411’s WWE Greatest Moments Report: Ultimate Warrior

-Written: 06.08.26
-Source: A&E

-Plug: LFG Episode Seven

-Michael Cole is our narrator!

-This time it’s all about Warrior and the top spot should be a no brainer.

10.The First Promo
-June 20, 1988

-As always they start with whatever they can find as the first and in this case it’s Warrior’s first WWE promo. Standing in front of the globe background he cuts a Warrior promo and ends with “I will bring it to ya.” Warrior, Hogan, and Cena were talking heads and put over how charismatic Warrior was.

9. The Ultimate Survivor
–Survivor Series 89

-Warrior’s Team vs. The Heenan Family, with Bobby doing work. A lot of big time stars in that match. It ends with Warrior vs. Heenan and you can guess how that went. Heenan bumped around like a maniac and Warrior becomes the sole Survivor.

8. Slaying The Giant
-Sept. 30, 1989

-Warrior says working with Andre was incredible and they don’t include what Andre thought of working with Warrior (according to Heenan). Sam Roberts says most of the people bought tickets to see Warrior do the unthinkable and slam Andre. They do pop like crazy, but it wasn’t unthinkable by this point. Warrior says it was an honor that Andre let him give him the slam.

-Commercials

7. Burying The Deadman
-July 1, 1991

-Warrior feuded with The Undertaker over the summer and it became a heavy feud when Taker locked Warrior inside a casket on Superstars. Freaked me out as a kid. They had a body bag match at MSG and that’s what we get highlights of here. Basically a casket match, but you have to stuff your opponent in a bodybag. The change to the casket was better from a visual and psychology perspective.

6. Rage in The Cage
–SummerSlam 90

-Warrior was now the WWF Champion and his first feud was Rick Rude. It kind of made sense as Rude was the only man to beat Warrior, but at the same time, Warrior beat Warrior the previous SummerSlam to blow off the feud. This time it was a cage match and in the middle of the card. It was a good match though as Rude knew how to work with Warrior and they had good chemistry. Warrior notes it was a joy to work with Rude and calls him a perfectionist to a fault. Rosenberg says that nobody took a beating like Rude. Warrior climbs out of the cage to successfully defend his Championship.

-Commercials

5. Rocking The Garden
-SummerSlam 88

-Should be much higher and really, I would have it as #2 or #3. Honky Tonk Man was the longest reigning IC Champion of all time and people had been dying to see him lose. He kept escaping night after night and it caught up to him here as he throws out a challenge to anyone. Warrior comes out, SQUASHES the crap out of HTM and the crowd loses their mind. Amazing moment and again, should be much higher.

4. The Ultimate Return
–WrestleMania XII

-Warrior SQUASHES HHH in HHH’s first WrestleMania. Warrior thinks he looked the best he ever did in 96. HHH says he was blow away to work with Warrior at Mania. He calls him one of the biggest stars in the business and it was a thrill and great opportunity. Not the story he told years before. I mean, he always said a great opportunity, but he later called Warrior unprofessional. He no sells The Pedigree and pins HHH ins short order with a knee on his chest. For HHH haters, I am sure they laugh anytime they see this match. For HHH’s part, he did his job.

3. A Spirit Running Forever
-RAW: April 7, 2014

-Two days earlier Warrior was finally inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. This was his chance to thank the fans one more time and he gives the cryptic promo about a man’s heart beating a final beat and giving a last breath. Hogan says the words were chilling and Matt Hardy says it came off as he had an inkling he might not be around too long. HHH talks about the huge smile Warrior had and how it was worth the whole process. He then gets choked up and we fade to the memorial graphic as Warrior passed away the next day. That was tough and just crazy he was there and gone.

-Commercials

2. Everything to Lose
–WrestleMania VII

-I LOVE THIS MATCH SO MUCH! Rosenberg calls Warrior vs. Savage perfection. Warrior says what’s great about Randy is he is over the top in everything. This got my vote as PPV Match of the Year for 1991. I love everything about this match and it’s just insane booking as Warrior gets to retire Savage and then the post match turned Savage back into a massive babyface to set up the fall and next year. I can’t praise this match enough!

1.
–WrestleMania VI

-I mean, there could be no other moment. This is the peak of Warrior’s career and for many people this is where the Golden Era started dropping. This was one last massive Stadium Show where Hogan was going to pass the torch to the next big thing. I love this match as well and gave it *****. Just an epic match with an electric crowd. Hogan does the job and Warrior is the new biggest star in the company. Well, that was the plan. Forget what happened after though. This moment was tremendous and easily the biggest in Warrior’s career. It also made 8 year old me run home from my friend’s house crying.

-This was enjoyable as expected because it involved the years of being a fan as a child. So many moments burned into my memories. The top choice was an easy call and I am fine with Warrior/Savage at two. I would put the IC Title Match with HTM at three, but I can understand why they put the Hall of Fame/RAW moment in the spot. Warrior popping the stadium at Mania VIII should have been on here somewhere though. Good stuff as the nostalgia was strong with this one. Thanks for reading!