Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

General

Return to Parts Unknown: R.I.P. The Ultimate Warrior (1959-2014)

A Remembrance by Frankie Thirteen

The Ultimate Warrior is dead.

No, for real.

I say that because rumors of his death abounded back in 1992 and persisted for years thereafter, stoked by his reappearance after a suspension with a smaller, sleeker physique. The word was that he had died and was replaced by his cousin, who later also died. Of course, that was hooey.

So when I woke up this morning and was greeted by the news that he had died, my first response was understandably, “For real?” Sadly, this is entirely for real. Warrior–his legal name after changing it from James Brian Hellwig back in 1993–died last night, reportedly after collapsing outside of an Arizona hotel, accompanied by his wife. He was 54.

I wrote an installment last year of my “Why Love the ’90s?” column centered on the wrestling star, and I’ll refer you to that for many of the biographical details:

The man who would be known as Ultimate Warrior was born Jim Hellwig in 1959. He took to bodybuilding as a kid, and was something of a success on the amateur circuit. Hellwig decided to make the jump to professional wrestling in 1985, as part of Powerteam USA, a group of fellow bodybuilders training to be wrestlers. Among the other members of Powerteam was a man named Steve Borden. He and Hellwig split from Powerteam and formed a tag tandem called the Blade Runners. They split within a year; Borden would ultimately reach the heights of the industry as Sting.

Hellwig wrestled in Texas’ World Class Championship wrestling through 1986 as the Dingo Warrior, before joining the WWF the following year. He used the Dingo Warrior name at first, before changing it prior to debuting on WWF television. Depending on who you believe, either he or Vince McMahon came up with the name, but either way, he appeared on TV screens as the Ultimate Warrior.

Once he became the Ultimate Warrior, he found himself with almost instant forward momentum. Within a year of his WWF television debut, he won the Intercontinental Championship from the Honky Tonk Man at the very first SummerSlam in 1988. It took him 27 seconds to do so. He was booked to defeat the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion his history in 27 seconds. From there it was straight to the top, battling the WWF’s top villains inclusing “Ravishing” Rick Rude, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, and Andre the Giant.

He also had a one-off against some guy you might have heard of by the name of Hulk Hogan. About that match, I wrote:

There’s a built-in problem with a Hulk Hogan/Ultimate Warrior match. Neither man has a reputation as a great worker. Hogan could work, but he was really rather lazy except when in Japan. Warrior, on the other hand, was fast for his size, but hardly a technician…well, hardly a wrestler, period. Rather, he had a reputation for being stiff and unsafe. Enter Pat Patterson.

The first man to hold the Intercontinental Championship, and the man credited with creating the Royal Rumble (the greatest gimmick match of all time), Patterson worked with Hogan and Warrior to lay out every move, every hold, every aspect of their ‘Mania main event. When you really pay attention to that match, it’s very simple–two men exchanging an escalating series of power moves in ‘can you top that?’ fashion. And yet, it’s utterly compelling and satisfying to watch–a match as mythic as its build-up.

Uproxx’s Brandon Stroud named it his pick as the second greatest WrestleMania main event of all time. Buzzfeed listed it as the 33rd best ‘Mania match ever, with his classic against the Macho Man the following year topping the list. And I’ll just go on record as saying it is one of my favorite WrestleMania matches of all time, one that gives me that tingly sensation at the base of my brain to this day, and in light of last night’s tragedy, brings me to tears at the very thought of it.

There’s a simple, beautiful reason I love the match: it transcends wrestling in the best way, becoming nothing less than a superhero comic book come to life. It’s too polished to hold up as gritty savagery, too rough around the edges to work as a technical wrestling classic. But it’s elegant in its simplicity, a near-perfect display of ring storytelling amped up to 11 by the gigantic personalities involved.

And make no mistake, Warrior’s persona was enormous. As he once said to Arsenio Hall, “Everything about me is larger than life. Everything I am is big.” From his chiseled body to his feathered mullet to the bright colors of his facepaint and the biceps bulging thanks to the tassels tightly tied around his arms, the Warrior was an amazing sight, his visual presentation not only matched but greatly surpassed by the intensity of his character. His promos were likely everything they teach you not to do when you learn how to wrestle, as often he seemed to ramble on about gods and warriors, power and sacrifice. I wrote in the earlier column that context is key, and that his promos fit a character that seemed to veer between sheer madness and frightening clarity, but there was a greater point I missed until recently, one I finally understand.

At the heart of the Warrior lay a message of determination and discipline, of staying true to one’s principles and bettering oneself through trial. Hulk Hogan preached a similar set of values known as his “Four Demandments” (train, say your prayers, take your vitamins, believe in yourself), but there was sort of a lunatic purity to the code of Warrior Wildness. During his feud with Hulk Hogan, the two were reluctant allies, with Warrior espousing his solitude through lines like, “Every man stands by himself, like the Ultimate Warrior always has!” Warrior told Arsenio he wanted to challenge Hogan simply because Hogan was “the greatest WWF champion there had ever been, but I have not yet been!” He “only breathed the air that smells of combat” and had no patience for so-called normal people, who he and his Warriors “could not understand.”

In 2005, the WWE reached out to Warrior to collaborate on a DVD retrospective. He rebuffed them and they responded by releasing a hatchet job called The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior. To call the documentary unkind would be the polite way to put it. Vince McMahon almost seemed to take glee in ripping apart the Warrior. It was a shameful display, and I actually kind of regret buying the DVD. But thanks to the efforts of new WWE executive Triple H, Warrior and Vince were able to patch up their relationship. Warrior was included as DLC in the new WWE 2K14 video game, and just this past weekend, inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. A new DVD set was produced with his full cooperation and Warrior appeared at Sunday’s Wrestlemania XXX along with the rest of the Hall of Fame class (which included Warrior’s one-time foil Jake “the Snake” Roberts).

More intriguing was his final televised appearance, on Monday night’s episode of Raw. Warrior appeared, sans face paint, but donned an Ultimate Warrior mask to return to his old character, which he likened to an alternate personality. Then he delivered this stirring speech, which may have well been his own eulogy:

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 what makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them bleed deeper and 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 The Ultimate Warrior. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans and the spirit of Ultimate Warrior will run forever.

Less than 24 hours later, he was dead.

Full disclosure: I was a Hulkamaniac as a child, and especially in the run up to WrestleMania VI, the divide between Hulkamania and Warrior Wildness was a polarizing one at recess. I remember having arguments–about as serious as they get for fourth graders, meaning not at all–as to who was better. But in the end, it didn’t matter to the Warrior whether people preferred Warrior Wildness, Hulkamania or Macho Madness. All that mattered was that he stayed true to what he believed. In his Hall of Fame induction speech, Warrior called the WWE “a gearbag” that not only gave him the tools to succeed in wrestling, but the tools to succeed in life. He said that if he could inspire other people to live the virtues he extolled, then he had every right to inspire himself to do the same thing. As one of the most intense and iconic wrestling characters in history, Warrior inspired a generation of fans and wrestlers just as he inspired himself.

We tend to mythologize our fallen entertainment icons, often glossing over their shortcomings and transgressions. That’s the case with the Warrior as well, but instead of feeling obligatory and opportunistic, it’s fitting. After all, the Ultimate Warrior was no less than modern legend, a four-color comic book character come to screaming life. He fought snakes and giants, conferred with gods and conquered titans! On the way to work this morning, I thought back to that match at WrestleMania VI, that great, shining moment where Hercules felled the mighty Zeus. I could barely hold back the tears as I recalled the nine-year-old me watching it on VHS at my grandmother’s house. If the Ultimate Warrior wasn’t much of a technician (he wasn’t), he was still a hell of a pro wrestler in as much as he grasped the fundamental truth of wrestling, that it doesn’t matter unless we all believe.

1 Comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

DISCLAIMER

Forces of Geek is protected from liability under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and “Safe Harbor” provisions.

All posts are submitted by volunteer contributors who have agreed to our Code of Conduct.

FOG! will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement.

Please contact us for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content.

SOCIAL INFLUENCER POLICY

In many cases free copies of media and merchandise were provided in exchange for an unbiased and honest review. The opinions shared on Forces of Geek are those of the individual author.

You May Also Like

Culture

This weekend, Marty Krofft passed away from kidney failure at age 86. With his older brother Sid, the brothers founded Sid & Marty Krofft...

Arts & Culture

If someone can retire at 99, die at 102, and still leave us feeling like we didn’t get enough of him, then it’s fair...

Animation

Actor Kevin Conroy, the most beloved voice of Batman in the animated history of the character, died Thursday, November 10th at age 66 after...

Columns/Features

I lost my friend, Dean Galanis, this week. A frequent contributor to the site, I met Dean my freshman year at Temple University when...