March 7, 2016
By Ryan Porzl
On April 1, 1990, The World Wrestling Federation held Wrestlemania VI at Skydome drawing 67,678 people. It was a historic event but among the big things to happen at the show, one big moment was the company thinking ahead and making the huge announcement that Wrestlemania VII would be held at The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with the hope being that they would get 100,000 fans to attend and break all records. At the time, it seemed huge and WWF had all the momentum in the world to make it work as they had the TV and the talent both present and future. Yet, The World Wrestling Federation would lose momentum throughout 1990 and nine months later in January 1991, The WWF came to the realization that they wouldn't come close to selling the coliseum and moved the show to The Los Angeles Sports Arena. So what happened? How did The WWF go from planning to get 100,000 people at the Coliseum to having to settle for 16,158 fans at the Sports Arena? Well, with the 25th anniversary of the event coming up this March 24th, we'll take a look at the missteps The WWF had throughout 1990 that saw them destroy their momentum as well as the bad luck and somewhat bad timing.
There's no better place to start then with the man that was the top star throughout 1990: The Ultimate Warrior. Following Wrestlemania VI, Warrior was on top of the world as he was coming off a very well-received match with Hulk Hogan where he pinned The Hulkster cleanly to become the new WWF Champion. It was clear that Vince was looking to have him be the guy of the 90s. Unfortunately, Warrior's reign never panned out and was considered a disappointment. To be fair, it wasn't The Warrior's fault as Vince was more guilty given the directions he chose to go. The first mistake occurred only three weeks after Wrestlemania when Warrior made his first televised title defense. The first problem was that his opponent was Haku who was a good opponent but not believable as he just lost the tag team titles at Wrestlemania VI. How do you go from losing the tag titles to challenging for the world title in less than a month? Second problem was that it took a back seat to the blow off match between Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Perfect in their mini feud.
Second mistake was for Vince to put Warrior back with Rick Rude as his first title feud. While the two had a legendary and great feud the previous year, the feud wasn't even a year old. Another problem is that Rude really hadn't looked great since the first feud concluded. He pretty much lost his feud against Piper and then had a forgettable match at Wrestlemania VI against Jimmy Snuka. The WWF and Rude did try everything they could during the spring and summer to build Rude up as The WWF did segments with Rude doing intense training including working out in the gym and running on the beach. Meanwhile, Rude revamped himself as he cut his hair which gave him his Tom Selleck look, began wrestling more aggressively, and acting more serious. Unfortunately, fans just didn't buy it as it was too soon to revive this feud. On top of that, the WWF then screwed things by putting them on Saturday Night's Main Event XXVII where Rude was booked to look weak, Warrior kicked out of the rude awakening, and Rude lost by dq. Safe to say that by the time the blow off took place at Summerslam a month later, there was no heat and Rude was soundly defeated in a ten minute steel cage match. After the Rude feud, Warrior spent September and October with no feud at all as he was put with The Legion of Doom in six man tag matches against Demolition. Finally, he spent the remainder of his title reign against "Macho King" Randy Savage but that feud didn't get hot until the end of the title reign and after Warrior lost the championship at the 1991 Royal Rumble. So basically Warrior's title reign was a forgettable first title defense against a guy who lost the tag titles weeks earlier, then feuded with someone who he feuded with less than a year earlier, then was put in a tag feud he had nothing to do with and was only there because they all wore face paint, and his last feud didn't kick in until after he lost the title.
Another issue was the next champion in Sgt. Slaughter. Slaughter returned to the WWF in July 1990 after a six year absence and was brought back as a villain originally disgusted with America because they accepted Nikolai Volkoff with open arms and accused America of being soft. Sadly, things didn't end there as Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990 which began The Gulf War and The WWF decided to exploit the war by having Slaughter portray an Iraqi Sympathizer who expressed support for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Safe to say that this has since gone down as one of the most tasteless storylines in wrestling history. The WWF got nothing out of it as they looked desperate and disgusting for exploiting a real life conflict as it was happening. It also no doubt turned off many WWF fans even if most still thought wrestling was real as the WWF was pretty much trying to get publicity and make money off a war. Sure, wrestling is well known for having evil Japanese and evil Germans but they came AFTER World War II, not during the bloody conflicts. Another problem was that Slaughter was never world title material as he never won a world title of any kind before or after his one WWF Championship. Basically, the WWF was relying on the Gulf War and Slaughter's Iraqi Sympathizer gimmick to get fans to buy Slaughter as a main eventer when he was usually an upper midcarder. Finally, Slaughter wasn't booked the best. While things started well during the fall with him beating Volkoff and Jim Duggan at live events, it was the televised shows that hurt him. At Survivor Series 1990, Slaughter lost the elimination match he was participating in after he was disqualified and Tito Santana was the survivor. Nothing against Santana but he was an upper midcard wrestler at his peak and was being demoted down the cards by this point. Then he won the title at the 1991 Royal Rumble but only after tons of interference from manager General Adnan as well as "Macho King" Randy Savage and Queen Sherri. He then lost title defenses by disqualification against midcarder Jim Duggan on The Main Event V special on NBC and then at an MSG show that aired on the MSG network with the latter airing a week before Wrestlemania. The fact that Slaughter had to get disqualified against a midcarder like Jim Duggan made him look like a lame duck.
The WWF also threw away two big dream matches that could've helped them reach their goal. One is obvious while the other isn't. The obvious one was Demolition vs. The Legion of Doom which was one of the biggest dream matches especially in tag team wrestling. The other was Hulk Hogan vs. Dusty Rhodes. The Demolition/Legion of Doom match was a no-brainer and even WWF started the feud quickly with The LOD preventing Demolition from cheating and thus, cost them the tag team titles at Summerslam '90. Unfortunately, WWF screwed it up in so many ways. One was that the WWF actually gave this match away throughout live events first with The LOD teaming with The Ultimate Warrior against all three Demolition members in six man tag team matches and then in 1991 with The LOD taking on Smash and Crush. When you look at matches like this, The WWF would've been smart to keep LOD and Demolition as far away as possible until Wrestlemania VII. The fact they had them wrestle across the country devalued the match and it wasn't special by the time Wrestlemania occurred. Another problem was The WWF had a falling out with Bill Eadie (Ax) in November 1990 which meant that we weren't getting The LOD vs. the original Demolition of Ax and Smash. While the Smash and Crush lineup was good, it wasn't the same as the original. Then there was Rhodes vs. Hogan. Sure, it wouldn't have been the best match or even great and Rhodes was past his prime as he turned 45 in October 1990 but it still was a dream match, no pun intended. You had the two biggest fan favorites of the 1980s battling it out and The WWF could show past footage of Rhodes in the late 70s to show him as a credible wrestler to the newer fans who only watched WWF. They could also use real life with Hogan admitting Rhodes was one of his idols starting out and what an honor it is to face him. Plus, if WWF wanted to go the patriotic route, this wouldn't be tasteless as you would have The American Dream vs. The Real American showing everyone what America is all about as they give it their all for the WWF Championhip. Sadly, The WWF never went that route and blew it by burying Rhodes throughout the fall of 1990 and let him slip through their fingers after he left following the 1991 Royal Rumble.
That led to a new problem which was they're didn't have that potential white hot or dream main event. In the past, whenever the WWF sold out a big stadium, they had something huge. The Big Event had Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff which was a white hot feud. Wrestlemania III had Hogan/Andre and Wrestlemania VI had Hogan/Warrior. What did Wrestlemania VII have besides the possibilities of having the dream matches I mentioned? What match could main event and was a white hot feud? Where was it's Hogan/Andre or Hogan/Warrior? If you plan to sell 100,000 seats then you have to have something massive or multiple massive matches. None of the matches the WWF was going to have at Wrestlemania VII were huge. Slaughter/Hogan was a tasteless feud with an upper midcard guy as a lame duck champion while Savage/Warrior didn't kick into high gear until after Savage cost Warrior the championship at The Royal Rumble. I know some have brought up a Warrior/Hogan II match but that wouldn't work either. The first was huge because it was special. It was never done before, you had a then rare occasion of two fan favorites battling it out, a rare title vs. title, and the crowd was split 50/50. A rematch would have none of that and would be an inferior sequel. The match was already done, the stakes would not be as high since only Warrior would be putting a title up, and Warrior's title reign was booked poorly so the crowd would likely not be split and more for Hogan. The aura that helped make the Wrestlemania VI match magical and legendary would not be there for Wrestlemania VII.
Another issue was in talent as the WWF was in a transitional period regarding talent in 1990 and this presented problems. Here, we look at the talent that's split in several categories. The first was the long running talents. Wrestlers like Tito Santana, Greg Valentine, The Honky Tonk Man, Nikolai Volkoff, and Dino Bravo were done. Santana and Valentine were getting more out of place as the company started to get more cartoonish and had been in the company since 1983/1984 with previous runs in the late 70s and early 80s. Honky was good in 1987 and 1988 as Intercontinental Champion but was ridiculously stale by 1990. Volkoff and Bravo were past their primes and had been in the company for years and on & off since the 70s. Yet, the company still tried to breathe some new life into them with none being successful. Santana made it to the finals of a tournament for the vacant IC title against Mr. Perfect, then had a rematch with him on Saturday Night's Main Event XXVII, and survived his match at Survivor Series 1990 which allowed him to defeat future WWF Champion Sgt. Slaughter by disqualification. Honky and Valentine were paired up in Rhythm n' Blues with Valentine changing his look to an Elvis impersonator like Honky and even dyed his hair black which meant WWF decided to double down on a stale character. Volkoff went from an anti American Russian to an American loving patriot and Bravo became a stooge for Earthquake.
Then there were talents that had been there for years but were misused. Jake "The Snake" Roberts had become one of the most popular wrestlers since he turned babyface in 1987. However, after having classic feuds with The Honky Tonk Man, Rick Rude, Andre The Giant, and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase, his stock began to drop as he became involved in silly rivalries. His feud with Bad News Brown began the same as Andre as he was came across someone who supposedly wasn't afraid of anything but then showed fear towards Damien, Roberts' python. The feud then went downhill as it then saw Brown claim he would counter with sewer rats including bringing 200 pounds of Harlem sewer rats to their match at Summerslam. In the end, we didn't see any rats, the match was dull, and Brown left the WWF immediately after. After this, Roberts then feuded with Rick Martel after Martel blinded Roberts with his cologne: arrogance and then had to pretend to be blind for a few weeks with Roberts even wearing contacts to give the illusion how bad his eyes were. Haku was directionless following the end of The Colossal Connection at Wrestlemania VI. Sure, he got title shots on Saturday Night's Main Event but that was mostly to put over the champions and make them look good. He had no rivalries after Wrestlemania VI and it seemed like the company didn't know what to do with him. He probably could've eventually been established as a rival for The Ultimate Warrior and his WWF Championship. "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase feuded with The Big Boss Man during the spring and summer but their matches never made it to TV. They didn't wrestle on an Saturday Night's Main Event or the Summerslam Fever special or Summerslam. It felt weird to have one of the top villains attack Boss Man at Wrestlemania VI to start a feud and the two never had a big match at one of the big events outside of the 4/30/90 MSG show on The MSG Network which was early into the feud. His feud with Dusty Rhodes had good storytelling but the matches were one sided with Dibiase always beating Rhodes including a one on one in September at MSG, then his team won with him the sole survivor at Survivor Series, then he & Virgil defeated Dusty & Dustin Rhodes on the November MSG show, and finally, he & Virgil defeated Dusty & Dustin at Royal Rumble 1991. It wasn't until after the Rumble match with Virgil leaving him and smashing him with his million dollar belt that things started to get more interesting for Dibiase but that didn't start until two months before Wrestlemania. Then there's Akeem who was stuck since the fall of 1988 with the ridiculous Akeem, The African Dream gimmick. The sad thing was that he was a talented big man and the WWF could've rebuilt him throughout 1990 and give him his old One Man Gang gimmick with him justifying his losses and goofiness as Akeem as him not taking things seriously but now is. Instead, Akeem was squashed by Boss Man at Wrestlemania VI, lost a rematch a few weeks later on Saturday Night's Main Event XXVI, and then wasn't used much after that until he left in November.
Then there were the wrestlers who were supposed to be the next generation that were coming into their own throughout 1989 and early 1990. During this period, the WWF had a lot of wrestlers that seemed destined to be big parts of the company during the early to mid 90s including The Ultimate Warrior, Mr. Perfect, Rick Martel, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, and The Big Boss Man while The Powers of Pain broke up and the company clearly saw something in Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Unfortunately, either the WWF mishandled them or injuries got in the way. As mentioned above, the WWF screwed up The Warrior's title reign throughout 1990 and he lost momentum by the time he lost the title the 1991 Royal Rumble. Rude was hastily shot up to the top way too soon instead of being properly built up, he then failed to be taken seriously as a main eventer, was sent back to the midcard after The Warrior feud, and then abruptly left in October due to a pay dispute. The Boss Man feuded with Akeem and squashed him at Wrestlemania VI, then went into a feud with Dibiase that didn't go anywhere, and he really didn't pick up until the fall when his feud with Rick Rude turned into a feud with The Heenan Family. After The Powers of Pain broke up, the WWF did nothing with either Barbarian or Warlord despite both being fresh rivals for Warrior as both could've matched strength, both were taller, and Barbarian was very agile. The WWF also couldn't decide what to do with Bret. While he won his second tag team championship at Summerslam 1990, the WWF didn't know whether to keep him as a tag wrestler or pull the trigger on a singles run. To be fair, the cases with Brutus Beefcake and Rick Martel were not the WWF's fault as Beefcake suffered a shattered face in July 1990 and was out for two and a half years while Martel suffered an injury and missed July and August. In the end, the only one went unscathed was Mr. Perfect who was the runner up in the 1990 Royal Rumble and won two Intercontinental Titles.
Finally, there's the new talent that signed in 1990 and came in from June to December including The Legion of Doom, "The Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich, "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, The Undertaker, and The Nasty Boys. Unfortunately, outside of The LOD, who debuted in June, the WWF couldn't use these guys to their best of their abilities. Von Erich debuted in July and won the IC Title a month later but he was impossible to count on because of his drug problems so the WWF couldn't use him to the best of his abilities. The British Bulldog returned in October and while he was a former tag team champion, that was years earlier and Davey Boy Smith was mostly known as a tag team wrestler win The British Bulldogs with Dynamite Kid. Now, he was a singles wrestler and returning to the WWF for the first time in two years. The Undertaker debuted at the Survivor Series in November which meant the WWF had only four months to establish him before Wrestlemania VII. Even worse, Taker was not only debuting for the WWF but he was debuting the gimmick as well as Mark Calloway had never used The Undertaker character prior to his WWF entrance. Finally, there's The Nasty Boys who debuted in December which was three months before Wrestlemania. Though very successful in Memphis and Florida as well as making previous appearances in the AWA, The Nasties really didn't make a splash on the national level until the NWA Halloween Havoc 1990 show when they faced The Steiner Brothers. So basically, the WWF brought in a lot of great talent but they either had personal issues or the WWF just didn't have enough time to establish them to the point where they could've been game changers in helping the WWF get 100,000 fans to The Coliseum.
Lastly, let's take a look at the finalized Wrestlemania VII card. While the WWF already moved the show to the Los Angeles Sports Arena by the time the card was finalized, we can still see this event's wasted potential and how the route they were going on leading to it didn't help.
The Rockers vs. Haku & The Barbarian- On paper, this is a solid opener but the problem is that there was no history between these two teams and there was no reason to care outside of the fact it would be a good match. The Rockers were feuding with Power and Glory towards the end of 1990 and then wrestling The Orient Express throughout early 1991. Haku and Barbarian were not a full time team and were only paired up because they were members of The Heenan Family. Though they later formed The Faces of Fear, that wouldn't be for another five years in WCW.
Kerry Von Erich vs. Dino Bravo- This was a useless match that didn't need to be here other than to give both guys a Wrestlemania payday. Von Erich's WWF peak was already done despite not having been in the WWF for a year as he didn't have much to do following his IC title loss to Mr. Perfect in November (aired in December). He did have a series of matches with Ted Dibiase after Dibiase cost him the IC Title but the feud never went anywhere due to Dibiase feuding with Dusty Rhodes and then Virgil. Bravo was on his last legs and hadn't done much in a year outside of serving as Earthquake's henchman during Quake's feud with Hulk Hogan. He was a jobber to the stars by this point.
The British Bulldog vs. The Warlord- A match between two power wrestlers. There was a rivalry here as Bulldog defeated Warlord on the January 21, 1991 Madison Square Garden show with Warlord attacking Bulldog after the match and putting him into the full nelson. Overall, a good midcard match to fill the show and features two good talents.
WWF World Tag Team Championship: The Hart Foundation vs. The Nasty Boys- A weak tag title match as The Nasties only came in three months earlier and earned the tag title shot by winning a seven team battle royal on the February 16, 1991 edition of WWF Superstars. Even worse, The Nasty Boys didn't even win the match clean as the eliminated Power and Glory cost The Legion of Doom which gave The Nasty Boys the win. The Harts were at the end of their run as the WWF finally pulled the trigger on Bret Hart's singles run after the event. All in all, The Harts were great champions but The Nasties needed more time in the company before they got a title shot at this big of an event.
Blindfold Match: Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel- A blindfold match is when both wear black hoods over their heads to prevent them from seeing. One of the few matches with a long rivalry which began in the fall of 1990 when Martel blinded Roberts with his arrogance cologne. The two met at the next two PPVs with Roberts and Martel captaining teams at Survivor Series and then meeting each other during the 1991 Royal Rumble. During the feud, Martel was made to look strong as his entire team survived over Roberts' team at Survivor Series. Then, he eliminated Roberts during the Royal Rumble and went over 53 minutes (a then record). While the set up was silly, the feud had it's good moments and the Blindfold stipulation made sense.
The Undertaker vs. Jimmy Snuka- A good midcard match that was designed for the aging Snuka to put over the new star in Undertaker. It wasn't a huge match but necessary as it gives the newcomer a big stage to perform on and beat an aging legend. The dominant win allows The WWF to say that the fans should look out for Taker.
Career Ending Match: The Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage- One of the biggest and the hottest match of the show. The feud began in November with Warrior and Savage wrestling many live events over the WWF Championship but started to get hot after Savage attacked Warrior following his title match against Ted Dibiase at The Main Event IV in November and then cost Warrior the championship to Sgt. Slaughter at the 1991 Royal Rumble. Both men also had the tools despite having lukewarm 1990s with both still being extremely over with the fans, both can go in the ring, and both can go on the mic. Also, with this being 1991, fans likely believed in career ending matches and thus possibly thought there was a great chance that this would be the last match of one of these legends.
Genichiro Tenryu & Koji Kitao vs. Demolition- Another useless match that meant nothing. There was no story here and Tenryu & Kitao never even had a match for the WWF before this. Tenryu and Kitao were both from the SWS (Super World Sports) organization which the WWF had a working arrangement with. Tenryu was one of the biggest legends in wrestling to the point where he's been nicknamed "Mr. Puroresu" (Japanese Wrestling). Kitao was a former sumo who reached the rank of yokozuna but his attitude cost him his job in sumo and later in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Demolition were sadly on their last legs by this point with their stocks having plummeted since the 1990 Summerslam with the arrival of The Legion of Doom and the departure of Ax. The Demos hadn't done much in months as the WWF squandered the big dream match between them and The LOD which should've happened here. Nothing against Tenryu and Kitao but their appearance here seemed like a show of good will on the WWF's part because of the SWS alliance and the majority of American fans didn't know who they were so they didn't move tickets. Demolition were wasted here as they were one of wrestling's top teams for years only to be cast aside like trash and wasted in a heatless match. The match was sad not only cause Demolition was wasted but they all deserved more. Even though Demolition was now Smash and Crush instead of the original Ax and Smash, they were still a very solid combination who could've done more. Tenryu was a great wrestler in his prime and The WWF didn't do him any favors by not hammering home how much of a legend he is/was and what a treat it is to see him. Kitao had potential, too. Honestly, if you didn't follow Japanese Wrestling in 1991, you could've thought these were two random bums brought it. While Gorilla Monsoon did try to hype Tenryu a bit during the match, it was too late.
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Mr. Perfect vs. The Big Boss Man- This had one of the hottest stories going in as The Big Boss Man was set to feud with Rick Rude after he and Bobby Heenan made disparaging comments towards The Boss Man's mother but was changed to Boss Man feuding with the entire Heenan Family following Rude's abrupt departure in October 1990. Leading up to this show, Boss Man eliminated Haku during their elimination match at The 1990 Survivor Series and then defeated The Barbarian in a one-on-one match at The 1991 Royal Rumble. Both men were in the athletic primes, were over with the fans, and could cut promos. Both were also red hot at the time both in the ring and momentum.
Earthquake vs. Greg Valentine- This was a midcard match to reestablish Earthquake following his feud with Hulk Hogan. Valentine was at the end of his WWF run and putting over younger wrestlers. There was no feud or rivalry here. Quake was a talented super heavyweight while Valentine was still a solid wrestler despite looking more out of place in the WWF.
The Legion of Doom vs. Power and Glory- The feud here began on the February 16th edition of Superstars where both teams entered a seven team battle royal to crown the #1 contenders for the WWF Tag Team Championship with The LOD eliminating P&G only for Power and Glory to cost The LOD the battle royal. This was another wasted match as The LOD should've been taking on Demolition in one of the biggest dream tag team matches of all time. The feud also seemed thrown together as these two teams didn't have any history leading up to the battle royal.
Virgil vs. Ted Dibiase- Another match with a hot story as Virgil came into the WWF in 1987 as Dibiase's bodyguard but finally had enough of Dibiase's abuse and quit at the 1991 Royal Rumble by smacking Dibiase with his million dollar belt. The feud then saw Virgil score an upset over Haku on TV with Roddy Piper (who was serving as a mentor to Virgil) there to help him and then cost Dibiase a match against a preliminary talent. This was a great choice for Wrestlemania given the history between the two men.
The Mountie vs. Tito Santana- Another midcard match that was mostly put to give The Mountie a win on a big show. Jacques Rougeau had just returned at the 1991 Royal Rumble now repackaged as The Mountie. Santana was now being used to put over new talent or wrestlers with new gimmicks.
WWF Championship: Sgt. Slaughter vs. Hulk Hogan- On paper, this is a very good match but was plagued with problems. The exploitation of The Gulf War soured many and rightfully so. Slaughter was not world title material and the WWF relied on the tasteless storyline to get fans to buy him as a world champion and Wrestlemania main eventer. Slaughter was also booked as a lame duck heading in with his title win being overbooked and then lost two televised title matches to midcarder Jim Duggan by disqualification. This felt like Slaughter was just a transitional heel champion like Ivan Koloff, Stan Stasiak, and The Iron Sheik were before as they transition the belt from one babyface to another.
So when you look at this card, it's not horrible but the potential is wasted. Dream matches were flushed down the toilet, certain matches had no story behind it, and others didn't need to happen.
In the end, could WWE have sold out The Coliseum if things were different? We'll never know but given the mistakes the WWE made, they didn't do themselves any favors. Looking back 25 years later, Wrestlemania VII was a very good show, one of my favorite Wrestlemanias, but it may also come down as one with the most wasted potential.
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