Bill Apter recently interviewed WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter. Apter asked Slaughter about Hulk Hogan's recent comments about some current wrestlers looking like they should be "bagging groceries."
Slaughter said, "The business has changed a lot. Since Sheik and Duggan got mixed up in that drug thing where they were riding together, that kind of killed kayfabe a little bit. So Vince didn't have much choice to kind of change the laws of our business. I was told that CM Punk was using the F-bomb on live television and Vince got a little upset about that so he just said that's it, no more ad-libbing, we're gonna script everything...the business went in a different direction. The thing I have a little problem with in the business today is that everybody looks like the same person. They all have long hair, greasy and wet or whatever. They all have tattoos. I have nothing against tattoos but they all look alike and their characters are all the same and they're all parts of a gang or something where nobody gets done with a match without somebody interfering. Some of the talent today is pretty remarkable, remarkable in my eyes. Especially the ladies. Some of these ladies can work better than the guys and they're getting better ratings..."
Slaughter said that psychology and telling a story is a "lost art" these days in wrestling. Slaughter put over Austin Theory, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and Roman Reigns as some of the wrestlers he enjoys watching.
Slaughter said, "I don't watch [WWE] as much as I did. I watch Raw because SmackDown has Lacey on it. It doesn't upset me because I know she can't put a Cobra Clutch on like I do but it's just the thought that she's using a move without -- at least I would think the writers or somebody would call me up and say, 'you mind if we use the Cobra Clutch?' or maybe call it something else because DiBiase brought it in when I was gone with G.I. Joe and he used it as the Million Dollar Dream. She could have maybe come up with another name of it but just to call it the Cobra Clutch, I had to end up using the Camel Clutch when I came back [in 1990] because DiBiase was using my hold. I asked Khosrow [Iron Sheik]. I said is it okay if I use your move?"Slaughter continued, "That's the way the business was. You respect your talent and the people that you worked with."
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Sportskeeda with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
More must-reads: