Alabama Basketball Looks to Replicate The Ultimate Warrior's Breakthrough Moment

Can the Crimson Tide embody the Ultimate Warrior's relentless nature and shock the college basketball world?

Mar 29, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide forward guard Rylan Griffen at a press / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Alabama Crimson Tide basketball team faces the UConn Huskies on Saturday night in the Final Four. When the 4-seeded Crimson Tide take the court against 1-seeded Huskies in Pheonix they'll be the fourth-largest underdog in Final Four history, joining UCLA in 2021, Michigan State in 1999, Syracuse in 1995 and Marquette in 1974.

The Uconn Huskies are riding an 11-game winning streak that dates back to a February 20 road trip to Creighton. Eight of those 11 wins came by double-digit margins including all four of the Huskies NCAA Tournament wins. The Big East powerhouse is looking to defend its national championship and win its sixth national championship in school history this weekend as it's truly one of the blueblood programs in college basketball.

Alabama guard Rylan Griffen revealed himself as a wrestling fan last week and compared his team's victory over North Carolina in the Elite 8 to Brock Lesnar's history streak-breaking victory over The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 30 in 2014.

On Tuesday Griffen compared the UConn Huskies to, perhaps one of the few names bigger than The Undertaker in wrestling, Hulk Hogan.

Hogan is a six-time WWF World Heavyweight Campion and is one of the most recognizable faces in all of wrestling history, but even the Hulkster lost when all the cards were aligned.

"I think Ultimate Warrior beat Hulk Hogan. Like Hulk Hogan was big dog, he was the highest, big-time dude around the WWF at the time and Ultimate Warrior came in with a bunch of energy and beat him. He got the belt, he got the championship. Hulk Hogan was just lying down on the floor hurt and stuff," said Griffen as he pondered what a win over UConn would be like. "I would say it's like that because Hulk Hogan's in the Goat conversation for WWF and UConn they're a a really good team. They're like the Hulk Hogan of college basketball right now so Ultimate Warrior came in and beat him so I would say it's like that."

Hogan hadn't been pinned in over six years and had been WWF Heavyweight Champion for over a year after beating Randy "Macho Man" Savage at Wrestlemania V before being upset by the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlmania VI.

Ultimate Warrior had cemented himself as a main event performer in the WWF by winning the Intercontinental Championship twice already and it was time for his character to ascend to the top of the company by beating its most iconic figure.

Hogan was in the middle of his second title reign when he and Ultimate Warrior crossed paths in the Royal Rumble in 1990 with the Hulkster eventually becoming the last man standing in Orlando. The pair kept tabs on one other and decided to face off in the first "champion vs. champion" match in WWF history. The Ultimate Warrior's calling card was his relentless energy and stamina as his intensity often overwhelmed opponents. It was no different against Hogan in Canada that fateful evening as Warrior evaded the famous "Leg Drop" and quickly hit a signature "Big Splash" to pin Hogan and win his first WWF Heavyweight Championship.

The Alabama Crimson Tide made the first Final Four in school history over the weekend and is undoubtedly the program with the most to prove in Phoenix this weekend. Can the Crimson Tide harness the unbridled energy that Ultimate Warrior competed with and pull off the upset that no one sees coming?