Booker T Says Sgt. Slaughter's WWE Gimmick Is Not Sacred, Fair Game For Lacey Evans

In recent days, WWE star Lacey Evans has gotten into a back-and-forth with WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter and his daughter on Twitter, as they had taken issue with her use of the Cobra Clutch as a finisher as well as the new addition of a Slaughter-style hat to her presentation.

Complicating this matter is that while Evans, real name Macey Estrella-Kadlec, is a genuine U.S. Marine, reports have stated that Slaughter never actually served in the military despite claiming he had in out-of-character interviews. Two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T weighed in on the topic on his "Hall of Fame" YouTube live stream and sided with Evans.

"It doesn't matter," Booker explained after co-host Brad Gilmore asked if Slaughter had any real claim to the iconography used by Evans. 

"I don't think Sarge has any say in whether someone has a certain gimmick or not, if they wanna do an army gimmick or not, if they wanna do the Cobra Clutch or not. That's just not the way the business works. On the other hand, some things [are] almost like [too] sacred to be rehashed or anything like that. I just don't think, where the world is right now, we're gonna need a savior like Sgt. Slaughter coming in to 'save America,'" said the veteran star.

He added that at the height of Slaughter's popularity as a babyface in the mid-80s, the timing was perfect for such a character, but there's a lot less room for the drill sergeant character to slide into WWE in 2023. The Hall of Famer also added that stars with real characters, like Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley, are those that have been successful in WWE in recent times.