
Sgt Slaughter
On the heels of Sgt. Slaughter being laid off by Vince McMahon last week as a backstage road agent for the WWE, I’d like to rewind back to June 1984 in Madison Square Garden NY, when Sgt. Slaughter was in his prime as one of the most popular wrestlers in the WWF, if not the world.
Slaughter had recently turned good (wrestling terminology is “face”) and defended the U.S. against the evil Iron Sheik, who was one the hated men in wrestling thanks to his pro-Iran stance. The Sheik’s manager was Freddie Blassie, one of the most notorious former wrestlers.
The match is historic for a few reasons: 1) A boot camp match is a hardcore match. Back in 1984, the level of violence in the WWF was rare, and taken very seriously by the fans. Faces rarely broke the rules during the era, so this match had no rules. 2) Slaughter’s patriotism helped land him a deal with GI JOE, and become one of the most famous wrestlers of all time.
Special notes:
Sgt Slaughter was fired by Vince McMahon in late 1984 for working out the GI JOE toy licensing deal with Hasbro, and talking about unionizing wrestling. If Hogan never went to the WWF, Sgt may have reached his level of popularity, and taken the top spot. The Sarge got screwed by Vince. He wrestled in the AWA, was featured in the GI JOE cartoon, and eventually returned to the WWF in 1990 as an evil turncoat American who supported Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War. Slaughter cheated to win the WWF World Championship from The Ultimate Warrior in 1991. Slaughter would face Hulk Hogan, who in many ways replaced Slaughter as an American icon, and dropped the title to him.
The marine at the beginning of the match is Private Jim Nelson, who was a jobber whom Sgt. Slaughter trained to be competitive and fight communists.
The time of this clip is over 20 minutes. I highly recommend this excellent match: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuvfk_sgt-slaughter-vs-the-iron-sheik-684_street
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Top 10: Best WWE World Champions of all time
- WWF Coliseum Home Video Intro
- TNA Impact Review 2-4-2010
- Wrestler Profile: Zeus (Tiny Lister, Jr.)
- The End of Hulkamania: Feb 5, 1988 The Main Event
- RIP Randy Savage Dead: Things You Didn’t Know About Macho Man
- 2010 WWE Year End Review (Oh, and TNA, too)
- Vince McMahon Rebrands WWE: We Can’t Say “Wrestling” Anymore
- Verne Gagne killed a man?
- WWE: Return of Vince McMahon
- Umaga Died – Former WWE Star Eddie Fatu Dies of Heart Attack
- Bubba the Love Sponge Gets Punched by Awesome Kong, TNA News
- Kamala Umaga
- WWE Classics
- What Happened on WWE RAW 3-1-2010
- WWF Kayfabe History of Hulk Hogan: Earth Sigma
- What Comes After Jump the Shark? New WWE Champion The Miz
- LJN WWF Action Figures Checklist and Reviews
- Jerry Lawler Tribute: Long Live The King
- Wrestlemania 27 Review: Cena Sucks; Miz Rules, Rock Steals Show
class=” ” dope track yo…good looks on the shout.
Terry Daniels, not Private Nelson. Private Nelson was Sarge’s guy in Mid-Atlantic. Ironically, he would go on to become the America bashing Boris Zhukof.
79. Strike while the iron is hot.
Sorry Jani Lane never sang with slaughter
yeah he was pvt jim nelson is the early mid atlantic championship wrestling
It Couldn’t Happen Here –