Regardless of how good anyone gets, they are still them. REO is a very aggressive player. He plays best when he can dictate the pace. Warrior is best played reactively. With Warrior, you must let your opponent pick the time and place - but his tools let you handle it. Its not the way MKX is generally played and doesn't fit with what REO looks for. REO is one of the best ever, but Warrior strictly contrasts with his chosen archetype.
So how is warrior supposed to be played? You say his tools can handle it. What do you mean be that?
His tools are the overhead strike which is useless unless you are at point blank from the opponent. If you dont instant it or do it full screen you will get jabbed or hit out of it because it has a huge hurtbox and no priority.
The self destruct which only useful if you are(again) at point blank with the opponent or else you will lose 10% for nothing. If you activate self destruct in the neutral you will either get punished or waste 10% life if you don't land a hit so its very risky.
His pimp slap which is negative on block so you can't continue pressure after you cancel any string into it. If you use meter it has push back the the only thing you can use to enforce the plus frames is b22 which is slow and leaves you negative and you just wasted a bar and are back in the neutral with nothing for it.
The only dirt he has is if he corners you but then again its not that big of deal like say for example Raiden or Subzero. His combos don't give you much corner carry either(depending on the stage). Just play the keep away game with him and he has absolutely nothing.
He is very meter hungry with no way of building the meter been saying the same thing for a long time this patch didn't change Warrior at all. He actually got nerfed with the removal of armored launchers.