In 1998, the impossible happened. Years after leaving WWE and almost retiring from professional wrestling, The Ultimate Warrior made his big return. It happened in WCW and put him head-to-head with Hollywood Hulk Hogan, revitalizing their rivalry from years before when they were the top stars in WWE.
The story behind this was interesting, but the way it played out disappointed just about everyone. Warrior came back, had three total matches, including the rematch with Hogan, and then he was gone as suddenly as he arrived. Here is the story of The Ultimate Warrior 1998 WCW run and how it all went wrong.
10 Hogan Vs. Warrior At WrestleMania
In 1990, the two biggest stars in WWE were Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior. Both men were giant babyfaces, and neither would turn heel as long as they were so popular.
However, at WrestleMania VI, Hogan defended his WWE world title against another babyface for one of the only times ever. Warrior, the reigning IC Champion, beat Hogan and started his reign on top of WWE as the new face of the company.
9 Hogan Leaves For WCW
By 1991, Ultimate Warrior was no longer the world champion, and Hulk Hogan was back on top. All of this was done to sell a storyline of a United States turncoat and traitor, Sgt. Slaughter, beating Warrior for the title by cheating. Then conveniently, the All-American Hulk Hogan returned to win the title back for America.
Two years later, Hogan was out of WWE and on his way to WCW.
8 The Ultimate Warrior Leaves WWE
While it looked like The Ultimate Warrior was the new face of WWE when he beat Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI, it didn't work out well for him. He lost his title to Sgt. Slaughter, Hulk Hogan won it back, and Ultimate Warrior was never a champion in WWE again.
Warrior left WWE and went into semi-retirement for two years after beating Hogan and returned a couple of times before finally stepping away from wrestling, seemingly for good.
7 Hogan's "No Warrior" Promo
Hollywood Hogan was running wild over WCW as the leader of the nWo. He had beaten everyone set in front of him, from Sting to Lex Luger. While he had lost his world title to Goldberg, Hogan still talked the big talk. This was when he cut a promo saying that he had beaten everyone, and that there was "no warrior" left to challenge him.
The Warrior made his WCW debut at that instance and came down to the ring. He faced Hogan, who was shaking in fear, and cut a long and nonsensical promo (as Warrior was known to do) before saying he was back to beat Hogan again.
6 Warrior Begins To Haunt Hogan
This led to Hollywood Hogan preparing to fight the one man he had never beaten (although he had also never beaten Goldberg). While the match was coming down the road, Hogan started to lose his mind.
He began to see images of Warrior in the mirror, even though no one with him could see them. Of course, the audience saw Warrior's apparitions and the announcers mentioned them as well, but don't let that get in the way of the craziness that Warrior brought to WCW.
5 Warrior Forms The One Warrior Nation
Up next, Ultimate Warrior decided he needed some back up and made some friends. He never needed anyone by his side in WWE when he beat Hogan cleanly for the world title, but in WCW, it was all about factions and gang warfare.
For Warrior, this was One Warrior Nation (oWn) to combat the nWo. It was Warrior, Diamond Dallas Paige, and Roddy Piper, so it didn't hold much of a threat to the nWo.
4 OWN, NWO & Wolfpac Clash At War Games
When Warrior created oWn to battle the nWo, it was clear that it would lead to at least one multi-man match between the two factions. That happened at Fall Brawl '98, when WCW brought back the War Games. Unfortunately, one of the most beloved and brutal match modes in WCW history did not work out so well in 1998.
This was one of the worst War Games of all-time. It was oWn (Warrior, DDP, and Piper) vs. nWo (Hogan, Stevie Ray, and Bret Hart) vs. Wolfpac (Kevin Nash, Sting, Lex Luger). With all that star power, DDP pins Stevie Ray while Hogan and Warrior somehow escaped from the ring.
3 The Blade Runners Reunite
If there was one dream that WCW fans saw fulfilled during the Ultimate Warrior's return, it was a one-night reunion of The Blade Runners. For younger fans, Sting and Warrior broke into wrestling together and became a team known as the Blade Runners.
They teamed up for a short time, including a sting in Mid-South Wrestling, where Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert managed them. In 1998, they reteamed for the first time in a decade to fight Hollywood Hogan and Bret Hart and won by DQ when the nWo interfered.
2 Hogan Vs. Warrior, Part 2
Finally, the Ultimate Warrior's return culminated with his final match with Hollywood Hogan. The Warrior had tormented Hogan and was the clear babyface here, but this was not about a good guy beating Hogan. This was about Hogan getting back his win from WrestleMania VI.
At Halloween Havoc 1998, Hogan pinned Warrior after smashing him with a chair.
1 The Ultimate Warrior Retires
The very next night on Monday Nitro, Warrior came to the ring and said that Hogan cheated to win, he had no honor, and his win meant nothing. Hogan and the nWo came out, but Warrior overpowered them all and tossed everyone, standing tall in the ring.
Two weeks later, Warrior saved Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake from a nWo beatdown and was never seen in WCW again, retiring and saying later he was only brought in so Hogan could get his win.