Monday, February 20, 2023

Friend Encounters: The Ultimate Warrior and Larry Freda

Friend Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends who have met celebrities.

Larry Freda is an east coast convention friend, but I have never met him. Hopefully one day that will change. Until then, I feel I know him well through all of the great pictures he posts on social media. Wrestling and NY sports teams are two of his favorite areas of conventions, but he has met many folks outside of those genres.
Today though, I feature Larry with one of the biggest names in wrestling in the late 80s. Jim Hellwig gained megafame when he joined the WWE as the Ultimate Warrior. While his career had some bumps, UW remained a big name right to his untimely death in 2014. At least shortly before he passed, UW made some sort fo peace with the WWE and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Hellwig actually changed his name to Warrior to capitalize on his fame. It probably helped him in making appearances, as the WWE might have blocked him from using the Ultimate Warrior name, but couldn't stop him from using Warrior. Legalities and feuds are funny things at times.
Larry met UW at a Legends of the Ring event. This is a huge annual wrestling event in New Jersey. Larry has met many legendary wrestlers there and I am happy to share some of his pictures here over the years.
Larry Freda and the Ultimate Warrior in NJ-June 2012.

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