This Day in Wrestling History (Mar. 24): Superstars and Stripes Forever

25 years ago today, WWF presented Wrestlemania VII: Superstars and Stripes Forever (WWE Network link) from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. 16,158 were in attendance, with 400,000 homes watching on PPV. That's down from 560,000 homes for Wrestlemania VI and just over half of the number of homes Wrestlemania V (767,000).

Security threats or low ticket sales (depending on who's telling the story) forced the event to move from the 92,000 seat LA Memorial Coliseum (surely would have been over 100,000 with the field seats) to the smaller LA Sports Arena next door. The 15-match event (including the dark match) was the most for a Wrestlemania ever. It would also be the last Wrestlemania to broadcast into a fourth hour until Wrestlemania 2000.

Star ratings are from Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Dave Meltzer and are recorded in the Internet Wrestling Database. All ratings are out of five stars.

• In a dark match, Koko B. Ware defeated The Brooklyn Brawler.
• The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) defeated The Barbarian & Haku. (3.5/5)
• The Texas Tornado defeated Dino Bravo. (0.75)
• The British Bulldog defeated The Warlord. (2.25)
• The Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags & Brian Knobbs defeated The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. This was the last match for the Hart-Neidhart duo, as Bret was pushed as a singles wrestler for the remainder of his career. (3.5)
• Jake Roberts defeated Rick Martel in a blindfold match. (0)
• The Undertaker defeated Jimmy Snuka. This was the first of 21 consecutive Wrestlemania wins spanning 23 years for The Undertaker. (1)
• The Ultimate Warrior defeated Randy Savage in a retirement match. Post-match, Savage was attacked by Sherri, but Miss Elizabeth, Savage's former manager, makes the save. The two reunite and would get storyline married a few months later. (4.25)
• Genichiro Tenryu & Koji Kitao defeated Demolition (Crush & Smash). (-0.5)
• The Big Boss Man defeated Mr. Perfect by disqualification in an WWF Intercontinental Championship match. (2.5)
• Earthquake defeated Greg Valentine. (0)
• The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal) defeated Power and Glory (Paul Roma & Hercules) in just 59 seconds. (0)
• Virgil defeated Ted DiBiase by countout. (2)
• The Mountie defeated Tito Santana in just 81 seconds. (-0.5)
• Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt. Slaughter to win the WWF Championship. (2.5)

20 years ago today, WCW presented Uncensored (WWE Network link) from the Tupelo Coliseum in Tupelo, Mississippi.  About 9,000 were in attendance, with 260,000 homes watching on PPV. That's up from 180,000 for the 1995 edition. In a humorous side nugget, this show was voted Worst Major Show of 1996 by Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It's the second straight year the event won the award. (It would win it for a third straight year the next year.) The show's main event, the Doomsday Cage Match, won for Worst Worked Match.

• In a WCW Main Event preshow match, Mr. J.L. defeated Dean Malenko.
• In a WCW Main Event preshow match, Jim Duggan defeated Big Bubba Rogers.
• In a WCW Main Event preshow match, Dick Slater defeated Alex Wright.
• In a WCW Main Event preshow match, The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) fought The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) to a no contest.
• Konnan defeated Eddie Guerrero to retain the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. (3.25/5)
• The Belfast Bruiser defeated Lord Steven Regal by disqualification. (3.25)
• Col. Robert Parker defeated Madusa in an intergender match. (1)
• The Booty Man defeated Diamond Dallas Page. (0)
• The Giant defeated Loch Ness. (-1)
• Sting and Booker T defeated The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) in a Chicago Street Fight. (3.5)
• The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage) defeated The Alliance to End Hulkamania (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Meng, The Barbarian, Lex Luger, The Taskmaster, Z-Gangsta and The Ultimate Solution) (with Woman, Miss Elizabeth and Jimmy Hart) in a three-tier Doomsday cage match. (-3)

14 years ago today in Kobe, Japan, Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeat Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi in a tournament final to win the vacated IWGP Tag Team Championship. The title was vacated when one half of the champions, Keiji Mutoh, left the company back in Februrary. He was a tag team champion with Taiyo Kea.

13 years ago today on RAW from Sacramento, California, Chief Morley declares himself one half of the World Tag Team Champions when William Regal is stripped of his half of the titles. This was due to a stomach virus... or so they thought. Turned out to be a serious heart condition that would keep him out of action for more than a year.

13 years ago today, former WCW world champion Bill Goldberg signs with WWE. His debut would be announced at Wrestlemania XIX that weekend, then debut the following Monday.

6 years ago today, former WCW world champion Bill Goldberg announces he is in negotiations to return to the WWE. In the end, he doesn't. Goldberg has not appeared on WWE programming since Wrestlemania XX.