Warrior (wrestler)

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"Ultimate Warrior" redirects here. For the South Korean film Ultimate Warrior, see Musa (film). For other uses, see Warrior (disambiguation).

Warrior

Warrior speaking at DePaul University in 2006.
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Blade Runner Rock Dingo Warrior Jim "Justice" Hellwig Ultimate Warrior Warrior
Billed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Billed weight	275 lb (125 kg)
Born	June 16, 1959 (1959-06-16) (age 48) Crawfordsville, Indiana, United States
Billed from	"Parts Unknown"
Trained by	Rick Bassman Red Bastien^[1]
Debut	1985

Warrior (born Brian James "Jim" Hellwig on June 16, 1959) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling throughout the late 1980s and 1990s as the Ultimate Warrior, during which time he won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and pinned Hulk Hogan in the main event of WrestleMania VI. ^[2] Hellwig legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993.^[3]

Warrior retired from professional wrestling in 1999 and became a motivational speaker. However, in May 2008 he announced that he would be returning to wrestling, facing Orlando Jordan on June 25, 2008 in Barcelona, Spain in a match booked by the Italian Nu-Wrestling Evolution promotion.

Early life

Warrior was born in rural Indiana. He was the eldest of five children, and was raised by his mother (along with, later, his stepfather) after his father left his family when Warrior was 12. Warrior spent a year at Indiana State, during which time he became interested in bodybuilding. ^[4]

Bodybuilding career

Prior to his career in professional wrestling, Warrior, as James Hellwig, was an amateur bodybuilder.^[5] Hellwig competed in a number of NPC contests, and won the 1984 NPC Mr. Georgia contest.^[6] Hellwig started training with weights when he was 11 years old and has described himself as "the small, insecure kid who wasn't into any sports."^[7] He moved to California where, after seeing bodybuilder Robby Robinson, decided to take up the sport. His first contest took place in Florida where he placed 5th. Later, while he was attending Life University in Marietta, Georgia, he won the Junior Atlanta contest, and placed 5th at the 1981 AAU Collegiate Mr. America. In 1983, he won the AAU Mr. Coastal USA, before taking the Mr. Georgia title the following year. His last bodybuilding contest was 1985's Junior USA's, which was won by future IFBB Pro, Ron Love. Hellwig finished 5th.

In 1985, after spending six weeks in California training for a bodybuilding contest, Warrior was invited to join a group of bodybuilders - Garland Donoho, Mark Miller and Steve "Flash" Borden - who were transitioning to professional wrestlers. Warrior accepted the invitation, and abandoned his bodybuilding career and his plans to become a chiropractor. ^[8]

Professional wrestling career

Mid-South Wrestling | Universal Wrestling Federation (1985-1986)

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Warrior began his professional wrestling career as Jim "Justice" Hellwig of Powerteam USA, the group of bodybuilders trained by Red Bastien and Rick Bassman. Warrior and Borden, who would later go on to success as "Sting", formed a tag team known as the Blade Runners, with Warrior changing his ring name to Blade Runner Rock. The Blade Runners went on to wrestle for the Mid-South Wrestling promotion, which became the Universal Wrestling Federation in 1986, before disbanding in 1986 when Warrior left the UWF. ^[4]

World Class Championship Wrestling (1986-1987)

In 1986, Warrior debuted in the Fort Worth, Texas-based World Class Championship Wrestling promotion, where he wrestled for $50 USD a night. He adopted the ring name Dingo Warrior after a member of the WCCW locker room remarked that he looked like "a warrior". ^[8]

Warrior formed a tag team with Lance Von Erich, and the duo began competing for the WCWA World Tag Team Championship. On November 17, 1986, Warrior and Von Erich defeated Master Gee (substituting for champion Buzz Sawyer) and Matt Borne to win the titles. They held the Championship until December 1 of that year, when they lost to Al Madril and Brian Adias. ^[9]

In 1987, Warrior began competing for the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship, losing to Bob Bradley in a tournment final on January 12. He won the title from Bradley on February 2 of that year. The title was held up in April 1987 after Warrior left the WCCW. He was reinstated as champion upon returning, but vacated it once more upon resigning from WCCW to join the World Wrestling Federation, where he adopted the ring name Ultimate Warrior ^[10]

World Wrestling Federation: The first stint (1987-1991)

As a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) performer from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, the Ultimate Warrior was known for his high-energy ring entrances, which featured him racing into the arena at full speed, bursting into the ring, and violently shaking the ropes up and down. He was also known for his distinctive pattern of face paint.

Warrior enjoyed two stints as Intercontinental Champion, defeating The Honky Tonk Man (in 31 seconds at the first ever SummerSlam in 1988) and Rick Rude at SummerSlam 1989. The Warrior was heralded as the wrestler to carry the torch after the pending retirement of Hulk Hogan in 1990. Following a few confrontations with Hogan, most notably at the 1990 Royal Rumble, the Warrior was written in as Hogan's opponent for WrestleMania VI. Ultimate Warrior defeated Hogan on April 1, 1990, at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, in the main event (which was billed "The Ultimate Challenge", as both Hogan's WWF World Title and Warrior's Intercontinental Championship were on the line) of WrestleMania VI. The Warrior retained the title against the likes of Rick Rude, Randy Savage, and Ted DiBiase ^[11] before dropping the title at the Royal Rumble in January 1991, dropping the belt to Sgt. Slaughter (thanks to interference by Randy "Macho King" Savage). ^[12] ^[13] ^[4]

Warrior gained revenge on Savage at WrestleMania VII, pinning him in a "retirement match." Thereafter, he became embroiled in a brutal feud with The Undertaker after Undertaker and his manager, Paul Bearer, locked Warrior in a coffin on the set of Bearer's Funeral Parlor (one of the WWF's biggest "evil" incidents to that time; the Warrior's life was portrayed as being in danger as Bearer sealed the casket shut, and Vince McMahon frantically reminded the audience that he had a limited air supply as WWF officials worked feverishly to break the casket open. When they finally managed to open the coffin, the TV cameras showed the Warriors lifeless body, and the fabric on the inside of the coffin being all torn up. Indicating the Warrior was scratching at the coffin from inside frantically to get out. Providing even greater evil effect. Eventually, Jake "The Snake" Roberts offered to help Warrior in his feud, but wound up turning against him. In spite of this, Roberts' impending feud with Warrior was quickly scuttled.

In August 1991, Warrior was involved in an alleged pay dispute with WWF/E owner Vince McMahon. WWE alleges Warrior had put a figurative gun to Vince McMahon's head and threatened to no-show for the main event for SummerSlam teaming him with Hulk Hogan against Sgt. Slaughter, Colonel Mustafa, and General Adnan unless he was paid a certain amount of money. Warrior responded on his website to these allegations by stating he was owed money stemming from work performed at WrestleMania VII. Vince McMahon reportedly fired Warrior after the incident; Warrior states he left the company.

During his time away from the WWF, Warrior opened the short-lived "Warrior University", a professional wrestling school based in Scottsdale, Arizona. According to Vince McMahon in The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior, no one actually graduated from the school.

World Wrestling Federation: The second stint (1992)

Upon returning at WrestleMania VIII (to rescue Hulk Hogan from a beat-down at the hands of Sid Justice and Papa Shango), he received a degree of creative control over his bookings. Many fans may remember the Papa Shango angle, in which the "witch doctor" cast a spell over Warrior, causing him to convulse and vomit in very odd colors, though Warrior says he hated that story and had no control over it. ^[14]

Rumors and urban legends began around this time (and still persist to this day in some fan circles) that the original Ultimate Warrior and Dingo Warrior were not the same as the one who returned to wrestling in 1992, 1996, and 1998, and it was believed that the original Warrior had died. When the Ultimate Warrior returned to the WWF in 1992, it was rumored that Kerry Von Erich was playing the part, since Warrior's hair was much shorter than before; however, this has been shown time and time again not to be the case. The character had always been played by the same individual. The reasons for this confusion include the storyline which featured Warrior being "locked in an air-tight coffin" by The Undertaker (whom he was feuding with at the time) and his musculature's drastic changes, provoked by the presumed reduction (or cease) of anabolic steroid use occasioned by Titan Sports' legal troubles over the alleged distribution of performance enhancing drugs. It was around this time (mid-late 1992) that Warrior sported a "Muscle Outfit," a flesh colored spandex singlet with muscles printed upon it.

Late in 1992, Warrior was scheduled to be the tag team partner of Randy Savage at Survivor Series. Weeks before the event, however, Warrior and WWF found themselves at odds again, arguing over who had creative rights to the Ultimate Warrior name and over creative differences as to how the Warrior's character should be used. Though popular belief was that the Warrior was actually supposed to start a feud with Nailz, the WWF states that his reason for leaving was a "violation" found in his system during a random drug test. This occurred at the height of Warrior's ongoing marketing/financial differences with Vince McMahon. Titan Sports—and specifically, the WWF—was under intense scrutiny of its drug policies including "performance-enhancing" drugs, the most prominent being steroids. Warrior has claimed to have had test results that show he was not using steroids during this period. Warrior has stated that he and fellow wrestler, Davey Boy Smith, were used as scapegoats during Vince McMahon's steroid litigations. According to Bret Hart during an interview with the Below the Belt show, the WWF was actually preparing to have a Hart/Warrior match at Royal Rumble 1993. After he left, Warrior was replaced by Razor Ramon. ^[15]

World Wrestling Federation: The third stint (1996)

After several years spent mostly outside of the wrestling limelight, Warrior returned to the WWF in 1996, squashing future superstar Hunter Hearst Helmsley (now known as Triple H) at WrestleMania XII. Triple H refers to this match as "not my best event," and has referred to Warrior as "the most unprofessional guy I have ever worked with." Following WrestleMania, Warrior participated in brief feuds with Goldust and Jerry Lawler.

The WWF terminated Warrior's contract when he took time off allegedly to grieve the death of his father. WWF owner Vince McMahon claimed that Warrior had not seen his father in ten years and didn't care much for him; therefore, he did not take Warrior's excuse for missing bookings at face value. Warrior disputes Vince's explanation, claiming that the real reason why he no-showed those events was a breach of contract by McMahon.

In 1995, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) introduced The Renegade as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage's "secret weapon," using ring attire and mannerisms that closely resembled Warrior's. The man who portrayed Renegade, Rick Williams, was later used as Warrior's stunt double when Warrior himself performed in WCW for a brief time in 1998.

World Championship Wrestling (1998-1999)

WCW signed Warrior in 1998, and gave him a degree of creative control over his matches, considered by some to be a foolish move. His debut drew huge audiences and ratings, but the benefits did not last. He created a storyline where he formed a stable opposing Hulk Hogan's New World Order: the "One Warrior Nation." The acronym OWN (One Warrior Nation) was a play on the name nWo. Highlights of the unpopular storyline included Warrior kidnapping and "converting" The Disciple and frequent instances of "magic smoke" knocking out all of the nWo members except for Hogan (and covering Warrior's movement through a trapdoor in the ring). Davey Boy Smith suffered a near career-ending injury when he landed on Warrior's trapdoor at Fall Brawl '98; Perry Saturn was also injured by the trapdoor, though not as severely.

Warrior only participated in three matches in WCW. The first was the War Games main event (along with seven other wrestlers) at Fall Brawl. Diamond Dallas Page would win that match. On WCW Monday Nitro, he teamed with Sting to defeat Hogan and Bret Hart by disqualification, a match in which he had virtually no participation besides singlehandedly chasing several nWo members down the entry way, whipping them with Hogan's belt. The third was his loss to Hogan at Halloween Havoc, in what is widely considered to be one of the worst pay-per-view wrestling matches ever.^[16]

In the build-up to their match at Halloween Havoc, Warrior played mind games with Hogan by projecting backstage "apparitions" of himself in a mirror that only Hogan could see. The WCW storyline portrayed Hogan as "cracking up" in seeing these apparitions. However, the announcers could also see them, as well as the television audience.

In the Halloween Havoc match, the timing of the maneuvers and hits was very poor; an arm injury that Warrior received at War Games further slowed the action. An attempt to "blind" Warrior with a fireball backfired when Hogan faced complications igniting a piece of flash paper, causing the fire to go up in Hogan's face instead. The match finally came to an end when Horace Hogan hit Warrior in the back with a chair while Eric Bischoff had referee Nick Patrick distracted. Hogan then scored the pinfall, ending the match.

WCW claimed that attempts were made to save the storyline and re-sign Warrior, but he was said to have asked for too much money, and WCW ended negotiations. In a DVD shoot interview available through online sources, Warrior claims that they simply decided not to call him any more, despite his having phoned WCW general manager Eric Bischoff 16 times after the Havoc debacle. He has further indicated in interviews and convention appearances that the only reason he was brought back was so Hogan could get a win over Warrior in return for Hogan's WrestleMania job. Warrior has further described Hogan as "insecure," and has indicated that a weekend stay at Hogan's Tampa home prior to the October 1998 PPV was "an eye opening experience." Warrior's last appearance in WCW was the Nitro after Halloween Havoc, when he chased nWo Hollywood out of the ring in a "shmaz" (multiple participant no-finish). He announced his retirement the following year. According to the book The Death of WCW, Warrior supposedly insisted upon a new contract picking up where the previous one left off in exchange for the Halloween Havoc job, though this claim is largely unsupported. ^[14] ^[17]

The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior documentary

On September 27, 2005, WWE released a DVD documentary focusing on Warrior's retrospective wrestling career, entitled The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior. The DVD featured clips of his more notable feuds and matches along with commentary from WWE stars past and present (many of which are unflattering). The DVD has provoked some controversy due to Warrior's own allegations of libel by WWE against him. Originally, Warrior was asked to help with the production of the DVD, but as he refused to work with WWE (citing he did not want to be associated with their promotion), there has been some resulting animosity between Warrior and WWE over the content with Warrior claiming bias on the part of WWE. ^[18]

Nu-Wrestling Evolution (2008-)

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During an April 19, 2008 Nu-Wrestling Evolution event in Madrid, Spain, Warrior was presented with an award celebrating his professional wrestling career in front of over 15,000 attendees. During the presentation, NWE Champion Orlando Jordan mocked a fan of Warrior's, resulting in a heated argument between Warrior and Jordan. As a result of the exchange, a match between Warrior and Jordan was scheduled for June 25, 2008 in the Palau Municipal d'Esports de Badalona in Barcelona, marking Warrior's first professional wrestling match since October 1998. Warrior's agent, Bernie Gernay, released a statement saying:

"For over 10 years this is what the entire wrestling world has been waiting for, the return of the Warrior. We are excited to bring back the greatest character and energy to ever get into the ring. Ultimate Warrior is an incredible marketing machine and has kept a tremendous value to his name which is why the NWE has stepped up with a substantial deal that worked very well for both sides. There is no disputing that Warrior left a mark on professional wrestling that no other talent did and the reason why still today he is often imitated, but never duplicated. Over the next few days the NWE will inform fans of the preparations for one of the biggest and most important wrestling events ever to be held in Europe. As the news progresses it is sure to be the headlines of wrestling news and forums throughout the Internet and will most certainly have all in the wrestling industry and fans alike in great anticipation to see what the Warrior will deliver on June 25th, and perhaps beyond."

While promoting his appearance on a radio show on KISW in Seattle, Washington, Warrior floated the idea of facing WWE Chairman Vince McMahon at the April 5, 2009 WrestleMania XXV pay-per-view.^[19]

Motivational speaking career

Warrior formally retired from wrestling in 1999, and has found a new career as a conservative speaker and commentator, denouncing left-wing politics. In one instance, he mentioned that "queering doesn't make the world work" (44:20-46:50 of the video) during a speech at the University of Connecticut. Warrior has explained those comments on his website as meaning that the human race would die out if everyone were a homosexual. ^[2] ^[20]

Personal life

Trademark and libel ligitation

In 1993, Jim Hellwig legally changed his name to Warrior in order to retain the legal rights to use the name outside of the WWF. The one-word name appears on all legal documents pertaining to Warrior, and his children carry the Warrior name as their legal surname. The ultimatewarrior.com domain is registered to "Mister Warrior".

Warrior and the WWF engaged in a series of lawsuits and legal actions in 1996 and 1998^[21], where both parties sought a declaration that they owned the characters, Warrior and Ultimate Warrior, under both contract and copyright law. The court ruled that Warrior was legally entitled to use the gimmick, costuming, face paint designs, and mannerisms of the "Warrior" character. ^[2] ^[15]

In January 2006, Warrior filed another lawsuit against WWE in an Arizona court over the depiction of his wrestling career in The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior DVD.^[22]

Comic book

Beginning in May 1996, Warrior began writing with Jim Callahan and The Sharp Brothers illustrating a comic book entitled ‎WARRIOR, featuring himself as the main character. The comics sold well in the first two months of their distribution, before sales slowed and the comic was taken out of circulation in early 1997.

According to Warrior, six issues of the WARRIOR comic book were created, as well as a "Warrior Graphic Novel that revealed the story behind the creation of Warrior’s Comic Book Universe". However, only the first four issues of the comic were actually produced.

Blog

Warrior maintains a blog on his personal website entitled "Warrior's Machete", where he discusses his personal life, his personal views on politics, sexuality, patriotism, and his legacy as a wrestler, amongst other topics. There have been numerous instances where Warrior has used the blog to address his viewpoint on members of his wrestling past (Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger^[23] ); historical figures (Martin Luther King, George Washington, Jesus^[24] ); and celebrities who were newsworthy at the time of the blog (Heath Ledger^[25], Paris Hilton^[26] ). He's even used the blog to post replies to letters from fans - both positive and negative.^[27]