Tag Archives: Andre the Giant

Farewell, Ultimate Warrior

It’s been a long time since I’ve actually watched any sort of professional wrestling and an even longer time since I actually enjoyed it. It’s nowhere near as great as it used to be, just a hollow shell of the massively spectacular extravaganza that it once was. Today, the “sport” is nothing but an over-the-top, testosterone-fueled, overly dramatic soap opera filled with 2nd rate actors and models who showboat more than they actually wrestle. It’s like if Days of Our Lives was filmed at a gym and they threw in some T&A. I won’t waste my time anymore.

Hulk knows who the real champ is.

Hulk knows who the real champ is.

When I was growing up, I was fortunate enough to be able to witness the better days of wrestling. I was able to witness the awesomeness of Macho Man Randy Savage, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Jake the Snake, Sgt. Slaughter, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and many other greats. They were the true artists of the sport, back when it was truly a sport. And one of the greatest ever to step into the ring was the Ultimate Warrior. The man was legendary from the very beginning. He was all muscle, mayhem, and neon face paint. He stood down from no challenge, he feared no opponent. He was a larger-than-life personality with the wrestling skills to match. He WAS wrestling. In my honest opinion, he was greater than even Hulk Hogan.

Sadly, the world has lost this legendary figure. Warrior passed away on Tuesday, just days after being inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame. His induction speech seems quite ominous now, “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, it makes them bleed deeper and something larger than life, then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized.”

We lost Andre the Giant, then Owen Hart, then Mr. Perfect, then Macho Man, and now the Ultimate Warrior. It truly is a sad day for what was once an incredible sport. I like to think that all the wrestling legends we’ve lost are wrestling each other somewhere out there in the great beyond.

R.I.P Warrior. You will forever be missed.


[image source: WWE]
