8 WWE Wrestlers Vince McMahon Refused To Turn Heel

2. Ultimate Warrior

Ultimate Warrior WrestleMania VII
WWE.com

The case of the Ultimate Warrior is a curious one.

From being the hottest star in the wrestling business at one point in time - tassles a-flowing, face painted up, badass music blaring out, frenetic energy accompanying him wherever he went - Warrior went on to soil the childhood memories of many a wrestling fan of the '80s and '90s when he showed himself to be a racist, homophobic, generally xenophobic false hero in his later life.

But I digress, back to the point of this entry.

Spending his entire career as a babyface performer, there was a time in 1992 where the idea of turning the Parts Unknown native heel was considered as a very real possibility.

In a contract excerpt pulled from one of the many lawsuits between Warrior and WWE, it was written that the Ultimate One was to turn heel in exchange for him working less house shows. That plan would've come into fruition in the aftermath of his Summerslam '92 match against Randy Savage, with the endgame being to have heel Ultimate Warrior vs. babyface Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania IX - with Warrior then heading off to pursue a career in Hollywood in 1994.

That heel turn never actually happened - instead, Ultimate Warrior would be gone from the then-WWF barely three months later - and Vince McMahon resisted turning Warrior heel at any point during his several spells with the company.

In reality, who'd have known that the real-life Warrior would reveal himself to be one of the biggest heels the industry has ever seen.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.