From the Bowery: The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior

The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior

-I was a fan of the Warrior and would mark out like crazy if he showed up on RAW, SD, ECW, or in TNA, but I never fully got behind him because I was a Hogan fan first. This was the 1st DVD where the WWE went out of their way to bury a guy. Had Bret not reached an agreement with Vince, we would have gotten another one. I’m sure we will someday get one on Savage and possibly even Brock. Anyway this was the first, and it’s worth a look.

-We open with the Warrior’s music and various footage of his WWF run.

-JR tells us that big, muscular physiques were the fashion in the 1980s, and Warrior and his partner Sting were head turners. Lawler brings them to Memphis, but they are too green and need to learn somewhere else.

-We head to the UWF and The Blade Runners are born. They tried to make Warrior and Sting into their version of The Road Warriors. Blade Runner Roc (Warrior) leaves and heads to World Class as the Dingo Warrior.

-The WWF comes calling and the Dingo Warrior sticks for a few house shows, but Vince doesn’t like the name (“what the hell is a dingo warrior?”). Pritchard tells the story of how Vince came up with the Ultimate Warrior name. “You are more than the Road Warriors. You are more than the Modern Day Warrior. He’s the Ultimate Warrior.”

-Steve Lombardi says he wrestled the Warrior over 50 ties because if he didn’t kill the Brooklyn Brawler, he would be ok. Nice!

-The entrance music and the sprint to the ring are covered next. Jericho is a fan of the music, and various young guys at the time (Edge and Christian) put over how cool the music and entrance were. Jim Johnston, WWE entrance music creator, tells how he created the music. That dude should get a lot more credit for the job he does. Jim Johnston for the Hall of Fame. Jericho notes that the Warrior was usually blown-up before the match started, so the matches had to be less than 2 minutes. The entrance was longer than his early matches. Hmm, WCW used the formula pretty well about 10 years later.

-His first feud was with Hercules, and the results weren’t pretty. Dibiase notes that Herc needs a special guy to work a good match with him, and Warrior wasn’t that guy. Actually he says it was “the blind leading the blind.” Ouch! JR agrees with Dibiase.

-Heenan mentions the Weasel Suit Match. It was started in the AWA with Greg Gagne, and Heenan wanted to do the match with Hogan. They opted to use it with the Warrior and Heenan was a team player. Heenan’s not a fan of the Warrior either.

-Things get silly as they discuss the Warrior being announced from Parts Unknown (though many before Warrior were announced from the same place). Edge, Christian, and Jericho save things by giving their hilarious thoughts on where Parts Unknown is located. Jericho’s deadpan delivery of his theory is hilarious (“Samu the Russian butcher”). Others just use it as a chance to take a shot at the Warrior. Only Lombardi and Lawler explain things correctly by noting it kept mystery about the character. Heenan claims he was too stupid to know where he was from. Tag!

-The Honky Tonk Man has a mystery challenger at SummerSlam 1988 and it turns out to be the Warrior, much to the crowds delight. One of the most famous moments in Wrestling History occur as Warrior squashes Honky in 31 seconds to end his 15 month reign as IC Champion. They discuss how this established the Warrior as a dominant figure in the WWF. He was on the verge of greatness now.

-Vince saw dollar signs and we get a ton of Warrior merchandise to go with smart marketing. Hogan notes Warrior came into the business at a time when wrestling was very hot. Vince says he captured the attention of an audience who wanted more of a rebel (10 years later that would work for Vince in the vein of Stone Cold Steve Austin).

-Now the discussion switches to the promos that the Warrior cut. It’s true that they were way off the wall, but that’s what made them special. They weren’t generic, cookie-cutter promos like we get today. JR thinks they need sub-titles. Some would say the same about you, JR. Again, the young guys bring the awesome as they do their own Warrior promos. They need to put Jericho on everyone’s DVD. The guy is gold! Flair goes out of his way to bury the Warrior. Edge and Christian discuss the legendary Warrior promo from WM VI where the he wants Hogan to hijack a plane.

-Rick Rude enters the picture and does the seemingly impossible as he upsets the Warrior and wins the IC Title at WM V. Everyone (including Hogan) put over Rude and how he was able to give Warrior his best matches up to that point. JR puts over how much patience Rude had to have to deal with the Warrior night in and night out. Heenan discusses the beating he took from the Warrior at the end of the WM V match. He mentions that Warrior legitimately injured him with the press slam.

-Warrior moves on to a feud with Andre the Giant. What’s crazy was that across the country Warrior got to slam the Giant night after night and beat him in less than 4 minutes. Everyone mentions that Andre never liked the guy and wanted to get the matches over with as soon as possible. Heenan relates a great story where Andre teaches the Warrior some control in the ring by stiffing the shit out of him. Dibiase says it made him sick because Warrior never appreciated what Andre was doing for him. That’s one thing you can’t say about Hogan. He has also spoke highly of Andre and has always been grateful for what Andre taught him and did for him at WM III.

-Royal Rumble 1990: Hogan and Warrior are left alone in the Rumble and the crowd collectively pisses their pants. It was an incredible moment that set-up WrestleMania VI. Hogan, as the WWF Champion, wins the Rumble by eliminating Mr. Perfect. Rumors are that Perfect was supposed to get the nod, but had to settle for 2nd and the IC Title.

-The Ultimate Challenge: Jack Tunney announces Hogan vs. Warrior and Title vs. Title at WM VI. The promos from the 2 men were equally whacked, but nobody mentions how insane Hogan’s promos were. This match marked the high point of the Warrior’s career. Everyone puts over Hogan and how he seemingly passed the torch that night. Slaughter mentions that the match was 100 times better than he thought it would be. Edge mentions that even with Hogan’s approval, he could not support the Warrior because he defeated his hero. That was basically the same for me. I actually ran home crying (I was 9 at the time) when Warrior won the match. Who really roots for the team that knocks your team out of the playoffs? Hogan strokes his ego by mentioning that the 68,000 were watching him leave the ring instead of the new Champion celebrating in the ring. Everyone else mentions that Warrior was now a made man, and the face of the promotion.

-The problem was that never really happened. Hogan never completely left and the fans never saw the Warrior as the #1 guy with Hogan around. Sure, he was incredibly over, but he was still clearly behind Hogan. Lombardi puts over how the Warrior improved once he became the WWF Champion.

-A brief feud with Dibiase in the fall on 1990. Dibiase mentions he never had a problem with Jim, and that they had the best matches they could. He believes the Warrior respected his wrestling knowledge and that made things easier. We get the finish to their SNME match in Nov of 1990. The ending sees Savage attack the Warrior and that leads to his next career defining moment.

-The Savage/Warrior feud intensified when Warrior turned down Savage’s request for a title shot. Sherri basically offered Warrior a night of sex for a title shot, and Warrior still turned it down. Savage became a pissed off pimp and blasted Warrior with his scepter at the 91 Rumble, which caused the Warrior to lose the WWF Title. Lawler claims that Warrior and Savage were a perfect pair because neither made a lick of sense. See, I have a problem with that because Savage was a great promo guy. Just check out the shit during the Jake feud and tell me that guy didn’t know how to get his point across. Hogan puts over Savage (as my jaw hits the floor) and claims the Warrior was in good hands at WM VII with Randy. We see the end of the match and it was quite awesome.

-We go back a little as we see Warrior’s title reign come to an end at the 1990 Royal Rumble. Slaughter maintains he had to wear a bullet proof vest during his time as an Iraqi Sympathizer. I am waiting to hear the story about the bomb threat, but no dice. For some reason we don’t see Savage blasting Warrior in the head with the scepter to give Slaughter the title. Instead we just see Slaughter getting the pin. I guess they wanted to protect Sarge and get fans to think he won the title cleanly. Way to rewrite history there.

-SummerSlam 1990 sees Warrior/Hogan against Slaughter/Adnan/Mustafa (Iron Sheik) in the Match Made in Hell w/ Sid as the ref. Before the match Vince claims that the Warrior demanded a pay-off before he would go out there. Hogan goes gangster and thinks Sheik should break his leg. What is it with everyone wanting the Sheik to break people’s legs? The match goes on because Vince delivers what he promises to the fans (HA-HA). The Warrior doesn’t figure in the decision as he chases everyone but Slaughter to the back. Hogan gets the pin, and Vince fires Warrior immediately. He claims he still paid him the money. To be fair Warrior has maintained that the money was owed to him from WrestleMania VII. Slaughter and Hogan state that there is a time and place to dispute your pay, but it shouldn’t be done in the manner the Warrior did it. I tend to agree with them if the Vince side of the story is true.

-Vince is a very forgiving man and he decides to give the Warrior another shot. In one of the most shocking moments in WM history, the Warrior returns at WM VIII to save Hogan from Sid and Papa Shango. We get video footage and to say the crowd loses their mind would be an understatement. They actually discuss the rumors that this was a new Warrior because Jim had died. I remember having that conversation for years with friends and none of them would believe that it was the same guy. Somehow even my parents bought the rumor that the original Warrior was dead.

-Once he returned he was placed in a feud with Papa Shango. The story goes Shango placed a curse on the Warrior and we gets weeks of Warrior puking and green tar/blood running down his face. Gene claims the feud was well done, but the matches were horrible. The older guys bury the Warrior and claim nobody liked him. Vince gives him a compliment by stating there was another side to Jim, but nobody ever saw that side.

-Warrior is fired in 1992 for failing a stringent (HA HA) drug test at the time. Vince can be a funny man at times. The Warrior maintains he and the Bulldog were scapegoats due to the pressure from the Feds on Vince.

-In 1993 Jim Hellwig legally chances his name to “Warrior.” All of his children have the surname of Warrior. This is not uncommon though as Rick Rude legally changed his name as well. A legal battle ensued over who owned the intellectual property.

-Vince brings him back one again in 1996. It was hyped for WM XII and they showed video after video of him beating current WCW Stars Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. Warrior goes on to bury HHH at WM XII, and HHH claims Warrior is one of the most unprofessional guys with which he has ever worked. To defend HHH, he made this claim back in 2000 as part of the 8-hour pre-show coverage of WM 2000. HHH wasn’t a McMahon family member at the time, and was just at the start of his Main Event push, so he may be truthful when he calls the Warrior a dick-wad. We basically get the entire match. This may be a selling point for all the HHH haters who want to see him do the J-O-B in less than 60 seconds.

-For some reason they decided to do a Warrior/Lawler feud culminating in a match at King of the Ring. It was at this time they introduced a Warrior Comic Book. The feud starts over the fact that Lawler wanted to be the artist on the comic. Now they start reaching for things to bury the Warrior. In this case, Jerry is pissed because the Warrior wore a baseball hat to the ring for a face-to-face interview. Now while it did look a little different, seriously, you’re pissed over a ball cap? A ball cap? Damn!

-Warrior no-shows some dates because his father had died. Vince verifies his father had died, but as his recalls he had not seen his dad in over 10 years and never cared for his father. Vince fires him for a third time, and says he is gone for good.

-The Warrior sues the WWF for $6 million after the firing. This is news to Flair and it drops his opinion of Warrior even more because everything he has today he owes to Vince and the WWE.

-WCW tries to capitalize by bringing in the Renegade as their answer to the Ultimate Warrior. He actually showed up in 1995, so we are backtracking a little again. Bischoff says it was nothing more than a bad attempt to clone the Warrior and nothing more. Nice to see he admitted that.

-His does get a last run and it’s with WCW in 1998. His initial appearance was very strong and the crowd bite huge. Then the Warrior spoke and spoke and spoke. Hogan and Bischoff stand in awe not knowing what to do as the Warrior just won’t shut-up. It is pretty funny seeing the look on their faces. Hogan says Warrior pulled the ultimate no-no by mentioning Hogan never beat a Warrior. Now, I will try to defend Hogan on this. I think his point is that nobody will pay for the match because Warrior just told the world that the babyface has already beaten the heel. A heel can do that because fans will pay to see the face get the win. They won’t pay to see the heel get the elusive win. Of course, the only reason people wanted to see the match was because of their previous match and everyone knew Warrior won that match.

-The rematch happens at Halloween Havoc 1998, and it’s one of the worst matches you will ever see. Bischoff squashes the rumor that Warrior was brought in just to give Hogan his win. Gene even mentions that winning a match 8 years later in a different promotion won’t make up for that loss. Bischoff, Hogan, and Gene bury the match. Hogan admits he blew the fireball spot and it killed the idea that Warrior would make the comeback while blinded. It’s actually pretty funny hearing Hogan bury a match that he was involved (“He didn’t make the comeback blind”). That’s pretty funny!

-Bischoff intended to get a longer deal done, but Warrior wanted more money than the Bisch was prepared to offer. That had to be a shit load of money considering how much WCW was spending at that time.

-Talk shifts to the Warrior doing speaking engagements at various colleges. JR wants to be in the crowd for one of those. Just search You Tube, Jim.

-The DVD wraps with some more shots from the older guys. The younger guys return to put a positive spin by noting that the Warrior made a name for himself and accomplished a lot in this business. Christian: “Like it or not everyone always remembers The Ultimate Warrior.”

Extras

The Ultimate Warrior vs. Terry Gibbs
-Wrestling Challenge (10/24/87)

-Green Bay, WI gets to witness the historic debut of The Ultimate Warrior on Wrestling Challenge. No music at this point, and no sprinting to the ring at 150 MPH either. Monsoon immediately plants the seeds for a feud with Rude by noting that the Warrior is bigger than Rude. Either that or he just wants to annoy broadcast partner, Bobby Heenan. It’s probably a little bit of both actually. Gibbs jumps Warrior from behind and is an immediate no sell. Gibbs bounces all over the place as Warrior shows off his power. He works the arm and then throws some chops in the corner. We get a picture in picture pre-taped interview with Warrior where he gives a patented crazed interview. The usual finishes as he sets a clothesline, press slam, and the big splash to finish @ 1:33.

Winner: The Ultimate Warrior by pin via big splash @ 1:33
-Nothing more than a SQUASH and that’s what it needed to be. The match wouldn’t leave you to believe that this would be the man to defeat both members of the Mega Powers in back to back WrestleManias, as it took some tweaking to get the Warrior character and style down. SQUASH

WWF Intercontinental Title: The Honky Tonk Man © (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. The Ultimate Warrior
-SummerSlam ’88 (08/29/88)

-Most know the set-up for this match by now, but just in case: HTM had held the title longer than any man in history and did so by cheating, getting himself DQ or counted out, or any other way possible. Fans paid a lot of money to see him lose the title, and it never happened. He always survived and it was pissing off a lot of people. Finally, Brutus Beefcake looked like the man to take the gold, but on an edition of Superstars Ron Bass injured him, and now we had a mystery challenger at SummerSlam. MSG plays host to this event and Gorilla Monsoon and Dusty Rhodes are your announce team. Finkel does a great job selling the fact that even he doesn’t know who will be challenging. Honk Tonk Man hits the ring first and gloats: “Get me someone out here to wrestle, I don’t care who it is.” Big Fucking Mistake. The music hits and the crowd goes bat shit crazy. Warrior goes nuts and hammers away on the HTM. He hits a flying shoulder tackle, and finishes quickly with the big splash @ 31 seconds. The reaction from the crowd is something to behold as Honky finally gets what’s coming to him after 2 years.

Winner and New IC Champion: The Ultimate Warrior by pin via big splash @ 0:31
-Quite possibly the Greatest Squash in Pro-Wrestling History. It paid off the IC Run of the Honky Tonk Man, and kick started the Warrior’s push up the card. SQUASH (***** SQUASH though)

Champion vs. Champion: Hulk Hogan (WWF Champion) vs. The Ultimate Warrior (Intercontinental Champion)

-Warrior, like an idiot, sprints to the ring and is gassed before the match starts. Here’s a clue moron: either walk when there is an aisle that long, or take the motorized cart. Thankfully, he would learn a year later. Hogan, getting the bigger reaction (just saying), also ditches the cart, but decides to walk to the ring. It still amazes me that through all the crap this crowd had to sit through, and a marathon show like this, they were still JACKED for this match. The bell rings, and the crowd explodes. Nice visual as both me stare down while wearing their respective titles. Champions needs to wear their titles around their waists more in today’s wrestling world. A shove from the Warrior, and Hogan returns favor (again to a larger reaction). Warrior shoves out of a lock up, and then Hogan does the same (again to a larger reaction). Warrior calls for the test of strength (Greco-Roman knuckle lock, as called by Ventura), and the crowd loses its mind as they takes turns dropping the other to his knees. The Warrior wins the first round, and the crowd begins a Hogan chant. He starts to rise to a massive pop, and now the Warrior gets broken down to his knees: Round 2 to Hogan. This is what you call 50/50 booking to start. The crowd roars again when the Warrior gets back to his feet. Hogan outwrestles the Warrior by using a back leg trip. The criss cross of Doom spot is run, and Hogan hits a scoop-slam (no sold by Warrior). Back to the criss-cross and now the Warrior hits the press-slam, which Hogan does sell. Advantage Warrior. Hogan gets dumped to the floor with a clothesline, and sells a knee injury. He collapses on the outside, as the crowd looks concerned. Smartly, Warrior goes outside and stomps the knee. The Hogan sell job continues, but the Warrior has no mercy and fires Hogan into the ring. Hogan goes to the eyes (much to Jesse’s delight), and basically forgets the knee injury. Corner clothesline (always liked that move) from Hogan, and the crowd counts along as he hits the 10-punch count in the corner. Monsoon does a great job of covering for the no sell of the knee injury. Hogan turns a front face lock into a small package for a two count, and fires away with some right hands. Stiff clothesline sends Warrior to the canvas, and Hogan hooks the leg for a two count. Hogan keeps going for the win as he hits a back-breaker, but it only get TWO. Hogan applies a reverse chinlock, and the Warrior fans try to get their guy going. Hogan continues to bust out the move-set as he hits a pretty good belly to back suplex for another two count. Back to the chinlock, and the crowd gets the Warrior to his feet. Elbows from the Warrior break the chinlock, and both men clothesline each other. Hebnar starts the count, and the crowd counts along with him. Warrior sits up first, and Hogan follows suit. Both men get to their feet, but Warrior starts shaking the ropes as he no sells Hogan’s punches. Multiple clotheslines from the Warrior, and he throws Hogan from corner to corner. A snap suplex gets a two count for the Warrior. Now it’s Hogan’s turn to sell a rest hold, as Warrior applies the bearhug (looked more impressive when Andre did it). Unlike the chinlock from earlier, the bearhug sequence goes on a little too long as the crowd goes quiet for the only time in the match. Hogan’s arm drops twice, but he starts to rally on the third attempt. The crowd explodes, and Hogan breaks the hold. Hebnar gets wiped when Hogan ducks a shoulder block. Warrior busts out his move set as he steals from Savage and hits a double axe. He heads to the opposite corner and hits another one. Warrior hits one too many ropes, and gets driven head first into the canvas. Hogan covers, but there’s no ref, and Hogan gets a taste of his own medicine. Warrior hits a belly to back suplex, and he gets a cover with no ref. Now both men have a visual cover over the other without a ref. Hebnar crawls and begin the count, but Hogan kicks out at two. A roll-up from Hogan and that gets a hot near fall. Warrior gets dumped over the top with a back elbow, and the two men brawl on the floor. Hogan takes a weak shot into the post, and both men roll back in the ring. More clotheslines from the Warrior, and he goes for the Gorilla Press Slam. He barely gets Hogan up and almost screws up the move because he is so exhausted. Hogan starts to Hulk up after a two count, and the crowd has officially lost it. Hogan points the finger and fires away with right hands. Big boot, and the leg drop MISSES. Warrior quickly hits the splash, and covers for the 3 count. Half the crowd is shocked and the other half is thrilled beyond belief. Hebnar hands the WWF Title to Warrior and he has to blow him off, so the torch passing isn’t ruined. Hogan gets his belt, and hands it to the Warrior. The two men embrace, and Hogan leaves the ring as the pyro ushers in a new era in the WWF (not really, but the thought was there). Ventura stuns me by actually putting Hogan over (“I do believe Hulk-a-mania will live forever”).

Winner and New WWF Champion and still IC Champion: The Ultimate Warrior via pin after splash at 22:51
-This was a terrifically booked match that played to both men’s strengths, and had the advantage of featuring an insane crowd. Hogan did quite the job in carrying a blown-up Warrior in the early parts of the match, and the end sequence was chalk full of drama and hot near falls. This was certainly an epic match, and one that is worthy of all the praise it received. ****1/4

WWF Championship Steel Cage Match: The Ultimate Warrior © vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude (w/ Bobby Heenan)
-SummerSlam ’90 (08/17//90)

-Warrior was now the #1 guy and needed someone to put him over to put the stamp of his run as Champion. Enter Rick Rude who was seen as an immediate threat because he had defeated Warrior at WM V for the IC strap. This is the classic blue bar steel cage and is by pin fall or escape rules. The steel cage is there to keep Heenan from getting involved like he did at WM V. Rude wants all the fat, out of shape, Pennsylvania Piss Ants to keep the noise down. Hey now, I from Pennsylvania. That hurts my feelings. Good pop from the crowd as the Warrior sprints to the ring. Warrior climbs the cage to enter, but Rude meet him and both men slug it out from the top of the cage. Rude falls and Warrior seemingly can just go right back down, but he opts to pound on Rude some more. Piper thinks Rude should tie Warrior’s armbands to the cage. Smart man there! Rude gets bounced around the cage as I continue to enjoy the commentary provided by Piper. Warrior misses a dive and eats steel cage. Rude takes that opening to start his climb. Warrior cuts him off though, but Rude sends him to the canvas. Rude jumps off the top rope to deliver a forearm. Rude is bleeding at this point, but remains in control. The two men slug it out, but Rude keeps things in his favor. Warrior has his face rubbed against the blue bars, but no blood yet. Rude goes for the Rude Awakening (great tease as Warrior struggles against it), but Warrior is able to power out. I enjoy when guys have to struggle to apply a move. It seems to give things a more realisitic feel. Rude eventually does hit the Rude Awakening, but doesn’t go for the cover or the escape. Instead he hits to the top of the cage and hits a forearm to the head of the Warrior. That was pretty damn impressive on the part of Rude. Sadly, he goes to the well one too many times and Warrior catches him in the midsection. Warrior crawls to the door, but Heenan slams the door on his head. We are barely over 7 minutes in, but both men are selling this like they have been in there for 20 minutes. Rude crawls and Heenan tries to pull him out the door. Warrior pulls on the tights and Rude shows some ass like a good heel. Heenan gets pulled in the ring and get abused. The distraction is enough for Rude to hammer the Warrior from behind. Warrior shakes the ropes and Warriors-Up. The crowd is rocking as Warrior hits the press slam. Rude is out at this point and Warrior climbs up and out of the cage. To rub things in, Warrior swivels his hips before hitting the floor to retain the title @ 10:03.

Winner and Still WWF Champion: The Ultimate Warrior via cage escape @ 10:03
-That was pretty damn short for a Championship Main Event. It reminded me of the Nash/Booker T cage match from Fall Brawl in 2000. Both men sold things like they were completely exhausted only minutes into the match, and Rude busted out the blade only seconds into the match. Still, even though it was on the short side it accomplished what it needed to, and Rude bounced around enough to make this enjoyable. **3/4

Career vs. Career: The Ultimate Warrior vs. “Macho King” Randy Savage (w/ Queen Sherri)
-WrestleMania VII (03/24/91)

-Gorilla and The Brain handle announcing duties. Heenan immediately points out that he sees Elizabeth sitting in the crowd. Several underneath guys carry Savage and Sherri to the ring on a throne. Monsoon puts over that Liz has a right to be here since she was there the majority of Savage’s career. Warrior shows a brain for once and walks to the ring (even Heenan notes how unusual this is). Warrior’s tights say it all: “Means much more than this” w/ a picture of the WWF Title. They have done a marvelous job of putting over how important this match is, and it really does have a different feel to it. The crowd is absolutely jacked as things start out slow with neither man wanting to make the first crucial mistake. The crowd hates Savage as he poses on the top rope. Warrior uses his power early to frustrate Savage, so he decides to bail. Sherri distracts Warrior and Savage nails him from behind. It doesn’t last long as Warrior chokes Savage and tosses him to the mat. A massive atomic drop from the Warrior and he chokes Savage again. Sherri tries to get involved, so Warrior tosses Savage on top of her. Savage finally gains the upper hand by hitting a running clothesline. He heads up top, but Warrior catches him in mid-air. Instead of slamming him, Warrior puts him on his feet and slaps him in the face. That is so fucking awesome. Savage is pissed and throws a chair in the ring to distract the ref and the Warrior. Warrior is still a step ahead (as long as he maintains his deliberate pace) and continues his domination of Savage. This is just a total beating as Savage gets bounced all over the ring. Finally, Warrior gets a little out of control and misses a splash in the corner, which sends him to the floor. Sherri distracts the Warrior and Savage takes control on the floor. He sends Warrior head first into the post, and brings him back in the ring. Warrior counters a backslide into one of his own, but that only gets 2. Savage decides to spit on the Warrior in hopes that it will get him out of control again, but Warrior won’t bite and keeps his deliberate pace. He stays in control because of that, but again makes the mistake of running out of control at Savage and he gets face planted after missing a shoulder tackle. Savage locks in a chin lock, but the crowd gets the Warrior back to his feet. The action gets a little faster and it results in a double clothesline to put down both men. Sherri continues to be a distraction as she keeps the ref from counting three on a small package by the Warrior. He argues with the ref and Savage drops both of them. Sherri heads to the top rope, but misses Warrior and hits Savage with her shoe. So that’s where Bischoff got the idea for all those finishes on Nitro in the mid 90s. Warrior chases Sherri on the floor, but it leads to Savage getting a roll-up for 2. Savage now controls as he hangs Warrior on the top rope with the clothesline. He heads to the top rope and drops the Great Flying Elbow in the history of the business. He does it again, and again, and again, and again. How much of a dick does Savage look like for hitting 5 flying elbows. As far as the crowd is concerned the Warrior is dead and buried, but some how he kicks out at 2. Savage has no idea what to do now, and Warrior gets to the ropes and starts to Warrior-Up. Three clotheslines from the Warrior and he hoists Savage into the air with the press slam. The splash looks to finish, but Savage kicks out at 2. Now the Warrior is questioning what he has to do to win the match. He starts looking to the heaves and starts talking to whatever God told him that Queering don’t make the world right (his words not mine). Apparently they tell him to leave, but Savage comes back to life and drops Warrior from the apron to the floor. Savage tries to hit the double-axe from the top rope to the floor, but Warrior moves and Savage eats the steel railing. Savage is basically out on his feet after that and Warrior destroys him with a flying shoulder block that sends him to the floor. Back in the ring and Savage gets hit with another one that again sends him to the floor. Back in the ring, and another one sends Savage to the floor once more. Warrior drags the lifeless carcass of Savage back into the ring and pins him with a single foot on his chest @ 20:48. Sadly, since this is the Warrior’s DVD we don’t get all the post match fun with Sherri, Liz, and Savage.

Winner: The Ultimate Warrior via pin after multiple shoulder blocks @ 20:48
-This is my 2nd favorite match of all time, and the though it’s not shown here, the post match angle only helps things. I loved the story with Warrior having to slow his normal pace down, and Savage trying to get Warrior angry to get him to make mistakes. The announcing was awesome and the crowd was absolutely insane from the start. This is easily the best match involving the Warrior and is one of the best from Savage as well. This didn’t need 100 different holds, or tables, ladders, and chairs. It was just 2 men fighting for their careers and doing whatever they could to get the win. The match plus the angle that follows makes this an easy rating for me. *****

Extras

-Jerry Lawler tells a story about wrestling the Warrior in Louisville. Story goes that Warrior almost broke the groin of Lawler and was soon sent packing. King needs his grapefruits, you know. Lots of college women to be had.

-A commercial for Warrior University. This is pretty funny in retrospect. Vince pops up to give his thoughts on the actual Warrior University Campus (ie: Gym). He mentions that he doesn’t think anyone ever graduated. No kidding.

-Christian (Cage) does his impression of the Warrior, by doing the WrestleMania VI interview. This is absolutely hilarious and shows off how much of a fan Christian had to be growing up in Canada. This alone justifies buying the DVD.

-Finally, Ted Dibiase tells a story about being at an autograph signing with Warrior, and Sting. He mentions that Warrior wouldn’t take part in the signing unless he was the only one there. He wouldn’t share the stage (so to speak) with Dibiase or Sting. Ted says in the end you reap what you sew.

The 411: This is a fascinating DVD even if the main feature drags a little at the end. The younger guys were great and when they disappeared that's when things started to drag. It seemed to run long as they looked for anything to hold against the Warrior. Still, you won't get a better look at his career, and the extras cover the 3 most important matches of his career. This is definitely worth owning.

Final Score:  7.2   [ Good ]