WrestleMania Retrospective – WrestleMania VII (1991)

Here’s Part 7 of our WrestleMania Retrospective series, looking back at past WrestleMania events as we march towards WrestleMania 29 on April 7th.

WrestleMania VII (1991)
Tagline: Super Stars And Stripes Forever!
Date: March, 24, 1991
Venue: Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles California.
Attendance: 16,158
America The Beautiful: Willie Nelson

WrestleMania VII was originally scheduled to be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but decided to move the event to the adjacent Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. The World Wrestling Federation’s stated reason for the venue change was that a threat had been issued towards the company in the wake of Sgt. Slaughter’s portrayal of an Iraqi sympathizer.

It also was The Undertaker’s WrestleMania debut and the beginning of his renown undefeated streak.

The two main feuds entering WrestleMania in 1991 were between Hulk Hogan and WWF Champion Sgt. Slaughter and The Ultimate Warrior and “Macho King” Randy Savage, and in a way both were intertwined.

The Ultimate Warrior had defeated Hogan for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania a year earlier and entered 1991 as the champion. In the meantime, Sgt. Slaughter had returned to the WWF near the end of 1990 after spending five years wrestling in the American Wrestling Association. When he returned his character was changed to become aligned with Iraq, which coincided with the United States entering the conflict in the Middle East that led to Operation Desert Storm, and he became a contender for Warrior’s title. At the same time, Savage was also vying for the title that he had lost to Hogan at WrestleMania V, and began prodding the Warrior to give him a title shot. Warrior refused and instead Slaughter received the shot.

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At the Royal Rumble in January 1991, interference from Savage and his valet Sensational Queen Sherri cost Warrior the title as Slaughter defeated the champion by pin after Savage hit him with a scepter. Warrior left the ring to chase after Savage following his loss and over the next few weeks their feud began to build, which hit a climax when Warrior challenged the Macho King to a retirement match at WrestleMania which Savage accepted.

Meanwhile, Hogan entered the Royal Rumble match and won it for the second consecutive year. After the match, while giving an interview to Gene Okerlund, Hogan was informed that Slaughter and his manager, General Adnan, were defacing the American flag. Hogan then promised to stand up for his country and take the title from Slaughter as soon as possible, and was later named the #1 contender for the WWF title which he had not contended for since losing the title to the Warrior at WrestleMania VI.

WrestleMania VII Results

• Koko B. Ware defeated The Brooklyn Brawler
•The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) defeated The Barbarian and Haku (with Bobby Heenan)
•The Texas Tornado defeated Dino Bravo (with Jimmy Hart)
•The British Bulldog defeated The Warlord (with Slick)
•The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags) (with Jimmy Hart) defeated The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) (c) for the WWF Tag Team Championship
•Jake Roberts defeated Rick Martel (Blindfold match)

•The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated Jimmy Snuka
•The Ultimate Warrior defeated Randy Savage (with Sensational Queen Sherri) (Retirement match)
•Genichiro Tenryu and K?ji Kitao defeated Demolition (Crush and Smash) (with Mr. Fuji) Tag team match
•The Big Boss Man defeated Mr. Perfect (c) (with Bobby Heenan) by disqualification Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
•Earthquake (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Greg Valentine
•The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) defeated Power and Glory (Paul Roma and Hercules) (with Slick)
•Virgil (with Roddy Piper) defeated Ted DiBiase by countout
•The Mountie (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Tito Santana
•Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt. Slaughter (c) (with General Adnan) for the WWF Championship