Remembering the Ultimate Warrior

                For years and years I’ve heard nothing but guys who will never achieve in three decades worth of work what the Ultimate Warrior was able to achieve in just a few years, go on and on about how much the Ultimate Warrior sucked and how much the Ultimate Warrior couldn’t work.   Truth of the matter is he was certainly no technician.  His arsenal of maneuvers and techniques in the ring were rather limited.   Most of his matches were a series of clotheslines, tackles and hay-maker punches  with a body slam thrown in here and there, followed up by his signature gorilla press slam and big splash.     Yet at the end of the day,  he is still recognizably one of the most popular professional wrestlers of all time and I’ll argue the only professional wrestler to match Hulk Hogan’s popularity on a head to head level.    Many will argue that “The Rock” and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin were just as popular as Hogan ever was, but they weren’t competing with Hogan at the height of his popularity.   The Ultimate Warrior was.
                My first memories of the Warrior were during his feud of Ravishing Rick Rude, in which they had a series of three PPV matches, all of which were pretty entertaining.   Rude is one of the greatest workers, who could have a great match with about anyone.   The two worked off of each other so well.  It was fun watching two guys,  who arguably both had the best builds in the professional wrestling business at the time, or ever.    Both Warrior’s intercontinental and World’s champion title reigns were short lived, but both of them very memorable.
                It’s weir d to think back to 1991, when The Ultimate Warrior had a retirement match against Randy Savage at Wrestlemania VII, especially when you consider the aftermath of the match.    Everyone has their favorite Warrior match, but that without a doubt is my favorite.    Matter of fact, it is one of my favorite matches of all time.    Rarely does a match ever live up to its build up, but that match most certainly did.   Hell,  to be quite honest, it exceeded its expectations.    If anything that should have been the main event that night, as it blew Sgt Slaughter and Hogan’s match clear out of the water.      Even though Warrior won, it’d be him who would disappear for a while from the WWE and Randy Savage who would not only be reinstated, but win the WWE title at the next Wrestlemania.    Warrior and Savage had another match at the Summerslam that year, but it paled in comparison to their legendary match at WMVII.
                It is so ironic to think that around this time period,  it was rumored that the Ultimate Warrior had died.    When he returned to the WWE, he had lost some size and had gotten a haircut.  Many didn’t think it was the same person, so rumors began to float around that the original Ultimate Warrior had been replaced.   PWI writer Craig Powers,  was among one of individuals who kept the rumor alive and going.    When it was all said and done though, although rumors occasionally still circuit to this day,  there was only one Ultimate Warrior and he had not died.
                It’s easy to know how to feel about the Ultimate Warrior from a strict entertainment perspective.    He was vastly entertaining,  fun and exciting.   Knock the guy all you want but from his arrival in the WWE in the late 80’s to his departure in the early 90’s,  he was arguably their biggest draw, with only Hulk Hogan to compare to.   If a pro wrestler’s worth is measured by how many butts he put into seats,  Warrior is most certainly one of the most worthy pro wrestlers of all time.   Matter of fact  when he made his return in 1996 at Wrestlemania XII,  people were just as excited about him then as they were 4 years prior when he left.
                How to feel about the Ultimate Warrior on other levels is sort of difficult though.   He had a rather strict business approach towards the professional wrestling business.    Some conclude that he didn’t appreciate it or love it at all, but I’d argue that he did.   He most certainly wasn’t as passionate and loyal to it as are others, but he at least realized what it did for his life and the opportunities that it gave him.    He could sometimes come off as very standoffish in interviews, but I think that was more because he saw the professional wrestling business in a way that many others don’t.    
                On a personal level,  Warrior was very opinionated and highly conservative.    He had some opinions on matters that were very unpopular with a lot of people, including myself.   However, I have to say that is one of the things I deeply admired about him.  He had no desire to please other people.  He said what he felt and couldn’t care less what anyone thought.   Some took him to be once again very standoffish, but I think he was actually just very strong in his stance.     I also think he matured a lot over the years as well.   I’ve heard that back in the 80’s and early 90’s he was sort of a genuine prick, who didn’t even have the time of day to sign an autograph for a dying child.    I’ve heard as of the late 90’s, he really changed a lot, into becoming more of the hero that he pretended to be all those years earlier.  I’ve known a total of five people who  met him, and all five of them have said he was one of the nicest and most cordial people in the wrestling business they have ever met. 
                I think in the end, Warrior died and individual who may not have been loved by everyone but someone that just told it like it was.   He would rip guys he didn’t like a new one,  yet he was also very praiseful and complimentary towards those that he admired.    I think the man had a lot of inner demons that he dealt with during his younger years and that could sometimes come out in negative ways towards others.   I want to say that I believed he concurred those demons and gradually over time became a better person.     While at one time I saw the Warrior as nothing more than a guy who got lucky and didn’t appreciate his good fortunes,  today I see the Warrior as a man who made the best of what he was given and died someone to look up to and admire.  
                I was one of the “little warriors” when I was a kid, who used to paint my face up like the Warrior back in the early 1990’s.    I’m still a bit of a Warrior even to this day.   I’ll end with a quote that he once said that to this day I still live by.
                “You must show no mercy, nor have any belief in the way others judge you, for your greatness shall silence them all”