This week was Ultimate Warrior Week as both A&E and Darkside of the Ring’s bios aired.
As a fan of his, I was looking forward to both shows, and it was eye opening to see where he came from and how that formed his outlook on life.
But with the bad there was a tremendous amount of good as well as he inspired millions to watch and to work out and try to be healthier. He taut us outsiders can make a difference and it was an awesome ride.
Growing into it
From a lackluster bodybuilding career, Warrior eventually teamed with another legend in Sting to form the Freedom Fighters in CWA.
They then became the Blade Runners under the guidance of Dutch Mantell and they headed to Mid-South as a version of the Road Warriors.
This was the start of Warrior’s legend, and it’s left a bad taste in many people’s mouths and led to him and Sting breaking up and going their separate ways.
The story goes that the incident came about because they were in Bill Watts’ territory, and he liked to break in new talent by having them get on all fours so he could show them how to take a kick.
Except Watts really kicked them. Warrior had heard about this and reportedly refused to do it and told Watts if he wanted him down to put him down there.
Sting disagreed with him and this ended their friendship as Warrior later stated they had made a pact to always have each other’s back in professional wrestling.
Despite this breakup, their careers parralled each other in an interesting aspect when Warrior defeated Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and Sting won the WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
It was the first time former tag team partners held world titles in the same year.
Warrior then got his break in the WWE and things took off like a rocket for him.
2 sides to the story
Warrior was a flawed individual that made his share of mistakes, but there’s also been a narrative out there about him on a few topics that had another side that wasn’t the WWE’s version.
The following tidbits come verbatim and curtesy of @awrestlinghistorian.
1991:
Vince: Fired Warrior for holding him up for more money out of greed.
Warrior: Did it because Vince lowballed him on his WrestleMania VII payoff, but quit out of protest rather than be suspended. Threatened to no show SummerSlam 1991 one month prior to the show, not the day of.
1992:
Vince: Fired Warrior for failing a drug test.
Warrior: Denies this as there was no drug test and was fired as a scapegoat along with Davey Boy Smith because of the federal government’s steroid investigation.
1996:
Vince: Fired Warrior for missing house shows due to him grieving the death of his father.
Warrior: It was a legitimate request, but he was pissed at the breach of contract by McMahon, who was selling Warrior’s merchandise without giving him a percentage.
Not everything in life is as it seems, and neither was the relationship between Warrior and McMahon, but it’s great they were able to bury the hatchet before Warrior passed away.
This may not be the Ultimate Warrior Week many of us expected, but it was worth every second of it to me and many of his fans. Thank you for the memories, Warrior. Rest in Peace.
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