ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) – The Big Lick Comic Con returns to Roanoke on February 1st and 2nd and one of its celebrity guests is no stranger to the Berglund Center.

When it comes to the world of professional wrestling, there are few performers who have reached the iconic status of Sgt. Slaughter. He was a regular while wrestling at the Berglund Center in the 1980s.
He says he is looking forward to meeting the fans as a featured guest at Big Lick Comic Con.
“It always makes it fun to come and meet your fans because it keeps me young. I see little children, boys, and girls, that can’t even see over our table, but they know who you are and they’re yelling, ‘Hey Sergeant Slaughter, hey Sergeant.’ There’s only one way for them to know who I am, either their parents or their grandparents or aunts and uncles are telling them who Sergeant Slaughter is, showing them wrestling matches from when I was in my prime and, of course, G. I. Joe… still going strong with G. I. Joe.”
In the 1980s, Slaughter was a regular feature in the main event here in Roanoke when he wrestled for Jim Crockett Promotions’ Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling.
“Oh, many memories here in Roanoke because of all the great fans and some friends that live here,” Slaughter said. “It was always good to come and not only wrestle for the fans but for your friends. I stayed over here many a night and just enjoyed the country and the beautiful ride back to my home in North Carolina.”

Slaughter was born Robert Remus in 1948. He says he became a fan at three years old while watching wrestling with his father.
It is doubtful he knew what was in his future at that time.
Slaughter made his way into the ring starting in the early 1970s.
“I started my training in 1972 in Minnesota under Verne Gagne and Billy Robinson. I was trained and then made my way eventually down to North Carolina, up to New York,” Slaughter said.
He continued, “And North Carolina, Mid-Atlantic were the ones that came into Roanoke. So it was always a great time to come to Roanoke, whether you were with the WWF back then or the NWA.”
While in our region, Slaughter became a top villain for the promotion, frequently facing off with the good guys of the time, Ricky Steamboat, Wahoo McDaniel, and Jimmy Valiant.

Though he later became the icon of an American patriot, these days, fans booed him a lot more than cheered.
“A lot of them weren’t too happy with the characters that I was playing, especially the Iraqi sympathizer,” Slaughter said. “We had a few guests come into the ring and try to tell me that I wasn’t doing things quite the way they wanted me to, but we got along pretty well after that.”
In the days in the Mid-Atlantic territory, he formed a tag team with his own recruits, Pvt. Don Kernodle and Roanoke native Kirk Harrell. Harrell became known as Pvt. Jim Nelson, before later in his career becoming the dastardly Russian villain, Boris Zhukov.
Despite having a lot of success in the Mid-Atlantic region, bigger and better things were in Slaughter’s future.
In 1980, he first made it to what is considered the BIG STAGE of professional wrestling, what was then called the WWF. He worked as a villain there, but his career took a big turn when the bad guy changed his attitude and challenged the Iron Sheik, who was billed from Iran.
The fans who booed him for years suddenly cheered him. His popularity was at new heights. He was scheduled to mainevent the first ever Wrestlemania in 1985. The plan was for him to team up with Hulk Hogan to face Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. It was going to be the most important event in wrestling history.
But that was when another opportunity helped move his career in a different direction.
Already an American icon, Slaughter was offered to become the first real-life person to represent the G.I. Joe toy line and its corresponding cartoon program.

“And I didn’t know what to do because WWE was giving me a hard time about leaving WrestleMania. They never thought I would leave, so they put all kinds of stipulations in my way. And one night at dinner, my wife just said, ‘You know, you can always be a wrestler, you can’t always be the first living G. I. Joe. So I called Vince McMahon the next day and told him I was leaving, ” said Slaughter.
The relationship has continued with G.I. Joe. He is an ambassador to the franchise to this day and it has made him just as famous as professional wrestling.
“Well, it’s quite an honor being the first living G. I. Joe in their history. I happen to be the only man living that has a WWE Hall of Fame ring and a G. I. Joe Hall of Fame ring,” Slaughter told us.
Slaughter returned to wrestling in 1985 and even rejoined the WWF, but this time he left the patriot persona behind and became an Iraqi sympathizer while America was in conflict with that country.
It was at that time, that Slaughter became the WWF Champion, defeating the Ultimate Warrior.
But the bad guy attitude didn’t seem to fit Slaughter and it was not long before he returned to being a patriotic hero.
As his in-ring career wound down, Slaughter moved behind the scenes. He became the on-camera commissioner for the WWF, but more importantly, he became an agent and producer. It was his job to train developing wrestlers.
“I turned my talents into helping other wrestlers create their characters and leading them on how to take a character and what they had brought to them to portray. A lot of the guys and the ladies weren’t quite sure how to portray the character that they were given, so you’d have to lay it out to them.
Though mostly retired, these days, Slaughter is considered a part of the WWE.
“I’m basically an ambassador for the company. If I see some talent at an independent show because we do a lot of independent shows, we go there and draw the people, sign autographs, take photos, and meet the fans, and then the show goes on and it brings the crowd in for them. I like to take a look at the ring and see what there is out there. If I see something that I like, I’ll lead them to maybe a tryout for a camp down in Florida,” Slaughter explained.
Meeting the fans is a big part of Slaughter’s time now. That’s why he is at Roanoke’s Big Lick Comic Con.
He told us, “Well, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come and meet your favorite stars and athletes and to get to say hello to them. When I go to a show, I’m there to meet the fans. We have things that they can purchase if they care to take something home, but we’re basically there to meet our fans, and we have a great time and look forward to everybody coming by and maybe getting a Cobra clutch or a T-shirt or a photo with me.”
Slaughter will be at the Big Lick Comic Con on Saturday, February 1st from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.
He will be speaking on the main stage Sunday from 12:30 until 1 p.m.