During an appearance on Prime Time with Sean Mooney podcast, Old School WWF Veteran General Adnan (former WWWF Tag Team Champion and Manager of Sgt. Slaughter) talked about the origin of his General Adnan gimmick, Iron Sheik, receiving death threats & more.
Below are the highlights (thanks to Michael McClead for transcription):
On The Iron Sheik’s Drug Habits:
“He was heavy on drugs. When I was with him, heavy on drugs. I was driving in the car one time on the freeway and he’s sitting right next to me, got a towel…and is rolling hash or whatever and the the police are right next to us driving, watching us. I said, ‘Khos, Khos, please put the thing down on the floor.’ ‘Ahhh, I give him a joint. He smoke it too. Don’t worry about it brother. Drive. Drive.’ Too much trouble.”
On The Origins Of The General Adnan Gimmick:
“When Saddam Hussein went to Kuwait and took Kuwait over, America got involved and then I talked to Vince McMahon and Vince talked to me, ‘Well, I could be General Adnan and I could wear a uniform to look just like Saddam because I know Saddam very well. We’ve got a lot of pictures together.’ He said, ‘That’s a hell of a gimmick.’ I could persuade Sgt. Slaughter to come with me against America and we’ll promote everything against America. He said, ‘That’s a hell of a gimmick.’ We talked about it and we did it.”
On When Vince McMahon Saw Him Dressed As General Adnan For The Very First Time:
“I put the uniform on, even Vince never seen me with the uniform, General Adnan. I had the gun. I had the boots. I had the flag. I had everything with me, the hat. I walked in. I was in the room and Pat Patterson was looking and said, ‘Oh, my God! Oh my God, wait until Vince sees this.’ He grabbed me by my hands, took me to Vince and I said, ‘Vince look at me.’ He said, ‘Who made that?’ I said, ‘I made it.’ From then we went, him and I.”
On Being Confronted By The CIA:
“CIA came to the ring one time and called me up and they took me on the side and talked to me. She said, ‘Listen, this is your business. You’re very well known, very famous; but, we just come to tell you because you could be shot in no time, they could kill you. You’re gonna lose yourself. Who is gonna worry about it?’ She said, ‘Cool it down. Cool it down.’
I had the Iraqi flag I was carrying with Saddam’s picture on it. I’d go in the ring and I’d wave it, sold out Madison Square Garden, you couldn’t even get in there and I’m waving the Iraq flag with Saddam’s picture on it and there is about 100-200 American flags waving against me, ‘USA! USA! USA!’ I wanted to get out of the ring and I can’t. There was no security. Security help me out.
People diving on me and hit me with a can of beer and I ran. Otherwise, they could catch me and barbecue me and eat my meat. That was serious heat. I told Vince, ‘I can not do it. That’s too much.’ Vince doesn’t care…when the CIA come into the office, the FBI come into the office, to try and talk to you to cool it down. When did that happen? When Hulk Hogan got over? No.”
On Death Threats:
“We couldn’t even go to any airports without our identities being changed. We can not walk together, Sgt. Slaughter and I. He fly in different plane. I fly in different plane. We meet when we get to the town. He arrives at 8 ‘o clock. I arrive, maybe, at 1 ‘o clock. We had different hats and different glasses, different clothes. We changed our identity.
Yes, we did that. We had to. They said that there were people with machine guns and as soon as they see you, they’re gonna blow you away. I said, ‘No thank you.’ Yeah, it was dangerous. It was very dangerous. It made a lot of money for Vince.”
On The Ultimate Warrior’s 1991 SummerSlam Holdout:
“Let’s be honest me and Sgt. Slaughter, we were well known. It’s not The Ultimate Warrior selling it out, not Hulk Hogan either. We were so much higher than them. It’s unbelievable. I don’t care what they say. The facts are the facts. What happened there was a record crowd, never have been done before because of us.
It was the biggest crowd and the biggest gate ever, so The Ultimate Warrior what he did, he went to Vince and he said, ‘Vince, I want my check right now before I go to the ring and if you don’t give it to me I’m not wrestling in the ring. I’m gonna leave right now.’ He asked for some big amount, 300, or 400, or half a million. The check, he gave it to him and he went in the ring and wrestled, otherwise he was not gonna go in the ring.
That’s what happened. He took the check and wrestled; but, he asked him to pack his clothes and leave. He thought he drew the crowd; but, he didn’t draw the crowd. We drew the crowd: Sgt. Slaughter, myself, and Khosrow.”
On Vince McMahon Being Open With Wrestling As Entertainment:
“It’s a shame what happened. I mean Vince McMahon, he would love to go on TV and tell everybody it’s all fake, there’s nothing real about it. This is not the way to promote any business and he just went for the show. He couldn’t take two guys in the ring, two amateurs and wrestle.
For example, Brock Lesnar. Vince couldn’t get along with him because he’s a good amateur. He doesn’t like that. He’d rather bring in some TAXI driver who’s never wrestled in his life and make something out of him.”
On How He Believes The Middle East Views Sports Entertainment:
“You could not go to the Middle East and tell them that this is all bulls*it and all this and that. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Baghdad, Iraq, these people believe it and if you tell them, they’ll get a gun and shoot you. That’s how serious it is.”
On How He Reacts To Those Who Call Wrestling Fake:
“If they said something about it being fake or this and that. Whoever did it, I would take a knife or I’d take a sword and chop his head off, I swear on the name of God. I would. I would. No motherf***er would ever tell me that. Son of a b*tch.”
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