In Canada you would expect a showcase of The Hart Foundation. Did we got one? Well .. no, because this match lasted 19 seconds. The Hart Foundation won of course, but I found myself asking an important question, the question which begins with a “W” and ends in a “Y”. I guess Vince hated seeing the Hart Foundation at Wrestlemania, even in Canada in front of 67k+ fans.
 Match #7 – The Barbarian (with Bobby Heenan) vs. Tito Santana
The Barbarian had split from the Powers of Pain, and this match was booked to establish him as a singles competitor. It was a decent, yet short contest. It ended well, but I have spoiled too many results so far. so swiftly moving on.
Match #8 – Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire (with Miss Elizabeth) vs. “Macho King” Randy Savage and Queen Sherri
As I am watching the Anthology set, watching Dusty and Sapphire make their entrance with the Wheel of Fortune theme music completely threw me off. Then I remembered that Vince is cheap and doesn’t like to pay for entrance themes so they get dubbed over by something cheap. Gorilla plugged this match as a special event because there had never been a mixed tag team match before in the WWF. This was the first time any women’s wrestlers were involved in a match at Wrestlemania since Wrestlemania II.
Dusty and Sapphire were announced at a combined weight of 465 Ibs, which made Ventura question whether Dusty is 200 Ibs or not, seen as Sapphire must be at least 250. Gorilla agreed with him. Dusty introduced his crown jewel to be Miss Elizabeth, she made her entrance and Savage went nuts in the ring. The general theme from commentary throughout this match was Gorilla arguing with Jesse over the rules of the match. Gorilla said at the beginning that men would fight the men, and women would fight the women. This didn’t happen, as Ventura got angry over Dusty putting his hands on Sherri. Jesse would argue with Gorilla over the rules of the match throughout (as the rules continued to be broken), and I found it rather funny how he had corrected Gorilla once again.
This was a low-point for Savage, Dusty and Sherri’s careers. I couldn’t be certain if Sapphire was a wrestler or not, she was that bad. The whole match was horrible, it’s one of those you can skip or try to forget. What a difference a year makes. And then we had a flood of interviews. Originally I had a few posted, but I’ll only include Warrior’s and Hogan’s after the edit.
Hogan’s interviews get stranger from year-to-year. Warrior always delivered the most intense promos, so I was looking forward to it. Listening to both, Warrior made the most sense, but not by much. Two babyfaces against one another, they complimented each other, but also promised victory for different reasons. Hogan was fighting for the Hulkamaniacs, and Warrior was fighting for the Warriors and the Hulkamaniacs, so they could come together as one. I preferred Warrior’s, as he was fighting for everyone on this occasion.
Match #9 – The Orient Express (Sato and Pat Tanaka) (with Mr. Fuji) vs. The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty)
It was an acceptable match, but I didn’t get any back-story so it was hard to care for it. I will say that Marty doesn’t get enough credit for Shawn’s early career, he’s always been a great worker whenever I see him, he set a good example at a time when Shawn needed it. I won’t say much more about this, but I will say that Shawn picked up two losses in a row at Wrestlemania.
Afterwards we saw an interview with Rhythm N’ Blues. Valentine’s never looked so charismatic!
Match #10 – Jim Duggan vs. Dino Bravo (with Jimmy Hart and Earthquake)
Dino Bravo was introduced, and despite being Canadian, received a fairly weak heel response. Much to Ventura’s surprise, Duggan carried a USA flag down to the ring. Jesse called Duggan stupid at one point. As Duggan does, being in Canada doesn’t mean he can’t do the “HOOOOO!” and “USA” chants .. the Canadians loved the “HOOOO”, but did not react to the “USA” chants.
The match was filler. Nothing special about this, as Duggan somehow managed to pick up the win despite interference, and Earthquake squashed him afterwards. Then we saw the promo of the night from the smooth talker himself, Jake Roberts. If you are going to watch any interviews in the article, this should be one of them.
Match 11 – Ted DiBiase (c) (with Virgil) vs. Jake Roberts – Million Dollar Championship
I loved this. You know any match involving these two is going to be good. But it wasn’t just the match that was entertaining, we also witnessed one of the biggest Mexican waves in WWF history. Ventura was loving this, and at one point two separate Mexican Waves were going on in different levels of the SkyDome. I don’t think it was done to disrespect the wrestlers, it was a spontaneous thing which lasted for a while. Sadly the match ended in a count-out loss for Roberts after Virgil threw DiBiase into the ring. The Million Dollar Championship could change hands (as Gorilla explained it was a non-sanctioned belt) on a count-out, so DiBiase regained his belt.
Match #12 – Big Boss Man vs. Akeem (with Slick)
Despite DiBiase ambushing Bossman before the match, Akeem still ate a Bossman Slam and lost the match within two minutes. Not much else to say about this one.
Sean Mooney got some words with Mary Tyler Moore. Then we had to sit through the most epic song in Wrestlemania history, Hunka, Hunka, Hunka, Honky Love. Not sure whether the Canadians bought the old Elvis Presley act in 1990, but I found it just as cringing as the Wrestlemania rap from the previous year. Which one was worse? You decide.
Match #13 – Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan) vs. Jimmy Snuka
You could see Rude on the verge of main event status here. I enjoyed the match, but it was rather short. Rude had an easy night as he picked up the win with the Rude Awakening.
Match #14 – The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan – WWF Championship / Intercontinental Championship
The atmosphere was electric. You could see all the Hulkamaniacs and Warriors in the crowd, and the Canadians were excited through the whole thing. It was no technical masterpiece, it relied on simple moves, but the pacing was spot on. The running of the ropes was bizarre, but it didn’t matter, the fans were eating this up. Hogan rolled to the outside at one point, holding his knee. You could clearly hear him tell the referee his knee was gone, but two minutes later the injury disappeared. Both men no-sold moves on occasion .. it was like watching two super heroes.
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