After becoming a babyface in 1984, Sgt. Slaughter’s WWF career enjoyed a remarkable upswing. Now that he was dedicated to defending the honour of the United States, Slaughter quickly became the second most popular star in the Vince McMahon-led company behind only Hulk Hogan.
However that momentum came to shuddering halt when Slaughter and McMahon fell out over the company not allowing the star to be part of the Hasbro’s G.I. Joe toy line. However, after appearing in the AWA between 1985 and 1990, Slaughter got the call to return to the WWF.
“I’m Vince McMahon, That’s What I do”
Speaking to Sportskeeda, Sgt. Slaughter explained that the issues over the Hasbro deal had made him very “anti-WWE.”
“I got the call from Vince McMahon, I watched WrestleMania 6 – [Hulk] Hogan and [The Ultimate] Warrior. And I had stopped watching the WWE at that point because I was so angry because they couldn’t work things out with Hasbro and I so I could be at WrestleMania 2, 3, and so on. I had to miss the first 6 WrestleManias, so it made me anti-WWE.”
Slaughter recalled sending a note to Vince McMahon about the WrestleMania 6 event match between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. This prompted a phone conversation with the now-former WWE Chairman.
“I put a big P-U on that and sent it off to him. Two weeks later, I get a call on a Sunday afternoon. I’m watching a NASCAR race, kind of dozing off, ‘Hello?’ [As Vince,] ‘Sarge?’ ‘Yes?’ ‘Vince!’ Well, there’s only one Vince. There’s only one Sarge. He says, ‘I got your note. I appreciate the feedback on the production. Yeah, we’ve been working hard on it, and I appreciate someone like you seeing how well it’s going. You’re right, the match was a P-U. Are you ready to go back to work?’
I said, ‘Funny you should mention that you want to ask me.’ He said, ‘Well you’re done with Hasbro right?’ I said, ‘How would you know that?’ He said, ‘I’m Vince McMahon, that’s what I do.’”
When Slaughter went to McMahon’s house to discuss his return he assumed he would remain a babyface with the company turning Hogan heel. However, McMahon famously had other plans. This led to Slaughter’s run as the ‘Iraqi Sympathiser’ which saw him face Hogan at WrestleMania 7.
“When I went to Vince [McMahon’s] house and he had the completely opposite idea. He said ‘I want to put you and Hulk Hogan in the main event of WrestleMania 7 and sell out the Coliseum in L.A.’ I said ‘great’ and he asked ‘Are you on board?’ and I said I was. So I asked ‘How are we turning Hulk into a villain?’ and he said ‘Hulk? Not Hulk! You!’”
Speaking to Inside The Ropes back in 2021, Sgt. Slaughter broke down how Vince McMahon pitched the change of character, and his stunned reaction.
H/t to Sportskeeda