DESTRUCITY II – With CB and KON (Ultimate Warrior, WWE Hall of Fame)

Columns, Features, Top Story

I stopped chatting with Swayze, checked tweetdeck and read HHH’s tweet. A lot of us thought Hunter’s twitter had been hacked, but then Steph retweeted him and wwe.com ran an article confirming that Warrior had indeed died. Then Meltzer was phoning people trying to get confirmation… TMZ posted, but took forever to mention what actually happened… I couldn’t tweet, nor update facebook with the usual “RIP” stuff, I had no fucking words.

I headed over to /wooo/ and everyone seemed to be in the same boat. Someone put up a youtube playlist of old Warrior matches and promos – Warrior v Savage was first one on, and maybe the best match the guy ever had. This was somewhere between 5 and 6am GMT, I guess, and I’ve had texts and facebook messages throughout the day, so it’s only right that we follow up on 2012’s DESTRUCITY: With CB and KON

 

CB: Hey KON. I can’t believe we have to do this on such a sad note.

 

KON: Where were you when the news broke?

 

CB: I actually was asleep when the news first broke of The Ultimate Warrior’s death, and when I did wake up I had about ten different text messages from friends that were saying “RIP Warrior” or “Hey CB, I heard Warrior died, he was my favourite as a kid” or “I can’t believe Warrior died, I was dressed as him for Halloween once”As you can tell, these weren’t just today’s wrestling fans that were texting me, but also old school casual fans who haven’t watched in years, men and women in their 30s who were recalling Warrior moments with me just in those texts.

I then checked Inside Pulse right away and saw Rhett’s post, then went over to Google News to see some of the coverage.

After the shock wore off, I went over to YouTube to view his segment from Raw, wrote my CB’s World column to pay my respects, and here we are, just a few hours later.

It’s still all very surreal to me, KON, I can’t believe it.


KON: The past few days have been really weird. Headlining the Hall of Fame, having the special intro during Mania and then that promo on RAW… We were given more Warrior than we’ve seen for, well, forever.


CB: Yeah, and now I feel guilty for hoping he’d run down to the ring like he used to, figuring it would be no big deal to do it one last time. I am glad he shook the ropes a little bit towards the end of his segment, at least.

Have you re-watched his comments from Raw yet, KON? It’s like The Ultimate Warrior was eulogizing himself, which is crazy to think about.

 

KON: I re-watched it after the Savage match. Lots of people were copying/pasting the speech over on /wooo/, and, because it took forever for the news about him collapsing in the hotel car park to come out, some people started talking about the possibility that Warrior had killed himself. Regardless of your/my stance on suicide, I’m pretty sure it’s something Warrior was against. When things like this come out of nowhere, everyone tries to find their own way of explaining and understanding the situation.That speech on RAW was not only strange because of what he said, but because none of the other Hall of Fame members get the opportunity to cut a promo on TV two days after they’ve been inducted.


CB: That’s an excellent point. I bet Warrior’s appearance on Raw after being inducted had to do with the fact that Raw was in the same city (New Orleans) as both his induction ceremony and WrestleMania and that was the best way for him to fit it into his schedule.

It’s still absolutely freakish timing and crazy how things worked out. It’s like he finally completed the reparations of his relationship with both WWE and pro wrestling, and then this happens. As I said in my column, I hope WWE honors his multi-year agreement that Warrior signed and his family gets some of the revenues for Ultimate Warrior-based merchandise and DVD sales, etc.

 

KON: Jake, Nash, Hogan and so many others appear to have made peace with the him during Wrestlemania weekend (and we can assume Vince, HHH and family made up with Warrior several months ago, when they brought him in to promote WWE 2K14). It’s interesting to see reactions from people who previously didn’t give a shit about Warrior (*cough* Kue), like Iron Sheik admitting that his hatred was a work.

 

CB: Yeah, I wonder if he had any private conversations with Sting lately, as well. Has anyone heard from him on the subject?

 

KON: He made a throwaway comment about Steve during his hall of fame speech, implying they were not on the friendliest of terms. However, Sting was singing Warrior’s praises during an interview last month.

 

CB: It would have been interesting to see Sting in the crowd for Warrior’s Hall of Fame induction speech if he’d actually signed with WWE by now.So here we are, talking about another dead wrestler around the age of 50-60 years old.

 

KON: Yeah. The reason we stopped doing these columns was that all the subjects were dead. I’m glad we covered Warrior while he was still alive, though.

 

CB: Has the cause of death been reported yet? Seemed like heart failure was the likely case this morning.

 

KON: All signs point to a heart attack, but we won’t know for a while. I think the autopsy is scheduled for this Thursday.

 

CB: Also, I wonder if they do an Ultimate Warrior Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania next year.

There goes the next season of Legends House with Warrior and Hogan rooming together too!

 

KON: Next year will be the Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy Memorial Battle Royal for the Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy Memorial Trophy…

 

CB: You’re probably right.

So, KON, I remember when you used to break into WARRIOR-speak in the comments section for several posts on Pulse. Is there anything you would like to say in WARRIOR-speak about The Ultimate Warrior and what he and DESTRUCITY will always mean to you?

 

KON: Truth be told, I don’t think I’ll ever drop Warrior promos in the comments section again. It was fun, it got a pop and it might even have convinced some people to check out the comic books he put out, but his speech on RAW seemed like a fitting end to the gimmick.

I’d like to say one last thing on The Ultimate Warrior as a wrestler, though, and it’s kinda what I was trying to explain on Trashy Ring Attire a few months ago…

He was booked well and he didn’t have to do a lot in the ring, but the things he did were done like no other. The promos, shaking the ropes, all those lariats, the Gorilla Press… everything was intense, everything was a notch above what the other guys on the roster were doing. Today, we have The Rybacks, Fellas, Rusevs and Mark Henrys… and you’re all free to like them and enjoy what they do, but they do it without the intensity or passion of someone like Warrior.

CB: Well, said, KON.

And Rest In Peace, Ultimate Warrior.

 

 

Martin is a mediocre blogger who somehow managed to blag his way onto the Pulse Wrestling team. When not writing about men in spandex, he can be found fannying about with synthesizers. He goes by the names KON in the comments section & martyrshow on the twittors.