Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: The One Warrior Nation – WCW, 1998
History
At this time, the NWO was running roughshod over everyone else in WCW. On August 18th, however, things started changing.
Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff were in the middle of the ring talking about how great they were, when the lights went out. Suddenly a shadowy figure appeared on the ramp and made his way to the ring. It was the Ultimate Warrior! Then Warrior got hold of a microphone and things just went downhill. This has to be seen to be believed. Courtesy of ddtdigest.com, here is a transcript of what happened after Warrior’s arrival.
Warrior: Talk to me warriors!
Bobby Heenan: Look at Hogan!
Warrior: Feel the real power, Hogan!
Hollywood Hogan: I…I thought you were dead!
[“Warrior” chant begins.]
Warrior: Who holds the absolute power now, Hollywood Hogan? [Pop] Unleash that raising voice, warriors! [Pop]
Tony Schiavone: This is the last thing in the entire universe that Hogan ever expected. And you can see it. I never saw him shake before, but Hogan was shaking.
Warrior: Seems as if no formal introduction is gonna be necessary! [Pop] Actually, it even seems that there are those who anticipated my arrival! [Pop]
Bobby Heenan: Well, they’re glad he’s here!
Tony Schiavone: Hogan is..Hogan’s..I think Hogan is s…I think he’s scared to death. I think he wants to make amends.
[Hogan removes his NWO shirt and offers it to the Warrior.]
Tony Schiavone: He..he’s doing everything…look at this. He took off…he wants him to join him! He wants him to join him!
Bobby Heenan: There’s the act of a coward, right there.
Warrior: What is that smell? [Hogan drops the shirt.] You might wanna use that [the shirt] to clean up the mess you just made all over yourself. [Pop] You need to open your eyes and ears, take control of the limited ability you have to understand the words I am about to say. For years, I have watched while this industry, with you as its figurehead, try to recreate what is simply unrecreatable. [Pop] I have heard, listened to all the innuendoes and speculation that something ULTIMATE or WARRIOR may soon re-appear. [Pop] Welcome to the reappearance! Those things, Hogan, which are irreplaceable, whether they be people, places, or things, are never forgotten. You are witnessing that RIGHT NOW!
Bobby Heenan: Hogan is visibly shaken.
Tony Schiavone: Hah! I he-d-he-I—speechless. Has no idea where to go, what to say, what to do next. And the fans here are into it!
Bobby Heenan: He’s at a loss for words.
Tony Schiavone: Bischoff looks sick. [Eric is doubled over at the stomach.]
Warrior: History tells us, Hogan… [LOUD “Hogan Sucks” chant begins. Warrior signals it to end.] Let’s talk about something he doesn’t know. [Pop]
Bobby Heenan: Bingo!
Warrior: History tells us, Hogan, that a man’s legacy is built from the premise that within his life, the moments lived, once lived, become a piece of his history. Somehow, you have conveniently, even eloquently misplaced pieces of your history. In the one time, epical battle between us, Hogan, you were the quintessential influence of what was good, great, and heroic. But different than you may remember, and albeit you may have beaten myths, legends, giants, and other great men, you NEVER, NEVER beat a warrior. [Pop]
Bobby Heenan: Right up in his face!
Tony Schiavone: Right in his soul is what he is.
Warrior: AND, CERTAINLY, NOT THE ULTIMATE ONE! [Pop] As the victor of that one time battle, I defeated what was, until then, undefeatable. I conquered what was then unconquerable. I dominated what was, until then, indomitable. On that day, you were great. I WAS ULTIMATE! [Pop] Let me introduce myself…to those two fools that stand behind you. Let’s see, this…dude [Disciple]…must be your barber. [Slow pop] [Tony, Heenan and Tenay chuckle on that one.] And who are you, little man? [Eric] Who are you?
Tony Schiavone: Introduce yourself, here.
Eric Bischoff: You know who I am. My name is Eric Bischoff and I run this company and who invited you?
Warrior: [laughs] Different than you wanna make people believe, I never received an invitation. I showed up on my own accord. And let me tell you, Mr. Eric Bischoff, if you stick your nose in my business, you will only very quickly prepare for your own demise. [Pop] Furthermore, when I get done with my business here, I’m gonna be sending you a bill. I suggest you pay it. I have…waited…patiently. The WARRIORS have waited all too patiently. Now…NOW…the virtue of justice unties my hands so that I can continue to fulfill a destiny set in motion on that memorable day years ago. A destiny at the next level. A destiny beckoning the next superhero. [Pop] There really is no sadder sight than when a grown man fears the challenges in his life so much that he rationalizes adolescent behavior to the point where he carries out heinous and self-indulgent actions. Your evilness, an evilness you embodied and portray, is intolerable. I am the one that has the power to destroy you. [Pop] In sorts, Hogan, the truth is inexhaustible. I come here, not to beat you up tonight, Hogan. [boos] Beating you means nothing anymore, everybody already has. [Pop]
Bobby Heenan: Now to Hogan, that hurts.
Warrior: No no no no no no no no no, that’s too easy. Because you felt guilty for being who you were. Your mind became weak, and Hulkamania became boring. I come here, Hogan, to tell you — NEXT WEEK — I intend to launch a revolution not even you can control. [Pop] I ask you to find the courage — check it out. Next week. Same Warrior time. Same Warrior place. Same Warrior channel. *snort* [Pop]
[The lights dim and the ring quickly fills with smoke. The lights flash 4 or 5 times and then turn back on. The smoke quickly dissipates to reveal the Warrior is gone…]
And the whole thing only ran about twenty minutes or so. Hey, it’s no problem. What else would they have used that time for?
The next week on Nitro, Hogan opened the show by talking about how Warrior had vanished for 8 years after beating Hogan. Well, that’s true unless you count his return in 1992 or 1996.
Anyway, later in the show, Warrior came out and again unfortunately had a microphone. Don’t worry. I’ll spare you. The gist of this rant was to announce the formation of the One Warrior Nation (OWN, get it?). Then he announced that the Revolution would continue the next week.
Because Warrior was Warrior, he didn’t work Thunder. Nitro opened with Bischoff and Hogan heading to the ring. Bischoff talked and said that Warrior would not be wrestling that night. That brought Warrior out, and once he was in the ring, the NWO black and white surrounded the ring. No problem. Warrior simply vanished in a puff of smoke.
The smoke came back at the end of the show. Bret Hart and Hogan had just been counted of a match where they were taking on Sting and Lex Luger. Suddenly the smoke filled the ring and the New World Order charged the ring. When the lights came back on, the Warrior was in the ring and the NWO (except for Hogan and Hart) were down.
Nitro opened the next week with Hogan and Bischoff storming out of his dressing room. It seems that “somebody” had vandalized it by painting Warrior masks and OWN all over it. After a quick ringside search (and they did remember to check under the ring), Hogan hyped the upcoming War Games match by naming his team – himself, the Giant (Big Show), and the Disciple (Brutus Beefcake).
Later in the night, Vincent (Virgil) brought Hogan and Bischoff to another dressing room. This one had also been spray painted, but also had the Disciple hanging upside down from the ceiling.
After the main event, Hogan and the Giant were showing off a steel cage. Suddenly the smoke filled the ring and when it cleared Warrior was sitting inside with the Giant on the mat. Hogan hit Warrior with a chair, and then Warrior started shaking the ropes. Hogan and Bischoff chained the cage shut as smoke filled the ring again. Unfortunately the show ended before we could see that the Warrior was gone again.
That brought us to Fall Brawl – where we had a War Games match for the main event. There were three three-man teams: NWO Wolfpack was represented by Sting, Luger, and Kevin Nash; NWO Hollywood was Hogan, Stevie Ray, and Bret Hart; and Team WCW was Diamond Dallas Page, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and the Warrior. The match was going when finally it came time for Warrior to appear. The ring filled with smoke and Warrior was there when it cleared. When Hogan started getting the upper hand, the smoke came back and Warrior was gone. Warrior then came running out of the back. Hogan finally cleared out and he and Disciple locked the cage. Warrior bashed open a corner of the cage to get out and chased Hogan to the back as Page pinned Stevie Ray to earn a title shot against Goldberg at Halloween Havoc.
It took two weeks for Warrior to reappear. Nitro opened with the ring filling with smoke that revealed the Disciple lying there. As the NWO headed out to retrieve him, the smoke came back and he vanished. You see, the Disciple was now in the arena’s rafters, alongside the Warrior who challenged Hogan again.
Later, Hogan, Bischoff, Vincent, and Stevie Ray were in the ring when Warrior appeared on the ramp and told Hogan to come get him. Hogan obliged, only for the magical Warrior-removing smoke to do its work again. Dejected, Hogan, Bischoff, and Stevie headed on down the hall to Hogan’s dressing room, which just happened to have an OWN logo of fire on the wall. Rather than evacuate the building due to the fire, we saw the Disciple lying on a bathroom floor, then vanish in the magical smoke.
Hogan returned to the ring after the main event and demanded Warrior come out. Warrior poofed into the ring, and was joined by the Disciple, who was now sporting an OWN jacket of his very own.
The next Nitro opened with Hogan challenging Warrior. Not to be outdone, Warrior later got a microphone of his own and challenged Hogan. By the way, the reason I’m not saying more of what they said is simply that I don’t know. Warrior’s ramblings were so incoherent; I don’t know what he was talking about. Anybody know Christian’s number so he could translate?
Anyway, later the Disciple beat Lenny Lane. Immediately after the match, we got the infamous segment where Hogan and Bischoff went into Hogan’s dressing room and the Warrior appeared in Hogan’s mirror. This is notable because Hogan saw Warrior, the crowd saw Warrior, the commentators saw Warrior, but Bischoff didn’t. I don’t know what the purpose of this segment was, but it was only successful if the goal was to make Bischoff look like a moron.
Thunder saw the Disciple keeping the Warrior fire going. Before his match with Horace, he talked about how he had had a successful career without Hogan, he was tired of Hogan’s games, and Horace was Hogan’s nephew. Disciple won and fought with Horace on the floor after the match.
Nitro was notable for one reason – Hogan and Bret Hart challenged the Warrior and Sting to a tag team match. Schiavone wasted no time in reminding everyone that the Warrior and Sting had actually broken into the business together as the Blade Runners.
The main event saw the first time Warrior wrestled in WCW. His contribution? Three clotheslines. Hogan clocked Warrior from behind, and Warrior responded by turning and waving his finger at Hogan. That brought out the NWO for the DQ. After that, Warrior grabbed Hogan’s weightlifting belt and attacked anyone he could with it, finally running off the entire NWO.
On Nitro, Hogan demolished Horace for some reason (he said to show Warrior a “sacrifice” and that brought the Warrior out, armed with a bat. He leveled the NWO (Giant, Vincent, Stevie Ray, and Scott Norton) and turned to Hogan. Hogan said that he’d face Warrior if he’d just drop the bat. Warrior was overcome by a case of the stupids and did so, only to get chokeslammed and spray painted for his trouble.
That brought us to Halloween Havoc 1998 – where Hogan and the Warrior met for the first time since their main event match at Wrestlemania VI. Now, something needs to be explained here. Hogan has never been classified as a technical wizard, although he was overflowing with charisma. Warrior also had a ton of charisma, and a paper-thin playbook. The reason the Wrestlemania match had been so good was the fact that Pat Patterson had laid out the match to emphasize both men’s strengths and to camouflage their weaknesses.
The problem was that this was WCW, and there was no Pat Patterson here. The result is what has been called one of the worst matches of all time. In WCW tradition, the NWO would run in and the Warrior would run them off. In the moment that finally destroyed the match, Hogan pulled out a lighter and prepared to throw a fireball. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the lighter to work, so Warrior just had to stagger around. Then when Hogan did get the lighter to light, the fireball went off in his hand. Finally Bischoff distracted the referee and Horace clocked Warrior with a chair. Hogan got the pin, and this fiasco was over.
The next night on Nitro, the Warrior came out and proclaimed that although Hogan had had the chance to face the challenge the night before, he had failed. Hogan came out with his entourage, and Warrior ran them out of the ring.
It took two weeks for us to see the Warrior again. The Disciple was doing an interview with Tony Schiavone when he was interrupted by the NWO. That led to Horace trying to jump Disciple, only to be beaten back. That brought Vincent in, and the Disciple was able to hold both of them back. Stevie Ray entered the ring and the odds were finally overpowering. That brought the Warrior out who cleaned house and crammed an OWN shirt into Horace’s mouth before pitching him.
And that was the end of Warrior’s run in WCW.
Analysis
Class, welcome to Bad Booking 101. I know that you were expecting to hear about Vince Russo’s contributions to this great sport, but you’ll get to that in higher levels.
Where can I begin with what went wrong here? Let’s start at the beginning.
First, the Warrior has never – and I repeat never – been known for his promo skills. Giving him a live microphone for 15 minutes killed the crowd, and any interest in the angle. Also, it was just hokey – a spotlight would shine with Warrior’s facepaint and he would appear.
The smoke and trapdoor looked good, but a trapdoor should never be in a wrestling ring. While Davey Boy Smith was doing something unique in a WCW ring (wrestling) he landed back-first on the trapdoor and wound up suffering a life-threatening staph infection (with his recovery being aided by Bischoff, who helpfully fired him).
The other problem was Warrior’s wrestling skills. They had never been stellar, and had decayed over the eight years since his first run with the WWF, aided partially by his inactive runs over the years.
Hogan’s skills were likewise being diminished. Even though he was still working a full schedule (well, for Hogan), he was eight years older than he had been during the first battle. Add in the loss of Pat Patterson’s contributions, (and I have to say this. Despite what people may say, you have to admit that Patterson does have an incredible mind for wrestling) and you had a disaster in the making. That disaster arrived on pay-per-view, which also helpfully cut off immediately before the main event. Looking back, I’m sure that Bischoff would just as soon pretend that Halloween Havoc 1998 never happened.
Where are they now?
Hulk Hogan is still working on and off with the WWE. He was brought in for the failed NWO invasion, and any bad feeling between he and Vince McMahon appear to be gone. Hogan also has gotten a reality TV show on VH1 called “Hogan Knows Best,” where cameras tape his family’s daily lives. Hogan’s latest WWE appearance was on the Raw Homecoming episode, where he challenged Steve Austin to a match.
The Ultimate Warrior returned home to Arizona following this run and has been absent from the wrestling scene ever since. His only contribution has been an appearance in Acclaim’s final Legends of Wrestling video game. The Warrior has come back into the spotlight as the WWE released a DVD titled “The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior,” which was a complete and total burial of the Warrior which went beyond attacking him as a wrestler and also went after him as a human being. The Warrior’s official website is http://www.ultimatewarrior.com .
The Disciple (who has returned to his persona as Brutus Beefcake) still works the occasional independent show.
From the Mailbag
The winner of the person who you feel should have the Smackdown world title wasn’t surprising as a clear majority of you spoke loud and clear for Christian.
Serge Levesque (who gets special mention for his use of the phrase “I’m ready to give out a kidney to a hungry hobo”) hit the nail on the head. Here’s how he put it:
“Most fans have been yearning for him to get a proper push for over 2 years now. (Put me in at 4). He’d be accepted as a main eventer if the writers only did one thing. DON’T GET IN HIS WAY! Let him do his thing. He has enough charisma and mic skills and he is smart enough to use them properly. Let him call out his peeps. Let him mention his Christian Coalition. Whenever he was given a few weeks of momentum to do so in the past (like during the draft or in his mini feud against The Rock a good while ago), his popularity increased by leaps and bounds, only to falter soon after because the E did not capitalize on it.
Christian seems to be given this opportunity to speak more for a few weeks once every year or so. So it’s bound to happen again (especially when they’ll run out of options in Smackdown’s main event). When it does happen, this time instead of losing that momentum by sending Christian back to tread waters in the mid-card, he has to be given a high-profile feud. The best candidates here are Benoit and Guerrero. I’ve personally been yearning for a feud between Christian and Eddie when Eddie won the WWE Championship. The idea of a verbal sparring between these 2 makes me giggle like a little girl. And the matches ought to be very interesting. Dave is fine as a champion and Christian shouldn’t get involved. If there’s one flaw I have to fault Christian for it’s that he’s yet unable to look good in a match against an opponent substantially larger than him, like Benoit or Guerrero can. If either of these 2 get the title back at some point (which I believe will happen, sometime post Wrestlemania), then Christian can shine in a feud
against whoever holds the belt, then feud with the other to cement his credibility as a champion…”
A while back a story broke about Christian being unhappy with his position on the card. How can you fault him? The feud with John Cena they’d been teasing for months was promising to catapult him to the main event. Instead, they put Cena over him in one match and then booted him to Smackdown. Brilliant booking, fellas.
Eric S. has another candidate, and one that I agree with as well.
“…There’s someone out there who deserves it, has mark cred, can get the title off of Batista now without diverging from current booking, and has the track record to run with the title and do something with it.
That person is, of course, one Booker Huffman.
He’s been a fixture in the upper-mid-card since WCW was bought. He’s getting a big push right now using his wife. He may be nearing retirement, but he still has the skills to hold it together in the ring (in case you’re wondering about the age thing, both he and Batista are in their late 30s). He matches up well with anyone in the upper card or upper-mid-card; he’s virtually the only person other than Benoit and Eddy that you can say that about. He’s totally credible to both marks and smarks. He gets huge pops from the audience. And he’s got proven promo skills.
So why the hell not give him the strap as a “sunset cruise” thing? It would introduce something missing from the title picture right now: uncertainty. The match booking is simple: Booker wins a Number One Contender’s Match, Paisley does the outside assist in the title match, Booker takes advantage (or else you have Dorkboy interfere to set up a
Batista/Orton program). At that point, you can go anywhere with the numerous challengers. Even Rey-Rey would be credible in this scenario. Have Booker hold on to it long enough to set up a multiple-participant match at WM, and you’ve got a winner for the Smackdown main event there.
The nice thing about this is that everybody wins. Booker wins because he gets one final title reign. The upper-mid-card and upper card win because all of them become credible challengers and get a nice push out of it. The audience wins because we get an exciting title chase; it’s dull now because we know that Batista will beat the living shit out of
everyone who faces him. All WWE has to do is play that aspect of uncertainty up and let it run from there. The only thing they have to be careful about is not making Booker look weak; we all saw what happened to Jericho in this situation, and we don’t want a repeat of that.
Booker as champion will work. All they have to do is try it.”
In my humble opinion, Booker T’s been mishandled since WCW was purchased in 2001. He was a legitimate main eventer, and was the person that was chosen (by the WWE themselves, mind you) to be the WCW champion after the buyout. Everything was set perfectly. The WWE would relaunch WCW as its own brand, and Booker would be the champion. They even took an episode of Raw and gave WCW the last half-hour to shine.
The problem was that the championship bout was between Booker T and Buff Bagwell. Although Bagwell was known by the fans, the match was a disaster and the crowd turned on it halfway through. That sent the WWE into panic mode. The idea of a WCW show was killed and the Invasion was born. Booker would trade the belt with Kurt Angle a time or two, before finally losing it to the Rock. The closest he would come after that was a feud with HHH which ended the same was as HHH’s feuds with Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, Scott Steiner, Kane, and almost everyone else have ended – with the challenger looking weak and having their credibility destroyed.
One final note from Will Bryant put a smile on my face: “…Tonight, while channel surfing for something to watch during some of the lamer parts of Raw, I happened upon “I Love The 80’s: 3-D” on VH1. At one point, there was a segment on Loverboy, and the first person they showed commentary from made me think of your column. They started off a bit on Loverboy by interviewing Chris Jericho. It was so perfect.”
I am actually going to have to see this. The only thing that would have made this even better would have been for Jericho to point at the camera and scream for Lenny Lane to give him his tapes back again.
Next week
Papa Shango, v.2.
