10 WWE Superstars Who Went From Hero To Zero In A Heartbeat
4. Ultimate Warrior
When Hogan took the loss in WrestleMania VI’s main event and coronated Ultimate Warrior as The Guy, it appeared a rare magnanimous act from the man in red and yellow. Sure, he kicked out at 3.1 and barely sold the effect of Warrior’s splash, but the fact is he passed the baton to a fresh(ish) talent, ushering in the Warrior era.
Only, it didn’t really work out like that. Warrior wasn’t the face of the company that Hogan was. You absolutely couldn’t trust him to go on talk shows and charm the hosts; he made Hulk look like a consistent deliverer of coherent thoughts and ideas, which is going some. His run with the belt was reasonably long, but not memorable, with a solid cage match against Rick Rude the only real high point.
He remained a big star for life, but never reached these professional heights again, and following ‘Mania VII’s excellent match with Randy Savage, Warrior was on a precipitous decline.
The twist in the tale? By his own admission, Hogan engineered the whole thing. Knowing Warrior would buckle under the pressure, he was sure to present the belt to his opponent upon losing, thereby maintaining the spotlight. Who would headline the next three WrestleManias? One Terry Bollega.