10 Times Promoters Sided With A Wrestler The Locker Room Hated

6. Ultimate Warrior

Sure, Ultimate Warrior was fired by the then-WWF several times, but that doesn't take away from how Vince McMahon maintained a hard-on for the Parts Unknown native regardless of what his locker room was telling him.

Merely watching The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior documentary - which, of course, was removed from the WWE Network once bridges were rebuilt - tells you all you need to know about how his peers viewed the Ultimate One. Realising his physique alone could get him a shot in the wrestling business regardless of lacking any passion for it, Warrior's chiselled form was utilised to make him a genuine megastar.

Throughout his electric ascension and spectacular fall, Jim Hellwig's lack of paying dues, lack of respect for the stars who came before him, and outright lack of being anywhere close to a safe, good worker means that few people to this day have a good word to say about this enigmatic performer.

Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Bobby Heenan, Sgt. Slaughter, Ted DiBiase and obviously Hulk Hogan were amongst those to lambast Warrior during that Self-Destruction release, yet Vince so often refused to chastise Hellwig. And as mentioned, even when McMahon did come down on Warrior and fire him, there was still always that glint in the eye at Vince being willing to bring the star back fold for another more run.

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.

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