the Colossal Connection

What the World Was Watching: WrestleMania VI

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Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are in the booth and they are live from Toronto, Ontario, Canada in what will be Ventura’s last appearance calling a WWF pay-per-view.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a sellout crowd of 67,678, a new attendance record for the venue.  It drew a buyrate of 3.8 (an estimated 550,000 purchases).  This was a decline from the 5.9 buyrate of WrestleMania V, but this can be attributed to more homes getting pay-per-view access by 1990, thereby messing with the buyrate average.

Robert Goulet sings the Canadian National Anthem.  According to Bruce Prichard, Goulet was picked for this spot because he badly botched signing “The Star Spangled Banner” several years earlier and this was a chance for him to redeem himself in front of a live crowd.  The WWF put the lyrics on the Skydome’s video screen to ease Goulet’s nerves.  And if you watch his body language during the performance, he goes from a bad of nerves to a guy having the time of his life halfway through.  His wife, who watched backstage, cried her eyes out after he nailed the song.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – April 1, 1990

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Tony Schiavone and Gorilla Monsoon are calling the action and they are still in San Francisco, California.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – March 31, 1990

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Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are in the booth, and they remain taped from Sacramento, California.  On the eve of WrestleMania VI, Ventura is dressed in Ultimate Warrior face paint and t-shirt and a Hulk Hogan hat.  When McMahon asks for a prediction, Ventura says the bout is a tossup.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling “The Ultimate Challenge Special” – March 25, 1990

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Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan host tonight’s show, which aired on USA Network on March 25.  Instead of doing the show from the studio, though, they are on location from the Sparkles Nightclub in the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  The matches on this broadcast were taped in San Francisco, California on March 7 as part of the Wrestling Challenge tapings that took place in the same location.

Heenan is anxious about being in CN Tower, telling Monsoon that the building is swaying.  They renew their gag about Heenan needing tickets for WrestleMania VI and when Monsoons says he has secured them, Heenan demands to know if they are in the front row.  Monsoon asks Heenan why he agreed to have the Colossal Connection face the Rockers a week before WrestleMania.  Heenan responds that he arranged the match because Andre the Giant wanted to send a message to the Hart Foundation.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – March 25, 1990

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Tony Schiavone and Gorilla Monsoon call today’s action from a new round of television tapings in San Francisco, California.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a sold-out crowd of 14,500, with 500 fans attending for free.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – March 18, 1990

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Tony Schiavone and Gorilla Monsoon do commentary for today’s show, which concludes the tapings in Tucson, Arizona.

The broadcast starts by re-airing Demolition’s squash from Prime Time Wrestling.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – March 17, 1990

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Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are handling commentary and they are concluding the taping cycle in Phoenix, Arizona.  Ventura switches his WrestleMania VI pick back to Hulk Hogan, wearing off a Hogan shirt to start the broadcast.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – March 4, 1990

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Tony Schiavone and Gorilla Monsoon are in the booth and they start a new round of television tapings in Tucson, Arizona.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, these tapings took place on February 14.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – March 3, 1990

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Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are in the booth, and they kick off a new round of tapings in Phoenix, Arizona.  These tapings took place on February 13.  Ventura is clad in Hulk Hogan merchandise because he predicts Hogan will win the WrestleMania VI main event.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – February 26, 1990

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Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan host tonight’s show.

A replay of Roddy Piper’s squash on Wrestling Challenge airs.

Gene Okerlund’s Update segment replays WWF President Jack Tunney’s announcement that the main event of WrestleMania VI will be title-for-title.  Also replayed are the promos from Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior on Superstars.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – February 24, 1990

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Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura commentate today’s action, concluding the taping in Miami, Florida.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – February 11, 1990

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Tony Schiavone and Gorilla Monsoon are doing commentary and they are broadcasting from Fort Myers, Florida.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, these tapings took place on January 23 and drew a sellout crowd of 5,000 fans.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Royal Rumble 1990

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Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura are in the booth and they are live from Orlando, Florida.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, this show drew a sellout crowd of 16,000 fans.  It also drew a buyrate of 2.0 (an estimated 260,000 buys), an increase from the 1.5 number the Rumble did the previous year.  This would also be the last pay-per-view that Schiavone would call for the WWF.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – January 21, 1990

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Tony Schiavone and Gorilla Monsoon call today’s action, which originates from Chattanooga, Tennessee.  The taping took place on January 3.  This is the last show before The Royal Rumble.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Superstars – January 20, 1990

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Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura are in the booth, kicking off a new set of tapings in Birmingham, Alabama.  These tapings took place on January 2.

The opening match is the Jimmy Snuka-Brooklyn Brawler bout that aired on Prime Time Wrestling.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Prime Time Wrestling – January 8, 1990

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Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan host tonight’s broadcast.  Tonight’s two feature bouts come from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and were taped on December 14.

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What the World Was Watching: WWF Wrestling Challenge – January 7, 1990

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Tony Schiavone and Gorilla Monsoon handle commentary duties and they are taped from the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.  This taping took place on December 12, 1989.  Schiavone has a guitar and tries to play a song and does terribly.

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