As I write, it has been nearly a week since the Ultimate Warrior was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, having made his peace with WWE Chairman-CEO Vince McMahon after nearly 20 years of acrimony. After the infamous hatchet job of a DVD that came out a number of years back, a more reverential retrospective of the former champion was released several weeks in advance of the Hall of Fame ceremony in New Orleans.
Yes, Triple H did it again. After negotiating an end to hostilities between McMahon & Bruno Sammartino last year, the "Cerebral Assassin" pulled off another miracle. Now, all he needs to do is try to convince his father-in-law that now would be a good time to end all the negativity in relation to the late "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and put to rest the urban legends that persist in regards to Savage and a then-teenaged Stephanie McMahon way back when. If they could make him eligible for a Nobel Peace Prize, they probably would, and he'd get one.
Meanwhile, while the WWE celebrated only the Warrior's accomplishments with the company, it would be only fair to add on his earlier runs with Mid-South and World Class before he came north in 1987. The most astute of us would remember that the late William Moody, aka Paul Bearer, was also with World Class (as Percy Pringle III) in the mid-80's, and managed the then-Dingo Warrior for a time as a heel before Warrior turned babyface once and for all before leaving for the then-World Wrestling Federation. The less that is said about his short-lived comeback with WCW in 1998, the better, other than to say that April 5-6-7 marked the first time the Warrior had been on a national stage since then. 15 1/2 years is, of course, an eternity in the wrestling business.
The Warrior would never be mistaken for a technical marvel any more than Hulk Hogan or Jim Duggan would. However, the two biggest wins of his WWF tenure are logged into everyone's memory. The squashing of Honky Tonk Man at Summerslam to become Intercontinental champion, and perhaps his greatest match ever, beating Hogan to become WWF Champion at Wrestlemania 6 in Toronto.
On April 14, Monday Night Raw will devote the entire show in tribute to the Warrior, something they haven't done since they spent a whole week in tribute to Chris Benoit in 2007, before the truth came out about his passing. Storylines will be put aside, and it'll be fun again. The Warrior wouldn't have it any other way.
