10 Real Life Events That Forced WWE Title Changes (5)

5. Hulk Hogan Wins WWE Title After Gulf War Inspired Feud At WrestleMania 7 With Sgt. Slaughter

When the Gulf War became the biggest story in the world in 1990 and 1991, WWE was there to cash in on the sympathies of the American people. While soldiers were fighting for their lives due the ongoing issues between Iraq and Kuwait, WWE decided they had to turn the American hero Sgt. Slaughter into in Iraqi sympathizer that turned his back on America.
They booked Slaughter to beat Ultimate Warrior to win the WWE Title at Royal Rumble 1991 (thanks to an interfering Macho Man) because they knew how much it would piss off the fans due to what was going on with the Gulf War. They used real human emotions to cash in on this storyline. Warrior wasn’t a huge draw as champion, so they didn’t have a problem in changing things up.
The man that benefited from the Slaughter turn was Hulk Hogan, who as a “Real American” seemed to be the right pick to symbolically save his country from the guy that turned his back on his own people.
Hogan went on to win another WWE Title at WrestleMania 7 while Vince McMahon showed once again that he was more than willing to do what he had to do in terms of playing off a real life situation to make a buck off his paying customers.