10 Times WWE Got The WrestleMania Main Event Wrong

5. WrestleMania VII: Hulk Hogan Vs. Sgt. Slaughter

WWE

What The Main Event Should Have Been: Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior

One of the most disgusting promotional tactic that the WWF ever used was their exploitation of the Gulf War and their presentation of former American hero Sgt. Slaughter as an Iraqi sympathiser. As a midcard heel act it might have been tolerable, but the WWF made the crazy decision to put the WWF Championship on Slaughter and make him the focal point of WrestleMania VII.

The idea was for opponent Hulk Hogan to vanquish his evil foe, a direct copy of the “Hogan vs. Foreigner” blueprint that had worked so well in establishing the Hulkster in the first place. The difference was that previous conquests the Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, Earthquake, and Andre the Giant were all tongue-in-cheek foreign characters with some substance behind their flag-waving, while Slaughter was merely an intentionally controversial form of real-life trauma exploitation.

A much better option and one that had been on the books for a year was a rematch from WrestleMania VI pitting Hogan against his vanquisher the Ultimate Warrior. While Warrior’s run as champion was doomed from the get-go due to a lack of top heel contenders to his crown and the continued use of Hogan as the WWF’s top guy in storylines, a rematch would undoubtedly have attracted fan interest. At the very worst, it would have saved us all from the utter disaster that was their eventual rematch in WCW at Halloween Havoc ’98. For that alone it would have been a better choice.

Contributor
Contributor

The author of the highly acclaimed 'Titan' book series, James Dixon has been involved in the wrestling business for 25 years as a fan, wrestler, promoter, agent, and writer. James spent several years wrestling on the British independent circuit, but now prefers to write about the bumps and bruises rather than take any of them. His past in-ring experience does however give a uniquely more "insider" perspective on things, though he readily admits to still being a "mark" at heart. James is the Chief Editor and writer at historyofwrestling.co.uk and is responsible for the best-selling titles Titan Sinking, Titan Shattered, and Titan Screwed, as well as the Complete WWF Video Guide series, and the Raw Files series.