101 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened
54. Sheik Tugboat
Sniper concerns were used to justify the WWF moving WrestleMania VII from LA's Memorial Coliseum into the much smaller Sports Arena in 1991. In truth, slower-than-expected ticket sales were responsible, not necessarily threats on Sgt. Slaughter's life. Those sales might even have been lower had they gone with someone else in Slaughter's military boots.
Tugboat was going to go heel on Hulk Hogan, turn his back on the United States and embrace Iraq before changing his name to 'Sheik Tugboat'. This was all thought out and plans were put in place, but there's no denying that Slaughter was a better fit for the gig than the future Natural Disaster Typhoon and Shockmaster.
As Tugboat, he'd been one of Hulk's strongest allies in the early-90s, but Vince McMahon wondered if Hogan could get a main event level match out of the big powerhouse at 'Mania. That must've been tremendously exciting for Tug, but it wasn't to be. Sarge was brought back to beat The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Title then drop it to Hulk instead.
'Sheik Tugboat' wouldn't have clicked. This writer feels pretty confident in predicting that it would've fallen flatter than the same wrestler did when debuting with a sparkly Stormtrooper helmet in WCW. Indeed, this could've been a disaster for the federation in terms of dwindling ticket sales for the biggest event of the entire year.
WrestleMania VII didn't pull as much cash as McMahon had hoped it would when capitalising on real-life war and current events, but things could've been worse without Slaughter's treachery.