WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter recently appeared on Under the Ring, where he talked about a number of topics including pitching a babyface turn for his character to Vince McMahon Sr.
Slaughter said, “Vince McMahon Sr. was still running the company. He kept patting me on the back and praising me [as a heel], and I said, ‘Well, Mr. McMahon, if you think I’m such a great villain, you ought to see me as a hero.’ And he said, ‘A hero? Sgt. Slaughter a hero? Wait a minute, what are you talking about?’”
On pitching a feud with Iron Sheik:
“We really never got any payback from what Ayatollah Khomeini did all those years. We never got to punch him right in the nose for all the problems that he caused with the hostage situation and the killing of the Marines at the embassy, and the Black Hawks going down.”
On Vince McMahon Sr. telling Vince McMahon Jr. not to turn him babyface:
“[Sr.] turned around and said, ‘Vinnie, don’t you ever turn Sgt. Slaughter into a hero, it won’t work.’ And I hate to say it, but Mr. McMahon Sr. was wrong, because [Jr.] came to me about three weeks later and said ‘I want to do what you told my father.’”
On Vince McMahon Jr. moving on with the plans to turn him babyface:
“I’m watching the monitor and I see Iron Sheik and Fred Blassie, I can read their lips, and they’re saying ‘Wrong music! They’re playing the wrong music!’ And out I came, and the place went crazy.”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
