The WORST Wrestling Story Every Year (1989-2025)
1992 - Ultimate Warrior Vs. Papa Shango
The Ultimate Warrior appealed to children for a few reasons.
He was stupidly energetic, which they identified with. He looked like a living version of one of their toys. His numbskull power game was easily comprehended and enjoyed by the tiniest of minds. Also, while children are very curious and will ask multiple questions per day, as if possessed, they don’t question much. Ask them why exactly they like or want something, and they’ll look baffled. So they didn’t pay attention to what the Warrior was actually saying, not that anybody else could understand him. You didn’t have to be discerning to enjoy the Warrior; in fact, he was infinitely more effective if you weren’t.
All of which is to say: his programme with Papa Shango must have been weapons-grade bobbins to go down as badly as it did. And it was.
In an infamously bad angle, Shango, a voodoo with doctor character, cast a spell on the Warrior that induced a vomiting fit. He basically put what looked like creamed corn into his mouth and spat it back out, shaking violently as if he’d just seen a minority succeed. In another segment, Shango’s curse caused a runny black liquid to cascade down Warrior’s face. It looked like an insecure old man’s black hair dye was caught in the rain.
This was hokey nonsense, of course, but it was also pointless, in that Warrior was meant to be acting moodily and strangely as a result.
He was like that from the moment he woke up.