by Stephen Von Slagle
Born in Detroit, Michigan, on August 27, 1948, the man who would eventually go on to worldwide fame as Sergeant Slaughter, Bob Remus, grew up in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Excelling at both wrestling and football during his high school years, Remus began his professional wrestling career in 1972, after completing his training with Minnesota legend Verne Gagne. Originally competing in the Vancouver territory as “Beautiful” Bobby Remus, he adopted a very flamboyant persona, sporting blond hair and wearing tie-dye clothing, ala “Superstar” Billy Graham. However, without the exceptional body nor the superlative promo skills of The Superstar, “Beautiful” Bobby Remus came across as a somewhat weak copy of Graham, which is essentially what the character was. Wisely, he soon decided to alter his gimmick, discarding his colorful wardrobe and, after briefly competing simply as Bob Remus, replaced both personas with something quite different and far more original.
After months of heated nightly battles in Central States cities such as Des Moines, Kansas City, Wichita and St. Joseph, Brown was eventually able to defeat Slaughter for the title. However, as was the case when he dropped the championship to Ted Oates, Slaughter soon regained his Central States title (for the third time) by defeating Brown in a rematch just a few weeks later. It was also during this time period that Remus developed the idea of having a top babyface encourage the fans to call him “Gomer” (in reference to the bumbling, moronic Marine portrayed by Jim Neighbors on TV’s Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.). Once the fans began their chant of “Gom-er! Gom-er!” Slaughter would then become red-faced with anger, covering his ears and refusing to continue with the match until the antagonistic audience settled down, which, of course, was never the case. The interactive, fan-friendly “Gomer gimmick” worked extremely well for Slaughter, who went on to use it (with great success) at one point or another in virtually every promotion he worked for from that point forward. After several more months as the Central States champion, D.I. Bob Slaughter’s reign on top of the territory finally came to an end when he lost the title to another fast-rising star, the popular young Ted Dibiase, on May 19, 1977 in Kansas City, Kansas. Although he was granted several rematches against the rookie second-generation star, Slaughter was unable to regain his Central States championship from the talented young Dibiase and a few months after dropping the title, the massive D.I. Bob Slaughter dropped out of not only the Central States promotion, but the wrestling scene altogether.
Not long after the departure of Super Destroyer Mark II, a relative unknown by the name of Sgt. Slaughter suddenly appeared in the WWF, under the tutelage of the devious Grand Wizard of Wrestling. The impressive but “unproven” military man quickly rose not only to the occasion, but also to the top of the promotion’s rankings. No longer a Drill Instructor, the newly renamed Sergeant Slaughter posed a genuinely serious threat to Bob Backlund’s WWF Heavyweight title and their wild matches throughout the territory, including New York’s Madison Square Garden, always took place before capacity crowds. After making a huge impression on northeastern fans during his exciting (albeit relatively brief) first run in the WWF, the ruthless Sgt. Slaughter entered yet another red-hot territory, Jim Crockett’s Mid-Atlantic Wrestling promotion. Soon after entering the territory, Slaughter (with an impressive offensive arsenal that included his feared Cobra Clutch sleeper-hold and the devastating Slaughter Cannon, which was a flying clothesline from the second turnbuckle) defeated the most popular “puke” in the region at that time, Rick Steamboat, in the finals of a tournament to decide the new NWA United States Heavyweight champion.
Back in the WWF, Slaughter picked up right where he’d left off a couple of years earlier, under the watchful eye of his manager, The Grand Wizard of Wrestling. Slaughter took on the top fan favorites of the day while further alienating himself from the Federation’s substantial audience by referring to them as “maggots” and “pukes.” Meanwhile, he resumed his feud with WWF champion Bob Backlund, selling out Madison Square twice more for his matches against “The All American Boy.” Soon after his re-entry into the Federation, Slaughter & The Wizard also began offering $5,000 to any wrestler who could break free of the dreaded Cobra Clutch sleeper hold within a ninety-second time period. Despite the fact that many wrestlers (including several popular young up-and-comers, such as “Quick Draw” Rick McGraw and Rick Martel, among others) lined up in order to collect an “easy” five grand from Slaughter, week after week, the incredibly aggressive, borderline-psychotic former Marine’s feared maneuver proved to be virtually inescapable once The Sarge had it locked on properly. Furthermore, rather than simply prove that his hold was as unbreakable as he claimed, Slaughter would often continue on past the allotted ninety-second mark, intentionally rendering his victims unconscious with the Cobra Clutch and then sadistically battering them with impunity.
Over the course of the next several weeks, Slaughter and Patterson battled in major arenas throughout the WWF, and their feud (which carried more fan interest than any other program in the territory at the time, including that of the Heavyweight champion Bob Backlund) intensified with each bloody encounter. Finally, their mutual animosity grew to the point where something had to be done in order to put an end to the ever-escalating level of violence and hatred. That “something” came in the form of a come-as-you-are, no DQ, no time limit, no count-out, feud-ending “Boot Camp Match.” It was during this time period that Vince McMahon, Jr. began to take his World Wrestling Federation national, and the first choice on his list to lead the promotion as the new, post-Backlund WWF champion was none other than Sgt. Slaughter. Seeing the potential in a babyface version of The Sarge, McMahon set about transforming Slaughter from the most despised man in the Federation to the most popular.
Following the arrival of Hogan and the rise of Hulk-a-Mania, Sgt. Slaughter remained in the promotion, at least temporarily, and continued to enjoy a level of popularity that surpassed even that of the newly arrived Hulkster. Yet, feeling that McMahon had not come through on several championship promises he’d made, as well as butting heads on Slaughter’s G.I. Joe contract, Slaughter left the Federation late in 1984. Despite severing his ties with McMahon and the WWF, Bob Remus’ lucrative (and, at the time, unprecedented) deal with Marvel Comics remained intact and Sgt. Slaughter’s high-profile position as a member of the hugely popular G.I. Joe series continued, allowing his well-known likeness to remain quite visible to the large adolescent audience that Slaughter’s former employer sought so fervently. Meanwhile, to the delight of AWA owner/operator Verne Gagne (who had lost nearly all of his top wrestlers to the WWF’s relentless talent raids) the world-famous Sgt. Slaughter chose to return to the American Wrestling Association early in 1985, giving the beleaguered promotion a much needed (and very public) big-name talent acquisition.
The “new” Sgt. Slaughter seemed to revel in his previous heel persona, the first time he had performed in that capacity since the early-Eighties. Completely uncoincidental was the fact that Slaughter’s return and rise to the top of the WWF took place simultaneously with the escalation of the United States’ conflict with Iraq over its invasion of neighboring Kuwait. Some disagreed with the WWF for going through with a storyline that was based on actual ongoing events (featuring a traitorous anti-American as the lead character, no less) especially during a very real war in which people were dying. However, while it may not have been particularly tasteful, the abundant patriotism resultant of a war-time mentality did add a great deal of intensity to Slaughter’s reign, particularly when the turncoat patriot debuted his new Iraqi manager (and former AWA rival) Adnan Al-Kassie. The influence of Al-Kassie (who had gone from a “Sheik” to a “General”) soon became apparent when the former U.S. Marine began wearing an Iraqi military uniform to the ring. Later, Slaughter and General Adnan were joined by, of all people, the hated Iranian and former Slaughter archrival, The Iron Sheik. Granted, it was “cheap heat,” but it was also the kind of heat that was extremely effective at eliciting a visceral emotional response from the wrestling fanbase. Going into his WrestleMania VII title defense against Hulk Hogan, the negative reaction that the traitorous WWF champion consistently incited from his audience was truly substantial, if not a bit frightening.
Among other awards, Sgt. Slaughter received the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Match of the Year award in 1981 for his infamous Boot Camp match against Pat Patterson, as well as Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Most Hated Wrestler of the Year award in 1991. Additionally, he is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame (2004), the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2016) and the International Wrestling Institute & Museum’s George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (2019).