The Most Insane Wrestling Lore HIDDEN On The Internet

For a change when discussing the Ultimate Warrior's online activity before he passed, this is not about either a) destrucity, because it was a made up word and his own brand of cod-science designed in part to peddle whatever wares he had at the time or b) the absolutely abhorrent things he posted on his own blog when logging on to share some particularly angry thoughts about the world, minorities and people going through various degrees of physical and mental trauma. Jim Hellwig renamed himself Warrior, so beset as was with the ideals his gimmick espoused, but the man behind the painted mask often fell a long way short when it slipped. 

Furthermore, whilst the rotten commentary exists somewhere out there, it doesn't exist at his old domain - the site was blitzed and re-thought following his passing and - in the interest of balance - his changed views on many subjects per the words of widow Dana.

Those spectacles might seem a little bit rose-tinted, but the following hidden gems won't be. Thanks to various documentaries made not just about Warrior but about the specific times he was most prominent within WWE, little snatches of footage have emerged that previously wouldn't have been easy to access for the general public. Long before CM Punk made them the hottest ticket in wrestling, press scrums were legitimately that - a scrum of press reporters that gathered around the industry on the scant occasions it had something interesting to sell them.

Such was the case twice in 1992, and Warrior was present with the facepaint on but the gimmick switched almost all the way off. Thanks to Reddit and TikTok, his promos at following WrestleMania VIII and before SummerSlam 1992 respectively offer unique insight into where his head was at at the time.

With no screaming, shouting or snorting, his words to the assembled media (there presumably to grill anybody from the company they can during one of its most scandal-hit spells, and/or the suggested retirement of Hulk Hogan) are no less potent and pointed. Sporting the haircut and diminished size that had millions assuming that a new man was in the gimmick, not-quite-as-big Jim calmly assures everybody that he'll be WWE Champion again sooner or later, perhaps laying down a marker to a hungry midcard that saw the 'Hulkster'-sized spot that was otherwise opening up. He's chilled to the point of it being chilling, quite honestly, but does explain why he's gone through the gears a little bit by the time he gets to August. Clad in denim jacket, pink shirt and paint, Warrior joined Davey Boy Smith and Jim Duggan at Wembley Stadium itself to talk up his SummerSlam 1992 title prospects against Randy Savage. It can't be understated just how massive Warrior still was in the UK at this time, even if the boom had well and truly gone bust domestically, and his aesthetic lights up the dour British room even if his promo moved from his character's darker side. Regardless, he once again failed to follow through on his title aspirations, and - per what him and Davey Boy also allegedly got up to while in England - this calmer, gentler Warrior disappeared permanently before his rocky 1996 return.