411 Ranks The WrestleManias: #17 – WrestleMania 7

WrestleMania VI saw the crowning of the “Ultimate Champion.” But as the year went on the challengers were many, and at the Royal Rumble; with help from Queen Sherri and the Macho King, Iraqi turncoat Sgt. Slaughter defeated The Ultimate Warrior to win the WWF Title. With the title in enemy hands, there was only one person to turn to in order to get the title back. With Hogan challenging for the WWF Title, the Warrior would have unfinished business with the Macho King as they would put their careers on the line. Let’s meet the analysts and break down the show!

* The Rockers defeated The Barbarian and Haku w/Bobby Heenan @ 10:36 via pin
* The Texas Tornado defeated Dino Bravo w/Jimmy Hart @ 3:15 via pin
* The British Bulldog w/Winston defeated The Warlord @ 8:16 via pin
* The Nasty Boys w/Jimmy Hart defeated The Hart Foundation © to become the NEW WWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS @ 12:15 via pin
* Blindfold Match: Jake “The Snake” Robert defeated Rick “The Model” Martel @ 8:35 via pin
* The Undertaker w/Paul Bearer defeated Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka @ 4:21 via pin
* Retirement Match: The Ultimate Warrior defeated The Macho King Randy Savage w/Queen Sherri @ 20:47 via pin
* Genichiro Tenryu & Koji Kitao defeated Demolition w/Mr. Fuji @ 4:43 via pin
* The Big Bossman defeated Mr. Perfect w/Bobby Heenan @ 10:45 via DQ
* The Earthquake w/Jimmy Hart defeated Greg “The Hammer” Valentine @ 3:36 via pin
* The Legion of Doom defeated Power & Glory w/Slick@ 1:00 via pin
* Virgil w/Roddy Piper defeated the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase @ 7:36 via count out
* The Mountie w/Jimmy Hart defeated Tito Santana @ 1:23 via pin
* Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt. Slaughter © to become the NEW WWF CHAMPION @ 20:26 via pin

Mike Hammerlock
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior (****¼) – Amazing how where you are in time and place alters your perspective on wrestling events. At the time of WrestleMania 7 I had recently moved to a new state with my live-in ex and we were on completely different schedules. I had sworn off my traditional favorite pursuits of women, loud music and booze. I had a stable relationship, there weren’t many rocking bands playing near where I lived and I couldn’t afford much booze (also didn’t have anyone to drink with). I was bored to tears. I filled the void with pickup basketball and mindless television watching. It was during that time I started to pay more attention to pro wrestling again. It was cartoonish as hell and I couldn’t stand most of the babyfaces I was supposed to like, but it occupied my time. That year I got together with some guys I’d met playing basketball and we watched WrestleMania on a pirate cable feed (the way God intended). Going into the event, I could not have been more jaded about Macho Man Randy Savage going up against the Ultimate Warrior. I hated Warrior, thought he was the goofiest guy on the roster. My only surprise over his failure to replace Hulk Hogan as the WWF’s new icon was that I thought overly muscled, no ring skills and yelling about nothing was the sure-fire formula for success in the WWF. Meanwhile I respected the hell out of Savage, but the ginned up drama over his love life with Miss Elizabeth didn’t register with me at all. I went into this match thinking it was going to suck hard. Man, was I wrong. It’s easily the best match of Warrior’s career with Savage carrying him to it. I’ll get into Savage more in a lower section (yeah, he’s my MVP pick). This match was so good that even a cynical twenty something had to give it up for the work they did in that ring. They defeated every expectation I had and changed my perspective on whether pro wrestling was an art form. Side note, it is chilling to think all four of the main participants in this match (including Sensational Sherri) are dead 24 years later.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: Undertaker vs. Jimmy Snuka (*) – As with all early WrestleManias, the garbage-to-goodness ratio ran high here. The idea was to throw most of the roster onto the card, not for all of them to have compelling matches. It was more like a parade than a wrestling event in those days. There were 14 matches on the card, same as the previous two WrestleManias and tied for the 2nd highest number of matches all-time (behind WM4, where they held a championship tournament). WrestleMania would never feature such a congested card again. Anyway, the challengers here are many: Tito Santana vs. the Mountie, the Legion of Doom squashing Power and Glory, Earthquake vs. Greg Valentine, Tenryu and Kitao vs. Demolition, Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel in a blindfold match, Kerry Von Erich vs. Dino Bravo. The main event had its problems as well. Sgt. Slaughter was back and apparently he loved him some Saddam Hussein. Hulk Hogan, of course was standing up for America (and I guess the poor, oppressed oil barons of Kuwait). It was a pathetic attempt at trying to be topical. General Adnan was helping out Sarge, but all I could think was, “That’s Billy White Wolf with an unbroken neck!” Anyway, I’m picking Undertaker vs. Jimmy Snuka for their grotesquely inauspicious start of the most legendary streak in wrestling history. Jake vs. Martel with blindfolds technically was a worse match, but Taker vs. Snuka was pure dreck too. All those great Streak matches in the 2000s made people forget just how tawdry the Streak was in its early years. I used to dread Undertaker matches in general and particularly at WrestleMania. He was like the Bad Wrestling Seal of Disapproval. Remember, I was an adult when Taker came along. He didn’t scare me or send chills up my spine. I remembered seeing him as the Punisher on GWF broadcasts. Basically I thought his Undertaker gimmick was corny as shit and for years his matches were a consistent low point at WrestleMania. Snuka had long been a favorite of mine and this match was disheartening because you could see that he was done. That’s why I rate as the worst match on the show, it was a depressing end to the Superfly. He went out with a whimper.

Show MVP And Why: Randy (Macho Man) Savage – He’d been running with his Macho King gimmick for roughly 18 months, with Sherri as his manager, by the time of this WrestleMania. He had cost Warrior the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. Much as I hated Warrior, this match had a good build. It made sense. These were two of the biggest guys on this roster, but Warrior’s dumbassery ruined everything it touched. That’s what made this such a triumph for Savage. He had been sacrificed on the altar of Hulk Hogan and passed over by Warrior. All that talent and he seemed to be at a dead end. Now he was in a retirement match that he was almost guaranteed to lose. This came on right after Undertaker-Snuka and you could hardly ask for more dramatic shift in match quality. Savage hit Warrior with the kitchen sink. One of the problems with Warrior, IMO, was fake intensity. His intensity was all about running to the ring and shaking the ropes, not in having a great match. Yet Savage gave Warrior a fight like he’d never seen. Five, count ‘em five, flying elbows. This wasn’t a show for the kids, it was fight for your career. Technically Warrior was the face in the match and Savage was the heel. By the end fans were coming out of their seats, hoping for a Savage victory. By winning over the crowd, it made sense that he won back Miss Elizabeth (kayfabe) that night. Obviously the retirement didn’t stick. A year later Savage was stealing the show at WrestleMania again, this time with Ric Flair. Arguably, the portion of his career that started on this night was his best.

Your Thoughts on The Show: Stealing the show at WrestleMania had gone a bit dormant by the time the seventh installment rolled around. The first three editions got stolen by mid-card matches, but WrestleManias 4-6 all boiled down to the main event. WM7 turned into a tale of two PPVs. The first half of it, which culminated with Savage-Warrior, was a blast. The second half, which culminated with Hogan-Slaughter, was dreadful. The Rockers kicked off the show vs. Barbarian and Haku. It was the first time in the history of the event we got a truly hot start to the show. No doubt realizing they were onto something, Shawn Michaels would kick off the next two Manias. The Nasty Boys took the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Hart Foundation in another high quality match. It would be Bret’s last tag team match at Mania. Jimmy Hart was in the Nasty corner for the contest and he was all over the event, managing four matches and winning three of them. In fact, if it wasn’t for Savage, I’d have named Hart my MVP. It was the heyday of wrestling managers. The event also had Heenan, Slick, Sherri, Paul Bearer and Adnan. Miss that. The British Bulldog had himself a perfectly acceptable match against the Warlord. All that goodness came in the first half of the show. Afterward you had Big Bossman taking the Intercontinental Championship off Mr. Perfect (never understood Bossman as a face) in a mildly entertaining contest. Virgil vs. Ted DiBiase wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good either. The event simply ran out of steam. That’s probably why they went with smaller cards afterward. Cull five garbage matches out of this one and suddenly you’ve got a respectable card, probably the deepest in Mania history up to that point in time. If you fast-forward through the goo there’s plenty of good stuff here. In fact this stands out as the WrestleMania where more pro wrestling started creeping into Vince McMahon’s big sports entertainment extravaganza.

Arnold Furious
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Randy Savage v Ultimate WOYAH~! [****1/2] There’s a school of thought that Jim Hellwig never really understood wrestling. That until he faced off with Rick Rude he was completely worthless as a performer and that after that he barely understood the basics of psychology. This match could be a freak then as it’s by far the best match of Warrior’s career in terms of psychology and the most emotional by some distance. Putting careers on the line certainly made for a more entertaining experience and Randy Savage is a machine. He’s so good here that people don’t want him to lose, even though he’s the heel. There’s isn’t any hate for him when he’s lost. People are genuinely sad that they won’t see him again. You could argue Warrior’s match with Rude or Hogan was better but they weren’t. This was Warrior at his most useful and it’s almost all down to the excellence of Savage. I miss him.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: Jake Roberts v Rick Martel [DUD] Blindfold matches are not hard to execute. They’re all pretty much identical. But they’re never fun to watch. Just two guys stumbling around the ring, pointing and listening for crowd reactions. The idea is to create an interactive experience for the fans. It doesn’t make it any easier to watch on PPV or DVD. Skip it.

Show MVP And Why: Randy Savage. Going out with a bang, Savage’s retirement didn’t last but he did drag one of the great WrestleMania matches out of the Ultimate Warrior. I don’t think there’s anyone else who could have done that. The post-match antics just showcase his skills as a storyteller further. Yes, Liz was a major part of that storyline but its Savage who makes it and Savage who busted his ass for 20 minutes beforehand.

Your Thoughts on The Show: There is a lot of filler on this card. After the Savage-Warrior match there are 7 matches on the card and only one of them (Hogan-Slaughter) goes over five minutes. You just can’t throw that much crap on PPV and expect it to work. Of course the WWF hadn’t quite perfected the PPV format by this point. The positivity comes largely because of a strong first half with Rockers and Hart Foundation in action. But the WWF crammed 14 matches onto the show. So if variety is your thing, this is your show.

Sean Garmer
The Best Thing on the Show And Why: Retirement Match: Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior [****] – This was damn good, especially for not being the main event. There was a lot of outside action and some interference by Sherry but it made sense because Macho Man was trying hard to avoid his fate. Not to mention, Sherry was trying to protect her investment as she showed in her anger at his loss in the post-match. Warrior did well to keep Sherry out of it and as the face, it was nice to see him be noble by not pinning Savage after Sherry accidentally whacked him with her shoe. Each man had their moments in the match with near falls, with Warrior’s kick out after five flying elbows was the big highlight. Macho Man also got to kick out of Warrior’s finish, which didn’t happen very much back then. Warrior’s reaction where he looks up to the heavens and wonders if this may be the end because he couldn’t pin Savage, was great. The ending was sort of anti-climatic, Warrior hits three shoulder blocks and then puts a foot on Savage for three count. This match obviously doesn’t mean much nowadays because Savage didn’t stay retired, but it was the first of its kind for WrestleMania and it certainly stands out. The post-match makes this even more memorable because it was a wonderful touching moment between Savage and Elizabeth.

The Worst Thing on the Show And Why: Earthquake vs. Greg Valentine [DUD] & The Mountie vs. Tito Santana [DUD] – Who did Greg Valentine piss off to get put in a squash match with Earthquake? It was terrible to see such a great talent get wasted on such a crappy character like Earthquake. The Mountie was also a waste of a character that defeated another great talent WWE underused. Tito Santana deserved to at least win one WrestleMania match during his WWE tenure, but sadly he was always the fall guy for somebody else. Two matches that could have been left off the card in my opinion and were a total waste of space.

Show MVP And Why: Hulk Hogan – I really couldn’t think of another person here that meant more to this PPV. This was during or near the end of the Gulf War and Sgt. Slaughter received many death threats for turning heel and turning into an Iraqi supporter. Hogan really was an “American Hero” and many were really looking to him to beat the snot out of the Iraqi guy. The match was pretty good for a Hogan match-up and he took it to Slaughter as if he was really out there fighting for the nation. Slaughter and Adnad tried every heel tactic in the book to keep the title for Iraq, but the Hulkster was having none of it. Hogan waving the flag at the end was another one of those WrestleMania moments, because of what was going on in the country at the time, Hogan’s victory was a great symbol for America.

Your Thoughts on The Show: The was the first complete WrestleMania, in my view. You really only had three throwaway bad matches on this show and the rest of it was good to great. The Retirement match was great, so was the main event, and the IC title match was a good surprise as well. Even the opener and Bulldog vs. The Warlord wasn’t bad either. I would have preferred if Virgil would have gotten a surprise win instead of the cheap countout, but it still helped further the storyline. I didn’t mind the blindfold match but I know some hate it. We also saw the WrestleMania debuts of Undertaker and the Legion of Doom at WrestleMania VII. I thought this PPV delivered and it is probably the best all-around Mania out of the first nine. WrestleMania 8 may have had two great matches, but the rest of the card falls flat, and the main event ends by a stupid disqualification.

What will #18 be? Come on back tomorrow to find out…

The List So Far…
30. WrestleMania 9
29. WrestleMania 2
28. WrestleMania 11
27. WrestleMania 4
26. WrestleMania 15
25. WrestleMania 27
24. WrestleMania 29
23. WrestleMania 25
22. WrestleMania 5
21. WrestleMania 13
20. WrestleMania
19. WrestleMania 6
18. WrestleMania 16
17. WrestleMania 7

REMINDER, each 411 writer had the opportunity to rank the WrestleMania events (based on overall quality, historical significance and personal preference), those rankings went into creating the final list.