10 Harsh Realities Fans Of The Ultimate Warrior Need To Realize
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.
RelatedUltimate Warrior: 10 Dream Feuds Fans Never Got To See
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
Close- The Ultimate Warrior Got His Start As Blade Runner Rock
- Along With Blade Runner Sting, They Were Managed By Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert
- The Team Reunited Years Later On Nitro Against Bret Hart And Hollywood Hogan
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
Close- Warrior's Loud Frenetic Promos Instantly Became Memes
- Promos Leading Into WrestleMania 6 Were Slow, Methodical, And Scary
- The Inane Babble Was Less Exciting In WCW
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
Close- According To Many Colleagues, Warrior Didn't Know How To Work Matches
- Warrior's Most Memorable Matches Came Against Rick Rude, Randy Savage, And Even Hulk Hogan
- Without A Good Agent Like Pat Patterson, Warrior's Matches In WCW Really Showed How Bad He Was
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
- To Date, One Of The Few Wrestlers To Run To The Ring
- Shaking The Ropes Was Something That Batista Would Do In Honor Of The Warrior
- Old Timers Tried To Tell Him To Not Run To The Ring. On This, They Clearly Were Wrong
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
Close- Warrior And Hogan Had To Go Over Their WrestleMania 6 Match Several Times On The Beach With Pat Patterson
- He Flat Out Did Not Listen To Agents At WrestleMania 12 And Squashed Triple H
- The Future Game, Ever The Team Player Simply Went Ahead With Warrior's Plan
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.
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
- After The SummerSlam 1991 Debacle, Repeated Returns Were Diminishing
- Failed Drug Tests And Faux-Sympathy For His Estranged Father Led To Warrior's Firing Two More Times
- The Halloween Havoc Debacle Remains One Of The Main Cited Reasons That WCW Went Under
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
Close- The Vignettes With Jake Are Some Of The Best Of The Golden Era
- They Actually Humanized the Warrior Slightly Thanks To Him Showing Fear
- After Warrior's Firing, The Pivot To Jake Vs Savage Led To The Infamous Snake Bite Angle
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
Close- Despite Every Advisor Balking At The Idea, Vince Still Saw Dollar Signs In The Warrior
- In The Feud With Jerry Lawler, He Wore A Hat To Protect His Head, Fearful Of The Scepter Shot Savage Once Gave Him
- Vince Didn't Buy Claims He Needed Time To Mourn Over An Estranged Father And Fired Him Again
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
Close- After Getting Fired By The Company Again In 1996, Warrior Was Gone Until The 2014 Hall Of Fame
- The Self Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior DVD Was Seen As A Hit Job; Despite Warrior Being Asked To Be A Part Of It
- Once He Returned And Unfortunately Passed, All Negative Comments And Thoughts Regarding Warrior Evaporated
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.
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
- The Warrior Award Is A Great Idea; The Warrior's Post WWE Career, Not So Much
- A Quick Internet Search Of Ultimate Warrior Commentaries Revealed How Sordid His Thoughts On Many Topics Were
- His Already Sordid Legacy Has Been Hotly Debated Because Of Those 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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