Sgt Slaughter has discussed how he was able to get Hulk Hogan where no opponent had got The Immortal one before – up to the top rope.
At WrestleMania VII Sgt Slaughter and Hogan met in an emotionally charged match for the WWF Title that saw The Hulkster reclaim the title for himself and the USA after Slaughter had turned his back on his country.
Speaking exclusively to Inside The Ropes’ own Kenny McIntosh for issue 7 of Inside The Ropes magazine, Slaughter revealed how he got Hogan up to the top rope on The Grandest Stage Of Them All:
“Before the match, Hogan told me, ‘Sarge, whatever you want brother, I’m following you. Whatever you want, I’m doing.’ I said, ‘Is that right?’ He said, ‘You’re damn right. You get it on. I trust you and I know you’re going to get the best out of me you can get. So, I’m just telling you, whatever you want to do, I’m in for it.’”
“During the match, I said, ‘You ever come off the top rope, Terry?’ He goes, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘Have you ever taken a slam off the top rope?’ He goes, ‘Negative.’ I said, ‘Well, you are tonight’ He goes, ‘What?’ I said, ‘You told me I could do whatever I wanted.’ So he did it, and a lot of people say that was one of his best matches.”
The WWE Hall Of Famer then discussed what it feels like to be given that responsibility by a megastar such as Hulk Hogan and why he takes great pride in giving Hogan one of his best matches ever:
“To be in the ring with Hulk Hogan and have him trust me to be the ring general—to have his confidence to know that I was going to take good care of him and make him look like the biggest damn superstar ever and not think a thing about it, all I wanted was to have someone say, ‘That was a great match.’ To this day people come up to me and say, That match you had with Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania, that was a great match and the best match I ever saw Hulk Hogan in.’”
“That gives you something to put on your chest. That’s like a medal to take someone like Hogan, who didn’t have a whole lot of arsenal—he could talk the chrome off a bumper, but he didn’t know a headlock from a wristwatch—you had to work hard with someone like that, who only has a few moves. You had to work it all into a match where people were happy when they went home. That means more to me, anyway. I’m sure it does to a lot of the legends.”
“It’s not so much anymore because they don’t tell stories anymore. It’s all locker room matches and all scripted, but to us legends, the biggest thing was to be known as a ring general, someone that you could trust and would give you everything they had to make you look better than anybody, including themselves. And that’s really what it all boils down to—the storytelling. You get into that square circle and you paint a picture on that canvas. You’re an artist.”
During the conversation, Sgt Slaughter also discussed his ringside perspective on the infamous Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series 1997.