How Good Was Ultimate Warrior Actually?

4. Moments

The Ultimate Warrior had an immense rise in WWE. He made his PPV debut at WrestleMania IV, beating Hercules in under 5 minutes, and then ended the longest reign in Intercontinental Title history (at least until Gunther's reign) in just his second PPV. Watch the crowd at Madison Square Garden raise the roof as the Warrior hits the ring after being revealed as The Honky Tonk Man’s mystery opponent at SummerSlam ’88 before ending his 454-day run in just 31 seconds.

It's lightning in a bottle stuff. 

Becoming the first wrestler to hold both the WWF and Intercontinental Titles at the same time is also one of the biggest achievements in company history. The Warrior felt like the heir to Hogan’s throne as he celebrated with both titles at the end of 'Mania VI, but things would plateau in this moment and he'd never reach those heights again. Just 2 and a half years later, Warrior was gone from the WWE entirely.

The Warrior has some awful moments to draw upon when things started going awry, too. His entire feud with Papa Shango is one of the most laughably bad wrestling angles of all time. Shango put a voodoo curse on the Warrior, causing black liquid to seep from the Warrior’s head in promos and him to throw up on WWE medical staff. Hearing Gene Okerlund talk about “black magic” in an attempt to sell the feud is truly dire stuff.

His entire run in WCW was a disaster, as aforementioned, but Hulk seeing Warrior gurning at him as a ghost in a mirror whilst Eric Bischoff stood by obliviously ranks as one of WCW's worst moments. This supernatural BS was a world away from the gritty content the nWo had been pioneering just a few years earlier.

Warrior's payoff match with Hogan also involved Hulk failing miserably to hit him in the face with a fireball, Hellwig having about 40% less intensity than he had in his prime, and a match that makes their 'Mania VI encounter look like Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay from AEW's Forbidden Door.

4/10