There were two memorable feuds between the Ultimate Warrior and "Ravishing" Rick Rude during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The first program between the two centered around the Intercontinental Championship in 1989, and the second program was in 1990 over the WWE Title. The original 1989 feud began when the Warrior and Rude had a "pose down" at the Royal Rumble. The fans were supposed to determine the winner, but before they could do so the Warrior was attacked with a steel bar by Rude. After several weeks of being harassed by Rude and his manager, Bobby Heenan, the two met at WrestleMania V in Atlantic City. Warrior was the Intercontinental champion, having won the belt the previous August at the inaugural SummerSlam from the Honky Tonk Man. In one of his only high profile losses in the WWE, the Warrior lost the belt to Rude at WrestleMania, shocking many of the viewers. Though McMahon was hesitant to defeat his young star on such a large stage, it was deemed the right decision in hopes of getting some more miles out of the feud between the two. Plus, they had Rude win as a result of Heenan's interference (he held down Warrior's leg during the pinfall), so the Warrior still carried that unbeatable aura that he had going into the match. The much hyped WrestleMania rematch occurred during SummerSlam 1989 at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, when the Warrior won the Intercontinental belt back from Rude. The next year at the Spectrum in Philadelphia (SummerSlam 1990), Rude and Warrior rekindled their old feud. Looking back, it seems odd that the WWE would put the two together again so quickly, since Warrior had emerged as the sound victor of their feud. However, the WWE was very short on top heel talent for Warrior to work with during his run as world champion. Rude was deemed the best choice based upon their previous feud succeeding in the ring and at the box office. It was quite clear to those in power that Rude was better than just about anyone at getting good matches out of Warrior. The Warrior was 4 months into his world championship reign going into the cage match title defense at SummerSlam, and he retained the title by again defeating "Ravishing" Rick.
