12 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: The Fall Of Renegade
10. “Wannabe Warrior” Talk Started Before WCW
Determined to 'get in', Rick trained at Killer Kowalski’s school and with several others before he started working on the independent scene. Kimberly said he’d often get as little as $100 per show, which barely covered his gas prices. Even back then, the guy was wearing tassels and gear similar to The Ultimate Warrior.
He didn’t have his face painted, but there were little digs from fans and some in the industry about how he was a “wannabe Warrior”, which bothered him. Clips from Wilson’s work pre-WCW shows that he was pretty much Warrior without the paint, so it's perhaps no wonder that people ridiculed him or claimed he was a try hard.
Hell, the dude even ran to the ring and acted like Warrior between moves.
He was called Rio’ Lord Of The Jungle’ in those early days, so it was more Tarzan than anything else, but wrestling fans could see what was really going on. Of course, nobody knew then that Rick would be hired by WCW as their very own version of Warrior, but the parallels were clear for all to see.
Your writer has to be honest: He didn't know a ton about Wilson's career in wrestling prior to WCW. It certainly wasn't widespread common knowledge that Rick was hearing some boos and a few nasty comments before he signed up to become Hulk Hogan's "ultimate surprise" in 1995.
Remarkably, another piece of footage VICE managed to dig out shows that the Ultimate one himself actually put the future Renegade over. No, not in a match, but over the mic.