WrestleMania VII

Wrestlemania 7 is one of the all time classic-wrestling events, and is well worth watching, especially for those who like a bit of nostalgia.

Its great to watch because these are some of the classic wrestling stars in their prime. Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Mr Perfect, Andre the Giant and the Legion of doom are all here.

Macho Man Randy Savage versus the Ultimate Warrior in a loser must retire match is one of the all time classics, this match had everything - they told a great story and the ending was the icing on the cake, and a perfect way to end someone's career, (although these stipulations are never honoured, just look how many times the McMahon's have been `fired' or have lost these type of matches in recent years).

There are some other great matches on here, including the Nasty Boys versus the Hart Foundation, Mr Perfect (one of my personal favourites) versus The Big Boss Man, and although it was a silly idea, Jake the Snake versus Rick Martel in a blindfold match provided a fair bit of entertainment. The main event was Hulk Hogan versus Sgt Slaughter for the Title.

Plenty of the legends are here, and although some weren't used properly on the night (demolition), it still made for a great event and is well worth watching now to see how great things were, before the McMahons decided that they were the real stars.

More than any other period to this point in Wrestlemania history, it seems as if the entire WWF roster changed from VI to VII. Yet, it is pretty much a change for the better, as older, less relevant wrestlers take a back seat to a whole new generation.

The highlights of this event for me include:

-The British Bulldog (always a fan-favorite) in a singles match with The Warlord. -The Hart Foundation (now solidly in the babyface camp) taking on the new Nasty Boys tag team. -The first WM appearance for The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer, of course!) -The epic "retirement match" between "Macho King" Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior. Probably the best overall match of the entire event in terms of both execution and excitement. -Mr. Perfect, one of the greatest technical wrestlers the WWF had ever seen, against the Big Boss Man, who could execute moves very well for a big guy and had a great persona to boot. -Even the Virgil/DiBiase feud was kind of fun.

Ironically enough, however, the reason I can't give Wrestlemania VII the full five stars is because the final Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter match just isn't very good at all. The buildup is incredible and it may have been one of the most publicized matches of all-time playing on the tensions surrounding the Gulf War at the time, but the match just doesn't live up to the hype. Nowhere near the Hulk/Warrior clash of a year earlier.

There is also a shakeup in the broadcast booth for this event, with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan replacing Jesse "The Body" Ventura beside Gorilla Monsoon. I have always thought that "The Body" was one of the best color commentators the WWF ever had, and while "The Brain" is okay, that great Monsoon/Ventura chemistry is no longer apparent.

Overall, though, this is a solid Wrestlemania. What it lacks in a "grand finale" it more than makes up for with an infusion of new, fresh talent into the business.

First off, yes, the Slaughter/Iraq angle was stupid. But the Heat for the main event was off the charts and, shockingly, Slaughter carries Hogan to a decent match! The Warrior vs Savage is one of the best booked matches in history, and to not enjoy it is a travesty! A 5 star classic for sure. Some other bright spots included a great opener between the Rockers/Haku & Barbarian. Bulldog/Warlord was also much better than expected! Surprise appearances for Elizabeth & Andre the Giant just added to the big event feel here!

Sure, there was a lot of filler at this show too, but its still a fun card and was the first Wrestlemania I ever got to see.

A must to see for sure!

This Wrestlemania was originally supposed to take place outside of Los Angeles, but Vince McMahon scrapped the idea. This was because Iraqi sympathiser Sgt Slaughter was supporting the Gulf War and he set the USA flag on fire. So while brave American soldiers were dying in the gulf, McMahon made money out of this. In this writers opinion McMahon has a habit of doing this. McMahon thought a sniper would kill Robert 'Sgt Slaughter' Remus for real.

So many matches were crammed onto the card and so many matches were cut short.

Results from Wrestlemania VII are as follows:

• The Rockers beat Haku and The Barbarian in an entertaining opening contest.

• Texas Tornado beat Canadian strongman Dino Bravo in a very short match.

• The Nasty Boys downed The Hart Foundation in a strong match. One interesting note is when Sean Mooney was interviewing The Hart Foundation before the match. Jim Heidhart said shouting "Knobs! Saggs! You say you're going to rock The Foundation, you say you are going to beat The Foundation! You say you're going to crack The Foundation! Well to crack The Foundation you have got to be right at the bottom and that's exactly where you guys are!" Read the paragraph what Anvil said, it means that they could crack the Foundation after all!

• The British Bulldog beat the Warlord in a short match.

• Jake 'the snake' Roberts beat Rick Martel in a memorable blindfold match.

• Virgil downed 'The Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase via count out.

• The Big Bossman defeated Intercontinental Champion Mr Perfect via DQ when Haku and Barbarian ram in.

• Kitao and Tenryu defeated Demolition - Crush and Smash (Barry Darsow) - The Mountie defeated Tito Santana in a very short match.

• The Ultimate Warrior defeated 'Macho Man' Randy Savage in a career ending match.

• The Undertaker downed 'Superfly' Jimmy Snuka.

• Earthquake defeated Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine in a short match.

• Legion of Doom defeated Power and Glory in a terrible short match.

• Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt Slaughter to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

Overall Grade - B- There were too many matches, but I can't help noticing that too many performers on the show are sadly no longer with us today.

RIP - Lord Alfred Hayes, Gorilla Monsoon, Joey Morella (referee), Texas Tornado, Dino Bravo, Hercules, Big Bossman, Mr Perfect, Andre the Giant, British Bulldog, Hawk, Elizabeth.

I do enjoy the classic WrestleMania's. But this one was not that good from start to finish. First you have to look at the fact that they only sold about 16,000 tickets and had to move the event to a smaller arena. Then they called it the largest Pay-Per-View audience in history despite the fact the buy rates were pretty bad.

As far as the matches go there were none that really stand out in my mind as classics. In fact Demolition vs Tenryu & Kitao is one of the worst WrestleMania matches of all time. The Savage vs. Warrior match is called a classic and it did have some good momentum changes but the Warrior required someone to give him a good match but Savage wasn't the guy to do that. The Mr. Perfect match was decent but it's hard to pull a good match when you are facing a man as big as Big Boss Man.

Finally there is the main event of Sgt. Slaughter vs. Hulk Hogan. I think by this time people were getting a little bored with Hogan in WrestleMania. The story for this match wasn't very good and the actual match itself was kinda boring. Had I seen this back in 1991 I would have loved but it now I realize that there are many better WrestleMania's than this one.