WrestleMania 7: Stars and stripes forever

March 24th, 1991

Location: Los Angeles, California

Venue: Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

​Attendance: 16,158

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During WrestleMania 6, the WWF was already selling tickets and promoting the following year's extravaganza location.

​It was to return to Los Angeles for the first time since WrestleMania 2. The venue was the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and was set to crush the WrestleMania 3 attendance record.

One problem. They were forced to switch venues.

The backstory as to why the venue was changed is very complicated. It involved the real logistics surrounding the Coliseum and people taking the storyline at the time very seriously.

In mid-1990, the United States was involved in the Gulf War, which stemmed from Iraq's Kuwait invasion.

In the WWF, Sargent Slaughter returned to the company after have two smaller stints in 1980 and 1983. The character he would portray upon returning? A soldier who turned his back on the U.S. and be in full support of Iraq. I wish I were joking.

This brings us to the "taking the storyline seriously" part for the location change. A series of reports regarding security concerns for the Coliseum began to come in. They stated some Americans were considering harming Slaughter for his character in response to the Gulf War. On top of that, bomb threats were made for the massive stadium. I also wish I was kidding on this.

However, other reports followed, stating that WrestleMania 7 moved out of the Coliseum due to low ticket sales. The original amount of tickets on sale were roughly 100,000 but never sold close to the target.

Whatever the reason is, it's not a good look for a company to have to change venues in the first place. The thought of having the Coliseum would have been spectacular. Eventually, WrestleMania would reach its attendance of 100,000. For now, it's a travesty that history was failed to be made.

Back to WrestleMania 7.

The new location ended up being the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, a smaller yet secure site if those threats were genuine.

With the arena decorated in red, white, and blue to celebrate America, Willie Nelson was tasked to sing "America, the Beautiful," as the 16,000 plus in attendance were ready to get the festivities underway.

As mentioned in the previous article, Jesse "The Body" Ventura made his final appearance in the broadcast booth at WrestleMania 6. Ring manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan became Ventura's replacement for color commentary and would hang on to the role for a few more years.

Once again, 14 matches were scheduled on the card. It's time to share with you three things that stood out to me in 1991.

'The Streak' begins

At the 1990 Survivor Series, the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase introduced one of the most ominous individuals in WWF history to be part of his team in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match.

That man was called "The Undertaker." Managed by Paul Bearer, the Deadman immediately made his presence known, eliminating Koko B. Ware at the match's start

Jumping ahead to WrestleMania 7, The Undertaker was scheduled to face veteran "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. As he made his entrance, a look of concern grew on nearly every child in attendance.

In four minutes and twenty seconds, 'Taker took care of Snuka and won his WrestleMania debut.

In hindsight, this was a very underwhelming match that shouldn't have meant much. However, what nobody knew at the time, was that this was the beginning of one of the best stories in WrestleMania history.

The Undertaker was 1-0 at WrestleMania, and an unprecedented winning streak had begun.

A reunion for the ages

After losing the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 5, "Macho Man" Randy Savage had a roller coaster of a story that culminated at WrestleMania 7.

For starters, Miss Elizabeth was no longer at his corner. Instead, the "Sensational" Sherri became his new manager. When "Macho Man" won the King's crown from Jim Duggan in 1989, he changed his name to the "Macho King," and his manager became "Queen Sherri."

When the Ultimate Warrior won the WWF's top prize at WrestleMania 6, Savage continuously asked the champ for a title shot, which was declined again and again.

Fast forward to the 1991 Royal Rumble. Savage got involved in Warrior's match against Sargent Slaughter and cost him the WWF title.

All of this brings us to WrestleMania 7. The Warrior, who was upset (and rightfully so) at Savage for costing him the company's top prize, challenged him to match, on one condition. If Savage lost, he must retire. Savage agreed, and the two met face-to-face in L.A.

When the big day arrived, Miss Elizabeth was spotted in the stands, looking on for Savage with admiration, despite their history.

In a grueling 20-minute battle, the Warrior got the final blow, stood on top of Savage with one foot for the pinfall, and ended his career.

Sherri, who was at the corner of Savage, began to attack the "Macho King" in frustration. In a turn of events, Elizabeth had enough, hopped over the barrier, and ran to the ring to toss Sherri out of the ring. In doing that, she and Savage created yet another memorable WrestleMania moment.

Savage and Elizabeth had the crowd in tears and overjoyed with the reunion. In what was a fitting ending, Savage rode off into the sunset with Elizabeth by his side.

As you'll learn tomorrow, it wouldn't end up being the last time we saw the "Macho Man" in the ring. But for what it's worth at the time, it was indeed a proper sendoff.

A real American

We've reached the main event where the real-life situation of the Gulf War had a significant influence.

As mentioned already, Sargent Slaughter returned as an Iraqi sympathizer and went on to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

In America's continuous bashing, there was one man who was greatly disturbed and wanted to be the country's hero. The man, of course, happened to be Hulk Hogan.

With a theme song named "Real American," was there really a better option for Slaughter? Probably, but here we are.

Upon hearing that Slaughter was defacing the American flag after his championship win at the Royal Rumble, Hogan vowed to regain the title for America.

​Soon enough, the match was set at WrestleMania 7 in what was the most patriotic main event in WrestleMania history.

Hogan began with the heavy offense, much to the enjoyment of the crowd. In moments where Hogan could have pinned him, he opted not to and continued to beat Slaughter.

Eventually, the Sargent began to put up his own fight. Slaughter resorted to using chairs and started choking Hogan with a television cable, the former causing Hogan to bleed.

Despite being able to lock in the camel clutch, Hogan worked his way out of the submission hold before being beaten again by Slaughter. In a move that got the crowd upset, Slaughter placed the Iraqi flag on top of Hogan to pin him. Hogan kicked out and started to tear the flag apart.

As soon as the flag was torn up, Hogan began to bulk up, connected with his signature big boot and leg drop, and secured yet another World Heavyweight Championship.

With America's honor defended, Hogan wrapped the gold around his waist again and waved the Stars and Stripes in the middle of the ring to close out WrestleMania 7.

Final thoughts

I'm a person that's not a big fan when the world of politics and sports come together. Now, that's not meant to be an ignorant comment or taken the wrong way.

I am all for everybody speaking their mind as they please, which is absolutely important. Not to mention, they do clash in some shape or form, regardless.

However, I say that is due to how significant the Gulf War played in WrestleMania 7. While I wasn't alive in 1991, I can only imagine the severity of the issue around that time. I personally thought it was a bold move to have Slaughter's character portrayed that way and remind everybody of the Gulf War.

Sports or entertainment is normally an escape for many people. Would I personally want to be reminded of a real-life event like the Gulf War? Probably not.

Yet, at the end of the day, ironically, it was great to see the WWF find a way to bring everybody together to support their country during that tough time. To me, I think it's definitely important to stand united when a conflict arises.

In terms of the event itself, it was well done throughout. The trend of "good mania, bad mania, good mania again" was gone as the WWF put on a solid show for a second straight year. There was nothing that felt short and was filled with memorable moments.

Once again, WrestleMania had a feel-good ending, and the company would continue to progress from the event.

However, the following year would have the WWF's world turn upside down with a jet flying, limousine riding, kiss-stealing, wheelin' 'n' dealin', son of a gun.

Results:

- The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Janetty) def. The Barbarian and Haku

- The Texas Tornado def. Dino Bravo

- The British Bulldog def. The Warlord

- The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) def. The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) (c) - WWF Tag Team Championship

- Jake Roberts def. Rick Martel - Blindfold match

- The Undertaker def. Jimmy Snuka

- The Ultimate Warrior def. Randy Savage - Retirement match

- Genichiro Tenryu and Koji Kitao def. Demolition (Crush and Smash)

- Big Boss Man def. Mr. Perfect (c) via disqualification - WWF Intercontinental Championship (Mr. Perfect retains)

- Earthquake def. Greg Valentine

- The Legion of Doom (Animal and Hawk) def. Power of Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma)

- Virgil def. Ted DiBiase via countout

- The Mountie def. Tito Santana

- Hulk Hogan def. Sargent Slaughter (c) - WWF World Heavyweight Championship

Rating: B+

Thanks for reading. Look out tomorrow when I take a look at WrestleMania 8.

28 days away until WrestleMania 35.