10 Harsh Realities Fans Of The Ultimate Warrior Need To Realize

Publish date: 2024-05-06

He’s been referred to by detractors as the "neon painted nincompoop" or "Captain Schitzo." Die-hard fans who “always believe,” along with the WWE, have referred to him as the most intense WWE superstar of all time. The Ultimate Warrior was all of those things and, unfortunately, a lot more.

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Ultimate Warrior ascended to the top of professional wrestling at a breakneck pace, but was gone way before fans received their dream matchups.

Nostalgia is a rose-colored pair of glasses sometimes. When fans think back about the pulse-pounding theme song and envision Warrior charging to the ring, it could certainly put smiles on faces. But there’s a lot more about Warrior behind the paint.

10 Narcissistic From The Start

Jim Ross' First Meeting With The Blade Runners

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Other than both being muscled up meatheads, The Stinger and The Ultimate Warrior couldn't have been more different. According to Jim Ross during The Dark Side Of The Ring, he detailed meeting the man with zero wrestling ability for the first time:

“When The Blade Runners came to UWF, I was the broadcaster. I’ve never met or seen a wrestler with less ability than The Ultimate Warrior. Hellwig [Jim Hellwig, Warrior’s real name] was very narcissistic. ‘I look this good, I got a great smile, I have wonderful teeth. What more could a promoter want?’ Well, I don’t know, maybe could you wrestle?”

While some fans (and even some of the boys) tend to look back fondly on The Warrior, we all know that the guy couldn't work his way through a paper bag.

9 His Classic Interviews Are Heel Promos In A Way

Sometimes The Inane Babbling Was A Little Scary

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Throughout his career, the Ultimate Warrior was known for his babbling and inane, snarling and growling promos. But they weren’t warm and fuzzy promos that children could look up to and emulate - ala training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins. They were either completely nonsensical or talked about doing unspeakable things like crashing planes or feasting on flesh.

8 His Matches Were Not Good

Unless It Was Rick Rude Or Macho Man, Warrior Was Bad In The Ring

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Sure, not every top guy could have matches like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Seth Rollins are able to have. Nor, are they even required to. However, when asked, even Hulk Hogan could put on memorable matches. The Ultimate Warrior simply couldn’t. Unless he was working with Rick Rude or Randy Savage, the guy didn’t have good matches and seemingly couldn’t care less about putting on good matches for the fans.

7 All Entrance, Little Substance

The Second You Hear "Ultimate Warrior," You Start Shaking Imaginary Ropes

Because Warrior didn’t seem to care about having great matches, that left his unique look - which was impressive even for today, let alone back then. But more importantly, it would be how The Ultimate Warrior entered the ring like a freight chain chugging down the ramp at Mach-10. He’d shake the ropes like he was trying to break them and stomp around like a wild animal. That’s all the guy was able to do.

6 He Was Selfish

Didn’t Know Or Care To Learn How To Work

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Because of his inability to work and willingness to learn how to work effectively, not only were his matches garbage, but he didn’t care how many of his coworkers he inadvertently hurt. Heenan, with a history of neck issues, couldn’t stand the guy. When he tried that nonsense with Andre The Giant, the big man quickly put Warrior in his place.

Related: 10 Things WWE Fans Should Know About The Undertaker Vs. The Ultimate Warrior Rivalry

Honky Tonk refused to take the press slam since Warrior didn’t know how to yoke someone up without yoking their unmentionables. He tried that barbaric wild style with Andre and the giant simply chopped him down. Rick Rude constantly jumped on top of him and told him to slow down. Not knowing how to work and being dangerous about it is a terrible combination to have.

5 He Was Very Selfish

Screwed Wrestling Fans On Multiple Occasions

It’s hard to turn your back on your childhood favorites. Even today, The Warrior has plenty of fans’ undying fealty, even though he has screwed WWE and WCW fans over several times throughout his career. The first came at SummerSlam 1991. He wanted a ton of money that he felt he deserved. Vince was left with no choice but to get the match in the ring. He was fired immediately afterward, leaving fans at future events who hoped to see him Warriorless. That was only the first time he had left fans high and dry. Years later, along with Hogan, they took up so much time during their Halloween Havoc match that the show had to go off the air just as the main event was starting.

4 Almost Feuding With Jake Roberts

Messed Up Jake The Snake’s Push

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After being locked in a coffin, the Ultimate Maniac was terrified of The Deadman and actually looked to Jake The Snake Roberts to help him face his fears. It wound up being a ruse and Jake was set up to become the absolute top villain in the company, at least from a money-making standpoint. But when Warrior held McMahon up for money and was fired about it, the storyline was dropped and Jake sat on the back burner for a few months until The Savage storyline started.

3 The Reason Sid Came Back In 1996

Warrior Bailed Again

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The third time Warrior was fired by WWE came in 1996. He had been missing shows due to the death of his father, or at least that was his story. According to Vince McMahon, Warrior had zero relationship with the man and couldn’t understand why he was missing so many dates. After firing him, he brought back Sid instead. Sid, who was handpicked by Shawn Michaels to work with after he felt that Vader was piss-poor in the ring. For any Sid detractors out there, you have Warrior to blame for Sid’s return.

2 WWE Sugarcoats His Legacy

Move Along, There's No Self-Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior To See Here

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While there is the old adage of "don’t talk badly about the dead, "you don’t have to act like they were an amazing person, either. By all accounts, the Ultimate buffoon was not a good person at all, not personally and certainly not professionally.

Related: 10 Things You Forgot Happened During The Ultimate Warrior's WCW Run

But the moment he returned to the company, seemingly all was forgiven or at least going to be forgiven. He passed away, of course, the night he appeared on Raw. In death, the WWE has glossed over every bit of bad in Warrior’s legacy in favor of presenting him in a positive light.

1 Not A Good Person

No Amount Of Good Will Could Have Altered Some Of His Comments

You’ve probably heard a lot of rumors over the years and wrestlers and bookers on shoot interviews and podcasts have spoken ad nauseam about how terrible The Ultimate Warrior was to be around. But it goes deeper than that. Over the years, he would try to take his crazy persona in the ring and turn it into a fully fledged scumbag public speaker persona. He had gone to several campuses around the United States espousing rhetoric that won’t be repeated here. The guy just wasn’t a good guy at all.

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