One Year Later: Can We Finally Be Honest About The Ultimate Warrior?

[JiggaGeoff]

To the OP;

You're not wrong. In fact, you're exactly right.

The thing is, WWE has taken the positive things that Warrior said/did/achieved in his life - and there are some, that is also undeniable - and used them to create a cult of personality around him in death.

I'm sure they meant to do something along those lines with him while he was alive, but with him dead, and unable to screw it up - for lack of a better term - they were able to kind of spin a story of inspiration around him.

I think if we were to truly examine the lives of our heroes, we'd see they weren't always perfect either; so while it's clear WWE has gone to great lengths to accentuate Warrior's better qualities while simultaneously 'burying' his negative ones, I don't see that being any different than any other hero figure's mythos.

To summarize; The life of the 'Warrior': the hero character created by WWE's media machine doesn't necessarily have to be congruent with the life of the man born James Helwig in order to serve its purpose. In fact, it's probably better off that way anyway.

Some good things have come from exaggerated stories about a less-than-perfect man. Try to keep an open mind.

 

[berlinbrawler]

No, you're not wrong. Warrior is all that you said. (Although I wouldn't go quite that far as to compare him to Joseph Stalin or Idi Amin. )

Frankly, I do think that there was a lot more sincerity in the "Self destruction of the Ultimate Warrior"-DVD than in anything else the WWE has said or published about him since.

"Homophobic asshole lunatic" seems to be the appropriate label to stick on his gravestone when no one is looking.

That being said, I do believe in the separation of state and church. There is the man Warrior (arguably the stupidest real name of any person on the entire planet), who was the piece of shit you described and then there was the Ultimate Warrior, an idealized cartoony character who represents all the ideals he is being celebrated for. It's kinda like Hulk Hogan - Terry Bollea is a lying, selfish, despicable human being, but Hulk Hogan is an American Icon.
Since rasslin is make-believe I don't think it's that tragic that they are celebrating a largely fictional legacy of a man with re-written history. It's not like anyone ever took him seriously and only hardcore wrestling fans were even aware of his insane fascist ramblings.

Much much worse cases do exist in history. For example Christopher Columbus. The man was a monster, plain and simple. He should be considered the father of the trans-atlantic slave trade and the butcher of thousands of innocents. Instead he is being celebrated as the hero who bravely discovered America and children sing songs and make plays about him in school and there is even a national holiday in his honor. - Now THAT pisses me off a lot more than some looney wrestler who is being celebrated as a great guy even though he was really a dick.

 

[Thejock83]

You sit pic is of CM Punk, albeit in comic form, so I'll assume you're a fan of CM Punk.

There is a video on YouTube of CM Punk calling a fan at a WWE show a fa**ot.

So can we summise it's ok for someone to hurl homophobic slurs if you're a fan of them?

 

[berlinbrawler]

You sit pic is of CM Punk, albeit in comic form, so I'll assume you're a fan of CM Punk.

There is a video on YouTube of CM Punk calling a fan at a WWE show a fa**ot.

So can we summise it's ok for someone to hurl homophobic slurs if you're a fan of them?

Oh Come on! There is a difference between letting slip a politically incorrect term and lecturing at a university about how homosexuality is wrong.

I, too, have called people '******' in the past and the best (poor) excuse I have is that at my school it was simply one of the most common insults going around. When you said it to someone it wasn't even meant to mean "you are gay and that is bad", it was pretty much a synonym for 'asshole' or 'douchebag'. Didn't make any sense but that was the way it was. It was only years later that it occurred to me what exactly I was saying there and then I stopped using it - alas, old habits die hard. That's how such slips happen. Not proud of it and I'm trying to eradicate it completely from my vocabulary, but there it is. It happens.

Besides, I'm a Punk fan myself and I'll be the first guy to admit that he is an asshole all the same. The two aren't mutually exclusive. And I don't think he is homophobic - that just doesn't tally with the rest of what is known of him. So he let slip a bad word once while in character of a bad guy. Big whoop. As far as I remember he apologized and it never happened again. Works for me.(He is still a jerk, though.) Whereas I can't remember Warrior ever recanting his stance on the issue...