Wrestlemania VI (1990) – “The Ultimate Challenge”
Wrestlemania VI drew 67,678 fans to the SkyDome in Toronto, Canada, breaking the attendance record in the process. This was the first Wrestlemania to be produced outside of America. Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura provided commentary together for the last time at a Wrestlemania event. The Ultimate Challenge was put forward by Hulk Hogan to The Ultimate Warrior, and for the first time in WWF history, the WWF and Intercontinental Championships would be on the line in a winner takes all match.
With Wrestlemania almost always being produced in American venues, it was refreshing to hear Robert Goulet sing a rendition of O Canada before the show. The mini ring carts returned for this event, previously seen at Wrestlemania III. Before I talk about the matches, I found out after watching the show that Edge, Christian, Lance Storm and Renee Young were in attendance as fans. Here is a picture of a 16 year old Adam Copeland.
Match #1 – Rick “The Model” Martel vs. Koko B. Ware
I felt so sorry for Koko B. Ware at Wrestlemania. Rick Martel got a decent heel reaction from the Canadian fans throughout. The match was quite competitive, until Koko made a mistake which allowed Martel to capitalize with a Boston Crab. Not a bad match, a good opener. I had to laugh at Gene Okerlund in this interview with The “Colossal” connection.
Match #2 РDemolition (Ax and Smash) vs. The Colossal Connection (Andr̩ the Giant and Haku) (c) (with Bobby Heenan) РWWF Tag Team Championship
If there is one thing I can take away from the Wrestlemania series so far, it’s how amazing Demolition were. Did they have a funny look? Sure … but both men could cut promos and work as a team to put on solid performances. Haku did most of the work for their team. When Andre got in he would do his part, but he was finding it difficult doing the basic moves. He couldn’t even punch or kick properly anymore. The Canadian fans surprised me with how loud they were getting, especially when Demolition attacked Andre. They went crazy when Andre got stuck in the ropes, and even more so when Demolition destroyed the lone Haku and pinned him for their third (and last) WWF Tag Team Championship.
And then Bobby Heenan got in Andre’s face and blamed him for the loss. Heenan shouted at him, poked him, and although Andre tried to explain that Haku accidentally kicked him in the face, Heenan slapped Andre in the face. The Giant’s demeanor changed immediately, and the Canadian fans went nuts as Andre wrapped his large hand around Heenan’s throat. After spending many years as a heel, he left his final match in the WWF as a babyface. He attacked Heenan with some flimsy punches, and also took Haku out
Sadly this was the last match Andre had in the WWF, his health issues were getting worse. I saw Andre come into the ring and break up a pin-fall with the weakest looking kick I have ever seen by anyone, and I wish that was an exaggeration. He wasn’t cleared to wrestle, and you could see why during the match. Regardless, It was one of the better moments of Wrestlemania VI in my opinion.
Following this we saw Earthquake for the first time at a Wrestlemania in a backstage interview. He was jiggling around .. in a mesmerizing way. Obviously he was simulating an earthquake, but there was something about his jiggling that kept my eyes glued. Maybe I have a thing for severely out-of-shape giants?
Match #3 – Earthquake (with Jimmy Hart) vs. Hercules
A rather dull match to be honest. Hercules was a great worker, and I enjoyed his previous Wrestlemania matches, but trying to work a decent match with Earthquake was like trying to tell Hogan not to eat his vitamins. I don’t want to say much more .. Hercules deserved more than this.
And then we had something different. Miss Elizabeth being interviewed by Rona Barrett. Wasn’t she lovely though? That Miss Elizabeth .. one of the most innocent looking figures in WWF history. She had to conduct an interview so her appearance later would not feel so random.
Match #4 – Brutus Beefcake vs. Mr. Perfect (with The Genius)
Mr. Perfect went into this match with a perfect win-loss record on television. He dominated the match over Beefcake, and was able to hit him with the scroll that The Genius was holding behind the referee’s back. Despite the interference and dominance, Beefcake somehow managed to pull out an upset. It was a decent match, although the abrupt finish was a bit of a buzz kill … Post-match shenanigans followed. Beefcake stalked The Genius .. forced him into the ring, then as he went after Perfect, The Genius escaped and slowly started walking away, only for Beefcake to notice and drag him back to the ring.
Perfect didn’t bother to save him as Beefcake cut his hair … And then this happened. Was it racist to have Piper paint himself half-black and claim to have split personality? He would “try” to dance like a black guy when his other personality kicked in. Bad News Brown had little charisma or personality, so you could say Piper had nothing else to target, he did this to make their feud somewhat memorable. Nevertheless, if the shoe was on the other foot, and it was Bad News Brown who painted himself half-white, would it have been accepted? I believe Piper is the only guy to ever get away with something like this on a wrestling show: Piper Promo
Match #5 – Roddy Piper vs. Bad News Brown
This was a fight, pure and simple. You won’t find many wrestling holds in this one, it was all about the brawling. As always, the fans were firmly behind Piper, and giving hardly any reaction for Brown. Half way through the match, Piper went one step further by introducing a white glove he wore on his right hand; the black painted side. Ventura claimed it was a Michael Jackson glove, just to further the gimmick introduced by Piper. And then yeah .. just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the match ended with a count-out draw. I’m really starting to miss the Piper/Adonis match from Wrestlemania III. Luckily we saw a funny segment with Steve Allen and The Bolsheviks, which ironically lasted longer than the next match! Sadly, I cannot find a video of it anywhere.
Match #6 – The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) vs. The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov
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