Vince McMahon Made Sgt. Slaughter Miss 6 WrestleMania Events In A Row

Sgt. Slaughter was one of the most controversial superstars during the Golden age of wrestling. The G.I Joe gimmick of Sgt. Slaughter portrayed was also considered a cross-over success. However, there was a time that Vince McMahon made him miss multiple WrestleMania shows and Sgt. Slaughter remembers that vividly.

Vince McMahon was creating larger-than-life characters during the late 1980s. This saw the rise of superstars such as Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Macho Man and Sgt. Slaughter as well. Sarge went on to win the WWE Championship from the Ultimate Warrior during his third return to the WWE in 1991. During his third tenure, Slaughter turned heel and debuted a new gimmick.

Sgt. Slaughter was in the amid a dispute with WWE during the mid-1980s. The paperwork stated that the company wouldn’t allow him to appear on Hasbro’ GI Joe line. This eventually turned into Sgt. Slaughter resenting WWE and Vince McMahon for not being able to cut deal with Hasbro, and Sarge would go on to miss WrestleMania shows for several years in a row. He spoke about the situation with wrestling legend Bill Apter.

“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.” 

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Sgt. Slaughter, despite the controversy became an integral part of the WWE during the golden era. He battled the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior and Nikolai Volkoff. Furthermore, he also became a one-time WWE champion and was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004.

Do you think Sgt. Slaughter should have been featured in Hasbro’ GI Joe line? Sound off in the comments!