Mount Rushmore: Ultimate Warrior matches

Great choices. Yeah, vs Rude in the cage was close to making my list too. I just had to give props to the DiBiase match. 

Hell yeah, great idea

Warrior is one of my all time favorites and if it was not for him, perhaps I would not have become a life long wrestling fan. People like to make fun of him and talk trash about his in ring work, but I was always entertained and felt that he is better than people give him credit for. Him hitting the ring, nailing a few clotheslines, gorilla press slam or a shoulder tackle and then a big splash was more than enough for me as a kid.

Anyway, here are my personal favorites.

Ultimate Warrior vs Macho King Randy Savage WrestleMania VII: Not just my favorite Ultimate Warrior and also Randy Savage match, but one of my favorite matches of all time. I could not have been any more invested in this feud and think that the two of them worked perfectly together. This is a match that took me through every inch of the emotional spectrum and it was like a huge relief when Warrior pinned Savage 123!

Ultimate Warrior vs Ravishing Rick Rude SummerSlam 1990: These are two other guys that had amazing chemistry and I enjoyed all their matches and interactions. I went for the SummerSlam 90 match though as this really was THE big title defense Warrior got to make during his run as champion. I thought it was so awesome how he hit the ring and started shaking the cage like a mad man. Also, SummerSlam 90 and 91 have these epic intros to the show with what I consider to be the "SummerSlam theme" anyway, one thing that bugs me about the SummerSlam 90 one is that it shows Warrior and Rude side by side, but Warrior drops a dude over the top rope so rather than focussing on Warrior it has Rude on one side and the dude falling to the floor on the other. Such a silly insignificant thing, but it is always something that pops to mind when I think of this.

Ultimate Warrior vs Macho Man Randy Savage SummerSlam 1992: I was there live..... about ten million rows back on the floor for this one so I pretty much watched it all on the big screen above the ring, but man this was awesome. I was so invested in what side would Mr. Perfect be on, even though I never thought that either guy would need him! Anyway, I do not think this match is as good as their one at WrestleMania VII, especially with the way Warrior wins, but it is still a fantastic and fun match.

Ultimate Warrior vs Hulk Hogan WrestleMania VI: It had to be on here didn't it? This is one of those matches that was far better than it had any right to be. I was so excited for Warrior to not just be the WWF Champion, but a double champion. These two were absolute showmen and this is them near their best. It was a match that you never really knew which way it would go, my grandfather who I watched the match with was sure it would be a tie (he said the same thing six years later when we watched Hitman vs HBK), but I had faith that my guy Warrior would get the win.

Interesting both of you going with Summer Slam 1988. Not a great match but it was a fantastic moment. The crowd never sat down from the time he entered the arena to the time he left with the belt. 

Great picks. Like you, the Macho King/Ultimate Warrior feud was just tremendous, I loved everything about it. That match is great, still one of my all-time favorites. Savage and Warrior had tremendous chemistry together, from their promos to their matches to their face to face meetings. Just great. 

That's amazing that you were actually at Summer Slam 1992, that must have been huge. I loved this match, and the build up to it as well. Adding Perfect and Flair was a nice touch. Too bad Flair didn't wrestle someone on that card. He could have faced Slaughter or someone else for an easy win. 

Rude and Warrior had great chemistry too, I liked all of their matches as well. SSL89 gets my vote but this one was great too. 

And you're right, Hogan/Warrior had no business being that good. But it was. Both played their parts well, and I don't think the match hurt either one. 

Speaking of SSlam 92, RWN revisits it on August 27th!

A lot of people going with the match with Honky, very surprised by this.

You don't hear this one mentioned often. Interesting choice.

I think that vs Sgt Slaughter at the 1991 Royal Rumble has to be an honorable mention too. While the stuff with Macho King gets all the focus, those two had a hell of a battle and it was a lot of fun to watch. I was jumping around like a maniac as Warrior was kicking ass at the start of the match. Also even after all these years, that knee Slaughter gives the Warrior to knock him into the ropes looks so stiff and brutal.

I love the story on one of the Warrior documentaries they did where Slaughter jokes about how stiff he was and he threw up a potato into the air one night while they were in a match together