WWF WrestleMania VI: The Ultimate Challenge
- Before getting to the review, I should point out that my copy of WrestleMania VI is the bastardized Coliseum Video version, which cuts a 3 1/2 hour show down to about 2 hours 35 minutes. In other words, every match is clipped to hell and we're missing some interviews and ring introductions. Got to love those wonderful people at Coliseum Video! They even clipped out Robert Goulet singing Oh Canada! THOSE CHEAP BASTARDS!
- Live from the Skydome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, held on April 1st, 1990. Commentary is once again handled by Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura. This would mark the last appearence on PPV for Jesse Ventura in the WWF until SummerSlam '99 when he was guest referee for the World Title match. Just a quick Note for most of these matches I didn't do times for, since my VCR is occupied with something else, and the only times I can find are the full ones.
- Koko B. Ware vs. "The Model" Rick Martel:
Filler match! This looks like something more suitable for a SuperStars of Wrestling feature match than the opening match on WrestleMania. The introductions of both men last longer than the actual match, in clipped form, which has about 3 noticable cuts in a span of 10 seconds. After a little bit of nothing, Martel casually wins the match by submission with the Boston Crab at 2:03. Barely anything here to review, but at least the crowd was super hot, and after "listening" to the crowds of the previous WrestleMania's, I'm going to give this a small boost. (1/4*)
- WWF Tag Team Championship Match:
The Colossal Connection © (w/ Bobby Heenan) vs. Demolition:
(Andre The Giant & Haku vs. Ax & Smash)
During the last week of December '89, the somewhat thrown together team of Andre and Haku upset Demolition for the titles on an episode of SuperStars of Wrestling, which was notable as Andre's only title reign that lasted longer than 3 minutes, and Ax spent the entire match getting his ass kicked. Pre-match promo from Demolition makes demolition innuendos to describe what they'll do to their opponents. The decline continues! Andre was fucking awful at WrestleMania V, and a year later, he doesn't even get in the ring for the match! Legally, that is. Match is clipped again, and Thank God. Haku spends most of the match beating up Ax with his basic, shitty offense. Smash eventually gets the hot tag, and it's all Demolition from there. Andre tries to break things up, but he gets caught in the ropes, and Demolition finish Haku off with the Decapitation elbow for their third and final Tag Team Titles at 5:24. After the match, Bobby Heenan gets in Andre's face about the loss (and appears to be screaming obsenities), until Andre "snaps" and beats the crap out of Heenan. Haku gets his ass kicked too, and Andre leaves the ring area to a standing ovation. Match sucked, but the post-match stuff was awesome. (1/2*)
- Hercules vs. Earthquake (w/ Jimmy Hart):
More filler! Earthquake was being pushed for a run against Hogan, and Hercules was pretty damn low on the midcard scale, so he gets to play the sacrificial lamb. If Hercules were a good worker, I'd care about his burial, but I don't, so I won't. Earthquake was originally being billed as the Canadian Earthquake during his first few months, but sometime between the Rumble and this show he dropped the Canadian part. Weird, says I. Another crappy match in a series of them so far, with all punch and kick from both men. Hercules stupidly tries for his Torture Rack move, but Earthquake is a big too heavy to be put into that, and he easily finishes Herc' off with the vertical splash/butt drop of doom at 4:10. After the match, Earthquake drops ass on Hercules some more for good measure. (DUD)
- Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake vs. Mr. Perfect (w/ The Genius):
Let's take you back to the 1990 Royal Rumble! Beefcake was having a negative star classic with the Genius until Mr. Perfect ran in and beat his brains in with a steel chair. This managed to shoe-horn Beefcake into Hogan's place feuding with Perfect, so Hogan can feud with the Warrior. And before people cry about how Hennig should've gotten the title, here's the cold reality: House show attendance was shit with Hennig headlining against Hogan (who was still drawing), despite being booked stronger than pretty much everyone else and getting one up on Hogan on an episode of SNME, so stop whining and blowing the guy because he's dead. Hogan/Warrior was money, Hogan/Hennig and Warrior/Hennig wasn't. Another clip job here, but nothing major. Beefcake has a rule that he can only have 1 good match a year, and didn't feel like using it here. Both men go through a rather dull match before Beefcake gets the fluke pin at around the 6:00 mark after ramming Perfect into the ring post. This was Perfect's first pinfall loss on a national scale (he lost by pinfall to the Warrior at the 3/19/90 MSG Show, which was only televised locally). Perfect would be shunted back down to the midcard and was eventually given 2 reigns with the IC Belt before his first retirement. (*1/4)
- "Rowdy" Roddy Piper vs. Bad News Brown:
More stuff thanks to the Rumble PPV. Both men eliminated each other during the Rumble match, then kicked each others ass around the ring. Then they kicked each others ass again on an episode of Wrestling Challenge. Piper does his best job to offend people, painting half of his body black, and then doing some funky dancing that would make Ernest Miller blush in embarassment. Another clipped match, and again, no real complaining from me, since it sucks anyway. Nothing but punch-punch-punch until they brawl outside of the ring for the token Double Count-Out at about 5:00. They continue fighting after the match, but the feud was never really settled. Piper went into another retirement soon after, and Brown was put into a feud with Roberts until he was released sometime after SummerSlam '90. (DUD)
- The Hart Foundation vs. The Bolsheviks:
(Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart vs. Nikolai Volkoff & Boris Zhukov)
No backstory to this, just filler for the Foundation to make a token appearence to show they're going to be pushed into a feud over the Tag Titles. Funny pre-match segment featuring the Bolsheviks and Steve Allen, who keeps goofing on them by playing funny songs instead of the Russian national anthem. The entrances are clipped for this, and we get to hear them sing. The Foundation won't have that though, because Canada hates Russians, and the Foundation beat up on Zhukov before finishing him off with the Hart attack at 19 seconds, the REAL quickest match in WrestleMania history. How unfair... Zhukov didn't even get his jacket off! (DUD)
- Tito Santana vs. The Barbarian (w/ Bobby Heenan):
Mr. Fuji had recently sold the services of the Powers of Pain, with Bobby getting to manage the Barbarian, and Slick picking up the Warlord. The Barbarian hasn't changed into his furr-underpants look yet, so maybe the power of the face-paint will make him work hard. Not much of a match, but Jesse Ventura's non-stop insulting of Santana is always good for a laugh, even if it's not politically correct. Another match that would be better fit for the weekend show feature matches. Santana nails the Flying Jalupeņo, but Heenan puts the Barbarian's foot on the bottom to keep him alive. The Barbarian then quickly kills Santana with a top rope clothesline, and picks up the victory at around 3:30. Bonus points for Santana selling that move like death and for Ventura's commentary. In a weird coincidence, Santana would job to the other half of the Powers of Pain at the next PPV (SummerSlam), with nearly the same finish, except replace clothesline with slam. (3/4*)
- Dusty Rhodes & Sapphire (w/ Elizabeth) vs. Randy Savage & Queen Sherri:
Since the last WrestleMania, King Haku lost his crown to Jim Duggan, who then in turn lost it to Randy Savage. Since Dusty Rhodes is a "common man", you can fill in the rest of the feud yourself. In what I thought was a weird booking decision, the WWF gave away a Rhodes/Savage match on the PrimeTime Wrestling Special the week before this match, and it was probably a better match too. Jesse Ventura continues to bring the awesome on commentary, hurling insults at Rhodes and Sapphire because of their announced weight of 450-ish pounds. Basically a comedy match with some bad wrestling in between. The Savage/Rhodes parts are watchable, but the focus is put almost entirely on Sapphire/Sherri, and that drags the match down to hell. Lots of sloppy work until the match crawls to a finish with Elizabeth interfering and Sapphire rolling Sherri up for the three count a little under 8:00 into the match. The feuds would continue until Ted Dibiase bought Sapphire and went into a feud with the Common man. (DUD)
- The Rockers vs. The Orient Express (w/ Mr. Fuji):
(Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels vs. Sato & Tanaka)
More time filler! As noted above, this is the Sato and Tanaka version of the Orient Express, so the match is going to suck. I always had the theory that someone just accidentally typed in the wrong letter of Sato's name to come up with his replacement (Kato), and going by the intelligence of the people Vince McMahon has employed, I wouldn't rule that out as an excuse. Once again, I wouldn't rule out the Rockers being on some kind of mind-altering substance, because this match is all over the place. There's no real formula going on, just one team controls for a minute, the other for the next, and repeat. The selling is rather bad too. All heck breaks loose for the millionth time at WrestleMania until Sato throws salt in the eyes of Jannetty, causing him to stumble around into the crowd and being counted-out at the 7:00 mark. I'm sure I could make a "that wasn't salt" joke, but that would be lame and childish... but I think I saw Shawn Michaels snorting up the left-overs after the match. (*1/2)
- "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan vs. Dino Bravo (w/ Jimmy Hart & Earthquake):
The crappy matches continue. Weird how this match made it to WrestleMania, especially since they had a feud that ended a few months before the last WrestleMania. Duggan isn't very over, especially since he's waving around an American Flag. IN CANADA. There's at least 1 Dino Bravo fan in the crowd, thanks to a camera picking up on a sign in the crowd. Another crappy punch-kick match that was probably used to set up a house show program between Duggan/Earthquake, but I don't know nor care anymore. Duggan cheats to win by bashing Bravo with his 2x4 and making the cover at around 4:30. After the match, Earthquake lays a second beatdown on the show, this time squashing Duggan under his giant ass. (DUD)
- Million $ Championship Match:
"Million $ Man" Ted Dibiase © (w/ Virgil) vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts:
Plenty of backstory to this match... nearly one year ago, Dibiase "put" Roberts out of action with the Million $ Dream (in reality, Roberts either needed surgery or was in the middle of a lawsuit). Roberts returned sometime after SummerSlam to get his revenge, working pretty good matches with Dibiase at arena shows. Roberts would then go on to steal Dibiase's Million $ Belt on an episode of Superstars, and to make sure he kept posession of it, kept the belt inside of the bag with Damian. Dibiase in turn tried hiring the services of Slick and the Big Bossman to get it for him, but Bossman ended up turning face because of finding out he was being paid off for doing dirty deeds. And now you know the rest of the story.
Before we get to the match, Roberts cuts a pretty damn good promo about Dibiase's treatment of fans (bringing up stuff more than 2 weeks old?!) and how he'll be the one who will get the revenge against Dibiase for everyone else. Coliseum Video pisses me off now, clipping this match in half. I guess I should be glad though, since they clipped out all the rest holds. Good match from what is shown, but the clippings hurt any of the possible psychology worked throughout the match. Roberts manages to make a Superman comeback, but Virgil pulls him out of the ring during a DDT attempt. Roberts and Dibiase brawl around the ring until both men get rammed into the ring post, but Virgil is there again, and rolls Dibiase back in to win by count-out at a clipped down 6:30-ish. Roberts gets his revenge though, laying out Dibiase with a DDT, handing his money out to the crowd, and stuffing a $100 bill down his throat. Great post-match to save the rest from being average. (**1/2)
- Big Bossman vs. Akeem (w/ Slick):
The Twin Towers Exp... actually, now that I think about it, that phrase is really not very good to use. Fucking Terrorists. Anyway, as mentioned in the previous match, the Bossman turned face after refusing a bribe from Dibiase, but Virgil accepted it, so now he's sending the Bossman's former partner, Akeem, after him and to take it out of his ass. Dibiase, who remained at ringside since the previous match, sneak attacks Bossman outside of the ring and works him over good before handing him over to Akeem. That's not enough help though, as Bossman quickly recovers and connects with the Sidewalk Slam out of nowhere for the three count at 1:51. Me thinks they were running really low on time and had to rush through the next couple of matches. They would have a rematch at the next Saturday Night's Main Event, but that was only about a couple of minutes longer and with a lame finish. (DUD)
- Rhythm & Blues and Jimmy Hart (including recently dark haired Greg Valentine) come out to sing Hunka Hunka Honky Love or whatever the fuck it was called. This goes on for a few minutes until the Bushwackers come out of nowhere to get revenge for an attack done a few weeks before the PPV. The only notable moment of this segment is the person driving their pink cadillac happens to be the future Diamond Dallas Page. As if anyone really gives a damn (including myself).
- "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka vs. "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/ Bobby Heenan):
MORE FILLER! Rude was being prepared for a push at the World Title, so he gets to make Snuka his bitch, as if that meant anything in 1990. Steve Allen joins the commentary booth for this match, and is pretty funny for a guy who probably isn't a wrestling fan. Most notable jokes are making fun of Snuka for being too ugly for a Vampire to bite and that his underwear looks like his wifes. Another semi-squash, as Rude finishes Snuka off without much trouble with the Rude Awakening at the 4:00 mark. And that, finally, is the last of the worthless and/or bad matches on the show. (1/2*)
- WWF World and Intercontinental Championships Match:
Hulk Hogan (World Champion) vs. The Ultimate Warrior (IC Champion)
Once again Flashback to the 1990 Royal Rumble, the Warrior and Hogan cleaned house, leaving only themselves to go at it, and history was made. From there, several face miscommunications and unwanted help kept boiling their tempers until it was officially announced that they would face off at WrestleMania VI, with both the World and Intercontinental Championships on the line. Earlier in the show, both men cut goofy promos, but none as goofy as the one featured on the Warrior DVD, about Warrior taking control of Hogan's plane and nose-diving it to hell or whatever.
Since I already reviewed this a few months back, here's the copy and pasted version for the first time in these reviews: Warrior wins the title in the ultimate challenge following one of the weakest big splashes ever at 23:56. Probably Warrior's best match up until this point, and it really shows that Hogan was capable of pulling a good match out of a slug's ass if he wanted to. Yes, the entire match was planned out it advance, but the entire pace was controlled by Hogan, and he conveniently has to go to resting every few minutes because Warrior was gassed about 90 seconds into the match and thus couldn't do much other than suck the wind out of the first 40 rows. After the match, Hogan presents Warrior with the World Title, which seems to be the passing of the torch. Too bad the Warrior tanked as champion and Hogan was brought back into the picture for another reign, making this pointless by the next year. (***1/4)
Final Thoughts: Fast forward material all of the way until you get to Roberts/Dibiase. Everything before that is time filling crap and sloppy work. Maybe it's the clippings that make the matches bad, but I doubt it. Definitely no recommendation for WrestleMania VI as a whole, but check out Hogan/Warrior, which is available on about 7-8 different videos released by the WWF in the last 15 years.
Jesse on Sapphire and Dusty's combined weight of 465: "465??!! Waitaminut Monsoon, you're telling me Rhodes only weighs 200!!"
Be thankful for the edit.. all the lame crap with Rona Barrett was left out. Looks like Alex Trebek was left out, too. He did some interviews and was timekeeper or something. Thought that was a pretty neat appearance, since I was a big Jeopardy fan and it made me think: "hey, Alex is cool! He likes rasslin'!"
and hey....I thought Hunka Hunka Honky Love was hilarious.
Damn, this is one of the old WrestleMania's that I actually own on tape.
It is a pretty bad show, though I do enjoy a lot of the moments (Andre/Heenan, Piper promo, Dibiase/Roberts, the main event).
I still remember renting this tape, and remember the cover and everything. I started watching at WM 7. Didn't even really know what wrestling was before then. Luckily, a locally owned video store helped catch me up with all the previous Wrestlemanias, Summerslams, Survivor Series, and most of the Rumbles if I recall.
They had 1 NWA tape, Chi-Town Rumble........and I never rented it.
A few years later as I got into middle school and high school, going into that section of the store was like going into the porn aisle or something. Didn't really want anyone to see you picking up Summerslam 94 to see Taker v Taker.
The Hunka Hunka sequence is hilarious. First, Sean Monney interviews some kid in the crowd about what he thinks about Rhythym n' Blues. Kid: "I don't care! They're Stupid! It's a stupid song! Everything they do is STUPID!" The kid's dad is seen behind him, with a proud look on his face, as if he's saying "good job, you tell 'em son. You make Daddy proud"
Then, in the skit itself, when Honky asks Jimmy and the "Honkettes" if they're ready. "We're readdddyyyy, Honky!". You've also got Valentine "strumming" on his guitar for the solo. The whole sequence is just so delusionally over-the-top. And the title of the song itself is hilarious. Next time you're revving up for some bedroom bumper cars, ask the little lady if she'd like a Hunka Hunka Scroogey Love. Just makes me wish Honky would've done variations on the entire Elvis catalog.