Posted on 04/10/2014 8:48:25 AM PDT by massmike
The Ultimate Warrior put on his signature airbrushed trench coat, shook the white ring ropes, and, for a few fleeting minutes, the wrestler billed as hailing from Parts Unknown was back home in the wrestling ring.
"Speak to me, Warriors!" he bellowed on Monday night's "Raw", back on TV after an 18-year absence.
He soaked up the applause from a New Orleans crowd chanting his name and pulled out a neon mask that replicated the face paint he wore in the ring for every main event battle with Hulk Hogan and Randy "Macho Man" Savage in the 1990s. Warrior cut a promo to show how much he appreciated his return to the WWE.
Less than 24 hours later, Warrior, one of the most colorful stars in pro wrestling history, was dead. He was 54.
The WWE said Warrior, who legally changed his name from James Hellwig to his wrestling moniker, died Tuesday. Scottsdale, Ariz., police spokesman Sgt. Mark Clark said he collapsed while walking with his wife to their car at a hotel and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
There were no signs of foul play, Clark said. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy Thursday, county spokeswoman Cari Gerchick said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
NO!!! Damn, the greats are all dying off. Say it ain’t so Hellwig! I met this guy at a nightclub in Clearwater when I was in high school. He seemed like a nice guy. If nothing else, because he was always in makeup, I don’t think he got the public recognition the same as, say, Hogan or Savage.
Is this the Ultimate Warrior or his cousin?
Steroids can do some awful things to the human body.
Saw video of him from a recent appearance. He looked like crap.
I warned him. Don’t tease Brock Lesnar when he’s eating.
Just bulking up that much is rough on the cardiovascular system, even if you do it without steroids.
I am expecting heart failure when they get a cause of death.
His appearance on RAW, he just looked awful, gasping for air..and his speech about breathing his last breath and heart beating its last beat, its like he knew death was coming
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