Wrestlemania 7

Wrestlemania 7 was the first event to have to move locations because of death threats put out on the WWF (WWE)for Slaughter. In the 80’s, Sgt. Slaughter symbolized America in professional wrestling; he was even in the cartoon T.V. show G.I. J.O.E. Since the beginning of the 90’s, Hulk Hogan was all that symbolized America, and SGT. Slaughter would turn his back on America and became an Iraqi sympathizer. This caused chaos in the WWF because Slaughter had always stood for what was good and now he had become a turncoat. The WWF was to hold Wrestlemania 7 at The Memorial Coliseum; but aforementioned they had to move the event to the Memorial Sports Arena because of a massive amount of death treats for the turncoat Slaughter. Now those within the company say it was because of low ticket sales, but this is still a good attention grabber. Once it was decided to move the event, everything else was set and ready to go.



So coming from Los Angeles, California; on March 24, 1991 is the controversial Wrestlemania 7. Wrestlemania 7 saw the beginning of the end of the tag team of the Hart Foundation; the first victim of the infamous Deadman Streak, and Hulk Hogan and America conquering Slaughter and Iraq. Wrestlemania 7 of course had Howard Finkel as ring announcer, but for the main event Alex Trebek of Jeopardy introduced Hogan and Slaughter. Wrestlemania 7 was also the first PPV to not feature Jesse “The Body” Ventura on commentary, but was instead replaced with “The Brain” Bobby Heenan; The leader of the Heenan Family. During the main event, Regis Philbin joined Gorilla Monsoon and Heenan on commentary. The opening of the show saw country legend Willie Nelson sing our national anthem; “America the Beautiful”.


The first match I would like to talk to you about is for the WWF tag team championships. This match featured a new tag team of The Nasty Boys, going up against the champions; The Hart Foundation. Bret “The Hitman” Hart, was on a slow rise to the top. Hart had become tag team champion, but that would be just the beginnings of his legendary career. The Hart Foundation would lose this match to the Nasty Boys; and lose their titles as well. After Wrestlemania 7, The Hart Foundation would spilt-up; Jim “ The Anvil” Neidhart would disappear from wrestling for a little while, while The Hitman would go on to excel in singles competition. We will see more of Bret Hart as the years progress, but Wrestlemania 7 would be the end of the tag team of The Hart Foundation.

From Death Valley, weighting in at over 300lbs and standing almost seven feet tall, the next match I would like to talk to you about is the emergence of “The Deadman”; The Undertaker. For twenty-six years now The Undertaker has created mass destruction for his victims. The Undertaker is known for is 18-0 Wrestlemania streak, as well as being an innovator of the Casket Match, The Boiler Room Brawl, and The Buried Alive Match. The Undertaker will surely be a feature WWE Hall of Famer, but this was the beginning. The Undertaker’s opponent was “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka; before there was the Hardy Boyz or HBK, there was Jimmy Snuka. Snuka would leap off of cages and wrestle bear-footed, he was a good friend of Hogan’s and was also in his corner at Wrestlemania 1. Snuka was on his game in the 80’s. but as the 90’s came around new high fliers were arising and Snuka was becoming obsolete. The Undertaker saw this as his way to make his mark; take Snuka out of his misery. The Undertaker would beat Snuka with his finisher: The Tombstone, and the first of 18 victims would fall at the hands of The Undertaker.



Finally we have the main event between champion; Slaughter and challenger Hulk Hogan. This will be the sixth Wrestlemania Hogan headlines, and becomes WWF champion for the 3rd time. After Wrestlemania 6, The Ultimate Warrior would lose his title to Slaughter; who by then had turned into a heel and turned his back on America. Hogan had been gone from the scene; filming his movie “Suburban Commando”, and would come back to stand up for America. America was in the middle of the Gulf War Crisis and what better than for Vince McMahon to make a storyline out of it. A lot of heat was put on the shoulders of Sgt. Slaughter, and the Hulkster would rally all of the WWF fans behind him for this match. The integrity of America was on the line, in the eyes of Hogan, and if he lost so did America. This match was one of the best built-up matches of the 90’s and showed the turn towards Face Vs Heel main events. The end of the match saw Slaughter try to disgrace Hogan by placing the Iraqi flag over his body and try to go for the pin-fall. By now WWF fans had been used to Hogan’s ideology inside the ring and knew what was coming next; Hogan would Hulk-up and hit the “Big Boot” and pin Slaughter to become the new WWF Champion. Hogan had stood up for all that was good and just in this world and defeated the enemy. Wrestlemania 7 would be the beginning of the end for Hulkamania, but for now Wrestlemania 7 was “Stars and Stripes Forever