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Former WWE wrestler Sam Houston once received a positive reaction backstage from Vince McMahon after a multi-man match failed to go according to plan.
At Survivor Series 1988, Houston teamed up with The Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, The Blue Blazer, and Jim Brunzell. The five-man group defeated The Honky Tonk Man, Ron Bass, Danny Davis, Greg Valentine, and Bad News Brown in an elimination match.
On the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast, Houston revealed that Vince McMahon praised his performance after the 18-minute bout. The WWE Executive Chairman allegedly felt that other wrestlers in the match did not cooperate.
"Whenever I got back through the curtain, he thanked me," Houston stated. "He said, 'Sam, you saved that match. You were the only one out there that sold anything.' And that goes back to winning and losing. The guys didn't wanna put each other over. They didn't wanna sell each other's stuff, which is stupid because that's how you get over – by selling each other's stuff." [32:19 – 32:46]
The five-on-five contest opened the show at Survivor Series 1988. The match ended with The Ultimate Warrior pinning Greg Valentine to emerge as the sole survivor.
Sam Houston on his interactions with The Ultimate Warrior in WWE
It is well known that The Ultimate Warrior could be difficult to deal with behind the scenes. In 1991, the WrestleMania 6 main-eventer even threatened to no-show SummerSlam if Vince McMahon did not meet his financial demands.
Houston, who worked for WWE between 1987 and 1991, explained why he had a good relationship with Warrior outside of wrestling:
"We got along together. He was helping me with the weights and everything, working out, because I didn't have a great body or nothing. He was helping me with that and then I was helping him with things in the ring, trying to work, but we traveled together and stuff." [33:27 – 33:47]
Warrior passed away on April 8, 2014, at the age of 54, after suffering a heart attack. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame three nights earlier.
What are your thoughts on The Ultimate Warrior? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
