[1990-12-29-WWF-Superstars] Interview: Sgt. Slaughter

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Saddam Hussein did not invade Kuwait. He conquered Kuwait. The heat is through the roof here. I'm viewing this through a post-9/11 lens, but wow, this would have created a major and *real* "security risk" in 2002-2003. He opens a gift from Saddam -- a new pair of wrestling boots with an Iron Sheik-like hook on the end. He says after beating the Ultimate Warrior, he will hold a parade in Baghdad. Slaughter is great in this role, but this is unbelievably tasteless.

[PeteF3]

Jesus. Okerlund drops the "date that will live in infamy" line in regards to the invasion of Kuwait. Slaughter and Adnan have received a personal gift from Saddam Hussein, wrapped in a USA Today with Hussein on the front. It's a pair of military wrestling boots in the Iron Sheik style. Slaughter pledges to wear them as he conquers the Ultimate Warrior, and take his rightful place alongside Hussein in the streets of Baghdad, two conquering heroes. I really don't have much that I can say about this.

[Kevin Ridge]

Heavy on the Iraq invasion of Kuwait. Saddam send Slaughter a gift. New boots. Slaughter will conquer the Ultimate Warrior at the Rumble. He will bring the title to Baghdad. Was the L.A. Coliseum still booked for WrestleMania at this point?

[soup23]

People were pissed at this. Slaughter does great in this role and I guess I am so far removed from the situation that it is probably less offensive to me than most.

[ajtroma]

I still get a little skeezed out by this stuff. But, it does have teeth, unlike that Hassan stuff back in '05 or the Zeb Colter shit of today. There is legitimate, pure hatred by the people here. So, if you are gonna wallow in bad taste, go whole hog, I say.

 

I can only imagine what the sheets were saying about this stuff.

[flyonthewall2983]

Despite all this I believe the claim that they moved from the stadium to the Sports Arena for security reasons. Likewise the threats on Slaughter's family.

[Smack2k]

I LOVED this.....the true meaning of hated heel...and man did he do a GREAT job of selling that he was with Iraq and Saddam...

 

Did he bring out the picture here of him, Saddam and Adnan? I love that picture just for the bullshit it was, tasteless and GREAT!!! Plus seeing the former Iranian millionaire Sheik Adnan now an Iraqi Colonel amused me.

 

Really, looking at this from afar, it was really not much different than Ivan Koloff going to take Nephew Nikita and "Pave The Road To Moscow in Gold" in 1985 down in Mid-Atlantic / NWA. Its just that Slaughter was soo believable and "real" in the way he portrayed this, it made it better to view..if that makes sense.

 

Knowing who Col. Adnan was though knocked things down for me as he was Iranian in AWA, and Iran and Iraq did not mix at all...so that kept it Pro Wrestling for me and just enjoyable to watch.

 

As for LA Colliseum, I think it was ticket sales that stopped that from being held there...If they were gonna put 100,000 people in that place, there is NO WAY Vince McMahon wouldnt have done it. This is pre-9/11 and even pre 1993 Trade Center bombings so "Security Concerns" wasnt as big a terror (both in word and action) as it is post 9/11.

[Mr. Lacelle]

Al Kaissie was always billed as being from Iraq. (Except when he was Billy White Wolf of course)

[JerryvonKramer]

Had to watch this too.

 

This is one of the most courageous jobs ever done by a worker right here: Slaughter's willingness to do this is just sheer balls and the heat is off the charts.

[garretta]

I agree with Parv that doing an angle like this took guts on Sarge's part. For that, I salute him. As for the rest of this crap, it's not even well-performed. Any idiot could have gone out there, proclaimed himself an Iraqi sympathizer, and gotten close to this level of heat at the time. I admit that Sarge having been portrayed as an American hero in the past made it easier, but if The Iron Sheik had been in any kind of physical shape, he would have been just as good at this, either as himself or as Col. Mustafa. Adnan is a complete waste since they won't let him speak English, and Sarge's constant screaming actually makes him less menacing, not more so.

 

Also, Sarge is so focused on being an Iraqi that he's forgetting to remind us of why he turned on America, which was supposed to be the whole point of his return to begin with. The only American he insults here is poor "Pukeface" Okerlund. Where's the talk about America being soft, Gomer? Where's the talk about being in bed with the Commies and turning our backs on Saddam once we'd used him and his army to help us get rid of the heathen Iranians during the Iran-Iraq war which had concluded only recently? Calling Americans soft and slimy traitors who knife their friends in the back once they use them up would have generated just as much heat as talking about victory parties in Baghdad which everyone with half an ounce of sense knew would never happen even if Slaughter won. (You say suspension of disbelief? I say horseshit. Too much garbage, then and now, has been given a pass by invoking that phrase. For some of us, the real world doesn't stop just because two men fake fight in their underwear for an hour a week, and we reserve the right to call those who try to tell us it does, like Vince, fools and worse.)

 

There are only two good things about this segment: First, they had the good sense to preempt Brother Love for it; seeing this done in that particular setting would have been too much for me to take, and I suspect I'm not alone. Second, they had the further good sense to stop playing that stupid drum roll while Sarge was running his yap. That's one less way to get a headache from listening to this.