Sgt. Slaughter as an Iraqi Sympathizer - Failure or Success?

[The Crock]

Sgt. Slaughter​

In the Summer of 1990, Sgt. Slaughter made his return to the WWF, after a 6 year absence. At the time of his departure, Slaughter was arguably the second biggest face in the WWF, behind only Hulk Hogan, and possibly even rivaling his popularity at times. All that (and his gimmick) was turned upside down in 1990, when Slaughter came back as a heel, and an Iraqi sympathizer. After years of being the patriotic, USA-loving Slaughter of old, Slaughter abandoned what he did best to join General Adnan in his "crusade" against the USA. For the next year, Slaughter faced the likes of Nikolai Volkoff, Tito Santana, the Bushwhackers, Ultimate Warrior, and Hulk Hogan. His biggest victory came during the Royal Rumble of 1991 when he defeated the Ultimate Warrior for his one and only WWF Championship. Shortly thereafter, he lost his championship to Hulk Hogan in the main event of WrestleMania VII. The event itself is remembered for the tagline "Superstars and Stripes Forever," showcasing patriotism during the Gulf War. Originally the event was supposed to be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but was moved to the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, due in part to Sgt. Slaughter's gimmick. Slaughter's gimmick was extremely controversial at the time, with the USA being involved in the Gulf War. After WrestleMania VII, Hogan and Warrior continued to feud with Slaughter (and his allies General Adnan and Colonel Mustafa). After their SummerSlam 1991 match, when the feud boiled down, Slaughter returned to his original, patriotic gimmick.

All that being said, was the Iraqi sympathizer a success for Sgt. Slaughter, or a failure?

I'd have to say that it was a success. That gimmick led to his one and only WWF Championship, a rare feat in the business, and he was consistently in the main event for the year that the gimmick ran. Sure, it was controversial and it was a bit of a security thread at times, but there is no doubt that the amount of hatred generated by the gimmick was a success. He was a successful top heel, even if it was a bit of a sore subject for the people. It gave the fans something new, it gave them a different look at the basic feuds they'd been seeing for years. It was like a bit of fresh air had been blown into the business. Slaughter reinvented himself and managed to take his career to heights he had never reached before. It also gave him the chance to successfully turn face and be embraced by the fans again. It is one of the best examples of how a good wrestler can be a good heel and a good face, and how he can play two different characters with a great level of success. It allowed Slaughter to showcase his amazing talent, very successful gimmick.

 

[JGlass]

It was a ridiculous success. The man had legitimate heat, he received death threats, and people threatened to bomb the WWF headquarters. Anytime you can get that type of hatred from the fans, you know that you're a success. Fans will pay big money to see those types of people get their asses kicked, especially by a real American like Hulk Hogan. The WWF also realized when enough was enough and ended the feud before it got too ugly and something really bad happened. Because of the wild success of the gimmick and the lack of negative consequences, I have to say this was a huge success.

 

[JJ15776]

Wrestlemania VII was moved due to poor ticket sales, not the alleged security threat that the WWE claimed, but I digress.

For the time that it ran? It was one of the most succesfull gimmicks in WWF/WWE history. The only reason I could see for labeling it a failure is because the WWE got scared and changed him back so fast, because it was working too well. He should've been a heel for years and really let the character play out before changing back.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Wrestlemania VII was moved due to poor ticket sales, not the alleged security threat that the WWE claimed, but I digress.

That is up for debate. It could have been a little of both. The Sarge's life would definitely be in greater jeopardy had the event been held outdoors. It would seem relatively improbable that the WWF wouldn't have been able to fill most of the L.A. Coliseum considering Wrestlemania was held at Sky Dome the year before and at the Hoosier Dome the year before. If they couldn't fill the stadium, there are ways of making the place seem smaller with bigger ramps and props. They could have also reduced ticket prices.

And yes...it was a great success. Not only was Sarge an Iraqi sympathizer, but he was also white...clearly an American traitor. This is as close as someone could get to actually being Benedict Arnold without being in the military and actually being a traitor in real-life.

 

[boozinjedi]

Total success!!

Anyitme the heat rises to the level of receiving death threats against himself and his family,to the point that his family had to have armed guards at his house (suposedly),you hit something in the masses!!

I thought WrestleMania VII was moved due to rain??

They put over 67,000 in the Skydome for WM6 and WM8 drew about 62,000.
So ticket sales couldn't have been the only reason.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Total success!!

Anyitme the heat rises to the level of receiving death threats against himself and his family,to the point that his family had to have armed guards at his house (suposedly),you hit something in the masses!!

I thought WrestleMania VII was moved due to rain??

They put over 67,000 in the Skydome for WM6 and WM8 drew about 62,000.
So ticket sales couldn't have been the only reason.

It would be next to impossible to move an event of that magnitude to a small arena because of rain. That would require an entire shifting of operations to a different location just days before the event. Furthermore, it would require the WWF to book both sites. That would be an unnecessary expense. Any time that WWF holds Wrestlemania outdoors, there is a canopy over the ring. If you remember Wrestlemania XXIV, there was rain falling right up until the event started.

 

[dannypearson]

It was a ridiculous success. I'm 29 now so when he fought the Ultimate Warrior at the Royal Mumble I would have been about 9. I remember being legitamitely scared about the boots that he was wearing at the time with the pointed ends and them potentially being used to beat 'Warrior.

In the end the interference from Savage was the key factor, but all I remember from that mtch is the focus paid to the threat of Slaughter and his pointed boots hurting Warrior and the threat that gave Sgt as a heal.

Proper success. No doubt about it.

 

[X]

What the hell was successful about it? Dwindling house show attendance? PPV buys declining? Not being able to sell out the LA Coliseum? The shit matches he had during the title reign? I mean, I like cheap heat as much as the next guy, but that was ridiculous and would never be tolerated today if Vince tried that shit with the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I like Sgt. Slaughter, but he was well past his prime at that point and his title run did absolutely nothing for business and certainly didn't help the company in the long run as it put the back-burner on other, more deserving talent.

This is one of those angles where people seem to buy it was a success because of WWE folklore and their own childhood markdom, but the truth is it was a total flop. Bad matches, bad business, bad press. It did nothing positive for the company.

 

[The Brain]

What the hell was successful about it? Dwindling house show attendance? PPV buys declining? Not being able to sell out the LA Coliseum? The shit matches he had during the title reign? I mean, I like cheap heat as much as the next guy, but that was ridiculous and would never be tolerated today if Vince tried that shit with the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I like Sgt. Slaughter, but he was well past his prime at that point and his title run did absolutely nothing for business and certainly didn't help the company in the long run as it put the back-burner on other, more deserving talent.

This is one of those angles where people seem to buy it was a success because of WWE folklore and their own childhood markdom, but the truth is it was a total flop. Bad matches, bad business, bad press. It did nothing positive for the company.

Sure if you let the facts get in the way you could argue it wasn’t a success. You’re right. The Slaughter heel run wasn’t exactly a financial boon for the WWF and therefore wasn’t a success by the business definition. However, I as a fan view it as a success. I enjoyed the angle a lot. It was brilliant in its simplicity and touched an emotional chord with the fans. The ultimate American Patriot, Sgt. Slaughter, turning against the USA during a time of war was unthinkable. This had to be the most predictable main event in WrestleMania history, which is really saying something, but it didn’t matter. Everyone wanted to see Hulk Hogan destroy Slaughter. This was a nice convenient main event angle for mania that year. What would the WrestleMania VII main event been without Slaughter the turncoat?

 

[SullivanSmith]

The Iraqi Sgt. Slaughter was one of the last, if not THE last, cartoon-style cheap heat characters based on events of the day. Sort of having a blatantly evil Russian wrestler during the height of the cold war. What was especially brilliant about this angle was that Sarge was originally, as we all know, a Real American Hero... hell, the guy had a G.I. Joe action figure. He didn't turn into Sgt. Iraqi immediately... a feud with Nikolai Volkof before that started his heel turn.

As Xfearbefore stated, this certainly didn't do much for the company business-wise. He's right on that and he makes a lot of excellent points in his post. For me, though, story-telling wise and with the "preaching to the choir" excitement to those who were going to watch WMVII anyway, it was a well done angle.

Now... the "I want my country back" angle? Not so much.

 

[EastCoastFan]

I'd say somewhere in the middle. Sarge got an INCREDIBLE amount of heat for that angle. People didn't just hate him; they wanted him dead!

On the flip side, interest in WrestleMania 7 dropped off entirely after he became WWF Champion. It also didn't help that the Gulf War ended rather quickly (I think it was over by the time WM came and went).

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

I think it was great, I still remember watching as a kid and feeling betrayed by Slaughter (who I mostly knew from G.I. Joe at that time). The other thing to consider that no one seems to have brought up is that Hogan was basically a lock for the main event spot every year back then, and he had already went through the really big names at that point in Andre, Savage, and Warrior. There wasn't really a ton of top level talent left that Hogan hadn't already extensively fueded with by then so this was perfect, an expereinced vet who would do what was right for the business to come play the perfect foe for Hogan's real American gimmick. It was relevant in pop-culture, got national attention, huge heat for Slaugher, and then had the perfect payoff at Mania with Hogan getting the win for the USA. For 1991 what more could you ask for?

 

[wrestling89]

Successful or not, it SAVED Wrestlemania 7 from being a complete wash. That card was horrible. THere was Savage vs Warrior and nothing else.

If there was no Slaughter-Hogan, who would Hogan have faced? Mr. Perfect? As much as I liked Perfect as the next fan, that main event would not have sold.

I gotta say though, Slaughter was awesome as a heel. The commentary and his match at Survivor Series 90 was great. I remember watching the 91 Rumble and seeing Slaughter with the belt thinking, wow. What the hell is gonna happen in the WWF.................

 

[Dimice121976]

It was a huge success. Besides the obvious factors of being pro-Iraq at the time, it was a success because look at how the character developed over the 8-9 months before WM. If I remember right, he debuted shortly after WM 90. He went through the usual cast of 1990 WWF jobbers and bottom tier stars. He feuded with Volkoff who went pro-U.S., then moved up to a feud with Duggan, and up to the feud with Warrior for the title. Not only was it great cause of the Iraq side of things, but it was great cause it was a case of a guy going up the right way to the top. Progression worked here perfectly. It was so obvious where he was headed (vs. Hogan), but his road there was amazingly done.

As far as the face turn went, by the time SummerSlam '91 came, the war was already way over with (it actually ended before WM). So turning Slaughter face made sense. Slaughter will go down as one of the most successful short term runs in history because of all of this.

 

[Dimice121976]

Successful or not, it SAVED Wrestlemania 7 from being a complete wash. That card was horrible. THere was Savage vs Warrior and nothing else.

If there was no Slaughter-Hogan, who would Hogan have faced? Mr. Perfect? As much as I liked Perfect as the next fan, that main event would not have sold.

I gotta say though, Slaughter was awesome as a heel. The commentary and his match at Survivor Series 90 was great. I remember watching the 91 Rumble and seeing Slaughter with the belt thinking, wow. What the hell is gonna happen in the WWF.................

Actually if Hogan-Slaughter didn't happen at WM 7 it was going to be Hogan-Warrior 2. The biggest loser in that would of been Savage who would of feuded with god knows who. I know its off topic but as bad as the WM 7 was, if you look at the story lines heading into it, just about every match on that card made sense.

 

[wrestling89]

the ONLY thing that didn't work with the Slaughter gimmick was his new finisher. The Atomic Noogie. That had to be the dumbest move ever.

Why didn't they just stick to the Cobra Clucth? I know Dibiase had his Million $ Dream, but still. Hell they let Billy Jerk Haynes and Herc use the same move, why couldn't Slaughter do it?

That move has been immortalized by the WWF Wrestlefest Arcade Game.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

In terms of the financial benefit to the WWE then it could be argued that this was not a success....

But was it successful in getting the Sarge over as a heel? Abso-fuckin-lutely! The man had been a patriotic American hero, and to see him turn his back on the country that he supposedly loved was a HUGE shock to wrestling fans. It was awful to see Slaughter puclicly praising the Iraqi forces while US troops were at war, and I am not surprised to see that he was sent death threats and legitimitely feared for his safety.

I personally am not fan of the angle. I am too young to have seen it live but having seen it since I became a fan I feel a bit uncomfortable watching it. Anything where someone is supporting the country that is killing their countrymen, even acting always seems a bit of a no-go zone for me. Just personal taste I guess. I would not have wanted to play the role Sarge was doing. I dont think I could ever go on TV and praise the forces who were slaughtering my countrymen, even in acting.

BUT, it clearly made the fans hate Slaughter and made them desperate to see Hulk Hogan beat his ass for the title at WM, which he did. I do not personally think the angle was in good taste or a good idea, and the lack of PPV sales could support this, but I perfectly understand if someone defended the angle as a success in that it made a fantastic heel of out Sarge

 

[X]

Why is everyone so impressed that Sarge got over as a heel with this? My god, it's literally impossible NOT to get over with that angle. It would be like if Kurt Angle showed up in MSG two weeks after 9/11 and became an Al Qaeda/Taliban loyalist, the heat would be nuclear, but it would still be a despicable stunt and the booking is still as lazy as humanly possible. Jesus you could have turned the tables and had HULK HOGAN do the heel turn there, and he would have gotten mega over as a heel just like Sarge did because it's such a cheap heat getting angle. It disgusts me though, always has. If they tried the same shit today with the Afghanistan/Iraq wars, they would be in SO MUCH SHIT from the public and their sponsors, my GOD can you imagine the backlash? Not to mention how much it would offend their fanbase, I had a very close friend of mine killed by an IED in Afghanistan only about 6 months ago and if I saw them making light of that by using WAR as a damn wrestling angle, I'd be so pissed I would stop watching the WWE until it was done and over with. Call me crazy, but booking angles around exploiting national patriotism in a time of war is a disgusting tactic. It's a slap in the face of the longtime support the armed forces have provided the WWE and wrestling in general.

I don't get what's so impressive about Sarge getting over as a heel here. He hadn't been on TV in many years so most of the young fans probably had no freaking clue who he was at that point outside of GI Joe re-runs, and again the booking there is so cheap and lazy that it would literally be impossible for anyone on the planet to not get over in that situation. You could send out a crippled war veteran who just saved a house full of adorable puppies from a raging fire, and he'd still get nuclear heat with that angle.

 

[The Brain]

Why is everyone so impressed that Sarge got over as a heel with this? My god, it's literally impossible NOT to get over with that angle. It would be like if Kurt Angle showed up in MSG two weeks after 9/11 and became an Al Qaeda/Taliban loyalist, the heat would be nuclear, but it would still be a despicable stunt and the booking is still as lazy as humanly possible. Jesus you could have turned the tables and had HULK HOGAN do the heel turn there, and he would have gotten mega over as a heel just like Sarge did because it's such a cheap heat getting angle. It disgusts me though, always has. If they tried the same shit today with the Afghanistan/Iraq wars, they would be in SO MUCH SHIT from the public and their sponsors, my GOD can you imagine the backlash? Not to mention how much it would offend their fanbase, I had a very close friend of mine killed by an IED in Afghanistan only about 6 months ago and if I saw them making light of that by using WAR as a damn wrestling angle, I'd be so pissed I would stop watching the WWE until it was done and over with. Call me crazy, but booking angles around exploiting national patriotism in a time of war is a disgusting tactic. It's a slap in the face of the longtime support the armed forces have provided the WWE and wrestling in general.

I don't get what's so impressive about Sarge getting over as a heel here. He hadn't been on TV in many years so most of the young fans probably had no freaking clue who he was at that point outside of GI Joe re-runs, and again the booking there is so cheap and lazy that it would literally be impossible for anyone on the planet to not get over in that situation. You could send out a crippled war veteran who just saved a house full of adorable puppies from a raging fire, and he'd still get nuclear heat with that angle.

I’m not impressed that Slaughter was able to get over as a heel. With that angle he’d be the worst excuse for a professional wrestler ever if he couldn’t get over. The angle wasn’t exactly brilliant in its creativity, but so many times the simplest angles are the most successful. The Mega Powers exploding was one of the best angles of all time but the storyline behind it wasn’t exactly revolutionary. Best friends being torn apart by jealousy and a woman is about the oldest story there is. Simple angles are easy to relate to.

I respect your stance about your personal feelings toward the angle. If you were disgusted by it I have no right to tell you you’re wrong. Just consider something. Countless Hollywood movies have been made about war. Their purpose was to profit and entertain. Seeing actors play the role of fallen soldiers may hit too close to home to friends and families who have experienced this tragedy in real life, but these movies don’t fall under scrutiny for being cheap and tasteless. The television show 24 is one of the most successful of the past decade. The whole premise of the show was capitalizing on our fear of terrorist attacks. There were several betrayals from people within the US government aiding terrorists in their plots. My point is a wrestling angle should not be looked at any differently than a plot from a movie or television show. It may not be as sophisticated, dumbed down you could say, but that’s to be expected with pro wrestling.

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

Slaughter vs Hogan is the one feud that got me into the WWE/F, and managed to elevate slaughter to WWE title status, he main evented PPV's with Hogan, Warrior, and many of the WWE/F's top stars at the time, I would say the gimmick was a huge sucess and was something that slaughter would be remembered for till this day.

without the gimmick slaughter would have been another midcard on his way out of the company this gimmick gave slaughter a new leace to his career and elevated him to the status of main event player for quiet some time.

 

[boomhauer20055]

I loved it. Was a breath of fresh air from WWF multi year face champions