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Well That Didn’t Work: The Warrior Joins WCW

Well That Didn’t Work: The Warrior Joins WCW

Posted: Sep 18th 2026 By: Craig Wilson - RingTheDamnBell.com

In 1998, the WWF were beginning to pull away from the WCW after fans had begun to grow weary of the product with the nWo having all but run its course and no new stars being created. In a sharp contrast, the WWF was in the Attitude Era with Stone Cold Steve Austin, a former WCW talent, being their main player.

The WCW brought in a man they thought could turn things around the Ultimate Warrior, ironically the guy that the WWF had gone to in 1996 when the shoe was on the other foot. Both paid a heavy fee, and price, for bringing him in in moves that yielded no positive results.

Warrior – his legal name now, of course – was brought in by Hulk Hogan who had creative control over his character, to restart his 1990 feud that culminated in the main event of Wrestlemania 6. This time, however, the results were vastly different.

To continue the early 90s theme of this, the feud begun with Warrior kidnapping Hogan’s pal Ed Leslie, the former Brutus Beefcake and now Disciple, and leading him around arenas in what looked very much like various S&M positions. And it would only get worse… In what must be one of the few wrestling cases of Stockholm Syndrome, The Disciple turned his back on Hogan and joined forces with Warrior and joining the One Warrior Nation. A play on nWo, geddit?

Warrior would enter the ring via a trapdoor and a cloud of smoke but the trapdoors are perhaps best remembered for causing Davey Boy Smith an injury that would nearly paralyse him. The mind games continued with Warrior setting Hogan’s dressing room on fire and on another occasion appearing on his dressing room mirror – with everyone being able to see him except, bizarrely, Eric Bischoff who was interviewing Hogan at the time.

And the payoff to all this nonsense? A horrific match at Halloween Havoc 98, a match that has been rightly panned and described by Eric Bischoff as the worst main event in wrestling history. While the Hogan v Warrior match at Wrestlemania 6 was planned to the most minute detail. Hogan v Warrior II was not…

After what seemed like an eternity of mid 80s style wrestling, including rest holds a plenty, the end of this one was nigh with the ending to involve Hogan lighting a fireball in Warrior’s face. The problem here, and there are certainly many that can be covered, was that the fireball wouldn’t light. So Warrior was left for a few minutes fumbling about in the ring until Hogan could light it. When it was eventually lit it went off in Hogan’s face and nowhere near Warrior.

Of course, even the fireball – which bear in mind went off nowhere near the Warrior – wasn’t enough to put him down. No, for that Horace Hogan was needed and he knocked him down with a steel chair, as Bischoff distracted the referee, allowing Hulk Hogan to avenge his Wrestlemania 6 loss and even the score at 1-1.

Warrior left the WCW soon after and announces his retirement within a year. He’s since claimed that the only reason he was brought into the organization was for Hogan to make up for his loss at Wrestlemania 6.

So could this have worked? No, whatever skills Warrior had in the early 90s – and they were limited even then – were gone by 1998 as was fans interest in him. The focus should certainly have been on developing young talent instead of rehashing early 90s feud. But we all probably know that by now, huh?

 

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Well That Didn’t Work: The Warrior Joins WCW

Well That Didn’t Work: The Warrior Joins WCW

In 1998, the WWF were beginning to pull away from the WCW after fans had begun to grow weary of the product with the nWo hav... Read More

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  • 1979 Mike Sharpe, Jr. def. Mike George for the MSW Mississippi Title
  • 1982 David Von Erich def. Bill Irwin for the WCCW Texas Heavyweight Title
  • 1988 The Samoan SWAT Team (Samu & Fatu) def. Michael Hayes & Steve Cox for the WCCW World Tag Team Titles
  • 2014 Simply Irresistible (Matthew Palmer & James Johnson) def. The Dark Circle (Mace Malone & Apoc) for the NWA-TXO Tag Team Titles
  • 2015 Loaded Guns (Jon Cross & Brandon Walker) def. The Rising (Riker & Abel) for the UWE Tag Team Titles
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  • 2020 Pastor Brent became the WAH Heavyweight Champion
  • 2021 Maui Mike def. Thrash for the ASP Mid-American Title
  • 2021 Brixton Barricade def. Brandon Barricade for the ASP All Time Title
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Week of Sun 09-13 to Sat: 09-19

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  • 09-15 1969 The Medics (Medic #1 & Medic #2) def. Alberto Torres & Ramon Torres for the TSW United States Tag Team Titles
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  • 09-15 2007 Sudden Impact (Sudden Impact 1 & Sudden Impact 2) def. Texas, Inc. (Bernard Funk & Tim Rockwell) for the ComPro Tag Team Titles
  • 09-15 2007 Anthony Jackson def. AWOL for the ComPro Heavyweight Title
  • 09-15 2007 Shane Morbid def. Justin Lee for the ComPro Oklahoma X Division Title
  • 09-15 2012 Double D def. Aaron Neil for the IZW Heavyweight Title
  • 09-15 2018 Chavo Guerrero, Jr. def. MVP for the WCR Heavyweight Title
  • 09-15 2019 Chaz Sharpe def. James Southard for the ASP Inter-County Title
  • 09-15 2023 Jastin Taylor def. Sam Stackhouse for the BCW Heavyweight Title
  • 09-16 1975 John Tolos def. Al Madril for the WCCW Texas Heavyweight Title
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  • 09-16 2005 Lily McKenzie def. Chiquita Suzuki for the SRPW Womens Title
  • 09-16 2006 Michael Barry def. Aaron Neil for the IZW Heavyweight Title
  • 09-16 2006 Ryan Davidson became the IZW Impact Division Champion
  • 09-16 2017 Paige Turner def. Erica for the IZW Womens Title
  • 09-16 2017 Skyler Fayden def. Riker for the UWE Heavyweight Title
  • 09-16 2017 Big Smooth & Zakk Sinizter became the UWE Tag Team Champions
  • 09-16 2022 Shane Taylor def. Johnny Bedlam for the TexPro Heavyweight Title
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  • 09-17 2004 Bobby Dalton def. Shane Morbid for the SRPW Hardcore Title
  • 09-17 2008 Michael Faith became the TCB Heavyweight Champion
  • 09-17 2008 High Society (Al Farat & Thomas Trump) became the TCB Dual Kombat Champion
  • 09-17 2008 Michael Faith became the TCBW Heavyweight Champion
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  • 09-17 2010 Dane Griffin def. Cody Jones for the NWA-OK Texoma Title
  • 09-17 2010 Aerial Assault (Ky-ote Joe & Montego Seeka) became the NWA-OK Oklahoma Tag Team Champions
  • 09-17 2010 Michael Faith def. Dane Griffin for the NWA-OK Oklahoma Heavyweight Title
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  • 09-18 2005 Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch def. The Hurricane & Rosey for the WWE RAW World Tag Team Titles
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  • 09-18 2015 Sons of Texas (Moonshine Mantell & Killer McKenzie) def. The Imperialists (Charlie Haas & Griffin) for the NWA-TXO Tag Team Titles
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  • 09-19 1982 David Von Erich def. Bill Irwin for the WCCW Texas Heavyweight Title
  • 09-19 1988 The Samoan SWAT Team (Samu & Fatu) def. Michael Hayes & Steve Cox for the WCCW World Tag Team Titles
  • 09-19 2014 Simply Irresistible (Matthew Palmer & James Johnson) def. The Dark Circle (Mace Malone & Apoc) for the NWA-TXO Tag Team Titles
  • 09-19 2015 Loaded Guns (Jon Cross & Brandon Walker) def. The Rising (Riker & Abel) for the UWE Tag Team Titles
  • 09-19 2015 Brian Breaker def. Clint Cassidy for the UWE United States Title
  • 09-19 2015 Zakk Sinizter def. Anarchy [2nd] for the UWE Heavyweight Title
  • 09-19 2015 Jon Cross became the WFC Heavyweight Champion
  • 09-19 2019 MVP became the WCR Imperial Champion
  • 09-19 2020 Pastor Brent became the WAH Heavyweight Champion
  • 09-19 2021 Maui Mike def. Thrash for the ASP Mid-American Title
  • 09-19 2021 Brixton Barricade def. Brandon Barricade for the ASP All Time Title
  • 09-19 2021 Malik Mayfield def. Jerome Daniel Griffey for the ASP Livestream Title
  • 09-19 2021 Double D def. Jerome Daniel Griffey for the ASP 5-Star Title
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