I was never a fan of his, but he did have a number of absolutely iconic moments in the business.
I wish that he could have controlled his own insanity long enough to have made a career. I wish he would have taken some editing.
But be that as it may, he did make a bunch of stellar memories for a bunch of kids. And as he said last night (I’ll parse), the legend lives on in those he inspired.
Story here. The details aren’t yet fully known, but he apparently collapsed earlier tonight and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
As someone who was just the right age to really be into wrestling right as Warrior’s career was peaking in 1990-1991, there have been few celebrity deaths that have been as much of a shock to me as this. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame just this last weekend and looked great when he got to take a bow at WrestleMania on Sunday. It’s a real shame to lose him just as he’d finally buried the hatchet with Vince and things were starting to look up for him.
I and the rest of the little Warriors will never forget you.
Although it’s just speculation without knowing the cause of death, he was supposed to have brought steroid consumption to a new high back in the day. Spy magazine once quoted him in character: “I eat the chemical toxins other men fear!”
I’m a little surprised at how much this is affecting me. I’m not a fan. The man was a lousy worker and an inveterate reactionary homophobe, but nobody deserved the hatchet job that MacMahon did on Helwig. Taking his money to come back to the company must have been devastating.
I’m scratching my head at ‘homophobe’. Looking at the videos, the guy was certainly acquainted with his inner stylist. Peach-coloured, tight-fitting outfits, fringes, tassels. There is a certain disconnect there.