Hulk Hogan vs The Ultimate Warrior (WWF, 4-1-1990)

Event: WWF WrestleMania VI, Toronto, ON

Champion against champion. Title for title. THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE. One of the great memories of my childhood. This one had us all talking. Me and my three friends.

The staredown features Hogan talking shit, and Warrior throws the first shove. Back to it. They tie up, Warrior shoves Hogan off. They tie up, Hogan shoves Warrior off and hits the big flex. The crowd is split, but it’s probably 60-40 or 65-35 for Hogan. It’s Toronto.

Knuckle lock and test of strength, Warrior has the advantage but Hogan comes back on him. This is a battle of machismo more than anything, each man trying to prove they’re the truly powerful, dominant force in the WWF. It’s bigger than just the belts for these two egomaniacs.

Hogan with a heel trip and an elbow drop for a quick one-count. They repeat their shoulderblock -> criss cross spot that they’d done on TV. Hogan slams Warrior, no effect. Warrior slams Hogan, effect.

Hogan is really a master at playing for sympathy. He constantly portrays himself as this feeble old man compared to his opponents. Hogan dumped to the floor, and he starts selling a knee injury. (On TV, they had people after, including heels, saying that Hogan was injured going into the match, to help explain his loss. Warrior was never fully given the flag to carry. Vince wasn’t ready to give up on Hogan and Hulkamania.)

Hogan telling the Hebner referee, “My knee’s gone.” Warrior paces in the ring, climbs the ropes, eventually goes out to shove the referee away and throw Hogan back into the ring. That’s where he needs him to take the WWF belt, after all.

Warrior gets cast into the role of nasty jerk, as he attacks Hogan’s injured knee. Warrior throws a haymaker over the referee’s head, another borderline move. Hogan fires up with right hands and chops, then follows Warrior into the corner on a whip with a clothesline. Hogan carefully positions himself on the second rope for a 10-punch, gets to eight and breaks. Because Hulk is a good guy.

Gorilla pointing out that Hogan isn’t exactly hobbling around despite his knee being “gone.” Elbowdrop gets two, Hogan grabs a weird front facelock and then tries an inside cradle for another two. Hogan’s scientific. He’s good.

Hogan working a chinlock, then throws right hands into the side of the Warrior’s head. Hogan argues with the referee a little bit, then drops Warrior with a clothesline moments later for another two.

Backbreaker from Hogan, another two. We’re seeing Warrior’s resilience on full display. Back to the rear chinlock, lazily applied to say the very least. It’s a real indie wrestling headlock, something done for a few seconds to set up the next move, but this one is extended because these two don’t have a lot of moves to set up.

Hogan drives his knee into Warrior’s spine three times, picks him up, and hits a back suplex. Hogan delays, covers and doesn’t hook the leg, and it’s two again. Back to the chinlock. Crowd roars when Warrior begins to rise.

Warrior with one elbow, two elbows, three elbows to the midsection to break out of the hold, and then they double clothesline so both men are down, and we’re on equal footing. Jesse thinks Hogan should still have the advantage because of the work he’s done, but I’ve seen wrestling before.

Warrior sits up first, but without much life. He needs the juice from the Warriors to rally. Same for Hogan and the Hulkamaniacs. Warrior pulling himself up on the ropes. Hogan attacks with double axhandles and punches to the gut, but nothing doing. Warrior shaking it all off, then…does some sort of thing to Hogan’s head involve Warrior’s chest.

Warrior on fire, all adrenaline flowing. Clothesline puts Hogan down. Chop in the corner, then a whip to the other side, and a whip to the other other side, pillar to post. Hogan, feeble once more, grasps at Warrior’s legs to pull himself up.

Warrior hits a suplex for two. Now a bearhug, which I’ve read is wrestling’s worst move. It goes on a while to kill more time, but the crowd is so into the whole thing that honestly, it’s fine, and it makes sense. These guys are working to their strengths, and even though their weaknesses are on display, it doesn’t really matter, because they are Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania in 1990.

Hogan finally finds some reserves and fights his way out of the bearhug. Hogan drops down, Warrior jumps over, and Hebner gets wiped out. Warrior wastes no time, going to the top rope, and hits a flying axhandle. Over to the other side, back up top, a woman screams, “Watch OUUUUUUT!” but Hogan cannot watch ouuuuut, he is hit with another axhandle.

Hogan sidesteps the running shoulderblock and brags about it, about how smart he is. Hogan covers, counts a very fast three twice, and then he’s upset about the lack of referee. That allows Warrior to get up, hit a back suplex, and cover himself. He counts his own meaningless three, though Warrior’s count at least wasn’t fast.

Hebner recovers. One…two…..no! The crowd is electric again. Hogan with a bit of a cheapshot uppercut, then a rollup, referee not in position, another long two count.

Hogan with the three big rights, the whip to the ropes, but no big boot — he follows Warrior in and knocks him to the floor. They fight over going into the post, and it’s Hogan who hits the steel.

Back into the ring, the drama about at its peak, and Warrior hits a clothesline. Both guys barely have anything left. Warrior going for the gorilla press, gets Hogan up, and drops him down. Splash! (Without a run — Warrior is gassed.)

One, two, NO! HOGAN IS ALIVE! HOGAN IS HULKING UP!

Warrior’s right hands do nothing to Hogan. No, brother. YOU. (But not quite YOU yet.) Right hand, right hand, right hand, off the ropes, BIG FOOT. LEGDROP MISSES! WARRIOR SPLASH! ONE, TWO, THREE! Hogan kicks at about 3.08, which is fine.

There is a NEWWW World Wrestling Federation champion. It is the Ultimate Warrior.

After the match, with Warrior celebrating, Hogan drops to his knees and asks the God above why he has been forsaken. Hogan grabs what used to be his belt, and presents it to the Warrior himself, raising Warrior’s hand. They embrace. They are BOTH good.

Rating: 4/5. Star rating-wise, I would not go four here. But I’m not doing star ratings. This is not a grade of the action alone. Because wrestling really isn’t about the action alone. This is a basic matchup of two powerful superhero WWF characters, the King of the 80s against the would-be King of the 90s. That Warrior didn’t really take off as WWF champion is not my concern. For this one big moment, he became The Guy, and it was done really well, with both men showing what made the fans think they were so great in the first place, and ultimately it coming down to one misstep from Hogan to give Warrior the victory. It’s a match kept simple, with a hot, enormous crowd, between two extremely popular wrestlers with passionate, vocal fans. I *do* consider match quality to an extent in the rating, so it can’t go higher than four for me, but it’s a great pro wrestling match in most respects, and a true all-time event.