The Ultimate Warrior

Before the Warrior

Jim Hellwig studied to be a Chiropractor in Atlanta..

Mid South Wrestling & Universal Wrestling Federation

November 1985: Jim Hellwig got his start working in Memphis for the Lawler/Jarrett promotions..
Jim also worked for the Universal Wrestling Federation in the Mid-South..
Jim formed a tag team with Steve Borden (aka Sting) and were known as Power Team USA..
The Blade Runners eventually became known as the Bladerunners, Rock and Sting..
The Blade Runners eventually broke up when Hellwig moved on to Fritz von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling in Dallas..

World Class Championship Wrestling

Hellwig would be known as the Dingo Warrior, adopting the gimmick that he would carry on for years in and out of the ring..
Hellwig became friends with the legendary Von Erich family, particularly the late Mike Von Erich..

World Wrestling Federation - The Ultimate Warrior

June 1987: Jim Hellwig debuted in the WWF as the Dingo Warrior and wrestled jobbers for several months..
September 1987: The WWF changed his name to The Ultimate Warrior in preperation for his television debut..
October 6, 1987: The Ultimate Warrior participated in a battle royal on the TV and sparked a lot attention..
October 7, 1987: The Ultimate Warrior pinned Terry Gibbs at 1:38 after a splash (Warrior’s TV debut)..
~~~The Ultimate Warrior wrestled mostly jobbers until the end of the year, like Mike Sharpe & Steve Lombardi..

World Wrestling Federation - The Ultimate Warrior

January 26, 1988: The Ultimate Warrior defeated King Harley Race by DQ when Hercules interfered..
January 27, 1988: The Ultimate Warrior defeated Hercules by DQ when Hercules attacked Warrior with the chain..
~~~Before the match, Warrior and Hercules had a tug-of-war with the chain, causing it to SNAP!
February 1988: The Ultimate Warrior occassionally formed a tag team with Don "The Rock" Muraco..
Wrestlemania 4: The Ultimate Warrior defeated Hercules in his WWF Pay Per View debut..
April 1988 - WWF in Italy: Andre The Giant defeated The Ultimate Warrior with a sitdown splash..
May 1988: The Ultimate Warrior & Strike Force defeated Mr. Fuji & Demolition (Ax & Smash)..
May 1988: The Ultimate Warrior & Jim Duggan defeated Andre The Giant & Hercules..
June 25, 1988 - MSG: The Ultimate Warrior defeated Bobby Heenan in a Loser Wears a Weasel Suit match..
July 24, 1988: The Ultimate Warrior & The British Bulldogs defeated Mr. Fuji & Demolition..
July 31, 1988 - Wrestlefest: The Ultimate Warrior beat Bobby Heenan in a "loser wears a weasel suit" match..
August 3, 1988: The Ultimate Warrior defeated Honky Tonk Man for the IC title and did an interview holding the belt..
~~~WWF President Jack Tunney came out and reversed the decision, giving the title back to Honky Tonk Man..
~~~This was a taping for a show that would air AFTER SummerSlam, so they were just "tricking" the crowd..
August 24, 1988: The Ultimate Warrior again won the IC title, and taped several squash matches, then was stripped..
~~~The matches were taped and aired after SummerSlam, again just another way to trick the audience..
August 29, 1988 - Summerslam: The Ultimate Warrior (sub for Brutus Beefcake) beat Honky Tonk Man in 10 sec to win the IC title..
November 16, 1988 - SNME: The Ultimate Warrior defeated The Super Ninji (Rip Oliver)..
November 24, 1988 - Survivor Series: The Ultimate Warrior was the sole survivor in his elimination match against Honky Tonk's team..
November 26, 1988 - SNME: The Ultimate Warrior pinned Super Ninja (Rip Oliver) to retain..
December 26 & 27, 1988 - House Shows: The Ultimate Warrior defeated Honky Tonk Man in Steel Cage matches..
January 7, 1989 - SNME: The Ultimate Warrior defeated the Honky Tonk Man to retain..
Royal Rumble 1989: The Warrior took part in a Super Posedown with "Ravishing" Rick Rude..
~~~Rude attacked the Warrior at that event, setting up their match at Wrestlemania 5..
Wrestlemania 5: Rick Rude defeated the Ultimate Warrior for the Intercontinental title..
Summerslam 1989: The Ultimate Warrior defeated Rick Rude to recapture the IC title..
Survivor Series 1989: The Ultimate Warrior was the sole survivor in his elimination match against the Heenan Family..
November 25, 1989 - SNME: Ultimate Warrior beat Andre the Giant by Disqualification..
The Ultimate Warrior's star was rising, and a showdown with WWF Champion Hulk Hogan was inevitable..
Royal Rumble 1990: Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan met face to face during the Royal Rumble match..
~~~Hogan ended up eliminating The Warrior (others helped) on his way to winning the Rumble..
January 27, 1990 - SNME: Hulk Hogan & Ultimate Warrior beat Mr. Perfect & Lanny Poffo..
February 23, 1990 - Main Event III: Ultimate Warrior pinned Dino Bravo to retain..
Wrestlemania 6: The Ultimate Warrior defeated Hulk Hogan to become WWF Heavyweight champion!
April 28, 1990 - SNME: The Ultimate Warrior pinned Haku to retain the title..
The Ultimate Warrior rekindled his fued with Rick Rude, who boasted a win over the new WWF Champion..
July 28, 1990 - SNME: Ultimate Warrior beat Rick Rude by Disqualification to retain..
Summerslam 1990: The Ultimate Warrior defeated Rick Rude in a "steel cage" match to retain the title..
October 13, 1990 - SNME: Legion of Doom & Ultimate Warrior beat Demolition Axe, Smash, & Crush..
November 23, 1990 - SNME: Ultimate Warrior beat Ted DiBiase via DQ to retain the title..
Survivor Series 1990: The Ultimate Warrior & Hulk Hogan were the ultimate survivors at the end of the night..
The Ultimate Warrior was pestered by "Macho King" Randy Savage for a title shot but Warrior didn't feel he deserved one..
Royal Rumble 1991: Sgt Slaughter defeated the Ultimate Warrior for the title after Randy Savage interfers..
Wrestlemania 7: The Ultimate Warrior defeats Randy Savage in a "Retirement" match..
The Ultimate Warrior joined forces with Hulk Hogan to fued with Sgt Slaughter, Col Mustafa & General Adnan..
April 27, 1991 - SNME: The Ultimate Warrior defeats Sgt Slaughter by Disqualification..
Summerslam 1991: Hulk Hogan & Ultimate Warrior defeated Slaughter, Mustafa & Adnan in a handicap match..
The Ultimate Warrior held up Vince McMahon for more money before the event and was promptly fired..
Rumours circulated that the Ultimate Warrior had died, but these rumors were completly FALSE..

The Ultimate Warrior II

Wrestlemania 8: The Ultimate Warrior makes a suprise return, helping Hulk Hogan during an attack from Sid & Papa Shango..
Summerslam 1992: The Ultimate Warrior defeats WWF Champion Randy Savage by DQ, when Ric Flair interfers..
November 8, 1992 - SNME: The Ultimate Warrior & Randy Savage beat Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster by COUNT OUT..
The Ultimate Warrior developed a reputation for being difficult to work with..
~~~He wanted things done his way, and only his way..
~~~When bookers wanted him to fued with mid-card performer, Nailz, Warrior through in the towel..
November 1992: The Warrior left the WWF after a contract dispute..
1993: The Warrior filed a $6 million lawsuit against the WWF, but the lawsuit was eventually dropped..

The Ultimate Warrior III

1996: The Warrior once again returned to the WWF..
Wrestlemania XII: The Ultimate Warrior over Hunter Hearst-Helmsley..
April 28, 1997 - In Your House 7: The Ultimate Warrior over Goldust (IC Champ) by COUNT OUT..
April 29, 1996 - RAW: The Ultimate Warrior pinned Isaac Yankem..
May 26, 1996 - In Your House 8: The Ultimate Warrior over Owen Hart..
May 27, 1996 - RAW: The Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust fought to a double countout..
King of the Ring 1996: The Ultimate Warrior defeats Jerry Lawler..
July 08, 1996 - RAW: The Ultimate Warrior defeated Owen Hart by Disqualification..
Warrior failed to appear at several live events on which he was advertised..
Warrior was promptly fired and released from his WWF contract..
Warrior disappeared from the wrestling scene..

World Championship Wrestling

Warrior resurfaced in WCW in an attempt to extract revenge on Hulk Hogan..
Fall Brawl 1998: Warrior participates in the War Games match as the captain of his team..
October 11, 1998 - Nitro: Sting and Warrior defeated Hollywood Hogan and Bret Hart by Disqualification..
Halloween Havoc 1998: Hollywood Hulk Hogan defeats the Warrior..
Warrior formed the "One Warrior Nation" (oWn -get it?-) by stealing The Disciple from the nWo..
Warrior couldn't agree to a contract and disappeared from WCW television..
May 5, 2003: The Ultimate Warrior is being booked to speak at college campuses about Conservative ideology..
October 26, 2003: The Ultimate Warrior is claiming he will make an announcement on his web site regarding his return to pro wrestling..
October 28, 2003: The Ultimate Warrior says he'll be working with acclaim on their new "Legends Showdown" video game..

Why the Ultimate Warrior should be in:

He had a lengthy reign as WWF Champion (from WrestleMania VI until the Royal Rumble 1991).

He has two historic WrestleMania matches under his belt (against Hogan and Savage).

He has a clean win over Hulk Hogan, back when Hulkamania was still running wild.

He took his gimmick very seriously.

Why he shouldn't be in:

Like Graham, he was limited in the ring, but could be booked effectively.

He has sort of been forgotten by history.

He is insane.

Um, I don't know... you tell me :)

NO.........NO........NO........

:P

That didn't take much thought did it. Care to elaborate?

Umm.........No.





















Actually, he's one of the worst champions of all time. Horrible offense, bad selling, and no workrate.

I'm voting no. While he was a World Champion he had no lasting impact on the wrestling world other than his match with Savage at Wrestlemania VII.

I'll go out on a limb and say he might get 1 vote.

I would love to see someone justify that vote for yes too.........

Side note: if Warrior recieves one vote or less, he will be the first inductee on the "Dishonorable mentions" list.

Where are all the "money matters, workrate doesn't" arguements now?

My vote is obviously no.

First off, if you are comparing Hogan and Warrior........you haven't seen enough of either. Secondly, Warrior WASN'T a draw, he held the title for under a year. Plus, ever wonder why they took the title off of him? Because he didn't equate the dollar amount that they wanted.........

C'mon, guys....he was entertaining for so long, because he was completely and totally insane, and may have been one of the few wrestlers crazy enough to become his own gimmick.


C'mon........C'MON

I won't start that arguement again. It was just a quick jab in what I think will be an uneventful thread.

And trust me, I've seen far too much of both Hogan and Warrior.

So this is basically our old discussion, but applied to HoF now?

At least we know who does the joke votes now.

1) I wish I could take credit for it, but this is the first poll I've voted on.
2) I like Ultimate Warrior, though not like Scrooge enjoys the titties of a Barbie doll. I realize people are going to flame me for it, but there you go.

As long as it wasn't a joke vote, I don't mind. I mean the guy was champ, made a lot of money and was probably the closest thing to Hogan until Austin came around. So I can understand a yes vote, and I don't hate Warrior as bad as Hogan...so yeah.

He did create a lot of buzz bck then. Between him and Hogan, that's a standard that I haven't seen wrestlers really live up to since. Foley, Austin, and Rock come very close.

I liked the Warrior as a mark, and still do, but I vote "No" for three main reasons.

1. He fucking sucked in the ring, and his best matches were complete carry jobs by the other people
2. He couldn't cut a promo to save his life.
and most importantly...
3. He drew as much money as a WCW PPV headlined by David Arquette.

His promos were right up there with a face Hogan from the late 80s.

Do you actually the drawing of the ratings for those PPVs? Now I'm curious how close those two are.

I think Warrior was part of that era that brought wrestling to what it is now, be it good or bad.

Actually, Warriors promos weren't on Hogans level. Snorting imaginary cocaine, rambling incoherrently, and talking to your hand is 10000x worse than saying you'll slam someone through the earth and have everyone cling on your back as you swim to safety.

I think people are wrong about him being a bad draw. Buys did go down when he took over, but remember WWF was coming off of it's hottest period. IN all honesty the torch could've been passed to anyone and there would have been a drop. There were other contributing factors at the time too, but all in all, Warrior was quite a draw, just not on level with the very few top draws ever.

But still a good draw. I remember how popular of a name Warrior was back in the day.

To be fair, Warrior sold a lot of merchandise, but that's all I can really think of. His majority audience of poularity were children under 12 years old judging by most of the crowds at the time when Warrior was on top, while in comparison, Hogan had a chunk of every age group.

You are not a draw if your claim to fame is a 9 month title reign. Not to mention that Hogan was still in the company at the time as well. Warrior was less of a draw at the time than Hogan was and he was being pushed at the the top of the card. Also, they put the title on Slaughter and once again put it back on Hogan because Warrior didn't cut it as a top draw.

I would actually look at Warrior's match against Hogan at WrestleMania VI to be his real claim to fame. The match just didn't have a big match feel, it had a HUGE match feel. I'd say it was one of the most memorable WrestleMania main events ever and is still talked about to this day. Warrior followed it up with another classic the next year against Hogan, which wasn't as big a deal as the Hogan match, but was an extremely well worked matchup.

You mean Savage and not Hogan for the last comment, right?

Warrior vs Savage from Mania 7 is my favorite match of all time. But I still can't bring myself to vote yes.

Warrior has the worst voting percentage for "No" so far. I think two more nay's and he's an automatic disqualified.

Yeah, because moveset and selling determines a wrestlers worth as champion. :rolleyes:


I'm tempted to vote yes to annoy the people who are underrating Warrior - but I'm voting no. Hogan, DiBiase, Savage, and Rude were able to get good-very good matches out of him but he doesn't have enough on his own.

If he were a successful champion, someone having bad matches can be forgiven (like the Honkytonk Man), but Warrior was neither a drawing champion or even remotely close to being a good wrestler (he had a move set that I could do at 4 years old).

"he had a move set that I could do at 4 years old"

You could press slam 300 pound men when you were four? Wow...

First off I didn't say that moveset and selling determines an wrestlers worth as champion. Secondly there is NO WAY I would recommend him as a hall of famer. his career is too inconsistant. All I ever hear is "What about Wrestlemania VI or Wrestlemania VII, those matches are awesome." and that's fine. Does two matches determine the fact that he should be in the hall of fame? How exactly is the guy underrated as well? Because he's fucking brain dead or the fact that everyone that has spoken in public about working with him said that he's god awful in the ring. Not to mention dangerous to work with? But then again, I guess playing devil's advocate or annoying people is more important because then we all can argue.............

Do you guys really think those WM matches were great, or do they just stand out against his body of work because they were decent?

I think that the Hogan match is a bit better than average, but I actually think that Warrior/Savage is a really good match. Also yes, they stand out more because everything else he ever did was horrible to average.

Savage is probably one of the more underrated workers in history. I don't like the Hogan match, but I do admit it built well, and got the fans involved. I realize that moveset doesn't mean everything, but there were hardly any wrestling moves at all done in that match. I just don't find that entertaining.

WOW, you didn't like Hogan/Savage from Wrestlemania V? I always look at that as one of the best Mania matches of all time. It's built great and the main point wasn't too do a lot of wrestling moves it was for Hogan to finally get his hands on Savage. I thought it was worked very intelligent and I would agree that Savage is someone who should get more credit in his prime as a worker........he was incredible.

Sorry, that was confusing. I was talking about the two Warrior matches in question. Savage/ Warrior was good, but Savage was a great worker. The Hogan match I was referring to was the Mania match vs. Warrior, which I didn't like for the reasons stated above. Hogan/Savage was good.

I used to love Hogan/Warrior when I was young, but honestly it comes across as too choreographed for my liking now.........

Savage/Warrior from both WM VII and Summerslam '92 I would consider "great" matches, but everything else of Warrior like the match with Hogan and series with Rude gets more hype because it's lightyears better than anything else he's done.

You said "he's one of the worst champions of all time" immediately followed by "Horrible offense, bad selling, and no workrate." A connection is implied.

And how a wrestler as over as Warrior could be the "worst champion ever" when there are plenty of champs who weren't over at all is beyond me.

Ultimate Warrior >>> Randy Orton as World Champion, for example.

Why are you arguing as if I said he should be in the HOF? I voted no.

Because you act as if he's the worst wrestler of all time, and he most certainly wasn't. He had certain positives that other wrestlers couldn't dream of having.

1 - Warrior was over. Tremendously over. There are countless terrible wrestlers who couldn't dream of getting the kind of reactions Warrior got.

2 - He was not a good wrestler, but he knew well enough to let his opponent walk him through a match, which a good heel could easily do. There are countless terrible wrestlers who could not be walked through a good match even if they had the greatest wrestler ever as their opponent.

You decide what to think based on what wrestlers say? Ok, fine. Then you agree with Kurt Angle that his Royal Rumble 2003 match is the greatest match in wrestling history? You agree with Terry Funk's assertion that Masato Tanaka is better than Misawa/Kobashi/Kawada?

How was he "dangerous to work with?" I don't recall him injuring anyone. List some examples, please.

I'm not playing devil's advocate. I'm entirely serious. Ultimate Warrior is underrated.