Prichard on why Warrior wasn't the draw that everyone hoped

[héad.casé]

"I don't know at that time that he was really looking at it as a flop per se, let's say for example that Hogan and Warrior both weren't drawing. Then you would have looked at it as a flop. I think it was an experiment to look at from, 'Is there someone else? Is there another attraction that we can get to the point of being as viable as Hulk'? And Hulk was still an attraction and people were still paying to see Hulk, and the argument was made that a lot of people thought, 'Well, s--t'. It's hard to give Warrior that flunking grade, if you will, when Hogan's still active, because now, I've got a choice. The truer test probably would have been taking Hogan out of the equation and seeing how Warrior draws on his own. Given a choice, I think the people preferred Hulk."

"You can sit there and make excuses all day long, and there are people, old-timers in the business, that would tell you that if you want a babyface champion to be over, he needs to defeat a strong heel champion, Warrior beat the biggest attraction in the business. The perennial babyface was Hulk Hogan. So to a segment of the audience that was really cheering Hogan, yes, it was a passing of the torch. Yes, it was sprinkling Hulk dust on him. But there was a big part of the audience that was like, 'Nah, f--k him. Hulk's my guy'... I think that you can create a lot of excuses, but having both of those guys still on the roster and you compare them? There wasn't a comparison because Hulk was clearly out drawing and still doing magnificent business, whereas Warrior in the same position did not."

"Well I think the more people you have over, the better. I don't think the drop off was as big with Randy Savage the year before; I really don't. I think that Randy held his own and worked as a champion. Was it as big as Hulk? No, it was not, but I think it was better than Warrior as far as that immediate turn, and that's what I kind of point to a little bit. Randy beat a heel in a tournament but he beat the top heel in the company at that time in DiBiase, in the tournament, to win the championship, and then he went right into the program with DiBiase after that.

"So, it was a hot program with a distinctive babyface and heel, and Hulk was out of the picture in the beginning. Hogan came back, what, in July after Warrior won? So Hulk wasn't really gone that long before he made his return. I think you can make excuses all day long, but the bottom line comes down to they want to see Hulk more."

www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2020/10/bruce-prichard-explains-why-wwe-fans-did-not-embrace-675988/

[Natural Born Farmer]

As if Hogan was ever going to take the 1-2-3 from Warrior regardless of what it would do for the box office.

[BorneAgain]

Seems like he's overthinking the actual reality which was a lack of strong heel challengers. Given that Earthquake/Hogan program did draw well on house shows that same year, it suggests that "babyface gets revenge on big bad guy" had stronger appeal than what Warrior was doing.

[Kevin Hamilton]

Well that conveniently lets everyone off the hook for any booking huh?

It wasn't that they didn't give any thought to what a Warrior reign should look like nor the fact that the character didn't have any real depth to it and write that accordingly, it's the fans fault.

Like there's probably some merit to his take here, but boy does it not address the creative failings at the time.

[bob]

There wasn't really any strong heels for Warrior to go against after beating Hogan.

The only real logical challenger for him was Rick Rude, and that's only because Rude was the only person to ever beat him.

It's the same issue Drew McIntyre has had for most of his his run with the WWE Championship until he started feuding with Orton.

[petef3]

Warrior's reign was done in by a number of things, but speaking only for myself I fall firmly into that category of fans that Bruce was talking about: I hated Warrior for beating Hogan.

But I noticed the other things at the time, too: how Warrior won the belt and then almost disappeared from television for several weeks. How Rude was an underwhelming choice as first challenger regardless of what happened at Mania 5. How they didn't even really do anything with Rude and Warrior other than have them cut promos on each other. That he wasn't relatable and capable of acting normally in the way that Hogan was.

[bob]

Oct 18, 2020 10:28:44 GMT -5 petef3 said:

Warrior's reign was done in by a number of things, but speaking only for myself I fall firmly into that category of fans that Bruce was talking about: I hated Warrior for beating Hogan.

But I noticed the other things at the time, too: how Warrior won the belt and then almost disappeared from television for several weeks. How Rude was an underwhelming choice as first challenger regardless of what happened at Mania 5. How they didn't even really do anything with Rude and Warrior other than have them cut promos on each other. That he wasn't relatable and capable of acting normally in the way that Hogan was.

Wait, Warrior was off TV for weeks after he won the belt?

Just, why?

Even if they didn't have any immediate idea who would challenge him for the belt he should've been there, at the very least squashing jobbers and giving interviews about being champion.

[jason1980s]

WWF should have held off the Earthquake/Hogan feud and gone with Barbarian and Warlord versus Hogan and Warrior and then Warrior gets Earthquake and Hogan can get Slaughter without being the main event. Then Warrior gets Savage. Slaughter really wasn't main event material then but I think the war really sped up things with him coming back. Warrior was well past the time of feuding with Rude but Rude and Hogan, if Rude was still with WWF, would have been fresh. Barbarian and Warlord weren't total jobbers with gimmicks yet so they would have done alright for a few months wrestling each guy.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Oct 18, 2020 10:28:44 GMT -5 petef3 said:

Warrior's reign was done in by a number of things, but speaking only for myself I fall firmly into that category of fans that Bruce was talking about: I hated Warrior for beating Hogan.

But I noticed the other things at the time, too: how Warrior won the belt and then almost disappeared from television for several weeks. How Rude was an underwhelming choice as first challenger regardless of what happened at Mania 5. How they didn't even really do anything with Rude and Warrior other than have them cut promos on each other. That he wasn't relatable and capable of acting normally in the way that Hogan was.

Soooo basically the WWF, at the height of its business and booking quality, still had most of the problems that are associated with the 00's-and-onward monopoly business?

Sounds about right.

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

So if the fans just wanted to see Hogan no matter what and Warrior needed a program with the top heel, why not have Earthquake crush Warrior and have Rude challenge Hogan instead?

[petef3]

Oct 18, 2020 12:16:26 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

Oct 18, 2020 10:28:44 GMT -5 petef3 said:

Warrior's reign was done in by a number of things, but speaking only for myself I fall firmly into that category of fans that Bruce was talking about: I hated Warrior for beating Hogan.

But I noticed the other things at the time, too: how Warrior won the belt and then almost disappeared from television for several weeks. How Rude was an underwhelming choice as first challenger regardless of what happened at Mania 5. How they didn't even really do anything with Rude and Warrior other than have them cut promos on each other. That he wasn't relatable and capable of acting normally in the way that Hogan was.

Soooo basically the WWF, at the height of its business and booking quality, still had most of the problems that are associated with the 00's-and-onward monopoly business?

Sounds about right.

I've never heard of 1990 being called the "height of its business and booking quality." Early '85, or late '86 into '87, yeah. 1990, no.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Oct 18, 2020 12:29:56 GMT -5 petef3 said:

Oct 18, 2020 12:16:26 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

Soooo basically the WWF, at the height of its business and booking quality, still had most of the problems that are associated with the 00's-and-onward monopoly business?

Sounds about right.

I've never heard of 1990 being called the "height of its business and booking quality." Early '85, or late '86 into '87, yeah. 1990, no.

Fair, but I mean more springing out of the same era even if it was on the downswing. It seems like there are direct parallels to business dropping off in the Hogan era to the poor decisions made elsewhen.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Oct 18, 2020 12:22:41 GMT -5 Citizen Snips Has Left said:

So if the fans just wanted to see Hogan no matter what and Warrior needed a program with the top heel, why not have Earthquake crush Warrior and have Rude challenge Hogan instead?

Hogan refused to work with Rude.

They had a few matches but Hogan wouldn’t do a program with him.

[jimmyjackezekiel]

Booker blames the fans instead of himself. Must be Tuesday again.

[XIII]

Every time that Brother Love talks he needs to get in line for some Inoki slaps.

[romanstylesiii]

The Hogan character was always vulnerable and would always be beat up and left for dead by heels. Earthquake sent him to the hospital, which added intrigue to the match.

I don't remember one time where the Warrior seemed remotely vulnerable.

[Deleted]

Oct 18, 2020 17:10:46 GMT -5 romanstylesiii said:

The Hogan character was always vulnerable and would always be beat up and left for dead by heels. Earthquake sent him to the hospital, which added intrigue to the match.

I don't remember one time where the Warrior seemed remotely vulnerable.

Beyond that, Warrior's esoteric ramblings were never going to appeal to folks like Hulkamania and flag-waving patriotism did.

[romanstylesiii]

Oct 18, 2020 17:25:55 GMT -5 @rebelliousworkhorse said:

Oct 18, 2020 17:10:46 GMT -5 romanstylesiii said:

The Hogan character was always vulnerable and would always be beat up and left for dead by heels. Earthquake sent him to the hospital, which added intrigue to the match.

I don't remember one time where the Warrior seemed remotely vulnerable.

Beyond that, Warrior's esoteric ramblings were never going to appeal to folks like Hulkamania and flag-waving patriotism did.

His USA tights weren't enough? lol

[toodarkmark]

Hulk Hogan was doing the gimmick he was doing in the AWA. WWF and Vince spent a lot of time taking top talent from all the territories and putting them together. Roddy Piper was already over, Junkyard Dog was already over, Ricky Steamboat. So Hogan was just placed into situations like MTV and Cyndi Lauper, and talk shows, and became an icon. But that wasn't Vince's booking, and Hogan wasn't a Vince creation.

So when he found his "next guy", he did what he thought would make him the next guy. But it didn't work. So of course it's a combination ot fans and Hogan still being big, but it's because Vince's creativity is overrated. Personally, Warrior worked as IC champion,but then after he won the title, they booked him like Hogan. He started having less makeup, smiling, doing the things Vince thought a World champion needed to do. Altho WWF did their revisionist history, Warrior was SUPPPERRR over when he was a mentally ill savage who's promos made no sense. That's the guy who got pops, not smily normalish guy. If they'd kept him crazy, and gave him someone worth being crazy against, it would have worked.

[sungod2020]

Oct 18, 2020 17:10:46 GMT -5 romanstylesiii said:

The Hogan character was always vulnerable and would always be beat up and left for dead by heels. Earthquake sent him to the hospital, which added intrigue to the match.

I don't remember one time where the Warrior seemed remotely vulnerable.

He showed some vulnerability and even talked normally in an interview on Prime Time Wrestling after The Undertaker locked him in the casket. But that was after he lost the championship. If he showed that same mentality a year earlier with Earthquake squashing him and setting up a match at Summerslam(where Warrior retains), his reign as WWF champion would've been looked at more fondly.