A super-tanned Ultimate Warrior brought the 'good' old days back for Vince McMahon for one night at least, popping the sh*t out of the Anaheim crowd for his return crushing of future company overlord Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
The story's been retold over and over again by 'The Game' himself, but Helmsley doing the honours here wouldn't have looked half as damaging had he won King Of The Ring as originally planned. As it was, he was the designated jobber for one of the prior era's biggest stars to have a penultimate WrestleMania moment.
There's a bizarre enjoyment to be had about the man-out-of-time 1996 Ultimate Warrior run, not least because he now had pyro in the shape of his iconic symbol. It's fun to fantasy book Warrior going head-to-head with new headliners Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, but the difference in their shifts on this very show highlight why it was such a fantasy. 'HBK' and 'The Hitman's 60 minutes were for the discerning, Warrior's 1:39 strictly for the disenfranchised.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
