’s traditional base but not only that, we’ve crossed the border! After two LAAAAAAME Wrestlemania’s set at Trump’s shithole casino we are in Canada. Astonishingly, to date, only two Wrestlemania’s have taken place outside of the USA and they were both in this building. Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura. 

 

After two awful crowds for Wrestlemania IV and V, this is back to the stunning stadium vistas of Wrestlemania III. It’s the second Mania show that feels massive. Like a proper “big” show. As much as I love the first one, Mania feels like it’s hit a different gear when you’ve got 67,000 at the show. Traditionally I’ve not enjoyed this show but we’re in context now, and that might give it a boost. You never know. Being in Canada means we get the Canadian national anthem, sung by Robert Goulet. Ventura thinks he “sounds a bit like Axl Rose”. Gorilla doesn’t know who that is. I’m giggling here. I don’t remember that interaction before.  

 

Koko B Ware vs. Rick Martel 

WM6 had these little ring carts to bring people to the ring because the entrance way is so long. One suspects to accommodate Andre the Giant. Martel is in pure ‘Model’ gimmick now. Why did he have to have an occupation? He was the AWA champion! When that meant something! Aerialist Koko knocks Martel out of the ring and then stays in the ring waving his arms around. Imagine doing no dive in almost any year after this?  

 

Martel takes over and he’s even more of a buzzkill. However, he makes a point of working the back. I’ve always liked Martel, but I hate the Model gimmick run. He’s like a cartoon character. Which is probably what Vince wanted. Appeal to children. Boston crab finishes in short order. This started out fast and furious but descended into boredom.  

 

Gene Okerlund calls the tag champs the “colostomy connection”. Andre was having trouble even standing at this point in his career and the WWF had decided he’s done. I mean, he is done but that doesn’t stop him becoming a pawn and being used for promotion (shamelessly) by the WWF, Herb Abrams’ UWF and (sadly) All Japan. The latter putting him in a succession of (awful) matches. (Don’t know what happened with all the brackets in this paragraph).  

 

WWF Tag Team Championship 

Colossal Connection (c) vs. Demolition  

Haku & Andre got the belts late last year when the Brainbusters were about to leave the company. Demos being transitional champions. This is nearly the end of Demolition’s relevance as the Roadwarriors clones were about to play second fiddle to the actual Roadwarriors.  

 

Andre can’t take a bump and can barely get through the ropes. Man, I feel you brother. Haku ends up working the whole match on his own. Andre never tags in but occasionally swats at one of the Demos from the apron. The match is boring for the most part but when it breaks down near the end the positioning, especially of Smash, sucks. Haku then superkicks Andre. He falls into the ropes and the Demos double team for their third tag title win.  

This was sad but at least the crowd reacted huge for the title switch. In winning Demolition ties the 3x champ record of the Wild Samoans. Which I’m sure was intentional. Throwing in that transitional reign at the back end of 1989 felt like stat-padding. The three titles record would remain until 1999, when the New Age Outlaws won their fourth tag title.  

The post-match is where things get interesting. Bobby Heenan starts chewing Andre out, blaming him for the loss. Their three-year relationship at an end. Andre leaves in the little ring cart on his own, getting cheered as he goes. It’s a little sad that this is it for Andre. In a few weeks he’ll compete at the WWF-AJPW-NJPW crossover event in Tokyo, where he’s been heavily advertised as a feature attraction on AJPW TV.  

 

After that he’ll be working a few tours for All Japan and you know I’ll be bringing you those. Also, before the year is out, he’ll appear on Herb Abrams’ UWF and guess what? I’ll be reviewing those shows too and loads more Andre to come. He’ll return to the WWF ring in 1991, but injuries limit his time to a few house shows. He’ll continue to work for All Japan, tagging with Giant Baba until the end of 1992. Oh, and if you’re reading this and you’ve never seen The Princess Bride, please go and rectify this.  

 

Earthquake vs. Hercules 

Quake is about to get a huge push and the Hogan program post-Mania.  

Hercules has been in the WWF since 1986, which feels like a long, long time. It’s so weird with modern day WWF guys staying in the promotion for 20+ years but 7-8 years in a promotion and I am bored with you, dude. Especially when you’re this aimless, listless, midcard guy who does nothing. The crowd, clearly expecting a squash, and unwilling to cheer for Herc, go very quiet. The only thing of note is Herc getting carried away and busting Quake’s nose in the opening exchanges. Herc, dipshit that he is, attempts a BACKBREAKER and is, deservedly, squashed right afterwards. A total pass this one. Just a reminder of Quake’s positioning in the company.  

 

Video Control takes us to a pre-recorded interview with Miss Elizabeth, who hasn’t been seen near the ring since cornering Hogan & Beefcake at Summerslam 1989. The interviewer is Rona Barrett, a gossip columnist and interviewer. She’s at the very tail end of her career and she retired in 1991 to focus on her charity. Liz claims she’s been working as “an advisor”. What would that involve? Telling every wrestler she meets in the gym to sign for the WWF? She says if she ever comes back to ringside, she’ll be “far more active than ever before”. Which is true.  

 

Brutus Beefcake vs. Mr Perfect 

You would think they’d want the guy who’s about to win the IC title to win at Wrestlemania. Much like they had Quake win because he’s about to feud with Hogan. But hey, politics. This is an ugly, ugly match because Beefcake fucking stinks and can’t do anything. I’m not buying the ‘he got good in 1989-1990′ lie. Perfect does all his silly, shit overselling. Which doesn’t work, at all, when it’s with someone as small and soft as Brutus. 

 

Hey, I like Curt Hennig, but if you bumped like him in modern wrestling, you would be crucified for it. He doesn’t catch enough flak for how stupid his bumps look. He may have tanked this match on purpose but my god, it’s SO bad. If I was Vince McMahon watching this, I’d be asking questions when Hennig got backstage. Anyway, Perfect eats the catapult into the ring post and Beefcake wins.  

 

Well, decisions were made here. Awful wrestling all around though. It’s only when Perfect was doing his offence and control periods that the match didn’t suck. The post match is arguably worse with Beefcake going after the Genius and Genius just taking it. He’s a wrestler, he just lets himself get dragged around. -**. Fucking dogshit pro-wrestling from start to finish. 

 

Brutus Beefcake’s next PPV match would be at Wrestlemania NINE. Losing 2.5 years of his career to a parasailing accident in the summer. He was due to face Mr Perfect for the IC title at Summerslam and was presumably going to win. The honour would instead go to the “Texas Tornado” Kerry von Erich, who not only hasn’t signed yet, but spent yesterday wrestling in Philly for Tri-State.  

 

From that terrible experience to another one, as humourist Steve Allen plays a piano in the showers with the Bolsheviks. “I get no kick from Ukraine” draws a laugh. A little known fact is that Steve’s first job in TV was calling wrestling matches. The funny part being that he didn’t know anything about wrestling so the whole thing was comedy ad libbing. Although some of the names he made up for moves remain in circulation nowadays.  

 

WAS PIPER VS BAD NEWS EDITED OFF THIS???? Yes, yes it was. The Network version has no match or mention of it. Presumably because of Roddy Piper’s unfortunate blackface decision. Basically, he painted one half of his face black. Everyone thought it was stupid and the match fucking sucks, so we’ve not lost anything here. It speaks volumes about Piper’s position in the promotion this time around that this is his only PPV appearance all year. Although a motorbike accident in May would account for a six-month absence from programming.  

 

Hart Foundation vs. Bolsheviks 

Having been denied the chance to sing the Russian national anthem in the toilets the Bolsheviks sing it here. The Harts are next in line for a title shot, which will have to wait until Summerslam. Hart Attack finishes Zhukov in a matter of seconds. MOTN, imo.  

 

Video Control gives us a shill for Wrestlemania VII, taking place at the LA Memorial Coliseum with an attendance of over 100,000. Hahaha, I love it when Vince McMahon falls flat on his face. It happens so rarely that it’s worth celebrating hard when it does. Of course, Wrestlemania VII did NOT take place at the LA Memorial Coliseum. Citing “security concerns” over threats to Iraqi sympathizer Sgt Slaughter they switched to the LA Memorial Sports Arena, which is next door.  Instead of shifting a whopping 100,000+ tickets, they sold (get ready to laugh haters), 16,158. That’s how close this company is to disaster. You would never know it looking out at the crowd here in Toronto.  

 

Barbarian vs. Tito Santana 

What the fuck is this doing on Wrestlemania? They split up the Powers of Pain and decided to push Barbarian. Poor Tito is left to get this over. The way they treated Tito in his latter days in the promotion was sad. First to get crap like this over, then having his name changed to “El Matador”. Tito is only 36 years old here. In 1990 terms he’s basically in his twilight years. In modern terms, he’d be main eventing on NXT and waiting for the call up.  

 

The match is a load of nothing because Barbarian is so limited. Santana drags the match out of him. Flying forearm should finish for Tito but Heenan saves his charge. Big flying clothesline finishes with Santana taking a sick bump off it. That’s how you take a bump Curt!  

 

Randy Savage & Sensational Sherri vs. Dusty Rhodes & Sweet Sapphire 

Is this the best use of Randy Savage? One of the finest workers of his generation? Considering 12 months ago he was the champion, he got fucked here. Generally Savage gets a rough deal from McMahon. He should have leaned on Randy for big angles, not this bullshit.  

When I was a kid, I always hated Sherri because Savage & Liz was the dream. Now, I adore this pairing. Sherri was a diamond. She was so good at her job and Savage was so good at his. The best of both worlds. I’d go as far to say that Sherri was the best manager I’ve ever seen. For matching her charges, for taking bumps, getting heat and everything around ringside. There’s really only Bob Heenan, Jim Cornette and Jimmy Hart that compare. This was the era of the manager. 

 

Dusty brings out Miss Elizabeth to be in his corner, which draws a big reaction. Savage could have a good match with anyone. Look at Jim Duggan! However, Dusty has this thing where it has to ‘Dusty’s way’. He did the same thing to Flair. Dusty was a legend at having bad matches with great workers. Sapphire can’t exactly make it up because she can’t do anything. Sherri is just wrestling herself. 

 

Randy tries so hard to get this going but Dusty isn’t interested. Sapphire might be the worst wrestler to ever set foot in a WWF ring. She’s certainly in the top percentile. Liz pushes Sherri over Sapphire for the pin. This stunk. Not my words; Jesse Ventura’s but he is correct. Just an awful match. To waste Savage, Sherri and even Liz on this shite is embarrassing. DUD 

 

There are still six matches left on this show.  

 

Video Control takes us backstage, and Bobby Heenan starts ranting about Andre and how stupid he is. He promises fresh blood and titles for the Heenan Family. Right on both counts, as he hired Mr Perfect. Rona Barrett threatens to air footage of Jesse Ventura in an adult film. What? “Suffering builds character” yells Randy Savage. More interviews follow.  

Hogan tells us these are his people and his energy, brrrrrother. The implication, to Warrior, being that Hogan created all this. He drew this house. He caused this boom. Warrior is just riding his coattails. He asks Warrior “do you want to live forever”? However, he also implies that Warrior, in living forever, should “breathe your last breath into my body”. Does….does he want a little kiss? The implication feels like him telling Warrior that he needs to job to Hogan if he wants to be here forever. Hogan saying “it doesn’t matter if you win or lose” is HILARIOUS.  

Warrior’s retort is just mad. He starts out by calling Sean Mooney a “normal” and telling him he doesn’t deserve the breathe the same air as him. What a stupendous cunt Warrior was. Warrior muses about the prospect of Hulkamania living forever, as none of us can physically live forever. Well, not with that attitude. 

 

Orient Express vs. Rockers 

Pat Tanaka got signed. Is there anyone left in AWA? Paul Diamond vs. Greg Gagne eight times a night, baby. This is arguably the second best match on the entire show. The Rockers had a barnstorming 1989 and learned a lot from working the Brainbusters. While the Orient Express are a pale comparison to the ‘Busters, they have enough in the locker to make this interesting. If you ignore Akio Sato’s nerve holds. The match ends abruptly when Sato throws salt into Marty Jannetty’s eyes, and he falls into the front row. Fantastic bump. Best on the show. And that includes that awesome Tito Santana bump from the Barbarian clothesline. Match is **½ territory and easily the second best match on the card. 

 

Video Control has Steve Allen interviewing Rhythm & Blues; Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine. Steve takes the piss beautifully.  

If only more people took the piss like Steve Allen. “I haven’t been this excited since I found out Pee Wee Herman was straight”. Haha, what? What is Greg Valentine even doing here? Honky makes some claims about how big they are as a musical act. “At least as big as when Tiny Tim played Vincent Lombardi’s rest stop off the New Jersey turnpike” – Allen. He’s killing me here. How have I not noticed how funny he was on these bits before? “We’re on our way to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame” – Hammer. “I’ll call ahead and warn them you’re coming” – Allen. Genuine laughter here. Brilliant from Steve, in ways that Vince could never understand. All brain, no bodily functions.  

 

Dino Bravo vs. Jim Duggan 

GOOD GOD, what a stinker of a match up. The two worst wrestlers in the company going head to head. Duggan, with his USA flag, fully deserves to get shit on here. Waving Old Glory, the big dumb bastard. He even tries to get a “USA” chant going. No joy. Haha. Idiot. The match alternates between barely passable competence and Dino Bravo’s stupid ideas, which drag it down. The bumps in this are the opposite of Hennig’s earlier. They barely qualify as bumps. Bravo is in such bad shape that can barely take a bump. Duggan hits Bravo with a 2×4 for the win. Awful match. Just dog awful. -* 

 

Quake squashes Duggan post-match thus continuing his push. Quake can just dismissively destroy most midcard guys here.  

 

Million Dollar Championship 

Ted DiBiase (c) vs. Jake Roberts  

This is where Jake does his “wallowing in the muck of avarice” promo. Jake was too smart for wrestling. He was smart enough to know he didn’t have to work hard to get over. Cool promos, sultry looks, big snake. The formula for getting over. If we’re talking about actual matches where Jake actually worked hard though? I’ve always thought this. Jake was a great character, everyone loved him but name a famous Jake match.  

 

I’ve done a quick Cagematch check to reinforce this; his rating on there is 7.90, which is a great rating but in singles he has two singles matches in the entire database that rank over 7.00. When you think about it, this is true. Jake was a great wrestler, but he didn’t have great matches. It’s only recently where that wouldn’t be true but with Jake, it is true. Also a prime example of how you can’t use ratings to tell me someone is good or bad at something. I’ll use my eyes, thank you very much.  

 

Jake and Ted worked together in Mid-South and had great chemistry, but the crowd doesn’t give a fuck about this one, unfortunately. It’s a long card and they’re tired. To give you an idea of how bored the crowd are, they pull off a Mexican Wave during the match. That’s a sure-fire “your match sucks” representation. Given that no one is watching, and even the CAMERAS are watching the Wave, and match gets even worse. 

 

If you’re in an audience and you do the Mexican Wave, it’s a huge insult to whatever you’re supposed to be watching. The last couple of minutes pick up a bit but then we finish with a lame count out after Jake is run into the ring post. The crowd boo the finish but hey, at least they’re not doing the Mexican Wave anymore? This was like ** tops. Two great wrestlers having a dull match in front of an apathetic crowd. 

 

Post match the crowd is desperate for the DDT or the snake. I’m expecting Virgil to eat it but instead he runs off with the Million Dollar belt and Ted eats a DDT instead. Jake Roberts gives out the cash, including $100 to Mary Tyler Moore. Um, he’s probably expecting some services rendered in exchange for that money Mary.  

 

Akeem vs. Big Bossman  

Bossman has turned babyface and Akeem is just big fat loser. He’s a couple of J-O-B’s away from heading to WCW. Bossman claims he “doesn’t take money from anyone”. It’s true! In lieu of wages, he demands goods and services. He’s paid in steak, lodgings and petrol. Ted DiBiase, enraged at this communist assault on his capitalistic ideals jumps Bossman. Akeem controls for about a minute but Ray turns it around and the Bossman Slam finishes. Inoffensive and short. Maybe Akeem’s best match.  

 

Rhythm & Blues come out to play their new song. As a youngster I was very into the blues and considered this an offence.  

It’s kinda mad that a car full of WWF Hall of Fame stars (Honky, Hammer, the Mouth) and who will go down in history as the biggest star? The fucking driver. It’s DDP. They play the song and it’s hilariously bad but the best part, by far, is Greg Valentine trying to fake playing a guitar. It’s like he’s never even seen a guitar before. “So, uh, Jimmy, what way around to hold this here gimmick?” The Bushwhackers run in for the…DQ? Finish? At least the song has finished. 

 

The Fink tells us the attendance is 67,678, an attendance record. Is it made up? You can’t really trust the WWF and their figures.  

 

Rick Rude vs. Jimmy Snuka 

If there’s any doubt about Snuka’s newfound JTTS status, then this should clear it up. He’s washed and has been for years at this point. He only got re-signed by the WWF for name value. I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did but he helped get a few guys over on his back. Snuka gets lost a few times in this match, leaving both guys standing there with their dicks in their hands. Splash misses and the Rude Awakening finishes within four minutes. This just existed to get Rude over, but it wasn’t very good. Essentially filler before the main event. 

 

WWF Championship 

WWF Intercontinental Championship 

Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Ultimate Warrior 

Both belts are on the line with a ‘winner takes all’ situation. Warrior is an unspeakable dipshit, who can barely put together a match that makes sense. Putting him in this spot is incredibly risky but he’s proven before this that he can be led. Most notably by Rick Rude. Before seeing this match, I’d say Hogan wasn’t a good enough leader to carry a match, but this is where I was proven wrong.  

This is the first time they really put two mega babyfaces in together, but especially in having Warrior as a powerhouse. Someone who had the same strengths as Hogan. The match is built on spots. Usually spots that allow the crowd to yell their support and it helps that Toronto is fired up for it. It helps that Hogan wants to make Warrior here. He genuinely thinks he can make Warrior and go to make movies. Content that he’s provided for the future of the biz.  

Which was a contrast to later Hogan where he felt like doing jobs was a waste of time because whoever replaced him would fuck it up. Mainly because Warrior fucked it up. The crowd pop every spot huge. It’s great. Initially these two do tests of strength but it soon devolves into cheap shots. Which is even MORE over. You could have launched Attitude a lot earlier, I’m just saying. 

 

There seems to be a clear preference for Hogan here, from Canada, but if he wins who beats him? Hogan has to occasionally stop the match to tell Warrior what’s coming up. This means chinlocks and chats. Warrior pulls the “Hulking up” bit and Hogan does an incredible job of selling it. His bumps are great. His selling in general is fantastic. The way he looks weaker suddenly. A proper pro’s performance. 

 

The match isn’t blowaway good. It isn’t. There are lots of rest spots. Warrior goes to a bearhug that goes on for ages. They also work in a ref bump, which is great. Earl Hebner takes a killer bump and the positioning on it didn’t feel stupid. Normally a ref bump would allow one party or the other to cheat. That doesn’t happen here because they’re both faces.  

 

Instead, it gives Hogan a visual pin. The kind of thing he can mouth off about later. “I had him beat but fortune was against me”. Warrior also gets a visual pin, so it’s not obvious that Warrior is winning.  

One of the big questions, around the school yard back in my day anyway, was ‘could Warrior get Hogan up for the press’? Well, yep. Kick out. Hulk up! We’ve seen this story before, and I like that Warrior sells his punches having no impact. Big boot but the legdrop misses and Warrior bounces off the ropes and splashes Hogan for the win and the belts. Hogan’s Platoon-esque “NOOOOOO” reaction is priceless.  

 

This is always remembered as Hogan finally doing a clean job but enjoy it because it is a rarity, brrrrrrother. Gotta protect the biz. The business of making Hulk Hogan more money. Hogan gives Warrior the belt and they hug it out. A missed opportunity to flatten Warrior and turn heel. I guess he was worried about his movie residuals. ***¾. An all-time great carry job, only not perceived more highly because of what Savage did with Warrior a year later.  

There’s a great shot of Hogan leaving in the little ring cart, looking back at the ring. You can tell he’s going through a mixture of emotions. Having passed the torch he can obviously be proud of what they achieved here and, in particular, what a great job he did making Warrior look like he did. But you sense the melancholy in him. He’s thinking about whether he’s made the right call. Was Warrior the right guy to beat him? Should he be making movies, or should he be cementing his legacy here? Who knows what goes on inside that bald dome.  

 

Anyway, if you hate the old slaphead with a fiery passion it’s great to see him so conflicted. Personally, I’ve drastically changed my opinion of him during this series because I’ve seen far more context to what was happening in the company at the time. I still dislike Hogan but there’s more respect than there used to be. Warrior on the other hand is a complete nutjob and I’ll never like him or respect him. It’s sad the choice Vince gave us was balding egomaniac or roided up lunatic. At least the Bret Hart Era is rapidly closing in here. 

 

The 411: 

It’s a one match show. Just about everything else is either bland (Koko-Martel, Jake-DiBiase, tag titles) or outright stinky bad (Beefcake-Perfect, Bravo-Duggan). The second best match on the card is the Rockers-Orient Express match. And it’s not good. It’s just not shit. That all said, the main event is well worth seeing. If it had flopped this show would go down as an all-time disaster though.  

 

NEXT: For the WWF it’s The Wrestling Summit, a co-promoted show with All and New Japan. For me, it’s AWA Superclash IV. An event the AWA need to be a huge success for them, and they run the week after Wrestlemania. What could POSSIBLY go wrong?