411’s A&E Biography Report: Ultimate Warrior

-With Dark Side of The Ring focusing on Warrior this Thursday, I figured it would be best to recap A&E’s Warrior show. As you may know this series by A&E is in line with the WWE though last report I saw mentioned that WWE doesn’t have as much control as you would think and each episode has a different director. The consensus has been that the Savage one was a hit piece though I have seen all of them and talk of drugs and non PG things have been covered. Let’s get to it!

-Start with Vince directing Warrior before he cuts one of his legendary, out there promos that seem insane, but are memorable as all get out. As we see highlights from Warrior’s career, one of his daughters is preparing for ballet and mentions her father taught her and her sister the following creed: “Live Strong, Act Bold, Be Brave, Nothing is Too Hard to Do, Always Believe.” David Shoemaker says that The Warrior we saw beat Hulk Hogan is separate from Jim Hellwig. He was a man that was complicated to get a grasp on and he wouldn’t have been The Warrior without the pain in his early life. His daughter says we have only seen saw small snippets of the man she knew. He would tuck them in when they were younger and read stories but leave out the bad parts. The time for that is over as she says the last 7 years have shown you can’t censor anything. This is the story of The Ultimate Warrior: read the full book!

-We meet Warrior’s Mom, Donna Stull. She talks about how skinny he was and wishes she could have found a football picture she has of him. Next we meet Chad Venters, PhD who is Warrior’s Biographer. He tells us Warrior is the oldest of 5 siblings as he has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. His football coach, Gary Pate, takes us to Warrior’s mobile home that he grew up in. A High School friend, Ryan Beck, tells us about Crawfordsville, Indiana, which is a blue collar town of 18,000. A sign lets us know it is the home of “Ben Hur.” Warrior was a mama’s boy as his father left the family. His mom says that all 3 boys had shame for their father after he left. He (father) would come back to go to ball games and mushroom hunting, but would never see his kids. That sucks! Warrior was 10 when his dad left and it devastated him. His mom had to work and knows Jim didn’t get all the attention he needed.

-He soon became a have-not because his mother was now a working single mother. Chad mentions the community rejected them and it gave him the idea that he was going to show everyone what he could do. He found solace in sports and that is where he met Coach Gary. He went to Fountain Central High School and got heavy into weight lifting. He and his coach would lift together and that is how he learned to bond with paternal figures Obviously that makes sense when he ends up meeting Vince McMahon down the line. He would lifts weights at home while staring at posters of Arnold! I will add that the home pictures they have are great and I am sucker for stuff like that as it humanizes these larger than life stars.

-Jim moves to Atlanta for body building and meets Sherri, whom he marries. He starts to win body building contests including Mr. Georgia. His coach mentions Jim’s goal wasn’t to be WWF Champion, but was to be remembered. As a note Warrior is also one of the talking heads naturally and the interviews with him seem to be from what the WWE recorded when he made his return to the company.

-Commercials!

-Mattigan Warrior talks about boxing and she prepares to do so with her coach. It makes her feel like her dad is with her. 2012 interview with Warrior as he talks to a bunch of weight lifters. Mattigan says that as far as becoming a wrestler, “never say never.” Back to the Warrior interview as he talks about his counselor in school telling him to put away his crazy dreams and get a summer job at the local factory.

-Rich Gaspari, bodybuilding legend, talks about how all the muscle you put on is like your armor. David Shoemaker talks about how massive bodybuilding was in the 80s and it was all due to Arnold! The movie ‘Pumping Iron’ made him famous as Sam Roberts and Peter Rosenberg talk about how massive Arnold was in the 1980s. To be a bodybuilder the standard was to move to California and work out at Golds Gym. Jim was getting a lot of work in ads and was asked to come out to California to train for his next contest. He lived in a house with other bodybuilders in Venice Beach.

-One of the guys around was Sting (Steve Borden) and he was introduced to Jim, who Sting mentions had a freakishly big body. Some talking heads discuss steroids and how they were legal back then. Ed Connors (Golds Gym) was the man who invited Warrior to California and mentions people would be shocked if they opened his refrigerator as the steroids had to be kept cold.

-Warrior Speaking Tour at Connecticut in 2008 as he talks about steroids. He tells a local kid doing a story on him that he was told to put in the hard work to get to where he needed and once you get there then do whatever you need to stay there. He wants them to make sure they know he worked hard to get to 295 lbs before he ever messed with steroids. Ed says that Jim’s goals back then were to make money and that was hard unless you won National contests or Mr USA. Just having a good body wasn’t going to make him money in that field.

-Wrestling was the next goal and Ed had a Golds Gym Team of 4 Wrestlers. Sting mentions they had a big monster in the group that disappeared one day and he had the idea to call Jim to fill the void. Ed told Jim it paid $100 a night and he was in as it was more than he was making now. They sent out a picture of all 4 guys and the only person to call was Jerry Jarrett. He said he just needed 2 guys and wanted the two on the left which was Sting and Warrior.

-They made the drive to Nashville, TN and we have footage from Memphis Wrestling (11/23/85) as The Freedom Fighters debut. They both mention they are single which was ideal as he you hear the girls in the crowd squeal. Jimmy Hart mentions they knew what they were doing as they wanted to draw women into the stands. Sam Roberts mentions there was no gracefulness and it was just them hitting people hard. They soon turned heel because of it and The Blade Runners were born.

-The Blade Runners had intensity to offer and the promos were of them lifting heavy weights and wearing mascara. Jerry Lawler says the matches were horrible and they could take time to train them, but says they felt they were ready for the big time because of their physique. Shoemaker brings up that Warrior didn’t like paying dues and just wanted to be a star. Sting mentions the travel and how much they worked in the territory. Sting says they walked out one time and Watts told Sting he was holding his paychecks until he could make a show in Little Rock. Sting tried to get hold of Jim and when he couldn’t, he went and did the show. Warrior was pissed and that ended team. Sting says Warrior just wanted to go off on his own and “he was probably right.”

-Jim goes to WCCW and Dave Meltzer pops is to talk about WCCW and how Jim was perfect for that audience. They had the Von Erichs who had great bodies and attracted the women. Warrior says he showed up and was told he had a Warrior presence about him and someone had a puppy called a Dingo and that is how they came up with The Dingo Warrior. Roberts calls out that he was billed from New York and dingo is an Australian term. Chad mentions Jim got a noticeable following in WCCW and Warrior says the business was moving away from guys like The Crusher and The Bruiser. He calls The Dingo Warrior the poor man’s version of The Ultimate Warrior.

-Jim heads back to Fountain Central for the 10 year reunion. He is 280 lbs of muscle and is back to rub it in the faces of all the people who said he wouldn’t be anything. He was there to celebrate with his friends that were loyal to him. He never forgot where he came from and he is called a loyal friend if you were loyal to him.

-Scott Yager (podcaster) says that Vince saw Warrior in 1987 and knew he had something there, but was going to make it better.

-Commercials!

-Rosenberg says that the WWF was just New York in the territory days, but by the 80s it was The Territory. Yager says that Vince McMahon is as responsible for the success of the WWE as anyone is for anything. He took over from his father and wanted to move wrestling forward. Vince took one look at The Dingo Warrior and created The Ultimate Warrior which was his first attempt at a making a star after his company became The company.

-Roberts talks about Warrior sprinting to the ring. Hulk Hogan, from a 2014 interview, mentions while he had the red and yellow, Warrior had neon. Meltzer mentions that aside from Hulk Hogan, Warrior quickly became the most popular guy they had. Vince says that the audience reacted quickly to Warrior and he realized they maybe had something here.

-SummerSlam 1988: Honky Tonk Man’s reign of terror with the IC Title finally ends in epic fashion as Warrior gives us the greatest SQUASH match in the history of history. Just insane reaction from the crowd. Warrior: “It was fucking awesome.” This was the WWE’s way of letting the world know this was their next superstar.

-We see Warrior on Arsenio Hall as he is becoming a part of pop culture. Vince Russo brings up how some of the boys resented that a guy only 5 years into the business was already getting this kind of push. Shane brings up that Warrior was at times an overgrown kid because he came from a broken home where he had to grow up quickly. The Warrior character was an extension of him and let him live out things he didn’t get to do. Vince (2014) says that Warrior used to stay at their home and was attracted to that kind of environment. The producer asks Shane if Warrior did the dishes and they laugh as Shane says Warrior would have done them if asked.

-Warrior gets into a feud with Andre The Giant which means he is getting pushed every further up the card. Working with Andre makes you a household name if you win. Sam Roberts mentions Hulk Hogan slamming and pinning Andre is what set Hulk-A-Mania in motion and while, I get what he is going for, that is obviously wrong as Hogan was a massive star years before the Andre match. Warrior mentions Andre never did anything he didn’t want to do and it frightened him when Andre told him to slam him. They show a few times Warrior was able to slam Andre and Rosenberg says that this put Warrior on Hogan’s level. Shoemaker: “After you slam Andre The Giant, there is only one place to go and that’s Hulk Hogan.”

-Dana Warrior and her girls look at photo albums. Dana mentions it has been 7 years since they lost Warrior and now they can finally look back on things. It seems Warrior would negotiate with them at Christmas about how good they were and what they deserved. Dana finds it incredible that Warrior was only 5 years into the business and was tasked with replacing the legendary Hulk Hogan.

-Yager puts it best that in the 1980s Hulk Hogan was pro-wrestling. We hear Real American and see Hogan with Johnny Carson. They cut to Vince directing Warrior to be the opposite of what Hogan is doing as he poses in the ring. Chad brings up that Hogan and Warrior had a mutual, professional jealousy. Paul Heyman asks how there couldn’t be a natural jealous between them as Warrior was designed to replace Hulk Hogan. How could Hogan not resent that? How could Warrior not resent Hogan as he is where Warriors wants to get?

-WrestleMania VI: Rosenberg says this match was all the talk of 11 years old or in my case nearly 9 years old. I watched the match at my friend’s house and ran home crying when Hogan lost. I still remember it vividly as I sat next to their washer and dryer as I didn’t want to see how the match was going to end. My friend’s mom broke the news to me and the tears started to flow. Probably a reason I never became a Warrior fan as he beat my hero. Some nice footage of Vince directing everyone during the contract signing. Heyman talks about the insane pressure on Warrior as he had to step inside the ring against Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania and then have the responsibility of living up to everything Hogan did. Roberts mentions it couldn’t be a 5 minute match. They delivered a classic that Hogan had to get Warrior through in the early parts as he was blown up. Shane mentions that Warrior learned a lot from Hogan. It ends as Hogan misses the leg drop (great camera work as the camera goes up with Hogan so we don’t see Warrior roll out of the way). Rosenberg mentions Hogan was still hot in 1990 and Warrior got the clean win. That’s not the same as beating someone on their way down. Shane says that was Hogan and The WWE anointing Warrior. He says that Warrior respected the business and when he came through the curtain he broke down in tears. Warrior says it is about the journey and he was emotional after the match but within a few days he was asking “what’s next?”

-Commercials.

-Warrior’s Title Reign was seen by some as the beginning of the end. Shoemaker compares his rise to that of a missile as the climb is exhilarating but once it hit’s the peak it fizzles out. That’s a pretty great comparison actually! Meltzer brings up that he wasn’t given strong opponents as first it was Rick Rude, who Warrior already beaten. Roberts brings up the feuds with The Undertaker and Jake Roberts (I think both of those were after he lost the WWF Title), but we see Warrior in the snake pit with the cobras and how there was plexiglass between him and the cobra that was staring him in the face. Way to crush my childhood memories!

-Vince Russo again as he talks about all the guys that were jealous of Warrior. The ring with the fans was his safe haven and all the pressure was when he had to go back to the office and the boys.

-Royal Rumble 1991: Warrior drops the title to Slaughter so they can get it back on Hogan. Meltzer says at the time everyone thought Warrior would get a 3-4 year run with the WWF Title, but it ended up only being 9 months. They include the crowd chanting “bullshit” as Slaughter walked out with the title.

-Shane mentions Warrior walked to the beat of his own drum and Taker is here to let us know Warrior was isolated and at times on edge. He also tells the story of Warrior snapping at a kid in an airport and the kids parents were well connected to the WWE. Vince finds out and wants Warrior to tape an apology. This is where things get great as they show the shooting of the apology with Vince giving Warrior vague directions and you can tell Warrior is pissed and doesn’t want to be there. Warrior breaks as he starts cursing as he doesn’t know what to say and wishes he would have said whatever he was accused of saying to the guy. Vince tells him “it’s a fucking work. It’s a work. That’s it.” Warrior: “I am making an apology for something I didn’t do.” Warrior keeps getting flustered and when he finally gets it right Vince thanks him and Warrior storms off. After watching that you can make your own John Cena and China jokes! The next day Warrior writes Vince a letter and the hits keep on coming as years of frustration boil over.

-Commercials.

-Chad calls Jan of 1991 a definitive moment in Jim’s life as his wife file for divorce and he also had the WWE move on from him as champion. Shoemaker says that scars from Jim’s life were coming to the surface. Warrior was having more arguments with Vince and decided to write a letter. Shoemaker reads from the letter as Warrior wants what Hogan has. He wants equal pay to Hogan and gives a list of demands which are basically everything Hogan has. He is pissed about the video taped apology and will stay at home until Vince meets his demands. Damn! Sam brings up that the WWE had been promoting Warrior for SummerSlam as a short term problem but in long term they had been building this Warrior character for years. Rosenberg brings up that Vince is the last person to take kindly to being bullied. Vince calls the letter a kick in the guts and he led Warrior to believe they may be able to make a deal at The Garden, but he couldn’t wait to fire him.

-SummerSlam 1991: Slaughter says Vince told them that Warrior was holding him up for $500,000. Hogan had the idea to toss Warrior to the floor and he and Slaughter would fight in the corner and then Sheik would go out and break Warrior’s leg. Vince ended that talk as he didn’t want a lawsuit on top of everything else. Instead Warrior grabs a chair to chase away Mustafa (Sheik) and Adnan while Hogan and Slaughter finish things. Once through the curtain Warrior is told that Vince is waiting to meet him. Vince then gives Warrior a letter that reads and I am quoting this directly from the screen shot:

“Your principal complaint apparently is that you are not being compensated at the same rate as Hulk Hogan, although Hulk is a living legend, is still much better known to the public, has wrestled longer, is the WWF (retracted) Champion, is in much greater demand for personal appearances, is a bigger star and draw at WWF (retracted) events, is more dependable, and is far more revered and respected by WWF (retracted) fans and by the public at large.”

-SHOTS FIRED! Vince then finishes with “you are a living legend in your own mind.” Vince then suspends Jim for no less than 90 days. Vince says that it showed Warrior just didn’t understand as performers sometimes believe in their persona so much they can’t tell the difference between the two. They discuss how Vince’s approval means so much and Miz says it is huge to hear from Vince that you did a good job. Vince says he and Jim had an unusual relationship as they were both nuts back then (“I’m not nuts now.”) Vince is asked if he thought of Warrior as a son and Vince says not as a son as he only has one son. Good for Vince on that as he does only have one son. He says he can see how people see things like that, but he has looked at his relationship with Warrior as one that could mirror what you see with a Father/Son. Sam isn’t sure if he realized that Warrior may have taken that letter as not a boss being mad, but a father saying “I like him more than I like you.” I mean was anything Vince wrote actually a lie as far as Warrior comparing to Hogan?

-Commercials!

-Heyman says the entire world of wrestling changed in 1992 as steroid use and distribution was illegal and now seen as immoral. Hogan is set to take time off and Vince goes back to the well and brings The Ultimate Warrior back to the WWE. WrestleMania VIII sees the return and the reaction when the music hits is insane. He came back right in the midst of the steroid scandal and is noticeably smaller. Roberts says that Warrior is still jacked, but 1992 Warrior doesn’t have the body of 1990 Warrior. Chad mentions Warrior was still going through a divorce and hadn’t been hitting the weights as hard.

-In 1992 a package is intercepted that was addressed to Warrior’s driver and it contained HGH. Bruce Prichard mentions Warrior failed drug tests and Warrior himself has admitted to failing them. As he takes each test he has to list what meds he is taking. The first time it was motrin and by the time we get to October it is multiple medications for depression and insomnia. In Nov 1992, Warrior gets fired again for violating the drug policy. Warrior: “Shit, I don’t know. Vince needed a couple of scape goats.” People like Hogan and Warrior started to fade to the background and people like Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart are pushed.

-Warrior moves to Scottsdale, AZ and legally changes his name to Warrior. He then launched a school called Warrior University. Dana saw a new gym was coming to town and it was owned by The Ultimate Warrior. She had a pink resume and walked up to Warrior to let him know she needed to run his aerobics program and he shot back, “you need to marry me.” She told him “I won’t even date you.” He followed her around until she finally broke down and dated him and soon they were married. She met her counterpart and they were able to tame each other. She looks back at who they were when they first met and all her husband wanted was to be successful. We see Warrior and Dana at a fan signing from what looks like his 1996 run.

-They discuss The Warrior comic book and somehow Vince and Warrior end up together again. Shoemaker says Warrior’s career was more about returns than the matches. In June 1996, Warrior’s dad dies and his biographer mentions they weren’t close, but it hit Warrior hard. Around that time he started missing shows from the WWE and that’s just something you don’t do. Vince (2005) says from what he recalls Warrior hadn’t seen his dad in 10 years and didn’t care much about him, so it was a weak excuse. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back as he can’t deal with someone like that so he was terminated.

-Paul Heyman brings up that the audience when Warrior was at his hottest in 1990 had moved on to newer things. Warrior then started touring college campuses to speak and one he did at Connecticut made major headlines. Oh boy! Dana asks Warrior what he said and he just told her they would talk later.

-Commercials!

-They have video from The UCONN talk and they prepare Warrior for what may come as some students are passing out handouts that Warrior is racist. His biographer mentions Warrior found a conservative ideology and became a conservative blogger (Warrior’s Journal). Ariel Helwani didn’t like being able to see behind the curtain as every week Warrior was posting something offensive. Here are some of the highlighted texts from his blog:

-”Prejudice is not racism. Prejudice is not bigotry. I am exercising my prejudice, not racism or bigotry….”

-”Same thing with queers (blurred). It doesn’t make me a homophobe because I find homosexuality abnormal (queer) (blurred). “

-”Every one of your American loves is worth more than the entire population of Iraq.”

-The producers ask Dana where his strong political views came from at that time and she answers talk radio was big at the time. Warrior got into Rush Limbaugh as they got each other and it was on all the time in the house. She thinks Warrior was just looking for a big brother. She knew something was wrong when he came back from the speech.

-Here we go as Warrior gives his speech mentioning he is a conservative. “Liberals believe in a utopian society where everything is equal. That Kwanzaa is as legitimate as Santa Claus and Christmas. That terrorists are as legitimate as Revolutionary Freedom Fighters.” The crowd is laughing at him as he continues “that queers are as legitimate as heterosexuals.” Someone shouts “how are they not?” and Warrior responds “Because queering doesn’t make the world work.” The crowd turns hostile and we see someone call him a gutless piece of shit that needs to apologize. Roberts: “As a Warrior fan, I didn’t sign up for that.” Dana says that she was really disappointed and let him know that. She says that Warrior knew he messed up and knew it was bad.

-The Self Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior (my old review is here): Rosenberg calls it a hit piece and at the very least you walked away knowing Warrior wasn’t like by his peers. We see JR, Heenan, Flair and Hogan burying him. Though Hogan did say in the DVD that he liked Jim and he was a good guy. Dana says he didn’t watch the DVD and if she did people wouldn’t be alive. Warrior did watch and Dana mentions it broke a part of him that she was never able to fix.

-Dana says Warrior wasn’t perfect and that ignorance can be educational when we learn and evolve. Mattigan and Indiana talk about their dad and how he was with his “Warrior babies.” Dana says they charted a new course with their family. Randy Montoya, friend and gym owner, talks about getting to know Warrior and how he made everyone feel special.

-Warrior found himself in Santa Fe as art became a big part of his life. Instead of face paint it was paint on a canvas. Jon Gurrola, friend and art collector, talks about his relationship with Warrior and his family. Dana feels Warrior finally found friends that didn’t have vendettas and it gave him peace. He was finally ready to accept the Hall of Fame honor.

-Hall of Fame: Warrior gets inducted by Linda McMahon and walks out with his two daughters.

-Commercials!

-Chad talks about how the WWE had tried for years to get Warrior into the Hall of Fame and he always said no. Vince (2014) said that for whatever reason this year Warrior was a go and Vince apologized for anything he did and just wanted to repair things.

-Warrior’s mom mentions that Hellwig men died young as his dad and grandfather both died in their 50s. Chad thought it was a calculated move as Warrior could be the man his father never was. He could move past the hurt, pride and ego and do something for his family.

-Hall of Fame Weekend: They show Warrior meeting up with Sarge and Ron Simmons. They we get the Hogan/Warrior meeting as they shake hands and apologize to each other. Hogan tells him the tape never should have been made and he loves him. They hug and Warrior tells him he loves him too. Dana says Warrior wanted to repair things with Vince and show him that he had a family now. The smile on Vince’s face is fantastic as you can see how much he enjoyed Warrior getting this moment. Sam says that we are all grownups now and we are happy to see the guy we saw a kid back and happy.

-Monday Night RAW: Warrior gets one final moment with the fans though nobody had any idea it would be the final moment. “Every man’s heart one day beats it’s final beat….his essence and spirit will be immortalized.” Vince gets choked up as he mentions a few days later Warrior died.

-Dana cries as she said everything just felt so good. They were heading to Phoenix for Spring Break and Warrior told her he didn’t feel good and he needed to go to a hospital. That is when she realized something was really wrong. She didn’t want the girls to be scared and one second out the door, he fell over “like an oak tree and I couldn’t catch him.” He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. She had to tell her kids, who she left at the hotel as her thinking was she was protecting them, but now she wonders if she robbed them of a final moment with their dad.

-Heyman says that what Warrior built at home was far greater than anything The Ultimate Warrior ever did and the tragedy is that he finally found the love and put away the hate and that’s when his heart gave up. Leave it to Heyman to sum things up so perfectly and poetically. Shane calls Warrior’s daughters his lasting legacy and they have Warrior’s spirit that he wanted them to have. Chad says Warrior’s story is a human story. Dana says redemption is a heavy burden to place on any one human. She believes the spirit of Warrior lives on in anyone that decides to do better.

-I enjoyed this as I felt they touched on things you didn’t know if they would, while also letting Warrior’s wife give the family’s side of things. There were a lot talking heads with some being more integral to the story than others, but I appreciated any input. Outside of old interviews there was a lack of Hulk Hogan and I wonder if that was on purpose. Vince was rather candid with what he had to say and it was interesting to see his tone change as they went from old interviews to current ones. The behind the scenes stuff was great here and going into detail with the letters from both sides was a nice touch. They did leave out things like his WCW run and suing the WWE over the Self Destruction DVD, but something have to be cut to make a 2 hour (with commercials) show. Next is Dark Side on Thursday to see how it compares to this one and I would guess it won’t have as much of a redemption story. Thanks for reading!