In Memory of: The Ultimate Warrior

There have been many wrestlers that have passed away over the years and there have been a few that have shocked me and there has been some that I have seen coming, and there have been some wrestlers that are still alive that I had been writing their obituary many times over. All of them have saddened me.

Yes I am a wrestling fan and I have been since I was a child and I grew up with Hulkamania and was among the many fans that were shocked in 1990 when Hulk Hogan was defeated at Wrestlemania VI in the Toronto Skydome to the Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior.

Born in 1959 as James Brian Hellwig would go on to become known as just one word Warrior, beginning his career as a bodybuilder Helwig decided to pursue the path of professional wrestling as a tag team known as the Blade Runners with his partner Steve Borden who would also don facepaint of his own becoming the Icon Sting.

I was more familiar to the Warrior under his previous name The Dingo Warrior while he was wrestling in World Class Championship Wrestling here in Dallas.

Many of us who grew up in DFW around this time will remember the Dingo Warrior from the Westway Ford Commercials where The Warrior was the sidekick of Mean Joe Greed.

Also he was one half of the tag team champions with Lance Von Erich and eventually won the World title before vacating it to go to the WWF.

Debuting as the Ultimate Warrior who dominated the competition for a year before going on to dethrone the longest running intercontinental champion The Honky Tonk Man in 22 seconds at the first ever Summerslam event and would retain the title until Wrestlemania V where he would lose the belt to Ravishing Rick Rude with the help of interference at the hands of Bobby Henan. Warrior would regain the title at the second Summerslam.

While being billed as the next Star to replace Hulk Hogan the two’s paths began to cross at the 1990 Royal Rumble where Hogan and the Warrior were briefly the last two In the ring together and began to fight teasing a match that would eventually happen at Wrestlemania VI in a match that was declared Title for Title and would become one of the greatest matches in that era of the WWF.

Warrior pinned Hogan and became the Champion and would resume his feud with Rick Rude facing him again at Summerslam and feuding with Andre the Giant eventually beginning his feud with Macho Man Randy Savage.

Savage would cause the Warrior to lose the WWF Title to Sgt Slaughter after knocking him out during the match giving Slaughter the win.

Warrior and Savage would face eachother in what was viewed as a Career ending match that also featured Sherri and Elizabeth and her reunion with Randy Savage.

The Ultimate Warrior would then begin a feud with the undefeated WWF Rookie Mark Callaway aka The Undertaker. This feud was started by one of the original violent incidents around the time where the Undertaker locked the Warrior inside an airtight coffin during an episode of the Funeral Parlor.

In order to face this far darker threat The Warrior was offered and accepted the help and guidance of Jake the Snake Roberts who had The Warrior take the trials that included being once again locked in a coffin and being buried alive and finally being bitten by a Cobra where it was revealed that Roberts and The Undertaker were working together all along.

This storyline was never concluded as The Ultimate Warrior was booked to team with Hulk Hogan to face Sgt Slaughter, General Adnan, and Colonel Mustafa in with Sid Justice as the Special Referee in  “A Match Made in Hell” at  Summerslam. Warrior and Vince McMahon found themselves in a contract dispute that led to Warrior threatening to No-Show the event and McMahon gave in to Warrior’s demands and after the match was over he was dismissed from the company.

Many fans were not aware of this and the Warrior simply disappeared after chasing Adnan and Mustafa to the back and he did not return.

Hogan went on to feud  with the Undertaker and Macho Man began to feud with Roberts leading to his reinstatement with no sign of the Warrior. Soon Savage began to feud with Ric Flair and Hogan began a feud with Sid Justice and soon announced his retirement after Wrestlemania 8 at the Pontiac Silverdome where he would face Sid Justice and At the end of the Match Sid Justice and his manager were joined by Papa Shango to beat down on Hogan while he was tied to the ropes and the announcers were talking about the end of Hulkamania and that he is all alone and no one can help him.

Those words were almost the cue as the familiar opening riffs echoed through the arena that the fans immediately recognized as they erupted into thunderous applause as The Ultimate Warrior ran to the ring to help his one-time rival to close out the show and that chapter of Hulk Hogan’s career.

Now there was much speculation and rumors about the Warrior at this time, First off Warrior’s physique had changed much at this time due to the fact that WWF due to the impending Steroid scandal began to focus less on the massive bodybuilder wrestlers and as a result longtime muscle wrestlers like Randy Savage and Warrior began to wrestle in shirts and Warrior began wearing a singlet that had muscles painted on it and also he had cut his hair to a slightly shorter length.

As a result of these changes in The Warrior many began to circulate that this was not the original Warrior and that he had died and this man was an imposter.

Warrior quickly began to feud with Shango and even had a brief storyline where Shango had cast a spell on the former champion that would cause him to vomit and at times would begin to sweat black slime while giving interviews.This storyline was concluded but not at Pay-Per-Views but at local WWF House Shows. I was infact in attendance at one of these events where The Ultimate Warrior emerged victorious.

Macho Man Randy Savage was still in the middle of his feud with Ric Flair where he took the WWF title from “The Nature Boy” at Wrestlemania however Savage was booked to defend the strap against The Warrior at Summerslam where Flair and Mr Perfect were involved in the match making both Savage and Warrior believe that Perfect was in the other’s corner when all they wanted was to weaken both of them and a few weeks later took the title from Savage with the help of Razor Ramon where the Warrior suddenly became involved in the frey.

Savage and Macho Man then formed a tag team called the Ultimate Maniacs to face Ramon and Flair at that year’s Survivor Series event.

Sadly this match never took place as Warrior left the WWF yet again as he was caught purchasing Steroids.  The Warrior was replaced by Mr Perfect Curt Henning.

The Warrior was not seen or heard from until 1995.

Months after Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Rand Savage had made the move to WCW Hulk Hogan found himself in a match against Vader and announced that he was going to be aided by an ally and after many segments where a silhouette similar to The Warrior was shown and Hogan would refer to this man as “The Ultimate Solution” many began to believe that this man was in fact The Warrior.

This proved to be false as the man turned out to be the Renegade a young wrestler with many mannerisms to Warrior but eventually Warrior began to appear at indepandant events across the country to dispel the rumors that He had become The Renegade.

Around this time Warrior University was opened where Warrior began to train wrestlers. As well as the Warrior Comic began production.

Then in 1996 in the buildup to Wrestlemania XII it was announced that Hunter Hearst Helmsley would be facing the Returning Ultimate Warrior at the supershow .

Making fun of the rumors about the Ultimate Warrior in the past Jerry Lawler began to speak about he has sources that the Warrior had shaved his head and lost 200lbs.

These rumors had proven to be false as The Real Ultimate Warrior ran to the ring and despite a quick pedigree from Triple H quickly made short work of the man that would become known as The Game.

After the return of the Ultimate Warrior he went on to have some brief feuds with Goldust and Jerry Lawler the main event of that July’s Pay-Per-View was announced as The British Bulldog, Owen Hart, and Vader were announced to face the team of WWF Champion Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, and the Ultimate Warrior.

Again sadly this match would not take place as it was announced that The Ultimate Warrior was being indefinetly suspended by WWF President Gorilla Monsoon for failure to appear where advertised. The last time Warrior was seen was as the subject to a beatdown at the hands of “Comp Cornette”.

Also in 1996 Hulk Hogan turned heel and formed the New World Order aka N.W.O and like was happening in WCW at the time he began to rekindle old rivalries.

In the fall of 1998 The Warrior appeared on WCW Monday Nitro where he confronted Hogan about their past and began to stalk Hogan in the coming weeks leading up to a match at Halloween Havoc.

The Warrior formed what he referred to as the O.W.N, One Warrior Nation, and appeared in episodes of Nitro where smoke would knock out other wrestlers but Hogan who would then face off against Warrior whp would appear with the use of a trapdoor in the middle of the ring.

There were even scenes where Hogan would believe that he was seeing Warrior in mirrors.

Warrior departed WCW soon after Halloween Havoc and retired from wrestling all together.

After a few licensing issues with McMahon and the WWE Hellwig had his name legally changed to Warrior and embarked on the next chapter in his life where he began a career as a motivational speaker and soon began he began ultimatewarrior.com which featured his Blogs on everything from the status of the wrestling industry as well as politics and the world in general.

 The site also featured much of the Warrior's own original Artwork.

Warrior even returned to the ring on occasion.  

In 2011 Warrior and Hogan resumed their feud but this time on the Internet. 

In 2013 Warrior and the WWE mended fences and he was included as a playable character in the WWE 2K14 video game and even was featured in a commercial for the video game.

Finally in 2014 Warrior took his highly deserved spot in wrestling history as he was inducted to that year’s class in the WWE Hall of Fame. As in most inductees he appeared the next night at Wrestlemania XXX in New Orleans, LA.

Warrior appeared again the next night on RAW where he walked to the ring in his suit and tie and eventually donned his familiar Warrior jacket and then he put on his mask where he could address the WWE Universe with his parting statement.

"No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized. By the story tellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make the running the man did live forever. You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend makers of Ultimate Warrior. In the back I see many potential legends. Some of them with warrior spirits. And you will do the same for them. You will decide if they lived with the passion and intensity. So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends, as well. I am Ultimate Warrior. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans. And the spirit of The Ultimate Warrior will run forever!"

Sadly the Warror would pass away less than a day later while walking with his Wife from a Hotel to his car.

I choose not to speculate about Warrior’s cause of death because many so called journalists like Nancy Grace chose to speculate on what happened to him much to her embarrassment.

Instead I choose to remember Warrior as the man that I watched as a child and he was still a hero to many as well as a husband and father, and his Spirit will in fact Live Forever.

RIP Warrior