''What do I need another Warrior for?''- Vince McMahon refused to sign megastar because he resembled Ultimate Warrior
The Ultimate Warrior was one of the biggest superstars in WWE during the late '80s and early '90s. He was also the reason Vince McMahon did not initially want to sign Sting to WWE.
Sting and Warrior performed as a tag team under several names, including the Freedom Fighters and the Blade Runners early on in their careers. From there, Warrior was signed by WWE because of his build, whereas Sting chose to go go to WCW. Before Sting changed his look to a darker version inspired by The Crow, his attire was very similar to that of Warrior in WWE. Both men wore colorful face paint and exuded energy.
Bruce Prichard revealed on a recent edition of Something To Wrestle that WWE did have talks with Sting about joining WWE, but they materialized. He said that one major reason for that could be that Vince McMahon did not want anyone similar to The Ultimate Warrior in the company at the time:
“At the same time we had The Ultimate Warrior, and I believe Vince looked at it as I’ve got Warrior, what do I need another Warrior for? I think Sting kind of looked at it like that. Warrior’s doing our gimmick up there and I’ll do it down there. There was a comfort with WCW and Sting.”
How Sting became a bigger star than Ultimate Warrior
While The Ultimate Warrior was pushed to the moon in WWE, his run was short-lived and he left the company more than once during the '90s. Though he did make an underwhelming return in 1996, his popularity had faded by then.
On the other hand, Sting rose to become a pillar of WCW and stayed with the company till its demise in 2001. He finally joined WWE in 2014 and had memorable matches with Triple H and Seth Rollins. Sting left WWE in 2020 to join AEW.