Born Jim Hellwig, The Ultimate Warrior was the subject of this week’s A&E Biography episode. The colorful character was at all times one of the most polarizing and one of the most intense Superstars of all time. It’s hard to find people who shared a locker room with the guy who thinks that he was an upstanding human being, but to his family, he was a wonderful man.
To his fans who “always believed,” when the iconic music thumped through the arena and the madman bolted down the aisle at 1000 mph, he was one of the best Superstars ever - complete with some of the wildest promos of all times. No matter what the backstage stories said, it's hard to deny the Warrior's impact on the WWE Universe.
10 “Live Strong. Act Bold. Be Brave...”
“...Nothings too hard to do, just stop me dead. Always believe.” This is the life credo that The Ultimate Warrior had instilled in his two daughters, Mattigan and Indiana. He’d have them write it out and memorize it. The phrase isn’t just marketing from WWE. It was his way of life and the way that both his daughters, an aspiring ballerina (Indiana) and kickboxer (Mattigan) live by. While some of the fans like to put the character front and center, it was his two daughters that were able to remind us all that he had a life outside of the ring and these two ladies loved their father.
9 Warrior’s Early Years
We’re introduced to Warrior’s mom, Donna Stull who had candid pictures of a young Jim Hellwig, the oldest of five siblings from Crawfordsville, Indiana. His mom thought the boy was shy and insecure. Meanwhile, his football coach explained the love Warrior had for his mother, especially after their father walked out on the family.
Stull informed fans that all of her children felt shame that their dad could leave them. This also led to plenty of trust issues for The Ultimate Warrior. But it also led to a 17-year-old Jim Hellwig to adopt an “I’m going to conquer the world” mentality.
8 Bodybuilding Career
Like many aspiring bodybuilders in the late 70s and early 80s, Warrior would lift weights whilst admiring a poster of Arnold Schwarzenegger. His pursuit to have a life in bodybuilding led to him moving to Georgia, where he met his first wife, Shari.
By 1984, the future neon-colored star won Mr. Georgia. He desired to be remembered and he was well on to achieving his goals. The owner of Golds Gym, Ed Connor invited Ultimate Warrior to head to California and train with bodybuilding legend, Rich Gaspari. But the fame and fortune he sought were not going to be found in bodybuilding; which is when Rick Bassman, Sting, and Power Team USA came into the picture.
7 The First Star
Vince McMahon made the WWE into a global phenomenon by coming into the territories and either pilfering other promotions' talents or working with them. But the Warrior was different. He was just another guy, known as The Dingo Warrior when McMahon laid eyes on him. Vince once told Jimmy Hart that he’s looking for the kind of individual that could turn heads at airports.
The neon-colored Warrior was a stark contrast to Hogan’s bright red and yellow. It was clear Vince was putting them on a collision course, starting with the quick defeat of The Honky Tonk Man at SummerSlam 1988 and eventually body slamming Andre The Giant.
6 Relations With The McMahon Family
Shane has explained that due to Warrior’s upbringing, he never got to be a kid. The character was something that he could really sink his teeth into. Warrior was even invited to the McMahon home on more than one occasion to break bread with the McMahon family. He looked up to Vince (as many wrestlers do) as a father figure and, not having the traditional family unit growing up, really admired what The Chairman had with his own family.
5 Legacies
His legacy as a father is what the Warrior family has to remember him by, they shared an anecdote of Christmas mornings with the man. He would write letters of what the girls should improve on in the next year because then Santa might bring them coal. While that certainly doesn’t sound like a nice memory to some, to the Warrior family, that was their father.
His legacy with the fans, according to Dana, will always be The Ultimate Challenge. Warrior was designed to and tasked with replacing Hulk Hogan, a big opportunity at only five years in the business. According to Shane, after he defeated Hogan, Warrior came through the curtain and got really emotional.
4 The Beginning Of The End
Despite not even being part of the WWE during the height of Warrior’s heyday, Vince Russo was a guest on the documentary. But his sentiments that Warrior was uncontrollable and walked to the beat of his own drum was echoed by biographers, fans, Shane, and Undertaker alike.
Whether it was good for his career or bad for his career, Warrior was going to do whatever he wanted to do. According to The Deadman, Warrior once snapped at a kid approaching him in an airport. The kid’s parents had huge connections within WWE. Vince made him record a video apology, which he clearly had no interest in doing. But he did it and then the next day wrote McMahon a letter venting all of his frustrations.
3 The Ultimate Letter
With his divorce going on at the same time as the end of his championship glory, both Warrior’s professional and personal life was spiraling down and he was unable to get control. In the letter he wrote McMahon, he tried a different approach to bargain for and demand the same treatment as Hogan, and that was the last straw.
Warrior essentially told Vince, he’s staying home until he gets what he wants - which would have basically held up SummerSlam 1991. Vince McMahon readily admits that he couldn’t wait to fire him and presented Warrior with a letter explaining that Hogan is a living legend and Warrior is a living legend in his own mind. It hurt McMahon’s feelings because he did have a special relationship with Warrior. Warrior wasn’t happy about the words either and wouldn’t return for several months.
2 The Self-Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior
Becoming a conservative blogger led Warrior to look for a new outlet. But it also led to even more proof that the man behind the neon was not a nice person at all. His controversial rhetoric led to a huge PR nightmare that silenced his speaking tour.
Conversely, the WWE decided to mitigate his name as much they possibly could and put out the aptly titled Self-Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior DVD. The hit-piece showed many stars of past and present burying The Warrior, which according to Dana broke a part of him that even she wasn’t able to ever fix.
1 Always Believe
Despite falling down, part of the philosophy of the Warrior was to fight your way back up. Living in Santa Fe, Mexico, reinvigorated the man and seemingly gave him the solace that he searched his entire life for. It was when he found that solace that he was finally able to trust the WWE to honor and celebrate his legacy by inducting him into the Hall of the Fame.
Nostalgia took hold at that moment in time and The Ultimate Warrior finally came back home. He made one last appearance on Raw and was tragically gone the next night. As he told the fans, the legacy of The Ultimate Warrior will live on forever. But his true legacy will always be his two daughters and instilling the Warrior spirit in them.