Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura.

WWF title v. Intercontinental title: Hulk Hogan v. Ultimate Warrior

The Background:

There wasn’t a fan in 1990 who was not divided on their preference. Hogan or the Warrior. The reliable hero in Hulk for which you grew up watching, or, the compelling Comic book hero-like Ultimate Warrior, who just seemed a tad “cooler” than the somewhat milk and cookies Hulkster. We all wondered what would happen when the two most seemingly unbeatable WWF stars finally battled, and we got our wish at Wrestlemania 6. This whole match was a ‘I can’t believe I’m seeing it’ epic. Total on-the-edge-of-the-seat stuff from start to finish.

The entire match was planned out beforehand, and choreographed several times, weeks before the event to ensure a minimum of trouble.

The Match:

Warrior makes his manic entrance into the ring and runs out of gas before he even gets to the ring! Somebody get that boy a ring cart (and a tank of oxygen…) Staredown and shoving match to start, won by the Warrior, then Hogan. They do the test of strength: Warrior brings Hogan to his knees, then Hogan fights up and brings Warrior down. Hogan takes down Warrior and drops an elbow, then they do a criss-cross, which leads to a Hogan slam that is no-sold by Warrior. Another criss-cross, and a slam on Hogan, which Hogan sells. Warrior clotheslines Hogan to the floor, and Hulk injures his knee, and totally oversells it. Warrior stomps on it for good measure. Back in the ring and they poke each other in the eye and choke. Warrior jaws with the referee and Hogan takes the opportunity to clothesline Warrior in the corner and basically forget about the knee injury. Hogan drops an elbow for the first two-count and applies a facelock and a small package for two. Running clothesline gets two for Hogan. Backbreaker gets two. Hogan uses a chinlock. Belly-to-back suplex gets two, then back to the chinlock. Warrior breaks free and they do the double-KO spot. Warrior shakes the ropes to hulk up, giving Hogan a taste of his own medicine by no-selling Hulk’s offense. Three clotheslines. Running shoulderblock. Two cross-corner whips and a suplex gets two. Warrior with the bearhug, as Hogan fades fast. Ref bumped, Warrior goes up and hits a pair of double-axehandles. Hogan sidesteps the shoulderblock, but no ref to count. Warrior suplexes him, still no ref. Hebner crawls over…for two. Hogan rollup gets two. They hit the floor and brawl, and Hogan hits the post. Back in, Warrior clotheslines him and hits the gorilla slam and splash…for two. Hulk up, crowd goes nuts. Three punches, big boot, legdrop…MISSES. Warrior finishes with the splash to win the title at 22:46, everyone’s in shock.

The Aftermath:

Warrior could not have been put over any HUGER. But, then, something happened. Well, actually, nothing happened, and that was the problem. Warrior, although champion, was completely overshadowed by Hulk Hogan, who seemingly had passed the torch at Mania, but in the interim, had secretly snatched it back, by garnering the bulk of the attention for his sympathetic feud with Earthquake (who had broken his ribs) while Warrior was left in a re-hashed rivalry with the late Rick Rude. Warrior for all intensive purposes should have been THE focal point, but the Orange Goblin in classic “Hulkster” fashion just would not step away from the spotlight.

Eventually, Warrior faded out of the picture, dropped the title, disappeared and soon after legally changed his name to “WARRIOR”, from his birth name Jim Hellwig. He would make several more brief cameos in Wrestling in the ensuing eight years though. From feuding with Papa Shango in a rivalry that saw him puke, followed up by a brief comeback at Wrestlemania 12 where he destroyed a certain future Champion in under a minute, to finally, a failed WCW stint that saw him try to overthrow the nWo by forming his own group (the oWn or One Warrior Nation) and recruiting Brutus “Disciple” Beefcake to his side. Not exactly a group that would set the world on fire.

Winner: Warrior. Even after seeing it 200 times or so, it’s still one of my personal favorite matches of all-time and the ending sequence still gets my heart pounding.

Hardy and Jericho are here, too. This is all POWER vs. SPEED. Barrett is a beast. He has a nice backbreaker; first lifting Gabriel up belly-to-back, then bouncing his legs off the ropes before slamming him across his bended knee. Ouch. Wade puts Gabriel on the top turnbuckle and follows him up as Gabriel is able to shove him off and then hits the 450 for the pin. Jericho gives Gabriel a Codebreaker post-match.

Winner: Gabriel

X-Division Title: Doug Williams vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Christopher Daniels

Lot of good spots in this one. Some great three-way spots. They actually get some time, surprisingly — this might be the longest match of the Hogan Era. Standard X Division stuff but it’s been a while. Williams retains with the Chaos Theory on Daniels.

Winner: Doug Williams

Match had begun during the break. Orton went to work against Rhodes, who, after a back-elbow, made the tag to DiBiase. Orton took down Teddy too, who cowered in his corner like Rhodes before him, and made the tag. The heels finally started double-teaming to get the advantage. That is, until Rhodes was back-dropped over the top rope. DiBiase went to attack, but Orton saw it coming, and DiBiase backed away. They went to break after over three minutes of action. Back from the break with Orton fighting out of the heel corner, knocking DiBiase off the apron and holding Rhodes at bay until DiBiase dropkicked Orton on the floor. Rhodes sent Orton’s face into the steel steps. Clothesline by DiBiase for two-and-a-half, causing DiBiase to argue with referee Chad Patton. The heels had an extended run on offense at this point. Orton made his comeback with a couple of scoop slams. Orton then pounded away on DiBiase in the corner. DiBiase awkwardly ran into a back-breaker. Orton pounded the mat for an RKO, but Rhodes grabbed him. DiBiase, from behind, landed Dream Street for the win at about 11:00.

Winners: DiBiase & Rhodes.

Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura.

WWF World title: Randy Savage v. Hulk Hogan

The Background:

Miss Elizabeth is in a neutral corner. And one year after winning the title in his building, it all comes full circle as Savage defends against Hogan, drawing a bazillion dollars on PPV. Story of the match was that Savage generated resentment towards Hogan, which led to his heel turn and Darth Vader-like shift back to the Dark Side again.

The Match:

Chase erupts during the feeling out period, and Savage hides behind Liz. Hogan tries some wrestling and Savage cheats to take over. Savage works on the arm until Hogan tosses him out of the ring to break. Hogan comes back with his limited offense but puts his head down and Savage clobbers him, and Hogan blades. Another mini-comeback by Hogan fails and Savage knees Hogan into the corner. Hogan hulks up and does the corner comeback, but his arm is still hurting. Savage takes a nasty bump as Hogan slams him over the top to the floor. Liz helps him up and Savage takes a swing at her. Hogan and Savage brawl on the floor, and Hogan tries to do a battering ram job on Savage into the post. Liz blocks his path and Hogan ends up getting shoved into the post. Savage starts jawing with Liz, and Hebner finally has had enough and sends her back to the dressing room. Savage drops the double-axehandle to Hogan, ramming his head into the barricade. Necksnap and elbow on the apron throatfirst to work on the neck, then a kneedrop. Only gets two. Savage chokes Hulk out with the tape. Savage chokes Hulk out, and then drops the big elbow…but Hogan no-sells. Hulk up. Three punches. Big boot, and the legdrop and Hogan wins the title for a second time at 17:53. I hate to admit it, but it was LOUD when Hogan won the belt for the second time.

Winner: Hulk Hogan. This was quite good for a Hogan match, though not really as good as the initial drama made it seem to be. But if you’ve never seen it, it’s worth a look.

Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura.

WWF title tournament, first round: Ricky Steamboat v. Greg Valentine

The Background:

This was assumed to be a no-brainer win for the Dragon to set up a rematch with Savage, instead of putting Valentine over the Dragon. Especially since The Hammer had been used as fodder in the new Dream Team in the previous months leading to the show and didn’t exactly have very much in the way of momentum going into this thing. Also, a Savage victory over Steamboat would erase that one black mark on his record, and considering they were putting all their eggs in Macho’s basket, I’m surprised they didn’t.

The Match:

Steamboat works on the arm to start, and gets some two counts off shoulderblocks. Hammer gets some two-counts and then sets up for the figure-four, working on the knee. Steamboat escapes and they do a chop-fest. Valentine does the Flair Flop off a really nasty chop. A greco-roman thumb to the eye turns the tide. Valentine to the top with a shot to the head, and he goes for the figure-four again. Steamboat blocks and comes back again with a flying elbow. He goes to the top and hits the karate chop. Valentine gets rammed to the turnbuckle 10 times, and Hebner gets in Steamer’s face about it. Steamboat goes to the top rope again in frustration and hits the bodypress, but Valentine rolls through for the pin.

The Aftermath:

This would prove to be Steamboat’s first swan song in the WWF, as he waves goodbye to the fans and heads to the NWA for better days.

Winner: Greg Valentine. It’s a crime to force these two into a 5 minute match. They tried to have a good match despite the time constraints at any rate.

Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura.

WWF Intercontinental title: Randy Savage v. Ricky Steamboat

The Background:

Steamboat challenged Savage on national TV for the I-C title, but Savage threw a tantrum mid-match and smashed the ring-bell into Steamboat’s throat. Steamboat made a recovery after a couple of months off, then started chasing Savage all over the country, getting disqualified for excessive violence in the process. Meanwhile, Bruno Sammartino was so disgusted by Savage that he came out of retirement to personally kick Savage’s ass. Steamboat made his dramatic return to TV on Saturday Night’s Main Event during a match between Savage and George Steele, and Steamboat invited Steele to be in his corner for this.

Despite being a classic dream match, WM 3 wasn’t entirely built around them as Savage didn’t do 20 hours worth of radio interviews before the show saying it was going to be the greatest match ever. This was, until 1989, considered the greatest match of all time by insiders and casual fans alike.

The Match:

Steamer uses his speed and armdrags Savage, then chokes him out and Savage bails. Back in, Savage suckers him in and chokes him out on the ropes, dropping an elbow for two. Steamboat grabs an arm and goes to work on it, snapping it off the top rope and chopping it. Elbow from Savage breaks the wristlock. Savage sends Steamboat over the top. He drapes him over the top and rams an elbow into Steamboat’s throat. Snapmare back into the ring and an elbow to the forehead gets two for Savage. Kneedrop for two. Steamboat gets Savage in the corner and chops at him, then ties Savage in the ropes and chops him some more. Savage kicks him in the gut to break, and they reverse some irish whips and Steamboat gets a cross-body for two. Shoulderblock for two, and another for two. Savage comes off with a high knee to the back and tosses Steamboat, but he skins the cat and comes back in. Savage clotheslines him right back out again. Savage knees him in the back again while he’s regrouping, sending him crashing into the front row, and the Animal rescues him and brings him back in. And Savage tosses him right back out again, and follows with the double axehandle. Back in, another axehandle and he elbows him down for two. Necksnap gets two. Atomic drop gets two. Suplex gets two. They slug it out as Steamboat starts with the chops, but Savage pulls out at gut wrench suplex for two. Steamobat flips out of a atomic drop and whips Savage, but puts his head down and kicks booted. Savage charges and Steamboat backdrops him over the top rope. Steamboat tosses Savage in and delivers the chop off the top for two but Savage with his foot on the ropes. End came when Steamer drops some chops and and Savage bails. Back in, Steamboat gets a sunset flip for two. Rollup for two. Bridge gets two. Small package gets two. He catapults Savage to the post for two. Rollup gets two, reversed by Savage for two. Savage posts him, and the ref gets bumped. Savage hits the clothesline and the Big Elbow, no ref. Savage grabs the bell, but George Steele fights with him over it, pushes him off the top rope, and Savage is so flustered that he can’t even slam Steamboat properly, as Steamboat reverses to a cradle and gets the pin and the title at 14:34. The rollup also set up the finish of the greatest match in history two years later when Flair used Steamboat’s own reversal against him to win the World title, so it has that extra bit of awesomeness associated with it.

The Aftermath:

Steamboat would not stay happy for long, losing his hard-earned title to the least likely suspect a couple of weeks later: The Honky Tonk Man. Steamboat wasn’t really held back as much as he was screwed over by Vince in 1987. The market wasn’t really right for someone like Steamboat to be a main guy in the Hogan era (outside of the NWA, of course), but nonetheless Hogan was still pissed at him for upstaging him at this event. To make Steamboat’s life worse, he asked Vince for six weeks off to help his wife with the baby, and got six MONTHS off, unpaid, instead. So basically Rick didn’t make any friends in high places at that point. Savage was also punished -- he was jobbed out and humilated on TV repeatedly throughout 1987 until the fans turned him face late in the year and Hogan apparently mended fences with him long enough to give him the rub.

Winner: Ricky Steamboat. If you don’t like this match, you’re not a wrestling fan. This match won just about every “Match of the Year” honor that was out there, and it provided perhaps the all time biggest markout moment. It was pretty much the perfect match in every facet, from the storyline buildup to the execution to the crowd reaction to the historic nature and long-term influence it had on the sport in general. Every fan should see this match at least once in their lives.

Hosted by Mean Gene, Gorilla Monsoon & Cathy Lee Crosby (from “That’s Incredible”).

WWF tag team title match: The Dream Team v. The British Bulldogs

The Background:

Ozzy Osbourne appeared as the British Bulldogs’ manager. He was originally going to be a guest interviewer, but those plans were scrapped once the bookers realized that it would take Ozzy until WM6 just to mumble the word “Federation.” Capt. Lou is also managing The Bulldogs here. He was called the “manager of champions”, but really only showed up when a team won them, then never had anything to do with them again.

The Dream Team were a case of Valentine bringing the goods and Beefcake being smart enough to stand on the apron and let him carry the team. What they did, they did very effectively. The Bulldogs had been chasing the Dream Team for months prior to this, and this would be the last title shot for them.

The Match:

Bulldogs just destroy Valentine and Beefcake with an awesome array of crisply delivered suplexes and clotheslines, but the tide turns when Beefcake nearly kills Davey with a hammerlock slam. From there, Hammer & Beefcake takes turns double-teaming Davey, but eventually Dynamite climbs to the top rope, as Smith shoves Valentine into Dynamite’s head and pins him out of nowhere to claim their first and only tag team title at 13:03.

Winners: The British Bulldogs. This was the best match of the night, and even that was all kinds of mediocre. The irony is that the show could have been saved. Bret Hart and Ricky Steamboat were originally going to work each other, but politics intervened, and Hercules Hernandez got the honor of catching Ricky’s bodypress that night instead. To apologize, the WWF gave them that Boston house show match and filmed it for Coliseum Video.

Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura.

Main Event: Hulk Hogan & Mr. T v. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff

The Background:

The nutshell version of what built to WM1 was that Roddy Piper showed up on the set where Mr. T was acting and bombarded him with insults. Cyndi Lauper then was slated to receive an award from the WWF for her acheivements, but Piper crashed the party. Hogan thus got involved as teh savior of “rock ‘n’ wrestling.” Piper and Hogan fought one-on-one at MSG on a live MTV broadcast (this was “The War to Settle the Score”), but after Piper’s corner man Bob Orton was knocked out by Hogan, Paul Orndorff came out to second Piper. After a ref bump, Orndorff interfered, and it was two on one on Hogan until Mr. T came out of the crowd to make the save and join forces with fellow Rocky 3 star. And with that, the match was made for WM1.

Mr. T was one of if not the biggest reasons for Wrestlemania 1’s success. As a matter of fact, both of the WWF’s boom periods were predicated by a celebrity (T and Tyson) giving the rub to the top babyface (Hogan and Austin) and attracting mainstream attention for the Wrestlemania show. With all the new eyeballs watching, Hogan and Austin then each caught on with a bigger audience in a huge way thanks to their own inherent charisma.

The Match:

The celebrities are out in force: Special ring announcer is Billy Martin, your outside the ring official is Muhammad Ali, your blatant homosexual is Liberace and your in-ring official is Pat Patterson. Also, Jimmy Snuka and Bob Orton are both hanging out at ringside.

Piper and T start out and they do a bit of mat-wrestling, with T coming out on top. T with a fireman’s carry takedown on Piper, which triggers a big brawl right away. Stalling from the heels and then we’re back in as the faces beat the crap out of Piper. Hogan boots Piper out of the ring then Orndorff hits him from behind so Hogan joins him out there, which allows Piper to give Hogan a little chair action. Back in, the heels work Hogan over in the enemy corner, including a double atomic drop. Orndorff misses the flying kneedrop and Hogan makes the hot tag to Mr. T. Doesn’t last long as Orndorff smothers T right away. End came when Orton and Snuka were brawling, and in the confusion, Orton climbs up to the top to nail Hogan with his cast while Orndorff held Hogan, but Hulk side steps and Mr. Wonderful takes the full blow. Hogan then quickly covers and picks up the win at 13:21.

The Aftermath:

Piper and Orton abandon Orndorff to the faces, but Hogan is nice enough to let him go. This would lead to Orndorff’s face turn (and eventual heel turn) and set up T v. Piper the next year.

This is also one of the last times we’d see Jimmy Snuka in the WWF (until Wrestlemania 5) as soon after, Snuka would be released for allegedly killing his girlfriend.

Winners: Hulk Hogan & Mr. T. A decent, but decidely non-violent, match.