The Ultimate Warrior’s death feels like another assault on my childhood. As a wrestling fan, there’s some sense of familiarity with yet another guy you grew up watching dying far too soon, but when it happens to icons that were synonymous with the sport in its ’80s and ’90s heyday like “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Mr. Perfect, “Ravishing” Rick Rude, The Big Bossman, and now Warrior, it cuts a bit deeper.
The one solace is that Warrior wasn’t persona non grata banished to some outskirts of the WWE at the time of his death, but was instead reveling in a WWE Hall of Fame induction as the 2014 headliner, mended fences with rivals like Hulk Hogan and Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and had one last moment of being in a WWE ring effectively passing the torch of being a Warrior to all of the fans before he died the next day. Originally, I planned to write up a list of the Top 5 Ultimate Warrior matches, but Warrior wasn’t necessarily the best wrestler as he was a force of nature in the ring. That said, I decided it’d be a more fitting tribute to look back on his Top 5 moments as one of the most legendary performers to ever grace a WWF ring.
5. Breaking the streak
The Honky Tonk Man had miraculously defied the odds and managed to escape with his Intercontinental title against all comers from Hall of Famers Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and Jake “The Snake” Roberts to inevitable HOF Randy “Macho Man” Savage. With challenger Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake sidelined for their Summerslam matchup, Honky Tonk felt a little cool, a little cocky, and a little bad as he issued an open challenge to anyone in the back. One sprint from the locker room, a few fists and a gorilla press slam later, The Ultimate Warrior was the new Intercontinental champion and one the fans could finally support.
4. I feel the ooze
Fresh off his comeback in 1992, Warrior got into a feud with newcomer Papa Shango, who dabbled in black magic. During one interview with Mean Gene Okerlund, Warrior mentioned Papa Shango, and a wave of black gook began coming from Warrior’s hair. It was made even more bizarre as Warrior was wearing a white jacket that quickly got stained from Shango’s voodoo curse. After targeting Warrior with some not-so-thinly veiled threats, Shango confronted Warrior as he celebrated another victory. But rather than getting in the ring with Ultimate Warrior, Shango simply help up his smoking skull, chanted a few curses, and convulsed. Not long after, Warrior fell off the ring apron clutching his sides, and after being taken back to the dressing room, proceeded to projectile vomit over the caretakers in the locker room. It was creepy, scary, and unlike anything else we’d ever seen before.
3. DTA
During the course of his heated feud with The Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior found himself constantly getting overwhelmed by “The Dead Man” and his shifty manager Paul Bearer. After another attack by the duo led to Warrior being placed in Undertaker’s coffin, Warrior realized he needed a killer edge to stop Taker and tap into his darker side. 
To that end, Warrior sought the aid of the most sinister fan-favorite in the WWF — Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Jake promised to take Warrior to his breaking point so long as he trusted him.
After a series of challenges, including being buried alive, Jake had one final test for Warrior — go into a chamber and open the coffin inside. And in the coffin … a poisonous snake and the final image Warrior sees before passing out is Jake standing over him side by side with his new ally, The Undertaker, leaving Warrior with a fateful reminder — never trust a snake. This was one of the most insidious heel turns of all time and a great payoff.
2. Career vs. Career
Ever since he won the WWF title at Wrestlemania 6, Ultimate Warrior had to contend with a threat from former champ “Macho Man” Randy Savage, who was itching to regain his title. After turning back Savage’s challenge in several matches, Warrior was ready to move on to other challengers, including Iraqi turncoat Sgt. Slaughter. Savage wasn’t ready to be an afterthought, though, and had his manager, Sensational Sherri, attempt to seduce Warrior into giving Savage another match. Warrior was having none of it, and Savage ended up costing Warrior the title. Sensing the WWF wasn’t big enough for the both of them, Warrior and Savage agreed to a career vs. career match at Wrestlemania 7. In one of the all-time great Wrestlemania matches, Warrior and Savage put everything on the line unleashing all of their finishing moves multiple times in order to get the win. Despite several devastating elbow drops from Savage, Warrior survived and went on to defeat his hated rival and end his career — for a time.
- The Ultimate Challenge
WWF fans of the late ’80s had become conditioned to a few truths. Boba Fett was the best bounty hunter, Transformers > Go-Bots, “Now you Know” led to more important life lessons than a year’s worth of schooling, and that no one could beat Hulk Hogan unless they hired a crooked ref. But despite it being April Fool’s Day in 1990, fans came to the realization that, no joke, nothing is immortal as The Ultimate Warrior cleanly defeated Hogan in one of the most iconic matches in Wrestlemania history.
Like many fans, I didn’t expect Hogan to actually lose the title. The possibility of Hogan losing for me was similar to The Undertaker seeing his undefeated Wrestlemania streak end — inconceivable. It wasn’t until Hogan handed Warrior the belt and the two embraced that it started to dawn on me that this was actually happening. And as the show ended with the Warrior, not Hogan, posing in the middle proudly raising the WWF title over his head did it become clear we had witnessed real history and the Ultimate Warrior had one of the ultimate moments at Wrestlemania.
Check out tributes from some of Warrior’s peers on my site.
Rest In Peace Warrior. There will never be another like you.