One of the most polarizing figures in wrestling history, Jim Hellwig would be cursed with a family history that seemed destined to end his life early. His father died at 57 and his grandfather died at 52, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when the Ultimate Warrior died at 54 years old just days after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Warrior began as a bodybuilder, winning Mr. Georgia in 1983 before falling into professional wrestling alongside Steve "Sting" Borden. Warrior teamed with Sting as the Blade Runners before moving onto World Class Championship Wrestling and being christened the Dingo Warrior. Doing nothing really of note, Warrior was signed by the WWF and began wrestling as the Dingo Warrior. Vince McMahon stepped in, claiming he didn't know what a "Dingo Warrior" was but he wanted something different. You see, Kerry Von Erich was the "Modern Day Warrior" and Animal and Hawk were the Road Warriors, so Jim Hellwig should be the Ultimate Warrior. Warrior had a few lower card feuds before being catapulted to stardom when he squashed Intercontinental champion Honky Tonk Man in 27 seconds. When Vince saw the crowd reaction to the Warrior, he decided that Hellwig should become the next superstar of the 1990s. Hulk Hogan put over the Warrior at Wrestlemania VI, giving him possession of both the Intercontinental title and the WWF title, seemingly cementing him as the next huge superstar. However, Warrior's title reign was less than stellar as he entered into a mediocre feud with Rick Rude and had the title taken by Sgt. Slaughter in January 1991. He departed the WWF after a dispute with Vince McMahon over money in late 1991 and made a brief return in 1992 before experimentation with HGH caused his release. A weird return in 1996 inspired no one and the less that is said about his WCW match against Hulk Hogan in 1998, the better. Warrior finally made his WWE return in April 2014, seemingly forgiving Vince McMahon for past indiscretions and becoming part of the WWE family for good. Unfortunately, Warrior's return was not to last as he died of a heart attack only hours after making an appearance on Raw. Many backstage reported that Warrior was breathing heavily and looked frail and exhausted during Wrestlemania weekend, foreshadowing his eventual death. While family genes can certainly be blamed for his early death, his experimentation with various HGH chemicals certainly accelerated things. In my opinion, these experiments were going to occur whether Warrior was involved in wrestling or not, so the business cannot take the brunt of the punishment in this case.
