6 Ups And 9 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (March 18)

1. Whitewashing History

WWE is well-known for repainting history how it sees fit, changing narratives or altogether deleting someone or something from existence if they don’t fit the company’s needs.

But few things are more self-serving than WWE’s whitewashing of The Ultimate Warrior, turning a controversial, bigoted individual into a near-saint who has been lionized and immortalized by the company.

Warrior has an award named after him that is supposed to go to a person who “lives their life like the late, great Ultimate Warrior, with strength, courage and perseverance.” First off, what are the examples of how Warrior did that? By making peace with a company and wrestlers he had feuded with for decades and being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame days before he died?

Let’s not ignore the fact that he has degraded Hurricane Katrina victims (“Their lives were already in ruin -- self ruin.”), put down Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (“…played up his last name "King" as if he was one.”), and made several homophobic comments.

Maybe worst of all within the context of the wrestling world, Warrior went on a rant against Bobby “The Brain” Heenan shortly after it was announced he had cancer: “Imagine what it will be like, lying there taking in your last breaths, knowing you whored yourself out your whole life, and had to, in your final years, be faced with emptying your own personal sh–– bag… Karma is just a beautiful thing to behold.”

This isn’t a knock against putting Warrior in the Hall of Fame, but maybe naming an award after him (the recipient was named Monday, prompting this item) and saying that it’s given to a person who “lives their life like the Ultimate Warrior” isn’t the best idea. There’s got to be someone who was way more widely respected (and less controversial) who would be worthy of having an award named after them.