– During last week’s WWE live events tour of Saudi Arabia, The Shield visited with members of the U.S. military. WWE’s community website has posted photos of their visit, which you can view here.

– No major developments here, but CM Punk has resurfaced on Twitter – sort of. Punk “favorited” the following Tweet this week, his first activity on the social media service his WWE departure in January:

https://twitter.com/madmoneymike/statuses/458805955921072128

Above is a tribute package for Ultimate Warrior featured on the official YouTube channel of Diamond Dallas Page.

The following are highlights of a new Wrestling 365 interview with Diamond Dallas Page:

On the energy backstage at the WWE Hall Of Fame: “The Hall of Fame was really cool, getting there was the journey, the whole thing with Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Scott Hall. It was great to see both those guys be inducted, they both put a lot of work in. It’s one of those things, so many people bring it up, you get to the end and go, okay we got here, awesome, dreams do come true, but both of those guys are still addicts, so they fight it daily. I’ve had people come up to me and say dude you’ve cured Jake “The Snake” Roberts and I’m like what?, no, I never did that. All I did was help him, guide him and put him in a positive environment. Jake could fall down tomorrow and he does from time to time. He doesn’t live with me anymore, I can’t be his keeper, I just hope he can stay on the right track, but someone like Jake or Scott, either one of those guys could fall and hopefully not too far, because we can fall too far and then the promoters and everyone don’t want to deal with that stuff, but as of right now, it was a glorious moment.”

On how it felt personally for him to see Jake and Scott be inducted: “It actually felt great man, for Scott’s speech I went out in front and sat with my girl and my ex-wife Kimberly, they were both there, they’re friends and we watched Kevin (Nash) come out and then Scott and afterwards I went backstage again. To be in that whole…..That’s like the highest honor you can get in our business, I think it even crosses over World Championships to that next level. There’s still certain people that belong and should be in there and that will always be the case, but eventually, sometimes that takes a while, everyone gets their turn. I said it 18 months earlier, we set the big pie in the sky dream that we would be on this (Hall of Fame) stage on this night. Jake didn’t think that was possible, but Jake had to go through a lot of changes for that to happen and he did and it was a journey. We’ve done the movie, that’s where the movie ends, I’m sure we’ll have a little trail-off, because I don’t know exactly what will happen in the next 6 months, 8 months before we’ve got the film completely tied up. I’ve been filming with director and co-producer Steve Yu the resurrection of Jake The Snake’s story and that details Scott Hall coming in and where he was when he started and that journey and a lot of it is really fun and inspirational, while some of it is dark. There’s dark moments man and there’s times where the 3 of us did not get along.”

On the passing of Ultimate Warrior and his memories: “The first time I was on a card or an event with the Warrior was at WrestleMania 6 and I didn’t get the gig, my car did, I was Diamond Dallas Chauffeur for Rhythm N Blues and I got to meet a lot of the boys. I was in the AWA at the time as a manager, but everybody dreamed of being at WrestleMania, this is the spot and I’m there. I may be driving a Cadillac, but you know what, none of my other buddies are. Hulk Hogan came up to me and was so nice to me and talked about my gimmick and we talked for about 10 minutes and it was amazing. Really, the only superstar I wanted to meet that evening and didn’t get the chance to was Warrior, that would happen 10 years later when he came in in WCW to start up his feud with Hulk Hogan and when he got to TV, I was planning on going by, I was looking forward to shaking his hand and meeting him, maybe having some kind of a relationship with him and one of the agents came by and said DDP, you want to meet The Ultimate Warrior and I said absolutely, I’ll be down there later, but the agent said that he sort of asked me to come by and grab you and Goldberg and see if you guys would want to meet him and I was like he’s requesting US to come by, sure, I’ll come with you. I walked down there and gave him a big hug and he talked about how much fun he’s had watching us (DDP and Goldberg) and how we made him want to get back in the business. The main event that they would be working towards would be Halloween Havoc and how anything is possible in this world. 10 years later, from working at the Skydome, being a chaufeur and watching Hogan vs. Warrior for the title to watching them 10 years later, but this time I’m going for the World Championship against Goldberg. It took a fan writing me that on Twitter to really put that in perspective and I was like, woah, I never really put that together. I saw him at WrestleCon last year and we talked for a little bit and he was so blown away by what I was doing with DDP Yoga and Scott and Jake and he said, you’re doing God’s work man. He’s a big God man, I am too, I’m not the big preacher guy, but I’m a big God man. For him to give me the shoutout at the Hall of Fame for him being inducted, not once, not twice, but like 4 times and it was a little tongue-in-cheek funny, but he respected what I was doing. I never got a chance to thank him for that, because that was just so cool of him to do that.”

Check out the complete interview at BlogTalkRadio.com.

Dana Warrior, widow of the late WWE Hall Of Famer Ultimate Warrior, posted the following message on his official Twitter account today.

Warrior girls and I will put our toes back in the pond of life. To honor Warrior do something brave today (cont) http://t.co/E13jzPZadG

— The Ultimate Warrior (@UltimateWarrior) April 21, 2014

The full message reads as follows:

“Warrior girls and I will put our toes back in the pond of life. To honor Warrior do something brave today too. He’d tell us all we can be sad but not lazy :) join a gym and put down that chocolate bunny. I’m going for my first run since I lost him; support us by doing something bold, brave and awesome. Dana A. Warrior”

– WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan was at WWE’s studios in Stamford earlier this week filming several hours of interviews for future WWE projects.

– The Ultimate Warrior Legends Roundtable that aired on the WWE Network this weekend, which featured Josh Mathews, Booker T, Sgt. Slaughter and Ted DiBiase, was filmed on Thursday.

– WWE Network will be debuting a new series called “Best of WWE Hall Of Fame” next week. The series will look back at some of the different WWE Hall Of Fame inductions over the years.

– The “Yes! Movement” found its’ way to the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL game recently. After every Penguins goal was scored, the fans in the arena broke into a huge “Yes!” chant. You can check out coverage of this at 961Kiss.com.

– Adam F. Goldberg, creator of the ABC show “The Goldberg’s,” noted recently that he will be dedicating his upcoming pro wrestling-themed edition of the show to the late Ultimate Warrior.

– Speaking of Warrior, there’s a push within WWE to get the recent “Ultimate Legend” documentary that premiered this week on the WWE Network on national television. The most likely scenario would see the documentary air on the USA Network.

– Kurt Angle recently did an interview with TSN out of Canada regarding his future in TNA and whether or not he will return to WWE. You can check that out at TSN.com.

– Speaking of interviews, below is a new one with WWE Hall Of Famer Tony Atlas. Atlas discusses WWE Legends House, Ultimate Warrior and more.

– According to a new TMZ article, WWE talent have been informed to stay away from Nancy Gracie following the controversial way she handled Ultimate Warrior’s recent passing. You can check out the complete article at TMZ.com.

– A fan sent along the following screen capture of the new Ultimate Warrior documentary that aired on the WWE Network on Thursday night. In the scene where Warrior meets with Triple H at WWE Headquarters, you can see on the Royal Rumble poster on the wall in the background that someone put a post-it note over the face of CM Punk. Check it out below.

– WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley noted during a recent podcast appearance that WWE has offered him a legends contract and that he will not be signing it. You can listen to the interview at NYC.Podcast.Play.it.

– Speaking of WWE Hall Of Famers, Scott Hall added the following Ultimate Warrior tribute to the official YouTube channel of Diamond Dallas Page.

Sting was once again featured on the WWE Network in the “Warrior: The Ultimate Legend” documentary, which premiered on Thursday evening. Sting spoke about entering the business with Warrior in the late 1980s, as well as his untimely passing on April 8th.

By the way, if you haven’t seen the documentary, you should absolutely go out of your way to see it. It’s arguably one of the best produced documentaries the company has released in quite a while.

The following are highlights of an Under The Mat Radio interview with Fred Ottman, who portrayed former WWE characters Tugboat and Typhoon, but is best known as failed WCW gimmick star “The Shockmaster.”

On his memories of Ultimate Warrior: “He was a good guy, excellent and tremendous guy. He was business 100-180 percent and people loved him, he had a good heart. I did shows with him in the WWF and it’s just really sad you know he’s a young guy…he left his wife, his mom, and his precious daughters.”

On working with Ultimate Warrior in the ring: “Me personally no I couldn’t give you any (stories of working with Warrior in the ring) I just was able to observe him at that time but I enjoyed watching his work with a multitude of different guys. When that music hits he would hit the ground running and it was a 150 percent till the end of the match.”

On the way Ultimate Warrior’s passing was different than his other friends in the business: “Well you know you got to take into effect that when he was there he was as popular and as on the same level as Hulk (Hogan) was. The people loved him, they like his look and his energy. I have mixed emotions about…I have a lot of friends and a lot of guys that all of them should be honored..we only going by a few small glimpse of wrestling history”

Check out the complete interview at BlogTalkRadio.com.

– The official Newsday website has a look at WWE’s new “Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection” DVD set. You can check that out at Newsday.com.

– WWE has added the latest video blog from Brandi Rhodes to their official YouTube channel. The video blog features herself, along with her husband Cody Rhodes taking part in a week-long WWE travel schedule. You can check that out below.

Former TNA star Lacey Von Erich and her mother Cathie were on Blue Steel Cage Radio with Carmine Sabia to talk about her legendary father Kerry Von Erich and her earliest memories of Warrior, one of Kerry’s best friends. Lacey also talks the pressures of being in a  wrestling locker room, being a third-generation star, and trying to balance acting and other endeavors.

Blue Steel Cage Radio airs Friday nights, 9 PM ET on the VOC Nation Radio Network and is now available for download on vocnation.com. Call in (855) VOC-RADIO.

Becoming a Wrestler: “If you never want to have a family or a wife or time to yourself, and you like being verbally and mentally abused, then you should [get into wrestling]. I say go for it. [That abuse comes more from] the locker room. Definitely the locker room. TNA is very different than WWE. WWE was very political. I wasn’t in there yet. They were like, “You’re a Von Erich. You better be amazing at wrestling,” and things like that. And I wasn’t. I’m more of an actress than I am a wrestler. I’d rather play a character than get hurt on the mat. That’s what I’m better at. I’m better at acting. That’s what I wanted to do. Vince called me. He’s the one that got me into this. He’s the one asked me, “Do you want to be a wrestler? Try to be a diva?” He brought me out and and I signed the contract that night and went into training. I wasn’t expecting it to come as much. It really blew up and they expected so much of me. But then TNA called and they really embraced me as like a family member.”

Wrestlers Battling Demons: “It’s so hard to leave [wrestling]. It’s really hard, once you leave, because no one ever understands what you went through ever. No one will know … People screaming your name or having fans and having those experiences together. Going from hotel to hotel, being on the road together. No one knows those experiences but [other wrestlers]. It really shapes the kind of person you can be. As you can see, in the past, [with] wrestlers, it can either shape you to be a great person and you can learn from it and become a great wife and mother, which I hope I have. Or you can end up self-medicating because of all that. You either get stronger or you get weaker. And luckily I came out of it, unlike the rest of my family, a stronger, better person.”

Her Earliest Memories of The Warrior: “My mom was just telling me that my dad actually trained [Warrior] … I was really young when my dad passed away. I was only 6 years old, but a lot of those memories have been grained in my mind because of the traumatic experience I went through. A lot of things when it comes to wrestling I don’t remember, because when we went to wrestling matches it would be 10, 11 o’clock at night and we would just be asleep in the stands … I remember more of Uncle Jimbo [Warrior] off of wrestling, not actually on the mat with everyone. I remember him at his house, and babysitting us, and things like that. It was like being babysat by my dad. Basically the same. A lot of roughhousing. A lot of fun.”

The Ultimate Warrior’s widow Dana has broken her silence in a heartfelt letter addressed to the WWE Universe.

“It is with an absolutely broken heart I reach out to you. Since the passing of my husband, I have been fortunate enough to insulate my sweet girls and myself from the outside world. In this bubble we have grieved and continue to do so. For a week, I did not allow any television or media to seep through our cocoon. I was told, though, of the outpouring of love for my beloved husband and support for, as he always called us, his Warrior Girls. I can only say thank you.”

She talks about her 20 year relationship with Warrior, the outpour of support from Warrior fan and the WWE family and much more. She also asks that instead of sending flowers to her family, fans  make donations to wounded veterans and their families at Operationfamilyfund.org.

To view the full letter, visit WWE.com.

Wrestling legend Sting appeared on the WWE Network on Tuesday night in a recorded segment for Night 1 of Warrior Week.

Sting talked about his memories of Warrior, telling a story that when they first started training together, Warrior used to put tuna fish and orange juice in a blender and tell him that he was getting his Warrior dose of protein & Vitamin C.

This is Sting’s first-ever appearance for WWE.

Rare Photo Of STING & WARRIOR Before They Started Training Together

The Monday, April 14th edition of WWE RAW averaged 4.76 million viewers for a show promoted as an “Ultimate Warrior tribute.” With the viewership, RAW finished as the top-rated show on cable television for the evening.

The hourly breakdown for the show is as follows:

Hour One: 4.81 million viewers
Hour Two: 4.83 million viewers
Hour Three: 4.67 million viewers

The final rating, which will be out shortly, will likely fall between a 3.3 and a 3.5.

– The following is the Ultimate Warrior video tribute that aired on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW.

– Below is a new “WrestleMania Rewind Extra” featuring Daniel Bryan explaining why he feels Shawn Michaels is the greatest WWE Superstar of all time.

The following are highlights of a new Who’s Slamming Who interview with Chavo Guerrero Sr.:

On His Strained Relationship with Eddie’s Family: “We don’t stay in touch that much. They’ve chosen to be like that. Why? I don’t know. I have no idea. Ever since Eddie [Guerrero] passed our relationships have not been there. But I hear [my niece Shaul, aka WWE’s Raquel Diaz] is doing good. I talk to her once in a while. No, I have not been following her career. The main reason being that I didn’t teach her. If you want to be the best [wrestler], you [should] come to a Guerrero. Especially if you’re a Guerrero. But she had that opportunity to go to WWE. I guess she’s doing good. She’s still got a contract. That’s all good. That’s as much as I can say about my niece.”

On the Nancy Grace / Warrior Controversy: “She did not know the facts. It’s not only in wrestling, [but] it’s in a lot of other stuff. I stopped listening to her and never really enjoyed her. She’s just not my type of journalist. Not only in wrestling, [but] many other subjects she speaks out of turn. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Let’s put it this way. She doesn’t research to know what she’s talking about. She just says things out of [context]. She’s an idiot. She’s an imbecile. It’s not because she said something about wrestling. Sure, some of us have dealt with steroids … The point was not about steroids. The point was that all these wrestlers that have not died from steroids were put in the same category. That’s just not fair to the families.”

On TNA, ROH, and Other WWE Competitors: “The only company really out there is WWE. They’re #1. If you don’t want to work for them [then] you’re a fool. We’re still not receiving what we should as professional athletes. As much money as WWE makes, it’s by far the best-paid company out there, unless you’ve got some sort of a deal in Japan. And those are few and far between, and more and more [rare] every day.”

Check out the complete interview at VOCNation.com.

– The following is the WWE Network’s schedule for “Warrior Week,” which kicks off tonight. All shows premiere at 10pm (EST):

* Tuesday: Warrior’s Greatest Matches

* Wednesday: WrestleMania Rewind: WrestleMania VI featuring Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior

* Thursday: Warrior Biography: Ultimate Legend

* Friday: Legends of WrestleMania featuring Ultimate Warrior

– Hulk Hogan tweeted the following about Evolution’s beat down of The Shield on RAW:

Just finished watching Evelotion destroy the shield, be careful who you mess with brothers. HH

— Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) April 15, 2014

– Kane tweeted the following about returning to his masked gimmick:

The time has come to stop wearing this mask and come home.

— Kane (@KaneWWE) April 15, 2014

– Since the untimely death of the Ultimate Warrior just one week ago, over a hundred companies began selling unauthorized merchandise donning Warrior’s name and logo. Attorneys for Ultimate Creations (Warrior’s marketing company) have sent out cease and desist letters to over 100 companies who started selling t-shirts with the Ultimate Warrior’s name and logo since he passed.

According to TMZ.com, Ultimate Creations is threatening legal action if the companies continue to profit off Warrior’s trademarks.

– Zeb Colter tweeted the following on Monday night, questioning whether WWE Divas Champion Paige is ‘legal’ –

IS @RealPaigeWWE LEGAL??? HMMM…I MIGHT HAVE TO CHECK THAT OUT. @JCLayfield

— Zeb Colter (@WWEZeb) April 15, 2014

While Zeb was most likely questioning the status of her citizenship, Intercontinental champion Big E took it another way:

Like…of age?!?! You dirty dog…"@WWEZeb: IS @RealPaigeWWE LEGAL??? HMMM…I MIGHT HAVE TO CHECK THAT OUT. @JCLayfield"

— Epsilon (@WWEBigE) April 15, 2014

On Tuesday, April 8, 2014, the professional wrestling world lost another one of the greats. The Ultimate Warrior, who for millions of fans who jumped on the pro wrestling bandwagon during the late 1980s boom period, was among the biggest and most recognizable Superstars in history. Today, we are going to look back at five matches that helped establish Warrior as the undeniable legend that he became.

It’s no secret that Ultimate Warrior wasn’t what one would call a “catch-as-catch-can” classic type of in-ring performer, but if you look back at his career from an unbiased point of view, there were certainly some diamonds in the rough. He had some great moments in the ring, and at times was absolutely more than just “a cool ring entrance.”

WWE SummerSlam 1988 (vs. The Honky Tonk Man)

On August 29, 1988 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, The Ultimate Warrior captured his first WWE Championship. In just 31 seconds, Warrior ended The Honky Tonk Man’s legendary 454-day reign as WWE Intercontinental Champion.

Going into the show, which was actually the inaugural edition of what became WWE’s annual summer tradition, Honky Tonk Man was originally supposed to square-off with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. Beefcake ended up on the sidelines, however, and it was announced, live during the show, that Honky Tonk Man would still have an opponent and would still be defending his title.

To make a long story short, the infamous guitar riff hit the big speakers, thousands of fans in MSG exploded, and 31 seconds later, Warrior’s first WWE title reign began. History was made.

WWE SummerSlam 1989 (vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude)

Nearly a year later to the day, Ultimate Warrior found himself capturing WWE Intercontinental gold once again at WWE’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. Several months prior, Warrior suffered his first official defeat in WWE at the hands of “Ravishing” Rick Rude, who was arguably Warrior’s best in-ring opponent.

This was the rematch.

The bout took place on August 28, 1989 at The Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was the second annual WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view event.

In what turned out to be a pretty good little contest, Warrior prevailed and in the end, managed to get his hand raised and once again become the WWE Intercontinental Champion.

The medical examiner who conducted an autopsy on the Ultimate Warrior has released the results of his findings.

The Ultimate Warrior autopsy shows that his death was caused by a heart attack related to “Atherosclerotic/Arteriosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease” (heart disease).

Warrior’s death was classified as “natural” – meaning that neither drugs nor alcohol were directly involved.

Remembering The Ultimate Warrior

(Source: TMZ.com)

Check out this video of a London Marathon runner paying tribute to the late Ultimate Warrior.

WWE is providing Warrior’s wife with special assistance in the wake of his death on Tuesday.

TMZ.com reports that immediately after the tragic news broke, WWE sent two senior officials to Arizona to help Dana with everyday tasks like grocery shopping so she can grieve and focus on  her daughters.

Warrior died of a “catastrophic medical event” on Tuesday at an Arizona hotel. An autopsy was performed on Thursday. WWE will hold two tribute shows dedicated to Warrior next week, including Monday’s RAW and a special on the WWE Network on Wednesday

As reported earlier, Monday’s episode of WWE RAW will feature a special tribute to the late Ultimate Warrior. While specific details have not been announced yet, we’re told the tribute will be more than just a graphic at the start of the show and a 10-bell salute.

TMZ.com now reports that WWE is planning a second tribute show for Warrior that will air next Wednesday on the WWE Network.

“Warrior: The Ultimate Legend” will premiere Wednesday, April 16th on the WWE Network and will include some of Warrior’s most memorable moments, along with a re-airing of his final TV appearance from Monday’s RAW.