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On WWE: looking back at the career of Ultimate Warrior

Posted: Apr 10th 2014 By: John LaRocca

I am in shock about hearing the passing of The Ultimate Warrior. Just yesterday I watched him on RAW thanking his loyal fans. Saturday before that he was getting inducted into the WWE's Hall Of Fame and Sunday, he was being introduced live to the fans at Wrestlemania 30 at the SuperDome in New Orleans.
No matter what you thought of The Ultimate Warrior personally, you would never forget him. One of the first wrestlers who caught my attention as a kid was The Ultimate Warrior. Seeing this man with this mountain of muscle on his body sprint to the ring and demolish his opponent was something that I will never forget. His hard rock music would hit and out through the curtain The Ultimate Warrior would come flying to the ring.

One of my favorite early childhood wrestling memories was at Summer Slam 88. The Honky Tonk Man had been the WWF Intercontinental Champion for well over a year. Honky Tonk Man was the heel everyone loved to hate. Since Brutus Beefcake was injured (from an attack by "Outlaw" Ron Bass), Honky Tonk Man was left without an opponent at Summer Slam. A overconfident Honky Tonk Man called out anyone in the back to come to the ring and challenge him for his title. I sat in anticipation as to who would answer the challenge. The familiar hard rock music hit, the crowd in the Madison Square Garden Arena irrupted and sprinting out of the curtain came The Ultimate Warrior. In thirty-one seconds, The Ultimate Warrior crushed The Honky Tonk Man and won the title. Talk about a way to get over a hot new babyface.
Throughout 1989 my friends and I would debate who would win if the the WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan or the Intercontinental Champion, The Ultimate Warrior wrestled each other. Since both were "good guys" and friends, we thought it would never happen. Watching at my friend Chad Eng's house, at the Royal Rumble 1990, in one of the greatest teases in wrestling history, right in the middle of the Rumble match, stood Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior. Goosebumps came over me seeing these two in the ring together about to do battle. A few shoulder tackles with neither going down lead to a criss cross in the ring and then a double clothesline that lead to a double down. The horn sounded off and The Barbarian was the next to enter into the Royal Rumble, ending all the excitement of Hogan versus The Warrior.

Soon it was announced on TV that the Wrestlemania 6 main event would be Hogan versus The Warrior with both championships on the line. The first dream match of my young pro wrestling viewing eyes. My friends Chad Eng, Robert Whitney and Billy Cudia debated who would win. Instead of just a dream between us young wrestling fans, it was actually a happening in a few months.

Sadly, I did not get to watch Wrestlemania 6 on PPV. At that time my favorite promotion of the WWF was the NWA. Since my parents would never let me order both NWA and WWF Pay Per Views, I saved my begging and pleading for only NWA PPVs. Sunday, April 1st, 1990 came and I sat at home wondering who won the dream match.

The next morning as I was getting ready for school, my Dad called my Mom and asked her to put me on the phone. I can still hear my Dad saying "Hi John, Nick here at work told me The Ultimate Warrior beat Hulk Hogan. Just wanted to let you know. Have a good day at school". Two things happened with that one phone call, 1) After torment of wondering who won the dream match, I finally knew and now I can go to school and talk about The Ultimate Warrior defeating Hulk Hogan. 2) The memory of never forgetting my Dad called to tell me a pro wrestling result. My Dad was never a wrestling fan, and always acted like he never cared I liked wrestling. Having my Dad call me to give me the result of Wrestlemania 6 and The Warrior winning was a special moment to me, and became more then result itself.

No doubt, The Ultimate Warrior will live in my memory and the memory of million of his fans forever. Always controversial, yet always polarizing, in the big ring in the sky, I am sure The Warrior is already causing chaos in the clouds.

RIP The Ultimate Warrior.