Earlier today, WWE announced that long-time employee Sue Aitchison would be this year’s WWE Warrior Award recipient.
Aitchison has worked behind the scenes in the corporate division with WWE for 30 years, and has most notably developed and strengthened WWE’s community outreach programs. She’s build a strong partnership with Make-A-Wish, where she’s helped over 6,000 children and received the Make-A-Wish Chris Greicius Award. She’s also developed the WWE WrestleMania Reading Challenge, helping to promote love for reading within the nation’s youth.
The Warrior Award was created and named after WWE Hall of Famer The Ultimate Warrior, and is traditionally presented to the winner by Warrior’s widow, Dana Warrior. WWE gives the Warrior Award to an individual they believe “has exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance and who lives life with the courage and compassion that embodies the indomitable spirit of The Ultimate Warrior.”
Aitchison will be the second female and fifth person to receive the award. Past winners include Connor Michalek, Joan Lunden, Eric LeGran, and Jarrius “JJ” Robertson.
Shortly before his death, during his 2014 Hall of Fame speech, Warrior proposed a “Jimmy Miranda Award” to honor behind-the-scenes employees like Miranda, who was in WWE’s merchandise department for over 20 years. Controversy struck the award, when former WWE announcer Justin Roberts expressed distress over WWE’s insistence on using his speech to promote the award, but not to give it to behind-the-scenes employees. WWE later changed their policy.
The Warrior Award will be presented at the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, set to be held Saturday, April 6, in Brooklyn.
Who besides Sue Aitchison do you think deserves a Warrior Award? Let us know below.
