Tuesday night, when news broke that professional wrestler Ultimate Warrior had passed away, fan reactions across social media were immediate.
Some notable hip-hop names were among the many who took to Twitter to memorialize the fallen wrestler. Artists including Wale, Action Bronson, Joell Ortiz, Mack Maine and Pill sent out messages regarding the news.
“R.I.P The Ultimate Warrior. One of the greatest wrestling champs EVER,” Ortiz wrote.
Mack Maine echoed those feelings: “Dammmmm R.I.P. to the Ultimate Warrior!!!!”
So why was Ultimate Warrior such an important figure to the wrestling community? And why did he seem to connect with hip-hop in particular?
“If you was born in the ’80s and you followed wrestling in the ’90s as a kid, then you knew who the Ultimate Warrior was,” Smoke DZA, who remains an unabashed wrestling fan to this day, told MTV News. “A lot of people didn’t like him; a lot of people loved him. He did a lot for the sport at the time. It’s a piece of your childhood gone watching him die.”
To many, DZA said, the late wrestler represented more than your average wrestler. “People really know Ultimate Warrior for the energy he had, running down to the ring and shaking the ropes, just being erratic, and with the face paint and the colorful tassels,” he explained. “He was the first wrestler with the colorful belts. He beat Hulk Hogan and had different color world titles; he had a white one, a red one, a blue one, a yellow one. He was on his hip-hop sh– in that fashion.”
Born Jim Hellwig, the Warrior joined the WWE (then known as WWF) in 1987. He competed there on and off until 1996, and won multiple belts along the way. He was 54.
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