Today started like such a normal day - the sun was out, birds were tweeting, the usual - and as I turned the alarm off of my phone, I noticed a news story that literally cause my jaw to drop. This news was exceptionally sad, and meant that another small part of my childhood was lost as I head towards my late 30's / impending 40's. This news - courtesy of Rajah.com - was the following headline:
Ultimate Warrior Has Died
Surely, this wasn't the truth? I, like millions of others, stayed up into the early hours of Monday morning and watched James Hellwig (The Ultimate Warrior) earn his rightful spot as part of the WWE Hall of Fame. And last night, catching up with Monday Night Raw, I saw Mr Hellwig shake the ropes one more time, and for a split second it was just like the old days. How could, just a few mere hours later, he be pronounced dead?
As a kid, I started watching the World Wrestling Federation in November 1988, with my first taste of their product being the 1988 Survivor Series that a friend had recorded. This was where my love for sports-entertainment began. Be it for the characters, the choreography (back then I was fully aware that it was scripted, even as a naive and precocious 10 year old), the music, the splendour, I was hooked. Back in 1988, the Survivor Series card was built of a number of 5-on-5 tag team elimination matches. The superstars at this one particular event were in full flow - Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ted Dibiase, Andre the Giant, Jake Roberts, Mr Perfect, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, The British Bulldogs, Demolition and more. However, one superstar stood out to me. He had the look, the colour, the speed, the strength, and the most recognisable theme music since Real American. That man was the Ultimate Warrior.
I was in awe of his energy and that he appeared to be almost impervious to pain. After watching him become the sole survivor of his team, I determined that I was going to be one of the Warriors, his loyal group of fans. After going back and watching every PPV up to that point, I found myself, like most kids at that point, having joint allegiances with Hulk Hogan and the Warrior. Neither had met in the ring one-on-one, but at the 1990 Royal Rumble, we had the first staredown. Then came the Ultimate Challenge at Wrestlemania 6.
Back in those days, I wasn't allowed to stay up well into the early hours, and we had no internet to give us spoiler results, so I had to wait until my one friend who had Sky Sports let me borrow his taped copy of the event. Watching the main event, I almost couldn't face the screen, as two of my "heroes" were trying to destroy each other. When Warrior got the pin, I was ecstatic. Hogan was still up there, but Warrior was so much cooler.
As I got older, my interest in the WWF (as they were at that time) waned for other interests (girls mainly). When I started watching again in 1999 (the first event I would watch happened to be Over the Edge where Owen Hart was killed doing an in ring stunt) the old guard had gone. There was no Hogan, and there was no Warrior.
I found it interesting that I, like most kids, were in awe of these two wrestlers, as watching their matches back now you can see just how bad they actually were. Aside from Wrestlemania 6 and 7, Warrior never had career defining matches, and became promptly buried by the WWE in 2005 following the release of the Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior. Watching that, you realised the guy made no sense, he was sloppy and he was unreliable. However, he still had the look, the it factor, and deserved his place at the top of the wrestling tableau at least once in his life.
I've sat through the shoot videos between Warrior and Hogan, I've heard Warrior say many things that some could consider hate crimes. Yet these two wrestlers still hold a place in my heart, a place reserved for childhood memories. And at Wrestlemania 30, Hogan came out first, but Warrior got the pop that mattered. He was loved still, all these years later - 24 years after he won the WWF title - by those that remembered him back then, those that had grown up but still remembered the music, the energy.
On Monday Night Raw, he came to the ring in a Warrior jacket, he shook the ropes, and he gave us a fantastic promo, that proved he loved the fans. Shockingly, some 24 hours later, his words have taken on a whole new meaning. We don't know how he passed, or whether he knew himself, but his words seemed to indicate that maybe, the gods from above had told him his time on earth was up, and he was to reign in the mountains above.
I've seen the loss of many a wrestler I appreciated over the years, but none as much as James Hellwig. He may not have been the greatest wrestler in the world, but he could make the hair on your neck stand up as soon as his music hit. He was one of the greatest remembered stars in professional wrestling, and he will be sorely missed by the fans, and by me - the 35 year old, and the 10 year old kid who still remembers the past glories he had.
Rest In Peace Warrior, run those ropes in heaven. Thank you for the memories you gave me and countless millions.
"Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe 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."
The Ultimate Warrior, 16th June 1959 - 8th April 2014
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