10 Times Vince McMahon Was Dead Wrong

2. Muhammad Hassan & Sgt. Slaughter

For as big of a patriot as Vince McMahon claims to be, he has often tried to profit off of wartime activities by creating characters sympathizing with the enemy. In 2005, it was Muhammad Hassan and in 1991, Sgt. Slaughter, were both created in poor taste as the real-world developments helped drive the storylines created by Vince McMahon. Instead of allowing Hassan and Slaughter to play minor roles or tone the characters down, Vince decided to put Hassan in a main event program with The Undertaker. In the case of Slaughter, the original plan for WrestleMania VII was to have a Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior rematch from WrestleMania VI inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but those plans were changed once things began to escalate in the Middle East. Slaughter dethroned Warrior at the '91 Royal Rumble and headlined WrestleMania VII but due to low ticket sales, or the WWF's excuse of 'security reasons', the event was moved to the much smaller Los Angeles Sports Arena. The angle with Slaughter was dragged out until SummerSlam '91 in August, well after the real war had ended. Hassan's character was dropped amid public pressure and media controversy following a loss to The Undertaker at Great American Bash 2005. Both characters made light of real world events in which many lives were lost and were in very poor taste. Vince decided to push them strong and hard, despite their unpleasantness, which was a big mistake on his part.