WWE Executive Reveals Scrapped Hulk Hogan WrestleMania Match
A veteran WWE executive has revealed that one of Hulk Hogan’s biggest WrestleMania matches was supposed to be against a different opponent.
In the main event of 1991’s WrestleMania 7 event in Los Angeles, Hulk Hogan regained the WWE Championship by defeating the Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter.
It was a storyline that started several months earlier as the Gulf War intensified due to Iraq invading Kuwait, which led to the United States and other countries getting involved. Slaughter was an American hero, so he turned heel by doing scathing promos about how he supported Iraq in the war.
Bruce Prichard is the current WWE Executive Director who has been a part of WWE for several decades. While speaking on his Something To Wrestle With podcast about Slaughter, Prichard spoke about Vince McMahon originally having a plan of Hogan facing his former friend Tugboat, who would have turned heel and was rumored to be named Sheik Tugboat. According to Prichard, McMahon thought he could save Hogan-Slaughter for WrestleMania 8 in 1992, but other people seemingly convinced Vince to go with Hogan-Slaughter at WrestleMania 7.
“I think Vince had his way in his mind early on that it was going to be Sheik [vs.] Tugboat. You know, when just the little skirmish in the Middle East was was not even anywhere intensified, but you did have a heel there in Saddam Hussein. And Tugboat being Hulk’s best friend, that was Hulk’s program.”
“But without a doubt man, I think that when Sgt. came back and the reaction, and people did know him, he did get a great reaction, that ‘Man, you take Sarge, turn him heel, and put him against Hulk Hogan.’ The Greatest American Hero and Sgt. Slaughter, ‘GI Joe Sgt. Slaughter against the Real American in Hulk Hogan?’ That was — man, that’s natural.”
“And I think that that was one of those things maybe in Vince’s head that he thinks, ‘Okay, I can get there at WrestleMania eight and holy cow, it’ll be incredible.’ But as things got on, it was like, ‘Vince, the Tugboat thing ain’t gonna work.’ And [we] switched very quickly to Sgt. Slaughter.”
Prichard would go on to make what Vince McMahon’s original idea was.
“I’m saying if the Tugboat thing had worked out, Tugboat would have been at [WrestleMania] VII with Hulk. Then you would have, like, a full year and a half to build Sgt. to go to VIII with Hulk.”
Did Sgt. Slaughter Deserve WrestleMania 7 Main Event Match With Hulk Hogan?
According to Prichard, Slaughter got that WrestleMania 7 main event with Hogan and it was deserved.
“It was what it was. And he main evented with Hulk Hogan, dropped the championship, and it was all done. So good for him. I mean, you know, he got his main event. I think it was deserved.”
During that same podcast, Prichard also spoke about how the Hulk Hogan-Sgt. Slaughter was different than anything that was done in pro wrestling in that era, which is what made it so successful in the eyes of many people within the company.