Could the Ultimate Warrior work in today's Wrestling Crowd?

[Weems2k]

So I was watching The Self Destruction of The Warrior DVD again the other night. It got me thinking. Since most of today's wrestling characters are either cocky heels, or cool heels, could someone like The Ultimate Warrior work in today's wrestling scene? Now forget about the backstage problems Jim Helliroid always caused, and all that. I'm more focused on just the Warrior character when he was almost as over as Hogan. There really isn't more of an intro that got people going than when Warrior's music hit. Or is his gimmick too cartoony for today's fans?

 

[willross]

He took steroids so no. But assuming he got the body he had in the 80's naturally......

Yes he would work. There are just certain things that can't be measured, and the big one is "THE IT FACTOR". He believed that gimmick which made it what it was. It was perfect in every way.

I think he would be the top guy right now, having better matches just cause the work rate in our day and age is head and shoulders above what it was back then. His gimmick wasn't goody two shoes so the adult crowd wouldn't turn on him like most have on Cena.

He would be the "smart marks" babyface. There would be the people saying "ahhh he cant wrestle" blah blah blah, but when that music hit, he runs to the ring, and he destroys the shit out of someone....who wouldn't pop for that. Complain before and after maybe, but they would be popping during his segment.

 

[roethlisberger78]

I love that DVD, but to answer your question as much as I love ryback I think he is your answer as to if the Ultimate Warrior could get over into todays wrestling. I think Ryback can wrestle a bit better than the Warrior, and that has a lot today with todays fans so if Ryback is struggling I do believe the Ultimate Warrior would struggle just the same way.

 

[dtroppe]

Yes of course he could.

Warror had a great look, great gimmick and great intensity. The Warrior character would have been successful at any time from the 1970s up to and including present day. Warrior also also has an unbelievable logo that makes him very marketable.

Especially in todays wrestling world Warrior would succeed. There are part time stars and John Cena (some may say CM Punk- but I do not). Warrior would easily be the number 2 guy and maybe number 1 for a while. Very good look, very marketable. He also has a great charisma that would ensure his success.

Also, Warrior's promos were crazy- but if you look at some of the promos he cut in 96-98, they were far better and had evolved with time and the character.

 

[Jimmy Carter]

Any character can work in professional wrestling if given the right approach and support from management. The business hass plenty of cartoon characters in its ranks, and Ultimate Warrior is far from the most outlandish personality compared to gimmicks like Kane, Suicide, and too many examples to list from Chikara.

The spirit of Warrior's character is still alive in Ryback. Though dialed down from Jim Hellwig's insanely masterful portrayal, The Ryback exhibits similar characteristics. He (usually) mows down opponents with relative ease, displays comic superhero might and intensity, and speaks in cryptic metaphors related to meat, eating meat, acquiring meat through animalistic hunting practices, food chain diagrams, etc. He's basically Warrior crossed with Steve Irwin rolled into a character who raided RVD's closet and forgot to sample the goodie stash in the shoebox off the top shelf.

In a climate where fans chant "Feed Me More" and cheer for an unstoppable powerhouse, Warrior would not be out of place if he were to debut today. Whether or not a McMahon-helmed creative staff would know how to handle such a character so that he remains fresh and exciting is another question entirely. Those "Feed Me More" chants seem to be getting more muted as the character stagnates.

 

[Makaveli31]

Different time different era....Ultimate Warrior would look so out of place it today's "reality-based" theme where guys use normal-sounding names and all look alike. Ultimate Warrior was larger than life...a real life superhero....you have none of that in today's WWE.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Obviously the character would need to be tweaked for today's crowd but I think a Warrior like character can work today. Heck Batista is basically the Ultimate Warrior in his time big, high impact and with a limited move set yet he was still insanely popular.

 

[berlinbrawler]

I think so, yes. As far as characters go the Ultimate Warrior was very unique. Pretty much a raving lunatic, but one with great intensity and when he cut a promo you believed him that someone was about to get hurt.

I would welcome a crazy maniac like that deviating from the cookie cutter mold of today's batch of wrestlers. ... Of course in a world where steroids are largely absent, such personalities have become even more sparce.

 

[thebowtiekiller]

i think warrior would go down great today theres so many generic characters on the roster now that he would stand out brilliantly i also think they should create more cartoon like characters like warrior it makes sense because most people now know that wrestling is mostly preplanned and isnt actually a real sport but the wwe has being doing its best to get kids watching for the past few years and to a little kid its still real so it only makes sense to create larger then life guys similar to warrior

 

[lowandmighty]

There are a few reasons why the ultimate warrior worked back in the late 80's to early 90's if that and they are: His face paint, his high energy theme music, the fact he was roided up and looked like a monster and extremely favourable booking where he hardly ever lost a match, making him super hero like in the eyes of the fans.

I think if he had these tools in todays wwe he would still be pretty popular but he wouldn't be the number 1 guy.

Why wouldn't he be the number 1 guy? The warrior is professionally unreliable to unpredictable and makes completely outlandish demands for more money and privileges than anyone else in his contracts. So much so you would think he was holding up the wwe with a sawed off shot gun.

He wouldn't be too much of a cartoon character, most wrestlers are still like that. I know it was specified in the question not to dwell on this but he just doesn't have enough professional integrity to survive in todays wwe's conservative environment. This is an unavoidable issue which is a shame.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

No. That exact character wouldn't work in todays climate for a couple reasons.

Reality factor: wrestling characters are more or less based in reality today. Cartoon gimmicks have been tried, but for the most part, don't seem to get over anymore, because today's fan has a difficult time suspending disbelief enough to allow for the cartoons to succeed. Today's fan also knows too much about the business, and the guys in it, for cartoons to work. Take Tensai for example. In the Warrior's time, that gimmick would have been huge. He would have been built up to be a monster that was fed to the champion... and it wouldn't have mattered that he used to have a completely different gimmick. The back story of American wrestler going to Japan, embracing the culture and coming back to destroy everyone in his path would have held up in the kayfabe era. Without kayfabe... well we all saw how that turned out.

Warrior would have similar problems because of the death of kayfabe. His blowing up as soon as he hit the ring. His Hoganesque feel no pain schtick. His complete lack of any real wrestling skill. The lack of feeder guys he could go over in less than a minute for the majority of his matches. All these things would be shit on by fans today.

Talking: Wrestlers today, more than in the Warrior's time, need to be able to talk... at least to some degree, to get over. A cartoon character like Warrior especially would need to be able to talk. The Ultimate Warrior simply couldn't. The biggest factor in the fact that his title reign failed is because of his rambling, non-sensical promo's (he was supposed to be the guy in the WWF for the 90's. He didn't even get to carry the title until Wrestlemania because he wasn't working as the top guy. McMahon would have put up with his diva like attitude backstage if Warrior as the top guy was working).

The Ultimate Warrior in 2013 would have to be a completely different character. Toned down. More serious. Hellwig couldn't cut a promo, so you make him a silent assassin. You'd need to give him an MMA inspired moveset, which would be difficult since Jim Hellwig wasn't a fighter. He was a bodybuilder. He was a guy that looked great, but couldn't put on a believable fight. Basically, you'd have to turn the character into more of a Goldberg, and I don't think he could have pulled that off.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Does Ryback? I'm going with yes and Warrior had as good of a look and more charisma than Ryback has so why wouldn't he work?

Frankly I think fans would be all over the Warrior if he wrestled in today's market. He would get blasted tearing apart his in ring work and mic skills but whatever. It seems most wrestlers get blasted for something. WWE is geared towards kids currently and a lot of them do know who Warrior is and like him so there ya go.

 

[dtroppe]

No. That exact character wouldn't work in todays climate for a couple reasons.

Reality factor: wrestling characters are more or less based in reality today. Cartoon gimmicks have been tried, but for the most part, don't seem to get over anymore, because today's fan has a difficult time suspending disbelief enough to allow for the cartoons to succeed. Today's fan also knows too much about the business, and the guys in it, for cartoons to work. Take Tensai for example. In the Warrior's time, that gimmick would have been huge. He would have been built up to be a monster that was fed to the champion... and it wouldn't have mattered that he used to have a completely different gimmick. The back story of American wrestler going to Japan, embracing the culture and coming back to destroy everyone in his path would have held up in the kayfabe era. Without kayfabe... well we all saw how that turned out.

Warrior would have similar problems because of the death of kayfabe. His blowing up as soon as he hit the ring. His Hoganesque feel no pain schtick. His complete lack of any real wrestling skill. The lack of feeder guys he could go over in less than a minute for the majority of his matches. All these things would be shit on by fans today.

Talking: Wrestlers today, more than in the Warrior's time, need to be able to talk... at least to some degree, to get over. A cartoon character like Warrior especially would need to be able to talk. The Ultimate Warrior simply couldn't. The biggest factor in the fact that his title reign failed is because of his rambling, non-sensical promo's (he was supposed to be the guy in the WWF for the 90's. He didn't even get to carry the title until Wrestlemania because he wasn't working as the top guy. McMahon would have put up with his diva like attitude backstage if Warrior as the top guy was working).

This is absurd. You could not be more off in you assessment.

1. Some of wrestling is based in reality- but there is still a cartoon or gimmicky aspect to wrestling. Lets look at the Undertaker and Kane as examples 1 and 2. The we move to the Funkasaurus and Fandango. How about Randy Orton and his snake like thing that is real cartoony in nature. And Sheamus the Celtic Warrior? I dont think he is. Now focus on the Warrior character from 96-98- sure it was still cartoony- but it was more realistic and well spoken than the Warrior of the early 90s.

2. Talking- Most of todays guys can't talk. Orton is horrible. Sheamus is horrible. Cena is corny. CM Punk is ok but doesnt draw. The part timers are great in the mic. Dean Ambrose can cut a good promo. Warrior has charisma- hence his rise to the top. Check out his Goldust promo and tell me he couldnt hang with todays guys. He is not Rock or Austin but who in WWE compares to those guys?

3. Remember when Sheamus went over BD in less than a minute. There is a place for that. It pumps up the crowd! Most WWE matches are short and designed to fit into a very specific TV spot. Warrior is capable of delivering an ok match. At the beginning of his career, he was very green. Hell when he was the WWF Champ, he had only been wrestling a few years. Guys like Bret Hart and HBK wrestled for many many many more years before they got a run. Check out Warrior's match with Owen Hart on Monday night RAW. Its a decent match. Sure Warrior v Hogan 2 was not so good, but Warrior had a torn bicep and neither he nor Hogan are great in the ring. I don't think people paid for the match to see wrestling technique. The midcarders can handle that.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

This is absurd. You could not be more off in you assessment.

No, I don't believe I am. To each their own of course.

1. Some of wrestling is based in reality- but there is still a cartoon or gimmicky aspect to wrestling. Lets look at the Undertaker and Kane as examples 1 and 2. The we move to the Funkasaurus and Fandango. How about Randy Orton and his snake like thing that is real cartoony in nature. And Sheamus the Celtic Warrior? I dont think he is. Now focus on the Warrior character from 96-98- sure it was still cartoony- but it was more realistic and well spoken than the Warrior of the early 90s.

No most of wrestling is based in reality these days. The majority of wrestlers today... use either their real names, or a gimmicked name that sounds like a real one. In large part, they don't even get nicknames to go along with them. There are no "Magnificent" Muraco's, Greg "The Hammer" Valentines, Jake "The Snake" Roberts. It's Zach Ryder, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan instead. Their ring gear... is largely traditional. Their methods and reasons for doing what they do, tend to be more logical, and not cartoonishly evil or good.

Your examples that cartoons still work are Undertaker and Kane? Two gimmicks that have been around seemingly forever? They're over and accepted because they've stood the test of time. Do you honestly believe that either of those gimmicks could be launched in 2013? Funkasaurus? He's a kiddy comedy act. Fandango? Not really a cartoon in the same vein as Warrior, but let's wait and see on him. Besides, one of the things helping Fandango is the fact that Johnny Curtis can actually work. Hellwig couldn't.

Also, the Warrior you're talking about (96-98), that was less 'cartoony' like you say and more realistic? That Warrior was a complete flop that never got over. And please... let's not insult anyone's intelligence by saying that the mystical Warrior from WCW was in any way 'realistic'. Or are you forgetting his trap door entrances that basically ruined Davey Boy Smiths career?

2. Talking- Most of todays guys can't talk. Orton is horrible. Sheamus is horrible. Cena is corny. CM Punk is ok but doesnt draw. The part timers are great in the mic. Dean Ambrose can cut a good promo. Warrior has charisma- hence his rise to the top. Check out his Goldust promo and tell me he couldnt hang with todays guys. He is not Rock or Austin but who in WWE compares to those guys?

I think you completely missed the point, and/or really didn't watch wrestling in the late 80's/early 90's. Back then, a guy didn't need to talk at all. You could get a guy over by having him crush nameless jobbers on Wrestling Challenge every Saturday morning. If he couldn't speak, you gave him a manager to get him over in that regard. You could build him slowly because you didn't have to come up with 52 weeks of live content on TV, and blow offs for 12 PPV's a year.

Send THIS out on RAW every week, and see how long it lasts...

[YOUTUBE]wVjGtQJX77o[/YOUTUBE]

3. Remember when Sheamus went over BD in less than a minute. There is a place for that. It pumps up the crowd! Most WWE matches are short and designed to fit into a very specific TV spot. Warrior is capable of delivering an ok match. At the beginning of his career, he was very green. Hell when he was the WWF Champ, he had only been wrestling a few years. Guys like Bret Hart and HBK wrestled for many many many more years before they got a run. Check out Warrior's match with Owen Hart on Monday night RAW. Its a decent match. Sure Warrior v Hogan 2 was not so good, but Warrior had a torn bicep and neither he nor Hogan are great in the ring. I don't think people paid for the match to see wrestling technique. The midcarders can handle that.

There is a place for one guy tearing through today's roster in minute or less matches because fans popped when Sheamus beat Bryan quick at Wrestlemania? Are you sure about that?

When they built the Warrior, do you know who they were putting him over to do it? A whole lot of guys who's names you would never recognize if you heard them. These weren't your Kurt Hawkins or Alex Riley's. These were guys who's only job in the business, for however many weeks they were actually in it, was to lose to guys like the Ultimate Warrior... so that the name guys didn't have to get buried instead.

Yes, Warrior could be carried to a good match or at least a decent match. Rude got good ones out of him. Hogan pulled a good one out of him. So did others too. But let's keep it real here. The credit for those matches goes to the opponents. Warrior himself had no psychology, no logic. Look at his best matches, and look at who the opponent was. I'd say that every time, the opponent was a strong worker (and yes Hogan knew how to work when he wasn't doing his regular routine). Watch any match that Warrior had with someone who wasn't a strong worker... and that match is most likely going to be crap.

Listen. With the way the roster is shaped today, it's just bad business to build a guy like Warrior was built. Back then, you could put a guy out on TV every week, have him dominate his opponents, and it didn't hurt the opponent, because 9 times out of 10, it was just some guy from the local wrestling school working one of his first matches. You can't do that today.

With today's audience, you need to make sure that the guy you're super pushing (like Warrior was pushed to get him over), is believable to some degree... or at least can handle big matches. That was never Warrior's strong suit.

The whole gimmick is something that worked in a particular time period, but wasn't timeless, and wasn't given to a guy who could reinvent it as the times changed to keep it relevant. It's a different time, and the sprinting, rope shaking, mystically speaking Ultimate Warrior wouldn't work anymore.

 

[Judah's Lion]

Warrior would and could work if he were launched next week on Raw. not necessarily the same Warrior from Mania 5-7, but Warrior could still work. he'd just need to tweak his gimmick some.

he's a big guy with a great look. his ring attire was colorful and his face paint was very recognizable. i'd think that he'd sell tons of merchandise just on that stuff alone.

i think of Goldberg, Batista and Ryback can get over, Warrior could today. again, because times have changed, he'd have to make some tweaks, but with the correct writing and direction, i think it'd be very possible.

one poster mentioned how today's wrestling is based much more in reality than when Warrior debuted with the WWF 20 years ago. guys use their real names or names that could be very real, their ring gear is largely traditional and they even lack nicknames. as such, i think Warrior would stand out that much more in today's wrestling and might get over even that much more.

again, as stated by the OP, this could only potentially and theoretically happen if Warrior got his build without steroids and if he didn't alienate himself from every person in and out of the ring.

 

[Owen 3:16 says I just stole your Slammy!!]

I think he would be huge today! His gimmick was strong back in the '80s and the kids took up on it. The WWE's main focus is kids, Warrior will be perfect for the role. I think the kids today would think he is cool with the face paint, running to the ring, and shaking the ropes. Vince has more tools today to make him more popular today then he would in the '80s, with social media, games, dvd's, etc. I think Warrior would be one of the top guys like he was in the '80s. Kids will buy into it like the kids did in the '80s.

 

[Makaveli31]

Everyone seems to be comparing Ryback and Goldberg to Warrior...to me they are WORLDS apart. You can go to any Gold's Gym and see a guy who looks and acts like Ryback and Goldberg. You're NOT going to see anyone like UW period!!

The thing that made Warrior was let's face it....the colorful face paint, the tassles, and the "look" the long hair, the physique that was "in" during the 80's and early 90's. It was also the promo's INTENSE talking about the "gods" and the "warriors" and rambling on and on...as far I know Goldberg or Ryback don't do that kind of promo.

And the Warrior IS the Warrior once you start "tweaking" it's not the Warrior anymore..and a different version. They tried "tweaking" him in '98 in WCW by having WALK to the ring....can we say BUST! Let's enjoy the Warrior in the time period he was meant for!!

 

[dtroppe]

There is a place for one guy tearing through today's roster in minute or less matches because fans popped when Sheamus beat Bryan quick at Wrestlemania? Are you sure about that?

When they built the Warrior, do you know who they were putting him over to do it? A whole lot of guys who's names you would never recognize if you heard them. These weren't your Kurt Hawkins or Alex Riley's. These were guys who's only job in the business, for however many weeks they were actually in it, was to lose to guys like the Ultimate Warrior... so that the name guys didn't have to get buried instead.

Yes, Warrior could be carried to a good match or at least a decent match. Rude got good ones out of him. Hogan pulled a good one out of him. So did others too. But let's keep it real here. The credit for those matches goes to the opponents. Warrior himself had no psychology, no logic. Look at his best matches, and look at who the opponent was. I'd say that every time, the opponent was a strong worker (and yes Hogan knew how to work when he wasn't doing his regular routine). Watch any match that Warrior had with someone who wasn't a strong worker... and that match is most likely going to be crap.

Listen. With the way the roster is shaped today, it's just bad business to build a guy like Warrior was built. Back then, you could put a guy out on TV every week, have him dominate his opponents, and it didn't hurt the opponent, because 9 times out of 10, it was just some guy from the local wrestling school working one of his first matches. You can't do that today.

With today's audience, you need to make sure that the guy you're super pushing (like Warrior was pushed to get him over), is believable to some degree... or at least can handle big matches. That was never Warrior's strong suit.

The whole gimmick is something that worked in a particular time period, but wasn't timeless, and wasn't given to a guy who could reinvent it as the times changed to keep it relevant. It's a different time, and the sprinting, rope shaking, mystically speaking Ultimate Warrior wouldn't work anymore.

A lot of big names put Warrior over- Honky Tonk Man, Hercules- much bigger names than Kurt Hawkins or Alex Riley. Guys like that and most of the WWE midcard will never be remembered and could easily be squashed. Who will ever remember Zach Ryder or any of the boring midcard guys that look and act the same.

Warrior was a wash in WCW because WCW did not know how to use a lot of guys and only brought him in to lose to Hogan. Hell Bret Hart flopped in WCW, as did a lot of the guys that came over from WWF. Without a place in the NWO most of the guys that jumped shipped from WWF would have been total flops.

The trap doors were a part of booking. If you watch the Warrior's interviews about WCW he said he showed up and was given the scripts at the last minute-as many of the WCW guys were. Warrior said that they paid him huge salaries to show up and not be used on TV.

Warriors gimmick was wrestling gear- trunks and boots -add some tassles and face paint. Why is that any different then wrestlers wearing masks in the ring? Its also very marketable. I bet you if LOD debuted as new wrestlers with their spiked football gear and face make-up - they would be able to get over. I also bet sting would be able to get over with his gimmick. Wrestling is about suspending reality. RYback comes out and used a canned catch phrase that is lame and boring - his look is dull. Warrior was much more charismatic and colorful- hence his raise to the very top.

Also, Warrior easily handled big matches, remember Hogan, Macho Man, and Sgt Slaughter?

 

[MrMojoRisin]

A lot of big names put Warrior over- Honky Tonk Man, Hercules- much bigger names than Kurt Hawkins or Alex Riley. Guys like that and most of the WWE midcard will never be remembered and could easily be squashed. Who will ever remember Zach Ryder or any of the boring midcard guys that look and act the same.

Yeah a lot of name guys did put Warrior over too. But that was after Warrior had first got over on Challenge and Superstars by running through the squash matches every week. One of my points with that, is that option isn't available in todays WWE.

Also, keep in mind that back then, Warrior could have guys like HTM, Hercules, Rick Martel and others put him over for months on the house show circuit without it affecting those guys at all. Where you might have seen Warrior go over a Martel once on a SNME, you wouldn't have known that they probably had over 50 matches on the house shows too. And since you could then just book Martel on TV winning squashes for several weeks, that SNME loss doesn't hurt Martel that much, and you don't affect his drawing power. Today's culture is more that if you put someone over one night, then the guy that did the job needs to get the win back eventually as well, simply because everything is that much more condensed with the weekly live TV and monthly PPV schedule. That alone changes how well you could get a guy like the Warrior over today, because if he comes in as strong as he did the first time, it will be at the expense of knocking down too many other guys on the roster.

Warrior was a wash in WCW because WCW did not know how to use a lot of guys and only brought him in to lose to Hogan. Hell Bret Hart flopped in WCW, as did a lot of the guys that came over from WWF. Without a place in the NWO most of the guys that jumped shipped from WWF would have been total flops.

Warrior was in mid-90's WWF too. He was off the juice, didn't look nearly as imposing (he was wearing the singlet to hide the fact that he wasn't as big anymore)... simply because the gimmick wasn't one that the fans believed in anymore. Yeah it was also because the guys a headcase and a pain in the ass to deal with backstage, but I specifically remember him during this time and thinking "meh, it's just not the same anymore". I was a Warrior fan in the 80's too.

The trap doors were a part of booking. If you watch the Warrior's interviews about WCW he said he showed up and was given the scripts at the last minute-as many of the WCW guys were. Warrior said that they paid him huge salaries to show up and not be used on TV.

Of course that was part of the booking. My point was, they weren't realistic and you were arguing that this time period is when he was more of a realistic character (he magically can appear in the ring? Yeah Undertaker does the same thing, but he was always able to do stuff like that - with Warrior it was some mystical skill he obtained out of nowhere)

Warriors gimmick was wrestling gear- trunks and boots -add some tassles and face paint. Why is that any different then wrestlers wearing masks in the ring? Its also very marketable. I bet you if LOD debuted as new wrestlers with their spiked football gear and face make-up - they would be able to get over. I also bet sting would be able to get over with his gimmick. Wrestling is about suspending reality. RYback comes out and used a canned catch phrase that is lame and boring - his look is dull. Warrior was much more charismatic and colorful- hence his raise to the very top.

Yes Warriors gear was mostly traditional. I wasn't saying it wasn't. I was saying that compared to back then, today's wrestlers look more traditional than a lot of the guys that competed. It was simply a comment on how things have changed. Warrior wearing traditional gear though, didn't change the fact that he was more of a cartoon than a lot of the guys that didn't look traditional.

I think you could debut an LOD or a Sting today looking the same as they did back then... because it wasn't their looks that sustained them. It was the fact that they could deliver inside the ring. That's the simple truth about anyone who not only makes it, but can sustain it. Warrior couldn't. He could be carried, which got him far. But there is a huge difference between a guy that can be carried to good to passable matches each night... and a guy that can deliver good to great matches every night.

Also, Warrior easily handled big matches, remember Hogan, Macho Man, and Sgt Slaughter?

I don't know about 'easily', but I decided to go back and look at Warrior/Slaughter just to see. Actually two of them. A Coliseum Video match that happened a couple weeks before the Rumble, and the Rumble match. Basically the same match except for the overbooking of the Rumble match, but a few things stood out for me.

- Slaughter was the guy leading the matches, and he was bumping like a madman to put over how strong the Warrior was supposed to be (Slaughter was always a great bump man)
- In the Coliseum Video one, the fans are actually chanting for Hogan about a minute in. Kind of says how well Warrior was doing at the time
- Take away the Savage/Sherri part of the Rumble match, and the action isn't great. Warrior was just so limited in the ring. They were definitely better than the first match, which is just one of the worst I can remember seeing.
- Warrior's psychology is non-existent. There's a spot where Slaughter puts Warrior into a bear hug, and Warrior starts flailing his arms wildly in the air. He comes close to hitting Slaughter about a dozen times, but never touches him until the time comes for his 'Hulk-up" recovery. It just looks bad and took me out of the match (and they'd been telling a pretty good story up till that point).
- they use the same spot in both matches, where Slaughter puts the camel clutch on with Warrior's feet underneath the ropes. After about 30 seconds, the ref notices and taps Slaughter on the shoulder, who thinks that Warrior submits and he's won the match. Horrible spot. Don't know if it was meant to keep the camel clutch strong for Slaughter, or because it was asking too much to have Warrior try and break it another way.

So no, I disagree that Warrior easily handled big matches. The better his opponent, the better his matches (Slaughter was pretty much done by this point and was still the better guy in the ring). The thing with that though... is how many great workers are there today to carry a guy like him? Not as many as there were back then.

If they tried running an Ultimate Warrior today, they'd have to bury half the roster to get him over, and then he'd have a limited run on top because there would only be so many people that could get a strong match out of him before you'd run out of opponents. He couldn't carry a storyline because his promo's were laughable. It would just be a disaster. Sorry. I know you like the guy and everything, but I just don't see how it would work.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

Forget the character. There has been a ton of "crazy strong monster" characters in the WWE in recent years. I want to know if the look would still work in the WWE today. The facepaint. The bright tights. The long hair. The tassels on the boots and wrist bands. Can a character as colourful and over the top from an appearance standpoint work today? Another example is early 90s Sting with the facepaint, spikey blonde hair and colourful tights.

In the attitude era, everything became more based in reality or edgy, instead of bright and colourful. And today's stars seem to be a watered down version of that look. So would the Ultimate Warrior / surfer Sting look work in the WWE today? Face paint used to be common in wrestling (Legion of Doom, Demolition, Papa Shango, etc). So did ridiculous names like Animal, Hawk, Sting, Crush, Smash, Ultimate Warrior.... I kind of wish some one other than emo Jeff Hardy would try it.

 

[blue_moon]

My opinion is that the Warrior would work in today's wrestling but only if he had never existed in the past. Basically I am saying if they were to bring the Warrior back I think he would flop but if hypothetically speaking the Warrior never existed in the past and he was brought into WWE or TNA today I feel the gimmick would be just as successful as it was back in the olden days.

The Warrior was awesome. Some of the feuds he was in were my favouires of all time and an off the wall character like this would be a breath of fresh air. It doesn't matter that he wasn't the greatest wrestler in the world, there are plenty of great wrestlers out there for us to watch. The Warrior was just exciting to watch. He was like a superhero. The kids would love him.

Warrior worked best with with the likes of Shango, Taker and Jake Roberts so I would add for it to truely work they may need to bring in some other extreme gimmicks to complement him. In fact lets scap all these dull black trunks wearing clones of today and go back to the good old days of wrestling clowns, garbage men and race car drivers...haha.

 

[Miko]

Warrior would work in any wrestling crowd.

Warrior was awesome.

Warrior was the greatest champion of all time.

Warrior should be in the Hall Of Fame.

Warrior is god.

 

[HBsam31]

Different time different era....Ultimate Warrior would look so out of place it today's "reality-based" theme where guys use normal-sounding names and all look alike. Ultimate Warrior was larger than life...a real life superhero....you have none of that in today's WWE.

This is kinda how I feel about it. The character would have to be seriously tweeked for it to work today. He would just look so out of place. It could go the complete other way though, and he would be so different and intense that the fans would just cling to him. I think though of the two options that him being out of place and awkward is the most likely. I just find it hard to believe that with his incoherent promos and almost cartoon character look that anyone could really take him seriously today.