Warrior (wrestler)

"The Warrior" redirects here, for the South Korean movie The Warrior, see Musa (film).

Warrior (born Brian James Hellwig on June 16, 1959 in Crawfordsville, Indiana) is a former American professional wrestler known to many as The Ultimate Warrior, one of the most controversial and well-known characters in the history of the business. He legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993.

Career

Early career

Warrior began his pro wrestling career as Jim "Justice" Hellwig of Powerteam USA, a group of bodybuilders formed in 1985 by Red Bastien and Rick Bassman, but the gimmick went under when they discovered that, in their estimation, the team had limited wrestling potential. He had been trained by Bill Anderson even though Bassman and Bastien take credit for this.

Of the four members of Powerteam USA, only Hellwig and Steve "Flash" Borden had subsequent wrestling careers (Borden went on to become Sting). They formed a tag team called The Blade Runners with Warrior as Blade Runner Rock when they wrestled in the UWF and on the independent circuit, but the group ended, and Warrior became Dingo Warrior for a short period in WCCW. After WCCW, Jim Hellwig signed with the WWF and was given the name Ultimate Warrior.

WWF Career

As a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) superstar from the mid-80s to the early 90s, the Ultimate Warrior was known for his high-energy wrestling style and his Gorilla Press Slam, in which he would lift his opponent over his head like a barbell and then drop him to the mat face-first, following up with a running splash for his finisher. His matches were generally kept short and frantic, featuring a handful of power moves. The Ultimate Warrior's ring entrances featured him racing into the arena at full speed, bursting into the ring, and violently shaking the ropes up and down. Warrior's string of fast-paced squash matches ended up being a fundamental key to his popularity (the same routine later popularized Goldberg). He was also known for his distinctive pattern of face painting.

The Ultimate Challenge

Warrior enjoyed two stints as Intercontinental Champion, defeating The Honky Tonk Man (in 32 seconds at the first ever SummerSlam in 1988) and Rick Rude before achieving main event status. He was heralded as the wrestler to carry the torch after the pending retirement of Hulk Hogan in 1990. Ultimate Warrior defeated Hogan on April 1, 1990, at SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario in the main event (which was billed "The Ultimate Challenge") of WrestleMania VI. This match is regarded by several fans as "the greatest match ever in the history of WrestleMania" due to the atmosphere, timing of maneuvers, and the build-up (and possibly where the match took place, the massive then-SkyDome, now Rogers Centre, WrestleMania's largest-sized venue). The match itself, minus the powerful atmosphere from the crowd, is not bad itself and considered by many smarks as "Hogan's greatest match." He held the belt until the Royal Rumble in January 1991, dropping the belt to Sgt. Slaughter (thanks to interference by Randy "Macho King" Savage).

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, the macabre 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). Eventually, Jake "The Snake" Roberts offered to help Warrior in his feud, but wound up turning against him; however, Roberts' impending feud with Warrior was quickly scuttled.

In August 1991, Warrior was involved in an alleged pay dispute with WWF owner Vince McMahon. Warrior had put a figurative gun to Vince McMahon's head and threatened to no show the main event for SummerSlam (shown on The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior DVD) teaming him with Hulk Hogan against Sgt. Slaughter, Colonel Mustafa, and General Adnan unless he was paid a certain amount of money. It is unclear whether this sum was an amount the Warrior felt was owed to him (for previous work), or whether it was a new demand. The amount was never disclosed to the public and after the incident, McMahon promptly fired Warrior. He would then be re-hired in 1992.

The Return

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 storyline, 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.

Rumors and urban legends sometimes still persist that the original Ultimate Warrior and Dingo Warrior were not the same as the one who came back 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, as the character had always been played by Jim Hellwig. The reason for this confusion is a 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.

The WWF Steroid Scandal

Late in 1992, Warrior was scheduled to be the tag team partner of Randy Savage (who lost to Warrior in a retirement match at WrestleMania VII) at Survivor Series. Weeks before the event, however, Warrior and WWF were at odds again, arguing over who had creative rights to the Ultimate Warrior name as well as creative differences as to how the Warrior's character should be used. Though this put his WWF future in doubt, the WWF states that his reason for leaving was a "violation" found in his system during a random drug test. It should be noted that this occurred at the height of Warrior's ongoing marketing/financial differences with Vince McMahon, the owner and CEO of Titan Sports and World Wrestling Federation. In addition, Titan Sports—and specifically, the WWF—was under intense scrutiny of its drug policies including "performance-enhancing" drugs, the most prominent being steroids. Davey Boy Smith was released from the company at the same time for providing Warrior with contact information on a doctor who could provide such substances.

Warrior states on his website that his reasons for leaving were due to (1) his disagreements over compensation and marketing rights and (2) that after his title victory over Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI, he felt that he had achieved the height of his career; anything less was bound to be anti-climatic (in a sense, this was true, since at that time, Hulk Hogan was looked at as being virtually undefeatable). According to Warrior, his character was slated to begin a feud with Nailz, a midcard wrestler, and he felt that he was being slowly and unceremoniously pushed out of the spotlight in order to make way for Hogan's return to glory. The WWF however, denied that a Warrior/Nailz feud was in the works on The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior DVD, and they said that they were trying to start a Nailz/Undertaker feud at the time of Warrior's release.

The Return, Part 2

After several years spent mostly outside of the wrestling limelight, Warrior returned to the WWF briefly in 1996, squashing future superstar Hunter Hearst Helmsley at WrestleMania XII. Triple H refers to his match against Warrior as "not my best event." Following WrestleMania, Warrior participated in brief feuds with Goldust and Jerry Lawler, before being fired once again. WWF terminated his contract when Warrior took time off to grieve the death of his father. WWF owner Vince McMahon, by way of explanation, said that Warrior had not seen his father in ten years and didn't care much for him; therefore, he did not take Warrior's explanation at face value, especially since this explanation came after Warrior missed several shows without prior notice. However, Warrior disputes Vince's explanation, claiming on his website that the real reason why he no-showed those events was a breach of contract by McMahon.

World Championship Wrestling

World Championship Wrestling (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 it didn't last. He created a storyline where he formed a stable opposing Hulk Hogan's New World Order: the "One Warrior Nation." The acronym OWN for 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). The British Bulldog suffered a near career-ending injury when he landed on Warrior's trapdoor.

Halloween Havoc Build-up

At its height, Warrior played mind games with Hogan by projecting backstage "apparitions" of himself in a mirror that only Hogan could see. The WCW storyline would have it that Hogan was "cracking up" in seeing these apparitions. However, the announcers could also see them, as well as the home viewing audience. Warrior only participated in three matches, losing a War Games match (along with seven other wrestlers) to Diamond Dallas Page at WarGames after he escaped the cage by force to attack an also-escaped Hollywood Hogan, teaming with Sting to beat Hogan and Bret Hart by DQ on WCW Monday Nitro, and losing to Hogan at Halloween Havoc in what is widely considered to have been one of the worst matches ever.

Hogan vs. Warrior II

In the match, the timing of the maneuvers and hits was very poor; the match was worsened due to an arm injury that Warrior received in the War Games, and an attempt to "blind" him with a fireball backfired when Hogan failed to ignite the flash paper in time, causing the fire to go up in Hogan's face. The match finally came to an end as Horace Hogan hit Warrior in the back with a chair, while the referee was distracted. Hogan then followed up with a Leg Drop, scoring the pinfall and the victory. Many wrestling purists and critics agree that, due to its many creative and organizational shortcomings, this match is worthy of the title of "Worst Match of All Time." It should be noted, however, that Hogan took complete responsibility for the creative downfall of the match in The Self-Destruction DVD.

WCW claims 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. Warrior says that they simply decided not to call him any more, and the only reason why they brought him back was so Hogan can get a win over Warrior to soothe his ego. Warrior's last appearance in WCW was the Nitro after Halloween Havoc, when he chased nWo Hollywood out of the ring. He announced his retirement the next year.

Life Away from the Ring

Warrior officially retired from wrestling in 1999 and for a short time ran a training center for aspiring professional wrestlers called Warrior University (now closed). He has found a new career as a conservative speaker and commentator, denouncing left-wing politics. Most notably, 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. In 2005, he and his company Ultimate Creations Inc. threatened to sue Richard Kyanka of Something Awful for allegedly libelling him on an Awful Link of the Day. The case has not yet been brought to court.

According to a 2000 research study by Turner Networks, Warrior and Bill Goldberg were among the top five most internationally recognized wrestlers in the world, behind Hollywood Hogan and Kevin Nash. In April 2006, WWE.com had a poll for the most deserving person for the WWE Hall of Fame. Warrior received the most votes, but it is highly unlikely that Warrior would agree to join.

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 plummeted and the comic was taken out of circulation in early 1997. The initial success of the comic and its ultimate failure is often attributed to the same things.

As a comic book, fans argued that WARRIOR was a failure: there were virtually no characters other than Warrior, little action, and considerably more text than the average comic (in the first issue, at least one entire page is nothing but text, with a small picture of Warrior in the corner).

In addition, the storyline (some fans argued that there wasn't one) was difficult to follow, as some issues consisted of nothing but pages of WARRIOR walking around and going through physical transformations, with the plot driven by his internal monologue. The dialogue and internal monologues in WARRIOR are written heavily in jargon, Old English, sentence fragments, and extremely long sentences (some contain upwards of a hundred words). Some English majors, writers, journalists, and others who read the comics took note of the use of ellipses in place of most periods, indicating that some of the comics are in fact made up of one gigantic sentence with several pauses spread throughout. Several of the words which play key plot points are in fact made up by Warrior for the purpose of the comic, and every time one of these made up words is used, the action ceases and pages are dedicated to explaining the meanings of these words. The overall plot and internal monologues, when deciphered, are two fold. First, the comics act as an explanation of Warrior's personal belief system. Secondly, on the fictional level, the comics concern the real Warrior's (i.e., Jim Hellwig) attempts to transcend his physical being and become a god.; the story appears to take place within the mind of Warrior as he lies in some kind of comatose state. As the books progress, Warrior expounds on the inner trappings of his personal philosophy and religious beliefs, as he meets his father (who is depicted as a being that is either meant to be God or Jesus Christ), and in one segment seemingly unrelated to the main story, saves a suicidal young woman by appearing to her as an apparition and sucking toxins from her bloodstream with his fingernails after she has overdosed. The final outcome of the story, and the ultimate revelation about Warrior's message and philosophy, remained unrevealed, since the comic ceased production.

In the initial months of publication, all of these things served to help the comic's sales: Fans considered them to be a novelty, or kitsch. Several people who had their comics autographed by Warrior at one of many book signings Warrior held in the midwest only wanted his autograph to add to the camp appeal of what they held to be an extremely ridiculous comic.

The comic's most enduring issue, and the one which has received the most ridicule and is now worth the most money, is one of the final issues, which breaks away from the main storyline into a Christmas tale. The plot of the comic is hard to decipher, as it contains no dialogue, monologue, or text boxes. Inexplicably, Warrior attacks the North Pole, usurps Santa Claus' authority over the elves, and in the final frame, which gained the comic its enduring popularity, a sweaty Warrior forces Santa into bondage gear and poses beside him. The apparent sexual undertones, lack of an actual plot, and non-sequitur nature (nothing from the previous issue served to segue into the Santa attack issue) gained the comic cult popularity, especially on the internet. Though nothing sexually explicit is depicted in the comic, some fans have come to describe it as the "santa rape" issue; more commonly, it is referred to as "the one where Warrior puts Santa in bondage."

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.

The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior

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 (some of which are largely unflattering), the DVD has provoked some controversy due to Warrior's own allegations of bias 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 and his vehement accusations of bias.

It has been argued that, as the DVD is constructed from footage of WWE stars and staff giving retrospective shoot interviews, it is not a true representation of Warrior's career, as Warrior himself had no say in its production. The very title of the DVD does suggest a negative light; the narrative consists of various superstars' own memories and opinions, and as such, is highly subjective. One major criticism levied at the DVD by fans of The Ultimate Warrior, and by Warrior himself, have been that many of the personnel featured on the video have had no past working relationship with Warrior. Jim Ross, for example, did not work with Warrior for a substantial amount of time yet his commentary is prominent in the documentary portion of the DVD; it has also been argued that technically unremarkable wrestlers such as The Brooklyn Brawler have no real basis for offering criticism when discussing Warrior's own perceived lack of ring ability. One of Vince McMahon's main arguments on this DVD stems from Warrior's hostage-like behavior when he threatened to walk out of the WWF before his scheduled three-on-two Handicap match at SummerSlam 1991 unless he was paid a certain amount of cash. Because Vince admits that he doesn't remember the amount of cash that Warrior demanded, fans alike may think that Vince may have made this up on the spot and Warrior had denied it himself. Then again, from another side of the situation, many fans don't really understand the political side of the WWE, and Vince's statement seems to have been supported with Hulk Hogan providing insight to what he and Sgt. Slaughter did before their main event match. Other comments on the DVD, particularly concerning Warrior's motives for no-showing several events, can remain speculation if only due to the lack of input from Warrior himself.

Also amongst the comments appearing on the documentary were notable stars such as Triple H, who was squashed by Warrior at WrestleMania XII, stating that Warrior's lack of professional attitude was a problem for the company, and that he failed to live up to expectations. Triple H admits that on one hand, it was an great moment because he was up against a superstar like Warrior and it was his first appearance at WrestleMania. On the other hand, he also admits that Warrior ruined the experience. Former WCW president Eric Bischoff also stated that while Warrior was one of the big talents from the WWF that he would recruit, Warrior didn't regard some of WCW's rules and regulations very highly. His first promo for WCW Monday Nitro was too long and shouldn't have exceeded the limit. Bischoff also says that Warrior's match with Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1998 was one of the worst wrestling matches in history, instead of being the WrestleMania VI rematch that everyone had hoped for.

Given the documentary's inclusion of archival footage of the Warrior and excerpts from his matches, some of the criticism can be justified upon viewing. His oral skills are indeed curious to any viewer and focused on strange, meandering monologues that employ extensive and esoteric analogies and metaphors. Some say that Warrior's interviews, while intense, really needed to be subtitled as they couldn't make out what he was actually saying. In several sequences, Warrior's ring sloppiness is highlighted and shown onscreen (one particular segment highlights how Warrior nearly paralyzed Bobby Heenan by dropping him onto his head), although it is prudent to note that technical wrestling expertise is much more of a focus now than it was in Warrior's heyday. Warrior is painted in a generally poor light, although his fan popularity, charisma and energy were praised giving some balance and merit to the product, and several wrestlers' comments, particularly those by Chris Jericho and Edge, are clearly affectionate leg-pulling rather than outright hostility.

After the release of the DVD, Warrior was asked to appear on Byte This!, WWE's weekly webcast program, ostensibly to air his side of the story. He refused the offer, instead opting to issue a paragraph-long controversial statement, responding back to the insults of host Todd Grisham by calling him a "queer", and frequent contributor Droz a "cripple." This led to Matt Striker subsequently appearing on Byte This! and performing an unflattering impression of Warrior, including numerous references to the abuse of steroids. Striker, Grisham, and Droz shared several jokes at Warrior's expense, and an edited version appeared on WWE.com days later - the edits chosen giving the segment a less vitriolic feel than what was originally broadcast.

A week after this parody aired, JBL was featured on the show and angrily criticized and mocked Warrior, angry at his recent calling of his real-life friend Droz as "crippled." He angrily called Warrior "absolute piece of shit" and "can't stand the son of a bitch." JBL would, however, admit to the fact that he and Warrior had no previous grudge - he was simply angry about Warrior's original, offensive statements. Here is Warrior's reply to WWE about appearing on Byte This!:

"Of course, I do NOT accept this brainless, disgraceful invitation. Fuck no, I do not. You can rescue yourself, Vince. Do your own damage control. I've no ear for your begging anymore. Only if you were on fire would I help you -- it'd just be too hard to resist pissing on you. Open mic? Then let it truly be open. Let your audience have some fresh air. Flush the toilet bowl once. Let them hear something intelligent, decent, and truthful for once. Give them, Vince, what they want -- just like you are always bragging the WWE does. Let them be proud for just a few moments that the energetic, intense, and colorful Ultimate Warrior persona they loved when they were little kids didn't become a self-pitying, disappointing, broken-down has-been like all the other brittle-minded skeletons traipsing around your locker rooms or now buried in forgotten about graves. Order the queer and the cripple who host the show to read what I have written here and here, and while they do that have them hold up mirrors looking at themselves so they can know exactly the kind of people in your organization I'm writing about. No apologies -- I don't discriminate for the handicapped who sign on to behave degenerately."

Litigation

In 1993, Jim Hellwig had his name legally changed 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 1997, culminating in a court ruling that Warrior was legally entitled to use the gimmick, costuming, face paint designs, and mannerisms of the "Warrior" character.

To counter the negative portrayal of his character by WWE, Warrior began producing his own DVD documentary (buzzmediaproductions.com) and announced that he would release a lot of the official court documents with Titan Sports/WWE to show what he has termed the ultimate truth. However, Warrior later filed suit against the filmmaker he hired to make his documentary, Andrew Wright, claiming that the documentary Wright made was "negative, not positive" and that Wright had threatened to release a very negative documentary unless he was paid more money.

In January 2006, Warrior filed a lawsuit against WWE in an Arizona court, over the depiction of his wrestling career on The Self-Destruction DVD.

Warrior imitations

WCW attempted two failed Warrior impersonations, once in 1993 and again in 1995. "Jungle" Jim Steele wrestled for WCW for a short time, then quietly vanished. A more notable imitation, The Renegade, debuted in WCW as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage's "Secret weapon." Former WCW executives vehemently deny that Renegade's presence in WCW was an attempted catalyst to bring Warrior himself to WCW -- instead claim it to be a poor attempt at re-creating something which was popular in WWF. About a year later, when the real Ultimate Warrior returned to the WWF, Renegade dropped his Warrior impersonation and wrestled as a jobber, later turning heel (WWF at the time was poking fun at WCW through many methods, and in their magazines, they had advertisements for Warrior University. The WWF continued the knock on WCW with a line in the ads saying "Hang up your boots and retire, Renegade!"). Renegade was used as Warrior's stunt double when Warrior himself was in WCW for a brief time in 1998. Rick Williams (Renegade's real name) would commit suicide in 1999.

Warrior influences

Current WWE superstar Batista has mentioned that the Ultimate Warrior was a favorite wrestler of his growing up and pays homage to Warrior by shaking the ropes during matches. Paul London also used the famously high octane Ultimate Warrior entrance in WWE by running to the ring and shaking the ropes. He also wore Warrior's trademark tassels around his boots.

Forthcoming Publications

In a recent audio interview with conservative speaker, Dan Flynn, Warrior revealed that he will be publishing two books in 2007. The first being a strictly ideological work on the core conservative values, and their function in a modern society. Although as yet officially untitled, Warrior hopes the work will be released as America: Get It or Get Out; but the release date of the book is unshown.

He also has plans to release a second book in the second half of the year, which will be part autobiography, part motivation guide. Warrior said that "those looking for a typical cheap wrestling bio about locker room gossip need to look elsewhere. Yes, the book will detail my wrestling career...but it will be from an intelligent, inspiring angle. I'm not interested in detailing the seedy underbelly of an industry I have no desire to be associated with."

A recently rumored release, My Husband, The Ultimate Warrior, written by the former Sherri Hellwig, has been cancelled. There are no further plans for the publication of this project, and all dealings with her agent have been scrapped.

Also, there is speculation that Warrior's former Director of Marketing will be releasing an expose titled Living and Working with The Ultimate Warrior, detailing his experiences as an inhouse employee of Warrior on his New Mexico ranch during the tumultuous year 2005.

Personal Life

Warrior was married to a woman named Sherri but divorced later. In 2000 he remarried, this time to the former Dana Viale (whom he had been dating since at least 1996, as admitted in interviews during his WWF stint then). They now have two daughters: Indiana Marin (5) and Mattigan Twain (3).

External links

The Ultimate Warrior | Bryan James Hellwig

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