Despite his retirement from active wrestling, Savage stayed in the WWF in a non-wrestling capacity while The Ultimate Warrior was fired by Vince McMahon after SummerSlam later that year. Savage wrestled a number of times following WrestleMania VII and the WWF's official story was that out of respect, Warrior generously allowed him to see out the final months of his contract before he was forced to retire. His last match was on April 1 in Kobe, Japan at a joint card between the WWF and Super World Sports, where he was defeated by Genichiro Tenryu. He also made an initial, untelevised return to the ring on July 30 in Portland, Maine, at a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping when he substituted for The Ultimate Warrior and pinned The Undertaker. Following this, Savage subbed for Warrior on house shows in early August against Undertaker.
