The Ultimate Warrior’s Top Rivalries in His WWE Career

 No.3:  Hulk Hogan 

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This is where some may differ from me on the list – but if we were talking real life rivals then I’d agree Hogan would be up to the top. This rivalry was starting backstage in reality.  There was reports of the Warrior’s merchandise selling higher amounts than Hogan’s – this obviously caught the attention of Vince McMahon.

To Hogan’s defense – he had been the guy for so long that he may have been getting a little stale to some fans but he was also getting tired himself.  It was time for a new star to take the ball from Hogan and start to run with it.

The first on-screen encounter of this soon-to-be rivalry was at the 1990 Royal Rumble.  The Warrior entered the Rumble and started to dominate, then Hogan would enter the Rumble and he also would clean out the rest of the ring.  The two got rid of everyone in the ring leaving Hogan on one side and the Warrior on the other.  After the last guy went out – both men turned to see who was behind them – and the “Ultimate” face off happened.

At first there was just a look but the crowd was buzzing! Never before on television had two “good-guys” faced off – especially the top two.  They got into each others face and then would run at each other and collide – no budge. Another run at the ropes with criss-crossing and they’d level each other with closelines.

That would be the end of their Rumble encounter.  But it got the attention of the fans and of the powers that be and the match was shortly thereafter announced – Champion vs. Champion – baby face vs. baby face – No.1 vs. No. 2 – and it would happen at WrestleMania VI at Toronto’s Sky Dome.

The two would have to team up in a tag team match on Saturday Night’s Main Event broadcast against Mr. Perfect and The Genius.

After the match while the ref was holding up Hogan’s and Warrior’s arms – Mr. Perfect would attack them and knocked Hogan out of the ring.  Warrior swinging away and driving both Perfect and The Genius out of the ring – Hogan would also get hit trying to help the Warrior.  The feud was now at full burn and ready to boil over.

WrestleMania VI is called by a lot one of the more memorable matches in WrestleMania history.  A lot of current wrestlers still have fond memories of that match – namely Edge who was at the event.

It was a split crowd it seemed – half for Hogan and half for Warrior.  Both men had a great match – Warrior ending up the winner and a new era was established in the WWE.

The feud never rekindled in the WWE but WCW who needed a jolt to get over in the ratings war during the Monday Night War – paid the Warrior a lot of money to come in and to have the rematch that never happened.

The WCW feud was nothing memorable – actually it was quite forgettable.  With cheesy segments with Hogan seeing the Warrior in the mirror and those type of stunts – it didn’t recapture the magic that was in 1990.

They would have a match at Halloween Havoc that Hogan would call his worst match ever – I don’t think the Warrior disagreed.  In typical WCW fashion – everything they did was half effort compared to what WWE did for their top stories.

Hogan did get his rematch and he did get the win this time – but the match was nothing even close to the original.

Still to this day, WrestleMania VI was one of my all-time favorite shows.

Next: No. 2: Don't be Rude