10 Pieces Of Wrestling Trivia That Will Astonish You

9. Vince McMahon Tried To Sign The Ultimate Warrior In 1997

Vader Ultimate Warrior
WWE.com

In December 1997, Vince McMahon cut his famous "opening the creative envelope" promo.

In it, he formally ushered in the Attitude Era by claiming that you were quite frankly tired of having your intelligence insulted. The old days of "good guys versus bad guys" were passé. He knew Austin was the guy, and he knew that a chaotic new creative direction was required to get him all the way over.

In reality, McMahon had opened an envelope and stuck a huge contract offer inside of it. The recipient of that offer was the Ultimate Warrior, but this wasn't quite the shade of grey fans were drawn to. They were drawn to good guys with an edge. The Ultimate Warrior was an horrendous human being masquerading as a hero, which technically counts, not that the Warrior was going to play an updated version of himself. He never did.

In this cursed dimension, he would have cut abysmal, humourless promos and acted creepily towards young children just like he did in 1990. He was a far better fit for BritWres than the Attitude Era. Mercifully, the deal never materialised. Even in 1997, in his most radical headspace, Vince McMahon still longed for the familiar.

The passé.

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!