RANDY SAVAGE vs. THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR

These icons were two of the top few WWF Superstars in the late 80's and early 90's, along with Hulk Hogan, Sgt. Slaughter, Andre the Giant, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, Ted DiBiase, and others. Both wrestled Hogan at WrestleManias in WWF Title matches, with Warrior coming out on top in his match, and Savage losing the title one year earlier to Hogan, thus ending the historic Hogan-Savage Megapowers storyline. By main-eventing WrestleMania and being invovled in MAJOR angles with the top WWF Superstar (at that time), both of these two great athletes were catapulted into Main-Event status. However, before they Main-Evented any Pay-Per-View, they wrestled in the, well, actually, low-card of WrestleMania VII (in 1991).

Building up to the match, Warrior was the WWF Champion. He had won it from Hulk Hogan at the previous 'Mania, and had held onto it for almost a year. At the Royal Rumble of '91, however, he defended it against Sgt. Slaughter. Just minutes into the match, Savage and his then-valet, Sherri Martel (a.k.a. Sensational Sherri), ran down and interfered behind the referee's back, who was being distracted by Sherri. Savage beat down Warrior with a lightstand, which made for quite a spot. Fans booed Savage, as he was a heel because he had turned on Hulk Hogan the previous year, who was, at the time, the most popular superstar ever. Before the referee turned back around, Slaughter picked up his skeptor and cracked it over the skull of the Warrior. Slaughter hit the big elbow drop, and pinned Warrior for the 1-2-3 count, becoming only the second man ever to do so. More importantly, he had won the WWF Title. However, he hadn't won it clean. Savage and Sherri had screwed Warrior out of his title.

So, while Slaughter defended his newly-won (yet, via a tainted win) WWF Title against Hogan in the main event, Savage and Warrior fought in a low-card bout. However, it wasn't just any sort of bout. These two put their careers on the line in the first-ever "Career Match." The loser would be sent into retirement. After a 20:47 long, ****1/2 match, (out of five possible stars) classic bout, Warrior pinned Savage for the 1-2-3 count win, sending Savage into retirement and sending the fans home happy with a face win. Savage, of course, would return as if none of this ever happened, however, the match would always be remembered as one of WrestleMania's greatest bouts. After the match, however, was the real story.

After the match, Sherri walks out on Savage, disgusted with his loss. Then, out of nowhere, Savage's former valet, Elizabeth, who had been sitting at ringside, jumps the barrier and runs into the ring, not able to bear it anymore. Savage climbs to his feet, not believing what he's seeing. He's clearly confused, not knowing what to think. Liz is crying. After what seemed like an hour of confusedly staring at eachother, they embrace, causing the crowd to go absolutely bonkers. It was quite a touching scene. Many fans in the audience are shown on the big screen crying. After they salute the crowd a bit, they leave, hand-in-hand. After two years, the WWF's first real couple reunited.

Savage returned just two or so months later, and continued his career, and, thanks to his reunion with Liz, he had become a monster face. He feuded with Jake Roberts and Ric Flair, who he won the WWF Title from at WrestleMania VIII (1992). Then, a title defense was booked for Savage at SummerSlam '92 against Warrior, who was also a monster face, thereby coninuing their historic feud. There was a huge storyline going into the match. Ric Flair, who Savage had won the title from, was furious when he learned that Warrior was getting the title shot at SummerSlam and he wasn't. When Warrior was cutting a promo one night, building up to the match, Flair and his associate, Mr. Perfect (Curt Hennig), came out and interrupted him. He announced that he and Perfect would be in the corner of the highest bidder (Savage or Warrior) at SummerSlam. Perfect interrupts a Savage promo and let's him know that, also.

At this time, the two participants were getting worried that their opponent would enter SummerSlam with two heels in their corner, which would significantly decrease their odds of winning the match and winning, or retaining, the title (depending on who they were). Just days prior to the PPV encounter, Savage and Warrior were forced to team up against the Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags). During the match, Flair and Perfect ran in and demolished Warrior, while the Nasty's assaulted Savage. The Nasty's won the match via Countout, but, more importantly, the two World Title Match participants had been significantly weakened. Going into the historic encounter, this made for an amazing storyline.

Come SummerSlam (which was appropriately nicknamed, "The SummerSlam You Thought You'd Never See," thanks to the storyline which would supposedly feature one of the top two faces sell out for the gold) Warrior and Savage both entered, but neither was accompanied by Flair and/or Perfect. The two of them eventually appeared and took turns attacking each of the two participants behind the referee's back and because they've attacked both, nobody had any idea whose side they were really on. 20 minutes into the match, after a couple Flair/Perfect interferences behind the ref's back, Savage ran off of the ropes, but Perfect grabbed his leg out from under him and he fell to the mat. Flair then slammed Warrior across the back with a cane, right as he was going off the ropes for his Splash finisher on an injured Savage. Earl Hebner, the referee, eventually turned around and is clearly confused with both participants on the mat, groaning in pain. Savage got to his feet pretty quickly, and Warrior was still lying in the middle of the ring. Savage climbed up to the top-rope, and it looked like he was going to go for his Flying Elbow-Drop. However, he leaped toward Flair, who's on the outside of the ring with a steel chair. Flair, proving why he was the "Dirtiest Player in the Game," stepped out of the way and whacked Savage's knee with the chair. Savage was counted out of the ring, but the title couldn't change hands on a Count Out, so he retained the title.

However, he certainly didn't look like much of a champion. Flair applied the Figure-Four Leglock on him at ringside, while Perfect slammed his knee with the steel chair. Then, the big moment arrived, as Warrior eventually climbed to his feet, left the ring, stole the chair from Perfect, and chased the two heels to the backstage area. He walked back to the main ring area, where he and Savage, who retained his title, stared eachother down, but a surprising swerve resulted in both men embracing each other, earning a big pop. This was one of the greatest storylines of all-time, and made for a great Pay-Per-View. The match was easily a **** match and possibly a bit more. As great as it was, it was completely overshadowed by the main event: Bret Hart defending his Intercontinental Title against his brother-in-law, The British Bulldog. That match was easily a ****1/2 match and may have even reached the perfect ***** pinnacle. It was easily the best match of Bulldog's career, and was one of the top five matches of Bret's career.

This was the end of the Savage/Warrior feud. They never wrestled eachother again. However, their matches did make for great storylines featuring two of the top WWF Superstars of the last 15 years.

Pay-Per-View One-On-One Match Results:

1. WrestleMania VII: "Star's And Stripes Forever" (3/23/91): Warrior d. Savage in the first-ever "Retirement Match"
2. SummerSlam 1992 (8/29/92): Warrior d. Savage via Count Out in a World Heavyweight Title Match; Savage retains the WWF Title.