The Ultimate Warrior is often regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers ever. Dark Side of the Ring did an episode on the man’s life and career, and it’s crazy. He is also one of the most controversial pro wrestlers outside of the ring, with his distasteful comments and how he treated others.
The surprising part of the documentary is that they got the Ultimate Warrior’s first wife, Shari Tyree, to speak about him, which is a big deal because I can’t remember if she’d publicly talked about him before today.
Both met while he was bodybuilding, and she was attracted by his tremendous shoulders. They set up a date, and they met at a bar where Warrior was working as a bouncer. Warrior was tossing a man out of the building and taking the garbage out in front of Shari. Once he was done, they went to his apartment and talked with each other about life.
The Ultimate Warrior started in pro wrestling as a tag team wrestler. His partner was the Icon, Sting, and they wrestled as the Blade Runners. One thing that always came across with both wrestlers in their Blade Runner days is how opposite they were. Sting was much more trainable, talented, and well-liked than Warrior.
Jim Cornette introduced himself and admitted that he did not like the Ultimate Warrior. Even Jim Ross, in this documentary, is not a fan of the Warrior. He called him egotistical and said, “I’ve never met or seen a wrestler with less ability than The Ultimate Warrior.”
The Ultimate Warrior wanted to go out on his own and decided to break up the Blade Runners tag team. In his early matches, Warrior had a weird ring name. He was initially called the Dingo Warrior. Nobody even knew what the heck a Dingo Warrior was, including his first wife. Vince McMahon hated that name, too, and when Warrior officially signed with WWF, the name was changed to the Ultimate Warrior.
Throughout his time in the locker room, Warrior hated the criticism he got. He was very sensitive and very insecure. It all started in his childhood when his father left him as a kid. It also didn’t help that he caught his dad cheating with the neighbor. Ever since then, he had an anxiety disorder, and he put a lot of pressure on himself to be successful.
The Ultimate Warrior would always call in to check in on his wife. Well, one day, she noticed Jim was not well, and when calling him, he wouldn’t answer, which was unlike him. Shari sent a wellness check to ensure he was okay and that he was only sleeping. She heard a woman’s voice in the background when calling him back. In looking through Warrior’s items at home, she noticed Warrior had a day planner with names and phone numbers of women for each town. When he came home, she served him divorce papers.
Something interesting not mentioned: one of the women that he was cheating on his first wife with was Melanie Pillman, the future wife of pro wrestler Brian Pillman.
Vince McMahon wanted to push Jake the Snake Roberts, who was growing in popularity in the 90s. A feud against The Ultimate Warrior was in the plans. Jake claims this would be for the WWF Championship, but he’s full of it. At this point, Warrior dropped the title to Sgt Slaughter, and Jake’s timeline makes zero sense.
For this feud to happen, Jake had to get permission from Warrior. Jake went to the Ultimate Warrior, and he went after Jake, claiming he didn’t care about his family, him, or wrestling. He wanted to do his work and get his money. Jake was not happy about what he said but wanted to ensure he locked up the feud with Warrior for Summerslam.
This is the craziest firing story that I have ever heard as a fan. The Ultimate Warrior at SummerSlam 1991 was holding up the company for more money and would send a letter to Vince. In that letter, Warrior wanted everything Hogan had in his contract, or he would no-show SummerSlam.
Vince gave him what he wanted but only did that so that he could show up on the show to compete in the main event. When he returned after the match ended, Vince yelled at Warrior, telling him he was fired and to leave the building. Jake Roberts is nearby and hears this. When Vince saw him, he told him he had the worst luck of any human. Jake was super angry that he had lost this big money-making feud and had held that anger for many years.
Many long years passed, and the Ultimate Warrior was now living in Arizona. He opened up a gym and crossed paths with Shari again. Both were married to different people at this point, but due to the awkwardness, both agreed for her not to be at his gym anymore. Before she left, Warrior apologized to her and thanked her for being a great wife. He even inspired her, saying she would someday be a great mother. That was the last time both had a conversation, and it’s nice hearing both left on good terms.
With the Ultimate Warrior’s full-time wrestling career over, he transitioned into becoming a motivational speaker. It seemed like a good idea, but this career change did more harm than good. Especially since he said and wrote homophobic and racist stuff. Some of those statements were “queering doesn’t make the world work” and “These kids – these black-skinned kids- are behaving like animals, savages, less than human, like Rhesus monkeys.”
The worst part is that there is so much more distasteful and disgusting stuff he wrote on his website. Oh, by the way, he once called the people affected by Hurricane Katrina “poor, mostly black New Orleanians without cars.”. What a terrible thing to say about one of the worst Hurricanes ever hitting America.
In 2014, the Ultimate Warrior made peace with the WWE and agreed to be inducted into their Hall of Fame. Guess who else got inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014? Jake “The Snake” Roberts. He claims that at the Hall of Fame, he had a roll of quarters in his pocket and was going to beat Warrior up, but Warrior tapped his shoulder and apologized for how he acted, and both reconciled. Again, I like Jake Roberts, but he’s so full of it in this episode. I don’t believe he would attack the Warrior at the Hall of Fame.
Warrior gets inducted, then he cuts this eerie promo on the next episode of Monday Night Raw when he talks about “a man’s heart one day beats a final beat and lungs breath their final breath.” I remember being 14 and I said to myself, “Man Warrior looks rough and unhealthy”. Little did I know that not 12 hours later, he suffered a heart attack and died. It’s so eerie rewatching that promo, thinking Warrior had to have known he would not live long.
This was a well-made piece on a man who has a shady legacy—not only for the way he treated people and his steroid usage but also for his racist/homophobic statements. This should have been a two-part episode, but the MVP is his first wife, Shari, who brings great insights on Warrior.
I’m stunned that the documentary didn’t discuss his WCW tenure and how disastrous it was, especially that awful Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior rematch at Halloween Havoc 1998.
Another statement that is not mentioned, and that doesn’t paint Warrior in a good light, is his comments on Bobby the Brain Heenan. Heenan was battling throat cancer and had surgery that disfigured his face, and he couldn’t speak. Warrior said the following about Heenan below,
What an absolute jerk to say this about someone who, at that time, was fighting and potentially dying of cancer.
He made a tremendous impact in professional wrestling, but you can’t ignore all the heinous and disgusting things he has said and done. I am glad that in his final days, he made peace with a lot of people, and it’s still eerie hearing the promo he cut on Monday Night Raw. This episode was not the smut and filth that Dana Warrior called it, but it was well-made by the Vice crew.
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