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At one point, the WWE creative team even wanted Slaughter to burn an American flag, but the military veteran couldn't stomach the idea. He suggested a compromise: putting a Hulk Hogan shirt on a pole, telling the crowd it "represented Americana," and burning that instead.
"To tell you the truth, I think it was worse," Slaughter says.
Slaughter didn't just draw heat in the ring and out on the road. He was even chastised backstage by one of America's greatest country singers. "Willie Nelson was singing 'God Bless America' for WrestleMania VII," Slaughter remembers, "so I went into the green room backstage to say hello to him. He just shook his head at me and in this serious voice said, 'Sarge, I can't believe the things you've done to America.' It made me think, 'Man, if I've affected Willie Nelson like that, I can only imagine how all the regular wrestling fans in the crowd feel.'"
Slaughter and the WWE maintain the event was moved to a smaller venue at the last minute because of a bomb threat, although others say it was likely due to low ticket numbers. WrestleMania is usually the end of a yearlong story line feud between two opponents, but sometimes — as is the case with Slaughter and Hogan — it doesn't settle things.
Slaughter recalls the end of the night. "After he had beat me for the title and everybody was happy, we kept the cameras rolling and when he walked through the locker room, I was there — and I threw fire in his face."
This Year's Big Match
On the opening card of Hogan and Slaughter's WrestleMania VII in 1991, the Undertaker made his WrestleMania debut. "The Dead Man" would find victory in his bout that night, and again in his next 20 WrestleMania matches, creating a streak that most people believed was unstoppable.
Last year, at WrestleMania XXX, Taker went up against former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. Fans were doubtful that Lesnar would be the one chosen to end the streak. Forbes even weighed in, saying there was "no way" Taker would lose. Online sports books (yes, you can bet cold hard cash on WrestleMania matches) had the Undertaker as a -5,000 favorite at one point, meaning you'd have to bet $5,000 to win a measly $100 on a Taker victory. But Lesnar shocked the wrestling world by winning via pinfall after delivering three of his signature F-5s.
Several sources, including the website WWE.com, confirmed the aging Taker suffered a severe concussion during his match with Lesnar and spent the night in a hospital. According to Lesnar's advocate, Paul Heyman, McMahon left WrestleMania and rode with Taker in the ambulance to the hospital.
In the main event in Santa Clara this year, Lesnar is the WWE champion who faces off against Reigns, a retired football player and second-generation WWE superstar.
Rumors had been swirling about whether Lesnar, whose contract with WWE was set to expire the night after WrestleMania, would re-sign with the company or head back to the UFC, where he was the biggest pay-per-view draw the mixed-martial-arts world had ever seen. But Lesnar chose the ring over the octagon, signing a new contract with the WWE on the last Monday before WrestleMania — the same night he was on TV engaged in a highly criticized tug-of-war over the WWE title with Reigns. That ending segment was proof, many fans on social media say, that the WWE has lost its ability to muster up intrigue for the big match.
"If the general public has knowledge of something, you have to address it,"Heyman says of having used the heated contract negotiations to build excitement for the match. "If there's an elephant in a room and you do address it in a fashion that causes even more buzz, then you have exploited the public consciousness for your own benefit, and I would be a fool not to do that."
Heyman has become an integral part of creating hype for the match. He was the creative mind behind Extreme Championship Wrestling, the bloody Philadelphia-based promotion that enjoyed a cult-like following until its demise in 2001. (ECW is sometimes credited with influencing WWE's "attitude era.") Heyman has used his unmatched skills on the microphone to simultaneously flesh out an origin story for Reigns' character, while also emphatically predicting its demise at the hands of Lesnar.
Heyman always has been a big talker. At 14, he was able to improvise with enough charisma to fast-talk his way backstage at Madison Square Garden and photograph wrestlers. At 49, he has the rhetorical skills to make up for the deficit left by the two muscled main eventers.
"There's nothing I say about Brock Lesnar I don't truly believe," Heyman says. "I truly believe he's a beast, and anyone who has seen him in the gym will testify to that. I truly believe he's a conqueror, because look at what he's done with his life. I truly believe he's a once-in-a-lifetime athlete."
Growing up with a personal-injury lawyer as a father meant that Heyman always had to make the case — and he still takes every opportunity to stay in practice. "We are selling a main event that's the Baddest Dude on the Planet, the Beast, the Conqueror, the '1' in 21-1 against a Samoan badass, raised in the industry, standout of 'The Shield' who won the Royal Rumble and beat Daniel Bryan for the right to fight Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. And either he's the one to conquer the Conqueror, to slay the Beast and be the one to beat the '1' in 21-1, or he's not," Heyman says over the phone at 2:30 a.m. on a Saturday.
Pro wrestling has always been about big, muscular guys facing off in Hell in Cell matches. But it's also about colorful personalities like Heyman, who's quick to answer a question about why he takes press calls in the middle of the night with, "You're making the assumption you're my last call tonight, young man."
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