WR3ZTLING

Warrior dying is super crazy. He went into the WWE HOF Saturday. Then was on RAW Monday and looked like shit. At this HOF speech he was very well-spoken and at RAW he was slow and jumbled, couldn't walk well and couldn't even shake the ropes.

ledfistaco · Post by **ledfistaco** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 6:08 pm

“Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe a 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 and 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.”

T200 · Post by **T200** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 6:25 pm

His last promo on RAW that quote is from:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWqoCX1uQe0[/youtube]

T200 · Post by **T200** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 12:02 am

Turdacious · Post by **Turdacious** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 1:54 pm

Speaking of Savage:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0nOyDyb3gQ[/youtube]

T200 · Post by **T200** » Thu Apr 10, 2014 11:23 pm

WO:

“Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe its final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the bodies of others; If it makes them believe deeper in something larger than life; than 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.”

—Ultimate Warrior on Monday Night Raw, April 7, 2014, 24 hours before his death

It had been 18 years since the Ultimate Warrior, the character played by Jim Hellwig, had appeared on a WWE broadcast.

In the past few days, he appeared on three. On Tuesday morning, he and his wife got on his plane from New Orleans to Dallas, and then connected to Phoenix, and first went to the Gainy Suites Hotel in Scottsdale.

“On April 8 at 5:50 p.m., 54-year-old Warrior James B. Hellwig collapsed while walking with his wife to their car at the Gainy Suites Hotel in Scottsdale, AZ,” said Sgt. Mark Clark of the Scottsdale Police Department. “The Scottsdale Fire Department transported him to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead soon after arrival. At this point in the investigation, it appears as though a catastrophic medical condition caused his death.”

A TMZ report stated that when he collapsed, he was clutching his chest according to witnesses. An autopsy will be performed, but the initial speculation is he suffered a massive heart attack.

The timing was spooky, and the vision of him as the main eventer at the WWE Hall of Fame, coming out with his two young daughters, talking to his wife and mother in the front row and telling them how much he loved them. He was introduced at WrestleMania the next day. One day later, he delivered what will always be remembered as his farewell interview on Raw.

He was limping badly, and when he went to shake the ropes, blew up right away, which may have been a sign. Whether he was aware of anything, because you could certainly go back with a different perspective and listen to his interviews Saturday and Monday and come to that conclusion, also could be purely coincidental. One person who knew him better than most noted the same thing that we did, that the interviews are exactly what he would have said and you could read something into almost anything. He shot down the idea he was aware of a serious medical issue and that anything could be read into a lot of his comments for years that could be viewed in hindsight like he was delivering his own eulogy.

What he said and how he said it was not unusual for him. The limp was also nothing new. It’s not known how long he had been limping badly, but people who had meetings with him as far back as in 2012 noted he had the same limp.

However, he did have a premonition about dying young. People who dealt with him said he spoke openly about what he did and the chemicals he used to become the Ultimate Warrior. He matter of factly said in recent months that he believed he would die young. His father and grandfather died in their 50s, and he would outright say that the drugs he took would probably take years off his life. He also succinctly said without prompting that he didn’t regret doing what he did, because without doing it, there would not have been an Ultimate Warrior.

James Brian Hellwig was one of the memorable characters in the wrestling industry. He got in by accident. He was a wrestler who, in many ways, along with Hulk Hogan, was characteristic of his time. He was a big, muscular competition bodybuilder whose physique was his calling card and his reason for being a success. Obviously he had more than just a physique, because there is a world full of big bodybuilders who would love to be able to do pro wrestling and make the money he did. He had a crowd appeal even when he didn’t know what he was doing, once he grew his hair long and became the Dingo Warrior.

As Blade Runner Rock, with shorter hair, he was as big and muscular as anyone in pro wrestling, but there were no signs of this appeal. In Mid South, the Blade Runners were not well thought of, particularly when Bill Watts fired Kelly Kiniski (who was wrestling as Masked Superstar #2) to make room for them. Kiniski, the son of Gene Kiniski, was a nice guy, quiet, caused no problems, was technically very good, but had no charisma at all. He was a former football player at West Texas State who almost everyone on the circuit, including the locker room leaders like Ted DiBiase, Dick Murdoch and Jim Duggan, all liked. Murdoch, in particular, was furious that Watts fired a good kid like Kiniski to make room for two green bodybuilders with a few weeks of training, a few weeks in the ring, who, charitably at the time, were totally awful. Watts countered that the guys didn’t understand business, because the look of the Blade Runners was unique. Rock was 280 pounds, and still cut at that weight. Kiniski had no potential to headline. The Blade Runners were a long way from being ready, but they did have a potential Kiniski didn’t. The argument led to more problems, which resulted in Murdoch soon leaving the company.

Blade Runner Rock didn’t fit in well, nor did the Blade Runners connect with the fans yet. He had issues in Mid South, being green to the business. Watts, who was 47 at the time, came out of retirement and worked some as a babyface against them and they were told by the other wrestlers that when the boss hits you, you have to go flying. Warrior couldn’t comprehend why an old guy who was somewhat fat, although even bigger than he was, was booked to beat him like that. The reality is, Watts was the area legend at the time. There were other issues. He and Sting didn’t get along well at the time. The feeling was Sting had a great attitude, and he didn’t. He had already garnered a bad reputation after a short time in the business and quit. It was very possible his career was going to be over.

But the Dallas promotion was wanting new talent, plus, they had built their company around good looking guys to attract a female audience. The territory was past its peak, but Kevin & Kerry Von Erich were still there, teaming with the fake cousin, Lance Von Erich, a bodybuilder who looked like a model but couldn’t work a lick. Physically, Jim Hellwig was similar to Kerry Von Erich, the company’s biggest star. Like Lance Von Erich, when he came out, women took to him immediately and he was over. He wasn’t over like the top guy in the company, but there was a connection with the fans there for the first time in his career. His interviews needed work.

At the time, Bruiser Brody was the booker. I can recall, almost as comedy, that when it came time to interviews on Monday nights in Fort Worth, Brody would cut his promos and talk about his matches. Then the Dingo Warrior would come out and do what would be beginning Ultimate Warrior interviews. Brody, instead of leaving, would be standing there in the background. When Warrior’s interviews were over, Brody would say, “Marc (TV announcer Marc Lowrance), what Dingo was trying to say is.....”

Gary Hart managed him when he first came in as a heel, before his inevitable babyface turn. Hart saw first-hand his issues with steroid use and problems with his first wife. Dingo Warrior was Hart’s brainchild, the term Dingo being from Australia, where Hart worked in the 60s and 70s. While he used face paint before, his Dingo Warrior face paint which became the genesis of the Ultimate Warrior face paint was from aboriginal tribal war paint in Australia.

He wasn’t making much money, but he was clearly turning a corner and was going to make it. The only question was where. He was tailor-made for WWF at the time, just needed a few more years to improve his ring work.

Officials from New Japan Pro Wrestling, at the time the No. 2 promotion in the world, were looking at creating a new top foreign star, Big Van Vader. They were looking at a comic book bodybuilder, who would wear a mask, and come out to great special effects. They had made a deal with one of the biggest celebrities in the country, the “Johnny Carson of Japan” (today that would be the Jay Leno or David Letterman, only times five) to manage Vader. He was going to come in and beat Inoki in two minutes, something that never happened before.

Hellwig was the original Big Van Vader, but he instead opted to go to WWF a few months before his debut, leaving Leon White, the second choice, for the role. Things probably worked out better, because Hellwig’s look and the Inoki win would have gotten him over early in Japan, but it’s hard to say if he’d have had any staying power. He only worked one match in Japan his entire career, in 1990, as champion, against Ted DiBiase, and the fans at the Tokyo Dome pretty well mocked him on that night. White went on to be an all-time great and Hall of Famer with the gimmick.

He was brought into WWF in 1987 as a project. The company saw promise in him and he worked as the Dingo Warrior, his name in Texas, working house shows. The idea was to keep him off television until he improved his wrestling. But at every house show, he got over like crazy. Fans were educated that big muscles makes you a tough guy, and he had big muscles and a great look. It was an immediate reaction that he got from people who had no idea who he was, and had nothing to do with his unique and often-mocked interview style, since nobody in the crowd had even heard one.

The reaction at the arenas led to them debuting him on television much quicker than originally planned. His name went from Dingo Warrior, to Dingo, The Ultimate Warrior, and finally just Ultimate Warrior. Once he was put on television, and given the name Ultimate Warrior, much to the chagrin of Badnews Allen, he was on fire. He always won. He was the company’s hottest new star, and was booked that way, winning his TV squash matches quickly with a limited act of running to the ring, shaking the ropes, doing a few moves, and a splash for the pin.

He garnered even more momentum when he beat the Honky Tonk Man in 27 seconds as a surprise opponent at the first SummerSlam on August 29, 1988. Hulk Hogan was clearly the top star, and he was more and more being seen as the heir apparent. He was six years younger, had a better body, was better looking and had better hair. Very quickly, he and Randy Savage were battling over the No. 2 position. During his rise, he only lost once, an IC title loss to Rick Rude, at WrestleMania V in 1989, due to interference from Bobby Heenan, which was done to lengthen their program. In a sense they had to be careful booking him. Only the best wrestlers would be able to bring out good matches in him, and nobody clicked with him in the ring better than Rude. Eventually after gimmicks like a bodybuilding match, Warrior regained the title and headed for Hogan.

Still, even during his ascension, he wasn’t always happy. Perhaps his best friend in WWF during his early period there, before Kerry Von Erich came in, was Owen Hart. Both came to the company at the same time. Hart was put under a mask as the Blue Blazer. Both, with no television, would tear down the house for their matches, Warrior with his ring entrance, physique and quick squashes, and Blue Blazer, with his unique moves. But the company made the decision that the Blue Blazer was too small to compete with the stars, limited his moves, and he was stuck in prelims.

Given that Owen Hart was among the most talented wrestlers in the world, and Warrior wasn’t, and Warrior was the one in main events, one would think there would be resentment. But the two got along well.

Hart would note that everyone’s time clocks were screwed up. The schedule was a killer in those days. They’d really do almost 300 dates a year, criss-crossing the country, changing time zones, taking early morning flights. Warrior was incredibly dedicated to training and eating right, because his body was his gimmick. Obviously he was taking every physique aid known to mankind to maintain that look while being on the road. He would be so wired he couldn’t sleep. Hart would joke about Warrior at 2:30 a.m. doing his laundry because he was so hopped up. Hart wasn’t happy there, feeling his talent was squandered and decided to quit and go to work in Japan. Warrior, also not happy even though he was on top, wanted to come with him.

Hart, in the nicest way possible, convinced him otherwise, just saying, “Japan isn’t for everyone.”

Until this weekend, Warrior’s legacy was WrestleMania 6 at the Sky Dome in Toronto. The Ultimate Challenge, Hogan vs. Warrior, an unheard of battle of babyfaces, with the WWF champion vs. Intercontinental champion, was supposed to be the changing of the guard and the beginning of the new era of pro wrestling. Hogan put Warrior over in 22:51, when Hogan missed his legdrop and Warrior hit him with a splash, essentially the same finish Hogan would call when it was his time to put over The Rock.

It was Hogan’s master performance. The match, heavily choreographed because, as their WCW match years later showed, there was great risk otherwise, ended up being a shockingly good match. In some ways, with the exception of Hogan vs. Andre, because of the stage, and that Hogan lost, it was probably the second most remembered match of the era.

The show sold out the Sky Dome in Toronto with 64,287 fans (the announced number that year was worked). As far as a real legitimate figure, it was the second largest of the time in North America, slightly beating a Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff match in Toronto, and behind Hogan vs. Andre at the Pontiac Silverdome. The gate of $3,490,857 U.S. (And it was more than $4.1 million in Canadian dollars at the time) was the all-time record for pro wrestling, more than doubling the North American record set the prior year by Hogan vs. Savage. It also beat the $2 million plus world record set 14 years earlier by Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki. The PPV numbers were under 500,000, which was a little disappointing compared to the previous few years numbers. In that era the babyface vs. babyface dynamic didn’t work as well as babyface vs. heel that they had with Hogan and Savage the year before. Closed circuit attendance, a dying business by that time, was 53,000.

The story was supposed to be the finish, the shocking moment where the ref counted three. When Hogan returned to WWF at the end of 1983, after leaving the AWA, he would never suffer a pinfall loss. In fact, during his entire AWA run, which started in 1981, he never did. He suffered a few to Inoki in Japan and a tournament loss to tag team partner Stan Hansen once in Japan, but after 1981 or 1982, he no longer did any jobs. His lone loss, to Andre, was a crooked referee count. Hogan losing cleanly was momentous.

Hogan’s work was masterful. The story was supposed to be Warrior winning to set him up to be the new champion. Instead, the story was Hogan losing, as he had the sad look on his face, put the belt around Warrior’s waist, and left to a thunderous reaction while Warrior stayed in the ring, clearly No. 2.

He was never the same after his biggest win. In the build to the match, he was the new fresh thing and fans at every arena cheered his name and booed Hogan’s when the match was being promoted. But on that night in Toronto, even though he lost, Hogan was clearly the star. People say it was a split crowd, but it was clear even during the match, the cheering for Hogan was louder, although it was not a crowd that booed either man. Fans watching went from wanting to see Warrior end Hogan’s title reign, to seeing him as, instead of the heir apparent, the place holder for when the real top star returned.

Warrior’s title run was devoid of fresh heel challengers, as Rude was someone he had already won a previous feud with, and Mr. Perfect was someone that Hogan had already beaten over-and-over. Business fell and a scenario was created where Sgt. Slaughter would come in as an Iraqi sympathizer when there was bad feelings in the U.S. against that country, just before what ended up being the Persian Gulf War. Slaughter would beat Warrior, and then drop the title to Hogan at the next WrestleMania.

Warrior worked with his other best opponent, Randy Savage, in a career vs. career match at that WrestleMania. He had his business issues with Vince McMahon in the summer of 1991, demanding the same schedule, same pay percentage, and equal money on all PPVs as Hogan. McMahon agreed to all the terms. Then, after the first show, SummerSlam of that year in Madison Square Garden, as soon as the match was over, McMahon suspended him, although it was really a firing.

Over the next 15 years were a couple of comebacks, both short-lived, three lawsuits and Hellwig berating McMahon every chance he could. McMahon, when asked, would refer to Hellwig as a nut case. Yet, for whatever reason, he would want to bring him back, time after time. Once, when asked about why, he said that he must be a glutton for punishment.

Still, a lot of the current wrestlers knew nothing about the behind-the-scenes, or what the guys who worked with him thought, and saw him as their childhood cartoon hero, whose ripping on the company for years wasn’t known, and that he was an historical figure, who left, came back, was nice to everyone and clearly loved his family.

“Heartbroken,” wrote Bryan Danielson. “My sincerest condolences go out to The Warrior’s family. Seeing how much he loved his daughters and his wife this weekend makes it all the more heartbreaking. The Ultimate Warrior was my favorite as a kid, and getting to speak to him was one of my favorite moments. He was so nice to me.”

There was a controversial side to Warrior. He had a short career as a college speaker that ended with anti-Homosexual remarks, which he later clarified to say that what he meant was if the entire world was homosexual, the species wouldn’t be able to carry on. He was critical of a number of wrestlers who he said were weak-willed because they returned to WWF and McMahon, and mocked self-destructive wrestlers for their early deaths.

Some of his speeches will be looked at and examined as if he knew he had a health issue and knew ahead of time that this was his final act, both repairing his relationship with McMahon, who gave him the opportunity to be a big star and paying back receipts at the same time. Warrior had just signed a contract as a brand ambassador for WWE, as he mentioned in his Hall of Fame speech, the position Foley had until they decided against renewing Foley’s contract.

James Brian Hellwig was born June 16, 1959, in Crawfordsville, IN. His father walked out when he was 12 and he was raised by his mother.

He attended Fountain Central High School in Veedersburg, IN, being a skinny 135 pounder, but he idolized Robbie Robinson, one of the top bodybuilders of that era, when growing up. He ran the middle distances on the track team. He went out for football one year, but quit before the season started. He was 6-foot-1 and 160 pounds when he graduated high school, and he had already been lifting weights for two straight years at the time. He had a good physique, but he was not naturally a guy whose body exploded when he started weight training.

He was solidly built as a college freshman at Indiana State University, but he looked nothing like a competition bodybuilder. He would look at photos of the bodybuilders of the time in magazines and tell people at the time, “I can’t wait until I get that big.”

He quit college after a year, and wound up in Georgia. By that time, he was huge. He was competing as a bodybuilder in Georgia, and studying to be a chiropractor. Once after he’d had a seven figure year as a pro wrestler, it came out that he had defaulted on his student loans to Life Chiropractic College in Marietta, GA. He won Mr. Georgia in 1984, and placed fifth in his class at the Junior Mr. USA contest in 1985. He was in Southern California training for his next contest when Rick Bassman spotted him in the gym and recruited him to join his concept of Power Team USA, with Steve Borden (who later became Sting), Steve DiSalvo, Dave Sheldon, who wrestled as the Angel of Death and passed away young, and a few other bodybuilders. He and Borden quit the camp after only a few weeks and were hired by Jerry Jarrett, first as The Freedom Fighters, Jim “Justice” Hellwig and Steve “Flash” Borden, doing essentially the gimmick that Bassman came up with. Then they were turned heel, managed by Dutch Mantell, and called The Blade Runners. Hellwig was Blade Runner Rock, and Borden was Blade Runner Sting.

Because they started together in camp, and on the road, and then one became the rising star in WCW while the other was the rising star in WWF at the same time, there was always the idea that he and Borden were friends. But both over the years said that they were not friends, especially when they parted ways.

Hellwig had issues in Mid South Wrestling with Bill Watts, and quit the company and wound up in Dallas where he became Dingo Warrior. Blade Runner Sting became Sting, with Eddie Gilbert’s Hot Stuff Inc., and Gilbert saw him as a future superstar as soon as he turned him babyface against him.

Because he came and went so often, there was always a lot of curiosity about him. Whenever he would return, there would be tremendous interest. When he was gone, people always talked about him. Once, when he came back at about 235 pounds in 1992, there were rumors that he had died because his heart exploded, and was replaced by another Ultimate Warrior. Once, when they tried and failed to bring him into WCW, they created a clone of him called Renegade who they tried to push, and it led to Steve Austin temporarily shutting down a WCW taping when he refused to put Renegade over.

In 1998, after what appeared to be his final split with WWF two years earlier, Eric Bischoff brought him into WCW, essentially for Hogan to get his win back from eight years earlier. Even after all the problems, McMahon panicked at the idea that Warrior would work for the opposition and made another play to get him, failing this time. Warrior’s debut on Nitro was memorable. He drew a quarter hour that was incredible for its time and blew the roof off the place. But his long interview saw viewers start tuning out. In week two, he meant nothing for ratings and in other appearances, people tuned out. His match with Hogan was not good, and that’s being kind. Really, it was a disaster. It did above average pay-per-view numbers, about 300,000 buys, but hardly what one would have expected for the first match eight years in the making of one of the most famous matches of all-time. The more Warrior was on television, and the more bad angles they saddled him with, the less he meant. If WCW had just announced Hogan vs. Warrior, and never even put him on television or done an angle, business would have been significantly larger. But Hogan got his win back. Warrior wasn’t used after losing, even though he was on a highly paid contract that had a long time left.

Aside from a 2008 show for Nu Wrestling Revolution in Barcelona, Spain, against Orlando Jordan, he retired from wrestling shortly after the WCW stint, and never appeared on national pro wrestling show again.

He had legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993. It wasn’t because he was crazy, but because of legal issues with WWE. WWE tried to prevent him from using the Ultimate Warrior name in personal marketing. He tried to claim use of the character and name, since he was Dingo Warrior in Texas doing pretty much the same act. The actual name Ultimate Warrior came from Badnews Allen Coage, who wrestled as Badnews Brown in WWF, a former Olympic bronze medalist in judo and badass who referred to himself as The Ultimate Warrior in the 80s on promos. The WWF couldn’t stop him from using his real and legal name in marketing. Still, they fought Ultimate Warrior, but once he changed his name to Warrior, he was able to market himself using that moniker.

Warrior married Shari Tyree, a highly paid stripper, before getting into wrestling, as a bodybuilder in 1982. During his big run, while still married but with his marriage on the rocks, he traveled with the woman who would a few years later become Melanie Pillman, Brian’s wife. A model and stripper, Pillman saw her photo in a magazine and set out to find her, having no idea she had any connection with pro wrestling. Before he even met her, he said he was going to marry her. During the marriage, Hellwig had called her at Pillman’s home and tried to get her to come back to him. Brian Pillman hated Jim Hellwig.

He married his current wife, Dana, who took his name. Since 2000, her name was Dana Warrior. The couple had two daughters who came out with him at the Hall of Fame ceremony, Indiana, known as Indy Warrior, who is 13, and Mattigan, known as Matty Warrior, who is 11.

Over the years he garnered a reputation of being difficult to do business with, although people who ended up close to both him and McMahon remarked to me that the reason for their constant love/hate relationship is the two were two sides of the same coin. Warrior was the bodybuilder Vince always wanted to be. Vince was the business success Warrior always wanted to be. Both saw things from their own perspective and neither was good at people questioning their ideas.

When Warrior tore his biceps a few years back and needed surgery, he was given a rehab program by his doctors, and noted he threw it away, and began doing curls with light weights right after surgery, squeezing at the top like he always did, exactly what his surgeon told him not to do. He remarked that doctors don’t know what they were talking about.

The mentality comes from the steroid bodybuilder world he lived in before and during his wrestling career. When he was growing up, like all athletes, they heard the American Medical Association say that steroids do not aid in building muscle, and whatever weight gains were bloat from water retention. Anyone who had spent any time in a gym and seen the results on real human beings knew that was a crock, so began questioning anything and everything doctors said.

After Chris Benoit killed his wife, son and himself, Warrior made appearances on Fox News talk shows, and when the subject of steroids came up, tried to explain how steroids were actually good for you and doctors don’t know what they are talking about. On the surface that sounds silly, having been around pro wrestling and the crazy death rate of his generation, but there were always excuses and other drugs that could be blamed. And in most cases of the drug deaths, they were guys who did a lot of different things for a long time so you couldn’t single out any specific thing.

Warrior joked on Saturday night about blowing up during his interview. On Monday, he came out to shake the ropes. He got very tired doing little and he wasn’t moving well.

If you look at the history of pro wrestlers from the period where Warrior was a superstar, premature deaths were hardly the exception. But the timing was crazy. Had it not been for something very unique, almost a fluke regarding 2K Sports and the most recent video game, nobody would have even thought of Warrior for this year’s game. Once they did, and Vince, perhaps grudgingly, approved of him being in the game, that opened the door to business meetings which led to him headlining the Hall of Fame.

But it was Paul Levesque who put the deal together to get him in the Hall of Fame and bring him back into the company. Warrior had nothing but good things to say about Levesque this go-around, even though he still got his dig in at him for comments made on the DVD in the Hall of Fame speech. Realistically, his return was brokered by 2K, which had people working almost full-time jobs for months on end to keep him happy and from backing out of the deal. But in WWE, it was pretty much all Levesque. It was the spot produced for his return by the Looking4Larry Agency, run by Paul Heyman and Mitchell Stuart, that led to the press conference in New York where the ball really started rolling.

Just before his death, Warrior posted a photo of himself hugging Vince McMahon online, after nearly two decades of the two being at constant odds.

As a pro wrestler, Warrior, like other notables from Danno O’Mahoney to Bill Goldberg, was a shooting star. They got over in record time and became the biggest stars of their era. But for different reasons, their careers were short. I always thought that Warrior would forever be known for squashing Honky Tonk Man and pinning Hulk Hogan.

Instead, while those memories will remain, he will be the guy who was a big star, was off television for 16 years, came back as a much smarter and more reflective human being, and you could see so obviously that he lived for his kids. Whether the Hall of Fame is real depends on the viewpoint of the person involved. Warrior had decried it as fake for years, but there is no doubt he was in his glory getting things off his chest, treading thinly on some and settling debts with others. If it wasn’t a big moment for him at the time, he wouldn’t have brought his girls on stage.

The family had two homes, one near Scottsdale, AZ, and the other in Santa Fe, NM, where the family now lives. His daughters were home schooled. He loved to take his family to DisneyLand or DisneyWorld. When he wasn’t home, he was constantly calling home. But he was always trying to rekindle his stardom.

He had tried and failed to get a number of television projects off the ground. One idea was “The Warrior Project,” a semi-scripted inspirational reality show where he’s try to save celebrities and musical acts caught up in the world of sex and drugs and have them focus on living a clean life, but there was little interest.

He also worked with ex-WWE writer Court Bauer on a 2012 project for The Cartoon Network called “Parts Unknown,” an animated series based off the Clone Wars series. A number of people working at the network grew up during the height of his popularity, and key decision makers were interested. They had scripts, came up with licensing ideas, and the network was ready to give them a green light. Then, he made all kinds of unrealistic demands at the last minute which killed the project dead.

Bauer noted that he did a three hour interview with Warrior, where he felt Warrior came off great in it. Then he demanded it never see the light of day, threatening to sue if he was to ever air it.

He was a big fan of Steve Austin, and he was flattered that C.M. Punk put him over on Twitter and liked Punk’s bluntness.

He made it clear that he didn’t want to play the Ultimate Warrior character anymore. He didn’t shy away form it, but he didn’t want to be like Hulk Hogan, whose never escaped from his character, feeling he had more to offer not playing a raving maniac. He thought it was pathetic that guys in wrestling who were no longer active would continue to do their gimmick.

Even before the 2K Sports deal brokered his return, he was open to doing business with WWE, saying the past was the past, but it would have to be on his terms, and he wanted a public apology for the DVD. In the end, he never got that apology.

Like children of so many pro wrestlers from that era, his girls, who were born after his wrestling career ended, were still young when their father was gone. I have no doubt he wanted those girls to be proud of who he was and have this great memory of his last stand in a business they never experienced, since his wrestling career ended before either were born.

Instead, it is going to be tied in with the worst memories of their lives. Jim Hellwig grew up without a father from the age of 12. He did not want his daughters to do the same. And that is the real tragedy.

***********************************************

T200 · Post by **T200** » Fri Apr 11, 2014 1:11 pm

Koko, Beware wrote:Wrestlemania spoiler!!!

Legit shocker to see Undertaker's streak broken. Match was sort of ehh but that was a huge moment.

Meltzer on the Streak:

Two years ago, WrestleMania 28 was billed as “Once in a Lifetime.”

It wasn’t.

The big story at WrestleMania 30, as far as almost everyone knew as the show was going on, was the coronation on the big stage of Daniel Bryan as a somewhat unlikely WWE champion, in the sense when the plans for WrestleMania were put together late last year, nothing of the sort was supposed to happen. That did happen, but it wasn’t the big story.

A crowd of around 70,000 at the Mercedes Benz Superdome, and the millions watching around the world were watching the closing moments on what really was a poor wrestling match that was getting little reaction, even though it was supposed to be a highlight event on the show.

The crowd was so cold, maybe because the match wasn’t good, maybe because everyone knew the outcome, that when Brock Lesnar hit his first F-5, and The Undertaker kicked out, there was no reaction. Even when he did it a second time, there was very little reaction.

Then he did it a third time. Referee Chad Patton, who knew the same finish that everybody else thought they knew, hit the mat once, and then twice, and then didn’t know what to do.

He was told Undertaker was winning, but the rule every referee is told is that if the guys doesn’t kick out, you continue the count.

Undertaker wasn’t kicking out. There was slight hesitation, which is why people were confused. Because he was confused. But he did his job.

It was at that point that time stood still, while Lesnar whispered in Undertaker’s ear, “Thank you.”

It was once in a lifetime. At least for this streak.

The most obvious pro wrestling comparison was January 18, 1971, at Madison Square Garden. Bruno Sammartino had been WWWF champion since May 17, 1963. There have been world title reigns as long, but it wasn’t the same thing. Lou Thesz had people believing he was the greatest wrestler in the world. Perhaps some thought the same of Verne Gagne. But neither was Superman. Dory Funk Jr. drew for years based on the idea that he was beatable. So did Nick Bockwinkel. Perhaps Rikidozan losing to The Destroyer in 1963 had that effect, because he was a national hero that had never lost in Japan, but fans knew he could lose. He himself said that he could never beat Karl Gotch.

Bruno was mortal, but he was also Superman, and he connected in a way that few wrestlers ever had. He had lost matches via DQ, count out, blood stoppages, but he had never been pinned cleanly. Ivan Koloff went to the top rope that night and dropped a knee on his chest. The referee counted three. The place went quiet. Then women started crying.

Nobody knew it was happening. In real life, Sammartino was beaten up and tired of the never ending schedule and just wanted to rest. He asked out. In doing so, he took a young French Canadian who idolized him, and made him one of the three biggest heels in pro wrestling for nearly another decade.

I was live and saw Fedor’s winning streak end in San Jose, and Anderson Silva’s end in Las Vegas. Time absolutely stood still in the former. It wasn’t that many seconds that Fabricio Werdum had Fedor in the triangle. The clock claims the fight only went 69 seconds. I could swear he was in the triangle for minutes because time stood still. And then he tapped. The place went bananas. That was a 28 fight unbeaten streak lasting nine years, and every one of those wins were not scripted.

Anderson Silva went 16-0 against tougher competition and was the greatest of all-time. Unlike Lesnar, and unlike Werdum, and certainly unlike Koloff, we all recognized that Chris Weidman had a chance to win that night. But the way it happened threw everyone for a loop. Time didn’t stand still there at all. It was as in the time of a blink of the eye, a split second at most, to comprehend that the guy acting like he was wobbly to taunt the other guy and making fun that he couldn’t touch him, actually was knocked him out. The place went crazy.

He went seven years unbeaten in the UFC, and nobody scripted those outcomes either.

There are conflicting reports and messages on how many people knew what was going to happen when Undertaker got in the ring, possibly for the last time.

It was reported here that a few years back, when Undertaker and Lesnar first talked about doing the angle for this match at WrestleMania 27, that Undertaker had said he would want to put Lesnar over. That was likely to build for a rematch. It wasn’t set in stone. With knowledge of that, which we reported during the build-up, many figured it was Undertaker who made the call. That was not the case.

From the day the match was announced, until 3/31, at least, the finish everyone thought would happen was what was going to happen.

What happened after that was fuzzy. Only a few people knew before Sunday. If the ref himself wasn’t told before the match, that tells you it was probably Vince McMahon, who made the call, Undertaker, who had to agree, Lesnar who had to know in advance, and Paul Heyman. I would presume Stephanie McMahon and HHH knew, but it ended with that. None of the agents knew. The actual script for the show did not have a finish listed, but for this show, that wasn’t unusual, nor was it the only match like that, so there were no red flags.

Still, two major betting sites, had a late shift of money on Lesnar, so much that he went from a ridiculous 50-to-1 underdog, to an actual favorite.

As noted last week, McMahon had decreed that Undertaker would not get touched during the buildup. But the build to the match was weak and on the go-home show, Lesnar did leave Undertaker laying with an F-5.

With the benefit of hindsight, it wasn’t that McMahon was so protective of his star against a guy who was in some fans’ mind an outsider who became a star in WWE, but a superstar and super drawing card in UFC. Given McMahon’s history, that wouldn’t have been a stretch to assume that. It may have been simply McMahon knew Undertaker couldn’t take the punishment.

The Undertaker character could not be put down at WrestleMania. He was a cartoon superman, who somehow had made his scripted matches into legitimate reality for people around the world. They had been told that the streak was bigger than the Dolphins going 17-0, or DiMaggio hitting in 56 straight games. The streak actually started out inauspiciously. It wasn’t a long term plan. Many of the early matches were bad. Others were throwaways. Wins over Jake Roberts, King Kong Bundy and Jimmy Snuka on paper may look like nostalgia, but Snuka was a TV squash match and not pushed at all, the Roberts match was bad and Bundy had nothing left. The Giant Gonzalez match was worse. The Kane matches were hardly classics. But as match quality became more important in the post 2000 era, Undertaker rose to the occasion. Matches with Batista and Edge were strong WrestleMania headline matches. In the last five years, as his physical condition worsened and he was down to really doing only a few matches a year, and only one high profile one, the streak matches have been among the best matches of the year in pro wrestling. When put on the biggest stage, they become bigger and better.

Mark Calaway is a 49 year old man whose body turned on him more than a decade ago, but when he had his nights, like WrestleMania the previous several years, he simply denied the pain and became The Undertaker. I can recall having dinner with one of WWE’s biggest names, telling me how badly Calaway was hurting and that he probably only had a year or two left. That was in the early fall of 1997.

People were remarking when he came back this year how much he aged. I remember a story a few years back when the idea was brought up to him about maybe retiring at Cowboys Stadium, with the idea they’d break the Pontiac Silverdome record and he’d be the main attraction. He said he wasn’t going to last that long. The last three years, it was touch-and-go if he was going to come back, particularly last year. For some reason, this year it was always known he was coming back.

I had always figured it was a given that Undertaker would go into battle one last time, win, but this time nearly die in the process. The streak would be intact, and some kind of special effects would lead to a visual of him going to heaven, and we would never see the character again. Of course, being pro wrestling, two years later they’d try to figure out a way to bring him back. And it’s not like they didn’t already do that special effects deal with him before, and God knows how many times they killed Paul Bearer before he really died.

Lance Storm then wrote a piece. The short version of it was something that quite frankly, should have been said five years ago. It was a promo by an aging Undertaker confronting his own mortality, telling everyone that the streak would end, and he would retire when that happened. Such a thing would make the outcomes of his matches mean something. It would make WrestleMania mean something because instead of the common assumption that the guy would never lose, everyone knew he would at some point, just not when. The near falls would be bigger. People would probably have gasped and their hearts might have skipped a beat on that first and second F-5.

You could argue ending the streak was a bad idea. Or that even if it wasn’t, Brock Lesnar, a 36-year-old part-timer wasn’t the guy to do it with. And it wasn’t for Paul Heyman’s promo on Raw the next day, I’d agree with you.

Except, there was no choice. Whether Undertaker does another match or not, Vince McMahon was going on the assumption that this was his last hurrah, and he could either win, or lose. McMahon chose the idea that it was better to lose on your way out. That is the common wrestling mentality. Whether this should have been different, who knows? Lesnar happened to be the guy booked on the day McMahon came to this conclusion. Obviously, if Undertaker had told him that he was coming back next year, or argued, it may not have happened.

One person close to the situation said McMahon talked Undertaker into doing it. Another, who would also know, described it as McMahon making the call and Undertaker agreeing and that he wasn’t talked into doing something he didn’t want to do. It was not his original call, but he was in on it and never protested the call. And perhaps, like he thought in late 2010, if he was going to lose, maybe he thought this was the guy.

When it happened, fans were upset, but luckily they had the Daniel Bryan title win, which was really what everyone came to see since they all assumed Undertaker was winning and didn’t care that much about the match. If it wasn’t for that storyline, people would have probably been a lot more negative about the show. But they got a great show, and in the end, they saw two pieces of history in the same night.

At some point in the match, Mark Calaway suffered a severe concussion. The match wasn’t very heated, and it was worse because he went blank and was having to be led through. Nobody knows the exact spot, because when it was over, Calaway didn’t remember, or have any memory of most of the match. But he did know enough to not kick out at the key time.

At first, the announcers didn’t know what to do. The graphic wasn’t ready right away, nor was the music ready. The delay made fans think that maybe it was a mistake. The announcers were then given the cue by McMahon to talk about him as if this was the legendary gunfighter’s last fight, and talk of it like we’ve seen Undertaker for the final time.

The spot he got hurt in may have been when Lesnar used a high single leg takedown outside the ring and Undertaker fell backwards on the floor, hitting the back of his head. But that’s just speculation. The only thing for sure is it happened.

He also knew enough to stand there, and wait for the emotional outburst of the audience and the big standing ovation for the years of entertainment. Even if they didn’t know that this was his last performance, and again, it’s pro wrestling and it may not be, they knew that what he was best known for and what he will always be known for was over after 23 years.

The response was there. It wasn’t what I’d have imagined. There’s no way it could have been what Vince McMahon would have imagined.

Calaway legitimately was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Vince McMahon, even though there were two matches left in the show, including the main event, left with him to Ochshner Medical Center, where, after a CT scan, he was diagnosed with a severe concussion and kept overnight. The story that Paul Heyman told on Raw about coming close to a broken neck was just for drama, but the rest of what he said was legitimate. He was released Monday morning and was at Raw, but the decision was made not to use him. He was said to be limping bad and in rough shape.

There were many people in the company very unhappy about the call, but couldn’t say so publicly. But McMahon thought, and was probably correct, that he had no more streak matches left. And he may not have really had this one left in his body. At that point, it’s just a call. Do you end the storyline in a shocking way, or a predictable way? From a business standpoint, if he was never going to come back for a streak match, neither decision was better than the other.

The truth is, the story of every great streak includes the shock, awe, surprise and even sadness of when it ends. The most famous streaks in sports are most famous for the night they ended, or the match or game that ended it. And even in a scripted entertainment, this was no different.

****************************************************************

STORY OF THE STREAK

3/24/91 Los Angeles Undertaker b Jimmy Snuka (4:20)

4/5/92 Indianapolis Undertaker b Jake Roberts (6:36)

4/4/93 Las Vegas Undertaker b Giant Gonzalez via DQ (7:33)

4/2/95 Hartford Undertaker b King Kong Bundy (6:36)

3/31/96 Anaheim Undertaker b Diesel (16:46)

3/23/97 Chicago Undertaker b Sycho Sid to win WWF title (21:29)

3/29/98 Boston Undertaker b Kane (16:58)

3/28/99 Philadelphia Undertaker b Big Bossman Hell in a Cell (9:46)

4/1/01 Houston Undertaker b HHH (18:17)

3/17/02 Toronto Undertaker b Ric Flair street fight (18:47)

3/30/03 Seattle Undertaker b Big Show & A-Train (9:45)

3/14/04 Madison Square Garden Undertaker b Kane (7:45)

4/3/05 Los Angeles Undertaker b Randy Orton (14:14)

4/2/06 Chicago Undertaker b Mark Henry casket match (9:26)

4/1/07 Detroit Undertaker b Batista to win world title(15:47)

3/30/08 Orlando Undertaker b Edge to win world title (23:50)

4/5/09 Houston Undertaker b Shawn Michaels (30:41)

3/28/10 Glendale, AZ Undertaker b Shawn Michaels (23:59)

4/3/11 Atlanta Undertaker b HHH No holds barred (29:22)

4/1/12 Miami Undertaker b HHH/Hell in a Cell/Michaels ref (30:52)

4/7/13 East Rutherford, NJ Undertaker b C.M. Punk (22:07)

4/6/14 New Orleans Brock Lesnar b Undertaker (25:10)

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Wed Apr 16, 2014 1:53 am

Rumor going around about The Undertaker. Don't think its legit.

http://www.empiresports.co/wwe-legend-t ... exas-home/

T200 · Post by **T200** » Wed Apr 16, 2014 2:10 pm

Haven't seen anything saying Undertaker is dead on anything reputable yet.

Today is the 20th anniversary of the best junior heavyweight tournament of all time...the Super J Cup. Also 1994's Wrestling Observer event of the year. Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, Great Sasuke, Liger, Malenko, etc.

Here is the entire event: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6vP7ud836k[/youtube]

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Wed Apr 16, 2014 5:59 pm

Sweet, I will watch that tonight!

Herv100 · Post by **Herv100** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 4:00 am

Fat Cat wrote:Rumor going around about The Undertaker. Don't think its legit.

http://www.empiresports.co/wwe-legend-t ... exas-home/

Yeah, it says his wife hit him with a folding chair to see if he was alive, so no I don't think its legit LOL

Herv100 · Post by **Herv100** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 4:02 am

Behind the scenes at Bash of the Beach 88. Classic home video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMh2aBYKucM[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1D6MW9uqsA[/youtube]

T200 · Post by **T200** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 2:55 pm

More Warrior from new Observer, notable family history

The death of the Ultimate Warrior, born James Brian Hellwig and legally known as both James Brian Warrior and just plain Warrior, was due to a massive heart attack.

The nature of the death was expected, as Warrior collapsed, clutching his chest, on 4/8, at about 5:50 p.m., while walking with his wife, Dana, to their car, in the parking lot at the Gainy Suites Hotel in Scottsdale, AZ.

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s office listed the cause of death as Atherosclerotic and Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular disease, after a preliminary autopsy that was concluded on 4/10. The cause of death was similar to a large number of pro wrestling deaths from the heavy drug-era of pro wrestling when Warrior was a headliner.

The office is proceeding with a death investigation, attempting to find medical history by speaking with his doctors, as well as investigating what would have caused the heart attack, including obtaining toxicology reports. It could be as long as three months before the investigation is complete.

Warrior, who was 54, was not shy about noting his use of anabolic steroids which took him from 155 pounds at his high school graduation in 1977, and he had already been lifting weights for years, starting, based on different interviews he had done, either from the age of 11 or the age of 15.

That 155 pounds after years of lifting is shocking, because most people are going to make the majority of their gains in their first two or three years of hard training. It is not known when he started using steroids, but he was competing in bodybuilding contests starting in 1982, so it would likely be before that time.

He competed in the Collegiate Mr. America contest in 1983 at 209 pounds. By 1984, his competition weight was 259 pounds (he weighed 279, not far from contest shape, two weeks prior to competition and felt he lost too much weight for his final contest, meaning his best ripped weight would be in the 260s, a gain of 51 or more pounds in less than two years). As a pro wrestler, he weighed 285 pounds when he broke into the business in late 1985. He ranged from 262 to 275 pounds on what was a killer WWE road schedule during his 1988 to 1991 heyday, where, for the gimmick, he had to remain cut virtually year-around.

While TMZ reported his death as natural causes as to mean neither drugs nor alcohol were directly involved, Cari Gerchick, the Communications Director for the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office stated that the initial ruling of natural causes was to mean the death was from a homicide, suicide or natural causes, and both homicide and suicide had been ruled out. Toxicology reports will not come back for several weeks, if not longer. It is not believed any more information will be released publicly until the completion of the investigation.

“We will continue to do a medical death investigation until we get to the point where we scientifically understand how he got to that point (where he suffered the heart attack), said Gerchick.

“All of the information will be in the final autopsy report,” she said. “The medical examiners don’t speak beyond the autopsy report.”

From a media standpoint, the results are likely to not garner significant news no matter what they are. In the 2005 death of Eddy Guerrero, from virtually identical initial causes, when the cause of his fatal heart attack was linked to long-time usage of steroids and narcotics, because the media had moved on, that got virtually no play and outside of the most hardcore of wrestling fans, that aspect of the reasons for his death never got publicized. Some of that was also because, likely due to the steroid implications and the company being so sensitive on that subject, Guerrero’s death certificate ended up being sealed a few days later per the wishes of his life. The toxicology reports on Chris Benoit, showing a copious amount of steroids in his system, including five to ten times the usual amount of serum testosterone and a 59-to-1 T:E ratio. That did garner some media attention, but because it also came out a couple of months after his death, and because the media coverage of that story had burned the public out, that also didn’t get nearly the coverage as the speculation had gotten in the period after his death.

The office is less concerned about the heart attack aspect of the death, and more of the key question, which is what led to the heart attack.

Warrior’s father and grandfather both died in their 50s, and he had spoken about not expecting to live a long life. He had been up front in noting that the steroids he used to become the Ultimate Warrior would likely take years off his life, and had told friends of that over the past year.

Fat Cat · Post by **Fat Cat** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:26 pm

Herv100 wrote:
Fat Cat wrote:Rumor going around about The Undertaker. Don't think its legit.

http://www.empiresports.co/wwe-legend-t ... exas-home/
Yeah, it says his wife hit him with a folding chair to see if he was alive, so no I don't think its legit LOL

iz reel to me

Holland Oates · Post by **Holland Oates** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:37 am

Fat Cat wrote:
Herv100 wrote:
Fat Cat wrote:Rumor going around about The Undertaker. Don't think its legit.

http://www.empiresports.co/wwe-legend-t ... exas-home/
Yeah, it says his wife hit him with a folding chair to see if he was alive, so no I don't think its legit LOL
iz reel to me

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6pRbwu4Pf0[/youtube]

Turdacious · Post by **Turdacious** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 1:51 am

And now, the rest of the story...
http://www.davewillswrestling.com/

Herv100 · Post by **Herv100** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 2:37 am

Herv100 wrote:Behind the scenes at Bash of the Beach 88. Classic home video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMh2aBYKucM[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1D6MW9uqsA[/youtube]

No comments on this yet? Hawk blowing rails in the dressing room and going all alpha male, Jim Cornette improv, Arn Fucking Anderson blessing us with a glimpse of his asshole. I realize the vid is old, but nonetheless I'm disappoint.

IGX

WR3ZTLING

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