JBL Says Mr. Perfect Should Have Been Heel Transition Champion Between Hogan and Warrior – On a recent episode of the Something To Wrestle podcast, WWE Hall of Famer John “Bradshaw” Layfield sparked an intriguing “what if” scenario regarding one of the most iconic moments in WrestleMania history: the main event of WrestleMania VI between Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior.
During a discussion about WWE’s Legacy Hall of Fame inductees — specifically Ivan Koloff, who ended Bruno Sammartino’s historic title reign — JBL offered insight into how WWE often benefits from using a transitional heel champion when shifting a title from one beloved babyface to another. Applying that logic to 1990, JBL argued that having Warrior defeat Hogan directly for the WWE Championship might not have been the best choice from a booking standpoint.
“I thought it was a mistake to have Hogan lose the title to Warrior,” JBL said. “Because you have one of the most charismatic guys of all time, Warrior who… incredibly charismatic and incredibly over… I think you should have put a mailman in between them. I think you should have put a heel, like, like an Ivan Koloff in between them, and drop it [the title] and then drop it to Warrior. I thought it would have worked better.”
JBL explained that a direct babyface-to-babyface transition put Warrior in an impossible position, following the enormous legacy Hogan had built.
“It’s just impossible to live up to what Hogan did with Giant and, you know, 93,000 people, the start of WrestleMania and all that,” JBL noted. “I don’t know anybody in the history of wrestling that could have carried that right after Hogan, as big as Hogan was at the time.”
Host Conrad Thompson added that WWE had previously executed this kind of move successfully when The Iron Sheik was inserted as a heel champion between Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan. Thompson floated Mr. Perfect as a fitting candidate for the interim role in 1990, noting that Hennig was undefeated heading into WrestleMania VI.
JBL strongly agreed with the idea: “Perfect would have been the ideal person to do it. He can work. He had a ton of heat. He would have made Warrior look great. And all of a sudden, now you’ve got the hated Curt Hennig [Mr. Perfect], because he took the title off the guy you love — Hulkamania. Well, who can come and make vengeance for that? That’s when the Warrior comes riding in on the white horse and wins it… You did it for Hogan. You know, instead of beating Hogan.”
While Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior remains one of the most celebrated WrestleMania matches of all time, JBL’s comments underscore a popular philosophy in professional wrestling booking: that babyface title reigns often benefit from a heel champion serving as a transitional foil.
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JBL Says Mr. Perfect Should Have Been Heel Transition Champion Between Hogan and Warrior
