WWE-WrestleMania VII – Macho Man vs Ultimate… by M-Gronjol

WWE-WrestleMania VII – Macho Man vs Ultimate… by M-GronjolFor the Ultimate Warrior, this was as good as it ever got. Considering the level of his opponent, this might have been the best Randy Savage ever got, too. After terrorizing the WWF as the Macho King, Randy Savage and his manager, Sensational Queen Sherri, had their sights set on The Ultimate Warrior and his WWF Title. You can probably guess what the Ultimate Warrior’s response was…

 THE WARRIOR FROWNS ON YOUR HETEROSEXUAL ADVANCES. 

Understandably, the Macho King was less than pleased with the Warrior’s decision and cost Warrior the title, which is what led to this contest, the first time in WWF history that careers were up for grabs at WrestleMania. The other two career-ending matches–Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24 and Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26–are also among the best Mania matches of all time, but an albatross like Warrior wasn’t hanging around Shawn Michaels’s neck in either circumstance. This match also represents maybe the first time in Mania history that a match on the undercard had more significance than the main event, as the Ultimate Warrior’s trunks have no problem telling you. Also, Miss Elizabeth is in attendance watching her former charge, so you knew it was a special occasion, right there.

The match itself is another classic of power vs. cunning. It’s on par with Hogan/Savage from WrestleMania V, only the Warrior wasn’t as inclined to look like he was taking a beating like Hogan was. Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan tell us throughout the match that both men are going to pull out all the stops, and they both do. Hell, Sensational Sherri does, getting involved with the match at every turn, taking a hard shove from The Warrior on the outside while she’s wearing heels, jumping from the top rope, and generally being a thorn in Warrior’s side. If there was ever a debate as to who the greatest female manager of all time was (and there isn’t, as Missy Hyatt, Medusa, and Sunny rate a distant, distant, distant 2nd), this match would basically seal the deal. It’s always nice when managers actually add something to the match, which was something that both major companies, WCW and WWF, understood at the time. By 1995, managing was a lost art, practiced only by guys like Jim Cornette. Valets were there to look good (other than Sunny, who was useful), and managers were there to wear suits and stand on ring aprons and maybe throw a punch or kick or two. Here, Sherri’s actions convey the importance of this match. If he loses, she loses. The only post-match managerial reaction to a loss that beats Sherri’s here is Heenan’s at WrestleMania III, his head buried in shame as 93,000-plus hurl garbage at he and Andre.

Unfortunately, the video (weirdly, the only one I could find) cuts away the parts where Savage gains the advantage, so you don’t really get a sense of how badly Warrior was on the ropes by the time Savage ascends the turnbuckles and drills his nemesis with FIVE elbow drops to the head. That kind of onslaught would have been overkill to anybody else, even Hogan, but the Warrior shook it off and called upon his Warrior gods for the strength to continue. I suppose one could criticize the number of elbow drops Warrior kicked out of as being excessive, after all, it’s Savage’s finisher, and a finisher should never be discredited in such a way, but it’s not like the pinfall was broken up with a 450 splash, and it’s not like it led to a quick Warrior victory. Warrior’s own finish got kicked out of for the first time ever, and it was enough that he would have left the WWF were it not for Savage’s attacking him as he was making the decision. If anything, Macho Man being Macho Man was what cost Savage his career that night, which is the way it should have been.

Also, the angle at the end of the match is probably the best post-match angle in WWF history. Ask a casual wrestling fan from that era what they remember of WrestleMania, and this angle will probably pop up along with Hogan slamming Andre.