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Post by MKSavage on Mar 16, 2024 14:01:42 GMT -5
I watched A&E's biography on Sgt. Slaughter a week or so ago - a very good show, I would definitely recommend watching it if you haven't seen it. And last night I listened to Jim Cornette (from his podcast) comment on the documentary. A big part that they focused on was the Hogan/Sarge feud in 1991. They basically say it was tasteless and hurt the WWF's popularity. I still don't see why so many people dislike this feud. As a kid, I ate this up. Wrestling has always drawn upon real world events to tell stories in wrestling. The Iron Sheik came about because of the Iran Hostage crisis in 1979/80, and every territory had an evil Russian or two on their roster pretty much since the end of WWII. Also, I am currently reading a book about Stampede Wrestling and they even had a tag team of Viet Cong wrestlers during the 1970s - during the Vietnam War. Seems strange that the Iraqi-Sympathizer Sarge storyline gets so much hate. I do agree that the feud was not popular, and the press was not kind when reporting or writing about the WWF. What are your thoughts on the feud?
Also, during the Cornette podcast about the feud, Jim's co-host mentioned something pretty interesting. He said that instead of bringing Sgt. Slaughter in as an Iraqi-sympathizer and heel right away, that the WWF should have tried to capitalize on Sarge's popularity due to his association with G.I. Joe and bring him in as another American hero that teams up and befriends Hulk Hogan. Have the two biggest American heroes at the time join forces. This would allow the fans get reacquainted with Sarge - who had been out of Wrestling for about 5 years - then later in the year, have Sarge turn on Hogan. Maybe bring Sarge out and put him in Tugboat's spot, have Sarge be the one to rally the fans to support Hogan and be the one to appear in Hogan's corner at Summer Slam 1990. But after a while, Sarge gets jealous of Hogan's popularity - that the fans prefer him more - then have Sarge attack Hogan. You wouldn't need the Iraqi-sympathizer angle, just a jealous Sarge battling Hogan. Would that have been better? Would they have been able to sell out the LA Coliseum with that feud?
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Post by PJ on Mar 16, 2024 15:00:46 GMT -5
I enjoyed it the way it was. But people will always complain about something.
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nibs92
Main Eventer
Joined on: May 29, 2008 5:47:21 GMT -5
Posts: 2,347
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Post by nibs92 on Mar 16, 2024 15:52:05 GMT -5
I enjoyed the angle. Not sure as I’m British it maybe didn’t hit as close for me. I agree with what you said about wrestlings use of the foreign menace. Has been a staple since gimmicks were first introduced.
Oh and I loved Colonel Mustafa.
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Post by The Brain on Mar 16, 2024 15:52:23 GMT -5
I didnt mind the feud. It was short but it was nice seeing Sarge get a run with the big one
No way though it fills up the Coliseum. Only chance they had at doing that is Hogan/Warrior 2 and even that I still dont think does it
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Post by ASR (therockisback) on Mar 16, 2024 17:24:43 GMT -5
Great feud tbh.
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Deleted
Joined on: Nov 21, 2024 9:51:56 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2024 22:30:20 GMT -5
it was a fun fued. only thing i didnt like was we all knew hogan was winning and getting the belt at wm7 which takes some of luster out of the main event.
same with summerslam. like sgt, mustafa,& the general had any chance vs the team of hogan & warrior? come on man!
but was nice to see sgt get a big push and in the spot light. he deserved it!
we also got that kick arse best match of ultimate warrior's vs sgt at rr91.
i wasnt offedned or whatever by the angle. i loved sheik & volkoff back in 86/87 who did hate the USA stuff already. actually volkoff shoulda been put in the group to help sgt/sheik vs hogan/warrior at sslam91.
i do like that idea of sgt/hulk teaming and then sgt turning on him. that woulda worked as well!
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Post by hbkjason on Mar 17, 2024 4:05:20 GMT -5
I loved it, I was never a Hulkamaniac as a kid, but this was the most behind Hogan I ever was. They did a fantastic job of making Slaughter seem like a maniac heel. I was 9 - 10 when this happend so I was ignorant to the whole Gulf War if I am being honest, but I enjoyed it
From Hogan defeating him at WrestleMania to him and Warrior teaming up to stop the Triangle of Terror!
Not even the Triangle of Terror could stop the might of The Immortal Slime and The Ultimate Puke 😂😂😂
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Post by JokerFC on Mar 17, 2024 7:04:03 GMT -5
Being from Ireland the whole Gulf War thing went over my head as an 11 year old. Probably because it lasted for 10 minutes.
I remember hating Sarges heel turn because he was one if my favorite Joe's. By the time I got the Hasbro of him he had turned back face so I was cool with that 🤣🤣🤣.
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Post by MKSavage on Mar 17, 2024 16:09:34 GMT -5
Being from Ireland the whole Gulf War thing went over my head as an 11 year old. Probably because it lasted for 10 minutes. I remember hating Sarges heel turn because he was one if my favorite Joe's. By the time I got the Hasbro of him he had turned back face so I was cool with that 🤣🤣🤣. Yeah, I was too young to remember Sarge from his earlier WWF days and feuding with Iron Sheik. I saw him first with G.I. Joe and was a huge fan. I remember having the figures below (well, maybe not the blue one, I don't remember that one). I thought it was the coolest thing that an animated character from the Joe's was a real-life person, I really didn't care about the heel turn. I was wondering when Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow were going to show up on WWF TV back then.  |
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Post by JokerFC on Mar 17, 2024 17:05:38 GMT -5
I had the 2nd & 3rd Sarge figures & effin loved them/him.
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sinfony
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Jul 25, 2023 4:22:29 GMT -5
Posts: 101 
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Post by sinfony on Mar 17, 2024 18:01:04 GMT -5
No way though it fills up the Coliseum. Only chance they had at doing that is Hogan/Warrior 2 and even that I still dont think does it Yes, I think it was delusions of grandeur that they were ever going to get close to filling a venue that size with any card at all. Even WM3 with the WWF at its peak popularity and Andre-Hogan "only" realistically had around 80,000 paying customers, so it was crazy to think in 1991 that they would fill around 100,000 seats. They probably did undersell themselves with the Arena though, as they were filling that with standard house shows at the time. |
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Post by Emerald Enthusiast on Mar 18, 2024 1:01:58 GMT -5
The feud was lackluster, especially with the odd turn of Sgt.Slaughter. Sarge seemed to have no understandable reason for suddenly hating America, and for anyone who knew him from previous years, he was obviously slowing down physically at that point in time. From the summer of 1990 into the winter of 1991, the WWF had been slowly feeding us the idea that Jack Tunney would eventually reverse his kayfabe edict of "no Wrestlemania 6 rematch", and we would eventually get Hogan-Warrior 2. That's what people really wanted, not a forced patriotism feud.
Then the feud continued after Wrestlemania with a series of underwhelming Desert Storm matches, and it culminated with that weird handicap tag match at Summerslam where the most interesting part of the story was Sid being the referee. Had the feud happened 5 years before it did, it might have been more satisfying for the fans.
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Deleted
Joined on: Nov 21, 2024 9:51:56 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2024 14:30:10 GMT -5
The feud was lackluster, especially with the odd turn of Sgt.Slaughter. Sarge seemed to have no understandable reason for suddenly hating America, and for anyone who knew him from previous years, he was obviously slowing down physically at that point in time. From the summer of 1990 into the winter of 1991, the WWF had been slowly feeding us the idea that Jack Tunney would eventually reverse his kayfabe edict of "no Wrestlemania 6 rematch", and we would eventually get Hogan-Warrior 2. That's what people really wanted, not a forced patriotism feud. Then the feud continued after Wrestlemania with a series of underwhelming Desert Storm matches, and it culminated with that weird handicap tag match at Summerslam where the most interesting part of the story was Sid being the referee. Had the feud happened 5 years before it did, it might have been more satisfying for the fans. i do wonder what wwf 1991 would have looked like without the "forced patriotism feud" as you said i thought it was fun and ok with it, but do REALLY wish it never happened and i think 1991 wwf would have been much better without it hopefully we woulda got the hulk/warrior 2 match and then summerslam coulda been hulk/warrior vs jake/undertaker w/sid as special ref |
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Post by LA Times on Mar 18, 2024 19:11:01 GMT -5
It definitely didnt age very well but it did give Sgt Slaughter his only world title reign and main event run. I remember being confused when I was a kid as to why Sgt Slaughter was a good guy in GI Joe but a bad guy in the WWF, LOL. When Sgt Slaughter was in GI Joe, I was told he was a pro wrestler first but I had never seen him wrestle before that.
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Post by Emerald Enthusiast on Mar 20, 2024 5:19:29 GMT -5
The feud was lackluster, especially with the odd turn of Sgt.Slaughter. Sarge seemed to have no understandable reason for suddenly hating America, and for anyone who knew him from previous years, he was obviously slowing down physically at that point in time. From the summer of 1990 into the winter of 1991, the WWF had been slowly feeding us the idea that Jack Tunney would eventually reverse his kayfabe edict of "no Wrestlemania 6 rematch", and we would eventually get Hogan-Warrior 2. That's what people really wanted, not a forced patriotism feud. Then the feud continued after Wrestlemania with a series of underwhelming Desert Storm matches, and it culminated with that weird handicap tag match at Summerslam where the most interesting part of the story was Sid being the referee. Had the feud happened 5 years before it did, it might have been more satisfying for the fans. i do wonder what wwf 1991 would have looked like without the "forced patriotism feud" as you said i thought it was fun and ok with it, but do REALLY wish it never happened and i think 1991 wwf would have been much better without it hopefully we woulda got the hulk/warrior 2 match and then summerslam coulda been hulk/warrior vs jake/undertaker w/sid as special ref I've always felt that the WWF could have started the Hulk-Sarge feud directly after WM7 with better results. That way the fans could have gotten Hogan-Warrior 2 at WM7. Having the Hulk-Sarge feud culminate at Summerslam in a 1-on-1 gimmick match would very likely have been an improvement over that tag match. Hulk could have enlisted Warrior as his enforcer to take care of Adnan and the Sheik on the outside of the ring, and that would have freed up Warrior to have a match with Undertaker on that card. 1991 was a weird year for the WWF. They had many stars at their disposal, but most of them got used in confusing ways. There was a lot of upheaval behind the scenes with the company being incriminated at the trial of Dr. Zahorian and Warrior being unhappy, so perhaps it makes sense that the on-air product seemed to arise from many half-baked ideas. |
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Deleted
Joined on: Nov 21, 2024 9:51:56 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2024 6:54:23 GMT -5
i do wonder what wwf 1991 would have looked like without the "forced patriotism feud" as you said i thought it was fun and ok with it, but do REALLY wish it never happened and i think 1991 wwf would have been much better without it hopefully we woulda got the hulk/warrior 2 match and then summerslam coulda been hulk/warrior vs jake/undertaker w/sid as special ref I've always felt that the WWF could have started the Hulk-Sarge feud directly after WM7 with better results. That way the fans could have gotten Hogan-Warrior 2 at WM7. Having the Hulk-Sarge feud culminate at Summerslam in a 1-on-1 gimmick match would very likely have been an improvement over that tag match. Hulk could have enlisted Warrior as his enforcer to take care of Adnan and the Sheik on the outside of the ring, and that would have freed up Warrior to have a match with Undertaker on that card. 1991 was a weird year for the WWF. They had many stars at their disposal, but most of them got used in confusing ways. There was a lot of upheaval behind the scenes with the company being incriminated at the trial of Dr. Zahorian and Warrior being unhappy, so perhaps it makes sense that the on-air product seemed to arise from many half-baked ideas. yea 1991 was a strange year for wwf. my least fav year from 1985 to 1993. the gulf war fued took up most of the year and then even survivir series changed for 1st time and had a singles match and 1 of the 2 best 4 vs 4 matches got ruined down to 3 vs 3. the rumble seemed kind of slow and ploddy with not many big moments either. yea just a weird year for sure. |
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Post by MKSavage on Mar 20, 2024 8:50:08 GMT -5
i do wonder what wwf 1991 would have looked like without the "forced patriotism feud" as you said i thought it was fun and ok with it, but do REALLY wish it never happened and i think 1991 wwf would have been much better without it hopefully we woulda got the hulk/warrior 2 match and then summerslam coulda been hulk/warrior vs jake/undertaker w/sid as special ref I've always felt that the WWF could have started the Hulk-Sarge feud directly after WM7 with better results. That way the fans could have gotten Hogan-Warrior 2 at WM7. Having the Hulk-Sarge feud culminate at Summerslam in a 1-on-1 gimmick match would very likely have been an improvement over that tag match. Hulk could have enlisted Warrior as his enforcer to take care of Adnan and the Sheik on the outside of the ring, and that would have freed up Warrior to have a match with Undertaker on that card. 1991 was a weird year for the WWF. They had many stars at their disposal, but most of them got used in confusing ways. There was a lot of upheaval behind the scenes with the company being incriminated at the trial of Dr. Zahorian and Warrior being unhappy, so perhaps it makes sense that the on-air product seemed to arise from many half-baked ideas. Interesting idea. My only issue with Hogan/Warrior 2 is that would leave Savage without an opponent at WM7. Also, we wouldn't have gotten that great match of Warrior vs. Savage at WM7. They could have held that match at Summer Slam 1991, but then there wouldn't have been a Warrior/Undertaker feud in the spring and summer of 1991. I think it was fine the way it worked out; Slaughter got the belt right as the war was escalating then lost it just after the war ended. It probably would have been better if they didn't drag the Hogan/Sarge feud all the way through the summer of 1991. Have their last match, a boot camp match on the SNME in April or May of that year to end the feud. This would leave Hogan and Warrior open for a Summer Slam match which they could have done Hogan/Warrior vs. Undertaker/Jake with Sid as the special referee. |
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Post by Flair Forever on Mar 21, 2024 11:26:26 GMT -5
Always been a big fan of Sgt. Slaughter and the A&E Biography was fantastic! Great to see all of this. I was never offended by the Sgt. Slaughter Iraqi heel turn.... I think Sarge played the part just right - he was a good heel because he made us hate him! Just as it was supposed to be, back then. What heels today are out there intentionally pissing off fans like that to generate heat? MJF "was"..... I guess Roman is doing the "heel" act pretty well in modern times. I think it's better that they didn't do Hogan/Warrior 2 - - - it never would have lived up to the first match (*ahem look what happened when WCW tried it)..... best just to let that WM6 match live forever as one of the Greatest main events of our time. As someone else pointed out - there was never any doubt that Hogan would win WM7 against Sarge so that would be my only complaint. But us Hulkamaniacs wanted Hogan to win anyway! Here's my "Sarge" display I have in my house.... I do have the original GI Joes stored somewhere plus a few more basics I'll be adding as I dig them out....  And here's one of my favorite autograph/photos in my collection: He's always been really cool to meet in person!  At Ease, Maggots..... "And That's.... An Order!"  |
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Post by The Brain on Mar 21, 2024 11:40:52 GMT -5
Sarge got one of the best autographs. Here's my fav pieces of em in my collection 
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Post by ASR (therockisback) on Mar 23, 2024 19:31:11 GMT -5
Hogan beating Sgt was good at WM & made sense. It was a big match no doubs about it.
I didn't enjoy it as much as many other main events of WM but I did like the build up & ending of it.
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