WWE: 10 Memories Of The Ultimate Warrior

1. The Hall Of Fame

I've always been strangely intrigued by The Ultimate Warrior. It's hard to say why, but millions of other fans appear to be drawn to him as well. He did a great job of protecting his gimmick, and left us a mystery to what he was really about. Unlike so many other wrestlers, he never wore out his welcome. He competed in an era where we didn't see him wrestle twice every week, which made every outing special. He'd also take long breaks from the business before re-emerging again. We never knew what he'd do next. But one thing did seem certain these past 18 years: that he would never go into the WWE Hall of Fame. There was some bad blood between both sides. Of course, no one is perfect, and he said a lot of bad things about his former employer, and many of his old colleagues. In turn, many of them weren't fond of him either. We even saw a whole documentary released from WWE on how strange and awful to others he could be at times. Warrior was obviously very hurt by this. There have been some incredibly long-shot reunions in WWE history. We saw the legendary Bruno Sammartino slam the company for years for its mature content. Eventually, he came back into the fold. Bret Hart was absolutely livid about the way he left the company, and because of the death of his brother. He returned too. But a couple years ago, it felt like there was no possible way that The Warrior would come back. He was too angry. He had too many enemies. His work wasn't respected enough. But somehow, someway, time began to change things between WWE management and Warrior. In 2014, it was reported that he had a meeting with Vince McMahon. The two were able to set aside past differences and work together again. It was pretty incredible after everything that had gone down. Warrior was then chosen as the headliner at the Hall of Fame for WrestleMania XXX. He was given time to talk about his career, and his love for the fans that he'd never done on a large platform before. We saw him with his two young daughters which humanized him. It was an incredible journey to see this come to fruition. Two nights later, he showed up on Raw for the first time in nearly two decades. I'll admit, I marked out a bit. I was able to forget all the controversy, all the questionable things he'd said in the past and was just able to appreciate how amazing seeing him on WWE TV again really was. As we see it now, his final promo was basically a goodbye to his fans. His words were heartfelt, and brief. He didn't meander, he didn't show anger. He even showed some humor and humility that we'd never seen before. After years of entertaining us, he gave us a final few minutes to show just how much he really did care. And that last memory of him is one I'll never forget.