Well unbelievably this series has stretched to a 7th (& final) entry – There was much to cover and I hope you have enjoyed reading them.
Sadly, if your a wrestling fan you already know how it all ends for the Ultimate Warrior and I do my best to pay my respects to him and introduce some perspective.
As I’ve mentioned in the other entries, you can get the results of this show from anywhere on the internet, what I hope to bring is a People’s History from someone that was there.
Friday Night Smackdown Taping – April 8th – Cajundome – Lafayette, LA
So after making the 3 hr drive from Picayune, MS to Lafayette, the first thing we did was get a poyboy sandwich. While Louisiana is home to cajun food, Lafayette lays claim to having the best PoBoys in the world.
Odd hours in this town/state has we researched and was looking for this super legit/off the map joint that was apparently too far off the map because we never found it (till we were leaving) so we decided on two other places – the first one was closed (in the middle of the afternoon) and so by default we went to our third choice.
We almost missed their serving time as well as when we got up to leave (after an AMAZING meal) the door was locked as they were closing at 5pm. Very strange.
We were not getting a hotel for this part of the trip as the plan was just to eat, see the show and head back to Dallas after. I was excited to see the Cajundome – Like the Superdome, lots of wresting history in this building and it seemed to continue a tradition of this trip of attending wrestling events on college campuses as the Cajundome sits in the center of University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Smackdown, unlike Raw, is a taped event on Tuesdays that airs on Fridays – Like Raw they also have a clip show with a few original matches they tape as the opening act – this one is called The Main Event which also now airs exclusively on the WWE Network.
The Main Event Taping
We get to our seats just as the lights go down to start the pre-show. Good timing.
The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family
They started with Dean Ambrose and Erick Rowan, who worked his gimmick with the sheep mask turning his head. So what does Ambrose do? He slaps it off his face.
Great start.
This crowd was seriously disappointing after what we were treated to last night in New Orleans. They teased a big breakdown with all six guys squaring off in the ring and while everyone knew how they were supposed to react, none of them really reacted that way.
There were a few points when the crowd was fading but they did a great job getting them back each time
Ultimately, Rollins hit Rowan with the Curb Stomp and Ambrose followed with Dirty Deeds to get the pin.
In Ring Segment
Renee Young (looking all kinds of fine….and who’s smoothness is one of the best reasons to watch WWE programming) interviewed The Shield post-match in the ring with Rollins stating that nothing stops a Shield that is united. Roman Reigns talked about attacking Triple H and said that he’s standing in this ring if HHH wants to come out.
Jack Swagger vs Dolph Ziggler
Zeb Colter cut a promo on Cesaro that was pretty vicious. He called Paul Heyman a thief and Cesaro a liar who proved that immigrants will always sneak across our border and be dishonest.
Ziggler came out to a decent pop but this crowd is kinda dissapointing after just how animated & fanatical the post-Wrestlemania Raw was.
Guess the Europeans went home today instead of making it to Lafayette.
They had a really ugly spot late when Swagger had his head smashed into the mat on a roll up from Ziggler. He appeared to be just fine and put Dolph in the Patriot Act right after that got the submission win.
So that’s two post-Wrestlemania shows that Dolph was demoted to the pre-show (and lost). Just one year ago things were so different for him, and ironically it was a (legitimate) kick to the head from Jack Swagger a few months after that where the downward spiral began.
Alexander Rusev (w/Lana) vs. Sin Cara
Lana didn’t come out shouting for our attention this time. Instead, she was speaking in Russian & introduced the Bulgarian Brute Alexander Rusev and they worked the gimmick down to the ring.
Rusev really worked the gimmick once he got in the ring with a full display, one Lana looked on at approvingly.
This lasted about 30 seconds before Lana called out … “RUSEV …. CRUSH!”
So he did. Sin Cara was killed dead and quickly submitted with The Accolade. Lana got in the ring and called off her dog. I’m starting to like this gimmick.
The Main Card
John Cena opened the show with a promo. He’s still using the talking points that he’s the biggest dog in the yard and anyone who wants to assume that role has to chase him off. Bray Wyatt showed up on the titantron to say he’s going to go to new “extremes” to get the monster out of Cena. So this is continuing.
Cesaro vs. Big Show
Cesaro won via disqualification thanks to a run-in from Jack Swagger.
Of note, he didn’t have music, so the Patriot theme might be sticking with Swagger. Paul Heyman introduced Cesaro as the “King of Swing” so that’s his new nickname for certain and they’re pushing it hard. Mixed reaction from the fans, who still aren’t sure how to feel about him, though Cesaro worked heel. Show actually went after Swagger for the run-in and Cesaro gave him a Neutralizer anyway.
Sadly the next few matches were filler or simply repeats from yesterday’s RAW.
Rybaxel vs Los Matadores
Don’t know if Carlito’s jabs at the Hall of Fame ceremony has anything to do with it, but Los Matadores got squashed by Curtis Axel & Ryback and now they are giving a big push to El Torito their bull mascot.
Rob Van Dam vs. Damien Sandow
Literally an identical match as the one at Raw yesterday.
Hulk Hogan came and said that he was the host of WrestleMania that became Yes-tleMania. He called out Daniel Bryan and they did a bit where Bryan talked about idolizing The Hulkster and they both did his signature poses before Hogan started a YES chant using Bryan’s gimmick.
I LOVE this kinda of stuff – when the current guys, who you know are totally freaking out inside about being in the ring with someone they once watched as a kid and are allowed to cut loose. Of course I’m the sentimental type and love these kind of spots & gestures.
Bad News Barrett vs. Kofi Kingston
Again, almost a repeat of RAW except done with Kofi Kingston (whom is apparently fine despite injury concerns) to get Barrett’s new gimmick over.
Probably the biggest contrast of the evening in terms of the crowd was the reaction Bad News Barrett got last compared to tonight. Being British and performing in front of a largely British crowd that is in on the work that prefers playing along with the villians he got a HUGE reaction last night.
Tonight with a traditional southern crowd, he was back to being a hated heel.
Fandango vs Santino
Emma is still with Santino, but speaking of Brits, Fandango’s new lady is …. LAYLA!
Summer Rae in addition to being added to the cast of Total Divas, left Wrestlemania to go straight to Vancouver to start filming part IV of the WWE Films franchise the Marine (and will be the first WWE Diva to star in one of their films). Happy to that she is getting the attention that she is. I think she’s amazing.
Layla is no slouch either and can dance her ass off and looks great too. This match was clearly designed to keep the rivalry between Fandango & Santino going but to introduce the switch with Layla. I like Emma alot too, she’s fun and looks good in the ring.
The Usos & Daniel Bryan vs. Batista, Randy Orton, & Kane
Same match as on RAW but added Daniel Bryan and Kane to mix.
They got the heat on one of the Usos before a hot tag to Bryan so he could come in all house of fire and clean up. The action led to a count out and a post-match angle with the heels about to gain an edge on the babyfaces but The Shield showed up to make the save, celebrating with Bryan to end the show, just like on Raw.
Went to a double count out. Pretty much the match you would expect.
Sorry if I sound dismissive in this entry, I’ve been writing about wrestling non-stop for two months now and I guess somewhere that exhaustion was bound to appear.
I also have a much deeper issue to address as I’m sure your aware.
After the show, we got gas and prepared for the long depressing drive that is travelling through rural Louisiana late at night (on a Tuesday no less).
I’ve talked at length about my exponential bad luck in New Orleans over the years and on the drive back I was feeling really good, like that luck had changed and we were reflecting on what an amazing and successful trip this was. Jess was determined to replace those bad experiences with something positive about a city that she like so many others is deeply passionate about. We were celebrating and already reliving the experiences when we crossed the Texas border late into the night.
I looked over at Jess and said “Well, we survived Louisiana” and we both smiled. As if almost on cue, my nephew (whom I took to Wrestlemania 25 in Houston) who couldn’t make it this year, sends me a text – “….The Ultimate Warrior DIED???” – I immediately dismissed it and thought “No silly, the news your hearing is that he’s back in the WWE” and I couldn’t wait to tell him about it and what we witnessed.
But it still bothered me to just to make sure, I had Jess Google him and I watched her turn white when the results confirmed that he was dead.
The Redemption & Sudden Death of the Ultimate Warrior
In the 80s, Hulk Hogan was of course the face of the business and transcended the sport. In contrast, the Ultimate Warrior was a turn-of-the-90s metal fantasy: big muscles, big hair, tassels hanging from his arms and boots, face paint, and a vaguely Nordic-ish mythology of warrior ancestors & gods. He brought all of the unstoppable-superhero charisma of a Hulk Hogan, but with something more—not just an amplified intensity, but also a darkness. Hogan, after all, was an inspiration for the kids. Warrior never said anything about prayers and vitamins. Warrior just stormed the ring like a force of nature and destroyed whatever he found. It appeared that Warrior defeated the right people, and perhaps for the right reasons, but he never had to articulate his argument with the ideological coherence of Hulkamania. Warrior was awesome in ways that transcended the rational and the moral.
For me, the Ultimate Warrior’s most essentially Ultimate-Warrior-like moment was his appearance at SummerSlam ’88. The Honky Tonk Man, by then the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion in WWE history, was without an opponent.
The crowd went quiet. Then the music hit, and everyone went nuts—the fans erupted, the Honky Tonk Man and his manager, Jimmy Hart, panicked, and the commentators put over the fact that something big was happening.
The referee had to jump out of the way. Anything within range of the Warrior’s pinwheeling fists was going to be destroyed. At the end of those 30 seconds, there was a new Intercontinental Champion.
For both the Warrior and Hogan to enter the 1990 Royal Rumble made this annual event a dream match for perhaps the first time. By the start of 1990, it was inconceivable that either Warrior or Hogan could be cleanly eliminated from the match. At 15 years old, I was already cynical enough as a fan to assume that in no way would the WWE script a physical confrontation between the two. They were both good guys, and good guys fighting each other was mostly beyond the realm of possibility. It slowly became apparent what was happening: The WWE’s two dominant champions were clearing the ring of lesser men, leaving room only for each other.
The audience went insane at the realization that Hogan and Warrior, after having inhabited the same ring for several minutes, would finally have to face each other. It started with the kind of “this is living history” staredown that presented the confrontation at a Hogan-Andre level. Hogan assisted a group effort to eliminate the Warrior and went on to win the Rumble, but the real story of the night was the WWE’s tease of what had been unthinkable.
Warrior would spend the 90s coming and going, showing up like a meteor—the classic example is his surprise run-in at WrestleMania VIII—and never staying too long before heading back to Parts Unknown.
If WrestleMania VI where the two finally met and the Warrior left the ring victorious was the second act, than Wrestlemania VIII was the climax of my childhood as a wrestling fan.
For the next eight years, I stayed away from wrestling, choosing instead to invest my energies for hero-worship into more musically inclined figures.
The Warrior’s career would best be defined by his shocking returns, the adrenaline rush when his music surprised the fans and he burst into the arena, sprinting to the ring—his instant obliteration of the Honky Tonk Man at SummerSlam ’88, his coming out of nowhere to rescue Hogan at WrestleMania VIII. The surprise entrance represents Warrior at the height of his power,
Of course, Warrior’s career instability wasn’t simply part of his character’s narrative, but reflected the real complexities of a human being. Jim Hellwig, who would eventually adopt “Warrior” as his legal name, portrayed his character as an independent contractor for big wrestling companies. Because the wrestling business fiercely guarded its secrecy for so long, fans now tend to fetishize access to stories of locker-room beefs and ego-driven backstage politics.
Remembering Warrior, I’m not interested in the “real” reasons behind his numerous departures. Nor am I particularly interested in his post-wrestling career as a conservative motivational speaker, political commentator, and blogger. The relationships between wrestlers and their characters is complex. Sometimes the fictional character corresponds with the life of the performer who embodies it, and sometimes it does not. Sometimes fans can choose to see only what’s inside the ring. I think that in my perspective on the Ultimate Warrior, I need to always be a kid. I need to stay in the period from 1988 to 1990, before I used terms like “no-selling.”
The perspective of the “Internet Wrestling Community” offers no lens through which an Ultimate Warrior match should be engaged. The Ultimate Warrior is one of those characters who must in fact remain a character. He’s like the Undertaker in that way. What he demands is not exactly a suspension of disbelief, anymore than the performer himself has to suspend disbelief; he demands that we take part in the character’s creation. We don’t surrender to passively receive the myth and accept it as real—we actively make it real through our participation.
Appearing on Raw this Monday, Warrior gave the kind of promo that might have dissolved the boundary between Warrior the character and Warrior the real guy who made “Warrior” his legal name, if such boundaries ever existed for him. On the one hand, it had the vague esotericism of an old-school Warrior promo. On the other, he talked about how we’re all going to die someday, and the real human being who said these words actually died less than 24 hours later. He remarked that people can become immortal through the impressions that their passion and intensity leave on others, and that the spirit of the Ultimate Warrior will run forever.
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