Ultimate Warrior Question

D-FENS

I recently bought the Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior dvd (12.99 in Golden Discs, not a bad price),

anyway, during the segment where they are talking about him no showing for some advertised dates in '96, it shows a poster for a house show in July of that year which he missed, the main event match on the poster clearly states WWF Title match - Ultimate Warrior (Champion) vs. Vader.

I know WWE have poster / adverts for upcoming shows done in advance, which are sometimes an advance spoiler for things to come, but where WWE actually planning for HBK, who only won the belt at 'mania, to drop it to the Warrior?

I find it very hard to believe, given the supposed reputation the Warrior had during that '96 comeback, so maybe it was a mistake on the poster, but a bloody big mistake to make i would have thought, did anyone ever hear anything about this?

Warrior was gone by the following month anyway, and HBK defended the title against Vader at Summerslam you may recall (House shows are used as practice runs for televised events as we all know,so was the Warrior in the plans for that match?)

ShawnRaven

Well for a start, i'd find it very odd that they'd drop a major title like that at a house show anyway. Occasionally they'd do it with the IC or tag titles if there was an injury (Booker T to Christian in 2003) or if someone was forced into retirement (Headshrinkers to Diesel and HBK in 1994), but not with the big one.

Also HBK wasn't pencilled for a long run initially, he threw a hissyfit and got to keep it til November, Vader was meant to take that belt at Summerslam 96 initially.

VR!

D-FENS

VR,

I'm not implying that the title was due to change hands at a house show, just that it was advertised to be defended, by the Warrior, at that particular house show.
The actual title change, if there was one planned, would have obviously had to occur before that, at KOTR or an In your House perhaps.
But again, I’m not implying this was the case, I’m merely questioning the strangeness of the advert.
But also, for the record, although unusual as you say, the WWF title has changed hands at house shows - Bret Hart's 1st title win against Flair in '92 and Diesel's win over Bob Backlund in '94

Vince135792003

When the Warrior came back I'm sure there was alot of uncertainty about how over he could be in comparison to the past. This is just my hunch but I think there would have been a "wait and see approach" to him.

If his return clicked, they might have put the belt on him even if he had a very checkered past. I mean the WWF wasn't exactly flying high at the time.

ShawnRaven

D-FENS wrote:

But also, for the record, although unusual as you say, the WWF title has changed hands at house shows - Bret Hart's 1st title win against Flair in '92 and Diesel's win over Bob Backlund in '94

Very true, altho in the former case, Flair was leaving to return for WCW and prepping to put Hennig over for his comeback.

Back to the original point though, they obviously didn't have a lot of faith in HBK's run if he was planning to pass it over to Vader initially. But then Vince was obsessed with big slugs, look at Lashley!

VR!

ShawnRaven

Vince135792003 wrote:

If his return clicked, they might have put the belt on him even if he had a very checkered past. I mean the WWF wasn't exactly flying high at the time.

If i recall correctly, he was just as bad for his return in 92. Played up the creative control card a lot and was meant to turn heel for the Savage feud at Summerslam but changed the booking at last minute. Between that and holding Vince up in 91, Vince had no intention of a long term run for Warrior. It would have lasted about 3 weeks to a month max just as transitional champion.

VR!

Fozzy

I'm not sure about this, but are you sure the poster was an actual poster from that time? It might have just been something the dvd makers threw together to illustrate a point. I remember there being something like that on some documentary I've seen, the poster was blatantly not correct

ShawnRaven

Fozzy wrote:

I'm not sure about this, but are you sure the poster was an actual poster from that time? It might have just been something the dvd makers threw together to illustrate a point. I remember there being something like that on some documentary I've seen, the poster was blatantly not correct

Quite possible, after all from the second half of that documentary onwards they did everything they could to bury the warrior. Including from Hogan saying his pre Mania VI promo was completely wacky, forgetting that his own one was equally weird!

And what was so bad about bringing up that victory at Halloween Havoc 98? Announcers used the previous match for weeks leading towards the buildup!

Odd **** altogether
VR!