WWE Gimmicks That FAILED The HARDEST Every Year (1985-2025)
35. ‘Anti-American’ Sgt. Slaughter (1991)
Sgt. Slaughter's 1990 return courted a lot of controversy for both him and the federation. The one time patriot who proudly waved stars and stripes around the place traded all of that to become a sympathetic ally of the Iraqi regime. He teamed up with General Adnan and Colonel Mustafa (The Iron Sheik) to battle against everything United States, and...it was risky.
Reportedly, Slaughter received death threats and had to be careful whenever he was out and about in public. The WWF used that as an excuse to move his match vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VII indoors from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to the smaller LA Sports Arena. The real reason? They hadn't sold enough tickets for the bigger venue.
The kayfabe excuse (that snipers might target Sarge mid-match) sounded more glamorous and dangerous, so they went with that. Obviously, the gimmick's premise was in seriously poor taste. There was a war going on, and the WWF planned to capitalise on it by bringing USA vs. Iraq to 'Mania.
They'd even pondered having Slaughter rip up then burn the North American flag, but wisely switched to a Hulk t-shirt at the eleventh hour. Vince might've said that 'all press attention was good attention', but that would've been going way too far.
Overall, the character was hard to stomach because real people were fighting and dying elsewhere. Plus, wrestling is supposed to be escapism from some of the horrible stuff happening in the world, so it sucked for fans who wanted to tune in and chill out.