Sgt. Slaughter Upset About Not Being Invited To The Undertaker’s WWE Hall Of Fame Induction
Sgt. Slaughter has explained why he’s angry about WWE not inviting him to The Undertaker’s Hall of Fame ceremony.
The Undertaker was the headline act the 2022 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony where he delivered a fantastic speech that went nearly one hour talking about his incredible 30-year run as part of WWE.
One man that wasn’t at that Hall of Fame ceremony is another WWE Hall of Famer, Sgt. Slaughter. Just like The Undertaker, Slaughter was a former WWE Champion and headliner in the company.
In addition to his career in the ring, Slaughter worked behind the scenes for WWE in a number of different roles and did it for a lot of years, which meant he had a big impact on the careers of many WWE superstars, including The Undertaker.
During an interview with Sportskeeda’s WrestleBinge, Sgt. Slaughter claimed that he discovered The Undertaker.
“I just feel like, you know, I found Mark Calaway in a box of tapes. As a lot of people know, my back was hurt. I had to go work in the office. One of my jobs was to go through this wannabe office. I had all these tapes and boxes and envelopes and pictures and letters from wannabe wrestlers and managers and valets and announcers.”
“They wanted me to go through all these things. One, just one, was Mark Calaway and I brought him in. I said to Vince, ‘You gotta see this guy’. I said, ‘He’s a wrestler, he’s down in WCW, and he’s got short red hair, but man, what a talent.’ He said, ‘Well, I’ve never heard of him, so bring him in.'”
There are others who have told the story of how WWE discovered The Undertaker because Paul Heyman was working for WCW and he told WWE to give him a look.
As Sgt. Slaughter continued, he said that Vince McMahon was impressed when he first saw the Deadman, whose real name is Mark Calaway.
“So I called up Mark. I brought him in for a tryout in Rochester, New York. As soon as Vince saw him in the ring, he came up to the Gorilla position, takes my headset off my ear, and said, ‘Sarge, where did you find this guy?’ I said, ‘In a box of tapes.’ He goes, ‘Send him to my office.’ So Mark comes up, ‘How did I do?’ I said, ‘I thought you did good.’ He said, ‘Okay.’ I said, ‘But Vince wants to talk to you.’ ‘Oh, did I do something wrong?’ I said, ‘I think you probably did something right. Let’s go.'”
“So I introduced him to Vince. He comes out of Vince’s office. ‘What did Vince say?’ ‘He wants to know if I can come to Buffalo tomorrow night.’ I said, ‘Can you?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, I can come’, and he’s been there ever since because Vince had this idea of a dark character. First, he rumbled around about a pallbearer, but he finally got it right. He got The Undertaker and he went and got a pallbearer, Percy Pringle, who was actually a pallbearer and brought him in to do all of his talking for him and the rest is history.”
That led to Sgt. Slaughter explaining why he is angry about not being invited to The Undertaker’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony since Slaughter claims that he helped WWE acquire The Undertaker in the first place.
“If you’re listening, Mark Calaway, I just want to ask you one thing. I found you in a box of tapes. Sgt. Slaughter found you in a box of tapes and I called you three times because the first few times he hung up on me because he didn’t believe it was me. Finally I gave him the office number and I said, ‘Ask for me when you call this number.’ He said, ‘Oh, it is you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it is me.'”
“Guess who he didn’t invite to his Hall of Fame? Me, Sgt Slaughter, the guy that found him, the guy that brought him to Vince McMahon and said, ‘Here’s the guy. This is your guy.’ Can you imagine not being invited? I should have been in the front row.”
“I always kidded Mark, you know, over the years I said, ‘Hey Mark, how’s it going?’ ‘Great.’ I said, ‘You know, every time I go to my mailbox I expect to see a little percentage’, and he said ‘Oh, the checks in the mail, Sarge. The check is in the mail.’ Then you know, that gives us a little bit of a haha for a while, but boy, you don’t invite somebody that kind of brought you to where you are today, not even to your Hall of Fame?'”
“I mean, that was a slap in the face right there, and if you’re listening to this, Mark Calaway, I don’t understand it. I really don’t understand it.”
Sgt. Slaughter has also spoken openly about how he doesn’t like the way Lacey Evans portrays a military character in WWE.