What is Sgt. Slaughter's Net Worth?
Sgt. Slaughter is an American retired professional wrestler and voice actor who has a net worth of $500 thousand. Sgt. Slaughter has wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and American Wrestling Association (AWA). He won the WWF Championship in 1991 and was a two-time NWA United States Heavyweight Champion. Slaughter headlined WrestleMania VII against Hulk Hogan, and he won the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Don Kernodle and wrestled with a mask under the name Super Destroyer Mark II in the AWA. From 1997 to 2001, Slaughter made sporadic WWF appearances, including as commissioner. Since 2005, he has been with the WWE as an ambassador. Sgt. Slaughter was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004, and in the '80s, a fictionalized version of his character was introduced in the "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" animated series, comic books, and toy line. He has voiced Sgt. Slaughter in several "G.I. Joe" projects as well as two 1989 episodes of "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!," and he played the character in the 2021 film "Alien Danger 2! With Raven Van Slender."
Early Life
Sgt. Slaughter was born Robert Rudolph Remus on August 27, 1948, in Detroit, Michigan. He was raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and he attended Eden Prairie High School, where he was a member of the school's football and wrestling teams.
Career
In his early career, Sgt. Slaughter won several regional titles, and in the late '70s, he wrestled with the American Wrestling Association as Super Destroyer Mark II. After signing with the World Wrestling Federation in 1980, Sgt. Slaughter was pushed as a villain and wrestled under the guidance of Irwin "Ernie" Jacob Roth (aka The Grand Wizard of Wrestling). He became known for his "cobra clutch" challenges and a feud with Pat Patterson, and "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" named their "Alley Fight" at Madison Square Garden 1981's Match of the Year. Slaughter joined the National Wrestling Alliance in September 1981, and the following month, he earned the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship title. In September 1982, he and Don Kernodle won the NWA World Tag Team Championship. In March 1983, he returned to the WWF, and in early 1984, he began facing off against Iranian-American wrestler The Iron Sheik, which resulted in his career taking off. Slaughter left the WWF for the AWA in 1985, and he later said that he left because the WWF wouldn't allow him to get involved with Hasbro and its "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" franchise due to the organization's contract with the toy manufacturer LJN. Slaughter's then-wife, Diane Kopp, reportedly told him, "You can always be a wrestler, but you can't always be G.I. Joe, the all-American hero."
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Slaughter won the AWA America's Heavyweight Championship in June 1985, and after winning a 25-man battle royal, he challenged Ric Flair in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. He returned to the AWA in 1988 and became a team captain for the organization's Team Challenge Series in 1990. Slaughter returned to the WWF later that year after Vince McMahon agreed to let him come back if he played Slaughter as a "heel" who "turned on the United States due to its acceptance of the Russian Nikolai Volkoff." Slaughter has said that he had a difficult time making the anti-American promos that were required of him after his return. After the Gulf War began, the WWF made the decision to have Slaughter come out in favor of the Iraqi cause and begin wearing Arabian headdresses. During this time, he reportedly received death threats and wouldn't go in public without a bullet-proof vest and a security detail. Slaughter won the WWF Championship at the Royal Rumble in January 1991, but he was unseated by Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VII two months later. Slaughter served as an on-air official from the fall of 1992 to the summer of 1994, and in August 1997, he took on the role of on-air commissioner. He relinquished the role in late 1998 and has occasionally appeared in the ring since then. Slaughter took part in the "Raw Reunion" in 2019 and was featured in the "Legends Night" episode of "Raw" in 2021.
Personal Life
Slaughter was married to Diane Kopp from 1970 to 1994, and they welcomed daughters Kelly and Nicole together. He later married Karen Hennessy. Slaughter was good friends with fellow wrestler Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri (better known as The Iron Sheik), who he met in the '70s, and he inducted him into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. After Vaziri passed away in June 2023 at the age of 81, Slaughter spoke to TMZ Sports about their friendship and stated, "God bless him. He's finally gonna see his daughter that he lost. Love you Sheik. Love you forever."
Awards and Honors
"Pro Wrestling Illustrated" named Slaughter Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year in 1984 and Most Hated Wrestler of the Year in 1991, and the publication ranked him #36 on its 1991 list of the top 500 singles wrestlers and #34 on its 2003 list of the "Top 500 Wrestlers of the PWI Years." In 2003, "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" also ranked Slaughter and Don Kernodle #29 on its "Top 100 Tag-Teams" list. In 2011, Slaughter was honored with the Cauliflower Alley Club's Iron Mike Mazurki Award, and in 2019, he was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, receiving the Frank Gotch Award, which is given to wrestlers who, "through athleticism and toughness in the ring, brought a higher level of respect to professional wrestling, both inside and outside the business."
