Post by threev on Nov 17, 2007 15:38:46 GMT -5
So I've decided that I thought a cool thing to do (and since I'm just getting acclimated to these boards), would be to start a periodical review of some old wrestling shows, by going through them start to finish, commenting on the matches and what was happening -- what the booking logic might have been at the time, and reflecting on them years later. I'll be doing this every couple of days, with different cards from WWF, WCW, ECW, NWA, AWA and whatever else.
Since this is my first one, and my first ever wrestling PPV was WrestleMania 6, I've decided to start with that one. Feel free to add in comments and reflections of your own, as I'd love to hear what other fans thought about the shows in question, and their memories of it, or what they thought after the fact.
The story behind this behind my first PPV, was I did not actually see this until 1992, and this was not my first live PPV, but rather, I spent every Sunday Night with my grandparents to give my folks some time off when I was a toddler, and so each weekend my grandfather would go to the video store and rent a wrestling video for us to watch. I had seen the Warrior and Hogan on television before, and I was a huge Hogan fan at all of 5 years old, but I had never got to see any of the big payoffs of a PPV until this tape.
I apologize for the length. I'm wordy.
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WrestleMania VI
Toronto, Canada
April 1, 1990
THE CARD:
- Rick Martel vs. Koko B. Ware
- WWF Tag Title Match: Andre the Giant & Haku (C) vs. Demolition
- Earthquake vs. Hercules
- Mr. Perfect vs. Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake
- Roddy Piper vs. Bad News Brown
- The Hart Foundation vs. Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov
- The Barbarian vs. Tito Santana
- "Macho King" Randy Savage & Queen Sherri vs. Dusty Rhodes & Sweet Sapphire
- The Orient Express vs. The Rockers
- Dino Bravo vs. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
- Million Dollar Title Match: Ted DiBiase vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts
- The Big Boss Man vs. Akeem "The African Dream"
- "Ravishing" Rick Rude vs. Jimmy Snuka
- WWF Title vs. Title Match Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior
---------------
The show starts with an animated slide-reel of stars, somewhat in the way of Star Wars. Vince McMahon's familiar early 90's PPV voice comes on to do a voice over for the opening of the event, setting it up in a very comic book esque fashion:
“Upon the examination of the galaxies of space, images begin to appear. Images of strange and powerful forces. But of all the forces in the Universe, the two most powerful: Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior prepare to explode. Champion vs. Champion, Title for Title. It's the Ultimate Challenge. It's WrestleMania!!!!”
After the opening vignette, Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon comment on the show from the rafters. Monsoon calls it the greatest WrestleMania to date due to the “sheer magnitude of the matches on the show today.” Ventura seems more of a face than can be remembered in the past.
Koko B. Ware vs. Rick “The Model” Martel[/u]
Koko B. Ware enters first, being escorted down to the in one of the moving mini-ring carts. He is in full Birdman mode, but to my surprise, you can hear some boos in the crowd as he dances down to the ring. Martel follows him, with the perfume canister “Arrogance” with him, spraying it the entire way.
The Match:
Martel opens the match in typical heel fashion, attacking Koko B. Ware while the referee was checking his boots. After a series of punches, The Model attempts an irish whip, but B. Ware leaps to the second rope and lands a springboard cross-body as Martel was attempting to follow through with a running elbow. The cross-body leads to the first near fall of the match, but Martel kicks out at 2. Koko gets back up and is a house of fire, hitting a series of dropkicks, then a backdrop and finally knocking Martel out of the ring with a clothesline. After getting Martel back in the ring, B. Ware lands a monkey flip and a shoulder block before Martel regains the advantage by grabbing Koko by the head and launching him over the top rope and to the floor.
The camera cuts away from the action as Martel gains the advantage, and Monsoon, calling the match, stops as he seems to be confused as to what is going on also. The camera cuts to a wide shot of the arena and slowly zooms in as “WrestleMania VI” appears on the screen. Finally the camera cuts back to the action in the ring, as Koko B. Ware is down and being stomped by Martel. Rick “The Model” Martel then hits a backbreaker, and slaps his hands together as though he is “mopping the floor” with B. Ware. Following this, “The Model” attempts a Boston Crab as Koko struggles to keep his opponent from applying it, but Martel eventually turns it over and Koko B. Ware is forced to submit.
Demolition Promo w/ Sean Mooney
Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura briefly discuss Koko B. Ware's mistakes in the previous match, and then send it backstage to Sean Mooney who is in the locker room with the tag team Ax and Smash, Demolition.
Ax is asked about Andre the Giant, and he goes on some relatively nonsensical rant about his name being Ax, Andre the Giant being a tree, and Ax intending to cut him down like a Polynesian Redwood. He then puts his hands around his mouth and yells out “Timber!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Smash tells him that sounds pretty good, but he'd like to take Andre the Giant an put him in the back of a tractor trailer and drive it off a cliff, because it would “Smash” into smithereens or something.
Sean Mooney makes light of these guys disturbing desires by calling it a “Demolition Derby”, before Ax says Mooney is absolutely correct. Smash then makes a remark about getting the tag team titles, and the two start making faces at the camera as Mooney sends it back to ringside.
WWF Tag Team Title Match: Andre the Giant & Haku © (w/ Bobby Heenan) vs. Demolition
Gorilla Monsoon points out that Demolition have an opportunity to become 3-time Tag Team Champions.
The Giant, Haku and Heenan are already in the ring as we zoom back in to ringside. Demolition are then rolled down to the ring to an amazing ovation, man these guys were over. Giant and Haku jump the challengers before the bell rings again – things eventually settle down and Haku and Smash become the legal men. Haku works over Smash for a bit, before Smash smartly tags Ax while being put into an Armlock. Ax comes in and lands a few jabs before missing a clothesline and walking into a karate thrust to the throat by Haku. Haku is an intimidatingly big guy in this match if not for Andre, and it is clear he was on things that Ax and Smash, at least at this point, probably were not. Haku continues to work over Ax with a variety of different karate kids and punches.
Ventura announces the attendance as 65,000, before Monsoon said he wouldn't be surprised if they reached 66,000.
Haku stomps on Ax some more, before putting him into a shoulder lock for a rest hold. Smash gets into the ring and distracts the referee, as Haku launches Ax into Andre's corner and goes over to yell at Smash. Meanwhile, Andre is choking Ax out in the corner behind the referee's back. As the ref turns his attention back to the match, Gorilla Monsoon calls Smash, “Scratch” on accident, and then Ax lands a few retaliation shots before a kick by Haku sends him down again. Ax is then irish whipped to the corner, but sticks his boot out and connects with Haku's head, then follows up with a clothesline, sending Haku to the mat. Ax gets a really good hot tag off to Smash, and the crowd is a this point 300 times hotter than anytime in the last five years of WWE.
Smash then comes in and kicks the bejesus out of Haku, smashing him into the turnbuckle, whipping him off the ropes for a shoulderblock, landing a back body drop and a double ax-handle. The Giant then comes in without a tag, and Demolition knocks him back out with a double clothesline, before they both go to work on Haku. I love how at this point in the WWF, an excuse was needed to have two heels in the ring (IE referee distracted), but the faces were pretty much free to run wild. The take Haku down again, before the Ref forces Ax out, but as he does, Andre gets back in the ring and holds Smash for a kick. Smash breaks free at the last second, and Haku belts Andre one right in the face. Andre falls backwards and ties himself up in the ropes for his classic spot. It's clear that he's not feeling too well, as this is the only thing he's done thus far in the match.
Smash drapes Haku over his knee as Ax leaps off the top rope and lands an elbow drop. Despite being the illegal man, Ax goes for the pin and gets it, giving Demolition the tag team titles. Every single person in the arena is on their feet with their arms raced. It is simply amazing how into the product everyone was for the second match on the card.
After the match, Heenan jumps in the ring and throws a fit. Andre is trying to gather himself in the corner and Heenan goes bonkers on him, poking him in the chest and flailing his arms like a crazy person, eventually slapping Andre right across the face. Andre then gets pissed off and grabs Bobby Heenan by the neck, telling him off and then slapping him back and forth across the face for a good 25 seconds. The crowd is far less into this than they were Demolition's title win. Andre then wallops Bobby with a punch that Heenan sells by shaking around the corner in what can only be described as his best Ultimate Warrior impression. A kick by Giant sends Heenan out of the ring, and then Haku tries to kick Andre, but Andre catches the foot this time and then starts walloping him with some lumbering shots and finally a head butt. The crowd gets a little more into it, but is still pretty cold considering it's Andre and all. Heenan and Haku then try to get on the cart, but Andre throws them off like children and rides off to the back on his own.
Earthquake (w/ Jimmy Hart) promo w /Gene Okerlund[/u]
As Andre the Giant rides off to the back, Gorilla and Ventura discuss the new tag champs, and quickly we have a “To the Back!” moment, as they cut to Earthquake and Jimmy Hart with Gene Okerlund in front of a “WrestleMania 6” set, without any warning.
Okerlund mentions the “big shake-up” in the WWF with Demolition winning the tag titles and Andre turning face. He then introduces Earthquake, and Jimmy Hart says that every scientist in the world have their eyes set to the seismograph because of this beast, Earthquake, who is apparently being billed as the largest creature in the world despite being shadowed by one guy already on this show. Earthquake cuts a good promo about at Hercules, and then foreshadows things to come, by calling himself the “Natural Disaster” of the World Wrestling Federation.
Earthquake vs. Hercules
Jesse Ventura comments on the match as Hercules comes down to virtually no pop, saying that Hercules is a tremendous underdog, not only being smaller, but Ventura feels Hercules is not as strong. Earthquake then rolls down to the ring, and is relatively hot, getting some serious boos, but I think just as many are going to Jimmy Hart.
Gorilla Monsoon announces that Earthquake has sent 28 men to the hospital so far.
The match opens with Earthquake trying to jump the bell, but this time Hercules is smart and dodges a running lariat into the corner. Hercules then gets reverse irish whipped into the opposite corner, before Earthquake misses with another corner lariat. After the second one, Jimmy Hart gets up on the apron, and Hercules whiffs with a punch as Hart falls back to the ground. Earthquake rolls out of the ring and wrestler and manager talk as the fans boo.
As Earthquake gets back in the ring, he asks Hercules who the man is. Hercules doesn't reply, instead just pounds his chest or something, and then Earthquake throws him into the ropes and jumps up and down, creating , apparently, actual tremors that send Hercules stumbling to the mat. Hercules looks around in astonishment, as Gorilla Monsoon explains that the ring has been specially reinforced for this match, because apparently, after spending the last ten minutes selling the idea that it was very likely that Earthquake might be able to bring the entire SkyDome crumbling to earth with his weight, they needed a reason why jumping up and down merely made Hercules stumble.
Earthquake then asks for a Test of Strength, and as he does the camera inexplicably cuts to a wide shot again, but this time it's close enough that we can see Hercules obliging, and then being kicked and chopped for his effort. Earthquake takes Hercules and drags him around the ring, forearming him and kicking him and throwing him into the turnbuckle at his general leisure. The crowd boos the Quake again, as Jimmy Hart screams to stay on Hercules. Hercules gains a little momentum then, stopping short of Quake's attempting back body drop,and then lands two shoulder blocks and three clotheslines, finally putting Earthquake down to a knee. Hercules then tries a backbreaker, but Earthquake elbows his way out of it, then he lands a huge elbow drop, before stomping all around Earthquake, which temporarily sends Hercules into convulsions, as Monsoon explain that the entire building is shaking.
Earthquake then bounces off the ropes and lands a running Bonzai drop for the pin to a chorus of boos.
Ventura explains that Earthquake is undefeated in professional wrestling, and Monsoon says that he has made it look easy. Pretty much a squash match. After the match, Earthquake hits another running Bonzai Drop before rolling off to the back.
Miss Elizabeth Promo w/ Rona Barrett
The two are in some makeshift talk show set, with Barrett calling Miss Elizabeth the first lady of the WWF, and more beautiful than anyone in Hollywood.
Barrett basically asks Elizabeth where she's been, and Elizabeth says she's been working with the WWF strictly in an “advisory capacity”, as she didn't want to disappoint her fans, because she didn't think she could help enough at ringside. I have no idea what any of this means, but Elizabeth then goes on to basically promise that she's coming back to ringside as a “far more active participant”.
Brutus Beefcake vs. Mr. Perfect(w/ The Genius)[/u]
As they fade back to the ring, Beefcake is halfway down to the ring in the cart, and it's pretty clear the WWF did not yet have their vignettes and live product cued up perfectly.
Perfect was already waiting in the ring, and Gorilla makes mention of Brutus' outfit, saying it looked like a hand grenade went off his pocket.
As the two go to lock up, Perfect jumps Beefcake and gets the heat early, before Beefcake throws Perfect out of the ring. This is basically the same start up with the exact same moves as every match thus far on the card, save for one Atomic Drop delivered by Beefcake. The two trade some clotheslines and irish whips, before Brutus tries a pin for a mere 1 count.
As the two trade blows, Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse sell Mr. Perfect as the most finely tuned athlete in the WWF. At this point, I believe, Perfect has not lost a match on TV in the WWF. Brutus Beefcake finally gets the upperhand, and is signaling for the sleeperhold, as he does this, they cut to a shot of Mary Tyler Moore in the stands. As they cut back, The Genius is on the apron, distracting Beefcake and allowing Perfect to come to. Genius then focuses completely on distracting the ref so that Mr. Perfect can hit Beefcake with his scroll or clipboard or whatever the hell The Genius carries. This knocks Brutus Beefcake completely unconscious.
Perfect then runs through all his normal spots, including the running whiplash snap and the knee lift. After watching this match, it seems to me like Triple H has patterned his entire moveset after prime Curt Hennig. Ventura and Monsoon then surprisingly get into a conversation about Mr. Perfect's dad, Larry Hennig, without ever using his name, they mention him as a wrestler and Ventura asks Monsoon if he knows him.
After all that, Brutus Beefcake somehow magically comes to and knocks Perfect to the mat, before springboarding him into the ring post, kayfabe knocking Perfect out, and landing the pin, marking the end of Mr. Perfect's “Perfect” record in the WWF, and it is truly sad to thing that this is the man that did it, though it gets a pretty good pop from the crowd.
After the match, Brutus contemplates cutting Mr. Perfect's hair, but The Genius grabs the scissors and tries to escape. Brutus runs him down and drags him back into the ring as Perfect stumbles off, dazed. After some kicking and flailing, Brutus puts The Genius into the sleeper to the crowd's delight, and Ventura calls it ridiculous. I concur, Jesse.
Brutus final pulls out some scissors and snips a little of The Genius' hair off.
Bad News Brown and Roddy Piper Promo[/u]
Gorilla brings up the Bad News Brown and Roddy Piper match, saying we were going to see some footage of what had led up to the match. As we cut to the video, the first thing we see is the two eliminating each other at Royal Rumble 1990. Then they cut to a Wrestling Challenge Promo by Brown, where he makes fun of Piper for wearing a skirt and the two brawl.
As we cut back to live action, Piper is rolling down to the ring in the cart, and has painted the entire right side of his body black to prove that he wasn't a racist. I... dunno. The camera cuts to a women in the stands, who they, for whatever reason, try to sell as interested in Piper, but then she kisses the guy she is with and so they immediate cut away. In the ring, Piper takes off his kilt and begins to do the disco fever dance. I...dunno.
The two do some menacing ground brawling as the referee tries to break it up, a “Roddy” chant rings out from the crowd. Brown starts off then with some punches, a clothesline and an elbow drop, before going for a “nonchalant” cover and getting only a two count. As the two get back to their feet, Roddy Piper pokes Bad News in the eyes to gain the advantage. Bad News returns the favor by raking Piper in the eyes, and the Ref goes to check on him. As he does, Bad News Brown removes the top turnbuckle from a corner of the ring. He tries to whip Piper into the corner, but Piper reverses it, and Brown hits the exposed metal. Piper then pulls out what is apparently supposed to be a weighted glove and slugs Bad News with it, and the ref is apparently apathetic to all this. The glove is white, as Bad New's is black, and I think that was the point, even though Monsoon and Ventura don't really hit on that.
Gorilla then explains that the referee must have checked the glove out to make sure it wasn't “weighted” before the match started, otherwise he wouldn't permit it. As this is going on, the two wrestlers roll to the outside and brawl around the ringpost, before Brown hits it after Piper ducks a punch. Piper then grabs a chair and swings, but whiffs, and as they continue to brawl, the referee calls for the bell, ruling the bout a double countout.
As the match ends, the ref attempts to get in between the two, but Brown throws him to the side. Six referees or so come down to the ring trying to separate the two, but they brawl to the back anyway.
Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov Promo w/ Steve Allen[/u]
Steve Allen appears, saying he's rehearsing the Russian National Anthem with his favorite tag team, Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov, who then appear behind the piano.
Nikolai Volkoff then says something I can't understand before telling Allen to hit it! As they prepare to sing the anthem, Allen doesn't perform it, but instead some weird song about the Ukraine, which angers Volkoff, Allen apologizes and then plays Pop Goes the Weasel, which angers Volkoff and Zhubov. Allen then plays some other damn thing, which angers Volkoff again, who this entire time has just been saying “Hey!!” in a real frustrated manner. Finally, Allen says he's going to play the Russian National Anthem, and as he starts a toilet flushes and Nikolai Volkoff gets pissed off again, needed Zhubov to hold him back.
The Hart Foundation vs. Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov
The Hart Foundation is already in the ring a we cut back to live action, and Bret Hart's singles music is playing as the tag team's entrance music. The two are circling the ring as Finkle introduces them. The two Russians then get wheeled down the ring to a pretty indifferent reaction, though there are some light boos. The gimmick, much like the Cold War, seems to be winding down. The two are holding Soviet Union flags, and as they request to sing the National Anthem, the crowd boos a little louder.
The Hart Foundation, apparently not able to take the whole anthem (have these guys ever finished it?), knock them both to the ground from behind in the middle of it to a pretty nice pop. Neidhart lifts Zhukov up for the “Hart AttacK” and Bret Hart hits in, winning the match in 19 whole seconds, Monsoon saying that could be a new WrestleMania record. One would hope.
LA Coliseum WrestleMania VII Promo[/u]
Vince McMahon's voice rings over a promo about the LA Coliseum, comparing WrestleMania to the Super Bowl and the World Series, and now the sight of WrestleMania VII!
The Barbarian (w/ Bobby Heenan) vs. Tito Santana
As we cut back to the ring, Tito is being wheeled down to ringside, and Jesse Ventura makes some remark about picking up hookers from Tijuana while he was in the Navy, and saying it might be something Tito knew something about. Barbarian is already in the ring, and the match starts immediately.
This is by far the biggest I've ever seen Tito Santana on video, muscle wise, and The Barbarian still absolutely dwarfs him. The match starts out with some trading of punches, which Santana surprisingly wins, before the Barbarian rolls outside to talk with Bobby Heenan.
As he gets back in the ring, Barbarian takes control, and Monsoon and Ventura are relating Tito now to Mexican food. We have, at this point, seen about six original moves on the entire show, and this appears to be no different, as Barbarian hits a clothesline, and then a big boot, and then a shoulder block, but he misses a flying double ax handle somehow, and Santana gets some momentum with a series of punches, and then a dropkick that Barbarian no sells. Santana then goes for his own double ax handle, and then hits a flying forearm, his finisher, and it looks as though he is going to get the win, but Heenan slyly puts Barbarian's foot on the ropes. Tito then turns his attention to Heenan, which is enough to give Barbarian time to get up and grab Santana, going for a Powerslam, but Santana squirms out of it and runs Barbarian into the ropes, for what I think is supposed to be a roll-up, but Barbarian botches the move, slipping between the top and middle rope, and so Santana, unsure of what to do sort of just takes two steps back and falls to the ground. Monsoon compliments Barbarian on a nice clothesline, but I have no idea what he's talking about, as Barbarian is still struggling to untangle himself from the ropes.
Barbarian then gets up to the top rope and lands a flying clothesline for the pin. They rap the match up with a replay.
Since this is my first one, and my first ever wrestling PPV was WrestleMania 6, I've decided to start with that one. Feel free to add in comments and reflections of your own, as I'd love to hear what other fans thought about the shows in question, and their memories of it, or what they thought after the fact.
The story behind this behind my first PPV, was I did not actually see this until 1992, and this was not my first live PPV, but rather, I spent every Sunday Night with my grandparents to give my folks some time off when I was a toddler, and so each weekend my grandfather would go to the video store and rent a wrestling video for us to watch. I had seen the Warrior and Hogan on television before, and I was a huge Hogan fan at all of 5 years old, but I had never got to see any of the big payoffs of a PPV until this tape.
I apologize for the length. I'm wordy.
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WrestleMania VI
Toronto, Canada
April 1, 1990
THE CARD:
- Rick Martel vs. Koko B. Ware
- WWF Tag Title Match: Andre the Giant & Haku (C) vs. Demolition
- Earthquake vs. Hercules
- Mr. Perfect vs. Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake
- Roddy Piper vs. Bad News Brown
- The Hart Foundation vs. Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov
- The Barbarian vs. Tito Santana
- "Macho King" Randy Savage & Queen Sherri vs. Dusty Rhodes & Sweet Sapphire
- The Orient Express vs. The Rockers
- Dino Bravo vs. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan
- Million Dollar Title Match: Ted DiBiase vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts
- The Big Boss Man vs. Akeem "The African Dream"
- "Ravishing" Rick Rude vs. Jimmy Snuka
- WWF Title vs. Title Match Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior
---------------
The show starts with an animated slide-reel of stars, somewhat in the way of Star Wars. Vince McMahon's familiar early 90's PPV voice comes on to do a voice over for the opening of the event, setting it up in a very comic book esque fashion:
“Upon the examination of the galaxies of space, images begin to appear. Images of strange and powerful forces. But of all the forces in the Universe, the two most powerful: Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior prepare to explode. Champion vs. Champion, Title for Title. It's the Ultimate Challenge. It's WrestleMania!!!!”
After the opening vignette, Jesse “The Body” Ventura and Gorilla Monsoon comment on the show from the rafters. Monsoon calls it the greatest WrestleMania to date due to the “sheer magnitude of the matches on the show today.” Ventura seems more of a face than can be remembered in the past.
Koko B. Ware vs. Rick “The Model” Martel[/u]
Koko B. Ware enters first, being escorted down to the in one of the moving mini-ring carts. He is in full Birdman mode, but to my surprise, you can hear some boos in the crowd as he dances down to the ring. Martel follows him, with the perfume canister “Arrogance” with him, spraying it the entire way.
The Match:
Martel opens the match in typical heel fashion, attacking Koko B. Ware while the referee was checking his boots. After a series of punches, The Model attempts an irish whip, but B. Ware leaps to the second rope and lands a springboard cross-body as Martel was attempting to follow through with a running elbow. The cross-body leads to the first near fall of the match, but Martel kicks out at 2. Koko gets back up and is a house of fire, hitting a series of dropkicks, then a backdrop and finally knocking Martel out of the ring with a clothesline. After getting Martel back in the ring, B. Ware lands a monkey flip and a shoulder block before Martel regains the advantage by grabbing Koko by the head and launching him over the top rope and to the floor.
The camera cuts away from the action as Martel gains the advantage, and Monsoon, calling the match, stops as he seems to be confused as to what is going on also. The camera cuts to a wide shot of the arena and slowly zooms in as “WrestleMania VI” appears on the screen. Finally the camera cuts back to the action in the ring, as Koko B. Ware is down and being stomped by Martel. Rick “The Model” Martel then hits a backbreaker, and slaps his hands together as though he is “mopping the floor” with B. Ware. Following this, “The Model” attempts a Boston Crab as Koko struggles to keep his opponent from applying it, but Martel eventually turns it over and Koko B. Ware is forced to submit.
Demolition Promo w/ Sean Mooney
Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura briefly discuss Koko B. Ware's mistakes in the previous match, and then send it backstage to Sean Mooney who is in the locker room with the tag team Ax and Smash, Demolition.
Ax is asked about Andre the Giant, and he goes on some relatively nonsensical rant about his name being Ax, Andre the Giant being a tree, and Ax intending to cut him down like a Polynesian Redwood. He then puts his hands around his mouth and yells out “Timber!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Smash tells him that sounds pretty good, but he'd like to take Andre the Giant an put him in the back of a tractor trailer and drive it off a cliff, because it would “Smash” into smithereens or something.
Sean Mooney makes light of these guys disturbing desires by calling it a “Demolition Derby”, before Ax says Mooney is absolutely correct. Smash then makes a remark about getting the tag team titles, and the two start making faces at the camera as Mooney sends it back to ringside.
WWF Tag Team Title Match: Andre the Giant & Haku © (w/ Bobby Heenan) vs. Demolition
Gorilla Monsoon points out that Demolition have an opportunity to become 3-time Tag Team Champions.
The Giant, Haku and Heenan are already in the ring as we zoom back in to ringside. Demolition are then rolled down to the ring to an amazing ovation, man these guys were over. Giant and Haku jump the challengers before the bell rings again – things eventually settle down and Haku and Smash become the legal men. Haku works over Smash for a bit, before Smash smartly tags Ax while being put into an Armlock. Ax comes in and lands a few jabs before missing a clothesline and walking into a karate thrust to the throat by Haku. Haku is an intimidatingly big guy in this match if not for Andre, and it is clear he was on things that Ax and Smash, at least at this point, probably were not. Haku continues to work over Ax with a variety of different karate kids and punches.
Ventura announces the attendance as 65,000, before Monsoon said he wouldn't be surprised if they reached 66,000.
Haku stomps on Ax some more, before putting him into a shoulder lock for a rest hold. Smash gets into the ring and distracts the referee, as Haku launches Ax into Andre's corner and goes over to yell at Smash. Meanwhile, Andre is choking Ax out in the corner behind the referee's back. As the ref turns his attention back to the match, Gorilla Monsoon calls Smash, “Scratch” on accident, and then Ax lands a few retaliation shots before a kick by Haku sends him down again. Ax is then irish whipped to the corner, but sticks his boot out and connects with Haku's head, then follows up with a clothesline, sending Haku to the mat. Ax gets a really good hot tag off to Smash, and the crowd is a this point 300 times hotter than anytime in the last five years of WWE.
Smash then comes in and kicks the bejesus out of Haku, smashing him into the turnbuckle, whipping him off the ropes for a shoulderblock, landing a back body drop and a double ax-handle. The Giant then comes in without a tag, and Demolition knocks him back out with a double clothesline, before they both go to work on Haku. I love how at this point in the WWF, an excuse was needed to have two heels in the ring (IE referee distracted), but the faces were pretty much free to run wild. The take Haku down again, before the Ref forces Ax out, but as he does, Andre gets back in the ring and holds Smash for a kick. Smash breaks free at the last second, and Haku belts Andre one right in the face. Andre falls backwards and ties himself up in the ropes for his classic spot. It's clear that he's not feeling too well, as this is the only thing he's done thus far in the match.
Smash drapes Haku over his knee as Ax leaps off the top rope and lands an elbow drop. Despite being the illegal man, Ax goes for the pin and gets it, giving Demolition the tag team titles. Every single person in the arena is on their feet with their arms raced. It is simply amazing how into the product everyone was for the second match on the card.
After the match, Heenan jumps in the ring and throws a fit. Andre is trying to gather himself in the corner and Heenan goes bonkers on him, poking him in the chest and flailing his arms like a crazy person, eventually slapping Andre right across the face. Andre then gets pissed off and grabs Bobby Heenan by the neck, telling him off and then slapping him back and forth across the face for a good 25 seconds. The crowd is far less into this than they were Demolition's title win. Andre then wallops Bobby with a punch that Heenan sells by shaking around the corner in what can only be described as his best Ultimate Warrior impression. A kick by Giant sends Heenan out of the ring, and then Haku tries to kick Andre, but Andre catches the foot this time and then starts walloping him with some lumbering shots and finally a head butt. The crowd gets a little more into it, but is still pretty cold considering it's Andre and all. Heenan and Haku then try to get on the cart, but Andre throws them off like children and rides off to the back on his own.
Earthquake (w/ Jimmy Hart) promo w /Gene Okerlund[/u]
As Andre the Giant rides off to the back, Gorilla and Ventura discuss the new tag champs, and quickly we have a “To the Back!” moment, as they cut to Earthquake and Jimmy Hart with Gene Okerlund in front of a “WrestleMania 6” set, without any warning.
Okerlund mentions the “big shake-up” in the WWF with Demolition winning the tag titles and Andre turning face. He then introduces Earthquake, and Jimmy Hart says that every scientist in the world have their eyes set to the seismograph because of this beast, Earthquake, who is apparently being billed as the largest creature in the world despite being shadowed by one guy already on this show. Earthquake cuts a good promo about at Hercules, and then foreshadows things to come, by calling himself the “Natural Disaster” of the World Wrestling Federation.
Earthquake vs. Hercules
Jesse Ventura comments on the match as Hercules comes down to virtually no pop, saying that Hercules is a tremendous underdog, not only being smaller, but Ventura feels Hercules is not as strong. Earthquake then rolls down to the ring, and is relatively hot, getting some serious boos, but I think just as many are going to Jimmy Hart.
Gorilla Monsoon announces that Earthquake has sent 28 men to the hospital so far.
The match opens with Earthquake trying to jump the bell, but this time Hercules is smart and dodges a running lariat into the corner. Hercules then gets reverse irish whipped into the opposite corner, before Earthquake misses with another corner lariat. After the second one, Jimmy Hart gets up on the apron, and Hercules whiffs with a punch as Hart falls back to the ground. Earthquake rolls out of the ring and wrestler and manager talk as the fans boo.
As Earthquake gets back in the ring, he asks Hercules who the man is. Hercules doesn't reply, instead just pounds his chest or something, and then Earthquake throws him into the ropes and jumps up and down, creating , apparently, actual tremors that send Hercules stumbling to the mat. Hercules looks around in astonishment, as Gorilla Monsoon explains that the ring has been specially reinforced for this match, because apparently, after spending the last ten minutes selling the idea that it was very likely that Earthquake might be able to bring the entire SkyDome crumbling to earth with his weight, they needed a reason why jumping up and down merely made Hercules stumble.
Earthquake then asks for a Test of Strength, and as he does the camera inexplicably cuts to a wide shot again, but this time it's close enough that we can see Hercules obliging, and then being kicked and chopped for his effort. Earthquake takes Hercules and drags him around the ring, forearming him and kicking him and throwing him into the turnbuckle at his general leisure. The crowd boos the Quake again, as Jimmy Hart screams to stay on Hercules. Hercules gains a little momentum then, stopping short of Quake's attempting back body drop,and then lands two shoulder blocks and three clotheslines, finally putting Earthquake down to a knee. Hercules then tries a backbreaker, but Earthquake elbows his way out of it, then he lands a huge elbow drop, before stomping all around Earthquake, which temporarily sends Hercules into convulsions, as Monsoon explain that the entire building is shaking.
Earthquake then bounces off the ropes and lands a running Bonzai drop for the pin to a chorus of boos.
Ventura explains that Earthquake is undefeated in professional wrestling, and Monsoon says that he has made it look easy. Pretty much a squash match. After the match, Earthquake hits another running Bonzai Drop before rolling off to the back.
Miss Elizabeth Promo w/ Rona Barrett
The two are in some makeshift talk show set, with Barrett calling Miss Elizabeth the first lady of the WWF, and more beautiful than anyone in Hollywood.
Barrett basically asks Elizabeth where she's been, and Elizabeth says she's been working with the WWF strictly in an “advisory capacity”, as she didn't want to disappoint her fans, because she didn't think she could help enough at ringside. I have no idea what any of this means, but Elizabeth then goes on to basically promise that she's coming back to ringside as a “far more active participant”.
Brutus Beefcake vs. Mr. Perfect(w/ The Genius)[/u]
As they fade back to the ring, Beefcake is halfway down to the ring in the cart, and it's pretty clear the WWF did not yet have their vignettes and live product cued up perfectly.
Perfect was already waiting in the ring, and Gorilla makes mention of Brutus' outfit, saying it looked like a hand grenade went off his pocket.
As the two go to lock up, Perfect jumps Beefcake and gets the heat early, before Beefcake throws Perfect out of the ring. This is basically the same start up with the exact same moves as every match thus far on the card, save for one Atomic Drop delivered by Beefcake. The two trade some clotheslines and irish whips, before Brutus tries a pin for a mere 1 count.
As the two trade blows, Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse sell Mr. Perfect as the most finely tuned athlete in the WWF. At this point, I believe, Perfect has not lost a match on TV in the WWF. Brutus Beefcake finally gets the upperhand, and is signaling for the sleeperhold, as he does this, they cut to a shot of Mary Tyler Moore in the stands. As they cut back, The Genius is on the apron, distracting Beefcake and allowing Perfect to come to. Genius then focuses completely on distracting the ref so that Mr. Perfect can hit Beefcake with his scroll or clipboard or whatever the hell The Genius carries. This knocks Brutus Beefcake completely unconscious.
Perfect then runs through all his normal spots, including the running whiplash snap and the knee lift. After watching this match, it seems to me like Triple H has patterned his entire moveset after prime Curt Hennig. Ventura and Monsoon then surprisingly get into a conversation about Mr. Perfect's dad, Larry Hennig, without ever using his name, they mention him as a wrestler and Ventura asks Monsoon if he knows him.
After all that, Brutus Beefcake somehow magically comes to and knocks Perfect to the mat, before springboarding him into the ring post, kayfabe knocking Perfect out, and landing the pin, marking the end of Mr. Perfect's “Perfect” record in the WWF, and it is truly sad to thing that this is the man that did it, though it gets a pretty good pop from the crowd.
After the match, Brutus contemplates cutting Mr. Perfect's hair, but The Genius grabs the scissors and tries to escape. Brutus runs him down and drags him back into the ring as Perfect stumbles off, dazed. After some kicking and flailing, Brutus puts The Genius into the sleeper to the crowd's delight, and Ventura calls it ridiculous. I concur, Jesse.
Brutus final pulls out some scissors and snips a little of The Genius' hair off.
Bad News Brown and Roddy Piper Promo[/u]
Gorilla brings up the Bad News Brown and Roddy Piper match, saying we were going to see some footage of what had led up to the match. As we cut to the video, the first thing we see is the two eliminating each other at Royal Rumble 1990. Then they cut to a Wrestling Challenge Promo by Brown, where he makes fun of Piper for wearing a skirt and the two brawl.
As we cut back to live action, Piper is rolling down to the ring in the cart, and has painted the entire right side of his body black to prove that he wasn't a racist. I... dunno. The camera cuts to a women in the stands, who they, for whatever reason, try to sell as interested in Piper, but then she kisses the guy she is with and so they immediate cut away. In the ring, Piper takes off his kilt and begins to do the disco fever dance. I...dunno.
The two do some menacing ground brawling as the referee tries to break it up, a “Roddy” chant rings out from the crowd. Brown starts off then with some punches, a clothesline and an elbow drop, before going for a “nonchalant” cover and getting only a two count. As the two get back to their feet, Roddy Piper pokes Bad News in the eyes to gain the advantage. Bad News returns the favor by raking Piper in the eyes, and the Ref goes to check on him. As he does, Bad News Brown removes the top turnbuckle from a corner of the ring. He tries to whip Piper into the corner, but Piper reverses it, and Brown hits the exposed metal. Piper then pulls out what is apparently supposed to be a weighted glove and slugs Bad News with it, and the ref is apparently apathetic to all this. The glove is white, as Bad New's is black, and I think that was the point, even though Monsoon and Ventura don't really hit on that.
Gorilla then explains that the referee must have checked the glove out to make sure it wasn't “weighted” before the match started, otherwise he wouldn't permit it. As this is going on, the two wrestlers roll to the outside and brawl around the ringpost, before Brown hits it after Piper ducks a punch. Piper then grabs a chair and swings, but whiffs, and as they continue to brawl, the referee calls for the bell, ruling the bout a double countout.
As the match ends, the ref attempts to get in between the two, but Brown throws him to the side. Six referees or so come down to the ring trying to separate the two, but they brawl to the back anyway.
Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov Promo w/ Steve Allen[/u]
Steve Allen appears, saying he's rehearsing the Russian National Anthem with his favorite tag team, Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov, who then appear behind the piano.
Nikolai Volkoff then says something I can't understand before telling Allen to hit it! As they prepare to sing the anthem, Allen doesn't perform it, but instead some weird song about the Ukraine, which angers Volkoff, Allen apologizes and then plays Pop Goes the Weasel, which angers Volkoff and Zhubov. Allen then plays some other damn thing, which angers Volkoff again, who this entire time has just been saying “Hey!!” in a real frustrated manner. Finally, Allen says he's going to play the Russian National Anthem, and as he starts a toilet flushes and Nikolai Volkoff gets pissed off again, needed Zhubov to hold him back.
The Hart Foundation vs. Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov
The Hart Foundation is already in the ring a we cut back to live action, and Bret Hart's singles music is playing as the tag team's entrance music. The two are circling the ring as Finkle introduces them. The two Russians then get wheeled down the ring to a pretty indifferent reaction, though there are some light boos. The gimmick, much like the Cold War, seems to be winding down. The two are holding Soviet Union flags, and as they request to sing the National Anthem, the crowd boos a little louder.
The Hart Foundation, apparently not able to take the whole anthem (have these guys ever finished it?), knock them both to the ground from behind in the middle of it to a pretty nice pop. Neidhart lifts Zhukov up for the “Hart AttacK” and Bret Hart hits in, winning the match in 19 whole seconds, Monsoon saying that could be a new WrestleMania record. One would hope.
LA Coliseum WrestleMania VII Promo[/u]
Vince McMahon's voice rings over a promo about the LA Coliseum, comparing WrestleMania to the Super Bowl and the World Series, and now the sight of WrestleMania VII!
The Barbarian (w/ Bobby Heenan) vs. Tito Santana
As we cut back to the ring, Tito is being wheeled down to ringside, and Jesse Ventura makes some remark about picking up hookers from Tijuana while he was in the Navy, and saying it might be something Tito knew something about. Barbarian is already in the ring, and the match starts immediately.
This is by far the biggest I've ever seen Tito Santana on video, muscle wise, and The Barbarian still absolutely dwarfs him. The match starts out with some trading of punches, which Santana surprisingly wins, before the Barbarian rolls outside to talk with Bobby Heenan.
As he gets back in the ring, Barbarian takes control, and Monsoon and Ventura are relating Tito now to Mexican food. We have, at this point, seen about six original moves on the entire show, and this appears to be no different, as Barbarian hits a clothesline, and then a big boot, and then a shoulder block, but he misses a flying double ax handle somehow, and Santana gets some momentum with a series of punches, and then a dropkick that Barbarian no sells. Santana then goes for his own double ax handle, and then hits a flying forearm, his finisher, and it looks as though he is going to get the win, but Heenan slyly puts Barbarian's foot on the ropes. Tito then turns his attention to Heenan, which is enough to give Barbarian time to get up and grab Santana, going for a Powerslam, but Santana squirms out of it and runs Barbarian into the ropes, for what I think is supposed to be a roll-up, but Barbarian botches the move, slipping between the top and middle rope, and so Santana, unsure of what to do sort of just takes two steps back and falls to the ground. Monsoon compliments Barbarian on a nice clothesline, but I have no idea what he's talking about, as Barbarian is still struggling to untangle himself from the ropes.
Barbarian then gets up to the top rope and lands a flying clothesline for the pin. They rap the match up with a replay.