One MIND-BLOWING Secret For Every WWE SummerSlam
30. 1996 | What Was Planned For The Ultimate Warrior?
The Ultimate Warrior’s 1996 WWF return was legendarily weird, even by the standards of a man who fancied himself a hero to children while beating the sh*t out of Santa Claus in his foray into writing graphic novels. “Beating the sh*t out of Santa Claus” is actually the most generous interpretation of that panel, too. Was that milk, or…?
The new Warrior smoked cigars, wore a baseball cap, and was principally interested in flogging comic books. His rubbish feud with Jerry Lawler only happened so that Lawler could criticise Warrior’s artistry, which was an excuse to show it onscreen. Warrior was so uninterested that it’s a wonder he bothered painting his face. Warrior was suspended and eventually fired for no-showing house show dates in July - but before Vince destructised his crappy run, what was Warrior meant to do at SummerSlam?
Per the July 15, 1996 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the local promoter in Cleveland advertised a match between Warrior and the British Bulldog. What’s interesting here is that the Bulldog had threatened to let his deal expire around this time; had that match happened, it might have lasted as long as the Warrior’s return squash match against Hunter Hearst Helmsley at WrestleMania 12.
It’s a shame the match never happened. The war of words exchanged to promote it would have been something else. It’s a good job that Raw was taped half the time back then, because this would have been the first recorded instance in which subtitles were required for a promo battle between two native English speakers.