Regardless of whatever political diatribes he spouts in his post-wrestling career, the Ultimate Warrior will always be my favorite wrestler ever. While I do enjoy watching his old school promos with some irony, the amount's honestly less than most probably have. Nostalgia can make everything you enjoyed as a kid seem so much better, but I truly, objectively think that the big wrestlers of his heyday - - like Randy Savage - - had far more natural charisma than today’s “superstars.” It takes a lot more talent to ad lib off a few bullets points than it does to stick to whatever overly-serious, understated script the staff’s written for you.
Warrior’s often... brusque when it comes time to comment on the early deaths of his colleagues, so I was really waiting for that particular tasseled boot to drop after Savage passed away last week. It’s honestly surprising then (and even a little disquieting) to hear Warrior speak about his old co-star with such somber emotion and humbled respect. I’ve never heard of him speak of another wrestler with this kind of reverence - - you’ll never hear him say anybody else was more intense than the Ultimate Warrior. Thus, hearing this all from him will probably feel more genuine than any forthcoming tributes will and his vision of a post-Apocalyptic paradise for Savage is actually quite touching.
Fans have half-jokingly wondered if Warrior and Savage’s high energy was the product of drugs or steroids, or some combination thereof. Therefore, it's genuinely unexpected for him to finally identify the substance they were both on - - caffeine. By Warrior’s own admission, the two of them used to just guzzle the stuff before promos and matches. After all this time, it was Folgers that gave us Destrucity and Macho Madness.
I feel like he's speaking about my childhood. The backyard battles. Pretending to be a WWF character. Pile driving my younger sister into oblivion. Good times.
This is the second hacky obit on Screened where a heartfelt and loving tribute to Savage felt the need to force in an "all wrestling sucks now, despite me not being able to rationalize why!" diatribe within the first paragraph. It's the more eloquent version of writing "john cena is a gay dumb butt head" on a forum. You don't like wrestling, you just like your childhood. It's okay if you don't care about the WWE (or ROH or NJPW or Chikara, or whatever) but please don't lump every wrestler living on the planet into some hodgepodge of "no charisma/scripting/whatever incorrect information I was given by a third party". CM Punk fucking rules and doesn't fit your criteria: you just wrote him off before knowing he existed. If everything in the past was good and everything today sucks, I guess Mistico contributes nothing good to the world and Ron Bass vs. Koko B. Ware or whatever was a five-star classic because "80s/childhood".
I don't mean to be a negative nancy or stir up trouble where none exists, but this shit is infuriating. If you don't like something, don't write about it. If you don't know about something, don't pretend to. The first step to becoming a good writer is admitting your ignorances.
Nah. Even Jeff and Jared who apparently still follow wrestling as Smarks think it was as bad as people say it is. They even like CM Punk and other people, but rightfully acknowledge the mic skills, or lack thereof, of the WWE "Superstars" today.
Which is exactly what makes this video so eye-opening. It's probably the most coherent thing he's ever said in his life.
Everyone can agree that the WWE has had significant problems lately (they just had a bad Raw and an awful PPV), but plenty of guys sucked "back in the day" just like plenty of guys suck now. Everyone remembers the highlights like Punk and Savage and tends to forget the Mason Ryans and Jumpin' Jeff Farmers (see? You did.) Looking at John Cena saying "poopypants" for 30 seconds doesn't mean that 100% of all wrestlers in all promotions walking the earth today are horrible and can't step up to the 80s stars, even the bad ones people have good memories of. Fuck Prince Devitt, he's no Brooklyn Brawler!
There's something like one a month, to the point of being meaningless. I can remember when rivalries would go on for months instead of three weeks, Wrestlemania was HUGE, and the eventual PPV match had time to build some actual tension. The quest for PPV money killed any sense of trying to build an overarching story with even the smallest amount of emotional investment.
He must have been true blue buddies with the Macho Man.