5 WWE SummerSlam backstage dramas: 2-time World Champion threatened to quit, altercations involving Brock Lesnar and Batista

#1 The Ultimate Warrior’s SummerSlam 1991 dispute

The Ultimate Warrior joined forces with Hulk Hogan in the main event of WWE SummerSlam 1991 to defeat villainous trio Sgt. Slaughter, General Adnan, and Colonel Mustafa.

In the build-up to SummerSlam, Warrior threatened to no-show the event if Vince McMahon did not pay him a large sum of money that he felt he was owed.

Speaking on WWE DVD The Self Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior, McMahon said he agreed to Warrior’s demand because the match had already been advertised, but he then decided to suspend the Superstar immediately after SummerSlam.

“Ultimate Warrior basically came to me and figuratively held a gun to my head and said, ‘Hey, I’m not going to perform unless you pay me x number of dollars.’ My responsibility is to present what I have advertised. My responsibility is to the audience. So I reluctantly agreed to Warrior’s demand, knowing what I was going to do as soon as he came out of the ring. It gave me great pleasure to fire him and to let him know why I was doing it.” [H/T The Sun]

McMahon did not reveal how much money Warrior demanded, but Sgt. Slaughter claimed in Warrior’s Always Believe documentary that he wanted $500,000.

Warrior returned to WWE eight months after SummerSlam 1991 at WrestleMania XIII, where he saved Hulk Hogan from being attacked by Sid Justice and Papa Shango.