{"id":92391,"date":"2021-05-25T13:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T17:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=92391"},"modified":"2021-05-29T16:01:34","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T20:01:34","slug":"ae-biography-ultimate-warrior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/05\/25\/ae-biography-ultimate-warrior\/","title":{"rendered":"A&#038;E Biography \u2013 Ultimate Warrior: What We Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The A&amp;E Network series <em>Biography<\/em> is featuring a number of professional wrestlers on its show. This week, the featured wrestler was <strong>WWE<\/strong> Hall of Fame Inductee <strong>The Ultimate Warrior<\/strong>. He defeated <strong>Hulk Hogan<\/strong> at <em><strong>WrestleMania VI<\/strong><\/em> to become the World Wrestling Federation\u2019s first male singles double champion. However, there is much that is not known about him. This week, viewers learned a lot more about Jim Hellwig, the man known as The Ultimate Warrior.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WWE Biography: Hulk Hogan &amp; Ultimate Warrior Rivalry - The UNTOLD Story | A&amp;E\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jD9nwciVrUc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Ultimate Warrior was not born overflowing with kinetic energy<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Jim Hellwig was the oldest of five children born in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The population of the town was, at the time, around 18,000. Jim\u2019s father left the family when he was 12 years old. Young Jim was considered a shy child, which is nothing like the character he portrayed years later.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Warrior was able to \u201cwork out\u201d his issues as he got older<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Hellwig was an undersized football player on his high school team. During his senior year, the future WWF star became fascinated with bodybuilding. Jim reshaped his body and thought that he had found his career path.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Moving to Georgia was rewarding for Hellwig<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>After high school and some college Hellwig moved to Georgia to pursue a career in bodybuilding. While there, Jim won a Mr. Georgia tournament. Hellwig also met his first wife while in Georgia.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>After Georgia, Jim Hellwig was California bound<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Hellwig moved to California because he felt that he wasn\u2019t getting what he wanted out of Georgia. At that time, California was the mecca of bodybuilding. While in California, Warrior met Rick Bassman., who thought that Hellwig could succeed in professional wrestling. Hellwig also met Steve Borden, better known to wrestling fans today as <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/12\/04\/highwayman-the-35-year-career-of-the-icon-sting\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Sting<\/strong><\/a>. The two became part of a group of bodybuilders that Bassman trained for the sport.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Rock and Sting were chosen by Jerry Jarrett<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Bassman presented his four trainees to promoters across the country, and <strong>Jerry Jarrett<\/strong> decided to take a chance on the men, but Jarrett only wanted in Hellwig and Borden. The two men became known as<strong> The Freedom Fighters<\/strong>; Hellwig and Borden became <strong>Justice<\/strong> and<strong> Flash<\/strong>, respectively. Hellwig turned to wrestling because he wasn\u2019t making enough money bodybuilding.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Freedom Fighters didn\u2019t work in the South\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Freedom Fighters had trouble getting over with the fans as untrained, thickly muscled good guys. As a result, The Freedom Fighters moved to the <strong>UWF<\/strong> under <strong>Bill Watts<\/strong> and became the heel <strong>Blade Runners<\/strong>. The boys were renamed <strong>Rock<\/strong> and Sting, and their gimmick was a knockoff of <strong>The Road Warriors<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>\u2026But neither do Blade Runners<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A few months after arriving in the UWF, the boys entered into a dispute with Bill Watts over money. As a result of the issue, Hellwig decided to leave the UWF while Sting stayed behind and continued to work for Watts. Hellwig ventured to Texas and began performing as <strong>The Dingo Warrior<\/strong> for <strong>World Class Championship Wrestling<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>It\u2019s a dingo, not a dog<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A member of the WCCW creative team described Hellwig as being intense like a warrior. Because of this, &#8220;Warrior&#8221; became part of the new character\u2019s name. The name &#8220;Dingo&#8221; came from someone walking by with what looked like a little dog. The person carrying the dog stated when asked, \u201cIt\u2019s not a dog, it\u2019s a dingo.\u201d The creative team member liked the word and added it to the character\u2019s name, and The Dingo Warrior was born.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Andre the Giant agreed to put over The Ultimate Warrior<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>According to legend, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/01\/27\/day-giant-died-25-years-ago-andre-giant-passed\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Andre the Giant<\/strong><\/a> did not do anything in the wrestling ring that he didn\u2019t want to do. The purpose The Ultimate Warrior\u2019s feud with Andre was to make the Warrior look like Hulk Hogan\u2019s equal. Since Hogan had slammed Andre, the giant felt that the Warrior should also.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Being &#8220;The Man&#8221; became too much for The Ultimate Warrior\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>After defeating Hulk Hogan at <em>WrestleMania VI<\/em>, Warrior was very emotional over the idea that he was now the top man in the WWF. The next day, Warrior wondered where his career was going next. <strong>Vince McMahon<\/strong> was not happy with Warrior&#8217;s title reign. Less than a year after winning the WWF Title, Warrior dropped the belt to <strong>Sgt. Slaughter<\/strong>, who lost it back to Hogan. At the same time that he lost the title, the Warrior\u2019s marriage was falling apart and his wife was filing for divorce.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>\u2026And a little child shall destroy The Ultimate Warrior<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>While walking through an airport in sunglasses, and without his face paint, The Ultimate Warrior encountered a child who asked if Hellwig was actually the character in question. Hellwig blew the child off, upsetting him. Hellwig\u2019s actions were reported to McMahon. Thus, The Ultimate Warrior was ordered to record a heartfelt apology video to the child. The Warrior struggled to complete the video because he was not sure what he was apologizing for. McMahon explained to the Warrior that the video was a work. From there, he was able to complete the video. Following this incident, Warrior wrote a letter to McMahon, demanding to be paid the same as Hogan. Warrior also refused to work the <strong><em>SummerSlam 1991<\/em><\/strong> main event unless he was paid $500K.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Ultimate Warrior almost faces wrestling justice<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Prior to the <em>SummerSlam 1991<\/em> match, McMahon tells Sgt. Slaughter that The Ultimate Warrior refused to work if he was not paid upfront. Slaughter, Hulk Hogan and <strong>The Iron Sheik<\/strong> hatched a plan where, during the match, Sheik would break the Warrior\u2019s legs. McMahon talks the men out of their plan, not wishing to add a lawsuit to his other problems. During the match, McMahon hands Warrior a response letter. The letter from McMahon read that Warrior wasn&#8217;t the legend Hogan was. Rather, Warrior was only a legend in his mind. McMahon suspended the Warrior for 90 days. However, when Hogan took time off from wrestling, McMahon brought The Ultimate Warrior back to the company.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Steroid Scandal cost The Ultimate Warrior his job\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In 1992, the WWF was in the midst of legal trouble related to steroids within professional wrestling. Vince released the Warrior after he failed a drug test.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>\u2026but The Ultimate Warrior again finds his way back to the company<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In 1996, after moving to Arizona and opening a wrestling school, The Ultimate Warrior re-signed with the WWF in the hopes that the added visibility would help to increase sales of his new comic book. During his return, Warrior\u2019s father passed away. He missed a few shows while grieving his father. McMahon believes that since the Warrior had not spoken to his father in over 10 years, the reason for missing shows was not valid. As a result, Warrior was, once again, fired from the company.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Ultimate Warrior&#8217;s WCW run not very important<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A&amp;E\u2019s <em>Biography<\/em> of The Ultimate Warrior was a reasonably comprehensive account of his life and wrestling career, but his run in <strong>World Championship Wrestling<\/strong> was not included in the piece. During this run, Hogan was able to even the scales with Warrior by gaining a pinfall victory in what was regarded as one of the worst matches ever staged. However, A&amp;E chose to omit this period of Warrior\u2019s career.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Warrior becomes a controversial figure<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Several years after his run in WCW, the Warrior, who officially changed his name to \u201cWarrior\u201d, became a conservative blogger and public speaker. The views that Warrior spoke and wrote during this period caused former fans of his to view him in a negative light. Allegedly, WWE\u2019s \u201cSelf Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior\u201d DVD was WWE\u2019s attempt to distance the company from the Warrior during this time.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Move to Santa Fe was the best thing that happened to Warrior<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>According to his second wife, Dana, moving to Santa Fe was good for Warrior. The move allowed him to be in an environment away from people who were jealous of him or trying to destroy his career.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The WWE Hall of Fame was The Ultimate Warrior\u2019s final achievement<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In 2014, the Warrior accepted WWE\u2019s offer to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame after declining the invitation several times. The weekend of the induction allowed Warrior to reconcile with Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon. His reconnection with WWE helped Warrior to achieve total peace in his life. Sadly, the Warrior passed away three days after the induction ceremony. Jim Hellwig was never able to enjoy the peace that he had finally attained.<\/p>\n<p>The next episode of A&amp;E\u2019s Biography will chronicle the life and career of \u201cThe Hardcore Legend,\u201d <strong>Mick Foley<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a> for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. Ultimate Warrior fan? You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the <a href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peacock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/boards\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The A&amp;E Network series Biography is featuring a number of professional wrestlers on its show. This week, the featured wrestler was WWE Hall of Fame Inductee The Ultimate Warrior. He defeated Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI to become the World Wrestling Federation\u2019s first male singles double champion. However, there is much that is not known [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3833,"featured_media":92401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7205,2192,4,3],"tags":[979,587,1270,588,2306,241],"class_list":["post-92391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-history","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-andre-the-giant","tag-hulk-hogan","tag-sgt-slaughter","tag-sting","tag-ultimate-warrior","tag-vince-mcmahon"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3833"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}