Ultimate Warrior

Jan 14, 2010 - by Steve Gerweck

ultimate warrior

Real name: James Bryan Hellwig (Warrior)
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 270 lbs.
Date of birth: June 16, 1959
Date of death: April 8, 2014
From: Arizona
Pro debut: November 1985
Trained by: Red Bastien, Rick Bassman, and Bill Anderson
Finishing move: Warrior Press

Biography

– Hellwig teamed with Sting (Flash) in the formation of the tag team the Bladerunners (with the ring name of Rock).
– In singles competition, Hellwig became the Dingo Warrior in World Class Championship Wrestling, joining the group in 1986.
– On September 1, 1986, the Dingo Warrior and Socko beat “Killer” Tim Brooks and the Grappler.
– The Dingo Warrior and Lance Von Erich defeated Master Gee (subbing for Buzz Sawyer) and Matt Borne on November 17, 1986 in Ft. Worth, TX to capture the World Class Tag Team title.
– On November 27, 1986, the Dingo Warrior beat Master Gee in a “chain match.”
– The Dingo Warrior defeated Bob Bradley on January 2, 1987 in Ft. Worth, TX for the Texas Heavyweight title.
– Hellwig signed with the WWF in June 1987, and became the Ultimate Warrior.
– At Wrestlemania IV, the Ultimate Warrior defeated Hercules Hernandez.
– The Ultimate Warrior (subbing for an injured Brutus Beefcake) defeated the Honkytonk Man at the 1988 Summerslam in New York, in a mere 28 seconds, to capture the Intercontinental title.
– The Ultimate Warrior was the sole survivor for his five man team at the 1988 Survivor Series.
– At the 1989 Royal Rumble, the Ultimate Warrior defeated “Ravishing” Rick Rude in a “pose down.”
– At Summerslam ’89 in East Rutherford, NJ, the Ultimate Warrior downed Rude for the Intercontinental title.
– The Ultimate Warrior was the sole survivor for his team, which battled the Heenan Family, at the 1989 Survivor Series.
– At Wrestlemania VI on April 1, 1990 in Toronto, the Ultimate Warrior defeated Hulk Hogan for the WWF title.
– On April 13, 1990, the Ultimate Warrior successfully defended the WWF title against Ted DiBiase at All Japan’s U.S. Summit in Tokyo.
– At Summerslam ’90, the Ultimate Warrior defeated Rude in a “steel cage” match.
– Ultimate Warrior, Hogan and Tito Santana defeated DiBiase, Rick Martel, the Warlord, Hercules and Paul Roma at the 1990 Survivor Series.
– At Wrestlemania VII on March 24, 1991, the Ultimate Warrior defeated Randy Savage in a “retirement match.”
– On March 30, 1991, the Ultimate Warrior pinned Sgt. Slaughter before 46,000 fans at Tokyo’s Egg Dome.
– At the 1991 Summerslam, the Ultimate Warrior and Hogan won a “handicap match” over Sgt. Slaughter, General Adnan and Col. Mustafa.
– Warrior formally sent a letter of resignation to the WWF in October 1991 over a money dispute. The WWF refused to accept the letter since Warrior was under contract until September 1992.
– The Ultimate Warrior made his return at Wrestlemania VIII, and aided Hogan from an attack by Sid Justice and Papa Shango.
– In November 1992, the Ultimate Warrior again left the WWF. He later filed a lawsuit against the federation, but it was eventually dropped.
– In December 1992, he wrestled as the Dingo Warrior against Hercules Hernandez in Billerica, Massachusetts, for Killer Kowalski’s International Wrestling Federation
– In 1993, Hellwig played the role of “the swordsman” in the action movie Firepower.
– In July 1995, he returned to the ring for the National Wrestling Conference (NWC) promotion in Las Vegas, defeating The Honky Tonk Man. He had also wrestled a tour of Europe for Otto Wanz’s Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) promotion
– At Wrestlemania XII in Anaheim, CA, the Ultimate Warrior defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley in under two minutes.
– On May 26, 1996, the Ultimate Warrior defeated Owen Hart at In Your House VIII.
– The Ultimate Warrior defeated Jerry “The King” Lawler at the 1996 Summerslam.
– In reaction to the Warrior missing house shows as advertised, the promotion fired him.
– In September 1998, Hellwig returned to wrestling for WCW, and was known simply as the Warrior. In addition, he formed One Warrior Nation.
– At Fall Brawl ’98, Team WCW (Diamond Dallas Page, Roddy Piper, and The Warrior) defeated nWo Hollywood (Hollywood Hogan, Bret Hart, and Stevie Ray) and nWo Wolfpac (Kevin Nash, Sting and Lex Luger) in a WarGames match.
– Warrior’s last appearance in WCW was on the November 9, 1998 edition of Nitro, when he came to the rescue of The Disciple who was being attacked by members of nWo. Warrior retired from wrestling that year.
– On January 2014, Warrior was announced as an inductee into WWE’s hall of fame.

Warrior's final words

– Warrior made his final public appearance on Raw on April 7, 2014.

McMahon and Warrior

– On May 31, 2014, Ultimate Warrior was voted into the GERWECK.NET Hall of Fam


Comments are closed.