Wrestlemania VII

Happy Saturday Everyone!

We’re going to review WrestleMania VII today because we’re nearing Mania in real life and I’ve always enjoyed this show. The Main Event is Sgt Slaughter defending the WWF Title against Hulk Hogan, in a feud that had a very tasteless build but at least delivered when they got in the ring. The other big match is Macho King Randy Savage facing The Ultimate Warrior with both respective wrestlers’ careers on the line.

If you’d like to view the card, you can do so below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=1768&page=3

Gorilla Monsoon and Hacksaw Jim Duggan start the broadcast on commentary, which is taking place in Los Angeles, California.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew a crowd of 15,500.  The show drew an estimated buyrate of 2.8 (an estimated 400,000 buys).  This was a decline from the 3.8 buyrate of WrestleMania VI, with 150,000 fewer households buying the show versus the previous year, and marked the first time that fewer fans purchased a WrestleMania than the prior edition.

Willie Nelson does a nice rendition of “America the Beautiful.”

Live from Los Angeles, CA

Airdate: March 24, 1991

Attendance:  15,500

Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby “The Brain” Heenan

Wait a minute! This was supposed to be at the L.A. Coliseum! Vince must have hired Special Ops to keep the venue change so tight-lipped. Read on!

Scott–
As a followup to my recent Wrestlemania VII question, suppose Gulf War I never took place (or, if you REALLY want to chart a course for Fantasyland, Vince executed a modicum of discretion), thereby nullifying the Slaughter-as-Iraqi-turncoat angle.  In that case, who keeps the belt warm for Hogan in the run up to ‘Mania?  Do you keep it on Warrior and take your chances with a foregone rematch?  Pass it off to Savage for a couple months and somehow convince him to lay down for Hogan yet again?  (Thereby robbing WM7 of its show-stealer and Warrior of what is arguably the best match of his career).  Pull the trigger on a reliable mid-card heel like Mr. Perfect or throw money at Rick Rude until he comes back? Yeah, it’s a toughie.  Deep down I think they could have done something with Savage as a transitional champion if they really needed to, like basically putting Savage into the Slaughter spot at Rumble without the traitor angle.  He had pretty good heat for the whole deal and really Slaughter felt pretty shoe-horned into the Warrior feud anyway.