Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Ultimate Warrior

[7.0] "This match was really fun. I think the general downward opinion of this match is from the Warrior's in ring ability and the stoeyline at this time but this match kicked ass. Sgt's selling to kick the match off was incredible. Warrior was freaking giving it to them and the crowd was exploding for eveey second of it. The heat on Warrior was nothing special but it was so short it hardly even mattered. Fun match I recommend to watch. ***1/2"

[6.0] "This actually wasn't that bad, It was an entertaining match, where even The Ultimate Warrior since people said he couldn't wrestle, he gave a great match here, Sgt. Slaughter with his Iraqi character getting the achievement of the world title as a foreign villain heel, really worked here, that crowd reaction is massive when he wins, then even though the ending of the Match can be controversial with Macho Man interfering, I think It was a great match, 6/10 [***3/4]"

[7.0] "You might think I'm being generous with my score but let me ask you this: How do you take the belt off your champ while keeping him strong and setting him up for a huge match at the next PPV against a new opponent? And if you think that's a hard question to answer then throw something else into the mix: Neither the champ nor his challenger in this match are particularly strong workers. Listen, you can say "Well, that's the WWF's fault for booking themselves into this situation" and you're absolutely right, but what we're evaluating here is the match and it manages to perfectly answer the question above, and be pretty darn engaging and entertaining the whole way through. Is it a Gonzo schmozfest? Yeah. But you know, it's pro wrestling. Every match doesn't have to be a 5 Star Classic."

[7.0] "You hear a lot about wrestlers carrying a match, but usually they're the wrestlers actually in the match. So this one is tough to rate because the Randy Savage interference is gold. A wild Macho Man flying in out of nowhere and beating the hell out of Warrior. Sherri does great work here too. They're by far the most entertaining part of the match. This rating would be much lower otherwise. The in-ring action is just passable, which is really the best you can hope for from Warrior and Slaughter."

[6.0] "Certainly not a fan of the overall angle and it needed a super hot crowd and a lot of interference from Macho King Randy Savage and Sensational Queen Sherri to help things along, but probably about as good a match as could be expected from these two."

[7.0] "This was a surprisingly entertaining match. Started off with a bang with Warrior cleaning house, ripping the Iraq flag. Macho and Sherri got involved early and came back to finish the job. In between a decent job by warrior in the ring, which doesn't happen often. Not sure why people hate on this match so much. It was The Ultimate Warrior vs. A past his people Sgt. Slaughter to set up a transitional champ. For what it was, it exceeds expectations."

[2.0] "idk what the hell dave is thinking with this star rating but this is garbage. The finish is trash the way we get to the finish is trash and the match bell to bell is boring as hell. This is a match i am gonna stay away from and not waste any time watching it again. 1.25 stars"

[3.0] "I never normally comment on the WON ratings because they're pretty irrelevant to me, but Dave is on crack here. This is bad and only saved from complete failure by the crowd heat and Randy Savage, who despite not being a part of the match, is seemingly the one to keep it all together. We start with an obvious DQ which is ignored, a real pet peeve of mine, and then both guys are completely blown up after a few minutes. The work was incredibly sloppy and the referee had to make himself look a complete idiot as he had to let some stuff slide to avoid derailing it completely. I'm not American so I don't have the built-in hatred for the Slaughter title win and indeed I thought the resulting heat at the finish was tremendous (although it'd lose all its steam come WrestleMania), but Slaughter as World Champion in 1991 is terrible stuff."

[1.0] "A foreign object was used within the first seconds of the match but did not result in a disqualification now I was willing to let it slide since Slaughter had a controversial gimmick and maybe the ref in kayfabe didnt like him but then there was the weird finish. Bad horrible match"

[4.0] "This is a bad match, but it should have been worse. Sarge is boring as fuck, and Warrior has no clue what he's doing, but the match actually worked."

[6.0] "The "between the ropes" match more or less sucked, as you would expect with the cast of characters, but the storytelling and fallout impact of this match were pretty monumental... so much so that I feel good with elevating the match going up to an upper-mid grade of 6. I really liked the use of Sherri and Savage here, even if just one time interference would have made more sense than two. I didn't really want the belt on either of these clowns, but a title change at a PPV is never a bad thing to keep the energy and intrigue. I have to admit it was also amusing in a schadenfreude type of way to hear the Canadian Piper's belabored and exasperated performative anger on the mic over the outcome with the heavy handed right wing political crap that Vince was foisting upon the commentary team all night."

"I understand why this is so low, but it was the first WWF title change I witnessed as a kid. Its no masterpiece, but its better than most Warrior matches, and the storytelling and build to Warrior/Savage was well done. It may be nostalgia glasses, but Ive always enjoyed this match."

[4.0] "If I was rating the decision to give Slaughter the title, this would undoubtedly be getting a zero, but the match itself isn't without its moments. The opening feels appropriately heated, and Savage's interference is energetic and well executed. The match in general is structured very smartly to hide the weaknesses of both men, and does so fairly well. In fact, this is a rare occasion where Warrior looks decent. The issue with this is all Sgt Slaughter, who once again looks horrible. His time spent on top is poor, and his offence looks very well. His elbow drops are awful and make him look like an old man who is struggling with his mobility instead of a world champion calibre athlete. The referee taking so long to notice Warrior was under the ropes during the Camel Clutch was fairly goofy, too. It's watchable, with a good atmosphere and decent sense of chaos, but it's probably not a good sign when the best part of the match is somebody who isn't even in it, as is the case with Macho Man here."

[6.0] "One of Warrior's better matches, and surprisingly it was with Slaughter. Likewise, I think this is one of Slaughter's better matches as well. Solid story, and while it went longer than maybe it should have, it didn't overstay it's welcome. Surprising that a match with Warrior is this good without Rick Rude invovled."

[5.0] "The crowd was hot for this one. I took the time to watch Slaughter's promos and angles of his heel run as the Iraqi supporter, and I can see why the gimmick was so successful at generating heat. Slaughter and the WWF would even get death threats following this very match due to the outcome. Aside from Slaughter's nuclear heat elevating the match, the work between Slaughter and Warrior was decent although it went on longer than needed. The highlights are when Macho King and Queen Sherri come out to beat down the Warrior. This happens twice, the second of which includes Warrior taking a scepter shot to the skull which looked great. This knocked Warrior out and Slaughter gets the pin. The finish still feels unbelievable and the crowd MELTS DOWN when Slaughter is announced the winner and handed the WWF title. It's a sight to behold. And the Warrior/Savage feud is now set for WrestleMania VII. Effective match due to the storytelling and all workers involved, although it does run long and it is a difficult to buy into Slaughter as a serious threat to Warrior."

[3.0] "There are bits that are alright, mostly at the beginning, but the rest is deeply boring and the countout spot is insanely nonsensical"

[2.0] "Oh boy, this one is not good. When the best part of the match is a run-in by the Macho King, you have a problem. Slaughter had no business being in the main event picture, let alone the World Champion in 1991. His skillset, which was limited in his prime, had dried up at this point and him as a anti-American heel is just miscast. The Warrior was not much better as his World title run was a flop, with no good title matches in the entire run. If the roles were reversed (heel Warrior, face Sgt), I think it would be a better pairing. Slow, plodding and ugly. It does have some good points: the crowd were in to everything which helped greatly, the Macho King beatdown was vicious and made me want to see Savage/Warrior at WM7 and a title change is always a little boost to a match."

[7.0] "This wasnt half bad. A lot better than it had any right to be. Also went a lot longer than i thought it would. Nice simple story that was set up earlier in the night and clear face heel dynamics. Slaughter basically put a half decent performance out of the ultimate one."

[5.0] "Surprisingly decent. I've no idea how everything about this basic dynamic just felt right. There's the story with Savage demanding a title shoot, and right here is where he animosity with the Warrior begins, the match started with Warrior destroying Slaughter arround the ring, he gives him no chance of counter him, he toose him out and inside the ring, it's a invincible power, nothing less of the man who beat Hogan clean, the credibility stills there. Then Sherri comes arround so as Savage and beat the champion outside of the ring, he drags himself to the ring and the Sgt controlls the match from this point on, basic offensive but an effective one, Warrior rise for his comeback but it was stopped on 2 ocasions, Slaughter worked on his back multiple times, that cost him the upperhand on the 2nd time, but eventually Warrior defiand all the odds (and even sold his back) and was going to win, until Sgt connected a knee (great continuity) to the low back and Savage use the scepter to cost Warrior the belt. I loved the pace. **3/4"

[6.0] "I was expecting a dreadfully boring match like Slaugther would go on to have with Hogan later at Mania but I was pleasently surprised this one was actually pretty decent. Starts off fast paced with Warrior offense until he's cut off by Savage interfering like a rocket out of nowere. Slaugther slows down the match after that but not long enough to make it awful either. Props to Sherri taking that gorilla press toss as well. Great way to set up the Warrior/Savage show stealer from later in the year. I can get the criticism on it but I though it was alright"

[5.0] "Honestly, if not for the overly long bearhug in the middle of the match, I'd have given this 6 points instead of 5. So much about this match is hot, and though I think it's obviously dated, it still holds up for me. Slaughter is an underrated seller and bumper, and the crowd is eating Slaughter up as a heel. I must admit, I might hold this match in a bit of a higher esteem because it's one of the very few times you see Warrior get his shoulders pinned to the mat. And I tend to have a thing for the matches where the 'supermen' that rarely do jobs get pinned. But even though the match is pretty good, the storytelling this match sets up is brilliant. It convincingly gets the belt off Warrior onto the hottest heel by far at this point in time. In doing so, it perfectly sets up the Warriors vs. Savage match at Wrestlemania along with Hogan's ascent to face Slaughter too. All the pieces get moved into place here. I also want to give Sherri a lot of credit. How many women past or present can take bumps like she did here from a man twice her size and STILL have so much heat that the crowd cheers the man beating the woman up? That's how despised Sherri was at this time. Was this match a classic? Definitely not. But it was a solid match with a hot crowd and an even hotter heel that told the exact story it needed to in order to start the next chapter."

[4.0] "It was okay at the start with Slaughter bumping like crazy for Warrior, but it rapidly slowed down after Savage's first interference. Plus how was Slaughter stopping the referee from counting? Piper was praising him for his intelligence but he wasn't stopping nothing, Hebner just was deciding time and time again that he's stopping the count. When Warrior got back to the ring it transformed into the Bearhug showdown and it gained speed again when Randy interfered again - a beautiful Gorilla Press Slam to Sherri here. Slaughter wins and I never have a problem with putting over the heel that casual and smart fans hate the same."

[6.0] "It still shocks me, but I actually enjoyed this match. I actually think this match is a little over-hated; while also understanding why people do. Honestly, while his heel run sucked creatively Slaughter was still pretty good in the ring; I'm also glad Slaughter got a title run starting here. Sherri takes a hell of a bump, being thrown to the outside onto Macho here. Speaking of Macho, he comes in here to cost Warrior the match to continue their feud. Warrior actually did alright here."

[6.0] "The match in itself is nothing extraordinary but the crowd is very into it and Savage/Sherri's shenanigans are quite funny"

[4.0] "Fire the overbooking torpedoes! Warrior kicks Slaughters ass to start the match then Sherri gets involved and Warrior chases her out of ringside just to get mugged by Macho King and Savage drops a light fixture on Warrior. Cue the slow wear down by the heel portion until Warrior rallies. Sherri comes back and Warrior ends up press slamming her out of the ring onto Savage. Slaughter drops Warrior then distracts the ref so Savage can use the stunt scepter on Warriors face. Elbow drop and Slaughter gets the pin and that pisses off the crowd royally as the Warrior experiment is killed off. Too much outside interference needed to get the belt off of Warrior and onto a guy they are trying to build up as the new big time heel. Dibiase or Perfect would have been a better pick for this role instead of Slaughter but Vince just HAD to get in on that war profiteering!"

[5.0] "Technically speaking, it's obviously a very poor match - they do very little inside the ropes. However, with that said, they wrestled a very smart dramatic match and had the crowd on the palms of their hands from bell to bell. The interfering Randy Savage and Sensational Sherri also did great here, with Savage interfering a couple of times and ultimately costing Warrior the belt to set up their AWESOME retirement match at WrestleMania 7. So yes, technically poor but far from being a DUD, the story and the heat carry this. [**1/2]"

[6.0] "This score is based on crowd heat alone, as the match itself wasn't great, but the storyline, the drama, and the hot crowd helped pushed this up a few points for me. Randy Savage interfering and costing the Warrior the title was a classic moment in the WWf, leading into their retirement match at Wrestlemania."

[5.0] "The match itself pretty much stunk, like the most basic of matches. BUT, the crowd were going absolutely wild and it had that big match feel that was hard to deny. **1/2"

[6.0] "Macho Man and Sherri make this match enjoyable with their interference and would have been a disaster without them. The result was a shock at the time"

[4.0] "One thing you can't deny about Warriors title run is that they REALLY tried to hide this guys shortcomings in the ring, and because of that this is a tough one to rate because I thought all the sports entertainment bells and whistles were entertaining but the actual wrestling match consisted of basically a bear hug and an elbow drop. Sherri is low key the MVP of this entire show"

[2.0] "The best thing about this was interference from Sherri and Macho King. Slaughter in '92 can't carry the Warrior to a decent match. On the plus side at least the babyface won!"

[2.0] "I really didn't like this match, this was overbooked and the in ring was very empty, the only thing I liked here is when Slaughter stopped the referee from counting out Warrior because Slaughter can't win the title by count out. Too much interferences, and the in ring action was really bad. *1/4"

[2.0] "Awful match, but it's to be expected since Slaughter wasn't the sort of worker to carry Warrior to something good. It made sense to have Slaughter take the belt, since the plan was to have Slaughter/Hogan at Wrestlemania. Warrior's title run was a disappointment and he clearly wasn't working out as the new face of the company, so having Slaughter take the belt to transition back to Hogan, still the company's top star, made sense. So it gets 2 points for that."

[3.0] "Not a good match, though it's a Warrior match so you probably already knew that. Best part of the match is Savage exploding out of nowhere to attack Warrior. Thus the experiment with Warrior ends, and the stilted road back to Hogan begins."