OT: The Ultimate Warrior Passes Away
Was more of a Macho Man guy back in the 80s but damn those are 2 of the biggest stars of the era gone relatively early.
Oh man, I remember the banana phone with Marty and Joe. Why'd they stop calling it that? Also, who's the color guy these days?
the banana phone. There was A LOT of Banana Phone just last week because the Reds had a lot of rain delay issues.
They way they're playing right now, I wish they would have even MORE rain delay issues.
Wasn't Savage in the Red's farm system at one point?
Literally 2 days after his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. At least he got to go out on a great note.
Didn't he just resurface this weekend at Wrestlemania? I have a whole bunch of childhood memories of tying tassles around my arms and body slamming my brother off the couch.
I assume shirtless?
Boom. I'll be here all week.
I thought about a career in lifeguarding so I would never have to wear a shirt. Then I remembered that almost everyone would drown.
I'm pretty sure this was the 2nd Ultimate Warrior... the first one died shortly after taking over the spotlight way back when. True, yes? Weird!
I'm glad to get that right finally. It must have been a rumor back in the day that I still remember as being "correct."
that he had died and then he came back.
Makes you wonder...
At least we still have the Bushwhackers
Loved those guys. I think my favorite old school wrestlers were the Rockers though. They were high flying back then.
Rumor out there that it was a drug overdose. Would make a lot of sense.
Totally speculating, but the guy probably did a lot of drugs as a star wrestler, gets a huge weekend thrown for him that makes him feel like a star wrestler again, and to make the throwback complete ... does drugs.
More than likely it was a weak heart from steroid abuse back in his bodybuilding days.
Here is a link to his apperance Monday night on Raw.
Then you obviously have never been a father to a child. And I'm not just talking about providing a semen donation resulting in the formation of a baby.
He was only 54 too, which is not old by any means. Very tragic.
I remember watching his matches as a kid, including his defeat of Honkey Tonk Man, which I believe was his first Intercontinental Title. As I recall, he lost it the very next year to Ravishing Rick, but those were some pretty entertaining times for the 11-12 year old me. Yeah, my friends and I would try the off-the-furniture slams a la Warrior too.
In his retirement, he was a motivational speaker, and from what I have heard, a very good one too. RIP Warrior.
He lost it to Rick Rude at SummerSlam, but he must have gotten back at some point that I don't remember because he had the IC belt when he beat Hogan at WM6.
you guys glad the party room is back
Saw this yesterday.
Extremeply sad end to a star-crossed life. Obviously, when a young girl dies after battling cancer we should all be struck by the unpredictability of life; when a 54-year-old former bodybuilder/wrestler with a history of drug usage and a pretty cranky/borderline-racist demeanor you can have a bit more levity.
That said, he apparently died walking to his car with his family, leaving the hotel in NO where he stayed after celebrating his acceptance into the WWE HOF. He wasn't the greatest wrestler, but his end came far too soon, and my condolensces go out to his family.
Next time I'll just make fun of him and move on. Much better.
Though he used steroids during his prime, "Warrior" was an anti-drug guy, supposedly into living a healthy lifestyle. A YouTube search for "Ultimate Warior Shoots" will yield a collection of videos where he rails against the partying lifestyle prevalent in the WWE when he was there.
Professional wrestlers dying young have become a sad cliche in the business, but it's usually drug-related, starting with injuries, painkillers and a "downward spiral." Warrior was one of the last people one would expect to drop dead.
The good: he reconciled with a lot of people in the business over the last three months, most notably VKM, and he got to stand in the ring and soak up the cheers one more time.
RIP and condolences to his family.
RIP Warrior, I wish strength for your family.
My somewhat selfish take on being an avid WWE fan is that it sure can be hard to be a big fan of wrestling at times, but thankfully not as often as it used to be. The last 3-4 days were some of the WWE's best and most positive/forward looking that they have had in a long while and now one of the major icons of their history that they just honored and brought back to the front stage of this little corner of pop culture dies. Life is really strange sometimes...
April 22nd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
It's not really analogous, though, is it?
There are precious few actors referred to only as the name of their characters when they die. No one, that is, will say 'RIP, Indiana Jones,' when Harrison Ford dies, unless they're just trying to be cute.
"Every man's heart one day beats its final beat, his lungs breath their final breath. And if what that man did in his life, makes the blood pulse through the body of others, and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life, then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized by the storytellers, by the loyalty, by the memory, of those who honor him and make whatever the man did live forever." Kind of eerie now