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218-592: Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig ; June 16, 1959 – April 8, 2014) was an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder . Best known by his ring name The Ultimate Warrior , he wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE ) from 1987 to 1992, as well as a short stint in 1996. He also notably spent a few months in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1998, in which he was known as The Warrior . After

436-628: A Coal Miner's Glove match at Halloween Havoc , Sting defeated Vader, who had lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in August, in the "King of Cable" tournament final at Starrcade . The Sting-Vader feud continued into 1993, with Vader, who was again WCW World Heavyweight Champion, defeating Sting in a bloody Strap match at SuperBrawl III . Sting exacted revenge by beating Vader for

654-533: A Gold's Gym health club. Borden had no interest in professional wrestling and no television access to it within his home community, but decided to pursue a career in the industry after being taken to an "incredible" World Wrestling Federation (WWF) event in Los Angeles where he saw Hulk Hogan , The Iron Sheik , The British Bulldogs , André the Giant and others perform. Borden, originally wrestling under

872-402: A baseball bat as a weapon, began appearing in the rafters at WCW events and began painting his entire face with black and white corpse paint . In retaliation, nWo Sting, who was still imitating Borden, began painting his face this way as well. Sting's new gimmick was directly inspired by the title character of the 1994 film The Crow , and Borden credits Scott Hall for suggesting the idea of

1090-502: A beat down at the hands of Sid Justice and Papa Shango ). Upon his return, he received a degree of creative control over his bookings . One storyline involved Papa Shango, a " witch doctor ", casting a spell over Warrior, causing him to convulse and vomit in very odd colors, though Warrior says he hated that story and had no control over it. The Warrior was booked for a WWF Championship match against then-champion, "Macho Man" Randy Savage at SummerSlam in August 1992. The Warrior won

1308-459: A diving elbow drop to help DDP win the match and the title. Sting defeated Page on the April 26 episode of Nitro to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship for the fifth time. Later that night, Sting defended the title in a four-way match featuring DDP, Goldberg, and a returning Nash. DDP pinned Nash, allowing DDP to win the title without directly beating Sting. Sting's 90-minute reign was only

1526-568: A new world order in professional wrestling. The name stuck, and Sting became one of WCW's stalwarts against the New World Order, or nWo for short. As part of this, Sting and Luger went up to rivals and Four Horsemen members Ric Flair and Arn Anderson some time after Bash at the Beach and asked them to team with him, saying that they needed to put aside their personal differences for the greater good of WCW. Flair and Anderson agreed and

1744-531: A tag team called The Freedom Fighters (Hellwig was known as Justice and Borden was called Flash). The Freedom Fighters debuted in the Memphis, Tennessee-based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) promotion, run by Jerry Jarrett , in November 1985. The team played babyfaces at first, but fans were actually slow to take to the hulking duo in a territory that had featured sympathetic "good guy tag teams" like

1962-446: A " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of

2180-401: A "Career-Ending" match at WrestleMania VII which Warrior won, forcing Savage to retire. The next chapter of Warrior's career was an encounter with The Undertaker , after Undertaker and his manager, Paul Bearer , locked Warrior in a coffin on the set of Bearer's Funeral Parlor . WWF officials worked feverishly to break the casket open, finally revealing Warrior's seemingly lifeless body, and

2398-538: A "free agent" as he refused to join the nWo although WCW Vice President Eric Bischoff , also one of the leaders of the nWo, declared he would not be allowed back in WCW if he didn't. For the next few weeks, the two were seen in the rafters together and coming to the ring together. This story, however, petered out at SuperBrawl VII in February; Sting and Savage had come to the ring together to watch Roddy Piper face Hogan in

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2616-545: A Battlebowl championship ring. Sting then became embroiled in a feud with the Dangerous Alliance , headed by manager Paul E. Dangerously . The stable targeted Sting because he was the so-called "franchise" of WCW, and the Alliance vowed to destroy both Sting and the promotion he was the face of. At the same time, Sting was being targeted by Luger, who had once again turned heel and, as WCW Champion, viewed Sting as

2834-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over

3052-636: A baseball bat, wielded by Lex Luger, eleven months later. Sting returned to Nitro in March 1999, sporting the black and white Crow -inspired attire he debuted in 1996 and began to participate in more mic work. By this time, the nWo storyline had faded, and Sting was not aligned with any of its factions. Sting competed in the main event of April's Spring Stampede , a Four Corners match for the World Championship, against Hogan, DDP, and champion Flair. Savage served as special guest referee and delivered

3270-537: A black and white nWo shirt, but he soon tore off the shirt to reveal the red and black of the nWo Wolfpac. Sting began wearing red and black face paint and tights as a member of nWo Wolfpac. Sting and The Giant won the WCW World Tag Team Championship at Slamboree in May when Hall turned on his teammate Nash. Sting and The Giant then split due to each man joining opposite sides of the nWo, and

3488-524: A bodybuilding contest, he was invited to join a group of bodybuilders – Garland Donoho, Mark Miller, and Steve Borden – to form a professional wrestling team. Warrior accepted the invitation and abandoned his bodybuilding career as well as his plans to become a chiropractor . Hellwig began his professional wrestling career as Jim "Justice" Hellwig of Powerteam USA, the group of bodybuilders trained by Red Bastien and Rick Bassman. Hellwig and fellow trainee Steve Borden (who later had success as "Sting") formed

3706-508: A car dealership in Irving, Texas . Warrior interacted in full wrestling costume with Westway's wacky character, "Mean Joe Greed." Warrior returned to the WWF at WrestleMania VIII after nearly eight months on hiatus since SummerSlam 1991 . Due to the drastic change in his appearance (shorter, blonder hair and a smaller physique), rumors began circulating that a new wrestler was playing the role. At

3924-564: A career in bodybuilding, Warrior turned to professional wrestling. From 1985 to 1986, he was paired with fellow former bodybuilder Steve Borden, later known as Sting , as the Blade Runners . The two split when Warrior left to pursue a singles career in World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). Under the ring name Dingo Warrior , he was a one-time WCWA Texas Heavyweight Champion . In 1987, he joined

4142-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so

4360-490: A casket, attacking Vampiro. Sting went on to feud with Jeff Jarrett and then Scott Steiner. Steiner attacked and injured Sting in November 2000. Sting remained absent from WCW programming until the final episode of Nitro on March 26, 2001. By this point, WCW had been purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and the final match in WCW history pitted Sting against his longtime rival Flair;

4578-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to

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4796-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from

5014-693: A declaration that they owned the characters, Warrior and Ultimate Warrior, under both contract and copyright law. The court ruled that Warrior was legally entitled to use the gimmick, costuming, face paint designs, and mannerisms of the "Warrior" character. On September 27, 2005, WWE released a DVD documentary focusing on Warrior's wrestling career, titled The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior . The DVD featured clips of his more notable feuds and matches along with commentary from WWE stars past and present (most of which are unflattering), with Triple H (by this point one of WWE's top main eventers and

5232-503: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Sting (wrestler) Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Steve Borden (born March 20, 1959), better known by

5450-554: A disqualification, giving neither man the championship. Eventually, Muta won a No Disqualification match against Sting at a live event in September by using a blackjack to get the win and the title. In the main event of that year's Great American Bash, Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Terry Funk , who was a member of Gary Hart 's J-Tex Corporation . After Flair got

5668-508: A falling out between the two (with Steiner siding with Gilbert). Shortly afterwards, following a match against Terry Taylor in mid-1987, Gilbert interfered on Taylor's behalf, costing Sting the match. Taylor and Gilbert then ganged up on Sting until Taylor's former tag partner Gentleman Chris Adams came to Sting's aid. Adams cleared the ring and then asked Sting if he was with him or against him in his feud with Taylor and Gilbert. Sting turned face by declaring his allegiance to Adams. Behind

5886-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers

6104-414: A genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has a more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for

6322-417: A guaranteed number of working days, travel accommodations and a higher percentage of merchandise sales. He remarked that $ 550,000 "was fair", and that "[Warrior] meant as much or more to the show than Hulk [Hogan]". He ended his letter with "Whatever your decision, I can and will live with it. Till then I remain home with one who cares". The WWF responded on July 13, agreeing to $ 550,000 for WrestleMania VII,

6540-651: A heel versus heel feud with WCWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude after the two fell out during a tag match. After switching managers to Percival Pringle III , Warrior turned babyface permanently after a falling out with fellow Pringle proteges Buzz Sawyer and Matt Borne after a six-man tag match. Warrior formed a tag team with Lance Von Erich , and the duo began competing for the WCWA World Tag Team Championship . On November 17, 1986, Warrior and Von Erich defeated Master Gee (substituting for champion Buzz Sawyer ) and Matt Borne to win

6758-578: A heel. The duo beat Harlem Heat for the WCW World Tag Team Championship on the January 22 episode of Nitro . The team often retained the championship as a result of Luger's cheating tactics, to which Sting remained oblivious. When Luger was temporarily unavailable for WCW Uncensored in March, Harlem Heat member Booker T teamed up with Sting to successfully prevent the titles from changing hands. Sting and Booker T developed

The Ultimate Warrior - Misplaced Pages Continue

6976-428: A higher royalty rate and promising no other WWF performer would be paid more than him on WWF pay per views. McMahon personally ended the letter by saying, "I would like to express my deepest appreciation and admiration for you as a performer, as a member of the WWF family, as a man, and as my friend". Following WWF's annual SummerSlam event, Warrior was handed a letter dated August 26, 1991, from McMahon, saying Warrior

7194-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have

7412-414: A main event pitting Hogan and himself against Nash and Vicious. Sting vacated the presidency the following week because he only wanted Flair out of the position rather than wanting the power for himself. Along with Goldberg, Sting and Hogan feuded with Nash, Vicious and Rick Steiner for the next month. Sting began to question Hogan's trustworthiness and credibility in the weeks leading up to Fall Brawl . At

7630-489: A match against Anderson and Brian Pillman at Halloween Havoc . Anderson and Pillman had attacked Flair earlier in the night, rendering Flair unable to come out for the first part of the match. Sting fended off his opponents until Flair emerged. Later in the match, Flair turned on Sting and reformed the Four Horsemen with Anderson and Pillman, later adding Chris Benoit to fill out the group. Sting defeated Flair on

7848-687: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned

8066-627: A match for the WCW World Championship. As Sting left, Savage did not follow suit, instead opting to go to the ring and help Hogan win the match, thus going back on his word and joining the nWo. Over the next couple of weeks, Sting would accompany the nWo, indicating that he too had joined the group. However, at Uncensored in March 1997, as the nWo celebrated a victory in the main event battle royal which guaranteed them title shots whenever they desired with their newest recruit, Chicago Bulls NBA star Dennis Rodman , Sting rappelled from

8284-527: A member of the WCCW locker room remarked that he looked like "a warrior". This stood in contrast with a claim made by Road Warrior Animal, who stated that the Dingo Warrior was a recreation of Warrior's Blade Runner gimmick and was an attempt to present himself as an offspring of The Road Warriors . Initially, Warrior was still a heel in the territory, managed by Gary Hart , although he was cheered during

8502-727: A much-maligned storyline with Hogan, which culminated at Halloween Havoc . Warrior retired from professional wrestling and subsequently embarked on a public speaking career, but wrestled one final match in Spain in 2008. Warrior died on April 8, 2014, at the age of 54 in Scottsdale, Arizona . On the preceding three nights in New Orleans , he had been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame , appeared at WrestleMania XXX , and made his final public appearance on Monday Night Raw , returning to

8720-573: A mutual respect that showed itself when Sting and Luger granted Harlem Heat a rematch. During the tag title run, Sting received a world title shot against The Giant at Slamboree in May, but lost after accidental interference from Luger. Harlem Heat eventually won the titles back on the June 24 episode of Nitro . In the summer of 1996, Sting was the first WCW competitor to stand up to The Outsiders : Kevin Nash and Scott Hall , who had recently competed in

8938-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to

The Ultimate Warrior - Misplaced Pages Continue

9156-795: A one-hour draw in Atlanta's Omni on New Year's Day. He would also have his first experience in Japan with a brief tour in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), with his most notable match in AJPW against Dan Spivey at Nippon Budokan in June 1989. After a long push, Sting won his first title in the NWA when he defeated Rotundo for the NWA Television Championship at a live event in March. In mid-1989, The Great Muta challenged Sting at The Great American Bash . The match

9374-484: A play on the name nWo. Highlights of the storyline included Warrior kidnapping and "converting" The Disciple and frequent instances of "magic smoke" knocking out all of the nWo members except for Hollywood Hogan and covering Warrior's movement through a trapdoor in the ring. The trapdoor was responsible for nearly paralyzing Davey Boy Smith , when he awkwardly fell on it during a match at Fall Brawl 98 . Warrior's debut promo also unexpectedly lasted over 27 minutes, which

9592-545: A promotional crossover, Sting was rescued by his buddy RoboCop . After Borden's recovery, Sting finally defeated Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on July 7, 1990, at The Great American Bash . Sting went on to feud with title contenders Flair and Sid Vicious . Vicious appeared to defeat Sting in a title match at the 1990 Halloween Havoc , but the "Sting" that Vicious pinned was revealed to be an impostor played by Horseman Barry Windham . The real Sting appeared soon after and pinned Vicious to retain his title after

9810-525: A rematch for the title at Bash at the Beach 1995 . Sting competed on the first-ever WCW Monday Nitro in a match where Flair defeated Sting by disqualification as a result of a run-in by Arn Anderson, who attacked Flair. At Fall Brawl , Sting teamed with Hogan, Luger, and Randy Savage to defeat the Dungeon of Doom, consisting of Kamala , Zodiac , Shark and Meng, in the event's WarGames match . In October 1995, Flair convinced Sting to team with him in

10028-621: A rematch from Starrcade. In the same month, WCW seceded from the National Wrestling Alliance, in the process of recognizing a WCW World Heavyweight Championship and a WCW World Tag Team Championship . Sting then took part in what many consider to be the best match of 1991, teaming with Luger to face The Steiner Brothers at the SuperBrawl I pay-per-view for the world tag-team titles. The Steiners won by pinfall after Koloff, who had been feuding with Luger, interfered in

10246-461: A shot at Goldberg 's WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Halloween Havoc . Diamond Dallas Page won the match by pinning Stevie Ray . On the October 12 edition of Monday Nitro , he teamed with Sting to defeat Hogan and Bret Hart by disqualification. The third was his loss to Hogan at Halloween Havoc, in what is considered by many to be one of the worst wrestling matches ever staged. During

10464-562: A six-man tag team match against Gilbert, Steiner, and Larry Zbyszko that ended in a 15-minute time-limit draw. Having established himself as a rising star, Sting was one of the few UWF alumni to be pushed in the NWA. At Clash of the Champions I in March 1988, Sting challenged Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . The match ended in a draw after the 45-minute time limit expired and

10682-405: A slight pause, first called out the nWo Sting as a "cheap imitation," before telling the nWo, "the real Sting may or may not be in your price range," and then concluded by saying "the only thing that's for sure about Sting is nothing's for sure". With that, Sting left the ring and would not speak (on the microphone ) on WCW programming again for over a year. A silent, almost ghostly Sting, carrying

10900-610: A snake." The stage was now set for a feud between the Warrior and Roberts. The feud never took place, as Warrior was involved in an alleged pay dispute with WWF owner Vince McMahon over the SummerSlam main event, where Warrior was teamed with Hulk Hogan in a handicap match against Sgt. Slaughter, Colonel Mustafa , and General Adnan. On July 10, 1991, Warrior sent a letter to McMahon requesting inclusions in his new WWF contract. He wanted $ 550,000 for performing at WrestleMania VII ,

11118-460: A speech to the fans and wrestlers past and present as his Ultimate Warrior character. Warrior married Shari Lynn Tyree on October 2, 1982. They remained together for the majority of Warrior's WWF career before divorcing on March 22, 1991, two days before WrestleMania VII . Warrior married for the second time to Dana Viale on January 31, 1999. The couple had two daughters together. Between 1987 and 1989, he appeared in several TV ads for Westway Ford,

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11336-639: A subsequent Nitro with the Scorpion Deathlock , refusing to let go until Luger persuaded him to do so. Sting defeated Flair again at the World War 3 pay-per-view. Later in the night, Sting competed in the World War 3 battle royal for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Randy Savage. Sting's alliances with Hogan and Savage led the Horsemen to attack them as well. Sting's second U.S. title reign lasted until November 13, when he

11554-474: A threat. Sting engaged in many matches with Dangerous Alliance members, especially Rude, who was the group's biggest star. It was during this feud that Sting won the first of his six WCW World Heavyweight Championships, defeating Luger on February 29, 1992, at SuperBrawl II . The feud ended when Sting formed Sting's Squadron, consisting of allies Ricky Steamboat , Dustin Rhodes , Windham, and Koloff, and defeated

11772-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in

11990-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point

12208-466: A wrestler from holding both titles. After WrestleMania, Warrior successfully defended the championship against Haku , Mr. Perfect and Ted DiBiase . At SummerSlam , he retained the title over Rick Rude in a steel cage match. "Macho Man" Randy Savage was also introduced as a potential rival after interfering in a The Main Event IV title match at the behest of DiBiase. Warrior was inserted into

12426-599: A wrestling company based in Memphis, Tennessee , and became known as the Freedom Fighters. Fans were slow to respond to the lumbering hulks, so the team turned heel under "coach" Buddy Wayne and soon afterwards manager Dutch Mantel . The Freedom Fighters left the CWA after an uneventful run, the highlight of which was an angle in which they broke the leg of veteran wrestler Phil Hickerson . The duo surfaced in

12644-412: A year. Prior to his career in professional wrestling Hellwig was an amateur bodybuilder, competing in a number of NPC contests and winning the 1984 NPC Mr. Georgia crown. Hellwig started training with weights when he was 11 years old and described himself as "the small, insecure kid who wasn't into any sports". He moved to California where, after seeing bodybuilder Robby Robinson , he decided to take up

12862-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted

13080-428: Is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain

13298-645: The Bash at the Beach in July to take on Vicious and Savage of Team Madness . Savage pinned Nash and won the World title as a result. Hogan returned from injury on July 12 as a face to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Sting defeated Flair on the July 19 episode of Nitro to become the on-screen president of WCW. Later that night, Nash turned heel by attacking Hogan during a title defense against Vicious. Sting remained president for just one week and used his power to book

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13516-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In

13734-594: The Rock 'n' Roll Express and The Fabulous Ones . They were quickly turned heel under "coach" Buddy Wayne and soon afterwards manager Dutch Mantel . They left the CWA in January 1986. In March 1986, the Freedom Fighters – now known as the Blade Runners – joined the Oklahoma -based Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). Hellwig was "Blade Runner Rock" and Borden was "Blade Runner Sting". According to Joseph Laurinaitis (aka Road Warrior Animal ), UWF owner Bill Watts created

13952-475: The Scorpion Death Drop , two jumping elbow drops, a Stinger Splash and a Scorpion Deathlock while the rest of the nWo stood around ringside. Rather than intervene and save their stablemate, they simply stood by and watched. After Sting was done, the nWo came into the ring. Ted DiBiase , Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash made Sting an offer to join the nWo and get back at WCW for betraying him. Sting, after

14170-642: The SkyDome in Toronto. The match was billed as "The Ultimate Challenge", as both Hogan's WWF Championship and Warrior's Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship were on the line. Warrior pinned Hogan after a Warrior Splash to become the only wrestler to hold both championships simultaneously. Warrior vacated the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship (which Mr. Perfect then won in a tournament), as WWF rules prohibited

14388-776: The United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including a distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by

14606-630: The Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), an organization run by Bill Watts and based in Alexandria, Louisiana , where they were known as the Blade Runners . Borden changed his ring name from Flash to Sting, while Hellwig became known as Rock. They soon joined Hotstuff & Hyatt International, a heel stable headed by "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert and Missy Hyatt . Together with "Russian" wrestler Kortsia Korchenko,

14824-525: The WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort. Borden headlined the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2016 on April 2, where he announced his first retirement; he remained with the company under a legends contract until early 2020. In late 2020, Borden signed with AEW, making his first appearance at Dynamite : Winter Is Coming , subsequently coming out of retirement where he had his first match in over five years at

15042-559: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF; renamed WWE in 2002) purchased WCW in 2001, Borden did not sign with them at the time; he would later sign with WWE from 2014 to 2020. Prior to WCW, he wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance 's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP)—which became WCW in 1988—the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). Borden wore face-paint throughout his career, and in 1996, changed from

15260-424: The World Wrestling Federation , where he adopted the ring name The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior began appearing on house shows in June and was initially billed as The Dingo Warrior in house card promos by Gene Okerlund , but soon had his name modified. There is a dispute over who created the full Ultimate Warrior name. Bruce Prichard stated that Vince McMahon did not know what a "Dingo" Warrior was, but because there

15478-489: The ring name Sting , is an American retired professional wrestler . He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is under a "Legends deal". Borden is best known for his time spent as the face of two American professional wrestling promotions : World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1988 to 2001 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2006 to 2014, as well as his retirement run in AEW from 2020 to 2024. Although

15696-441: The "Crow" character. Sting still maintains the core aspects and aesthetic of his "Crow" persona to this day, occasionally with different designs and use of color integrated into the face paint. In a series of unusual loyalty tests over the next months, Sting would confront a random WCW wrestler in the ring and shove the wrestler several times with his bat until the wrestler was provoked enough to advance on him. Then Sting would draw

15914-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in

16132-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in

16350-460: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide

16568-411: The 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance the spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from

16786-469: The 450-pound Big Van Vader . During the match, Vader splashed Sting, cracking three of Sting's ribs and rupturing his spleen. Sting recovered and defended his title on July 12 against Vader at The Great American Bash , dropping the belt to Big Van Vader after missing a Stinger Splash, hitting his head on the ring post, and receiving a powerbomb . After beating Cactus Jack in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at Beach Blast and WCW newcomer Jake Roberts in

17004-555: The Alliance (Rude, Austin, Arn Anderson, Zbyszko, and Bobby Eaton ) in a WarGames match at WrestleWar in May 1992. Dave Meltzer awarded the match his highest rating of five stars. Near the end of Sting's battles with the Dangerous Alliance, the seeds were sown for what became arguably one of the most famous feuds of Sting's career. Sting defended his WCW World title on April 12, 1992, at The Omni in Atlanta against

17222-587: The Andersons, Arn and Ole (kayfabe cousins). Sting finished out the year by winning a four-man round-robin Iron Man tournament at Starrcade '89 . In the final match of the night, Sting defeated Flair to accumulate the necessary points to win the tournament. The victory made Sting the number one contender for Flair's NWA World title, leading to tension within the Four Horsemen. Sting was summarily dismissed from The Four Horsemen on February 6, 1990, at Clash of

17440-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike

17658-524: The Blade Runners and the intent was to make them a parody of The Road Warriors . They were part of Eddie Gilbert 's Hotstuff International group, before disbanding in June 1986 when Hellwig left the UWF. In June 1986, Warrior debuted in the Dallas , Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) promotion, where he wrestled for $ 50 a night. He has stated that he adopted the ring name "Dingo Warrior" after

17876-630: The Blade Runners became henchmen in Gilbert's on-screen feud with Watts. Hellwig left the promotion in mid-1986, leaving Sting without a partner. Sting won the UWF World Tag Team Championship twice with Gilbert in 1986 and a third time with Rick Steiner in 1987. Sting and Steiner lost their tag titles to the Lightning Express after Gilbert accidentally hit Sting with his boot during a title defence, leading to

18094-484: The Champions X: Texas Shootout after refusing to relinquish his title shot against Flair, thus restarting their rivalry. Later that evening, Borden experienced a legitimate knee injury while interfering in a steel cage match featuring the Horsemen. Borden's injury forced the bookers of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the dominant promotion in the NWA, to find a new opponent for Flair for

18312-503: The February 7, 1988, airing of Wrestling Challenge , where Hercules was disqualified for using his steel chain. Warrior then grabbed ahold of the chain and in the midst of a tug of war over it, the chain snapped. This led to a match at WrestleMania IV , where Warrior was victorious in his pay-per-view debut. Warrior lost twice by pinfall shortly thereafter: cleanly to André the Giant in April in Italy, and to Dino Bravo , who put his feet on

18530-593: The July 8 episode of Monday Night Raw . Warrior was scheduled to team with Shawn Michaels and Ahmed Johnson to face Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith , and Vader at In Your House 9 later that month, but the WWF terminated Warrior's contract when he missed several house shows, taking time off allegedly to grieve the death of his father. WWF owner Vince McMahon claimed that Warrior had not seen his father in ten years and did not care much for him; therefore, he did not take Warrior's excuse for missing house shows at face value. Warrior disputes McMahon's explanation, claiming that

18748-647: The NWA, WCW, and TNA world titles. He was also the inaugural inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2012 before leaving the company in early 2014. Previously described by WWE as the greatest wrestler never to have performed for that promotion, Borden finally joined the company in late 2014, making his first appearance at Survivor Series and having his debut match at WrestleMania 31 the following year. His last match in WWE came at Night of Champions in September 2015, which also marked his sole WWE pay-per-view main event for

18966-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from

19184-408: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into

19402-404: The October 21 episode of Nitro , Sting returned for the first time since the night after Fall Brawl in a match where the impostor Sting was wrestling Mr. JL . Sting emerged wearing a trench coat and white face paint with black marks around his eyes. He went in the ring and attacked nWo Sting (who was still imitating Sting's old mannerisms at this point) with his new finisher, an inverted DDT dubbed

19620-475: The Power Team USA stable , before he and Hellwig joined the CWA as the Freedom Fighters. In 1986, they joined the UWF as the Blade Runners , with Borden changing his ring name to Sting. His association with JCP and its successor WCW began in 1987, which saw him win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in 1990. He rose to main event status and is described as the WCW counterpart to

19838-429: The September pay-per-view, Luger brought a baseball bat to the ring and Sting used it to beat Hogan for his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship, turning heel for the first time in WCW. Sting's heel turn and subsequent attitude change did not resonate with the WCW fans. They still cheered Sting despite the fact he was supposed to be the villain (reminiscent of The Road Warriors ' heel turn in late 1988). It

20056-673: The Sharpshooter and the Scorpion Deathlock. Hart cost Sting and Nash the Tag titles by interfering in their match with Hall and The Giant on the July 20 Nitro . Sting and Hart squared off at Halloween Havoc , where Hart, the United States Champion, attacked Sting with a baseball bat, putting Sting out of action for several months. Ironically, Hart would eventually be pinned by Sting after he himself fell afoul of

20274-508: The SummerSlam event. Upon receiving the letter, Warrior refused the suspension and left the WWF. Warrior formally sent a letter of resignation to the WWF in October 1991. The WWF refused to accept the letter since Warrior was under contract until September 1992. With Hulk Hogan about to leave WWF between mid-1992 and early-1993, McMahon contacted Warrior about returning. He made his comeback at WrestleMania VIII (to rescue Hulk Hogan from

20492-581: The Ultimate Warrior DVD. On September 18, 2009, Warrior's lawsuit in Arizona was dismissed. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling

20710-452: The Ultimate Warrior should be the one to accept Mr Perfect's services - up for offer to either Summerslam main event competitor - turning heel in the process of winning the title. However these plans were scrapped at a late stage due to the Warrior's refusal to turn heel after considering the collapse in merchandise sales which would have resulted. Furthermore, his return coincided with the government's crackdown on steroids in wrestling. Warrior

20928-541: The WCW World Heavyweight Championship on March 11 in London , England, but lost it back to Vader six days later in Dublin , Ireland. Sting then teamed with WCW newcomer Davey Boy Smith to beat the team of Vader and Vicious at Beach Blast in a match that was set up by a mini-movie in which an evil midget blew up Sting's boat. At the end of 1993, Sting was one of the first people to congratulate Flair, who had just returned from

21146-515: The WCW banner, and I have given my blood, my sweat, and my tears for WCW! So for all of those fans out there and all those wrestlers and people that never doubted the Stinger, I'll stand by you if you stand by me! But for all of the people, all of the commentators, all of the wrestlers, and all of the best friends who did doubt me, you can stick it! From now on I consider myself a free agent. Declaring he would visit "from time to time", Sting threw

21364-422: The WWF on March 31, 1996, defeating Hunter Hearst Helmsley at WrestleMania XII . He made his first appearance on Monday Night Raw on April 8, where he gave an in-ring interview and credited the "voices" of the "warriors" (his name for members of the WWF audience) for his return; he was then interrupted by Goldust . Warrior challenged for Goldust's Intercontinental Championship at In Your House 7 ; Warrior won

21582-669: The WWF's Hulk Hogan . Dubbed "The Franchise of WCW", he held 15 championships in the promotion, including six reigns with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and two reigns with the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship , and made more pay-per-view (PPV) appearances than any other. Against Hogan, Borden headlined WCW's highest-grossing PPV event , Starrcade , in December 1997. Upon

21800-500: The WWF's acquisition of WCW in March 2001, Borden and rival Ric Flair were chosen for the main event of the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro . Borden would later face Hogan and Flair in their last televised matches, which occurred in TNA, defeating both, although Flair would later have one final match in 2022. Following the expiration of his contract with WCW's parent company AOL Time Warner in March 2002, Borden held talks with

22018-587: The WWF, but did not join the promotion and instead toured with World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA), winning the WWA World Heavyweight Championship , before joining the then-upstart TNA in 2003. Over the following 11 years, he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on one further occasion and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship four times . As a result, he became the only wrestler to have won

22236-399: The WWF, whose alliances and agenda were unclear, and who had been infiltrating and causing chaos at various WCW events. Sting teamed with Luger and Savage to defend WCW against Hall, Nash, and a mysterious third Outsider to be revealed at the Bash at the Beach . Hall and Nash started the bout without their third partner, but the WCW's temporary three-on-two advantage was short-lived: Luger left

22454-543: The WWF, with which he was under contract. Warrior returned at WrestleMania VIII , but by November 1992, he had been released; it was later revealed that this was due to steroid use. In 1993, he legally changed his name to the mononym "Warrior" and was credited as a co-writer for a comic book based on his name and likeness. Warrior returned to the WWF at WrestleMania XII , but lasted four months, as he began no-showing events. Two years later, he joined World Championship Wrestling (which had tried to hire him in 1995), being used in

22672-454: The World Wrestling Federation, after his WCW World Heavyweight Title victory over Vader at Starrcade . Sting feuded with Vader and Rude through the first half of 1994. Sting won the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship from Rude in April. Rude recaptured the title on May 1 at Wrestling Dontaku 1994 in Japan , but the decision was reversed because Rude had allegedly hit Sting with

22890-499: The World Wrestling Federation, and became a two-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion within two years. At WrestleMania VI , Warrior won the WWF Championship in a title vs. title match over Hulk Hogan , making him the first wrestler to hold both titles concurrently. Posited as the new face of the company, he had a falling out with chairman Vince McMahon over a pay dispute, and unsuccessfully attempted to leave

23108-697: The Year " on four occasions, a record he shares with John Cena . In 2016, Borden was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame . Slam! Sports wrote that he holds "a lofty level of prestige that few will ever touch". Borden was born in Omaha, Nebraska , and raised in Southern California . He played football and basketball in high school and later embarked on a career in bodybuilding , once co-owning

23326-436: The arena full speed, bursting into the ring, and violently shaking the ring ropes up and down. He was also known for his distinctive pattern of face paint. After several months of defeating jobbers, he was pinned for the first time in the WWF by fellow WWF rookie/future rival Rick Rude on December 28, 1987. In early 1988, Warrior entered into his first real WWF feud with fellow strongman Hercules Hernandez . The two faced off on

23544-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight

23762-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that

23980-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As

24198-425: The belt. Sting responded with his first words (on mic) since October 1996 when he told Dillon, "You've got no guts!" Sting turned to Hogan and said, "And you... You're a dead man!". As 1998 began, the nWo began to splinter. Sting recaptured the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship in February at SuperBrawl VIII with the help of Savage, who was beginning to split from the nWo. Sting went on to successfully defend

24416-473: The bout, Hogan attempted to "blind" The Warrior using flash paper, but was unable to light it properly, and as a result The Warrior was forced to briefly sell the move despite the flames clearly not touching him in any way. The match came to an end when Horace Hogan hit Warrior in the back with a chair, allowing Hogan to score the pinfall. WCW claimed that attempts were made to save the storyline though Warrior claimed in interviews and convention appearances that

24634-412: The broader public. In the United States, wrestling is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as

24852-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who

25070-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards

25288-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling

25506-461: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about

25724-788: The company on November 21, 1992, with his last match being a victory over Kamala on November 8 in Orlando, Florida . Between November 1992 and July 1995, Warrior was semi-retired. During his time away from the WWF, Warrior opened the short-lived "Warrior University", a professional wrestling school based in Scottsdale, Arizona . In January 1993 he wrestled as the Dingo Warrior, defeating Hercules Hernandez in Billerica, Massachusetts, for Killer Kowalski 's International Wrestling Federation. In April 1993, he toured Europe for World Wrestlings Superstars in Germany and that same year he also played

25942-468: The competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on the independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in

26160-460: The contracts, often tearing them up in Dillon's face. Finally, during an episode of Nitro, a confused and frustrated Dillon asked Sting who he wanted to face. Sting went out to ringside, picked up a fan's sign, and pointed out one name on it: Hogan. Eventually, Sting got his wish and he and Hogan finally met in December at Starrcade for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The finish of the match

26378-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine

26596-484: The decision claiming that Patrick's decision should have been considered final and a rematch was granted. The match ran over Nitro's allotted time slot and the finish was aired later in the week on the inaugural episode of Thunder . Similar to the Starrcade result, two different referees declared both men as the winner. Later that night, Dillon vacated the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, forcing Sting to surrender

26814-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and

27032-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to

27250-488: The feud between The Legion of Doom and Demolition , leading to victories for the Warrior and LOD in six-man tag team matches in house shows as well as the October 13, 1990, airing of Saturday Night's Main Event XXVIII . The feud culminated at Survivor Series , where The Warriors (Ultimate Warrior, LOD and Kerry Von Erich) defeated The Perfect Team (Mr. Perfect and Demolition). For the third consecutive year, Warrior

27468-594: The final moments of the match when Sensuous Sherri turned on Sting and took Flair's side. Sting spent the second half of 1994 and most of 1995 teaming with WCW's newest signee, Hulk Hogan in his battles against Kevin Sullivan 's Three Faces of Fear and its successor stable, The Dungeon of Doom . At The Great American Bash 1995 , Sting defeated Meng to win another tournament for the WCW United States Championship. Sting defeated Meng in

27686-496: The finals against Scott Steiner, leading to an intense feud between Sting and Vampiro. Sting pinned Vampiro at Slamboree in May, and Vampiro beat Sting in a Human Torch match at The Great American Bash the next month; for the climax of the match, Borden switched with a stuntman, who was set on fire and thrown off the top of the frame of the stage's entrance video screen. At Bash at the Beach , he returned wearing another Sting mask as men wearing cloaks and Sting masks carried him in

27904-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In

28122-498: The following March. WCW officials Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff , in an attempt to save the fading company, rebooted all current storylines on April 10, 2000, and declared all titles vacant. At Spring Stampede the following week, Sting advanced to the finals of the United States Championship tournament by defeating Booker T and Vampiro in the first two rounds. Vampiro then cost Sting the championship in

28340-452: The forthcoming WrestleWar pay-per-view event. Lex Luger was chosen to challenge Flair at WrestleWar. During the match between Flair and Luger, Sting came down to motivate Luger to come back and beat Flair. Before this, Sting and Luger had been at odds. When Luger was close to winning, Sting was attacked by Ole Anderson. Luger opted to save the already injured Sting and ended up losing the match by count-out while assisting his friend. Behind

28558-427: The four wrestlers composed Team WCW for the annual WarGames match at Fall Brawl in September 1996. They would be facing the nWo's team of Hall, Nash, Hogan, and a fourth member yet to be determined. On the final Nitro prior to the event, however, the nWo played a trick on WCW claiming that Sting was joining their side. A vignette was shown where the nWo had a recording of Sting's voice playing in its limousine as Luger

28776-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as

28994-404: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself

29212-491: The guest referee for the match between Larry Zbyszko and Eric Bischoff earlier that evening, order the match to be restarted and Sting would emerge victorious by forcing Hogan to submit to the Scorpion Death Lock. However, Patrick did not do his part properly and instead counted the pin at normal speed, which added an unintentional level of controversy to the finish. The next night on Nitro , Hogan protested

29430-414: The husband of Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie McMahon ) adding that his WrestleMania debut loss against Warrior at WrestleMania XII left him with mixed emotions, saying that Warrior "ruined the experience" for him and was "one of the most unprofessional guys" he's ever performed with. The DVD has provoked some controversy due to Warrior's own allegations of slander by WWE against him. Originally, Warrior

29648-489: The inaugural SummerSlam on August 29, 1988, and ending Honky Tonk's long reign at 454 days. As champion, he captained a team at Survivor Series '88 , where he was the sole survivor, pinning Outlaw Ron Bass and Greg Valentine in succession to win the match for his team. As 1989 began, Warrior entered a feud with Rick Rude over the Intercontinental title. The feud was sparked at the 1989 Royal Rumble , where

29866-526: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with

30084-492: The individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in a professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from

30302-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore

30520-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by

30738-418: The match after he was accidentally injured by a mistimed Stinger Splash. The two-on-two match continued until Hulk Hogan, who had been a face character for nearly fifteen years, emerged at ringside. Hogan appeared ready to back up the WCW wrestlers, until he attacked Savage with his leg drop finisher in one of wrestling's most famous swerves . The match was ruled a no-contest, and Hall, Nash, and Hogan declared

30956-558: The match and the Nu-Wrestling Evolution World Heavyweight Championship, but immediately vacated the title. On February 20, 2013, Warrior confirmed on his official YouTube channel that he would appear at "WrestleCon" on April 7, 2013. In the same clip he spoke positively about Vince McMahon for the first time on his channel. His appearance was so popular that a second print run of tickets had to be ordered. On July 15, 2013, Warrior

31174-512: The match by count-out, but not the title. In November 1992, Warrior was scheduled to team with Savage (as The Ultimate Maniacs) to face Ric Flair and Razor Ramon at Survivor Series . Weeks before the event, Warrior was released for disputed reasons and replaced by Mr. Perfect . The initial plan for Warrior's 1992 return was to eventually give him another run with the WWF Championship. Indeed, WWF writers had originally intended that

31392-501: The match by countout, but did not win the title. The following night on Monday Night Raw , Warrior defeated Isaac Yankem, DDS . A rematch with Intercontinental Champion Goldust, on the May 27 episode of the show, ended in a double countout, thus eliminating both men from the tournament and eventually giving Vader a bye into the semi-finals. Warrior defeated Jerry Lawler at King of the Ring , and defeated Owen Hart by disqualification on

31610-525: The match by swinging a chain at Luger, but hitting Sting instead. Consequently, Sting feuded with Koloff throughout the summer of 1991. In August 1991, Sting defeated Steve Austin to win a tournament for the vacated WCW United States Heavyweight Championship . Sting held the title for 86 days before losing it to Rick Rude at Clash of the Champions XVII . At Starrcade '91 , Sting won the first-ever Battlebowl battle royal, for which he received

31828-523: The match was restarted. During Sting's title run, a masked man known as The Black Scorpion would taunt and attack Sting on many occasions. This feud culminated in a final showdown between Sting and The Black Scorpion at Starrcade: Collision Course in December. The cage match ended with Sting pinning and unmasking the Scorpion, who turned out to be Flair in disguise. Sting's first world championship reign ended January 11, 1991, when Flair defeated him in

32046-404: The match, Sting shook hands with Hart in a sign of respect, turning face again. Sting sought revenge against Luger the next month at Starrcade . Sting won by disqualification when Luger and Miss Elizabeth assaulted Sting with a steel chair and baseball bat, putting Sting out of action for some time. Sting ended his feud with Luger by defeating him in a Lumberjacks with Casts match at Uncensored

32264-475: The match, leaving Team WCW at a four-on-three disadvantage, which they did not overcome. The next night on Nitro , Sting came out unannounced during the middle of the show with no music or entrance pyrotechnics. He entered the ring and, with his back turned to the camera side of the audience, launched into an angry tirade about what had transpired over the last week: I want a chance to explain something that happened last Monday night at Nitro . Last Monday night, I

32482-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in

32700-682: The microphone down and left the ring. Days after the infamous promo, he was booked for shows in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, to take part in the Japan/U.S. Superstars Tournament, where he defeated Masahiro Chono in the first round, but was eliminated in the second round by Shiro Koshinaka . His last match of 1996 took place on September 23 at the Yokohama Arena, where he and Lex Luger teamed up to defeat Arn Anderson and Steven Regal. It would end up being his last tour of Japan. On

32918-432: The multi-colored paint of his "Surfer" persona to the monochromatic paint of the "Crow" gimmick; he also incorporated elements of The Joker in the later part of his time in TNA. Borden started his career in 1985 as Flash in the independent promotion All-California Championship Wrestling, where he was in a tag team with Jim "Justice" Hellwig (who would later become famously known as The Ultimate Warrior) as members of

33136-491: The nWo by themselves. Sting told Luger that he did not attack him, but Luger refused to believe him. Later, during the match, Sting entered as the fourth and final man for Team WCW, after the impostor Sting had entered for the nWo. Once in the ring, Sting immediately took out all four members of the nWo. He then stopped, turned to Luger, and angrily said to him, "Is that good enough for you right there? Is that proof enough?!?" Sting then gave Luger an obscene gesture and walked out of

33354-511: The nWo, and employed decoy "Stings" to play mind games with the nWo during the closing segments of Nitro . Sting's appearances to fight the nWo at the end of almost every Nitro helped WCW keep and widen its television ratings advantage over the WWF's Monday Night Raw throughout the summer. In the midst of all this, on-screen WCW commissioner J. J. Dillon tried many times to get Sting to return to wrestling by making contracts to fight various nWo members. Sting, however, did not accept any of

33572-414: The next match. Early in 1996, Sting's appearance started to change: he grew longer, darker hair, replacing his blond flattop haircut, and he often wore black tights with a multi-colored scorpion , although he occasionally wore his colorful ones and maintained his colorful face paint . Sting teamed with his old friend Luger , who had returned to WCW from WWF in September 1995, despite Luger's standing as

33790-533: The only reason he was brought back was so Hogan could get a win over Warrior in return for Hogan's WrestleMania job. Warrior's last appearance in WCW was on the November 9, 1998, episode of Monday Nitro , when he came to the rescue of The Disciple who was being attacked by members of The nWo. Warrior retired from wrestling that year. After retiring in 1998, Warrior only wrestled a single match on June 25, 2008, against Orlando Jordan in Barcelona, Spain. Warrior won

34008-641: The promotion after an acrimonious separation in 1996. Warrior was born in 1959 as James Brian Hellwig, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, about 50 miles northwest of Indianapolis . He was the oldest of five children and was raised by his mother (along with, later, his stepfather) after his father left his family when he was 12. His father died at 57 and a grandfather died at 52. The family moved and he graduated from Veedersburg 's Fountain Central High School and attended Indiana State University for

34226-659: The promotion's pay-per-view , Revolution , on March 7, 2021, a tag team victory with partner Darby Allin . Borden and Allin would continue to work as a team, going undefeated and winning the AEW World Tag Team Championship in February 2024. Sting then had his official retirement match at Revolution on March 3, 2024, retiring both as an undefeated tag team with Allin and as champion. Borden held 26 total championships throughout his career, including 22 between WCW, TNA, and AEW. Readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated named him " Most Popular Wrestler of

34444-717: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During

34662-439: The purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise a bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether

34880-401: The real reason why he did not show up to those events was a breach of contract by McMahon, in which WWF sold Warrior's merchandise without giving him a percentage. He was replaced by Sycho Sid at In Your House 9 . WCW signed Warrior "at great expense" in May 1998. He formed a stable opposing Hollywood Hulk Hogan's New World Order (nWo) : the "One Warrior Nation" using the initialism oWn as

35098-440: The result and issued an open challenge for later tonight. Later that night, Sting lost an unsanctioned match to Goldberg, who accepted his open challenge and then attacked referee Charles Robinson . Sting was stripped of the title the next night for attacking the official. Sting entered the 32-man tournament that was set up to award the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Sting defeated Brian Knobs , Meng, and Luger to reach

35316-468: The ring name Flash, teamed with Jim "Justice" Hellwig (who would later gain fame as The Ultimate Warrior in the WWF) as two members of Power Team USA in independent All-California Championship Wrestling. Power Team USA was a four-man unit also featuring Garland "Glory" Donahoe and Mark "Commando" Miller, plus manager Rick Bassman. Hellwig and Borden later moved to the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA),

35534-609: The ringside judges could not declare a winner. Sting lost to Flair in several non-televised rematches following the Clash and, later that year, battled other members of Flair's stable, the Four Horsemen . Sting teamed with Koloff at The Great American Bash in July 1988 to challenge Horsemen Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson for the NWA World Tag Team Championship ; Blanchard and Anderson retained

35752-662: The role of "the swordsman" in the action movie Firepower . On July 22, 1995, he returned to the ring for the National Wrestling Conference (NWC) promotion in Las Vegas, defeating The Honky Tonk Man . He had also wrestled a tour of Germany for Otto Wanz 's Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) promotion where he defeated Ulf Herman . On February 10, 1996, he defeated Jimmy Garvin in an independent show in Princeton, West Virginia. Warrior returned to

35970-428: The roof of the arena on a vertical zip-line . When Hall and Nash went to approach him, Sting attacked them as well as attacking Randy Savage when he tried to intervene, revealing his true allegiance to WCW. In subsequent weeks, Sting frequently rappelled from the rafters or came up through the ring to attack unsuspecting nWo members, came to the aid of wrestlers who were once subjected to his loyalty test as they battled

36188-560: The ropes for leverage, in Montreal in June. In the summer of 1988, he wrestled Bobby Heenan in a series of weasel suit matches, in which Warrior won by sleeper hold. Less than a year after his WWF television debut, Warrior, a surprise substitute for the injured Brutus Beefcake , won the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship , defeating The Honky Tonk Man in a 27-second squash match at

36406-451: The rumors likely originated from Gene Okerlund 's WCW Hotline as well as the WCW debut of Warrior doppelgänger The Renegade . In 1993, Hellwig legally changed his name to the mononym Warrior. This one-word name appears on all legal documents pertaining to Warrior, and his children carry the Warrior name as their legal surname. Warrior and the WWF engaged in a series of lawsuits and legal actions in 1996 and 1998, where both parties sought

36624-501: The same.. more DOUBT. Which brings me to Fall Brawl. I knew I had to get to Fall Brawl and get face to face with the Total Package to let him know that it wasn't me. And what I got out of that was, 'No Sting... I DON'T BELIEVE YOU STING!' Well, all I gotta say is, I have been mediator, I have been babysitter for Lex Luger, and I've given him the benefit of the doubt about a thousand times in the last twelve months! And I've carried

36842-608: The scenes, Gilbert endorsed Borden by telling a dirt sheet that Sting would be a megastar in the future. Later that year, Sting was tabbed to win the UWF Television Championship , then held by Gilbert, until Jim Crockett of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) bought the company from Watts. Crockett's booker, Dusty Rhodes , decided to put the Television title on Taylor to set up a feud between Taylor and NWA Television Champion Nikita Koloff to unify

37060-477: The scenes, WCW officials had wanted Flair to drop the title to Luger at WrestleWar, but Flair refused, saying he had promised Borden he would hold the title until Borden could return to the ring. Despite the injury, Sting was still utilized on television and pay-per-views when necessary. At the Capital Combat event in May, Sting was accosted by the Four Horsemen and thrown into a metal cage at ringside. In

37278-498: The second shortest WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign in WCW history . Sting lost to Rick Steiner in a Falls Count Anywhere match at The Great American Bash after he was attacked by Steiner's three pet dogs backstage and Steiner forced the referee to prematurely declare himself the victor, claiming his dogs had pinned Sting for him. Over the next several months, Sting feuded with Goldberg, Rick Steiner, Vicious, and Savage. Sting teamed with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Nash at

37496-399: The semi-finals to be held at WCW Mayhem . At the November event, Sting lost to Hart, the eventual winner of the tournament, by disqualification after ostensibly "bungled" interference by Luger (in fact payback for Sting's quarterfinal win). This led to a falling out with Luger. However, Hart asked for an immediate rematch, which was granted, and won by submission to advance to the final. After

37714-860: The sport. His first contest took place in Florida , where he placed 5th. Later, while he was attending Life University in Marietta, Georgia , he won the Junior Atlanta contest and placed 5th at the 1981 AAU Collegiate Mr. America . In 1983, he won the AAU Coastal USA, before taking the Mr. Georgia title the following year. His last bodybuilding contest was 1985's Junior USAs, which was won by future IFBB Pro, Ron Love. Hellwig finished 5th. In 1985, after spending six weeks in California training for

37932-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For

38150-456: The team was forced to vacate the titles 18 days later. Sting then defeated The Giant at The Great American Bash in June to take control of the Tag Team titles and chose Nash as his partner. Throughout the summer, Sting and fellow nWo Wolfpac members Nash, Luger, and Konnan feuded with Hogan and nWo Hollywood. Sting also got involved in a feud with Bret Hart over their similar finishing holds,

38368-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,

38586-443: The time it was rumored to be Kerry Von Erich , who was then under contract to the WWF. Some said Warrior died from liver failure due to years of steroid abuse or that his signature arm tassels cut off his blood circulation. WWE claims that the theory that a different man returned to play The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VIII remains "perhaps the longest standing urban legend in WWE history". WWE announcer Tom Phillips claims that

38804-410: The time. After rejecting an earlier request to grant a title shot to Savage, Sensational Sherri interjected herself in the Warrior's championship match to distract him. Her interference eventually led to a Savage sneak attack, where he struck Warrior over the head with a metal scepter and allowed Slaughter to pin Warrior to win the title. Warrior went on to feud with Savage, and the rivalry culminated in

39022-660: The title against the likes of Hall, Nash, and Diamond Dallas Page (DDP). Like Savage, Nash began to pull away from the Hogan-dominated nWo, and Nash helped Savage beat Sting for the championship at Spring Stampede in April. Nash and Savage officially split from the original nWo on May 4, forming the face group nWo Wolfpac, while Hogan's heel faction became identified as nWo Hollywood. The two nWo factions vied for Sting's allegiance, with Sting's friends The Giant joining nWo Hollywood and Luger joining nWo Wolfpac. Sting seemed to have joined nWo Hollywood when he appeared wearing

39240-411: The title and become a two-time Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion. Warrior then began a feud with André the Giant , leading to a number of house shows in which Warrior defeated André in short squash matches, establishing Warrior as a main event level talent. The feud culminated at Survivor Series where the two captained opposing teams. Warrior eliminated André by knocking him out of the ring, where he

39458-478: The title belt during the match; this was to cover for a real-life back injury Rude sustained in the match that forced Rude into retirement. Sting refused to have the title handed to him, and instead defeated Vader for the vacant WCW International World Heavyweight Championship at Slamboree . Soon afterward, Flair defeated Sting in a title unification match at Clash of the Champions XXVII , turning heel in

39676-637: The title. They held the Championship until December 1 of that year, when they lost to Al Madril and Brian Adias . In 1987, Warrior began competing for the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship , losing to Bob Bradley in a tournament final on January 12. He won the title from Bradley on February 2 of that year. The title was held up in April 1987 after Warrior left the WCCW. He was reinstated as champion upon returning, but vacated it once more upon resigning from WCCW to join

39894-400: The titles when the match ended in a 20-minute time-limit draw. Rhodes continued to book Sting in title matches throughout the year against both NWA United States Champion Barry Windham and NWA Television Champion Mike Rotunda . In the fall of 1988, Sting was attacked by Hawk and Animal of The Road Warriors after a televised match. Rhodes, as booker, identified Sting as the face who

40112-582: The torn fabric inside of the coffin indicating Warrior's desperate struggle to get out. Warrior was finally revived by the officials performing CPR . (It was later revealed in a 2010 interview with Bearer that, in preparation for the segment, he and his team had to remove the airtight rubber seal or "gasket" from around the coffin's lid and drill air holes in said lid to allow for breathable space, so that Warrior would not suffocate because "he had enough brain damage as it was, and we wouldn't want to give him any more", implying that Warrior had been faking his own death

40330-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by

40548-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it

40766-481: The two had also competed on the first episode of Nitro on September 4, 1995. Sting defeated Flair and the two embraced at the end of the contest. After the WWF chose not to buy out Sting's contract with AOL Time Warner , he rejected a buyout offer of 50 cents on the dollar from AOL Time Warner, instead waiting until his contract expired in March 2002 (he announced a short-lived retirement in February of that year). Borden then entered into contract negotiations with

40984-437: The two met in a "super posedown". After Warrior drew the support of the live crowd in their judging of the contest, Rude attacked Warrior and choked him with a steel bar. This led to a championship match at WrestleMania V , where Rude pinned Warrior to win the title with the help of his manager Bobby Heenan , who held down Warrior's foot from outside the ring as he was being pinned. At SummerSlam , Warrior defeated Rude to regain

41202-452: The two titles. Rhodes used then-unknown Shane Douglas as the transitional champion from Gilbert to Taylor because Rhodes did not want to diminish Sting's growing stardom with a brief title run. Sometime after Sting's arrival to the NWA in July 1987, Dusty Rhodes used the opening bout of Crockett's first foray into pay-per-view , Starrcade '87 , to showcase the young superstar. Sting partnered with Michael P.S. Hayes and Jimmy Garvin in

41420-405: The venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as a performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in

41638-454: The victory, he was attacked by Funk's stablemate, Muta. Sting came to the aid of his old rival Flair, and the two feuded with Muta and Funk for the rest of the summer and fall, culminating in a Thunderdome Cage match between the two teams, which Flair and Sting won, at Halloween Havoc '89 . The alliance with Flair resulted in Sting joining the newly reformed and now-face Four Horsemen along with

41856-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of

42074-436: The weapon back as if he were going to assault him, causing the wrestler to stop. Sting would then hand the bat to the offended wrestler and turn his back, offering the wrestler a chance at retaliation. When the wrestler hesitated or declined, Sting would nod, retrieve the bat and leave the ring. In January 1997, a "blackballed" Randy Savage returned to WCW for the first time since Halloween Havoc and aligned himself with Sting as

42292-459: The whole time.) This led to Jake "The Snake" Roberts offering to give Warrior "the knowledge of the dark side" in order to prepare Warrior to take his revenge on the Undertaker. This involved Roberts giving Warrior three "tests" shown on WWF television in consecutive weeks. For the first test, Roberts locked Warrior once again inside the same coffin as previously. For the second test, Warrior

42510-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked

42728-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling

42946-455: Was "buried alive" by Roberts. For the third test, the Warrior entered a room full of snakes, to find "the answer" in a chest in the middle of the room. Waiting inside the chest was a spitting cobra which bit Warrior in the face. As Warrior, weakened from the effects of the cobra's strike, Roberts made a heel turn and was joined by the Undertaker and Paul Bearer, revealing the three were working together all along. Roberts then uttered, "Never trust

43164-649: Was The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior made his final appearance with WCCW in June 1987. Hellwig joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in June 1987. First competing on house shows under his Dingo Warrior moniker, he defeated a series of jobbers , including Steve Lombardi , Barry Horowitz and Mike Sharpe . He made his television debut as The Ultimate Warrior on the October 25 episode of Wrestling Challenge , where he defeated another jobber, Terry Gibbs . As The Ultimate Warrior character, Hellwig became known for his impassioned babbling , incomprehensible commentary and high-energy ring entrances, which featured him racing into

43382-436: Was admittedly a heavy user of steroids during his professional wrestling career. In his book Sex, Lies and Headlocks , ESPN writer Shaun Assael stated that Canadian chemist Mauro Di Pasquale , who had been hired in June to monitor the WWF's new drug testing program and was known for being tough towards anyone who failed a drug test, nailed Warrior for steroid use in September and was able to successfully persuade McMahon, who

43600-537: Was asked to help with the production of the DVD, but as he refused to work with WWE (citing he did not want to be associated with their promotion ), there had been some resulting animosity between Warrior and WWE over the Warrior claiming bias on the part of WWE. In January 2006, Warrior filed another lawsuit against WWE in an Arizona court over the depiction of his wrestling career in The Self-Destruction of

43818-450: Was being lured into the parking lot. Once he was there a man dressed as Sting, played by Jeff Farmer , attacked him and the crowd at home, as well as the live audience and commentators, were led to believe that Sting had joined up with the nWo and would be their fourth man against what was now a three-man WCW team. Sting, however, was not at that episode of Nitro, and showed up at Fall Brawl just as his teammates declared that they would face

44036-407: Was booked with a classic, controversial Dusty finish even though Rhodes (the namesake of the technique) had been fired months earlier. Sting got the three-count and was announced as the winner, but a replay showed Muta's shoulder was up at the count of two. The NWA decided to declare the title vacant. Sting and Muta battled in many rematches for the vacant Television title, but they always ended in

44254-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in

44472-432: Was counted out. Warrior was again the sole survivor, pinning Arn Anderson and Bobby Heenan to win the match. The Warrior received a push as WWF's main event level successor to Hulk Hogan , who had remained wrestling's biggest star throughout the 1980s. Following a few confrontations with Hogan, most notably at the 1990 Royal Rumble , the Warrior was written in as Hogan's opponent in the main event for WrestleMania VI at

44690-403: Was defeated by Kensuke Sasaki in Japan. At Starrcade , Sting defeated Sasaki, representing New Japan Pro-Wrestling , in a non-title match to win the "World Cup of Wrestling" for WCW. In the next match that night, Sting lost a Triangle match involving Flair and Luger; Flair won by count-out to become number one contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which Flair won from Savage in

44908-413: Was during this heel turn that Sting and Luger, with helpful interference from DDP, defeated supposed faces Hogan and Hart in a tag-match, Sting pinning Hart after Luger hit him with a bat. Then, at Halloween Havoc , Sting retained the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Hogan after Hogan entered the ring in street clothes and lay down for Sting to pin him. After the match, Sting sounded his disdain of

45126-453: Was featured in a WWE 2K14 game trailer and revealed he was in the roster as a pre-order bonus. On April 5, 2014, The Ultimate Warrior was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2014. The next day, Warrior appeared at WrestleMania XXX , and the following night delivered a promo on Raw , his first appearance on the show since his final televised WWF match in 1996. During what turned out to be his final public appearance, Warrior gave

45344-456: Was more than 20 minutes over its allotted time and forced Eric Bischoff to do a massive rewrite of Nitro on the spot, including re-adding a commercial break that was supposed to take place during the promo. Warrior only participated in three matches in WCW. The first was the WarGames match at Fall Brawl , where he competed as a member of Team WCW, competing against 8 other wrestlers for

45562-484: Was most over with the fans, despite knowing that turning the Road Warriors heel would be no easy task. Rhodes himself teamed with Sting to challenge the Road Warriors for the tag team championship at Starrcade '88 that December. Rhodes and Sting got the win by disqualification, allowing the Road Warriors to retain the titles. Sting returned to singles matches in 1989, starting the year off by wrestling Flair to

45780-639: Was on an airplane flying from L.A. to Atlanta. When I got to Atlanta, I tuned in the TV to Nitro . And I thought I was watching a rerun! It was a very convincing film. Often imitated, but never duplicated though! And what else did I see? I saw people, I saw wrestlers, I saw commentators, and I saw best friends DOUBT... the Stinger. That's right, doubted the Stinger! So I heard Lex Luger say, 'I know where he lives, I know where he works out, I'm gonna go get him.' So I said to myself, 'I'll just go into seclusion. I'll wait and see what happens on Saturday Night '. And I tuned in Saturday night, and what did I see? I saw more of

45998-523: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before

46216-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted

46434-410: Was supposed to echo the Montreal Screwjob finish that the WWF had used to double-cross Bret Hart just one month earlier at their annual Survivor Series event. Nick Patrick , the referee for the contest, was supposed to execute a fast count on Sting while Hart, whose signing with WCW was the linchpin for the Montreal Screwjob, would come out to protest the decision and, since he had already served as

46652-445: Was suspended effective immediately. Among other things, McMahon said, "You threatened to stay at home thereby not even appearing at Titan's major summer pay-per-view event SummerSlam. I had no choice but to accede to your exorbitant demands. This was a serious mistake on your part". McMahon later testified that the only reason the company agreed to the contract was to "acquiesce to his demands temporarily" to ensure Warrior would perform at

46870-408: Was the "Modern Day Warrior" Kerry von Erich and The Road Warriors there should not be one more simple warrior, but the Ultimate Warrior. Warrior claimed after one of his first matches, McMahon had him do a pretaped promo. It was there Vince said "we want you to do Warrior, but we don't want Dingo." The Warrior then proceeded to cut the promo and stated that he was not this warrior or that warrior, he

47088-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among

47306-419: Was the sole survivor for his team. He later survived the "Grand Finale Match of Survival" with Hulk Hogan. In January 1991, Warrior faced Sgt. Slaughter at the Royal Rumble . Slaughter's gimmick at the time was a traitor who had betrayed America by aligning himself with an Iraqi ( kayfabe ) military general, General Adnan . In the context of the Gulf War , this made Slaughter one of the most hated heels at

47524-400: Was under federal scrutiny at the time for allegations of illegally supplying steroids to some of his wrestlers, to release Warrior from the company. However, in Warrior: The Ultimate Legend , McMahon claims that it was Warrior's experimenting with growth hormone which led to his departure; Warrior was suspended and, in return, skipped dates as he took offense to McMahon's actions. Warrior left

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