The Life and Death of Former WWE Star The Ultimate Warrior

James Brian Hellwig was born on June 16, 1959 in Crawfordsville, IN, the oldest of five children. In a foreshadowing of Hellwig’s early death, his father and stepfather died at 57 and 52 years old respectively.

Hellwig became a bodybuilder before entering pro wrestling winning the 1984 NPC Mr. Georgia crown. The Iron Sheik was doing his famous Persian Club challenge on WTBS for Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1983. The Sheik went to one of the bodybuilding competitions and challenged anybody there to the Persian Club challenge. Ironically, Jim Hellwig, a few years before getting into wrestling, accepted the challenge and failed quickly in his attempt.

After competing as an amateur bodybuilder, Hellwig began training to be a wrestler under Rick Bassman. He, along with Steve Borden (later known as Sting), Garland Donoho, and Mark Miller formed a team called Powerteam USA. When photos of the team were sent to the various wrestling promoters around the country, it was Jerry Jarrett who saw something in Hellwig and Borden, and Jarrett told Bassman to send them to him. Jarrett knew that The Road Warriors had become huge box office attractions and many territories tried to copy the formula. Jarrett was no exception and put them together as a team called The Freedom Fighters. Hellwig went by the name Justice, and Borden by the name Flash.

The team did not get over, so they were turned heel and Dutch Mantel became their manager. When that didn’t work, Jarrett sent the team to Bill Watts Universal Wrestling Federation in January of 1986, also as heels. Watts called the team The Blade Runners. Warrior was known as Blade Runner Rock and Sting was known as Blade Runner Sting. Watts liked the attitude of Sting and kept him while getting rid of Warrior.

Warrior then went to Fritz VonErich’s World Class Championship Wrestling. Warrior debuted for World Class in June of 1986 under the name of The Dingo Warrior as a heel managed by Gary Hart. Warrior had a feud with the WCCW Champion, fellow heel Rick Rude, a feud they would later take to WWE. Warrior left Gary Hart for fellow heel manager Percival Pringle III (later known as Paul Bearer). After having a storyline falling out with Pringle, Warrior was turned babyface. With the VonErich family in World Class, one thing for sure is no babyface was going to be pushed above them. After a year in World Class, Warrior left the promotion to go to the WWF.

Warrior debuted in June of 1987 on the house shows billed as The Dingo Warrior, but soon had his name changed to The Ultimate Warrior. His entrance was accompanied with the hit song, “The Warrior'' by Scandal. With the music industry now wanting royalties when their music is used, legendary WWE composer Jim Johnston came up with Warrior’s new entrance song, ‘Unstable.’ When the music hit, fans rose to their feet as Warrior ran down to the ring, shook the ropes, and began destroying his opponent.

In early 1988, Warrior began feuding with Hercules after he hit Warrior with the steel chains that he wore to the ring. Their feud culminated at WrestleMania IV when Warrior defeated him.

Warrior would then feud with Bobby Heenan where the loser had to wear a weasel suit. Heenan drew huge crowds in the AWA as a manager doing weasel suit matches against the area’s top babyfaces. This time around, it was no pleasure for Heenan to do these matches with Warrior as Warrior was still somewhat green and very reckless. He would grab his opponents by the groin, pick them up overhead, and drop them to the canvas. Heenan claimed the matches with Warrior is what led to his permanent neck injuries that required surgery years later.

Despite many wrestlers already realizing Warrior was reckless in the ring, fans didn’t have any knowledge of this in the pre-internet era, and Warrior became wildly popular, especially with the kids. It was becoming very clear that he may be the heir apparent to Hulk Hogan.

The HonkyTonk Man got a tremendous amount of heat after beating Ricky Steamboat for the Intercontinental Championship. HonkyTonk came to the ring accompanied by his manager, Jimmy Hart, and pretended to play the guitar. Hart would serve as a distraction, often handing HonkyTonk his megaphone or Honky’s guitar to hit his opponents and score the pinfall. The most unexpected champion at that point continued to be more despised by the month as he claimed to be the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time. He would go on to hold the Intercontinental Championship longer than anybody in history.

HonkyTonk Man was scheduled to defend the title against Brutus Beefcake at SummerSlam ‘88. Plans changed when they decided to go with Warrior a few weeks before the show. An angle was run where Ron Bass injured Beefcake to take Beefcake out of the match. During the SummerSlam show, HonkyTonk came down to defend the title. When Warrior’s music played as his surprise opponent, the crowd went crazy. Warrior defeated HonkyTonk Man in just 31 seconds to finally end Honky’s 454 days as champion.

Rick Rude, managed by Bobby Heenan, claimed to have the best physique in the WWF. He challenged The Ultimate Warrior to a pose-down. Rude attacked Warrior which led to a match at WrestleMania 5 for Warrior’s Intercontinental Championship. Rude won the title when he suplexed Warrior and Heenan held Warrior’s foot down so he couldn’t kick out. A rematch was held at SummerSlam ‘89 that saw Warrior regain the title.

Warrior’s next opponent was Andre The Giant. Andre was in bad shape at this time, but again, with no internet, the fans didn’t know this information. This was a huge match on paper, and Warrior beat Andre clean at the house shows, usually in under a minute, which got a huge pop from the crowd. The quick matches were done to help get Warrior over as a top star and because of Andre's physical condition. By this point, Andre was no longer in the main event picture and was primarily used to elevate other talent. Several wrestling personalities, including Brutus Beefcake, Bruce Prichard, and Bobby Heenan have stated in interviews that Andre did not like Warrior, and Andre would work stiff with him.

The rematch between Warrior and Rude was held at SummerSlam ‘89 that saw Warrior regain the Intercontinental Championship. Warrior and Rude also had real-life issues. During an interview with Hannibal TV, Barry Darsow (known as Smash from Demolition), recalled Rude snapping at Warrior backstage. Darsow said Rude was a very honorable guy and he wanted to have the best match of the night, and he thinks that Warrior was a little stiff in the ring, and Rude confronted him about it when they got backstage.

With Warrior becoming more and more popular, the obvious money match was to pit the company’s two biggest fan favorites against each other at WrestleMania 6. Over 67,000 attended the show at The SkyDome in Toronto Canada. As fate would have it, Edge was one of the kids in attendance that night. The fans cheered both competitors, but in the end, Warrior defeated Hogan clean in the middle to win the title. Gorilla Monsoon put over both men and this would be the first time we hear him say that Hulk Hogan is “Immortal.” Hogan would take a sabbatical after this and this was to be the start of Warrior's push as a main eventer.

With Rick Rude having previously defeated Warrior for the Intercontinental Championship, Rude claimed he would defeat Warrior for the WWF Championship. For weeks, footage was shown of Rude getting into the best shape of his life for his steel cage showdown at SummerSlam ‘90. The effort was not enough as Warrior escaped the cage to retain his championship. By this time, there was already talk within the company that Warrior may not be the guy to lead the company as attendance was down. Some say that Warrior could not draw as a top star but others have argued that Warrior wasn't positioned against the best opponents and his feud with Rude was a retread of what they did during the prior year. Throughout the year, Warrior would have matches at the house shows against wrestlers such as Mr. Perfect, Ted DiBiase, Randy Savage and he would team with The Legion Of Doom in matches against Ax, Smash, and Crush of Demolition.

With the Iraq war going on, the WWF turned long-time American hero Sgt. Slaughter into an Iraqi sympathizer. Warrior lost the WWF Championship to Sgt. Slaughter at the 1991 Royal Rumble when The Macho King Randy Savage came down to ringside and hit Warrior over the head with his scepter which allowed Slaughter to pin Warrior. This was done to set up the main event for WrestleMania 7 between Slaughter and Hogan as well as a career vs career match between Savage and Warrior.

Warrior defeated Savage at WrestleMania 7 when he gave him 5 shoulder tackles and pinned him. After the match, Savage had to retire, but was reunited with Elizabeth.

Warrior’s next feud was with The Undertaker. On an episode of WWF Superstars, The Undertaker locked Warrior inside a coffin on a Funeral Parlor segment hosted by Paul Bearer. While they never wrestled each other on TV or pay-per-view, Warrior and The Undertaker wrestled in Casket and Bodybag matches throughout the summer at the house shows. At SummerSlam ‘91, Warrior teamed with Hogan to defeat Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, and General Adnon. This would be the last time fans would see Warrior for many months because he was fired as soon as he got backstage after the match.

Prior to SummerSlam, Warrior wrote a long letter to Vince McMahon with a list of demands. Among several of the things asked by Warrior, he wanted the same pay as Hulk Hogan and the same cut of the merchandising. Warrior also asked for $550,000 as his payoff for WrestleMania 7 so he could buy a home. He also asked for more time off and he asked to see the amount of money that Hogan was making from his 900 hotline. Vince McMahon and Warrior seemingly came to an understanding but McMahon just wanted to get Warrior to SummerSlam and then fire him after his match.

For months, there was no mention of Warrior's name on WWF television and there were rumors among fans that Warrior had died. With WWF business down in 1992 amidst the steroid trial controversy and with Hogan about to take a sabbatical, WWF brought Warrior back. Warrior appeared much smaller and he wore a singlet, which many would see as a clear sign that the company was serious about steroid testing. His drastic appearance led to rumors that this was a different person and some fans falsely believed that it was Kerry Von Erich playing the character. Warrior was supposed to feud with Sid Justice after WrestleMania but plans changed when Sid left the company. Warrior began feuding with Papa Shango as Shango would cast spells on Warrior.

By this time, Randy Savage had come out of retirement and won the WWF Championship. In a battle of babyfaces, Warrior defeated Savage by countout at SummerSlam ‘92.

Warrior was scheduled to team with Savage against Ric Flair and Razor Ramon at the 1992 Survivor Series, but Warrior was released by the company for failing a drug test a week before the event.

From 1993 until 1995, Warrior wrestled on a handful of independent shows in the United States and overseas but he was largely out of the public spotlight during this time period. Warrior again returned to the WWF in 1996, this time at WrestleMania 12 and defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley in under 2 minutes. During his comeback, he feuded with Goldust, Vader, and Jerry The King Lawler. However, Warrior's time with the company ended within a few months because he was suspended in July for missing several house shows. Warrior's claim was that he was grieving the death of his father. Vince McMahon did not believe the story and said that Warrior had not seen his father in 10 years and did not care about him. Prior to Warrior's firing, there were plans for him to team with Shawn Michaels and Ahmed Johnson to face Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Vader at the next pay-per-view show, In Your House 9. Warrior was replaced by Sid.

In 1998, Hulk Hogan was the biggest heel and the world champion in WCW. In an effort to relive their magic from 8 years earlier, Warrior was brought in to face Hogan. Warrior made his WCW debut on the August 17, 1998 episode of Monday Nitro. In what was supposed to be a 10 minute interview, Warrior went 27 minutes on the microphone, and by the time he was done talking, the crowd was numb. Hogan got his win back by beating Warrior at Halloween Havoc. That would be Warrior's final match and he was soon gone from WCW. His last appearance in WCW was on the November 9, 1998 episode of Nitro when he came to the rescue of The Disciple, who was part of his OWN faction.

Warrior and WWE would engage in several lawsuits during the times when he was not with them. In 1993, Hellwig legally changed his name to Warrior, and years later, the court ruled that he was legally entitled to use the gimmick and costuming of the Warrior character. In 2005, WWE released a DVD called, “The Self Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior” which painted him in a very bad light. Warrior had taken issue with how he was portrayed and he sued WWE in 2006. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2009.

After retiring in 1999, Warrior became a conservative speaker and drew some controversy for his anti-gay comments at the University of Connecticut. Warrior also made some controversial comments on his website blog about Bobby Heenan where he said that Heenan was two-faced and that he was quote, dying and diseased with no more time left to get back any of his integrity. Many wrestlers and colleagues over the years, including Heenan, have stated that Warrior was very difficult to work with and said he didn’t care about anybody but himself.

Warrior came out of retirement in 2008 for one final match in Barcelona Spain against former WWE star Orlando Jordan. Warrior beat Jordan and won the Nu Wrestling Evolution World Heavyweight Championship and then immediately vacated the title. Warrior said that he came out of retirement because he wanted his daughters to see him wrestle.

Warrior would keep an online presence with his blog and his YouTube channel filled with inspirational videos. In 2013, a deal was made between Warrior and 2K Sports for him to be on the cover of WWE 2K14.

In 2014, WWE and Warrior were able to mend fences and bury the hatchet. Warrior was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2014 on April 5th. He appeared at WrestleMania 30 the next day. Warrior made amends with many of the people he previously had issues with while he was there, including Hulk Hogan. Warrior appeared the day after WrestleMania on RAW. He was noticeably sweating profusely. The following day, he had a heart attack and died. He was 54-years old.

During Warrior’s Hall of Fame induction speech, he mentioned that there should be an award for the workers behind the scenes who make WWE possible. After Warrior died, WWE instituted a yearly Warrior Award. The first award went to Connor Michalek who was a young child dying from cancer whom the locker room came to know and befriend.

While many have said that Warrior was difficult to deal with and was reckless in the ring, a generation of fans including many of the top talent in the business today continue to talk about their childhood memories of The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior's legacy lives on through the millions of fans who grew up watching him.