Ultimate Warrior's Bizarre Appearance On The 'Regis & Kathie Lee' Show, Revisited
Owen Barnes 
Quick Links
It's hard for many younger wrestling fans to truly comprehend how big of a deal Regis Philbin was in the 80s and 90s. He was known and adored across the country, had a huge fan base, and the fact that he was such a big wrestling fan gave the WWE some nice mainstream attention back then. It wasn't much-needed or anything as the Golden Era was still going on, but several wrestling personalities were interviewed by Regis Philbin at some point, with many of them being on the 'Regis and Kathie' Lee show. These were big names too like Rick Rude, The Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels. However, very few were as interesting the Ultimate Warrior's time on the show.
RELATED: The Real Story Of Rick Rude Beating Up The Ultimate Warrior
Ultimate Warrior Appeared On The Show To Promote His SummerSlam Match With Rick Rude
The Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude had a long-running feud, so it made sense for Rude to be Warrior's first major challenger for the WWE title in 1990. The match was put inside a steel cage which were rather rare back in that time, so it did give the match a big time feel, and they main-evented over Hulk Hogan, so there's that. Going into the event, however, there was a sense that the match needed a little more of a push in terms of promoting it. This is where the 'Regis and Kathie Lee' show comes in.
RELATED: 10 Things You Should Know About The Ultimate Warrior's Wrestling Career In The 1980s
The Warrior didn't outright embarrass himself or the company when he was on the show. He didn't do anything stupid, have any outbursts, or go completely off the rails. The Ultimate Warrior just acted like a normal human being. However, if he's supposed to hype up a world title wrestling match on a major pay-per-view, it'd be fair to think there'd be more energy coming from him. He's The Ultimate Warrior. His entire character was being this pumped up beast that's running around, shaking the ropes, and screaming, but that is not the guy that was talking to Regis and Kathie Lee.
The Ultimate Warrior Felt Awkward When He Appeared On The Show
The show started with Regis showing a video of the Warrior running around, shaking the ropes, and screaming. He warned his audience that's what they're in for, and Kathie Lee had a look of fear on her face because she was probably having flashbacks to the time Rick Rude was on the show. Besides The Warrior's choice of wardrobe, it started off well enough as Regis introduced his guest, and he came in waving and posing. He shook the hands of the two co-hosts, and then sat down. He was carrying an Ultimate Warrior Wrestling Buddy which were basically dolls, and gave it to Kathie Lee to give to her newborn son.
From this point forward, Regis Philbin just kept calling him out for how, "docile" he's being. Regis commented that his face paint is toned down to which Warrior responded that it's because they're in the homestretch for SummerSlam, like that's an actual reason to minimize a major characteristic of his wrestling persona on national TV. Regis then asked what his strategy for the match was because it's a steel cage. Warrior said that he's going to listen to the warriors. They then ask him how he got those gigantic muscles, and his answer was that he, "goes to the gym and stuff." This man was just giving nothing in his answers.
RELATED: The Ultimate Warrior's Body Transformation Over The Years, Told In Photos
Regis's attempts to hype up the Warrior were just in vain as well. He reminded him that he beat Hulk Hogan, and Warrior just said that he's the only person to beat him, and that Hogan is still a first class person. Both claims being entirely untrue. They then showed Warrior a promo video that was prepared where Rick Rude started trash talking the Warrior. It was about thirty seconds long, but it had already blown away Warrior's interview in terms of energy. Warrior's response? To paraphrase, "I'm strong, and he isn't." Warrior flexed a bit, and Regis was just utterly perplexed that he wasn't getting the Warrior angry. Warrior then tried to give Regis what he asked for by lightly throwing the furniture on the set around while he unenthusiastically roared. The segment ended as he sat back down while Kathie Lee, who most certainly did not share Regis's love for wrestling.
Not everyone can have that knack for interviews or outside media appearances like Hogan, Cena, and Rock did. However, all these guys still perform in front of a large audience all the time, so they should know how to act when they do these appearances. Again, the guy didn't do anything embarrassing, but it got to a point where he probably should have. The Ultimate Warrior got so popular because of his high energy, blood-pumping persona, so there's no reason why he should have acted so dull in a major media appearance. It just proves that The Ultimate warrior truly may not have had what it takes to be the top star.
