Bret Hart on Ultimate Warrior Letting Down a Make-A-Wish Kid

Bret Hart shares the unfortunate story of the time Ultimate Warrior let a Make-a-Wish kid down on one of his final wishes.

Bret Hart didn't hold back when sharing his thoughts on the "weakling" and "phony hero," Ultimate Warrior.
Bret Hart didn’t hold back when sharing his thoughts on the “weakling” and “phony hero,” Ultimate Warrior.

Bret Hart Shares the Story of the Ultimate Warrior and a Make-a-Wish Kid:

This story comes from Bret Hart’s highly-recommended autobiography, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling.”

Bret Hart:

“I got to see exactly what kind of champion Warrior was during a show in Omaha.

Propped up on a stretcher a few feet outside of the dressing room was a Make-A-Wish kid who looked to be down to his last few hours.

There was not a hair left on his head, and not even his Warrior face paint could mask his sad eyes. Sickly pale and barely breathing through a ventilator tube, the boy wore a purple Warrior T-shirt and green and orange tassels tied around his biceps to honor his hero.

His mother and father and an older brother and sister were with him, patiently waiting for the promised encounter with The Ultimate Warrior.

I bent over to say hello, as did all the other wrestlers on the way into the dressing room.

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It was odd, but there was Warrior actually sitting with us: He usually kept to himself in his private dressing room.

By the time the third match started, a WWF public relations rep poked his head in and politely asked Warrior if he was ready to meet the dying boy.

Warrior grunted, "In a f***inโ€™ minute. Iโ€™m busy."

I thought to myself, ‘Busy doing what, talking to a bunch of guys you canโ€™t stand anyway?’

As the night wore on, the family waited just outside the dressing room door, the boy hanging on to his dying wish to meet his hero.

As I was returning to the dressing room after my match, I was relieved to see that they werenโ€™t there anymore; I assumed that the kidโ€™s wish had come true.

Warriorโ€™s entrance music played while Jim and I quickly showered in hopes of beating the crowd out of the building.

Weโ€™d have to hurry since Warrior never went over ten minutes. We dressed, grabbed our bags, and took off. As we rounded a corner down a backstage ramp, we came upon the boy and his weary family, who had been moved there so as not to get in the way of Warriorโ€™s entrance.

I thought, ‘That lousy piece of s***.’

Heโ€™d made them wait all night, unable to summon the compassion to see this real little warrior.

Hogan, Randy, and countless others, including Andrรฉ, never hesitated to take the time to meet a sick, dying kid.

My disgust for Warrior magnified a thousand times. To me, he was a coward, a weakling, and a phony hero.”

Ultimate Warrior Apology Video?

On September 7th, 1991, Vince McMahon had The Ultimate Warrior record an apology video for a fan.

In the video, Vince can be heard reassuring Warrior that this promo was “just a work” (based on storyline and not reality). However, Warrior is visibly upset about having to do it and struggles through his lines.

Could the following video give credibility to Bret’s story above?

YouTube video

Although this story doesn’t paint Warrior in the most favorable light, he did his best to redeem himself and make amends with many during his final days.

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