10 Wrestlers That Only Seemed Cool When You Were A Kid

3. The Ultimate Warrior

With all due respect to The Ultimate Warrior, who passed away earlier this year in a tragic turn of events almost immediately after his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, this was a guy who perfectly exemplified the notion of a gimmick whose appeal was inversely proportional to the age of the fan.

If you were a kid who grew up watching the WWF in the late €˜80s and early €˜90s, chances are you were an Ultimate Warrior fan. He had a great physique, killer entrance music and vibrant face paint, all of which really helped to sell his demigod-like character from €˜parts unknown.€™

And then, as you got older, you began to notice that most of his matches were incredibly short, that he only had a handful of actual wrestling moves in his repertoire (to be generous), and that his promos, in reality, were mostly made up of nonsensical screaming and snarling.

He did what he did well but the charm wore off, as evidenced by diminished crowd enthusiasm upon each of his returns from those unknown parts. Years after his monumental WWF run, when his relationship had soured with the company, he became more of an infamous character than a legend, thanks in large part to the WWE€™s release of The Self-Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior DVD, which served almost exclusively as a take-down piece.

But when all is said and done, it€™s probably best to remember Warrior during his glory years, running to the ring, shaking the ropes and lifting his opponents over his head. After all, if these memories are a high point of your childhood, why sully them?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sg7viOeP_U

Contributor

I am a writer and stand-up comedian living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I didn't witness the Bret Hart screw job in person, but I did watch the Breaking Point PPV live and that was terrible it its own way. I am dangerously obsessed with professional wrestling and its surrounding culture. I am the current ring announcer for a local fed called the IWS. I got to introduce Tommy Dreamer a while back. My head almost exploded. I am a mark, and proud of it. I also co-host a podcast called Go Plug Yourself, which has featured quite a few local wrestlers and even Mick Foley. Speaking of the Mickster, I once got to be his warmup act when he was in town for comiccon. My head actually exploded that time. I've recovered... sort of.