10 Wild WWE Matches You Forgot Almost Happened
6. Hulk Hogan vs. Sheik Tugboat (WrestleMania VII)
The WWF was a colourful cartoon land of outrageous fantasies in the early-1990s, but this would've been a step too far. Bruce Prichard has revealed via his podcast that someone else nearly pipped Sgt. Slaughter to the WrestleMania VII main event berth vs. Hulk Hogan. That "someone" was Hulk's good pal Tugboat.
He was almost renamed Sheik Tugboat. Yes, seriously.
The WWF wanted to capitalise on real-life issues between the United States and Iraq by booking Tugboat as a turncoat who'd ditch Hogan and embrace The Iron Sheik (who was going by the name Col. Mustafa at the time). That would've led to Hulk vanquishing Tuggy at 'Mania before waving the US flag proudly.
Bosses chewed on that thought for a while before deciding to go with Slaughter instead. A few months later, Tugboat turned heel and aligned with Earthquake to form The Natural Disasters tag-team. That was the closest he'd come to headlining the biggest show of the year.