[1991-10-05-WWF-Superstars] Sgt. Slaughter vignette

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Slaughter's pandering continues, as the WWF shows how stupid and fickle they think their audience is. I'm guessing this was planned all along at the end. This is just as exploitative as the Gulf War stuff.

[Matt D]

The only thing that makes me wonder one way or another is that they did a Texas Tornado insert promo where he threatens Slaughter to stay in seclusion on the first Superstars post Summerslam.

 

(It's here: http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x12jzo.../1#video=xa4xl3. you can wipe it if you want from the reply though).

 

Given how Vince sets it up, maybe it was all part of the turn though. Last time I saw it, I thought they were setting up an aborted Kerry vs Slaughter program, but this time I'm less sure.

[flyonthewall2983]

I wonder if it would have been better if they just had Slaughter go away for awhile, and have a more abrupt face turn when he came back. I have a feeling the turn they eventually did was Remus wanting to turn back and deflect the negative attention from the public he was getting. And for what it's worth, the turn worked. He wasn't a top babyface, but they pretty much stopped booing him as I recall.

[PeteF3]

I really don't think turning Sarge back into a babyface was an impossible task. Like I said earlier, I was always expecting it to happen in the back of my mind anyway. The heel character only had so much shelf life. But holy shit--Arlington National Cemetery?? Sarge cutting a wrestling promo (and it doesn't mean shit that he's talking about not wrestling again--it's a fucking wrestling promo) in this setting, with shots of tombstones as "Taps" plays...this is WORSE than the Gulf War shit. Assuming it's not a mock-up or public domain stock footage I'm completely floored that the Army would allow this.

 

Fly is right. Sarge needed to be off TV for longer, and then make his surprise return while Mustafa and Adnan are destroying Jim Duggan. Cut more promos like the one with Gene and fewer while exploiting the dead.

[Kevin Ridge]

Slaughter can go f*ck himself at this point. Just not buying it all on this Slaughter change. Dude got himself some boots from Hussein himself.

[soup23]

Yeah this was extremely heavy handed. I also noticed that one of the tombstones said Pedro Morales on it.

[garretta]

Still way too much yelling and screaming to be a promo from a truly sorry man, in my opinion. Sarge did fine for the first half, but by the end it was like he was demanding his country back, and at Arlington National Cemetery to boot. (I'm almost 100% sure that was a mock-up or green screen; I can't imagine President Bush, wrestling fan though he may have been, allowing Vince to actually tape at the real thing.) I didn't see the Morales tombstone, and I really looked for it.

 

Interesting tidbit about Kerry supposedly being set up to feud with Sarge, but it really wouldn't have meant much, since Kerry was hurtling down the totem pole by now.

 

Here's a thought for you, Sarge: Instead of writing off your family and friends, why don't you ask them for forgiveness first, take a few months to earn it, then reconcile with your country? A few months on the bench might have made this whole business easier to handle for the fans, as Pete said up above. As it is, there's still a "Hogan kicked my butt, now what do I do?" feel to the whole thing.

[dawho5]

I saw the Morales stone and wondered myself. This is all way too fresh to be trying to turn it around. I'm not saying the promos themselves are bad. But the timing of them is just wrong. I agree that it should have been shelved for a few months first.