The Ultimate Warrior, Dead at 54

[The Unknown Poster]

Wrestling fans will realise the absolutely ridiculous timing of this death.  Warrior and WWE were at odds for 18 years, suing each other several times.  They made peace and Warrior was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame just this past Saturday, appeared at Wrestlemania on Sunday and his final TV appearance two days ago giving a classic "Warrior" promo live on Monday Night RAW.  Tuesday evening, he collapsed and died.

 

Politics aside, Warrior was a childhood hero of mine (and many others).  It was gratifying to see him rightfully honoured by WWE.  He was escorted onto stage by his young daughters and told them of everything he has done in life, his greatest thing was being their father.

 

RIP Warrior.

[Brandon]

It was creepy in how his speeches he mentioned that his spirit will always move on and then he drops dead.

I'm guessing the cause was probably from years of steroid abuse. He seemed to live a clean life after wrestling and he was in crazy good shape for an old guy.

[bluto]

shocking how many of these guys check-out early. if it were any other profession/sport. it'd be scandalous.

 

i was at WMVI.

[17to85]

shocking how many of these guys check-out early. if it were any other profession/sport. it'd be scandalous.

 

I think it's already pretty scandalous, especially when the Chris Benoit thing hit. 

 

Basically I think it comes down to this: Drugs are a hell of a drug. Treat your body like that as often as these guys do I think it's pretty much a requirement to be drugged out of your mind all the time. 

[Y2C]

As the OP said, it's just crazy how he was just on Raw Monday night then I wake up this morning to the news that he died last night...

 

RIP Warrior.

[iso_55]

These guys used steroids to have (in their minds) optimum  matches & to stay strong. With all the travelling they had to take shortcuts & roids was one of  them. And they had to perform night in & night out, day after day.... so the painkillers come into play. I mean, just a vicious circle. Look at the guys that checked out early like Rick Rude, Brian Pillman, Eddie Guerrero, British Bulldog, Mr Perfect, Chris Benoit... Jim Hellwig  looked weak on Monday night & not well. it looked like it took almost every ounce of energy for  him to go into Warrior mode to give that speech. I feel  bad for him & his family.

Interesting tidbit here. I worked occasionally with one of the Hart brothers as he is a substitute teacher in Calgary. We got to know one another whenever he worked in our high school. Back in 2003 we had a conversation about Chris Benoit who was trained here in Calgary by Stu Hart over 25 years ago. He told me 11 years ago that he was deeply concerned about Benoit  & the choices he was making. He was worried that he wasn't going to make it. Pretty prophetic stuff as it turned out.

[Brandon]

The one thing though was for years Warrior talked about being clean and not living the poor life style that many other wrestlers did.

He looked good on his video blogs over the last few years and looked healthy and normal.

He didn't look all drugged out like Bret Hart who is/was a crazy coke head and who now looks like a corpse who aged rapidly.

[17to85]

I think Bret Harts stroke really did a lot more to age him quickly than the drugs ever did. 

[Atomic]

Ultimate Warrior's speech on Monday Night RAW two days ago:

 

"No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. 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 bleed deeper, than 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 the running the man did live forever.

"You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend makers of Ultimate Warrior.

"In the back I see many potential legends, some of them with warrior spirits. And you will do the same for them. You will decide if they live with the passion and intensity. So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends as well. I am Ultimate Warrior. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans. And the spirit of Ultimate Warrior will run forever."

RIP!!

[iso_55]

I think Bret Harts stroke really did a lot more to age him quickly than the drugs ever did. 

I think a stroke would age anyone prematurely if it doesn't kill them first. 

[The Unknown Poster]

Uhhhhh Bret Hart crazy coke head? I can't say he doesn't do coke but anytime myself or people I know have been around him there has been zero drugs. He had a stroke.

Warrior is an interesting case. He didn't seem to consider steroids to be bad. He was very negative on guys who were big drinkers and drug addicts. There's also a video of him from two years ago being critical of his doctor for telling him to slow down after a muscle tear.

Eddie Guerrero is the perfect example of sometimes the damage is done. After cleaning up his life he dropped dead. Years of steroid abuse had enlarged his heart.

Warrior was in magnificent shape but look at pics of him....hard to imagine a 54 year old man being ripped like that.

[iso_55]

Uhhhhh Bret Hart crazy coke head? I can't say he doesn't do coke but anytime myself or people I know have been around him there has been zero drugs. He had a stroke.

Warrior is an interesting case. He didn't seem to consider steroids to be bad. He was very negative on guys who were big drinkers and drug addicts. There's also a video of him from two years ago being critical of his doctor for telling him to slow down after a muscle tear.

Eddie Guerrero is the perfect example of sometimes the damage is done. After cleaning up his life he dropped dead. Years of steroid abuse had enlarged his heart.

Warrior was in magnificent shape but look at pics of him....hard to imagine a 54 year old man being ripped like that.

He looked like he could barely function on Monday night. His hands were shaking & he looked confused at times. Just to go into Warrior mode for the crowd seemed to take all the energy out of him. 

[Nasty Nate]

 

Uhhhhh Bret Hart crazy coke head? I can't say he doesn't do coke but anytime myself or people I know have been around him there has been zero drugs. He had a stroke.

Warrior is an interesting case. He didn't seem to consider steroids to be bad. He was very negative on guys who were big drinkers and drug addicts. There's also a video of him from two years ago being critical of his doctor for telling him to slow down after a muscle tear.

Eddie Guerrero is the perfect example of sometimes the damage is done. After cleaning up his life he dropped dead. Years of steroid abuse had enlarged his heart.

Warrior was in magnificent shape but look at pics of him....hard to imagine a 54 year old man being ripped like that.

He looked like he could barely function on Monday night. His hands were shaking & he looked confused at times. Just to go into Warrior mode for the crowd seemed to take all the energy out of him. 

 

Pretty much what iso said. Doing some old warrior stuff may have contributed to his demise. He was sweating like a pig, wore that ugly warrior parka and looked like he was trying to cover a severe limp when he came out from the curtain to cut his allotted promo on Monday nite. 

[Brandon]

Warrior had the limp when he blew out his knees in his retirement match a few years back in Italy.

He's been wearing that parka for a while I'm guessing because of embarrassment on how weird his arms looked compared to his chest. He had a bunch of workout videos that may still be on YouTube and his arms were really weird looking.

Bret Hart was open about how facked up he was during his hey day with his huge drug addiction. I never realized how bad he was but from the stories he seemed worse then most of the other guys from that era.

[iso_55]

I had no idea, Brandon...

[The Unknown Poster]

Bret was perfectly fine until his stroke.  Not saying he wasnt into drugs like most guys from that era of the business.  But drugs arent contributing to his current state...which is damn fine for a guy who suffered multiple concussions and multiple strokes.  He return to WWE a couple years ago might not have been as good as people hoped but actually he was WAY better at an untelevised MSG show where he actually hit most of his signature spots.

 

Hindsight is 20/20 but Warrior did look rough on Monday.  Had he already been suffering the onset of a heart attack, its even more sad when you consider how many trainers, doctors etc are around WWE.  Im glad he and WWE mended fences though.  He just signed a multi-year contract with WWE and by all accounts was VERY happy over the weekend and mended fences with guys (Jake, Hogan, Patterson etc).

[SPuDS]

I think Bret Harts stroke really did a lot more to age him quickly than the drugs ever did.

i completely agree. The interview after his bike accident and hospital stay he looked brutal.. to suggest it was all drug induced is just ignorant .. The guy almost died for crying out loud...

[Brandon]

I think Bret Harts stroke really did a lot more to age him quickly than the drugs ever did.

i completely agree. The interview after his bike accident and hospital stay he looked brutal.. to suggest it was all drug induced is just ignorant .. The guy almost died for crying out loud...

Its possible, I only watched an interview with him saying how far gone he was on drugs that he forgets large periods of time and how he slept around and only kept going on the road with the excessive drugs.

Its not to surprising considering how much drugs Davey Boy was on and The Anvil is/was a raging alcoholic also.

I assume he looked like **** because of the drugs and being off the roids. Similar to how Scott Hall looks like shite or any other aging old addicted wrestler.

[Brandon]

Its all really sad I remember a few years back watching wrestling in st vital and seeing Billy Gunn so high that he was lost in the ring and was completely out of it and barely could put on a match. Some of these guys fall really hard after being out of the lime light.

[Atomic]

And now Billy Gunn is back in the WWE. The circle of life.

[The Unknown Poster]

I dont recall if Bret said he was on coke or if he meant drugs as in painkillers etc.  The life of some of these guys, especially in that era and in bret's position was that you needed painkillers to keep going, you needed downers to get sleep and you needed uppers to get up.  Its a tough life.  WWE has done a lot to improve things but its a lifestyle.

 

We actually had Bret booked to work SHAW Park in July 2002 when he had his stroke.  Really screwed us up and it was hard getting legit info as Bret's people kept his condition very secretive.

 

I had the pleasure of working with Eddie Guerrero and Hawk before they died.

[Brandon]

I dont recall if Bret said he was on coke or if he meant drugs as in painkillers etc. The life of some of these guys, especially in that era and in bret's position was that you needed painkillers to keep going, you needed downers to get sleep and you needed uppers to get up. Its a tough life. WWE has done a lot to improve things but its a lifestyle.

We actually had Bret booked to work SHAW Park in July 2002 when he had his stroke. Really screwed us up and it was hard getting legit info as Bret's people kept his condition very secretive.

I had the pleasure of working with Eddie Guerrero and Hawk before they died.

Were you the same guy who did shows in the old christian TV studio on chevrier?

I saw a few shows with guys like Raven , Tajiri, Larry Zbysco, Nikolai Volkoff?

Some of the guys were great and others were just plain sad. I almost felt like giving them money to stop wrestling cuz it was so sad.

[The Unknown Poster]

No, that was my former partner.  We started Premier Championship Wrestling together in late 2001, "debuted" in March 2002 at the IGAC (1700+ people to see Geurrero, HTM and Beefcake), ran SHAW Park in July 2002 with LOD & Buff Bagwell (the root of my distain for Sammy) and regular shows at The LID Nightclub.  My former partner left PCW in 2003.  We still run shows using Doubles as our home venue featuring mostly locally talent (with guys from UK, Austraila etc) and Kenny Omega (very talented and popular Indy star).

 

My former partner did bring in a lot of former big names whereas I was always trying to bring in younger "indy" stars like Somoa Joe, AJ Styles, Amazing Red, Chris Sabin, Chris daniels etc...and ofcourse Winnipeg's own Steve Corino.

[Nasty Nate]

Tajiri was awesome. 5'7", 168 lb. guy chopping down giants like Mike Awesome, etc. 

 

I still remember Bulldog Bob Brown when he was a trainee in Vern Gagne's AWA group in the late 60s

[iso_55]

I saw Bob Brown wrestle on the old NWA wrestling shows from Vancouver on CTV Saturday afternoons with Ron Maurier doing the shows & interviews. Heck, sometimes even a legitimate broadcaster like Bernie Pascall did the interviews. Nate would remember that show, I'm sure.