Ultimate Warrior Reaches Business Agreement with WWE, May Enter Hall of Fame

The Ultimate Warrior and the WWE have reached a business agreement, according to a report by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Rajah.com). The timing of this deal leaves open the possibility that the Ultimate Warrior, an iconic figure of the 1980's WWF Rock N Wrestling era and a controversial figure during the last two decades, may finally enter the WWE Hall of Fame at WrestleMania XXX.

A DVD is scheduled to be released about the Ultimate Warrior on April 1, five days before WrestleMania XXX. The timing of the two events would support the Hall of Fame speculation. 

The Warrior and the WWE have been on good terms for several years now. It was the Ultimate Warrior who appeared in the first set of TV commercials for the WWE 2K14 video game. The previous business agreement was only in support of the game and Warrior's inclusion as a playable character. This was likely testing the waters for a bigger Legends contract. 

WWE and the Warrior had been at odds previously. In 1991, Warrior walked out on the company following a heated battle over his contract demands. He returned in mid-1992 but was gone by November. In 1996, he returned and even squashed Hunter Hearst Helmsley at WrestleMania. The company released a comic book about the Warrior, and the character was showcased as a marquee attraction. It wasn't long, though, before he parted ways over another contract dispute with WWE CEO Vince McMahon. 

A cringe-worthy run in 1998 with WCW was the last anyone had seen of Warrior in the world of wrestling for more than a decade before resurfacing in an odd set of YouTube videos he posted, rambling mostly incoherent nonsense about anything from politics to morals to wrestling. His bitter relationship with Vince and the WWE was made public when the WWE released a documentary titled The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior, an unabashed hatchet job on Warrior to destroy his credibility and legacy. 

The possibility that he will now be part of the WWE Hall of Fame is a sea change from anything that could previously have been imagined. Of course, if Triple H was able to get Bruno Sammartino on board after years of distancing himself from the WWE product, anything can happen.