Early career (1972–1980) After training with
Verne Gagne and
Billy Robinson in Minnesota in 1972, he began working for the
American Wrestling Association (AWA) under his real name. He also wrestled
Bruno Sammartino in his final match in
Madison Square Garden. The match ended when the Grand Wizard threw in the towel, awarding Patterson the victory.
Return to WWF (1983–1984) Slaughter returned to the WWF in March 1983, immediately targeting Backlund, who was still the reigning WWF World Heavyweight Champion. Their feud heightened when, at a television taping, Slaughter attacked Backlund while he was in the process of completing the
Harvard step test, hitting him repeatedly with his riding crop and leaving bruises on his back. Although he won several matches by disqualification, he never won the title. Other interviews with Slaughter and McMahon have revealed that Slaughter left the company more over a dispute that emerged due to the WWF not allowing Slaughter's role in the G.I. Joe toy line. He defended the title against wrestlers like Zbyszko,
Kamala,
Boris Zukhov and
Nick Bockwinkel (before the belt was retired) and feuded with Sheik
Adnan Al-Kaissey and his stable of wrestlers, the
Road Warriors and
Colonel DeBeers. In 1988, Slaughter returned to wrestling in the AWA, resuming some of his past feuds with the likes of Al-Kaissey, the Iron Sheik and DeBeers. At the
SuperClash III pay-per-view on December 13, he defeated DeBeers in a Boot Camp match. He became a top contender to the
AWA World Heavyweight Championship during Zbyszko's reign in 1989 and was a team captain for the AWA's ill-fated Team Challenge Series during the first half of 1990. The AWA teased fans with Slaughter appearing to win the world title from Zbyszko live on
ESPN, only to have the decision reversed on a technicality (a booking practice the AWA had been employing for years). The August 1990
invasion of Kuwait by
Ba'athist Iraq triggered a political crisis that would lead to the 1991
Gulf War, in which Kuwait was freed by
a U.S.-led military coalition. A decision was made to have Slaughter support the Iraqi cause, not for the actual political reasons, but more for the fact that Slaughter liked "brutality" and the Iraqi government was "brutal" while the United States regime was said by Slaughter to have become "soft" and "weak". Slaughter aligned himself with an Iraqi enthusiast and
kayfabe Iraqi military general, General Adnan (his old rival who left the AWA shortly after Slaughter did). As part of his character change, Slaughter began wearing Arab headdresses to the ring, adopted the
camel clutch as one of his finishers, and was (
kayfabe) photographed meeting with
Saddam Hussein. While portraying a
turncoat, Slaughter and his family received numerous death threats and he could not go anywhere in public without wearing a bullet-proof vest, having to be surrounded with security personnel at all times. He was immediately challenged by Royal Rumble winner
Hulk Hogan, who was furious that Slaughter had (kayfabe) desecrated the American flag (off-screen) as part of his victory celebration. Hogan demanded a match against Slaughter at
WrestleMania VII on March 24 in
Los Angeles,
California, where Slaughter lost the WWF Championship to Hogan. After WrestleMania, Slaughter introduced his newest ally, Colonel Mustafa (his old nemesis The Iron Sheik), teaming with him and Adnan in a three-on-two handicap match against Hogan and Warrior at
SummerSlam on August 26, which they lost.
Various feuds (1991–1994) After the Hogan feud, Slaughter became a face again, appearing in
vignettes next to American landmarks, saying "I want my country back". During an episode of
Superstars,
Jim Duggan was under attack from
The Nasty Boys, and Slaughter made the save. At
WrestleMania VIII on April 5, Slaughter, Duggan,
Big Boss Man and
Virgil defeated The Nasty Boys,
The Mountie and
Repo Man. He would also feud with Adnan and Mustafa, with Slaughter and Mustafa being on opposite teams at
Survivor Series on November 27; Slaughter's team was victorious. At
Royal Rumble on January 19, 1992, he competed in the
Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated by
Sid. Slaughter spent the remainder of the year on the house show circuit, suffering a string of losses against The Mountie. Late in the year, Slaughter retired from full-time competition and started appearing as an on-air official until June 1994. He eventually became the target of
Shawn Michaels and
Triple H of
D-Generation X (DX), who called him "Sgt. Slobber". Slaughter lost to Triple H in a Boot Camp match at
D-Generation X: In Your House on December 7. In early 1998, Slaughter turned heel, joined
Vince McMahon along with
Gerald Brisco and
Pat Patterson, and became the on-screen lackeys of McMahon; running errands for him and dishing out punishment to McMahon's rivals, namely
Steve Austin. Later that year, Slaughter relinquished the role of commissioner to Shawn Michaels and disappeared from television. Slaughter made an appearance at
WrestleMania X-Seven on April 1, 2001, in the gimmick
battle royal, which was won by The Iron Sheik. On the November 24, 2003 episode of
Raw, Slaughter lost to
Randy Orton, who was establishing himself as the "Legend Killer". On the January 31, 2005 episode of
Raw, he lost to (
kayfabe) Saudi Arabian wrestler
Muhammad Hassan. He made a special appearance on the June 13 episode of
Raw to challenge
Chris Masters in his "
Master Lock Challenge", which Slaughter lost. He returned again on the December 5 episode of
Raw, where he and
Michael Hayes confronted
Edge. In mid-2006, he hosted a "Diva Boot Camp" segment as part of the
2006 Diva Search Competition. He re-appeared on the October 2 episode of
Raw, defeating
Nicky from the
Spirit Squad with a roll-up when
D-Generation X (DX) distracted him from up on the TitanTron. Slaughter appeared on the October 23 episode of
Raw in the corner of
Ric Flair as he faced
Kenny of the Spirit Squad. After Kenny cheated to gain the victory, Slaughter,
Dusty Rhodes and
Roddy Piper cleared the tag champions from the ring. Slaughter was one of three options between himself, Piper and Rhodes that fans could vote for as Flair's tag partner at
Cyber Sunday, but he did not win the vote. At
Survivor Series on November 26, Slaughter teamed with Flair, Rhodes and
Ron Simmons to take on four members of the Spirit Squad in a
Survivor Series match. Slaughter was eliminated in the match, but his team won with Flair as the sole survivor. At
Vengeance: Night of Champions on June 24, 2007, Slaughter and
Jimmy Snuka faced
Deuce 'n Domino for the
WWE Tag Team Championship in a losing effort. He faced Orton again in a losing effort on the July 30 episode of
Raw, and was wheeled out on a stretcher following a post-match assault by Orton. On the 15th-anniversary
Raw special on December 10, Slaughter participated in the 15th-anniversary battle royal. Slaughter, who had been working as a producer for WWE for the past several years, was released from his backstage producer duties with the company on January 13, 2009.
Later Career (1994–2014) His first appearance on the
independent circuit was in the
American Wrestling Federation (AWF) in 1994 until the promotion closed down in October 1996. On October 16, 1999 he defeated
Bob Backlund at USA Pro in New York City. He appeared for
Northeast Wrestling (NEW) at Renegades Rampage on October 2, 2004, defeating
King Kong Bundy. Slaughter appeared for the International Wrestling Cartel (IWC) at their Night of Legends 2 event on April 9, 2005, defeating
The Honky Tonk Man. On May 26, 2006, Slaughter defeated
The Warlord at the
Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF) event Pro Wrestling Legends. On March 28, 2009, he defeated his former rival
Kamala at that year's IWC Night of Legends event. Slaughter teamed with
The Patriot to defeat the Nigerian Nightmares at an NWA New Jersey show on December 2, 2011. He returned to Northeast Wrestling for his last two matches; he teamed with Jeff Starr to defeat
Dalton Castle and Jake Manning in Slaughter's final match on March 29, 2014. He made an appearance on the October 2
Decade of SmackDown in a backstage segment with the Iron Sheik. Slaughter would appear on the November 15, 2010 episode of
Raw as the show went old school, losing to
Alberto Del Rio. He also quickly lost to
Jack Swagger on the June 27, 2011 episode of
Raw. On the July 3, 2012 episode of
SmackDown, Slaughter,
Jim Duggan and
Santino Marella defeated
Drew McIntyre,
Hunico and
Camacho. On the December 31 edition of
Raw, he unsuccessfully challenged
Antonio Cesaro for the
WWE United States Championship in his final match for WWE. On the January 6, 2014 episode of
Raw, he served as the special guest referee for a match between
The Great Khali and
Damien Sandow. Slaughter's next appearance was on the November 24 episode of
Raw, where he confronted United States Champion
Rusev and his valet,
Lana, and attempted to force them to recite the
Pledge of Allegiance (with the alternative, per an edict from
Daniel Bryan, who was running the show that night, being that he would be forced to defend his title against the entire
Raw roster). Rusev refused and had a staredown with Slaughter, who stood his ground. Swagger and his manager,
Zeb Colter, ran down to the ring and fended Rusev off. Swagger, Colter and Slaughter then finished reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Slaughter returned at
Tribute to the Troops on December 17, helping
Dean Ambrose defeat
Bray Wyatt by giving Dean his steel-toe boot to use on Wyatt. At
Money in the Bank on June 18, 2017, Slaughter and several other legends were shown at ringside during the WWE Championship match between
Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton. Slaughter's next appearance was at
Raw Reunion on July 22, 2019. He was in attendance at the February 5, 2020 episode of
NXT. On January 4, 2021, Slaughter made an appearance on the
Legends Night special episode of
Raw. On July 25, 2025, he made an appearance on SmackDown during the tribute to
Hulk Hogan. ==G.I. Joe and other media==