10 Most Wildly Unpopular WWE Title Changes

2. Sgt. Slaughter Defeats The Ultimate Warrior - Royal Rumble 1991

At the top of 1991, the first Gulf War was in full effect between the United States' led coalition and Saddam Hussein's Iraq following their invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Vince McMahon, ever the opportunist, saw a chance to bring the WWF into the mainstream by tailoring his product to champion and support the US forces and capitalise on the patriotism that was in free-flow in the United States at the time. As such, he turned Sgt. Slaughter- previously a stout pro-American militant- heel and into an Iraqi sympathiser and drastically pushed him up from the mid-card into a championship victory over The Ultimate Warrior in January of 1991, a month before the official end of Desert Storm. The plan was simple: Slaughter (Iraq) vs Hogan (US) at Wrestlemania- and it worked. Hogan's eventual patriotic victory at Wrestlemania was beloved and revered by the fans, not for the least of which meant it was the end of Slaughter's reign- one of the most hated WWF Title reigns in history. Slaughter was everything an old-school heel could be at the time, preaching anti-American values to the live crowds and cheating constantly to win matches. It's a pro-wrestling art-form, perhaps, that has grown obsolete in the new reality era. Vince McMahon believes there are no true heels any more. Jim Ross disagrees with such sentiment. Bray Wyatt might well be seen as a battle ground for such debate but what is known, is rarely before or since has any WWF/E superstar won a world title to as much disgust as Slaughter did in 1991. The fans simply hated it.