Yeah, childhood nostalgia is a lot of fun and this dude had a wife and a kid and shit but -- and I'll be happy to be that dude now -- he was not really a great guy.

It's hard to tell if being so out of breath was a sign of things to come here or if it was just your usual Warrior cardio issues. Even in his heyday, he was exhausted before he even reached the ring.

I always figured that was cause he had too much fast twitch muscle mass or whatever which caused him to be extremely bad at things that required cardio. Kinda like a lot of other bodybuilders (I'm told).

That may be some of it, but I think another component is a focus on bodybuilding-style workouts rather than... you know... cardiovascular exercise. That said, I did see this as I was flipping around on Monday night and thought he looked particularly bad. I would never have imagined he'd be dead 24 hours later, but still.

All these years of asking "Shit, Warrior, would it kill you to cut ONE eloquent, coherent promo?" Well, apparently.

too soon dude

cardio kills gains, brah

(or so I've been told)

It's still real to me, dammit.

You're right. It is real to the fans and to the performers. Its not just a role like one would play in a Marine sequel. A lot of wrestlers are personally entwined with their in ring personas. Rick Flair is a limozine, riding, jet flying, wheeling dealing son of a gun who can't save money, keep a marriage together, or slow down. He's lived his in ring persona and has paid the price. Many others have similarly done so and the Warrior to me is somebody like that.

Many of the most memorable wrestling gimmicks, like a lot of gimmicks really, are simply an extension of the actors personality. They are dialing up aspects of themselves to 11.

Just like how boxxy dials up her quirkiness.

Well his death was real. Had he only known, he could have staged quite a spectacular death for himself if he dropped right then and there in the ring after gasping out his speech. It's like some kind of louche Greek Tragedy.

You dorks know Mickey Rooney was an actor, right? All those things he did? It wasn't real. He wasn't actually Puck the faery, he wasn't really Radioactive Man's sidekick Fallout Boy; those were just roles he played, totally fake.

God almighty, wake up people!

The deaths of wrestlers affect me because its so much more real than film acting. You're not going to see Han Solo or Indiana Jones in real life, that's Harrison Ford. Hulk Hogan is Hulk Hogan weather you see him at Wrestlemania or shopping for groceries. These guys are so much more connected to their on screen persona's than any other medium.

And a racist, homophobic shit bag character is a racist, homophobic shit bag in reality too!

Mickey did jump from that helicopter into Bart's treehouse, though. Let's see the Warrior do that in his mid-70's, (after the Undertaker reanimates him and he lives another 20 years, obviously.)

Cena, I'd like to think porn actors are sort of in the same boat here. Of course it's all camera angles, makeup, editing, ridiculous plotlines and fake orgasms, but the sex is, despite all that, kinda real. It's acting, but it also edges into authenticity.

For the porn with high production values I'd totally agree with you but there are some semi-amateur stars that genuinely do real fucking and all. They also do it all without a care in the world about showing their faces despite probably having to have a second job.

I know he said some homophobic things and was a bit nuts, but he was still a wrestler. It doesn't give him a pass for what he said, but no one was really taking his political nonsense seriously.
You know those porn comparisons are strangely true and funny. Both wrestlers and porn stars live in a strange fantasy world of sleazy business deals and drugs.

He had a right to his opinion, just the same as anyone else. It would have been *nice* had he liked gays, but just because he didn't, that doesn't give people a free pass to hate and intolerate him. To the best of my knowledge, he never did anything truly oppressive - he never beat up gay people, he did not pass any laws depriving them of their rights - he just talked smack, which is perfectly fine. Plus, you gotta figure, with his muscley arms and that slick, oil-drenched chest of his, he probably made a lot of gay wrestling fans very, very happy. Tell me, Stanley, have thousands of queer teenagers ever jacked off to YOU? No. Didn't think so. So give poor Mr Warrior a break.

He WAS nuts, though. Holy shit, was he nuts.

What always amazed me is that those comments were made at some college. Pro-wrestlers do what they do very well, but I'm not sure that most of them are "college speaker" material. What the hell kind of second-rate college invites a pro wrestler to talk about serious, real-world stuff? I suppose it might make sense if they were talking to the drama or phys ed. departments, but my God. Couldn't they get someone more coherent or more distinguished?

"Couldn't they get someone more coherent or more distinguished?"

It was UConn. The answer is "no".

You know who also never personally gassed a jew so no one is allowed to call him on his racism.

Add Hitler in there somewhere.

You can't hate people for their ugly, stupid, uneducated opinions now? Fuck.

The college speech wasn't a mistake. He consistently put his terrible views out there via his insane website and whatever public speaking gigs he could find. He celebrated the death of Heath Ledger, asked Hulk Hogan to kill himself, etc. And by all accounts, according to other wrestlers, the guy was just a plain, ol' fashioned dickhead.

I hate a lot of people, places and things for a lot less than ignorant homo-racism. By your own argument of him having a right to an opinion and not being allowed to hate him for that, aren't you then not allowed to hate my right to the opinion that I hate him?

Your argument has no effect on me EvilHomer, if that even is your real name.

I don't hate you for hating him. I'd never wish death upon you for hating him. I am a bit disappointed in you, just as I am disappointed in him, but as long as you're not actually going to *oppress* homo-racists - such as by beating up homophobes, or passing laws depriving them of their rights - then I will not stop you from saying whatever intolerant, pig-ignorant thing you'd like to say. You have the same rights he does, including the right to hate, and I have no interest in demonizing *you* merely because you happen to be wrong about something. I will simply argue my case, maturely and respectfully, and hope that reason will sway you.


Let me ask you something: if hating people for their social identity is OK, then what exactly is wrong with homophobia?

Lest you think Warrior was just your garden variety homophobe and that's it, it's probably worth checking this out:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/67597-the-ultimate-warrior- the-ultimate-hypocrite

I'd hesitate to call any of that part of someone's "social identity", but that's me.

How is being gay a social identity? Is being tall or short a social identity too? The fuck man?

More of Warrior's "social identity". Here he is talking about Hurricane Katrina:

"If we could be shown what general conditions they lived in before the hurricane, we would see that had little respect for what they did have. We would see just how unorganized, unclean and dysfunctionally they lived. They never gave a care for order, cleanliness or function before, but now that they can get someone's attention who will possibly take over the responsibility of their life for them, they go on these tirades about how their life has been ruined. Their lives were already in ruin — self ruin. Ruined by the bad choices they made over and over.

[...]

And they are fat. Have you ever seen so many fat people? Poverty? Poverty of what? Having enough to buy so much food to eat that you become obese — this is poverty? Only one TV? This is poverty? A house with a roof over your head? This is Poverty? Indoor plumbing? Electric appliances? Refrigeration? Phones? Cell phones? Computers? Designer clothes made by rap stars? 0 Nikes? Free medicine and medical care if you really need it? Is having all this poverty? What the hell, then, do we call the scenes they shoot out of Africa that they use to lay guilt trips down on all of us?"

Some more of his greatest hits here:

http://deadspin.com/the-ultimate-warrior-was-an-insane-dick-15 61275496?utm_source=recirculation&utm_medium=recirculation&utm_cam paign=thursdayAM

So you dispute this factual biography that definitively lays down the real deal inside scoop?
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Warrior-first-electrifying-ente rtainment/dp/1497387809/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qi d=1397140509&sr=1-1