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Was The Ultimate Warrior expected to take over from Hogan after WrestleMania VI?

7K views 26 replies 22 participants last post by  promoter2003 
#1 ·
Did Vince want Warrior as the face of the company, or did he plan to stick with Hogan and keep Warrior as second-fiddle after Savage retires, like what we saw at Wrestlemania VII?

Of course neither worked out in the end, but what was the original plan?
 
#2 ·
Re: Was The Ultimate Warrior expected to take over from Hogan after Wrestlemania VI?

Warrior was supposed to be the new face of the WWF. Supposedly, Hogan wanted to retire legit at the time, but McMahon didn't see the numbers he was hoping for so Hogan was brought back to help with ticket sales.

- Vic
 
#3 ·
Re: Was The Ultimate Warrior expected to take over from Hogan after Wrestlemania VI?

I always thought Warrior changed his attitude in 1990 as champion, becoming arrogant.
But that writer Meltzer says Hogan sabotaged him... how was that?
 
#4 ·
Re: Was The Ultimate Warrior expected to take over from Hogan after Wrestlemania VI?

I always thought Warrior changed his attitude in 1990 as champion, becoming arrogant.
But that writer Meltzer says Hogan sabotaged him... how was that?
After Warrior pinned him Hogan got right up, making it look like a fluke (wrestlemania). I wasn't arround at that time but I read Hogan tried leeched of his popularity too like whenever Warrior had a big moment Hogan went to the ring with him (don't know if it's true)
 
#5 ·
Re: Was The Ultimate Warrior expected to take over from Hogan after Wrestlemania VI?

Numbers dropped substantially with Warrior as champ, and it wasn't all his fault.
When WWF were building Warrior up they didn't bother to build up any competent opponents. They put him in a feud with Rick Rude with the idea being that Rude had beaten Warrior before(at WM V). The problem was that since that time Warrior had crushed Rude about 100 times. Fans had no interest in seeing Warrior crush Rude again and stopped buying tickets.
McMahon panicked and fortunately for him Hogan's big movie career wasn't panning out so Hogan ended up with the belt one year after dropping it to Warrior.
 
#9 ·
Re: Was The Ultimate Warrior expected to take over from Hogan after Wrestlemania VI?

I think Hogan primarily sabotaged Warrior by taking Earthquake away from him as a challenger (even though Earthquake initially attacked Warrior in his early days) while Warrior got Rude again.

I wish Warrior was paired with DiBiase as his primary feud, but maybe DiBiase was too low on the card by that point. I thought the SNME match they had was pretty good.
 
#11 ·
Too much Hogan hate here.

Hogan losing WAS the bigger deal. The guy never legitimately lost a championship match up until that moment. He was the face of the WWF, the one who made it mainstream, and the most popular wrestler of that era. Go back and watch Rick Rude vs. Warrior at WM5 and tell me if he's a good storyteller in the ring capable of carrying the WWF for years with those kind of matches. The guy just sucked when he wrestled anyone not named Hogan or Savage.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Yeah, I think people way overrate the focus on Hogan after the match. Hogan didn't take away from Warrior's victory any more than Andre took away from Hogan's at WrestleMania 3.

If you go back and watch WrestleMania 3's ending, the camerawork is very similar, with the camera following the dejected Andre back down the aisle similar to the way it followed Hogan at WM6. It was deliberately drawing a parallel, showing that Hogan was now on the losing side.

Also, Hogan did way more for Warrior at WM6 than he did for Savage at WM4, sharing the ring with him and Liz during their big moment.

I really think people look at the WM6 ending the wrong way, and a lot of it has to do with the way Hogan has talked about it in interviews and changed the perspective on it. It was a perfectly normal, even-handed babyface ending with Hogan embracing Warrior and handing him the belt and leaving the ring so he can have his moment. Warrior got plenty of focus that night.

It was the political stuff post-WM6 that harmed Warrior more. Warrior may not have drawn as well as Hogan, but Hogan wasn't drawing as well as Hogan either anymore.
 
#14 ·
Warrior was ready. Warrior wanted Hogan money. Hogan was coming back. Vince didn't want to pay two men company face money. Warrior was the tougher nut of the two and so Vince backed out and stuck with Hogan. It was a gamble at that point and he decided to pick one over the other and that's all it was.

I doubt all these people claiming that Warrior wasn't a draw don't actually have the evidence to back that claim up.
 
#15 ·
Let's see from what I've known over the years. Hogan wanted to go back to Hollywood and become a full time movie star, to which McMahon saw as the perfect time to put the strap on Warrior. This is the only reason why Hogan even dropped the belt at WM VI, he wasn't going to be around for 5 or 6 months due to filming a movie. Stupidly, McMahon didn't pair Warrior with Earthquake for SS '90, instead we got Warrior Vs. Rude for yet another SS. Which didn't make any sense, those two together already reached their peak with their SS '89 match. Giving Warrior new blood should of been the goal to begin with. Instead after SS '90 with Rude, he was used in the Demolition/LOD feud, another miscalculation (In many ways). Warrior being Champ was a great idea but the planning was piss-poor. Funny thing is when he was given a new opponent he did great. RR '91 did better buyrates than the previous year did, and his matches with Undertaker did great business.

Game plan should of been feud with Earthquake, ending at Survivor Series. Go right into the Slaughter match at the RR. Do the Savage feud with Title for Career at WM VII, then do the feud with Undertaker/Jake.
 
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#27 ·
ALL TRUE! Warrior failed as champion because the WWF just got bad and lazy. Warrior vs. Rude was a good idea for a SNME main event with their past, but not a whole damn SUMMER feud AGAIN.

It also didn't help that WWE was mimicking Hogan's Hulk Up with Warrior with the shaking of the leg. It was giving the illusion of Warrior trying to be a poor man's Hogan. Let's not even start on Warrior being watered down with his makeup and wild interviews (understandable since it was an attempt to get him more mainstream, but it still hurt Warrior more than did any good).

Yeah, I think people way overrate the focus on Hogan after the match. Hogan didn't take away from Warrior's victory any more than Andre took away from Hogan's at WrestleMania 3.

If you go back and watch WrestleMania 3's ending, the camerawork is very similar, with the camera following the dejected Andre back down the aisle similar to the way it followed Hogan at WM6. It was deliberately drawing a parallel, showing that Hogan was now on the losing side.

Also, Hogan did way more for Warrior at WM6 than he did for Savage at WM4, sharing the ring with him and Liz during their big moment.

I really think people look at the WM6 ending the wrong way, and a lot of it has to do with the way Hogan has talked about it in interviews and changed the perspective on it. It was a perfectly normal, even-handed babyface ending with Hogan embracing Warrior and handing him the belt and leaving the ring so he can have his moment. Warrior got plenty of focus that night.

It was the political stuff post-WM6 that harmed Warrior more. Warrior may not have drawn as well as Hogan, but Hogan wasn't drawing as well as Hogan either anymore.
Completely agree! At the time, NO ONE was saying anything like Hogan stealing the spotlight that I remember. It looked like the passing of the torch. Right after Hogan went into "Immortality" which came off like Hogan was no longer going to be champion, but as a legend of WWF. Sort of like Bruno becoming "The Living Legend'.

Hogan going in the ring to give Warrior the belt was a classy move and made for a feel good moment. The problem was the camera staying on Hogan after he left the ring because it put him in a sympathetic light.

The hate for him is justified here since he admitted in a 2006 interview with The Sun that he intentionally stole Warrior's spotlight for the PPV ending.

- Vic
Hogan saying that is hogwash imo. He stated this AFTER the fact. At the TIME though Hogan was in fear of Warrior replacing him. Hogan got injured RIGHT after the loss. He was being promoted as "BATTERED AND TORN" in matches with Mr. Perfect on SNME and retirement angle with Earthquake.

No, Hogan at that point still symbolized the WWE/F. The only way anyone could've took his top spot was if either Hogan had turned heel (which had no chance of happening in that era) or if Hogan was getting phased out completely (which happened after WM in '92).
Yeah, Warrior actually got some BOOS for beating Hogan in certain pockets in the country. I could ONLY imagine if it happened today. Fans online would be saying he isn't ready, being shoved down our throats, too green, and so on lol. I bet money people would be saying WWF should have gone with Hogan vs. Mr. Perfect for the title instead.
 
#21 · (Edited)
The self destruction of the warrior DVD contains as much truth as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Vince did to Warrior a lot of what he did to Punk and Bryan because Warrior would not relent on working as the face of the company for less than the face money and treatment while Vince thought he could kill two birds with one stone ... i.e. have a new face and not have to pay him as much as he was paying Hogan. The fact that both were elevated to top spot at the same time caused this problem and one of them had to get the ax.
 
#19 ·
It's not like Hogan went into business for himself on the spur of the moment come the final bell. The whole passing of the torch thing was obviously booked.

Watch it again, and see Dave Hebner present both belts to Warrior, for him to only take the IC belt and Hebner putting the WWFC back ringside so that Hulk could do the honours.

Yes Hogan may have played it up, but Vince and Warrior were in on it. And I suspect Hebner forgot the plan.


Sent from Verticalsports.com Free App
 
#20 ·
Hogan going in the ring to give Warrior the belt was a classy move and made for a feel good moment. The problem was the camera staying on Hogan after he left the ring because it put him in a sympathetic light.

The hate for him is justified here since he admitted in a 2006 interview with The Sun that he intentionally stole Warrior's spotlight for the PPV ending.

- Vic
 
#24 · (Edited)
Hogan going in the ring to give Warrior the belt was a classy move and made for a feel good moment. The problem was the camera staying on Hogan after he left the ring because it put him in a sympathetic light.
Agreed on it being a classy move, but I disagree on the "problem" of the situation. Hogan was the indomitable monster-slaying top babyface of the Fed since '84, and he just lost the title clean for the first time in his career. That fact alone should have been played up for sympathy.
 
#22 ·
The self destruction of the warrior DVD contains as much truth as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
But it was accurate. He didn't have any passion for the business, he was difficult to work with management, he didn't get along with most of his co-workers, he threatened to no-show SummerSlam if he didn't get half a million dollars, he took PEDs, and he no showed house shows.

- Vic
 
#23 ·
Actually, the Summerslam event is apparently dealing with Vince not paying him his bonus and he finally got sick of waiting. Again, don't take the DVD and propaganda from the WWE seriously... they went all in on that hatchet job.
 
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