The Ultimate Warrior at his final WWE appearance.

The Ultimate Warrior at his final WWE appearance.

Two days ago, the Ultimate Warrior, AKA Jim Hellwig, made an appearance on WWE’s Monday Night Raw to celebrate his being inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame for his contributions to the wrestling industry.  In the 80’s and early 90’s, the only person bigger than the Ultimate Warrior was Hulk Hogan, and at certain points, even that can be debated.  A day later, while walking with his wife outside an Arizona hotel room, the man who for years rampaged through the wrestling industry as a ball of energy and charisma breathed his last dead.  Jim Hellwig, AKA The Ultimate Warrior, has died at age 54.

The event was announced in a tweet from wrestler Triple H, who is also a WWE executive, and has further been announced on the WWE’s website in the serious tones that they reserve for actual medical emergencies and tragedies.  Warrior spent many years estranged from the WWE and its owner Vince McMahon, and to come back to the fold and be honored in such a way before his death was a wonderful experience for the fans and probably for the wrestler himself.  It has to feel good to bury a hatchet like that, and it’s better to come to an agreement years too late than to never come to an agreement at all.

Fittingly, Warrior’s final Raw appearance featured a great promo cut by the man himself that seems to foreshadow his early death only a day later.

Said the Warrior:

No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own.  Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat.  His lungs breathe a final breath.  And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others, and makes them bleed deeper and something larger than life, then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized.  By the storytellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make the running the man did live forever.  You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend-makers of Ultimate Warrior.  In the back, I see many potential legends.  Some of them with warrior spirits.  And you will do the same for them.  You will decide if they lived with the passion and intensity.  So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends, as well.  Ultimate.  You are the Ultimate Warrior fans.  And the spirit of Ultimate Warrior will run forever!

Tags: wwe, world wrestling entertainment, wwe hall of fame, wrestling, professional wrestling, ultimate warrior, jim hellwig, warrior, ultimate warrior dead at 54, jim hellwig dies at 54, ultimate warrior wrestler jim hellwig dead, monday night raw

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