Why Sgt. Slaughter Is One Of The Worst WWE Champions Ever

[Liz]

WWE Hall Of Famer Sgt. Slaughter infamously turned heel as a result of the Gulf War. He would also become one of the worst WWE Champions ever.

Robert Rudolph Remus, better known as Sgt. Slaughter, had a legendary wrestling career spanning more than 30 years and capped off by an induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004. Slaughter debuted in 1972, and had plenty of success in the NWA and AWA before signing with the WWE in 1980 and quickly being pushed as a top heel. He unsuccessfully challenged WWE Champion Bob Backlund multiple times in the early 80's during Backlund's 5+ year run with the belt but was a key fixture for the company.

Slaughter caught fire in 1984 as he turned babyface and defended America's honor against the detestable Iron Shiek. He was so popular that an alternate version of the Sgt. Slaughter character was created for the G.I. Joe animated series and comic books, as well as being a widely popular action figure. At this same time, Hulk Hogan was hitting his stride as WWE Champion and the top babyface in the company, so Sarge went back to the AWA for six years. He would return to the WWE as a heel in 1990 and finally captured the championship that eluded him earlier in his career. Unfortunately for Sarge, his title reign would go down as one of the worst in WWE history.

In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait leading the Gulf War where Kuwait was freed by a U.S.-led military coalition. Vince McMahon thought it would be a good idea to have Sgt. Slaughter (now an American hero to fans) align with Iraq, complete with a Saddam Hussein look-alike, and Iraqi military leader, General Adnan as his manager. It turned out to not be a good idea...at all.

Anti-American foreign heel characters such as Ivan Koloff, Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff had been successful in the past, but in this case, America was actively at war with Iraq and it most definitely backfired. Slaughter became so hated that he and his family would receive multiple death threats, and he would have to wear a bulletproof vest and have security detail while out in public. Slaughter would go on to challenge the Ultimate Warrior for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble 1991, a mere two days after the U.S. began bombing Iraq. Not a good look whatsoever.

Firstly, in kayfabe, Sgt. Slaughter hadn't done anything since returning that made him worthy of a WWE title shot, but clearly the plan was for Hogan to go over him at Wrestlemania 7, so he was shoehorned in against the Warrior. The crowd was very against Slaughter, but it was beyond mere wrestling heat.

The in-ring action was mostly a bore, and if not for the multiple interferences from "Macho King" Randy Savage and Sensational Sherri, the match would've been a complete dud. Savage, who was also feuding with Warrior at the time, would show up out of nowhere attacking Warrior with a piece of lighting equipment as he was chasing Sensational Sherri toward the back. Warrior was down on the outside for a significant period of time, and Slaughter had to ridiculously stop the ref's count four different times to avoid the count out, as the title would not change hands on a count-out.

Later in the match, Sherri ran into the ring with Macho King's scepter in hand, Warrior chucked Sherri out of the ring on top of Savage. Slaughter kneed Warrior in the back, and Savage cracked Warrior in the head with the scepter, unbeknownst to the referee. Slaughter then followed with the weakest-looking elbow drop in the history of wrestling and got the shocking three-count for the win, much to the dismay of the crowd yelling obscenities. Not only did Slaughter look poor in the ring, he needed significant help to get the W.

The initial plan was for Wrestlemania VII to be held in the 100,000-seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, with Slaughter vs Hogan as the main event. However, ticket sales were low, and WWE decided to move the event to the much smaller, adjacent Sports Arena. In addition to the weak drawing power of Slaughter as champion, his main event match with Hogan was completely overshadowed by Warrior and Macho King stealing the show with their retirement match -- one of the best in Wrestlemania history to that point.

Hogan got the victory over Slaughter in another underwhelming match, ending Sarge's title reign at 62 days. After the match Hogan hoisted up the American flag, completing one of the most disgusting and inappropriate storylines in WWE history -- and that's saying something. Unsurprisingly, Slaughter turned babyface after the feud concluded at SummerSlam and was relegated to the midcard. Sarge would have a nice comeback run as WWE commissioner in 1997-98, but his short-lived title run will always go down as one of the most dubious in history.