Anyone else lose a lot of respect for Warrior last night?

[Boo!]

I'll declare an interest in that other than someone who thought the Ultimate Warrior was awesome in the late 80s to early 90s, I never held the man in particularly high regards at least judging him by his public comments and publicly known opinions. But last night was dire. A rambling speech lined with "about timery" without a hint of gratitude or humbleness. Instead it was just "the character is awesome, this rights a wrong."

But more than that he stood in front of the wrestling fraternity, most of whom have lost someone to personal demons and he essentially played a game of one-upmanship with the fallen. Essentially "I didn't die so I'm better than you." and "those who don't have the strength in their real life as their character does are weak people." It seemed so unnecessary for the occasion. Say this in a book or in a podcast or something but was last night really the platform. Especially on the night when Jake Roberts stole the show with a moving speech, which touched upon his own battle with his demons.

[slappy]

Can't lose what you never had.

[Brandon Walsh is Insane.]

Out of his awesome speech, that's what you took away?

Odd. If anything, I think he earned more respect from me by the things he said. He was willing to mock his shortfalls, and questioned why people were so mean to him when he didn't think he had hurt them.

I thought it was really fun. He had an open forum, that the WWE built up as unedited and uncensored, and he delivered. Even if he was censored.

[wallabylikeyou]

I've never respected him for some pretty glaring reasons.

[Johnny Flamingo]

No, I had respect for him before and respect him now. Met him in person and he was extremely polite to everyone and went out of his way to talk to people (saw him speak at my college).

I don't agree with his views on many things but I respect that he is honest with his opinions. I prefer people being honest as opposed to putting on an act.

I thought his speech was pretty awesome.

[Professor Chaos]

He came off to me as an out of touch dick stroking his own mocking Jake and Razor for having demons while he was better than anyone ever and thanked the people for coming out to see him like he was the only one there..... and the lady.

[mizerable]

He wants a award for Jimmy Miranda, a guy who is not named by many people, hell Warrior namedropped a lot of people who would otherwise continue to not get any recognition.

He's still okay in my book.

[Hobby Drifter]

The *entire* first five minutes of his speech was spent giving thanks to people he learned from on his way to the top. I've been a wrestling fan for nearly 20 years and even *I* didn't know who many of them were.

And, by the by, he's *THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR*. Long, rambling, incoherent, yet undeniably sincere vocalizations are *his entire thing*.

[hassanchop]

Apr 6, 2014 4:35:21 GMT -5 mizerable said:

He wants a award for Jimmy Miranda, a guy who is not named by many people, hell Warrior namedropped a lot of people who would otherwise continue to not get any recognition.

He's still okay in my book.

He probably lost R-Truth's respect since he gave recognition to Jimmy Miranda.

[Kevin Hamilton]

That's who that dude has been publicly for nearly 20 years now.

If anything, I was surprised by the restraint he did show.

[Deleted]

I found it strange when he told that make a wish story as I'm pretty sure more than a few wrestlers have told stories about how he used to not give a shit about themake a wish kids and would leave them waiting hours to meet him.






Ignore this. I was wrong

[isink]

I would like to thank the other guys. And the lady.

[Kevin Hamilton]

To be fair, the one and ONLY time I've heard the Warrior dissing Make a Wish story was in Bret's book.

The same book where every woman referenced thought Bret was sex on legs, and every wrestler told him how amazing he was with tears in their eyes.

The book where I'm still surprised the Hitman's sunglasses didn't make a blind kid see.

[Tiger Millionaire]

It was Warrior, the good and the bad, the part where he thanked the people who get no recognition, the emotion, the rambling, the love for his character, the defense of his values, the bitterness at times. It was him.

[percymania]

Actually, I liked Warrior's speech and thought he did a good job. He thanked a lot of people who helped his career. I'm 100% behind the Jimmy Miranda award. After that DVD WWE made, I would have forgiven Warrior if he used this platform to be a bit more hateful, but I think he took the high road and handled himself well. I gained a little respect for him, if anything.

[eJm]

Considering how he was to journalists at both WWE2K14 launch events, I'm shocked he didn't come out with a bottle of rum and just rag on everyone.

[Capt Lunatic]

The thread so far...

[Bub (BLM)]

Not really. He's just wired differently. He's not a bad guy. He almost teared up when he was saying that he must be a good guy because one of his most respected fallen comerades said he was (he was talking about Randy Savage).

[Lancers]

Apr 6, 2014 8:33:49 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

To be fair, the one and ONLY time I've heard the Warrior dissing Make a Wish story was in Bret's book.

The same book where every woman referenced thought Bret was sex on legs, and every wrestler told him how amazing he was with tears in their eyes.

The book where I'm still surprised the Hitman's sunglasses didn't make a blind kid see.

Actually, they did.

CHAPTER 26: BLIND FAITH

So I was at the Shemp Howard Memorial Hospital in Evansville, Indiana and I was there to add another tally to my Make-a-Wish appearance list. There was a kid named Jackson who was eight years old, so was suffering from a rare, but debilitating condition called astigmorrhosis which basically prohibits the kid from having vision. When they explained this condition to me, I said to the doctor who they said was the best there is, was and ever will be in the Ohio Valley that he's a crackpot. There is a cure for astigmorrhosis and I always carry it with me.

That's when I took my hands, placed them up towards my luxurious jet black hair and reached for my custom made in the Philippines Hitman shades. I looked at Jackson who was staring at one of the walls I said, 'Hey kid, it's a pleasure to meet you. And now you are about to meet me.' I put the shades over his eyes, and he started to scream. Everybody in the room began freaking out. But those weren't screams of terror. They were screams of joy. Jackson suddenly started asking questions about the things he was looking at for the first time in his life.

His mother was crying hysterically. The doctors were high-fiving each other. One of the nurses, who was a virgin, offered me the honor and privilege to be her first (which I declined). When that fancy doctor who said there was no cure came up to me, he said, 'How did you do that?' I smiled and said, 'If you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything.'

Later that night, I defeated Jean Pierre LaFitte in a 78 minute match and Jackson was there in the front row, wearing those magical shades cheering me on. I don't want to say that I'm a hero, but did Shawn ever cure an eight-year-old of permanent blindness? I don't think so.

[Deleted]

I respect him more, the thing he said about fatherhood needs to be put on billboards everywhere.