Thirty-five years ago today, the WWE held Wrestlemania VII at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. What made this Wrestlemania so intriguing were the impressions it made, both on the company and on pro wrestling fans worldwide.
From the location being changed just weeks before the event (from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to the L.A. Sports Arena), to the Ultimate Warrior besting “Macho King” Randy Savage in a retirement match that still holds up to this day, to Hulk Hogan becoming the first wrestler in WWE history to win the world title three times after defeating Sgt. Slaughter (who was playing an Iraqi sympathizer angle), there are few facts about WM7 that hardcore fans don’t know about and haven’t debated about endlessly.
But about the weeks and months immediately following WM7? What was next for some of the top stars in 1991? Here are five things you may not know about happened in the WWE right after WM7:
1—Hogan and Slaughter were featured in the main events of house shows across the country, usually competing in what was dubbed “Desert Storm” matches, in which there were no disqualifications and victory could only come by submission.
2—Soon after retiring Savage from active competition, the Ultimate Warrior was quickly paired with The Undertaker in a series of “Body Bag” matches at house shows, in which a wrestler had to incapacitate their opponent and fully zip them inside a heavy-duty body bag in order to get the win. Multiple records show that the Warrior won most or all of these matches, but the main purpose of the matches was to see if fans saw The Undertaker as a legitimate threat to major WWE superstars.
3—Prior to the Hart Foundation (Bret “Hitman” Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart) dropping the tag team titles to the Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags), WWE owner Vince McMahon promised Hart a major singles push right afterwards. The result? Hart would later defeat “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig at Summerslam 1991 to win the intercontinental title.
4—After Demolition (Smash and Crush) lost to Genichiro Tenryu and Koji Kitao at WM7, the team defeated Shunji Takano & Shinichi Nakano at WWF/SWS Wrestlefest on March 30, 1991. Following this match, Demolition would continue to wrestle in the SWS throughout the summer, usually on the losing end of matches. The team's final WWF-related match occurred on an SWS show in Japan on Sept. 18, 1991, in a losing effort to George Takano and Shunji Takano.
5—Power and Glory’s (Hercules and Paul Roma) 59-second loss to the Legion of Doom would prove to be one of their final recorded TV appearances. The tag team was on the losing side of a six-man tag team match at Summerslam 1991, and then lost to the Legion of Doom in a tag team title match at the Royal Albert Hall in England in October that was recorded in the UK.