WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter recently appeared on The Break Room Podcast and shared some memories about his career. The former WWE Champion discussed meeting Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan, and Michael Jackson, among other prominent celebrities and political people. Slaughter also claimed that he was informed that his Royal Rumble 1991 title fight against The Ultimate Warrior was scheduled to result in a double DQ.
On meeting Donald Trump in 1985:
“The first time I met Donald, we were at Toy Fair. I had my camouflage limo. I had my driver, Don Kernodle. We’re driving down New York City and all these cab drivers and everybody was honking and screaming. We turned the corner and went to park the limo so I could get out and go inside. They said, “You can get out here, but the limo can’t stay. These are reserved for Donald Trump’s limos.’ I said, ‘Well, how many do you have?’ He said, ‘About 10.’ so I said to Don, Private Kernodle, ‘Just hang here for a second.’ So I went inside. First thing I walk in, I look to my right, and there’s Donald Trump promoting his Trump game. He yells out, ‘Sgt. Slaughter.’ I said, ‘You’re just the guy I’m looking for.’ He said, ‘Come on up.’ We went up and did a bunch of pictures. I put him in a headlock. I went to leave and I said, ‘One last thing. How come your taking up all the limo space?’ I got a limo out there. I need a place to park.’ He said, ‘Just park it there. Don’t worry about it.” Three hours later, the security guards say, ‘Everybody out.’ So I get up to leave and they say, ‘No, the people are coming to see you. You have to stay.’ So this little boy comes in, an older girl, and then a bigger boy, and then this beautiful blonde lady, and then Donald Trump. The five of them came in to meet Sgt. Slaughter.”
Sgt. Slaughter’s Michael Jackson story:
“I met a couple of his band members one time. ‘They said, ‘We have a poster of you outside of a tank. Before we can go on stage, Michael stops in front of that, and we say a little prayer. We all salute you, and then we go out. His brother, Jermaine, same thing. He was in my golf tournament. I asked him about that. I said, ‘Is this true or not?’ He goes, ‘Oh yeah. We didn’t go on that stage unless we stopped, said a prayer, and saluted you, and then we went on.”
On meeting President Ronald Reagan:
“He said, Sgt. Slaughter, so great. I personally had them invite you to be here because I love what you do for patriotism, for our country, and I’ve always wanted to meet you, and I was wondering if you could put me in the Cobra Clutch.”
On not knowing we was winning the WWF Title during his 1991 Royal Rumble match against The Ultimate Warrior:
“I got to Miami and I thought I was just having a regular match. I didn’t know that Macho Man was there. Vince brought him in and never even told me he was coming out. It was an element of surprise for me, because we got the match going, and it was supposed to be at this double disqualification. I’m (thinking) I’m in a match setting up to get a double disqualification. I take the referee to let Adnan can go over and get a little heat. I look over, and I hear this crash, like glass breaking. I look over and there’s Macho Man, the scepter, and Sensational Sherri right behind him, and then off they go. I said, ‘Is that the double disqualification?’ I guess that’s it. I’m waiting for the referee to do something. Warrior is laying on the ropes. I said, ‘Well, I’ll just pull him in. I went to pull him in. My hands actually went off his body because he was dead weight. I went back and I yanked him and I pulled him in. I didn’t know what to do. I said, I’ll give him an elbow and try to wake him up. He was out. I hit the elbow. I covered him. It was either me or the referee that was covering him because he was out. One. Two. I figured he was going to kick out. He didn’t kick out. I looked at Earl Hebner, and he looked at me, and he went and grabbed the purple belt and gave it to me. I said, ‘All right, well, I’ll put it up in the air.’ I I turned around, and The Warrior kind of woke up a little bit, rolled out of the ring, and just ran off to the dressing room. When I got back, Macho Man wasn’t there. Warrior was sitting in the dressing room with his head down. I went over. I said, ‘You okay?’ He just stayed down like that. He knew he got screwed because that’s the way they wanted to take the title from him. Vince told me later, “if I would have told him, he wouldn’t have done it’, so I had to do it. It was kind of like the screw job in Montreal.”
Sgt. Slaughter’s Mount Rushmore:
“Well, Harley Race, number one. I’d have to say, as far as entertainment value, Ric Flair. Andre the Giant. Roddy Piper.”
You can check out the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
