The Ultimate Warrior Passes Away

[relentless1]

Im not one to bite off of another persons thread idea but I think seeing as how this sad news has hit the wrestling world today we should take some time to honour the Ultimate Warrior and share our fond memories of him as a wrestler and a person, Rest In Peace Warrior, you were one of the greats.

 

[Dragonslayer]

Totally unreal news. Just a few days ago he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, then even appeared on RAW... and a few hours later he's gone, at this of all times.

I was very young when Warrior had his high time, but still I knew the guy and loved the intensity of his character as much as the next guy. I guess when I first saw the Hogan/Warrior match at WM6 (which certainly was a few years after the event happened and I was more or less gobbling up all I could find in terms of wrestling VHS tapes), I was definitely a Hogan guy - pretty much by default.

Still, Warrior was a unique character, and even though he was always a bit on the crazy side, and a lot of his positions as a motivational speaker were a bit too conservative or even right-wing for my personal taste, I always appreciated him doing that kind of work, and also appreciated him being a good speaker and writer.

And even if some of his stuff was a bit "out there" from time to time, I was always psyched whenever he made a return, be it to WCW or WWF, regardless of the fact that ultimately, those last returns were rather wasted opportunities.

It's really sad to see him go out now at this point in his life, where it seems he's made peace with a lot of things that appeared to have bothered him in the past ten, fifteen years; when he seemed to be in a good place with his family and life in general. 54 certainly isn't an age to go, and most certainly not for the Ultimate Warrior.

My condolences to his family and especially his daughters, who I think very painfully had to find out this weekend that sometimes, great joy and great pain lie very closely together.

So here's to WWE legend and Hall of Famer, the man formerly known as Jim Hellwig, who has now returned to "Parts Unknown", and who will forever remain - Warrior.

Godspeed.

 

[BenChillin]

Jesus Christ the timing of this death!

I'm 30 years old man. I loved him as a kid before I knew about ring psychology and legit wrestling talent. Dude is a legend. As an adult I appreciated his unbelievable charisma and ring presence. Overall, a cool fuckin wrestler for that time period.

I can't believe this happened after that raw though! Man. He gave this motivational type thank you speech about legacies thru storytelling with a decent looking mask that people will sure as fuck LOVE to buy, then he just died.

What a day man.

RIP Warrior. For real. I just bought that blu-ray of yours cause I wanted the see that Undertaker match and your skits in between matches. I loved those shit talking videos about Hogan. That commercial was dope and so was that one last match in Europe against Orlando Jordan.

RIP WARRIOR!

 

[AegonTargaryen]

Jesus Christ the timing of this death!

I'm 30 years old man. I loved him as a kid before I knew about ring psychology and legit wrestling talent. Dude is a legend. As an adult I appreciated his unbelievable charisma and ring presence. Overall, a cool fuckin wrestler for that time period.

I can't believe this happened after that raw though! Man. He gave this motivational type thank you speech about legacies thru storytelling with a decent looking mask that people will sure as fuck LOVE to buy, then he just died.

What a day man.

RIP Warrior. For real. I just bought that blu-ray of yours cause I wanted the see that Undertaker match and your skits in between matches. I loved those shit talking videos about Hogan. That commercial was dope and so was that one last match in Europe against Orlando Jordan.

RIP WARRIOR!

I loved those shit-talking videos too. He actually praises his daughter for her "singing talent " but points out how it got her nowhere because of whatever "Hogan family" BS. I loved how he laughed while chastising hogan for his fake blonde hair extensions, his wife's affair with Brooke's classmate or something. For this, and all the memories of your WWF career, RIP Warrior!

 

[Low_Ki]

The timing could not have been more coincidental.

Mania 30 itself was quite an emotional PPV. It was great to see Warrior bury what issues he had with the company and give back. It genuinly blows my mind.

A lot of peoples favourite Warrior moment was his title win at WM 5. Mine was actually at WM 7 when he saved Hogan from Justice and Papa Shango. The pop of that crowd and the fact that Bobby Heenan said 'Hogan hasn't got a friend left' just as Warriors music hit still gives me goosebumps.

Sleep easy Warrior, you were my childhood idol. Love and respect to his family.

 

[JJ15776]

Simply put, he was the reason I became a wrestling fan. He was amazing. When I was a little kid my brother used to watch wrestling, I'd be in the room but not paying attention...one day I heard his music, thought it was awesome, and I've been hooked ever since.

I'm glad he was able to come back into the WWE family, make a real DVD, give his HOF speech, apparently bury the hatchet with a lot of guys he had petty feuds with, and deliver that one last legendary promo...I hope he was able to make peace with any issues he had.

But damn, this sucks. I'm still in shock. Of all the wrestlers who have died too young, this one has definitely hit me the most.

RIP Warrior

 

[MoRtAnDaD]

In my view, warrior was the right gimmick for the 80's kids. I being one of them.

Im 35 now, and looking back at warrior as a gimmick/character, probably he wouldnt grow on me now, but back then...seeing this big muscle guy, full of energy, with the face paint, the colors, the music....he just got me.

So i will put aside my 35 yeard old POV......and just keep those childhood feelings.

Im glad that i was able to enjoy him in his prime, and in my youth.

Forever grateful to the Warrior. It was a blast to see you one last time in a WWE ring, with the trenchcoat and the "facepaint".

May your soul rest in peace.

 

[Pérez84]

Man, this guy was my favourite wrestler in my childhood. Enough said.

In 1990 pro wrestling was properly introduced here in Spain via TV. That year was "the year of the Warrior", wasn't it? That's why he is THE ICON of pro wrestling in my country, above Hogan, above everybody. Most of us here, 70s and 80s kids used to enjoy every Warrior appearance on TV back in those days. The match vs Hogan at WM VI is still well remembered.

The news of his death are being conveniently reported right now, quite unusual towards pro wrestling news.

James, you brought me here. Thank you for all the memories. Rest in peace, sir.

 

[Wald]

While I'm saddened at the loss of the Warrior, particularly for his wife and children who he seemed to love dearly, I'm also thankful that he lived to be inducted in to the Hall of Fame and to see the WWE reverse the wrong they did with that abomination of a DVD they put out on him.

As a kid I liked Warrior, he wasn't my favourite but I liked him, and I hated seeing the WWE try to erase or manipulate our fond memories of the guy. He may not have been blessed with the in-ring skill of Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart but his matches against Savage, Hogan and Rude stand the test of time. His one against Savage is a Top 5 Wrestlemania match in my book.

Of course, what the Warrior lacked in any department he more than made up for with his natural charisma. I read a fan report from the Hall of Fame at the weekend that said you could genuinely feel the air shift to something more electric when the Warrior came out on stage. Any of us who grew up in the Rock N' Wrestling era knows what he's talking about there. Even being a kid in Ireland and watching Superstars on TV on a Saturday you could sense something changed in the crowd when the Warrior's music hit and he came storming to the ring. That's what he'll be remembered for, that sense of excitement.

Genuine Hall of Famer, RIP and condolences to the family.

 

[Sid Schmid]

News broke today that The Ultimate Warrior has collapsed and died outside of a Arizona Hotel.

WWE.com have released a statement as well as many current WWE personnel on Twitter.

I'm shocked and saddened by his passing, RIP Warrior

 

[Sid Schmid]

http://www.wwe.com/inside/ultimate-warrior-passes-away-26223975

Here is a link to the WWE statement on the passing of the Warrior

 

[mcfly2012]

The timing could not have been more coincidental.

Mania 30 itself was quite an emotional PPV. It was great to see Warrior bury what issues he had with the company and give back. It genuinly blows my mind.

A lot of peoples favourite Warrior moment was his title win at WM 5. Mine was actually at WM 7 when he saved Hogan from Justice and Papa Shango. The pop of that crowd and the fact that Bobby Heenan said 'Hogan hasn't got a friend left' just as Warriors music hit still gives me goosebumps.

Sleep easy Warrior, you were my childhood idol. Love and respect to his family.

Warrior won title at wm 6 and made the Hogan save at wm 8. Even so still shocking. He didn't just look right.

 

[boywithbluehanger]

This is very sudden, shocking, and tragic. To wake up to this news, is the worst. I'm very glad that he was able to be put into the Hall of Fame before his passing after the regrettable timing of Macho Man's death. Warrior was a truly motivational guy to me. I quote him a lot lately because he found a way to take his "off the wall" character and apply real-life purpose and inspiration using it. He will be greatly missed but his contribution to society through the character he portrayed and his words of encouragement, will continue to live on.

R.I.P. Warrior

 

[Headman]

I feel so bad for his little girls. You could tell they really loved their father. That's the part that gets me the most. I've been a Warrior fan since the late 80's. At 11 years old I convinced my dad to wait in line with me at the mall for several hours just to meet the Warrior at an autograph session he was doing in Hawaii. I was never ashamed of being a Warrior mark, even as an adult. To me Wrestling is about larger than life personalities doing things that most mortal men could never do and there was nobody better at that than the Ultimate Warrior.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Holy crap...Man, you talk about a wild couple of days. All the memorable happenings at WrestleMania, the post WrestleMania Raw, The Shield going babyface & looking stronger than ever and Warrior suddenly just dropping dead out of the clear blue sky. Hell, I saw him Saturday night at the HOF ceremony and he looked good, healthy.

I can't say that I was a fan of Warrior in the ring, nor did I particularly care for a lot of the things he said & stood for from a political perspective, but even I had a little rush of nostalgia when he came out on Raw this past Monday and started shaking the ropes the way he did back in the day. Sometime over the course of WrestleMania weekend, he & Vince took a picture together embracing and smiling, something I never expected to see.

This is all pure speculation on my part, I mean how can we genuinely know for 100% certainty without knowing the man...but I won't be at all surprised if it's revealed that his death was caused by the ravages of the long term effects of using steroids. Not saying it to be a dick or disrespectful, but if someone expressed the opinion that Warrior abused steroids, they wouldn't exactly have to hold a gun to my head to get me to agree.

 

[Airehk]

I was never a fan of The Ultimate Warrior, but only because I didn't watch wrestling until the late 90's. However in my early childhood in the early 90's, I had an ink stamp where the handle was a mold of a wrestler who went unnamed to me. He looked like a radical warrior of some kind, I never thought much of it.

When I was introduced to wrestling from some grade school friends, they were all talking about this Stone Cold character. Naturally, I thought he would look as wickedly awesome as this wrestler stamp I had. I was let down to know Stone Cold looked like a regular guy in black trunks—that all changed for me with Stone Cold, but that's another story. I went on to show some friends of mine this stamp I had and said "Now, THAT is a wrestler!".

That's my little story of how The Ultimate Warrior impacted me as a child and I will never forget it.

 

[thebarber]

Absolutely tragic. Just glad he got to make peace with WWE, and be given a public platform to thank his legion of fans he has had for 25-30 years. Seeing him on Raw tonight(in Australia, delayed) knowing he had passed away earlier today was quite tough to watch. Guessing Smackdown will have a graphic farewelling Warrior and hopefully next weeks Raw they hold a ten bell salute. RIP Ulitmate Warrior, you were one of the greats

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

It was great to see him back in the WWE fold, the timing of this just makes it much sadder than if it happened a year ago.

This is hard to take after seeing him with his young daughters the other night. Tragic.

 

[MattRhys20]

The fact that The Sun (major newspaper here in The U.K) are covering this, just shows the impact he had. Whilst I'm too young to have seen/appreciated Warrior in his prime, I just feel you can't mention WWF/E without mentioning Ultimate Warrior. Same as in 20 years time, you won't be able to mention WWE without the likes of Cena, Austin, Rock etc.

R.I.P Warrior

 

[LiarsDice]

He didn't really look in the best shape on Monday to be honest. After shaking the ropes, he seemed visibly tired.
It's incredibly sad news when one of our heroes passes away, and as a fan from the 8th I canhonestly say that Warrior was one of mine. That said, he was only 54 years old and with 2 young daughters it just makes the whole situation even more tragic.
I'm personally thinking that he knew he was ill, perhaps terminally so. That would explain his turnaround this year. Burying the hatchet with wwe and signing a legends deal essentially secures his family financially for the foreseeable future. Also, his RAW promo really seems like a farewell to his fans, in retrospect.
An absolute tragedy. RIP Warrior.

"No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. Every man's heart one day beats it's final beat, his lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life, then his essence, his spirit will be immortalized."
-Ultimate Warrior

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

A lot of people are saying that Warrior didn't look right on Monday but I thought he looked great. I'm trying to remember the last time a pro wrestling death shocked me this much. Savage was certainly unexpected but it had been a while since we've seen him. We just saw Warrior... less than 36 hours ago, and now he's gone.

Benoit and Guerrero's deaths are the only ones that I can remember being this shocked after.

It's surreal... Thank you Warrior.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

I'm going to go conspiracy theory on this one.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was in ill-health and his appearance on RAW Monday night was intentionally his swan song, knowing that he didn't have long. The segment struck me as incredibly odd at the time. It's not typical that a HoFer comes back the night after WrestleMania to do a segment like that. It just stuck out as something that didn't belong in the show; it had no purpose other than for Warrior to have one final moment.

 

[Catacomb]

wow, completely shocked, especially after just seeing warrior, condolences to his family, warrior will be missed

 

[chicagokmc]

RIP Warrior. Prayers to his family.

 

[Skyeborne]

Well, this WrestleMania weekend only becomes even more memorable.

"You are the Ultimate Warrior fans. And the spirit of the Ultimate Warrior will run forever." ~ Warrior

It's sad ;-;, but at least he died knowing the real story was going to get out...

To make it even more creepy...Lita said Vince told all the Hall of Famers on Saturday to enjoy the moment, they never know when it will be their last.