Bruce Prichard Says Sgt. Slaughter Could Have Been The Next Big Star In WWE

On the latest episode of Something To Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard talked about whether Sgt. Slaughter could have been the next big WWE star without Hulk Hogan.

Prichard noted that when Randy Savage first arrived in WWE, he was viewed as an “outlaw” by the industry, which made management hesitant to position him as the single top star. He also shared his take that Slaughter could’ve been a bigger star in WWE.  You can check out some highlights below:

On Randy Savage’s Reputation Among Promoters:

“Well, I think it would have gone back to how Randy was brought in, the whole nine yards. Randy could have gotten there. But if there is no Hogan, then are you fighting harder for a Dusty Rhodes? Are you fighting harder for somebody else to be that Hulk Hogan? And I don’t think that you would have been fighting for Randy Savage at that point in time, because Randy was having to prove himself coming in.”

On Savage the Outlaw:

“Randy was an outlaw. Nobody wanted to touch Randy. Vince took him in, and gambled on him. Every promoter in the country would tell you, ‘You don’t want to touch Randy Savage. Don’t touch those Poffos.’ But Randy proved himself. And Randy proved what kind of a warrior he was, and got in there and made it work.”

On the Lack of Trust In Savage:

“But in the beginning, I don’t know that there was a trust factor there. There certainly wasn’t a track record for Randy. And Randy had worked [the] independents. And Randy started working Memphis. But his reputation was not great.

“So I don’t think it would have been Randy. And you look back and you think of some of those guys. Would it have even been a Superstar Billy Graham, trying to bring him back into it. Would it have been a Putski? Would it have been a Tito Santana? God Jimmy Snuka could have been in there. And frankly, probably during that time, maybe would have fought harder for Sgt. Slaughter.”

On Backing Slaughter As the Potential Big Star:

“There were a lot of people. In the running in that. And I think of people in the WWE at the time, I think Sarge probably would have been at the forefront, to say, ‘No, we got to get Sarge, and make Sarge the guy.’ Because Sarge was — you know, people discount how hot Sgt. Slaughter was during that time. Man, he was unbelievable, just mega babyface.

“Snuka, good God. Jimmy was unbelievable. But Snuka couldn’t be relied on. Sarge could have been. Sarge absolutely could have been the guy. But the whole GI Joe thing, that kind of blew up, and that didn’t work. So it’s a lot of variables, but if Hulk couldn’t have done it? Yeah, Sarge could have been a great guy to be the first one to start there.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something To Wrestle With an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.