When many people think of the great WrestleManias, a select number of events tend to pop up in the mind of most fans. WrestleMania X7 is probably the best WrestleMania of all time and a candidate for the best American wrestling PPV of all time. WrestleMania III is up there thanks to the spectacle of the Silverdome and a rather great event overall. That's fine and dandy, but I'm going to throw a different WrestleMania into the mix. WrestleMania VII may be the best WrestleMania that nobody talks about. First, let's address the elephant in the room and one of the main reasons that most fans tend to shy away from WrestleMania: Gulfsploitation. I don't even know if that is a word, but that is probably the best name for it. Taking Sgt. Slaughter who at that point had been portrayed as an American hero and turning him into an Iraqi sympathizer was done with incredibly bad taste. The media took notice of the angle and skewered McMahon rather badly for this. Yes, Slaughter did get a lot of heat and he was motivated in the ring, but the media coverage of the war was very tense. You could watch missiles hitting targets from the seat of your couch and it was first war to be covered by cable news. All this in a war that only lasted about six months. It should be noted that the war ended almost a full month before the event actually, much to McMahon's chagrin probably. Well, there is a smaller elephant and that is the move to the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Originally, the card was set to take place at the massive Los Angeles Coliseum. Originally, the main event was scheduled to be the Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior rematch. It was probably the only match that had a legitimate chance of drawing a big number at the Coliseum, but Warrior bombing as champion killed that from happening. The company actually started building the match right after WrestleMania VI ended, stating that there would be no immediate rematch. With Warrior's run at the top bombing, the steroid allegations beginning, and the fans turning away from Slaughter the move to the Sports Arena was the best move possible. Now that we've addressed the elephants, let's talk about the event. In my opinion, the positives far outweigh the negatives. The positives: -The crowd is super-hot throughout the night, which helps greatly. There isn't much else I can say about that, and we even get a Vlad the Superfan appearance! Brock Lesnar Guy and most of the superfans of today could learn a thing or two about Vlad. -You can never go wrong with Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan on commentary. If somebody could make a compilation of all the insults Heenan leveled at Piper about his kilt being a skirt, I'll give you a cookie. -The opening match between The Rockers against Haku and Barbarian is great.The Rockers were at their best going against bigger opponents and once again the crowd helps. The Rockers bump like pinballs for Haku/Barbarian and they bust out some pretty cool spots. A moment that made me go "Holy crap" was when Jannetty jumped for a Frankensteiner on Haku, but Haku held him up and took him to the ropes. Barbarian came in, ran the ropes and pretty much Bulldog'ed Janetty throat first into the ropes. Another good moment is Jannetty attempting a cross-body to only have Barbarian catch him and powerslam him. This is a really good opener, probably the second best Mania opener after Bret and Owen. -The British Bulldog/Warlord match is also a fun big-man match since Bulldog was still pretty agile at this point. It's not a great match and it's probably the best match of the Warlord's career, but it surprised me. Sure, you have two rest spots but they work at a pretty brisk pace. It's great to see Bulldog at this and time in his career before the knee injuries did some real damage to him. He would have been a perfect number two face in the company at the time. -The Hart Foundation has their swan song when they drop the tag belts to The Nasty Boys. The Hart Foundation's reign at the top good guy tag team never panned out, they didn't have a top-flight team to feud against. Demolition was moved into a feud with The Road Warriors, leaving the Hart Foundation to feud with Rhythm and Blues. I think a feud with Power and Glory would have been good, but the Hart Foundation ends a six-year run in a great tag bout with The Nasty Boys. While the Nasties weren't the greatest team, they could have good matches with the right teams. -The blindfold match. Yes, I said that the blindfold match is a positive aspect of WrestleMania VII. You may ask yourself: Has he gone crazy? Absolutely not I say; if I can survive The Black Scorpion than I can survive a one-off gimmick match. The match isn't that great, but the crowd is beyond into it which is a positive. Jake Roberts could write a book on how to get the crowd into the palm of his hands, plus we got another great Jake Roberts pre-match promo. It's a short one, but it proves that what is spoken means more than the length of the promo. -The Career vs. Career match is quite possibly the best match of the Ultimate Warrior's career. It's also an emotional epic as both men battle to save their careers. I should also note that it's a great example of blowing off a feud properly and not doing an immediate rematch or finding a way around the stipulation. It was also the best built the match of the card, but I'm happy that it wasn't for the belt. The aftermath with Miss Elizabeth has even made the most jaded of smart mark tear up a bit. It's a great moment; Savage finds redemption even though he lost his career. I love the fact that Savage kept his grudge against Warrior on commentary, having no sympathy when The Undertaker locked him in a casket the next week. -The Intercontinental Title match between The Big Boss Man and Mr. Perfect is a match that I forgot about. It's a good payoff to the Heenan Family vs. Boss Man feud, plus Perfect and Boss Man have good chemistry. Perfect bumps in his usual crazy style and Boss Man hold his own, taking a nasty looking rolling neck snap on his knees that looks cringe worthy. Andre getting involved is a nice call back to his face turn at WrestleMania VI, but the finish is a bit out of a cop out. Haku and Barbarian run-in for the DQ finish and Boss Man/Andre clear the ring. If you want another good Boss Man match, his bout against The Barbarian at that year's Royal Rumble is a good bout. -The birth of The Streak as The Undertaker squashes Jimmy Snuka with relatively ease. It's not the greatest match in the world, but it should be seen for historical purposes. The Undertaker looks like a monster on his way to a feud with The Ultimate Warrior. -The great thing about Ted DiBiase vs. Virgil is Ted DiBiase at his most evil. Ted just heels it up and going after a hobbled Roddy Piper is great. It sets the stage for their Summerslam clash that draws an epic pop from the crowd when Virgil wins. -As much controversy and derision that the build-up for the Slaughter/Hogan rightfully deserved, they really up'ed the ante near the end. Having Slaughter claim he was playing by his own rule and beating the ever-loving crap out of Hogan on numerous occasions helped to build the hatred. The match itself is well done and Slaughter was truly motivated during this time period. The blood helps the match and it has always been my belief that blood used in small does is more effective than blood all the time. Hogan gets the win and I'd recommend you check out the Desert Storm match they had at MSG. Also, Regis Philbin might be the best celebrity turned wrestling commentator ever, even though his nearest competition is Art Donovan. Negatives -The cool down period following Savage and Warrior is four straight backstage interviews. An interesting fact, I was at Elimination Chamber 2012 and you could hear a pin drop during the Justin Gabriel/Jack Swagger match. Another interesting fact is that they would have a rematch at a house show a year later in the same arena. They had the same reaction from the crowd, except for a Zeb Colter pre-match promo. -The instant replay segment. For ten agonizing minutes, we get banter from Vince McMahon, George Steinbrenner and Paul McGuire. The segment was so bad that is was cut from the Coliseum release and the DVD release but made it onto the VHS collection they put out in 1997. Still the best Christmas gift ever, I guess Vince wanted to get the Bushwhackers on the card. -Kerry Von Erich and Dino Bravo is one of the more morbid matches in wrestling history, considering both men died within a month of each other. Kerry doing the gun celebration after winning is also morbid considering and how he and Bravo both met their demise. It's sad that we didn't get to see a prime Kerry Von Erich in the WWE; by the time he arrived he was crippled by injuries and drug addiction. -Squash matches galore and the two most disappointing is Demolition losing to Tenryu and Kitao and Power and Glory losing the Legion of Doom in a minute. While I understand that Demolition had fallen hard after Ax left, at least have them put over an established team. Turn them face for a month and have the Nasty Boys put them on the shelf before they go up against the LOD. Power and Glory had some momentum after Summerslam and I think a feud between them and The Hart Foundation could have been a good feud. Plus, they had a pretty cool finisher. The Mountie goes over Tito Santana to build him up for the Boss Man and the best built match is Greg Valentine and Earthquake. That match combines my inexplicable love for fat guy wrestlers and Greg Valentine. The aftermath of WrestleMania VII would see the birth of Bret Hart's push as a singles wrestler, but the main event scene would stall out. The company continued with Hogan and Slaughter even though we saw a definitive Hogan victory since the company had ran out of heels for Hogan to go after. The Undertaker was being prepped for a feud with Warrior, Savage was on hiatus, DiBiase was in the Virgil feud and Perfect's back was starting to go on him. Ric Flair arriving in the last half of the year would salvage a truly awful main event scene. Is WreslteMania VII the greatest event of all time? No, but I think it's fallen by the wayside because of tasteless build and the pro-America theme. I also think that the looming steroid controversy doesn't help, especially since Hogan made a damaging appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show the month before. Overall, this is a great WrestleMania, and I'd recommend that you track a copy down. It's a nice slice of nostalgia that aged well and doesn't taste like rotten eggs when you eat it. Boy, that sounded bad.