The Ultimate Warrior died Tuesday

Pro wresting icon the Ultimate Warrior died Tuesday, and so did a big piece of my childhood.

The Warrior (James Hellwig, the man who wore the face paint, tassels and spandex, had legally changed his name to “Warrior”) reportedly clutched his chest and collapsed while leaving a hotel in Arizona, less than 24 hours after making an appearance on WWE’s Monday Night Raw.

The Warrior was 54.

His death is surreal for wrestling fans, a shock. Not even 72 hours after he returned to the grand stage, he was gone. Wrestling fans who grew up in the late ’80s and early ’90s always heard unsubstantiated rumors of his death (his heart had blown up due to excessive steroid use; he’d perished in a plane crash) and replaced by another wrestler. Such stories added to the Warrior’s mythology. Deadspin even devoted a “Dead Wrestler of the Week” column just to the rumors. 

I grew up idolizing the Warrior. I was entranced from the second I saw the jacked-up grappler, neon war paint smeared on his face, sprinting to the ring to a heart-pounding rock anthem. He would violently shake the red, white and blue ring ropes, causing his biceps’ tassels to whip in a frenzy. His intensity also rang out during his insane interviews (tales of immortality, death, spaceships and war), generating an aura that do-gooder Hulk Hogan couldn’t match. His popularity was so transcendent that someone (unfortunately, not me) paid tribute to him by painting his trademark symbol on a bridge near my hometown in Iowa.

I soaked it up – along with Warrior T-shirts, posters and action figures. I watched his rise to champion at WrestleMania VI. And then he vanished, presumably filling his spaceship with rocket fuel and returning to Parts Unknown, agreeing to return for the briefest of stints. The truth was, he had several disputes with head honcho Vince McMahon over money and steroid use, and their fragile relationship fractured.

And then, by the mid-aughts, just as he’d left my consciousness after about a decade, he returned, reinvented as a conservative commentator who couldn’t stop himself from saying something homophobic or stupid about the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Deadspin did a good job of chronicling the Warrior’s uglier side  – one that I’ve tried to forget. 

In the last 18 months, though, the Warrior had reconciled with the WWE and become the focal point of the organization’s latest video game and the headliner of Saturday’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony. I tuned in for what I thought would be a settling of scores, but his speech revealed a man who loved his family – his mother, his wife and their two young daughters – very much and who was deeply hurt by WWE’s hit piece DVD on him, The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior. He wanted to set the record straight on his legacy, which the WWE partnered on in a new DVD set.

Those old wounds seemed to finally be healing. Warrior appeared at WrestleMania on Sunday and then on Raw. It marked his first live appearance on the USA Network show in 18 years.  

On Monday, Warrior limped to the ring, struggled to shake the ropes and sweated profusely. I tried to ignore his obvious distress. He gave a cryptic monologue that now amounts to a eulogy.

Notably to Kansas Citians, when the suit-wearing Warrior entered the squared circle, he put on a hand-painted duster designed by local artist Rob Schamberger, who now has a working agreement with WWE. Here’s Schamberger describing what it was like creating the design and getting to know the Warrior, who invited Schamberger to watch WrestleMania 30 from his private box at the Super Dome.

Then, less than 24 hours after Raw, WWE’s Paul Levesque (ring name, Triple H) announced the Warrior’s death on Twitter. The wrestling organization followed with a confirmation on its website:

WWE is shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the passing of one of the most iconic WWE Superstars ever, The Ultimate Warrior. 

Warrior began his WWE career in 1987 and quickly went on to become one of the biggest stars in WWE history. Warrior became WWE Champion at WrestleMania VI, defeating Hulk Hogan in an epic encounter.

We are grateful that just days ago, Warrior had the opportunity to take his rightful place in the WWE Hall of Fame and was also able to appear at WrestleMania 30 and Monday Night Raw to address his legions of fans.

WWE sends its sincere condolences to Warrior’s family, friends and fans.

Warrior was 54 and is survived by his wife Dana, his two daughters, his mother, his two sisters and his two brothers.

It’s sad. But I don’t mourn the staggering performer whose demise was likely caused by steroid use. I’m 36 now, and so I mourn instead the husband and father whose daughters are just 11 and 14. Rest in peace, Warrior. Rest in peace, Jim.