The ULTIMATE WARRIOR IS NUTTY

I used to love this wrestler. I'm now in awe and in shock of what his is now. From the frenzied pumped up entrance - a tribal, bombastic heavy metal score, The Ultimate Warrior was like a real life superhero come to life. Unfortunately, for him the world of Pro Wrestling, and his persona eventually fused into a bizzare reality.

Jim Hellwig was a a pro wrestler in Texas under the guise of "Dingo Warrior". His moves were limited, as his physique would indicate, his repetoire was a running clothesline, a power slam (lifting your opponent over your head and slamming him to the mat) pumping his fists into the air to the Gods, and then body slamming himself on to the lying opponent for the pin. All within a match time of no longer than 10 mins.



Eventually, The Dingo Warrior was paired with a wrestler named Steve Borden, who at the time's wrestling moniker was "Flash". The promoter wanted to capitalize on the premiere wrestling tag team of the time, "The ROAD WARRIORS", who based themselves on the post apocalyptic characters of the film of the same name. They had face paint,matching spiked shoulder pads, and the attitude to boot.

As cheap imitations go - Dingo and Flash became, "The Blade Runners", and had a semi successful run; but after a while the two went their separate ways- Flash would wrestle in the south in Ted Turner's WCW as STING and Dingo became THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR in the WWF, signing with Turner's chief rival Vince McMahon.

Both wrestlers became franchise players in both companies. The difference: when the matches ended, STING would go home as Steve Borden. The Ultimate Warrior? Well, Jim Hellwig got so into his character, that in the late 1990's he actually changed his name to Warrior. Furthermore, his first name is now Warrior. So he's Mr. Warrior Warrior. His wife even changed her name to Warrior. Nice.



He even successfully sued the WWF for the intellectual property of the Ultimate Warrior name, and won. Vince McMahon actually had to give this guy his own copyright on the bottom of the WWF produced DVD. Not bad for a guy who got fired/or left 3 times from the WWF.

However, after buying and watching the DVD I totally got my money's worth, from the footage of matches past, to his beating Hulk Hogan @ Wrestlemania 6, to some great rants, and I quote, (growl and scream at the top of your lungs) "WELCOME TO TO MY WORLD!!!WHERE NIGHTMARES ARE THE BEST PART OF MY DAY!!!!!" and "WHAT DO RICK RUDE AND BOBBY HEENAN (the manager) HAVE IN COMMON WITH THE LIBERTY BELL???? ONE'S CRACKED AND THE OTHER'S A DING DONG!!!!" to the classic, "FEEL THE POWER OF THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR!!!"

Unfortunately the DVD left out the classic BODY BAG match where he and The Undertaker (pictured above)fight until they demolish their opponent to "death"- and then zip them in a real size body bag. At one point the Undertaker actually knocks out the Warrior and seals him in the body bag. I can can still see the concern on my little brother Jeff's face, and hear the hush of the Madison Square Garden crowd through my dad's old silver Panasonic TV as the Undertaker started to drag his "prize" out of the ring to parts unknown. But suddenly as if Thor himself smashed his hammer into the Warrior's chest, the body bag started to shake and convulse, and the Warrior RRRRIPS himself out of the bag; shredding it. At this moment Bobby Heenan who was calling the match with Gorilla Monsoon screams, "Oh my God, Monsoon look at that, I've never seen that before! That's the power of The Warrior!" The camera man zooms into The Undertaker's face as he reacts in shock, rolls his eyes into his head (thereby selling it) and the crowd goes nuts. The Ultimate Warrior starts to pummel The Undertaker, puts him in the body bag, slams himself on top of the bag, pins him, runs out of the ring, and into the locker room. The MSG crowd is in a frenzy; and me and my brother eat this up. Then body bag left behind then starts to rise....

I know I'm rambling here but there's a payoff- Warrior has his own website where he philosophizes about life,politics,the cosmos, and wrestling. He even has his own vocabulary where he makes up words like DESTRUCITY- (look it up). He'll even give you tips on a workout regimine as well. He's wrestling's Voltaire...

Currently Warrior's trying to come back to wrestling (which would be cool, but he's in his early 40's at least) in the WWF's rival TNA wrestling. Though it may seem I'm knocking a former favorite wrestler of mine, I didn't write all that stuff on his site; but I did buy his DVD for $15.00, part of which goes into his pocket to fuel more WARRIOR WISDOM....FEEL IT !!!!

Check out THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR HERE: http://www.ultimatewarrior.com