Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the Ultimate Warrior's passing. A long legacy left behind, a loving (assuming, very forgiving) familyleft to grieve, at the age of 54. Surely, WWE has not scrimped on reminding us of Warrior's legacy, devoting an entire award in his memory. Much has been made of decision to twist Warrior's words into a PR spin; I've been somewhat amazed at the amount of fucks that people have given with a business deciding to be a business. We've gnashed our teeth and thumbed our noses at what seemed like a crass way to cash in on Warrior's death (and, to be fair, there is validity to this criticism. Frankly, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter: Connor the Crusher got his moment, and that's what really matters). That's never been a problem, at least for me.
My problem has always been, why in the fuck would we name an award of courage and compassion after such a homophobic bigot?
Last month, Dana Warrior said the following;
I'll do you one better, Dana; Connor deserves more, than what the Warrior award entails. Over the past year, we've indulged ourselves (with no uncertain help from the WWE) in a great dosage of revisionist history. Ironic, considering the WWE's involvement in the revisionist history that surrounded Warrior. Warrior has been, and always will be, one of the most identifiable names in wrestling. The right mixture of attitude and flash, Warrior now rightfully is deemed by us as one of the most memorable wrestlers ever. We're finally done ignoring the good that Warrior brought us; the involvement he had in our childhood, the memories he has left us, and the business he helped make a worldwide entity.
But just because we have all of these positive elements of Warrior to remember now, doesn't mean we should exclude the negatives. There are many adjectives that can be used to describe Warrior; I'm sorry to say "courage and compassion" are not the two words I'd use to describe the man.
It always struck me as odd that WWE chose to honor a Make a Wish child, by presenting an award from the memory of someone who seemed to be rarely involved with Make a Wish children...
The sad truth is, Warrior was a man who rarely conjured up passion for anyone. When Heath Ledger passed away, Warrior had this to say:
His thoughts on gays have been well chronicled over the years, so this seemed a knock on Ledger, for portraying homosexuality in Brokeback Mountain. Incidentally enough, while certainly unintentional, Warrior would leave his daughters fatherless, as well.
As it pertains to Bobby Heenan, Warrior had this to say:
Regarding the victims of Hurricane Katrina:
Warrior clearly fostered an unwelcoming environment to those different from him, and did so unapologetically to his grave. In return, the WWE decided to name an award based on courage and compassion (admittedly, somewhat against Warrior's actual message) off of the man. A man with little compassion, and based on these quotes about MLK, a man who knew little about courage...
If this post seems harsh on Warrior, it's because it absolutely is. We all laughed a year ago, when Donald Sterling was set to receive an award from the NAACP, days before the sound of Sterling speaking with his mistress leaked. Imagine if the NAACP went one better, and decided to fund an award in honor of Donald Sterling's racial tolerance?
That is the equivalent of what WWE has done.
Warrior was able to come back, and make his peace with WWE. Grand. That doesn't, and shouldn't, absolve him of the troubling homophobia and bigotry that always seemed to follow this man. I'm sure he was a wonderful family man, and may have been a loving husband. I'm also sure that Joseph Stalin and Idi Amin's family would tell you the same thing, about them.
It astounds me how a man who has gone above and beyond to give back is still widely booed by the audience, while Warrior can be annointed for sainthood.
So, I present to you the real shame of the Warrior Award, that so many deserving warriors are going to be tarnished by the lasting legacy of a homophobic bigot.
Tell me, where exactly am I wrong?
My problem has always been, why in the fuck would we name an award of courage and compassion after such a homophobic bigot?
Last month, Dana Warrior said the following;
"Connor displayed all of the positive traits that Warrior stood for, and he is the perfect recipient for this inaugural award."
I'll do you one better, Dana; Connor deserves more, than what the Warrior award entails. Over the past year, we've indulged ourselves (with no uncertain help from the WWE) in a great dosage of revisionist history. Ironic, considering the WWE's involvement in the revisionist history that surrounded Warrior. Warrior has been, and always will be, one of the most identifiable names in wrestling. The right mixture of attitude and flash, Warrior now rightfully is deemed by us as one of the most memorable wrestlers ever. We're finally done ignoring the good that Warrior brought us; the involvement he had in our childhood, the memories he has left us, and the business he helped make a worldwide entity.
But just because we have all of these positive elements of Warrior to remember now, doesn't mean we should exclude the negatives. There are many adjectives that can be used to describe Warrior; I'm sorry to say "courage and compassion" are not the two words I'd use to describe the man.
It always struck me as odd that WWE chose to honor a Make a Wish child, by presenting an award from the memory of someone who seemed to be rarely involved with Make a Wish children...
Hitman said:I got to see exactly what kind of champion Warrior was during a show in Omaha. Propped up on a stretcher a few feet outside the dressing room was a Make A-Wish kid who looked to be down to his last few hours. There was not a hair left on his head, and not even his Warrior face paint could mask his sad eyes. Sickly pale and barely breathing through a ventilator tube, the boy wore a purple Warrior T-shirt and green and orange tassels tied around his biceps to honor his hero. His mother and father and an older brother and sister were with him, patiently waiting for the promised encounter with The Ultimate Warrior.
I bent over to say hello, as did all the other wrestlers on the way into the dressing room. It was odd, but there was Warrior actually sitting with us: He usually kept to himself in his private dressing room. By the time the third match started, a WWF public relations rep poked his head in and politely asked Warrior if he was ready to meet the dying boy. Warrior grunted, In a fuckin minute. Im busy. I thought to myself, Busy doing what, talking to a bunch of guys you cant stand anyway?
As the night wore on the family waited just outside the dressing room door, the boy hanging on to his dying wish to meet his hero. As I was returning to the dressing room after my match, I was relieved to see that they werent there anymore; I assumed that the kids wish had come true.
Warriors entrance music played while Jim and I quickly showered in hopes of beating the crowd out of the building. Wed have to hurry since Warrior never went over ten minutes. We dressed, grabbed our bags and took off. As we rounded a corner down a backstage ramp, we came upon the boy and his weary family, who had been moved there so as not to get in the way of Warriors entrance. I thought, That lousy piece of shit. Hed made them wait all night, unable to summon the compassion to see this real little warrior. Hogan, Randy and countless others, including André, never hesitated to take the time to meet a sick, dying kid. My disgust for Warrior magnified a thousand times. To me he was a coward, a weakling and a phony hero.
The sad truth is, Warrior was a man who rarely conjured up passion for anyone. When Heath Ledger passed away, Warrior had this to say:
By today's standard, though, I do have to agree that he was a great father. Perhaps even greater then the father of the year, Hulk Hogan. After all, Leather Hedger did what it took to kill himself. His kid is without a father, yes, but the negative influence is now removed and his own child has the chance for a full recovery.
His thoughts on gays have been well chronicled over the years, so this seemed a knock on Ledger, for portraying homosexuality in Brokeback Mountain. Incidentally enough, while certainly unintentional, Warrior would leave his daughters fatherless, as well.
As it pertains to Bobby Heenan, Warrior had this to say:
As for you, Booby Heenan, its just too difficult to keep a straight face talking about the pure two-faced bag of shit you are (and have always been), what, with you also actually wearing one as a piece of body jewelry. You are dying, dis-eased on the inside, and no more time is left to get back any of the integrity that matters the most on deaths bed. Imagine what it will be like, lying there taking in your last breaths, knowing you ****ed yourself out your whole life, and had to, in your final years, be faced with emptying your own personal shit bag affirming to you the true value of what you achieved in your life. Not even Vince could come up with a better finish than this. Karma is just a beautiful thing to behold.
Regarding the victims of Hurricane Katrina:
If we could be shown what general conditions they lived in before the hurricane, we would see that had little respect for what they did have. We would see just how unorganized, unclean and dysfunctionally they lived. They never gave a care for order, cleanliness or function before, but now that they can get someone's attention who will possibly take over the responsibility of their life for them, they go on these tirades about how their life has been ruined. Their lives were already in ruin self ruin. Ruined by the bad choices they made over and over.
And they are fat. Have you ever seen so many fat people? Poverty? Poverty of what? Having enough to buy so much food to eat that you become obese this is poverty? Only one TV? This is poverty? A house with a roof over your head? This is Poverty? Indoor plumbing? Electric appliances? Refrigeration? Phones? Cell phones? Computers? Designer clothes made by rap stars? $200 Nikes? Free medicine and medical care if you really need it? Is having all this poverty? What the hell, then, do we call the scenes they shoot out of Africa that they use to lay guilt trips down on all of us?
They claim New Orleans was (is) a great city. Maybe once it was, I don't know. Too, maybe it's just always been corrupt as it has been for years and years. Truth is, today, it was nothing more than a pornographic cesspool of decadence and depravity. You know, an East Coast version of that Las Vegas take on vacation time "what you do there stays there." You go there, drink and drink and drink and behave like a pervert, reprobate and degenerate, take a huge dose of antibiotics and a nice extra long shower before you hop on the plane back home, and, "Hey, who knows any better?" You go back to the church, PTA, and local council and "squarely" fit right back in. One thing is for sure, IF New Orleans ever was a great city, it certainly was not because it had leaders and citizenry like the leaders and citizenry it has today.
Warrior clearly fostered an unwelcoming environment to those different from him, and did so unapologetically to his grave. In return, the WWE decided to name an award based on courage and compassion (admittedly, somewhat against Warrior's actual message) off of the man. A man with little compassion, and based on these quotes about MLK, a man who knew little about courage...
Martin Luther King can have his own self-titled birthday recognized as a National Holiday, but not our country's First President? Should I go on? Should I have to? Do I want to? Will I? You bet your ass I will.
Let's see if I understand this correctly. Or should I say, let's see if I can get to anywhere near a "correct understanding" of this piece of nonsense by, first, understanding it sensically using political-incorrectness?
Martin marched a few times from Selma, AL to Montgomery, AL. It's only about 40 miles and he walked along paved roads with security escorts and modern comforts and conveniences. He wrote a few jailhouse letters, plagiarized a great many speeches, and played up his last name "King" as if he was ONE. He led his best rally amid the monuments of Washington, DC. He preached proper, righteous behavior while he at the same time committed adultery many publicly verifiable times oh, and he had "a dream."
If this post seems harsh on Warrior, it's because it absolutely is. We all laughed a year ago, when Donald Sterling was set to receive an award from the NAACP, days before the sound of Sterling speaking with his mistress leaked. Imagine if the NAACP went one better, and decided to fund an award in honor of Donald Sterling's racial tolerance?
That is the equivalent of what WWE has done.
Warrior was able to come back, and make his peace with WWE. Grand. That doesn't, and shouldn't, absolve him of the troubling homophobia and bigotry that always seemed to follow this man. I'm sure he was a wonderful family man, and may have been a loving husband. I'm also sure that Joseph Stalin and Idi Amin's family would tell you the same thing, about them.
It astounds me how a man who has gone above and beyond to give back is still widely booed by the audience, while Warrior can be annointed for sainthood.
So, I present to you the real shame of the Warrior Award, that so many deserving warriors are going to be tarnished by the lasting legacy of a homophobic bigot.
Tell me, where exactly am I wrong?