Just wanted to throw this up real quick along with my 2 cents:
I’m sure some of you might be aware of the passing of James Hellwig aka The Ultimate Warrior.
I was never a big Ultimate Warrior fan. Visually he was great, but I guess I just never cared for the man behind the facepaint. I was always a Hulk Hogan guy, or to be honest, a Randy Savage guy above all else.
Warrior always seemed like a gimmick that was too intense to be taken soberly. Looking back, it’s hard to take a ripped guy who dressed like a little girl’s bike and shouted nonsense seriously. But then again, it’s prowrestling.
Once Warrior resurfaced on youtube constantly smearing Hulk Hogan and looking back on his Ultimate Warrior persona way too seriously, I lost a lot of respect for the guy. Not to mention the WWE putting out an alarmingly negative documentary on him.
But the past Wrestlemania weekend really changed my mind about the guy. The fact that he made peace with Vince Mcmahon and the WWE again was something nice to see. A new Ultimate Warrior documentary was released last week that detailed the life of James Hellwig UNBIASED. And, of course, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Seeing him brought to the podium by his two young daughters and hearing his positive inspirational speech inspiring young people out there to never give up on their dreams made me gain a new respect for him. He signed a contract to be an official WWE ambassador as well as bury the hatchet with Hulk Hogan himself. This was all with a single weekend.
The following Monday he made an appearance on Raw (in which he hadn’t been on in over 10 years) and donned the signature “facepaint” once more for an exciting and positive promo.
His last words in a wrestling ring:
“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.”
Less than 24 hours later…he was dead. He left behind a wife and 2 young daughters. But he is now immortalized. A shocking and poetic way to go out. And even though I’m not his biggest fan, I think back to a simpler time where I sat in my living room slamming other wrestlers with my Ultimate Warrior action figure. I’ll miss him.
Regards,
ChrisDoesComics.com 