The Ultimate Warrior Passes Away

[MrMojoRisin]

I believe that Warrior had to have known about the extent of his heart disease, because it really isn't something that should just sneak up on you one day. It takes time for the heart to deteriorate enough that it'll fail, and the human body is going to feel the effects of that deterioration... even if they don't get themselves checked out, which I'm sure that Warrior had done.

If you look back at what everyone is saying about how he was acting at WM weekend, the one thing that really sticks out in my mind is the fact that he seemed to spend a lot of time mending those broken fences, making peace with people and essentially saying goodbye. It reminds me of a good friend of mine who passed away a few years ago of a heart attack. One week before he passed, he reached out to an old friend of ours that he had once been extremely close with, but had a pretty bad falling out with. They made peace that night, and a week later, he was dead. I felt that my friend knew he didn't have much time left, so he used the time he had to right some of the wrongs in his life... much like Warrior seemed to do in his last weekend.

I don't believe that Warrior thought he'd pass away this soon, but at the same time for someone with an advanced heart condition, the stress and excitement of something like Wrestlemania weekend... especially when he was one of the main focuses of it, was probably too much for him to handle. Even if he was in great spirits the entire time and was having the time of his life, a weekend as busy as that one is still stressful. It's positive stress, but still a lot for someone apparently in Warrior's condition to handle.

I think Vince knew about Warrior's condition too. As he's getting older, he also seems like he's realizing that he doesn't have a lot of time left, and one of his highest priorities is mending the broken fences of his life, which Warrior was one of. I don't believe that Vince knew exactly how far along Warrior's heart condition was, or he would have forced Warrior to take it easy. The multi year deal that Warrior talked about... is likely Vince's way of making sure that he could take care of Warrior's family for him in a way that didn't seem to Warrior like it was charity. For all the flack that Vince gets from fans and people in the business (some of it very deserved), this is one area where he can never be knocked. He always steps up to take care of his people.

The wrestlers all talking about how bad Warrior looked over the weekend yet didn't do anything? Consider the source. We're talking about carny wrestlers who crave attention. I doubt any of them really stopped to think too much about how Warrior looked over the weekend, beyond the fact that he seemed happier than they probably eve remembered him being. Sure in hindsight the signs were all there, but in my case, all I noticed until after hearing about his passing was how much happier he seemed to be than at any other time. Hell even Monday night when it should have been obvious that something was off, most people were just joking about how the guy that was always blown up by the time he got to the ring got blown up just walking out there.

RIP Warrior. I pray for your wife and daughters.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I'll caveat what I have said by this.... everyone saying the "miss" the Ultimate Warrior... or will do... not buying it... you all did fine for 20 years without him... BUT

I can see that people will miss what the man had clearly become, as shown during this week. They will miss THAT guy cos he suddenly was not only relevant but like an old Uncle you hadn't seen in a long time who used to be a grouch... when you're older you realise he wasn't, he was just himself. It's a shame because this "New" Warrior had a lot to potentially give to his fans and the business, so yeah, we'll miss out on that...

Warrior of old was not as bad as made out, but he still made poor choices in the main. Perhaps the Vince letters show that some of them, like refusing to drop the World belt to Rude were based more on insecurity and his battle for respect than the open disdain Hogan had for him but ultimately it was a poor choice for Warrior and the WWF. He made a lot of decisions like that over the years, ones that made sense to him at the time but in hindsight he perhaps realised were either selfish, dumb or downright wrong... but he made peace with it, with everyone he could make peace with and thats the best a guy can do in life... leave with no baggage... if you're a believer the people you didn't make up with will be waiting for you one way or another and you'll settle up then... if you're not a believer, then it makes no difference to anyone but yourself...

If you can "pick" your death, Warrior would probably have taken this last week, perhaps hoping to get home... other than that you can't really get any better.

 

[Sabutage]

apologies if its been suggested but i think a fitting tribute would be for the wrestlers to wear armbands like warrior on raw. it could even work for heels, espercially batista without affecting their characters

 

[Dilligaf]

i think a fitting tribute would be for the wrestlers to wear armbands like warrior on raw. it could even work for heels, espercially batista without affecting their characters

Did you see the armband Angelina Love wore for her match on this week's impact, I thought it was very fitting, maybe the same design for next week's raw.

When I read the WZ headline page on wednesday morning when I got to work about Warrior's passing, I couldnt not believe my eyes after a mere day after his Raw appearance, IMO he looked good all weekend.

But saying that, it was reported people backstage all weekend were noticing something was not right with Warrior.

Im just glad he has had the chance to clear the air with Vince, Hogan & all the other people he had past issues with & worked everything out to appear one last time last weekend.

When he mentioned in his speech, he had signed an "Ambassador" contract with WWE, I was intrigued to see what what he could have done in the future with that role, but now we will never know.

RIP, Warrior.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

On the main page and various other sites, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on The Ultimate Warrior states that Warrior died of a massive heart attack brought on by "Atherosclerotic/Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease." In a nutshell, that's doctor speak for heart disease. Also, Warrior's death is being attributed to "natural causes", meaning that neither drugs or alcohol were directly involved.

Based on all the various reports over the past week stating that Warrior was seen clutching his chest just before collapsing, I figured it was a massive heart attack. However, this will only extend the various debates as to whether or not long term steroid abuse had anything to do with Warrior's heart disease.

 

[CeramicDuck]

Much Like Madden and Cheeseburgers, Warrior put something in his body that was going to come back to haunt him later and unfortunately he paid the price for those choices.

I am not saying steroids caused his death directly but you cannot tax your body like that and expect no repercussions. I am sad for his family and I wish wrestling didn't have the death rate that it does, but I kind of have a respect for people who are willing to pay huge prices to live out their dream.

I just hope, if old drug abuse was a direct link to Warriors death than he was comfortable making the decision and it wasn't something that was brought on him by misinformation from people looking to get rich off of him.

 

[Catacomb]

Much Like Madden and Cheeseburgers, Warrior put something in his body that was going to come back to haunt him later and unfortunately he paid the price for those choices.

I am not saying steroids caused his death directly but you cannot tax your body like that and expect no repercussions. I am sad for his family and I wish wrestling didn't have the death rate that it does, but I kind of have a respect for people who are willing to pay huge prices to live out their dream.

I just hope, if old drug abuse was a direct link to Warriors death than he was comfortable making the decision and it wasn't something that was brought on him by misinformation from people looking to get rich off of him.

so you knew warrior? you worked out with him and monitored his steroid usage? a lot of people took steroids that are still around so dont assume they caused his death

you mention you arnt saying seriods caused his death directly, then you put a "but" and did it anyway

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

The heart is a muscle. It is affected by steroid abuse.

If you think that steroid use had NOTHING to do with this, you are just being naive.

I've already seen it out there, where people are acting like this proves Nancy Grace wrong. It doesn't. I'm not letting her off the hook because I despised her tone, and the fact that she went on w/ that a day or two after he died was disgraceful.

But the coroner saying this was a "massive heart attack" due to "heart disease",with no DIRECT link to drug use, does not mean that his heart disease was NOT a byproduct of his drug use in the past.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

so you knew warrior? you worked out with him and monitored his steroid usage? a lot of people took steroids that are still around so dont assume they caused his death

you mention you arnt saying seriods caused his death directly, then you put a "but" and did it anyway

Don't act like there can't be correlation either.

I'm not an expert on steroids, but even when compared to other known users, he looked like a human He-Man figure. It's not a leap of faith to say that he may have been upping the ante on what he was actually taking in.

 

[CeramicDuck]

so you knew warrior? you worked out with him and monitored his steroid usage? a lot of people took steroids that are still around so dont assume they caused his death

you mention you arnt saying seriods caused his death directly, then you put a "but" and did it anyway

Warrior himself has talked a lot about his own steroid use...

Here is one example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKPZdEdywms

He says "I think that there are sacrifices that professional athletes make at that level to succeed"

Warrior made his choices, he has discussed those choices openly and it may have played a part in his health condition at this point in time and that is sad and you cannot put certain things in your body for extended periods of time and be surprised when they do what they do...

Smoking causes lung cancer, fast food causes obesity, these things kill people, I would look at a long time smoker who dies of a lung issue and make the same connection that I would with a steroid user who dies of a heart issue.

 

[Caldwell205]

There is no doubt drug use contributed to his heart issues. Im interested in the report once its posted on the web to see just how large his heart was.

Just thankful he got "things" right before he passed away, and that his family will be taken care of.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Further details will be forthcoming more than likely but it seems ridiculous for anyone to rule out steroid use as the cause or biggest contributor to the heart ailments that felled Warrior. Just like they felled Road Warrior Hawk. And Eddie Guerrero. And Bryan Adams.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

Both Warrior's father and grandfather died of heart disease in their 50's. Warrior did as well. It is quite possible that if Warrior had never taken a steroid in his life that he still would have died of a heart attack anyways.

With that said, the fact that he did take steroids, and likely large amounts for a very long time, couldn't have done anything to help his genetic condition, and it's completely naive of anyone to think otherwise regardless of the autopsy.

Sure there was nothing in his system and that's great. He'd been clean for a while at least. Who knows how long though, and how much damage was already done by the time he finally got off the juice.

Regardless, at least he was able to seemingly make his peace at the end of his life, and ensured that his family will be taken care of.

RIP

 

[hatehabsforever]

so you knew warrior? you worked out with him and monitored his steroid usage? a lot of people took steroids that are still around so dont assume they caused his death

you mention you arnt saying seriods caused his death directly, then you put a "but" and did it anyway

All due respect, but I think it is naive to suggest that the Ultimate Warrior did not use steroids on a regular basis back in the day, he himself has conceded that fact on numerous occasions. I also think it is asinine to suggest that years of steroid use did not contribute in some capacity to his premature death. Am I suggesting that he died due to steroid abuse specifically, no I am not. There are many factors at play when a man passes away in the prime of his life. Genetics, diet, lifestyle, and a whole assortment of other factors, all contribute to the overtaxing of the heart which ultimately leads to a massive heart attack of this nature. And I have no doubt that years of substance abuse, specifically steroids, left his heart in a weakened state which clearly played a role in his demise.

Was he taking steroids in recent days? I doubt it. Had he used steroids recently enough to lead directly to his passing? No. It's not like he went out and overdosed on cocaine or heroin or anything like that. I have no doubt that in the last decade or more, he was likely leading a pretty clean lifestyle. But that's not to suggest that steroids weren't a causative factor here.

Much like the situation with Eddie Guerrero in my opinion. Here was a man who battled his "demons" for years, and I have no doubt that he was a regular steroid user back in the day as well. So when he passed away, I largely attributed his early passing to the fact that while he was clearly clean and sober and not using at the time of his death, prior years of poor decisions played a role. That is not a dig or criticism at either man, just a statement of fact as I see it.

To suggest that a lot of guys have used steroids in the past and are still living, so therefore steroids are not a factor, is a little silly. That's like suggesting that a chain smoker for fifty years who gives up cigarettes for ten years, and then dies of lung cancer, did not suffer from chronic use of cigarettes. And sure, we all know people who smoke multiple packs of cigarettes a day and are very much alive and kicking. Does that mean that chronic cigarette smoking does not contribute to health problems?

Personally, I was very pleased to see that steroid use, or the usage of anything illicit, did not play a direct role in the untimely passing of the Warrior. But please let's not be defensive or naive here. Chances are, regardless of the other factors at play, they did play somewhat of a role here. Maybe not directly, but they certainly didn't help matters any.

 

[wrestler36]

Obviously, as wrestling fans and as several of us (myself included) being huge Warrior fans, we are all going to speculate. I would say a combination of things led to his death. I didn't know that his family had a predisposition for heart disease, as an earlier poster stated. That's a huge factor. I'm in my early 30s and keep a healthy diet, yet I have high blood pressure due to my family's genetics. Warrior talked about his own steroid use as it was part of the culture in the 80s, so that's a huge factor as well. Plus his own personality and lifestyle pushed his body to the max. Even before his death, I loved watching his motivational videos and he talked about getting 3 hours of sleep a night for years at a time. That'll take a toll on your body. His personality is so intense that he probably raised his own heart rate during every conversation. I think there was a news article on wrestlezone yesterday where Shamrock saw him passed out in the back after his match, and Anderson waved it off as a normal thing for Warrior.

Regardless, I saw this video compilation during an autographed signing. He's so good to his fans. I really wish I had a chance to meet him. The SNME in Jan 1990 when he teamed with Hogan vs Mr. Perfect and Genius is what got me hooked onto wrestling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0atx6emqOOs

 

[The Warlord]

Warrior dieing of "natural causes" doesnt mean that steroids weren't involved. Much like cocaine, alcohol or any other drug...just because you stop for numerous years doesnt mean you can erase the past. The damage had already been done. Im sure steroids had something to do with it...but then again maybe it was something else, who knows? I didnt personally know the guy and see what diet he was on and putting into his body.

Either way...Nancy Grace can still go eat a cockmeat sandwich.

 

[OYDK]

Hundreds of thousands of people die from heart attacks every year, many of whom do not take drugs or steroids or whatnot. Warrior's heart disease MAY have been brought on by prolonged steroid use, but the truth is nobody knows for certain what else was going on with Warrior after he left the WWE. To call people naive for saying his heart condition may not be attributed to steroid use is naive in itself. Nobody knows the Ultimate Warrior so nobody knows what brought on his heart disease. In the immortal words of Arn Anderson. Let it be... Just let it be.

 

[fenderjapan]

One of the most terrifying things about steroid use is that the mistakes you make in your 20's and 30's can come back to haunt you so much later. Its like a ticking time bomb, really very sad and scary. The changes individuals make to their lives cannot undo the damage done to their insides from the years of abuse.

RIP Warrior.

 

[OYDK]

One of the most terrifying things about steroid use is that the mistakes you make in your 20's and 30's can come back to haunt you so much later. Its like a ticking time bomb, really very sad and scary. The changes individuals make to their lives cannot undo the damage done to their insides from the years of abuse.

RIP Warrior.

Wth man... this makes me angry. Your assuming it WAS due to steroid abuse even though the autopsy doesn't say that... Exact same thing that Nancy Grace did dude.

 

[Thriller Ant]

Wth man... this makes me angry. Your assuming it WAS due to steroid abuse even though the autopsy doesn't say that... Exact same thing that Nancy Grace did dude.

The autopsy says that there was nothing in his system at the time of death, not that he never did steroids. Warrior himself said he sed them. Much like with Eddie Guerrero, it's a very safe assumption that steroids didn't do his body any favors and could have started him down the path to this end.

 

[JJ15776]

Further details will be forthcoming more than likely but it seems ridiculous for anyone to rule out steroid use as the cause or biggest contributor to the heart ailments that felled Warrior. Just like they felled Road Warrior Hawk. And Eddie Guerrero. And Bryan Adams.

There are millions of people who never touched a steroid and die of heart disease, just as there are many people who use steroids and never have heart problems. It's ridiculous to act like we know for sure Warrior wouldn't have had a heart attack if he never used steroids. There's simply no way to prove that link. We know steroid use increases the risk of heart problems(among other things) because heart problems are so much more prevalent among users compared to non-users, but there's no way to prove it was the cause in any individual case.

The autopsy says that there was nothing in his system at the time of death, not that he never did steroids. Warrior himself said he sed them. Much like with Eddie Guerrero, it's a very safe assumption that steroids didn't do his body any favors and could have started him down the path to this end.

"Could" being the key word. It "could" have done that. It also "could" have had nothing to do with it.

All this tells us is that he wasn't using drugs immediately before his death. Other than it, it changes absolutely nothing. We don't know, and we will never know what role steroids played in his death.

 

[OYDK]

The autopsy says that there was nothing in his system at the time of death, not that he never did steroids. Warrior himself said he sed them. Much like with Eddie Guerrero, it's a very safe assumption that steroids didn't do his body any favors and could have started him down the path to this end.

Again it's an assumption though and if we don't know for sure, we shouldn't comment on the matter (Yea I know I'm guilty of this). Steroids probably didn't do him any favors but, again the point is WE DON'T KNOW WHAT CAUSED HIS DEATH. Everybody should just let it rest because nobody has any clue (that's the only point I'm trying to get across here).

 

[sTyLnK]

Heart disease runs in his family. Could steroids have sped that up? It very well could have. But genetics could be the main reason why.

 

[Pedigree1]

IF you have heart disease in your family genes chances are your fucked either way.. To say Warrior died of heart disease is a nice touch not to implicit drug use.. Did his prior steroid drug use contribute to his death? It probably didnt help him at all.. Back in his day,wrestling was Sex,drugs and Rock N Roll! They didnt have no wellness policy in place to protect the stars like they do today..

Warrior IMO was not using in recent days. I think he finally found the peace he was so longing for.. But did his prior steroid use contribute to his early death? Perhaps,but then again you look at Bodybuilders long retired and there still alive.. You know damn well they were juicing.. So no one really knows for sure,if steroids played a factor... We can all debate on that one

 

[jareck-fear]

It's been a week and no matter how many times I read it or hear it my mind doesn't want to process the fact that he is gone. He was the first thing I seen in wrestling at age 6 and now at age 31 he has been a major influence in my life as much as anyone and he single handedly started my love of wrestling. I'm as big a fan as his as anyone but even I know the steroids didn't help his chances with his father going as well. I do however believe it was a combination of the lifestyle of a pro wrestler, lack of sleep, constant travel, no regular routine and on and on all of which are very taxing on the body and heart. Warrior was as open about steroids as any athlete I've ever come across. I look at it as he did something to achieve a certain place in life and effected many people in a very positive way. He lived a great life in 54 years better than most who live to be 80+. When death comes to your door it's simply your time know matter what you've done. I've known people who were as clean as could be ran everyday ate well and drop dead way to young and I personally know people who drink themselves stupid everyday and people who smoked 3 packs of cigerettes a day yet live to be 90. No bodies perfect we all do things in life that aren't right. The Warrior was my hero and has inspired me more than I could put into words I was set to meet him May 3 in MN, now I won't have that chance all I can take from it is to make the most of everyday and live like a warrior the best I can. Thank you Warrior I will always believe