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Once upon a time, in an era of wrestling far far away from the present, there was a wrestler who stood for all that was looked upon as right in the world. A man whose heroic personality inside the ring made young and old both admire him. A modern-day superhero, who charged to the ring and disposed of villains with incredible ease. A man who told the other superhero of the business at the time, Hulk Hogan, that he would defeat him and that instead of being hated for it, that his fans and Hogan's fans would become one legion of fans. AND HE WAS RIGHT....... As much as I hated any man who so much as challenged Hogan in that era, I could not bring myself to resent the Ultimate Warrior. In fact, I myself, along with millions of others, were enthralled by this enigmatic character. OH, HOW SO MUCH HAS CHANGED.........This man, somewhere along the way, has honestly lost his mind. Somehow, "Superman" has become Lex Luthor, A walking contradiction of everything that he used to claim to stand for and pretend to be, and has become in my opinion, the "Ultimate Hypocrite".

First off, let's take a look at how "The Wrestler Formerly Known as Jim Hellwig" (I'll be referring to him as that from time to time) destroyed his career.

There are many people past and present who have tried to further destroy the legend that is/was the Ultimate Warrior. But there is really no need to bother, because "The Wrestler" has done that on his own. Ok, he was a primadonna backstage, but how many wrestlers are also guilty of such" Bobby Heenan swore up and down that the Warrior was trying to hurt him in every match that they had an altercation in. But being a long-time fan, I saw WrestleMania V, for one, and instead of supposedly "being dropped on his face" like the Weasel claimed, after the Warrior pressed him over his head, he sort of rolled him down his back and Bobby Heenan landed lightly on his side. During Survivor Series 89' the following November, when Heenan and Warrior were the last members of their teams, if you have watched the match it is obvious that the Warrior was pulling his clotheslines and punches in an attempt to take it easy on the manager.

There is no denying in my opinion that Warrior was professional (in that day) when it came to in-the-ring antics. The only truth that Heenan told, that I saw for myself, was when Warrior would try (key words) to get too rough against Andre The Giant, which he paid for in double, because anybody who knows anything about the business knew that Andre was NOT a guy to piss off, and Andre would let him have it until he decided to calm down.

The first obvious signs of Warrior's un-professionalism INSIDE the ring were in 1996 starting off when he was in a storyline against Goldust, when he became the first person to REALLY curse on RAW, when the Ultimate Warrior told Goldust something along the lines of him "not giving a sh*t" what he thought. After that, I had the thought in the back of my mind that Warrior wasn't going to be in the WWF much longer, and I was right.

The push that Vince McMahon was giving Warrior University and the Warrior comic was killed because of incidents like that one, along with Warrior wanting to show up for work when he felt like it.

I think that the biggest mistake Warrior ever made, in my opinion, was burning his bridge with Hulk Hogan. Say what you want about Terry Bollea and his backstage politicking, but at that time in the 80's and early 90's, (key words again) Hogan was the consummate professional when it came to wrestling. Of course, "The Wrestler" would deny that statement (and this next one I will make) all the way to his deathbed, but in my honest opinion, HOGAN MADE THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR. Oh, I'm sure I'll get some arguments on that statement, because yes, us fans are also responsible for making the guy what he became, and there is no mistaking that, but here's my proof to back up that previous statement: ALL HOGAN HAD TO DO TO RUIN THE MOMENTUM THAT WARRIOR POSESSED, AND HAVE HIM REMAIN AS A MID-CARDER, WAS TO SAY "NO" AT WRESTLEMANIA VI. Hogan was the man at that time in the then-WWF, and if he had said to Vince McMahon that he didn't want to lose to the Warrior, do you think he would have gotten an argument" HELL NO. Throughout that year of 1990, it was Hulk Hogan that helped build the Warrior into the legend he was, or (possibly) even is, today. The promo Hogan cut before the Survivor Series 90' "Ultimate Survivor" match, was him again saying how Warrior was the new "Measuring Stick". It was also Hogan who campaigned for Warrior to return after the "SummerSlam incident", as is evident at WrestleMania VIII, when after his match with Sid Justice, Hogan went so far as to get a sign from a fan that said "Bring Back The Warrior", then paraded around the ring with it, in an attempt to show Warrior what he meant to this business. After Hogan's hiatus during the steroid scandal, there is no doubt in my mind that Warrior would have been given the title before Bret Hart if he had kept his head on straight backstage. Could you have imagined Ultimate Warrior feuding with Yokozuna then" it would have been HUGE.

The only two comments that Hogan made on the "Self-Destruction" DVD that seem sketchy is where he talked about it being Warrior's idea in WCW to bring up how Hogan never beat him, when Roddy Piper had came in the year before and said the same thing. Piper was also working for the WWE at the time the DVD came out.

Makes you think, huh" Same thing could be said for the OWN gimmick (which Warrior strangely enough is still clinging on to even today), because thinking about all the storylines that have been killed due to lack of response from the fans, that WCW kept pushing it, even to the point of having the Disciple (Ed Leslie) leave the NWO and join the Warrior. The Warrior came into WCW under a pretty big wave of momentum, which WCW intended to benefit from, no doubt, with fans being nostalgic for him to return, but I do believe that Warrior killed it himself with his backstage attitude.

This man was given SO many chances after his previous mistakes, which he squandered, due to his "diva-like" wants. No one person can be bigger than the business, not even the self-proclaimed "Almighty" Vince McMahon, and Warrior should have kept his ego in check.

That last sentence fragment about "checking one's ego" applies even to present-day, as "The Wrestler" nowadays travels to colleges to give speeches where he chastizes political conservatives for (brace yourself) not being conservative enough IN HIS EYES, which is ridiculous. The guy who stood for truth and justice in the ring, who claims on his website that he still stands for strength, knowledge, and striving to become a better and open-minded individual, contradicts himself by standing for injustices like racism, sexism, and nearly every possible form of intolerance.

The man whose in-ring-persona was known for being the "Ultimate Liberal", as he was the wrestler who was unique and different, that was outside the box, and could not be categorized or compared to any before (or even after) him, has became a mockery of such in his present way of life. In my opinion, the man (and I use that term loosely) that "The Wrestler" represents nowadays is more than likely whom he was all along. I guess in a way he still can't be compared to anybody else, because it takes a unique kind of fool to be the man that the "Wrestler Formerly Known as Jim Hellwig" is or has become. Such is evident from his attack on Darren Drozdov, calling him a cripple. How "intelligent" is that" What part of that cowardice makes you a strong man or a better-minded individual" To pick on a man who lost his mobility trying to entertain us wrestling fans" Also, what part of implying that you want to beat up college kids because they don't agree with you, calling young female students "whores", and picking on paralyzed and gay people makes you a "Warrior"" "The Wrestler" has allowed his ego and his ignorance to blackball himself and destroy the legend that he was, case-in-point that the "Self-Destruction" video was made into a mockery ONLY BECAUSE he couldn't get over himself and once again, check his ego, to be a part of it. I think, that if we could separate "The Wrestler's" real-life persona and the character of the Ultimate Warrior into two people, that the Ultimate Warrior would kick his ass simply for being one of those villains that it was "his mission" to vanquish.

by John Austin ..