APRIL 1
1990
WWF Wrestlemania VI aired live from Toronto’s Sky Dome in front of 64,287 fans. The match was largely a one-match show where Hulk Hogan faced the Ultimate Warrior in the main event. Warrior pinned Hogan cleanly, which was earth-shattering at the time, as the WWF attempted to transition to a new top star. Hogan famously upstaged Warrior in the post-match angle, where he was such a gracious loser that he garnered sympathy for himself and undercut Warrior’s momentum in the process. The show did 550,000 buys, and you can watch it on the WWE Network.
1991
The WWF and SWS ran yet another co-promoted show in Kobe, which was billed as WrestleDream. Genichiro Tenryu faced Randy Savage in a match that was nowhere near as good as their 1990 match while Hulk Hogan defended the WWF World Title against Yoshiaki Yatsu in a *** main event. Most infamously, a match between Earthquake and Koji Kitao got out of control when Kitao refused to sell for Earthquake and started shooting on him before grabbing a house microphone and telling everyone in the audience that wrestling was fake.
1994
SMW held the Bluegrass Brawl in Pikeville, KY, before 1,850 fans. The show was masterfully hyped and from a wrestling perspective was probably the best in the history of the promotion. Tracy Smothers faced Chris Candido in a ****1/2 ladder match with $5,000 at stake and in the main event, the Rock & Roll Express defeated the Heavenly Bodies in a ****1/2 match where the losing team was required to leave SMW. The match was hyped as the culmination of the 10-year rivalry between Jim Cornette and the Rock & Roll Express.
1995
SMW television featured a match between New Jack and Tracy Smothers where Jim Cornette was buried under a Malcolm X flag in the post-match angle.
WCW Saturday Night featured a hilarious segment where WCW’s Board of Directors pondered whether or not to reinstate Ric Flair. We are supposed to believe that the board includes representation from Spain, Germany, Japan and France, with Sonny Onoo using the gimmicked name Kensuke Ishikawa and playing a board member several months before he became a manager. The group hits a stalemate when the French woman abstains from voting.
In The “To Watch” Queue:
Road Warrior Hawk vs Butch Reed (WCW Main Event 04/01/90)
Toshiaki Kawada vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW 04/01/94)
