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Mario Mancini believes The Ultimate Warrior’s quick ascension to the top of the wrestling business frustrated many of his co-workers.
Warrior made his wrestling debut alongside Sting as The Freedom Fighters in Memphis in 1985. Despite doubts about his in-ring ability, the former bodybuilder joined WWE in 1987 and soon became one of Vince McMahon’s star attractions.
Mancini, who appeared in WWE between 1984 and 1991, explained on the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast why Warrior had such a bad reputation:
“He became pretty nasty. You get respect by going through stages of the business. When you take a guy that didn’t pay his dues and shoot him up, the boys aren’t going to be happy, and that’s what happened to Jimmy [Jim Hellwig, Warrior’s real name]. They weren’t happy.” [27:48-28:19]
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Warrior was one of the most polarizing superstars in WWE history. As Mancini referenced, many people felt he had no respect for wrestling and only cared about himself.
Why did The Ultimate Warrior never pay his dues?
Paying dues in wrestling usually consists of rookie performers competing on independent shows before making their way up to top promotions around the world. In The Ultimate Warrior’s case, he and Sting were thrown into the wrestling world early due to their impressive physiques.
Legendary booker and manager Dutch Mantell recently told WSI’s James Romero that Sting and Warrior were “worse than horrible” at the start of their careers:
“I managed them for, I don’t know, three, four, five weeks or something. They were horrible. They weren’t that good… they were worse than horrible. Horrible would have been an upgrade… They should have still been buying a ticket, actually. They were still basically fans.”
Despite their lack of skills, both men became huge singles stars in the late 1980s and 1990s. While Sting emerged as one of WCW’s top performers, Warrior defeated Hulk Hogan in the WrestleMania VI main event to win the WWE Championship.
Please credit the Cheap Heat Productions Podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
