The Undertaker On Sgt. Slaughter Getting Death Threats Over Iraqi Sympathizer Character

Sgt. Slaughter did a complete 180 when he betrayed the U.S. to side with Iraq during the Gulf War, and reportedly received death threats for his character.

The April 1991 event saw Hulk Hogan dethrone Sgt. Slaughter to regain the WWF Championship, kicking off the Hulkster's third reign with the gold. The show was originally supposed to take place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before being moved to the adjacent, albeit smaller, Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. 

The Undertaker on WrestleMania 7

Much of the main event was built around Slaughter's heel turn which had seen the so-called U.S. Marine become an Iraqi sympathizer during the Gulf War. Speaking on his Six Feet Under podcast, The Undertaker addressed using the real-life conflict overseas for the wrestling storyline.

"Obviously, the more personal you can make a wrestling angle, the better it's gonna be. And if you throw championships on top of all that, it really makes it even more compelling. But I mean, personal rivalries were always the best. And this is...we're at war. So that was a bold move."

The Undertaker also addressed the claim that Slaughter received death threats for his Iraqi supporting character but admitted he didn't see anything firsthand. 

"Not that anything that I witnessed, like as far as physical aggression, but yeah, he was always talking about getting death threats. People threatening him and how could you do that to our country? It's just like, c'mon man. It was pretty good man you have to say. Honestly, it took for... at that time period for someone of Sgt. Slaughter's [character] his career and his gimmick and everything else to do that. It was a bold move. It was a real bold move."