The Lapsed Fan: Dave Meltzer on WrestleMania 7

As part of The Lapsed Fan's 30-week WrestleMania journey, the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer weighed in with his recollections of each event. Here, Meltzer discusses WrestleMania 7 in 1991.
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[@borednow5838]

Warrior VS. Savage should have main evented. It was a thing of beauty. Agree with Meltzer than that was probably Macho's best ever performance. The Hogan-Slaughter thing was a pure disgrace. I'm glad that it bombed.

[@DamoneBros]

I was always he Bret Hart guy or a Technical wresler fan even as a child other kids would get mad when I would say Hogan or Warrior were boring to watch in the ring.... my fav match during Summerslam 91 was Bret vs Perfect & all the kids in third grade liked hogan & warrior vs sgt slaughter, Adnan & mustafa.. a match made in heaven & a match made in hell was how they advertised summerslam 91... Even when Bret was in the hart foundation I knew he would be WwF champ one day... i should have been an agent for calling that one, everyone thought i was nuts

[@blakemccormick9612]

Most underrated wrestlemania ever!

[@joshct9426]

what a great mania, Career ending match was the best match EASILY in warriors life. Hogan/Slaughter angle was amazing. But for me the best was mania 19, Mania 8 was my #2 favorite but my 3rd favorite was probably this wrestlemania (mania 7)

[@briancromartie3149]

JoshCT kisluk WM 8 was sub -par.

[@Filmation77]

Vince banned everybody from going to Cauliflower Alley, ok THAT'S Shitty.

[@Hammerhead547]

The LA Memorial Coliseum would have been a fantastic venue for a SummerSlam because the weather in July/August is much warmer (especially at night), holding a maina there in late march/early april would have been a disaster if the weather had been bad that night (which it was).

[@theshooter2000]

I'm from Los Angeles. No, just no. There can be heatwaves in the summer that make it unbearable to be outside and dry heat the further inland you go (I'm from a beach city). People die from heat stroke during heatwaves sometimes (usually inland). March/April in LA is perfect because it's pretty good weather year round compared to the rest of the country except for El Nino years and August is when heat starts to crank up.

[@Maestrohbill]

The temperature was about 57 degrees. If one packed 100,000 in there, that's pretty good. If you only have the 14,000 who came to the Sports Arena, they'd all have been cool if not cold, especially as the temp dropped. www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KBUR/1991/3/24/DailyHistory.html? req_city=Burbank&req_state=CA&req_statename=California&reqdb.zip=91501&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

[@theshooter2000]

Your source is for Burbank. That is a lower temp than downtown LA. Look here, says 71, which would be for the PST of 4pm www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KCQT/1991/3/24/DailyHistory.html?req_city=Los+Angeles&req_state=CA&req_statename=California&reqdb.zip=90001&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999 People go out in high school football games in November/December all the time. Your argument doesn't hold.

[@Maestrohbill]

A couple of points here. I'm not even going to argue the fine points here because I honestly don't care as far as the weather in LA, and my only personal experience with California weather is the northern portion of the state. I used Burbank because when I entered LA, it did not give an hour by hour temp reading (and really - it's not like there's going to be a 20 degree difference in the two). But the CENTRAL point in the entire argument is this: Wrestlemania VII was NOT moved indoors because of the weather, it wasn't moved indoors because of a nonexistent bomb threat, and it wasn't moved indoors for Sgt Slaughter's safety - it was moved indoors because Vince's delusion that he could sell 100,000 seats and pack the LA Coliseum was at variance with reality. Nevertheless, thank you for the details you provided.

[@theshooter2000]

Maestrohbill Actually, there is a difference between the two. Any local knows that. It goes like this: Beach is 10 degrees cooler than downtown, which is 10 degrees cooler than inland/Valley. The local news ALWAYS shows the differences because that's how the LA area is. Burbank isn't that far from Downtown, but the SF Valley is pretty close too, so it could be about a 5 degree difference. At any rate, I agree that they didn't draw. I've never disagreed with that.

[@spellmanpat8233]

I think this one is underrated rockers vs haku barbarian great opening match undertaker debut mania heart foundation nastys great matches horrible small venue greetings from the best city in the world! Buffalo ny

[@spellmanpat8233]

does anybody know what the weather was like day of the show?? was always curious about this if it was outdoors as originally planned greetings from the best city in the world Buffalo ny

[@kneekneeleaked5148]

weather was perfect that day. nice sunny day. I lived 5 min drive away from the sports arena. there was no rain.

[@joeygana8864]

Spellman Pat It was raining in LA, they had 12,000 seats sold, so, the Coliseum holds 100,000 ppl, so they had to put it in the old LA Sports Arena, That should of been the Lakers home, not in Inglewood, the sports Arena was downtown, The Clippers played there, well WM36, is in the new stadium in Inglewood,Ca, WM37, in Chicago.

[@beakaHD]

Why was there no warrior rematch? At the time Tunney said he wouldn't sanction on but must have been a reason behind the scenes.

[@travismcdonald6576]

beakaHD McMahon just didn’t want to do it. Plus, Hogan was getting stale and Warrior probably would hav gotten more cheers than Hogan at this point.

[@datdude5224]

why wasnt this mania Warrior Hogan part 2?

[@steveantkiewicz2966]

How could Vince ban any of the wrestlers from Cauliflower Alley if they were independent contractors?

[@zopilote7]

By telling them that if they went they'd be off the card or fired, plain and simple. Independent contractors is really just a title they use so they don't have to completely insure their employees. It's pretty fucked up.

[@rrh1980]

if they are independent contractors -- he can't tell them what to do but he also doesn't have to contract them to do anything as well.

[@newbritishprowrestling1111]

They said this was the most viewed pay per view ever, was that just a lie?

[@zopilote7]

The fed? Yes, yes it was.

[@newbritishprowrestling1111]

+nimrodimus WrestleMania 3 was probably 78 thousand too, which would mean Summer Slam 92 may have been a bigger crowd.

[@zopilote7]

+Nostalgia Guy Summerslam 92 was their biggest crowd up until this years 'mania. I never understood why they would do that, why lie and say your biggest crowd of all time up until then was smaller than it was? That's Vince for you.

[@newbritishprowrestling1111]

+nimrodimus The mania 3 crowd looked bigger than the summer Slam 92 one though. Something that will never be beaten is the Hogan vs Andre rematch TV audience at The Main Event.

[@zopilote7]

+Nostalgia Guy That's called great production work. Yeah, something like that'll never be replicated, it was pretty unreal how many eyes were on wrestling that night.

[@Shelver92]

I always thought this was Savage's last really good match.

[@jimsheppard3166]

pete saws vs Flair the next year??

[@E_l_l_i_e]

1. Flair vs Savage in WM8 2. Savage vs Warrior in Summerslam 92 3. Savage vs DDP in Spring Stampede 97 4. Savage vs DDP in Halloween Havoc 97

[@markmenning1804]

Wait Sargent Slaughter really didn't fight for Iraq?

[@ennbee2051]

I mean, ya' know hahaha. Yeah, so, so so, yeah. I mean, ya' know. Yeah. So, so hahaha... Anyways, ya' know. Cauliflower Alley, ya' know?

[@thehoundchickenlover5836]

Well,you know,I mean,yeah.

[@davidgi3]

😂😂😂😂

[@dwoodstwin]

Say "cauliflower alley" one more gdamn time

[@a-aron4tw849]

Cauliflower alley?

[@rrh1980]

It's an old school wrestling club/get together. cauliflower meaning cauliflower ears -- so it was a tough guy -- wrestler's wrestler club. Guy's like The Miz aren't getting into Cauliflower Alley.

[@xantastic6301]

Bogus Directions lmao

[@Aj6711]

Not a huge fan of this PPV warrior and macho stole the show thou

[@zopilote7]

Absolutely love that match, really was Warriors best showcase. Though the 5 Macho elbows was still a little excessive, I really feel like the same drama could've been captured in maybe 2. The Elizabeth/Sherri angle at the end of the match is still probably my favorite 'mania moment of all time. So much heart, really would've been great for the show to close on it, as nothing else on the card came close to it.

[@Maestrohbill]

It's personal taste, I guess, but this was one of my favorites. Maybe it's the red/white/blue colors, maybe it's the Savage-Warrior match, but I really did like it on first view. I saw this on VHS before I saw VI, and thought this was better. Of the first ten WMs, I didn't care much for 1, 2 was overrated, 3 is actually overrated but historically important and has that awesome Savage-Steamboat match and Hulk-Andre meant a lot at the time, 4 was boring, I thought 5 was underrated, 6 is average, and 8 is very good. Of the first ten, IX was BY FAR the worst (only the Tatanka match was any good) and VIII probably the best. But that's just mho of course.

[@joshct9426]

nimrodimus I agree. But this is when the title meant A LoT and NO way Hogan wasn't being the main event. But Macho/Warrior absolutely stole the show. and i forgot the Nasty's winning the titles that helped launch Bret Hart's solo career. next year he had a AMAZING match with Piper, and later that year was Bulldog at Summerslam

[@tware7162]

It was a bloated car

[@jarredkerr7276]

P

[@genxtasy9914]

9:59 is hilarious. hes just stuttering

[@mikeabel7577]

Savage's finest hour. Hogan's most disgraceful. Warrior's best match.