Welcome to the latest edition of our WrestleMania Rewind series, written by yours truly, exclusively for everyone here at SLTD Wrestling. The aim of WrestleMania Rewind is to review every WrestleMania in roughly 2,000 words. Click here to read the series so far.
WrestleMania 6 came to us on April Fool’s Day in 1990 from the Toronto Skydome in Canada, which I believe is the only place outside of America that’s held a WrestleMania to date – it’s also where WrestleMania 18 was held. Interesting factoid there for ya!
This was also the last WrestleMania to feature my favourite announce team of Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura. Sad times that these 2 never broadcasted another Mania together. Best team ever? As usual, the Fink handled in-ring duties with Mean Gene, among others, handling segues and backstage interviews.
Match 1: Koko B Ware vs Rick Martel
Martel sneak attacks Koko early, but the Birdman fires back with a crossbody and some dropkicks. Martel sends Koko outside and controls things. Koko makes a comeback with flying headbutts for a 2-count. Koko misses a crossbody and Martel gets the submission win with a Boston Crab.
Opinion: The crowd was crazy into this match. Koko and Rick had some decent chemistry and it was a pretty entertaining way to open the show.
Match 2: WWF Tag-Team Championship Match – Andre the Giant & Haku (c) (w/Bobby Heenan) vs Demolition
Heels attack early and Smash weathers the storm before tagging Ax. Demolition uses frequent tags and they work over Haku until he lands a karate chop and gets a 2-count off a backbreaker. The heels isolate Ax. Haku gets a 2-count off a shoulder-breaker. Hot tag to Smash, who’s on fire. Haku misses a kick on Smash, and catches Andre instead. Andre gets tied in the ropes and Demolition hit their finisher on Haku to win the titles.
Opinion: Until I started re-watching these old PPVs, I completely forgot how over Demolition were, and Andre for that matter. Andre’s involvement was limited due to his deteriorating health, but Haku handled things well and the match was really enjoyable.
Match 3: Earthquake (w/Jimmy Hart) vs Hercules
Herc uses his speed and quickness early to frustrate ‘Quake. ‘Quake slows things down and easily dominates. Herc comes back with four clotheslines to knock the big man down. He goes for a backbreaker, but can’t get him up and ‘Quake squashes him for the win.
Opinion: It lasted for around four minutes or something. It didn’t totally bury Hercules, who’s essentially enhancement talent at this point, and was designed to put ‘Quake over as a dominant heel. Mission accomplished I’d say.
Match 4: Mr Perfect (w/The Genius) vs Brutus Beefcake
Brutus knocks Perfect out of the ring early with a right hand, and does the same with an Atomic Drop. Perfect’s selling for Beefcake is tremendous. “The Genius”, Lanny Poffo, gets involved. He drops the scroll, which Perfect nails Beefcake with. Perfect gets a 2-count off a snapmare. Perfect’s in control, but Beefcake gets the win “from out of nowhere” after slingshotting Perfect into the ringpost.
Opinion: This was Perfect’s first televised loss I think, and it came against Beefcake. No disrespect, but you’d think the guy to end Perfect’s undefeated streak would be someone who meant something. Beefcake didn’t. Perfect’s selling was immense too. He made Beefcake look great.
Match 5: Rowdy Roddy Piper vs Bad News Brown
There’s a huge pop for Piper. In all honesty, this is more of a fight than a match. Bad News gets a 2-count off an elbow, then goes on to expose the turnbuckle, which Piper sends him into. The brawl continues to the outside and ends with both men being counted out.
Opinion: Like I said, more of a fight than a match, but the crowd was hot for it. I’ve noticed a lot of matches on these early ‘Manias ending in DQ’s/count-out finishes, which is usually fine, but not at the biggest show of the year.
Match 6: Hart Foundation vs The Bolsheviks
A squash win for the Harts, thanks to an elevated clothesline from Bret.
Opinion: Good pop for the Harts, who won after about 20 seconds. Literally. Not a lot to say.
Match 7: Barbarian vs Tito Santana
Power versus speed here. Tito gets a 2-count off a crossbody. Barbarian drops Tito with a big boot, but misses an elbow. Tito lands two dropkicks and a flying forearm, but it’s not enough. Barbarian connects with a clothesline from the top rope to get the win.
Opinion: A decent little match here. Tito Santana is a marvel. Honestly. A babyface who’s over, despite the fact he loses most of his matches, but…He’s credible. Which makes it mean something when he loses.
Match 8: Dusty Rhodes & Sapphire (w/Elizabeth) vs Randy Savage & Sherri
This match was a complete waste of Rhodes & Savage’s talents. Why couldn’t they just have had a 1-on-1 match? Sapphire’s work was awful. She got the pin on Sherri.
Opinion: Savage and Rhodes deserved better than this. I’d rather have seen them go at it than have the ladies get involved.
Match 9: The Orient Express (w/Fuji) vs The Rockers
Rockers off to a good start with a series of double-team moves. Heels isolate Jannetty, who makes a tag to Michaels. Tanaka nails him with a spinning forearm. Sato gets a 2-count off a knee from the top rope. Michaels lands a clothesline on Tanaka and makes a hot tag to Jannetty. Rockers are back to double-team moves. Fuji gets involved and some salt ends up in Jannetty’s eyes. Express win by count-out.
Opinion: Again, a good little tag-team match but I don’t understand the need for these count-out/DQ finishes. The Rockers were a great team. Good chemistry, believable and the crowd were into them.
Match 10: Dino Bravo vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Duggan’s so stupid that he chants “USA!” and brings an American flag with him…in CANADA. We all know Duggan’s offense: lefts, rights, back body drops and clotheslines. He lands all of those early, but Bravo fights back. Duggan gets a 2-count off an elbow and makes a comeback with 3 clotheslines. There’s a distraction by Earthquake. Hacksaw blasts Dino in the back with his 2-by-4 to win.
Opinion: Just filler and nothing more. Harmless fun I suppose you could call it. Although babyfaces shouldn’t need to use weapons to win.
Match 11: Million Dollar Championship – Ted DiBiase vs Jake Roberts
Jake has the better of the early going. Ted gets back into it when Jake misses a high knee and wears Jake out with a front facelock. Ted lands a piledriver, but Jake rolls through a nonchalant cover to get a 2-count. Ted’s back on the attack and locks in the Million Dollar Dream. Jake gets to the ropes to break it and breaks a subsequent pin the same way. Jake makes a comeback and lands a couple of clotheslines to send the crowd nuts. Interference from Virgil leads to Jake losing by count-out.
Opinion: The third match in a row where some kind of shenanigans were involved in the finish. It was good, and they have good chemistry, so why there couldn’t have been a clean finish? What’s up with that McMahon?!?!
Match 12: Akeem (w/Slick) vs Big Boss Man
There’s a sneak attack on the Boss Man by the Million Dollar Man before the bell. Akeem follows up with a splash for 2. Boss Man comes back with an Atomic Drop, clothesline and hits the Boss Man Slam for the win.
Opinion: Essentially a squash match, with the babyface picking up the win, despite the early heel attack.
Match 13: Rick Rude vs Jimmy Snuka
Snuka has the best of it early until Rude hits a suplex. Snuka catches him with a headbutt, misses a second rope splash and Rude hits Snuka with the Rude Awakening for the win.
Opinion: I love watching Rude. There’s always a purpose behind what he does and, key for a heel, he sells his opponent’s offense TERRIFICALLY well.
Match 14: WWF World & Intercontinental Championship – Hulk Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior
Neither man’s ability to gain any real momentum early. Warrior no-sells a scoop slam and clotheslines Hogan outside. Hogan gets in control and gets a 2 off a suplex, then a side suplex. Both men go down with a double clothesline. Warrior then hits a series of clotheslines and gets a 2 off a suplex before cinching in a bearhug.
There’s a ref bump. Hogan sidesteps a shoulder-tackle, sending Warrior down. There’s a couple of close 2-counts. They brawl outside. Hogan “hulks” up out of Warrior’s finisher, but he misses the legdrop and Warrior lands his splash to win.
Opinion: Two limited workers against each other. Match of the Year! (That was sarcasm by the way). Considering who they were, it was a very decent match and Warrior winning was the lesser of two evils.
Summary: Far too many screwy finishes. When it’s the biggest show of the year, you should have as many clean finishes as possible. The fans deserve to see a winner and a loser, regardless of who they are. It’s really, REALLY frustrating to see so many matches ending in count-out/DQ.
It was a really good event, although only two of the matches actually meant anything – the Tag Title match and the main-event. Having said that, there were a few great matches on the card – the aforementioned tag-title match and the tag-match with the Rockers too. Not the complete card, but by no means the worst. The main-event was pure balls though. Very over-rated.
Hopefully, you enjoyed that quick look back at WrestleMania 6. Leave your comments/feedback via the usual channels, and join me again tomorrow to revisit WrestleMania 7!
SLTD Wrestling's resident Scottish Nightmare. Some of my content may not be suitable for younger readers or those who are easily offended!
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