10 major missteps that changed WWE forever

#7 Sgt. Slaughter, Iraqi Sympathizer

The main event of WrestleMania VII

When WWE decided to book Los Angeles' Memorial Coliseum for WrestleMania VII in 1991, the company expected to fill the venue with nearly 100,000 fans. Coming off the hugely successful pay-per-view buyrate of WrestleMania V and the 67,000 fans that jam-packed Toronto's SkyDome for WrestleMania VI, officials were confident they could break their WrestleMania III attendance record at WrestleMania VII. Unfortunately, a major creative misstep caused those plans to be scrapped.

In the summer of 1990, Sgt. Slaughter, the former American patriot, returned to WWE as an Iraqi sympathizer. With a major, real-world conflict ongoing in the Middle East, WWE was heavily criticized for attempting to profit off the war by the portrayal of Sgt. Slaughter. The company's popularity was already waning (blamed on the WWF Champion Ultimate Warrior), and the widespread negative media attention surrounding WrestleMania VII didn't help.

After an advance of only 15,000 tickets were sold, WWE opted to change WrestleMania's venue from the 100,000 seat Coliseum to the much smaller LA Sports Arena. The company cited an inability to secure the Coliseum as the reason for the switch. It's widely believed, however, that the real reason for the change was due to the weak ticket sales for which the characterization of Sgt. Slaughter took the blame.