10 Classic Wrestling Matches You Didn't Know Bombed

9. Hulk Hogan Vs. Ultimate Warrior - WWF WrestleMania VI

Elimination Chamber Triple H
WWE.com

The Ultimate Challenge feels like a gigantic match.

Its two participants, Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior, were megastars and sensations, respectively. Both were golden, balloon-muscled caricatures of men. The WWF Heavyweight Vs. Intercontinental Title stakes were huge and unprecedented. The babyface versus babyface dynamic felt so shocking, but yet so right. It was a match that challenged our basic understanding of the form, but one that almost had to happen. Viewed through a more grown-up lens, it was an ambitious means of getting Warrior over as the top guy with the utmost conviction. Beyond Hogan Vs. Andre the Giant, no other match seemed to warrant 'Mania's old working title of 'The Colossal Tussle'.

It did not pull in a gigantic number on pay-per-view.

560,000 wasn't an unimpressive number, for that period, but it was dwarfed by the conclusion of the greatest story WWE ever told, the Mega Powers Explosion, the prior year: 'Mania V pulled a behemoth of a number in 767,000.

The Ultimate Challenge was a tremendous match - its groundbreaking story of symmetry and ascension has had an indirect and strange but profound influence on something like Will Ospreay Vs. Ricochet - but it didn't set the box office ablaze.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!