marrklarr Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Probably not the first guy around here to make this observation, but it just occurred to me that the list of wrestlers who put over the Ultimate Warrior reads like a Who's-Who of all-time greats. The number and magnitude of ring legends who laid down for this dude is absolutely staggering. And most of them did so on the biggest stage of all, Wrestlemania! Hogan Andre' Savage Triple-H Rude Am I missing anybody? These are clean wins too! All of them. It goes without saying that he didn't deserve it, and many have said that he didn't even appreciate what these guys were doing for him. I bring it up not to trash the guy, but just to express how completely mind-blowing it is. Really, it's too easy to slag on Warrior. Plus it's been done to death; overdone, really. (Am I the only one who watched the WWE-produced doc The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior and felt like the criticism was so over-the-top that it actually made him seem sympathetic? It made me want to defend the crazy bastard.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherwagner Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Vader did a lot of house show one minute jobs for Warrior. DiBiase lost to Warrior on the AJPW/NJPW/WWF Wrestling Summit in a crappy match. If you want a better match, even with a DQ finish, watch the one from The Main Event in 1990. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduardo Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 I'm pretty sure Ultimate Warrior beat the Undertaker via clean pinfall, body bag match stipulations, count out and DQ. EDIT: Ultimate Warrior also cleanly pinned Jerry Lawler. It was 1996 though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marrklarr Posted October 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 I'm pretty sure Ultimate Warrior beat the Undertaker via clean pinfall, body bag match stipulations, count out and DQ. EDIT: Ultimate Warrior also cleanly pinned Jerry Lawler. It was 1996 though. Come to think of it, I saw Warrior put the Undertaker in a body bag at a house show in 1991. Didn't seem quite as significant at the time. Taker was red hot, but Warrior was still a bigger star then. But in retrospect, yeah, he definitely belongs on the list of all-star JTTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Harley Race Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Warrior must have beat Mr Perfect at some point, surely? He definitely pinned him at Survivor Series 1990, I think there was a match between them on one of the Coliseum releases around that time, would imagine that Warrior won it cleanly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Did Warrior ever lock up with Ric Flair in 92? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Many times JVK on house shows but always with Flair as champ. Warrior won em all via DQ or countout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Warrior must have beat Mr Perfect at some point, surely? At least once at MSG, IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherwagner Posted October 6, 2013 Report Share Posted October 6, 2013 Bobby Heenan. I was kind of using WON HOF as the measuring stick for All-Time Greats. But if Hennig is included then also must mention that Owen Hart did several clean jobs for Warrior in 96 too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 I think everyone in the WWF has been mentioned: HOFer's Race Dibiase Hogan Savage Heenan Undertaker HHH Vader Lawler HOF Candidates Valentine Rude Hennig Slaughter Owen Tully (with the Horsemen) I think a lot of us like Rick Martel, but I'm not sure if people would count him in the HOF Candidates list. Then again, some of them like Owen, Rude and even Hennig are pretty marginal candidates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 I actually think Martel is a better candidate than all three of those guys, though that's a different topic for a different thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 I actually think Martel is a better candidate than all three of those guys, though that's a different topic for a different thread That was my point: Martel would be marginal, but those other three are as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolfman Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 It's insulting that they had the Warrior beat Andre in less than a minute at MSG.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cONoP4jKQ8c Even though his back was shot by then, Andre deserved better than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 The amount of time in that match was almost certainly Andre's choice, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 What's even the argument for Rude? I don't remember anyone talking much about him. Main eventing WWF C-Shows and being the top heel in WCW during a pretty brutal two year downstretch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 Same deal as why Mr Perfect is talked up. Memorable gimmick from a time every casual fan can remember. Jake also gets this rub. Only reason guys like Beefcake don't is because they had years of Keith and the like running them down. If you had a memorable gimmick AND were built by the internet as being a great worker = all time great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 Did he beat anyone notable as Dingo Warrior in WCCW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smack2k Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 Warrior must have beat Mr Perfect at some point, surely? At least once at MSG, IIRC. Warrior spent most of the Spring 1990 beating Perfect over and over and over again.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 What's even the argument for Rude? I don't remember anyone talking much about him. Main eventing WWF C-Shows and being the top heel in WCW during a pretty brutal two year downstretch? Not making the argument for him. I do believe that he was on the WON ballot at least once before dropping off. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 Same deal as why Mr Perfect is talked up. Memorable gimmick from a time every casual fan can remember. Jake also gets this rub. Only reason guys like Beefcake don't is because they had years of Keith and the like running them down. If you had a memorable gimmick AND were built by the internet as being a great worker = all time great. Hennig was built up as a great worker before the internet had much of any wrestling talk. The WON and Torch and other newsletters loved him going back to his AWA Title reign, which was 1987. I don't think hardcore fans at the time were all that enamored with his Mr. Perfect gimmick, other than it got him a WWF push rather than getting buried in the prelims. I'd also extend it: Dave rambles on about how people in the business (read guys who came along in the past 15 or so years) looked at Hennig as a great worker. Likely because he was something they great up watching, and relative to the WWF he was a worker that "worker based" wrestlers would have liked. Much as in 15 years we'll have a bunch of guys in the business who think Punk and Cena are all time greats... which they may or may not be. The major reasons Beefcake doesn't get talked up is: * he sucked as a worker * he had no influence in the business (since being a sycophant had a long history in the business) * he never drew of note * he wasn't a real top of the card guy There basically is no case for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 Did he beat anyone notable as Dingo Warrior in WCCW? I don't recall anyone of note. Perhaps some Freebirds, though Hellwig may have headed to WCCW when the Birds where heading to UWF/Mid South. He was a face, so no Von Erich wins. I'm trying to remember any past their prime HOFers that may have passed through, but can't think of any. Abby wasn't one to do a lot of jobs at the time. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 It's insulting that they had the Warrior beat Andre in less than a minute at MSG.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cONoP4jKQ8c Even though his back was shot by then, Andre deserved better than that. I think most of the ones that were taped were longer ones. The first MSG match, and the one in MLG were 9+ minutes. There was another one that I saw over the weekend, but haven't found quickly today. Andre was "losing" left and right that year. Hillbilly Jim, Duggan and even Jake got wins over him, though by DQ. Also lost a lot of tags as well. Sad end of the road for him, though they did give him the tag titles late in the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victory Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 Did he beat anyone notable as Dingo Warrior in WCCW? One of the bigger names I can think of would be Chris Adams. He was in quite a few odd tag team pairings like Atlas, Simpson, Lance VE, that might of gave him some pins against Buzz Sawyer or Matt Borne possibly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 Same deal as why Mr Perfect is talked up. Memorable gimmick from a time every casual fan can remember. Jake also gets this rub. Only reason guys like Beefcake don't is because they had years of Keith and the like running them down. If you had a memorable gimmick AND were built by the internet as being a great worker = all time great. Hennig was built up as a great worker before the internet had much of any wrestling talk. The WON and Torch and other newsletters loved him going back to his AWA Title reign, which was 1987. I don't think hardcore fans at the time were all that enamored with his Mr. Perfect gimmick, other than it got him a WWF push rather than getting buried in the prelims. I'd also extend it: Dave rambles on about how people in the business (read guys who came along in the past 15 or so years) looked at Hennig as a great worker. Likely because he was something they great up watching, and relative to the WWF he was a worker that "worker based" wrestlers would have liked. Much as in 15 years we'll have a bunch of guys in the business who think Punk and Cena are all time greats... which they may or may not be. The major reasons Beefcake doesn't get talked up is: * he sucked as a worker * he had no influence in the business (since being a sycophant had a long history in the business) * he never drew of note * he wasn't a real top of the card guy There basically is no case for him. I'm tempted to argue that Beefcake was more of a draw in the WWF than Hennig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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