On May 6, I made a rare appearance at a sports memorabilia/autograph show. Not only was the production first-class, so was the professionalism of the young gentleman, Mr. Bernie Gernay, who contacted, negotiated and worked with me to make the event happen. I can’t say enough about the mature, professional conduct of this young man and how his efforts squashed much of the built up skepticism and cynicism I’d acquired over the years while working with incompetent con-artists who rarely ever delivered on what they’d promised to do. His company, Pro Sports Investments, and he have a bright, successful future ahead of them and I am proud to have worked with him on this event and am positively looking forward to working with him in the future. I also want to thank his family, his wife Fran, his brother Dean, his sister Diana and her fiancé Brian for their hard work and making me feel welcome. There are other friends of Bernie’s who helped and I thank them, as well.

Of course, there’d been no reason for me to thank these people if there weren’t, first, the other people: the Ultimate Warrior fans. In YOUR case, it is not so much that I can’t say enough, it’s more that there are no words to describe the emotions I have when it comes to all of you. You were the best and you still are. One of the expressions I created many years ago still fits today: “Created by Destiny. Bonded by Belief.” How true it still is.

The Ultimate Warrior persona impacted all our lives in a positive and inspiring way and even as the years go by our affections for the experience and the bond that was built never fades away. Our lives are still powerfully influenced and our hearts are still warmed by the memories of Ultimate Warrior’s energy and determination and the statement he made. You drove hours from others cities, brought your own young children who were not yet even born when I was active in the business but have been turned onto Ultimate Warrior through the pictures, videos and stories you cherish, and you even flew from other countries to just smile, say hello, shake a hand, snap a few pictures, grab a couple of autographs. As many of you witnessed for yourself, you tugged at my heart until I was, often with moist eyes, wearing it on my sleeve.

Not just now as I write this but that whole day, there were several instances were there were not words to tell you how much it meant. I know you came to see me, but I need you ALL to know the honor of meeting you made an equal heartfelt and lasting impression. The only words to describe the fondness you shared is to tell you that you are the best — and you are better. You were better fans and you are better people. I will never forget what you meant to the success of the Ultimate Warrior and how much that experience we “lived” together still means to the living and learning I get to do in my everyday life. Thank you for being who you are. I know our paths are destined to cross again.

Further poignant commentary about this video and this incident is forthcoming late tonight my time, plus some news about what has been going…what hasn’t been going…what is going to be going on…

Your Founding Father of Ring Intensity,

Always Believe,

Warrior

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7IdaSlpIN8]

Being a man of good manners, I want to somewhat apologize for not being able to provide some kind of preliminary warning about the video clip, even better yet, some kind of password authorization for it to be played, but I don’t know how to set something like that up yet. I post the clip here only for the reason that I want what I have to say about the event to be understood in the proper context and that would be more difficult to achieve if the video has not been seen. It does contain “vulgar use” of adult language and it does bother me that young kids will potentially view it without proper adult supervision to explain why I’ve posted it here and what I have to say about it. If you have some type of parental control, please use it.

Let me assure you right now, as I move forward with posting audio and video clips of my OWN you will never find me using graphic adult language in the tactless, vulgar way the Iron Sheik does here.

The video clip, you would think, is pretty self-explanatory: there ARE former pro-wrestling talent who are “self-destructing,” but not yours truly. Unfortunately, this obvious conclusion is not the one many of today’s unmannered, mindless miscreants — spawned by today’s degenerate culture — arrive at. It seems that “self-explanatory” to these crackpots means not what you actually see and hear but what your hallucinations induce you to deliriously believe. When (supposedly) respected, online wrestling journalists watch the video and review the incident with comments such as, “Warrior can’t seem to prevent himself from self-destructing” and “Why is it that all these former pro-wrestlers can’t make their lives work outside the ring,” you know former pro-wrestlers aren’t the only ones abusing booze and dope.

If I wasn’t such an optimist and motivated individual, I tell you, I’d simply have to submit to the gloomy idea that civilization as we know it is reaching its end. I’ve self-destructed? I keep self-destructing? I can’t make my life work outside the ring? It’s simply unreal. You have to be an absolute moron to come to these conclusions after watching this video. Or either you have to a Warrior hater. A-HA!! There we have it. WHATEVER Warrior does, it is a failure, wrong, and self-destructive.

Regular visitors and correspondents to Warrior Web know I could give a rat’s ass what these morons think — or anybody else for that matter. I pay infinitesimal attention to any of it. I only mention the lunacy here because there are those of you who’ve been long-time fans and supporters, for all the truly positive and constructive reasons, who do take it somewhat personally when you read and hear this contemptible bullshit. Because it is in some way a lying, insulting mischaracterization of you, as well. My advice is, if you are ever fortunate to cross paths with the pleasant opportunity, throw your punch targeting the back of the head not the face; this way you’ll insure follow-through and do much more exciting, colorful damage. Although, don’t get your hopes up that you will ever get the chance. Cockroaches run and hide when the lights come on. In the meantime, take comfort in a traditional truism as I long have: The greatness of a man’s character is best judged not by the number of friends he has but by the number of his enemies.

What you see on the video beyond Sheik’s obvious and maniacal self-destruction — not anything new to him but kept secret by his fawning, fearful industry marks — is one of my long-expressed principles of life in action: “There’s nothing so embarrassing or intimidating as another human being who can kick your ass with their mind.” For the last ten years at Warrior Web I’ve been telling you about it and, more, telling you who I am. I don’t know why so many are still always surprised when I bring into action what I’ve long put into words. My reaction to Sheik’s confrontation parallels perfectly the principled, classy, and classical, behavior standards I’ve held myself to for years. If anyone has any evidence otherwise, send it to me and I’ll post it.

I’m not a two-faced hypocrite. I am a principled man and I don’t swap out my principles to just make nice. I told Bernie upfront, once I found out Hogan was going to be there the same day and time, if Hogan or his handlers or even the Triumph Sports promoters (organizers for the whole event) had some covert idea to attempt an impromptu photo-op they best reconsider it unless they wanted Hogan to end up with similar ass-kicked-by-mind all over his face. I did not know Sheik was going to be there or that he would attempt to come up and shake my hand. Doesn’t matter, my reaction in these instances is automatic. You lyingly smear me, I let you know I don’t appreciate it and I don’t befriend you. Period. All these former wrestlers have gone wildly out of their way to disparage, ridicule and mischaracterize me — and done so like there would be no damaging effect on my reputation or the livelihood of my own family. It’s not a joke to me and I’m not going to diffidently treat it like one. You will never see me shake the hand of any of them that I know have done it — not Hulk, not Bret Hart, not Steve Borden, not Goldberg, not Dibiase, not Ross, not Heenan, not any of the McMahons…never.

As I told Vince McMahon, the day our litigation trial was to begin (after four years of his lawyers mischaracterizing me and insulting my personal integrity), when he came over nonchalantly and called me “pal” and went to shake my hand and I refused, “I’ve been insulted enough. I’m not going to be insulted anymore.”

My life means something valuable to me. My self-respect, character and integrity is not for sale. Neither is my handshake. It’s the simplest gesture and, yet, the greatest statement I can make. When I give it, or not, it stands for something. I do not compromise the worth of myself, my family, my word or my handshake to make nice or make others feel comfortable. No way. No how. Never. And that, I’ve come to learn, is more devastating to the ego of another man than punching him out.

Look, I’m not the one cutting promos out all sides of my ass. I also never said one critical word about any of the former talent I worked with until they started ripping my career apart and making up lies about who I really am as a human being; mind you, for no objective reason whatsoever other than they are jealous that I got out of the industry with my integrity and balls. Their envy and their regrets were never my problem until they made them so. When they did, I shot back. Neither am appearing at autograph sessions for $50 and all the hot dogs and beer I can eat and drink, all the while parading around a rapidly-decomposing, dope-ravaged mind and body wrapped in the same worn-out clothes I wore 20 years ago. Others are.

As for the ridiculous speculation over why I didn’t “throw down” with Sheik or who would have bested who if that would have happened, ple-e-ease, I can’t handle the loopy nonsense anymore. For all of you tough-guy, ringside fight experts, who’d truthfully never find yourselves within ten yards of a real fight, let me tell you this. If you ever shockingly find your sorry ass standing face-to-face ready to get into a scrap with a wrestler, amateur or pro and even the queer, worthless ones, you better be prepared to fight, not just hug him until bystanders step in and break it up to save your ass. Win or lose, ALL wrestlers love to fight — they thrive off it — they enjoy it. NO Wrestler is the least bit intimated by the blood, pains or injuries that come along with a good slobber-knocker. These are the welcome “rewards” that break up the road travel monotony and make a wrestler meaner, more determined and, oddly, more relaxed. Besides, to real men, pain and challenge are pleasure.

If the Sheik or anyone else has a real problem with me, then be brave enough to step out from behind your two-faced hypocrisy, step up, voice your beef like a man and take your best swat and let the fun begin. But please, just shut the fuck up telling me through your computers, online wrestling interviews, idiotic youtube shoot interviews, and shameful public outbursts how tough you are, how much of a queer you claim I am, how much you despise the disrespect I’ve shown to your so highly respectable industry, how worthless Ultimate Warrior was to the business….blah, blah, blah. If you want to fight, quit cutting promos and grab your best hold.

Like all the other gluttonous, rotting, smelly, out-of-shape former talent who always have endless amounts of hot air to cut promos but get winded simply taking their morning crap, Sheik didn’t want to fight with anyone or anything other than his own demons of self-pity, all right there in an humiliating public display. Jeez, if kicking my ass would inspire some of you guys to pick up the pieces of your broken down lives, I tell you what, I’ll even let you win. Just quit embarrassing yourselves.

Was I intimidated? Did I feel threatened? It’s kind of hard to be intimidated (or hold back your laughter) by a guy who couldn’t even stun the clownish tub of lard who brought him over. Let me put it this way. In the words of Hawk (the real Road Warrior), after taking a damn good shot right smack center of his face one fracas-filled evening in the boondocks of Canada (mostly faggots up there anyway): “You, sir, punch like a pussy.” Christ, my 6 year-old daughter, Indy, throws a harder slap than Sheik.

Nonetheless, we all got to see how great Sheik and others like him have gotten at self-destructively kicking their own asses; their lives are absolute pathetic wrecks. They don’t get respect from respectable people because they don’t even have any for themselves. Most of them are pigs and drunks and burnouts or, worse, hypocrite born-again Christians. They sit in their own pile of self-pity poop and squander their lives and then cry foul when they get the results that perfectly mirror the efforts they have not made. Sheik’s act has aged as decrepitly as he has. He’s a bum.

I instructed others to get security because it was the mature, responsible, professional thing to do. I stayed exactly where I originally was when Sheik approached me, never dropped my autograph pen and went right back to signing for the fans I enjoyed spending time with. I was not hired to indulge or babysit a broken-down, bitter, unmannered and unmanly, morally-bankrupt, demented and dirty old man. Physically engaging him would have only ruined the whole day for a lot of really good, polite and friendly people. THAT would have been self-destructive. Again, as has long been my custom to do, I make no apologies about disappointing those of you who keep enviously and hatefully expecting as much. I win. You lose. And, I promise, you will every time.

Your Founding Father of Ring Intensity,
Always Believe,
Warrior