[1991-03-24-WWF-Wrestlemania VII] Ted DiBiase vs Virgil

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. I still love Roddy Piper in crutches. So much other stuff was blown off on this show that I think waiting to do a conclusive DiBiase/Virgil finish was wise. Sherri sure as hell earned every cent she made working this show!

[shoe]

Piper is so great in his selling. Dibiase and Sherri bringing the hate on the leg.Pretty good stuff.

[PeteF3]

DiBiase is just the most gigantic prick ever, beating up a crippled Piper. He gets counted out because of it, but Piper and Virgil get laid out afterward as Sherri makes a very quick career recovery. Virgil exhorts Piper to get up literally, the same way Piper did to him figuratively. Nice touch though the impact is definitely is dissipated considering what just took place earlier in the card.

[Kevin Ridge]

I liked DiBiase pushing Piper down again and again on the outside. Piper was doing the dramatic getting to his feet each time. Even had some ringside fans trying to pull him up. Sherri found herself a new gig fast. Her wig flying off when kicking Piper was funny.

[soup23]

Damn this was great to. WM 7 may be honestly be one of the best overall. I always groaned at the work over Pipers leg because it looked so vicious. Even though it didn't lead to much of anything Sherri's debut with Dibiase was really well done and worked.

[garretta]

What we saw here was less about Virgil and Teddy settling their score and more about starting a full-blown Piper/DiBiase feud.

 

I have to hand it to Rod; his hip had to still be bothering him so soon after his surgery, and yet he was willing to be tossed around by Teddy out on the hard floor, where one slip or bad landing could have legitimately ended his career. I noticed that Teddy and Sherri worked the knee and ankle with those crutch shots, but stayed as far away from the bad hip as they possibly could. I'll bet he was still hurting pretty badly regardless after they were finished.

 

Virgil screaming at Piper to get up was a truly inspiring moment in a card full of them. This Mania definitely seems to be underrated when the great Manias of all time are discussed, no doubt due in part to the Hogan/Slaughter buildup, and that's a shame. Moments such as Hogan's title win, Warrior vanquishing Savage (who in turn gets saved from Sherri by Liz), Virgil helping Piper to symbolically regain his manhood after Piper had done the same for him, and any others I may have missed may not necessarily be great wrestling moments, but they're without doubt great sports entertainment moments. Today, we have very few of either kind in WWE.

 

I didn't remember Sherri helping Teddy here; I thought she just appeared in his corner out of nowhere during the first tapings after Mania. I didn't catch her wig falling off as she attacked Piper.

 

One more thing you'd never see today: fans trying to help fallen wrestlers up, as they did here with Piper. Even if they were allowed to, they wouldn't because it's spelled out so plainly that wrestling is 100% fake. Who would be stupid enough to help a freakin' actor in the middle of a performance?

[dawho5]

Really well done by Roddy and ted to make this segment work. Oh yeah, and Sherri too. She is so great, too bad she's not a man that the WWF could really make into a star.

[cactus]

Even with all the working parts in place, Virgil chokes on the big stage. The fans were insanely hot for this entire Dibiase/Virgil break-up storyline and Piper being in Virgil's corner gave everyone even more of an excuse to cheer him. They remain over for him at this show, but the reactions die down once he takes control and the fans see that Virgil is just not that great of a wrestler. Piper antagonises Dibiase and Virgil steals a countout win. It's fine, just not the pay-off that this incredible feud deserves. That satisfying pay-off would finally happen at Summerslam. 

★★