Original subtitles

- Ready for another take, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hKerwin?

- We’re only halfway through.

Widen out a little bit

\h\h\h\hand go right back to that extreme closeup.

- Okay. Kerwin, here.

- Remember what’s going on \h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the ring.

- [grunting]

I can smell it!

It’s in the air!

I feel the cosmic powers \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof Mars!

The clouds of Jupiter!

The boiling heat of Mercury!

I can feel it.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

- My dad taught my sister \h\h\h\h\hand I a creed,

and he would make us \h\h\h\hwrite it out.

\h\h\hLive strong. Act bold. Be brave.

- History has been made here.

- Nothing’s too hard to do.

- Just stop me dead.

- Always believe.

\h- I walk as the general of a legion of warriors!

[cheers and applause]

- Ultimate Warrior was just-- \h\hhe was a moment in time.

And the Ultimate Warrior,

the guy that we grew up \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwatching,

the guy that fought Hulk Hogan \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand beat him,

was separate from Jim Hellwig.

- Don’t let the tin cup I kick

\h\hhit you in the mouth and knock your teeth out.

[laughter]

- The complicated layers \h\hof his own psyche...

♪ ♪

Created a man who at times \h\h\h\hwas very difficult

to get a grasp on.

- [bleep] me.

- He probably wouldn’t have been driven to be

The Ultimate Warrior \h\hif he hadn’t had,

like, the pain he experienced \h\h\h\h\hin his early life.

[shouting]

- You’ve got to have some kind \h\h\h\h\h\hof an explanation,

Ultimate Warrior.

- He might not have gone on

\h\h\hto be the person that he was afterwards,

\h\h\hif it hadn’t been for the disappointment

\h\hhe was experiencing while we were all cheering for him.

\h\h- You have seen very small snippets of the man

that I-I knew personally .

You think of the guy who’s, \hyou know, big and tough.

But he’d tuck us in at night, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hso gently,

and read us our books.

And if there was something really sad or really rough,

like, he’d leave it out.

And that was a beautiful thing \h\h\hfor when we were little.

\h\h\h\hBut there’s not that privilege anymore.

You have to tell \hthe full story.

And with the past seven years \h\h\h\h\h\h\hthat’s gone on,

\h\h\h\h\hthere’s no more--you don’t want to censor anything.

Like, this is the story of \h\h\hThe Ultimate Warrior.

[cheers and applause]

Read the full book.

♪ ♪

[soft music]

\h- He was skinny. He was real skinny.

You know, I had a picture--I \h\hcouldn’t find it--of him

in a football outfit.

Poor--beanpole. Skinny legs. \h\h\h\h\h\hCute as a button.

♪ ♪

- Jim Hellwig was the oldest \h\h\h\h\h\hof five siblings.

He has two brothers, \h\h\h\htwo sisters.

- This is a picture of the four kids before I had my last one.

♪ ♪

\h- Here’s the place that I understood Jim

to tell me his wife grew up, \h\h\h\hin this mobile home.

And said that he lifted weights \h\h\h\h\h\hon that front porch

right there.

- Crawfordsville was, I think, \h\h\h\h\h\hlike 18,000 people.

Very rural.

- Demographics of this area: \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hblue-collar.

Everybody knows or has an idea of everybody in the community.

♪ ♪

\h- No, I don’t think he was real popular with the girls.

Deep down, I think he was shy. \h\h\hInsecure. Insecure. Yes.

- He always worshiped his mom, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hfor her efforts,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand was always very complimentary of his mom,

and loved her very much.

\h\h\h\h\h- His father departing their family

was a pivotal moment for him.

- I just think--and it’s not \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hjust Jim,

but all three of my boys--they \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhad such shame

\hthat their dad could leave them.

\h\h\h\h\hHe’d come back and go mushroom hunting.

\h\h\hHe’d come back and go to ball games.

And never come to see his kids.

- Jim’s dad leaving seems \h\hto have been at least

\h\h\h\h\ha beginning point of major trust issues in his life.

- He had a lot of insecurities due to the fact that he was ten

\hwhen his father left. I think devastated him.

[tense music]

I think, if I be honest, \h\h\h\hhaving five kids

and having to work so much,

that the kids didn’t always get \hthe reassurance they needed.

He didn’t get all the attention \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhe needed.

♪ ♪

- Growing up in a town \hlike Jim Hellwig did,

there’s sort of the haves \h\h\hand the have-nots.

And when his dad left,

\h\hand wasn’t contributing financially to the family,

suddenly Jim finds himself \has one of the have-nots.

- Jim felt that a lot of people \h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the community

\h\h\h\h\h\hlooked down on him. He also very definitively said,

"I’m going to show \h\h\hthese people.

I’m going to do something \h\h\h\h\hwith my life."

Which, you think about it, \h\h\hthis is a 17-year-old

who has embraced this

"I’m going to conquer \hthe world" attitude

because of the way he feels

\hthat the people of his community

had rejected him \hand his family.

♪ ♪

He also then goes searching for an identity beyond his father,

and that’s what ends up leading him to sports.

\h\hAnd Jim ends up meeting Gary Pate.

- The first time I ever met \h\h\h\h\h\h\hJim would be

at football practice \h\h\h\hback in 1975.

The first time I ever saw Jim

was in this classroom \h\h\h\h\hright here.

All the team members were sitting in here.

Well, when you saw some of these kids,

those guys were all about 6’2" \h\h\h\h\h\h\hand 220 and 225.

And Jim looked to be about, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hat that time,

5’10" and 125.

\h\hI’m sure he probably might have weighed more,

but he didn’t look like it.

\h\h\h\hAs the year went on, he found out that I would be

in the weight room \hwhen I had time.

\h\h\h\hHe’d ask if he could come in with me, and I’d say,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h"Sure. Yeah. Come in and lift all you want."

And we would lift, and he would \hbe intense about his lifting.

- You have Jim and Gary, who, \h\h\hfor about three years,

end up lifting together on sort of a cruddy old lifting machine

in their high school.

This is how he learned \hto bond with people,

\h\h\hespecially with paternal figures--working out with them

and lifting with them.

By his senior year,

Jim was utterly fascinated \h\h\h\hwith bodybuilding,

\hand he was constantly trying to get his hands

on bodybuilding magazines \h\h\h\h\hand materials.

He would apparently be looking \h\h\h\h\h\hat these magazines

and say things like,

\h\h\h\h\h"I can’t wait till I’m this massive."

- He had the Arnold \h\hSchwarzenegger

poster in his room, you know.

He’d have his EZ Curl bar \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin there,

and would be pumping iron

\h\h\hfacing the Arnold Schwarzenegger poster,

you know, and, like--you know.

\h\hHe knew that he needed to seek his own ambitions,

so he wasn’t stuck in that rural area,

being your own farmer, \h\hworking a factory,

when he didn’t have no desire

to do either one of them \h\h\h\h\h\hfor a living.

\h- Jim’s pursuit of a bodybuilding career

seems to have manifested \h\h\hin the early 1980s.

But he makes a move \hover to Georgia,

because he feels like there \h\his a better opportunity

for the professional \hbodybuilding scene.

During that time in Georgia,

he meets his future wife, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hShari.

They get married.

- You know, he gets married \h\h\h\h\h\h\hpretty young.

\h\h\hHe goes down to Atlanta to try to start this career.

\hYou know, he’s sort of going through the stations of, like,

\h\h\h\h\h\hwhat growing up and entering adulthood looks like.

\h\h- And by 1984, he’s made the move

\h\hto definitively try to get himself into competition shape.

\h\hAnd he does so and manages to win

a pretty significant competition in 1984.

He wins Mr. Georgia.

- I knew that it would serve me \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwell

to make my body different \h\hfrom everybody else,

like a comic book character just walked off the pages.

- He was dedicated, \hand he had a goal

where he wanted to go \hwith this lifting.

- He never said, "I’m gonna be the world champion WWE,

\hand I’m gonna pick up Andre the Giant and body slam him."

But he did say, "I will,

one of these days, be a person \h\hthat people will remember."

\h\h\hHe said, "I’ll guarantee that people will remember me."

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[dramatic music]

- Today, I’m boxing \h\hwith my coach.

\h\hI love boxing. I feel like my dad.

I feel strong and powerful \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwhen I do it.

I love the intensity \h\h\hthat comes out.

The release from it \h\hfeels like him.

\h\h\h\hI would hear him screaming out in the gym,

and I’m like--I’m a little bit \hlike him when I’m in the gym.

- Coming from my background,

growing up in a town \h\h\hof 600 people,

I stumbled into the weight room \h\h\h\h\hwe had at our school.

\h\h\h\h\hRunt of a kid. Scared of my own shadow.

And I started gaining weight \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hreally quick.

And when I started \h\hgaining weight

and putting size on my body, \h\h\h\hI thought to myself,

\h\h"Well, I can change my life in other ways."

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h- It’s something that I can strive to get better at,

and I can look back at my younger self

and think, like, "Oh, I thought \h\h\hI was so good back then,"

\h\hand then you climb the wall and you get better and better.

♪ ♪

\hWell, in terms of becoming a wrestler, never say never.

♪ ♪

- So, I scheduled

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\han appointment with the high school counselor.

\h\h15 seconds after I started telling he what I wanted to do,

she put her hand up to my face, about ten inches away from it,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand she said, "Put that silly stuff away,

\hand let me tell you what you need to do.

\h\h\h\hThis summer, you need to get a job at the factory.

\h\hDo a good job. Come back and finish your senior year.

And when you graduate,

\h\hyou should be able to get a full-time job.

\h\h\hNow, what else can I help you with?"

[tense music]

♪ ♪

\h- For any bodybuilder, when you build your body,

it’s like putting \hon your armor.

You know, you’re building \h\h\h\h\h\hyour muscle,

which is your armor, \hto protect yourself

from who you are, \hreally, inside.

You could be this insecure \h\hperson, but now you’re,

you know, 240, 250 pounds, \h\h\hyou know, of muscle.

- It totally makes sense

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthat someone without a male role model,

\h\h\hwho’s in search of what masculinity means to them--it

make sense that they would look at this world of bodybuilding.

[upbeat music]

\h\h\h\hIn the ’80s, I mean, it’s kind of hard to imagine,

if you weren’t there,

but bodybuilding was a huge deal.

- There was really only \h\h\h\h\h\hone person

everyone was talking about,

\h\h\h\h\hand that was Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He was in the moving \h\h\h"Pumping Iron,"

and those images became iconic.

- Arnold Schwarzenegger \hbecomes a huge star.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI mean, arguably the biggest star in Hollywood.

- How did he get there? \hIt wasn’t just, "Hey,

\hlet me go to acting school and become this movie star."

It was, oh, he goes to the gym \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hall the time,

\h\h\h\hand he never quits. Jim says, "I can do that."

- If you really want \h\h\h\h\hto make it,

you gotta move to California.

- Gold’s Gym Venice, \h\h\h\hin the ’80s,

became the mecca.

\h\h- Gold’s Gym became the standard for anyone

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwho wanted to become a bodybuilder.

♪ ♪

- I contacted Jim, \hand I invited him

out to California to train \h\h\hfor his next contest.

\h\h\h\h\h’Cause I thought he had a lot of potential.

- Ed introduced me to Jim, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hsaying,

\h\h"Here’s a young guy who’s trying to win the nationals."

- My first house in Venice was \hjust two blocks from the gym,

so the guys would stay \h\h\h\h\hat the house

and they would learn \h\hfrom each other.

We knew how they trained \h\h\h\hor what they ate

or what they took for supplements.

- Ed one day came in \h\h\h\hto this gym,

and he wanted me to let this \hbig dude come in and train.

This guy was a giant, you know.

\h\hHe wasn’t just big, he was kind of freaky.

He had a freaky build, \h\ha freaky physique.

And when he walked through the room or through the gym

or anywhere else, people went--

[tense music]

- Performance-enhancing drugs \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand steroids

were definitely in fashion

\h\h\h\h\h\hwhen it came to the world of bodybuilding.

\h\h\h- Steroids were part of the regiment of what you took

to be a pro bodybuilder.

What it did is it gave you \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe ability

\h\h\hto basically be in an anabolic state.

You can train hours in the gym \h\h\h\h\h\hand not break down.

\h\h\hBut the thing was--is they were legal back then.

You can actually have access \h\h\h\h\hto go to a pharmacy

and just buy them on your own.

- I think, if people were to open my refrigerator,

\h\h\h\hthey would have probably been shocked.

You know, most of the steroids \h\h\hhave to be refrigerated,

so some of my family members \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwould visit,

and so when they pulled \h\hout the fruit door,

they could something \h\hother than fruit.

- If I’m gonna take the time \hto talk to you about this,

\h\h\h\hthen you need to get it down right.

So, I got up the courage \h\h\h\hone day--I weight

about 175 pounds.

\h\h\hI go up to this guy as he’s leaving the gym,

and I tap him on the shoulder.

I said, "Can I ask you \h\h\h\h\habout ster--"

Before I even got the word "steroid" out in my mouth,

\h\h\h\hhe turned around. Guy just towered over me.

He said, "Before I ever heard \h\h\h\h\h\h\habout steroids,

I was number three in the whole world.

But when you get up there \hin that upper echelon,

there may be a different \h\h\h\h\hset of rules."

And what he was telling me, \h\h\h\has a young punk kid

of only 18 years old-- \h\h\h\hhe was saying,

"You get there. You do what \h\hit takes to get there.

And then you worry about \hmaking that decision."

\h\h\hI weighed 295 pounds before I ever touched them.

That’s the story \habout steroids.

\h\h\hAnd you better get that story right.

- And the next competitor \h\h\h\h\his Jim Hellwig.

- You know, guys like Jim,

\h\h\h\hwho, you know, I saw as this big guy,

you would think he would become \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\ha--you know,

a great pro bodybuilder.

- [laughs]

Jim’s goals back then \h\h\hwas basically,

I think, to make money \hand have a great job.

\h\h- You only made money when you were a top pro.

But if you didn’t place and win the nationals,

or you didn’t win the Mr. USAs,

you really weren’t \hgonna make money.

- On some level, he had to come \h\h\h\h\h\hto the realization

\h\h\h\hthat just being a great bodybuilder, in and of itself,

was not going to make him \h\h\h\hrich and famous.

- I guess his path was \h\hto go more towards

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hbecoming a professional wrestler,

\hyou know, where he saw money to be made.

\h\h- In the early ’80s, wrestling was a big deal.

Was on TV a lot.

The wrestlers would train \h\hat Gold’s Gym Venice.

So, we actually formed our own, \h\h\h\hthen, Gold’s Gym team,

which was composed \hof two tag teams.

- Out of the four, we had,

\h\h\h\hyou know, a big monster that just disappeared one day.

\hAnd I said, "Hey, I remember meeting this guy, Jim Hellwig.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHe just won a bodybuilding competition.

He’s huge. We should call him."

- When I talked with Jim, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hI explained

\h\h\h\h\hthat we had lost the big member of our team,

\hand he’d be perfect for it. He said, "What does it pay?"

And when I told him $100 \h\h\h\ha night, he said,

"Well, that’s more money \h\hthan I’m making now."

\h- We sent out press kits. We got one phone call back.

It was about three days later,

but we got a phone call back \h\h\h\h\hfrom Jerry Jarrett.

He said, "Yeah, I’m looking \h\h\h\h\h\h\hat a picture,

and I got four guys \hin this picture,"

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hbut he says, "I can only use two of you."

"Well, which two do you want?" \hHe goes, "I want the two guys

to the far left in this picture \h\h\h\h\h\h\hI’m looking at."

So we got in the car, \h\h\hmy ’83 T-bird,

and we left California,

\h\h\h\hand we drove out to Nashville, Tennessee.

And that’s where it started.

- Right now, we would like \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto welcome

in a couple of brand new faces \h\hto Championship Wrestling,

\ha couple of guys you’re gonna get to know and know well, too.

\hWe’re talking about the Freedom Fighters.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hJim Hellwig. Jim, glad to have you here.

And Steve Borden.

Steve, glad to have \h\hyou guys here.

This is your first time \h\h\h\h\h\h\hout here.

\h\h\h\h\h\hWe want to get a little background on you.

How about--are you guys \h\h\h\h\h\h\hmarried,

have families, or what?

\h- No, we’re single. We’re looking forward

\h\h\h\h\h\hto meeting all those pretty girls.

- You’re both single? - Yeah. We’re single.

\h- You hear that, girls? They’re both single here.

I want to get that right.

[cheers and applause]

- My first reaction was, "Wow." \h\hI saw two good-looking guys

that were gonna draw the girls \h\h\h\h\h\h\hinto the matches,

\h\hand that’s what it was all about for us back then.

Back in the day, we never told \h\h\hanybody they were married

or you were engaged \hor anything else,

because it would hurt the girls \hfrom coming to the building.

- They’re young. They still got \ha lot to learn in wrestling.

\h\h\h\hBut boy, they sure got the physical attributes, baby.

- There was no sort \hof gracefulness.

\h\h\h\hThere was no slow and poetic storytelling.

It was just boom, energy, \h\h\h\hand "I’m coming,

and I’m hitting you as hard as I can, and I’m leaving."

\h- It doesn’t necessarily connect with the audience.

Like, "Why are we cheering \h\h\h\hfor these good guys

\h\hjust beating the snot out of these much smaller guys?"

\hAnd so they had to make a shift,

because it wasn’t working.

\h\h- Our thought was, "Yeah. Let’s change. Let’s go heel.

Let’s change our look. \h\h\hAnd let’s come up

with something real, you know, \h\h\hkind of freaky looking."

\h- Ladies and gentlemen, the most awesome tag team

in professional wrestling, \h\h\h\hthe Blade Runners!

♪ ♪

\h- The greatest, most [inaudible]

tag team in professional \h\h\h\hwrestling today,

the Blade Runners!

- Before long, Steve Borden \h\h\h\h\h\hand Jim Hellwig

\h\h\h\hwere repackaged into the Blade Runners.

♪ ♪

- I think that they realized

\h\h\h\h\h\hthat intensity was what they had to offer.

\hSo the promos that you would see were just guys working out.

They weren’t saying anything.

\h\h\h\h\hBut it was just, "We’re super intense dudes,

\h\hand we can lift super heavy things.

And sometimes we wear mascara."

[cheers and applause]

- Blade Runners. Uh-oh.

- The matches were horrible \h\h\h\h\hwith those guys.

\h\h\h\hAnd it was one of those situations where, at the time,

\h\hwe could have taken them and maybe spent a lot of time

\h\h\h\h\h\hand, you know, put them in opening matches

\h\h\hand tried to train them, but these guys already thought

that they were ready \h\hfor the big time,

just because of their look.

\h\h- As Hellwig and Borden working on Phil Hickerson,

\h\hand now, Buddy Wayne slugs him with that shoe.

- Jill Hellwig has sort of \h\h\h\h\hreached this peak

of physical perfection, right?

\h\h\hHe goes to pro wrestling in search of fame and fortune.

\h\h\hAnd then he sort of has to start over, right?

\hHe has to start paying his dues.

He’s not making any money. \h\h\h\h\h\hHe’s traveling.

He’s on the road all the time.

\h- Ladies and gentlemen, the most awesome tag team

in professional wrestling, \h\h\h\hthe Blade Runners!

\h\h- We were on, you know, the 4th of July, you know,

\h\hmatinee show, evening show, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day,

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day,

\hEaster Sunday-- it didn’t matter,

we were doing two shows a day.

- This man is just so powerful. \h\h\h\h\h\h\hPunishing kicks.

\h\h\h- Things we’re so bad, I was driving used taxi cabs

\hthat had, like, 400,000 or 500,000 miles on them.

It was just incredible.

- Nice move by Brett. Dropkick.

- He was very much so, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou know,

opiniated kind of a guy.

\hAnd, you know--and he was not shy about sharing his opinion.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hDidn’t matter what the topic was, you know?

We actually walked away \h\h\h\h\hat one time.

We walked out on--we \h\hwere main event.

\hAnd the next day, I got a phone call.

\h"You need to come up to Little Rock tonight.

Bill’s holding a couple \h\hof your paychecks.

You’ll never get them \h\h\hunless you come

and put a notice in \hand finish out."

\h\h\hSo I said okay. You know, "Let me try to get ahold of Jim

\hand see if we can make this happen."

I couldn’t get Jim anywhere. \hSo I went and did the show.

And came back.

\hAnd the next day, Jim was pretty hot.

You know, "What’d you do? \h\h\hWhat are you doing?

How could you do that to me?"

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI said, "Jim, what are you talking about?"

He was real pissed.

And that ultimately ended up, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou know,

\h\hleading to, you know, us parting ways as well.

[cheers and applause]

\h- Blade Runners, no doubt about it,

are big, strong individuals.

But I don’t think they’ve got \h\h\h\hwhat it takes inside.

\h\h\h\h\h\hI’m speaking of intestinal fortitude.

\h\h- I think he just wanted to kind of go off on his own.

\h\h\h\hAnd it ended up he was probably right.

♪ ♪

\h\h- Hellwig decides he’s going to leave.

And he has an opening with WCCW \h\h\hover in the Dallas area.

- Welcome to World Class \hChampionship Wrestling,

\h\h\h\hthe Major League of Professional Wrestling

\h\h\h\hseen around the world and across this great nation.

- WCCW had really an international

\h\hfollowing of sorts, because the Von Erichs

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwere like a first family of wrestling.

[rock music]

- They had an audience \hthat was very unique

in the history of wrestling,

\h\hand a large percentage of the audience was women,

\h\hand it was all about really good-looking guys

with great bodies.

So Jim comes in, and I mean,

\h\h\hJim is, like, perfect for that specific audience.

[cheers and applause]

- I remember the first night,

\h\h\h\h\h\hI drove in there, they came up to me and said,

\h\h\h\h"Warrior. He’s got a warrior thing about him,"

or something like that.

Then somebody came in. He had a little puppy, a new puppy.

And they were asking him what kind of dog it was.

He says, "A dingo."

And somebody just--you know, somebody that was, you know,

not quite sober yet, said, \h\h\h"Dingo-Dingo Warrior.

\h\h\h\h\hThat’ll work. We’ll do that tonight."

So, that was the beginning of the Dingo Warrior thing.

\h\h\h- From Queens, New York, 287 pounds, the Dingo Warrior.

[cheers and applause]

- He was billed as being \hfrom Queens, New York.

So, there’s no dingoes \h\h\h\h\h\hin Queens.

Dingoes are Australian.

And the word "dingo" is just \h\ha ridiculous, silly word.

It just sounds hilarious \h\hand not intimidating.

[cheers and applause]

- Look at the awesome physical \hbeauty of the Dingo Warrior.

- I’ll tell you, Brian,

this crowd’s behind him, \h\h\h\htoo, 100 percent.

\h- So, you bring any freak of nature you want to World Class,

because believe me, brother,

I’ve looked in the eyes \h\hof darkness before.

And I’m not scared of it, \h\hand I never will be,

with the warriors \hbehind my back.

- As the Dingo Warrior, \h\h\h\h\h\hJim Hellwig

\hgets a noticeable following in WCCW.

all: Dingo. Dingo. Dingo.

\h\h- Listen to the crowd, wound up for the Dingo man.

all: Dingo. Dingo. Dingo.

- It was very obvious to me \h\h\h\hthat the business--

\h\hit was going a direction where it wasn’t so much like

Dick the Bruiser and the Crusher,

\hthose kind of wrestlers that I remember as a kid,

growing up with, in Indiana,

and that something different \h\h\h\hwas going on with it.

You know, I was painting \h\hthe logo on my face.

Dingo Warrior, to me,

\h\hwas the poor version of the Ultimate Warrior.

I didn’t really have much money to spend on that kind of stuff.

But it just grew, man.

It really turned into something \h\h\h\h\h\h\hreally fantastic.

\h\h- And here’s a man of awesome proportions,

who has to be counted on \hto be one of the major

influences in professional \h\h\h\h\hwrestling today.

- [inaudible] Dingo!

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- So, Jim returns

to the Fountain Central \h\h\hTen-Year Reunion.

\hHe has not only won Mr. Georgia,

but he has also become \h\hthe Dingo Warrior.

\h\h\h\h\hHe’s enormous. 280 pounds, solid muscle.

This was not a coming back \h\hto sort of mend fences

or to connect with people \hhe didn’t connect with.

His whole take was, if you had \hbeen his friend in his youth,

\h\h"Come sit with me. We’re gonna hang out."

And for those people who tried \h\hto be more chummy with him,

\h\h\hthat had not given him the time of day in his youth,

he had no interest.

\h- He won a couple bottles of champagne for the person

that had changed the most

\h\h\h\h\hand the person that drove the furthest.

\hAnd I remember him opening the champagne

and having us all drink \h\ha little bit of it,

you know, celebrating just our \hreunion together as friends.

\h\h\h- He didn’t forget where he came from. Okay?

Jim was a loyal friend.

If you hung in there with him, \h\hhe hung in there with you.

- Now, with a pin. Two. Three.

\h\hThe Dingo Warrior subdues Jack Victory.

- Jim Hellwig was a remarkably \h\h\h\h\hcreative human being.

Part of it is the look, and I think part of it,

\h\has well, is the fact that he’s just different.

- When Vince McMahon sees \h\hJim Hellwig in 1987,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhe sees the picture-perfect mold

\h\h\hfor what he’s putting out there.

He sees, "There’s definitely \h\h\h\h\h\hsomething there.

But I’m gonna make this thing my own."

\h- And look at the power of the Ultimate Warrior.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- In the territory days,

\h\h\h\hthe WWE was just the New York territory .

- The recognized symbol

\h\h\h\h\h\hof excellence in sports entertainment.

[cheers and applause]

- By the time people of my age \h\h\h\hbracket were invested,

\h\h\h\h\hthe WWE had become the territory.

[dramatic music]

\h- They were hitting cable TV, being seen all over the world.

♪ ♪

\h- Vince McMahon is as responsible

for the success of the WWE

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\has anyone is for the success of anything.

\h\hThis is this guy who took everything his father started

\h\h\hand said, "That’s great. I like what you’re doing here.

\h\h\hBut what if we took over the world with it?"

- And Dingo is the winner. \h\h\h\h- So, Jim Hellwig,

as the Dingo Warrior, \h\h\h\h\his in WCCW,

\h\hand Vince McMahon takes one look at him

\h\h\h\hand he says, "Okay, I’ll give that guy a shot."

- The Ultimate Warrior.

\h\h\h- The Ultimate Warrior was a Vince McMahon creation.

His first attempt to create a star,

\h\h\honce he already had all the eyeballs on his company.

- He’s a strong, powerful man.

- There’s something Vince \h\htold me at one time,

and I’ll always remember this.

But he sat down with me and he said, "You know,

\h\hJimmy, I’m looking for my next attraction.

Somebody bigger than life.

Somebody that can walk through \h\h\hany airport in the world,

\h\h\hand even a casual wrestling fan would go,

"Oh my God. Look who it is.’"

\h- The power of the warrior flowing through those veins.

- Oh!

- Oh! What a clothesline!

\h- He was the only person that would run--and I mean

\h\h\htop speed--all the way to the ring.

- Introducing first, weighing 275 pounds,

\hfrom parts unknown, the Ultimate Warrior.

[rock music]

- You had the Hulkamania, with the red and yellow,

the bright colors, the tee,

\h\hand all of a sudden you got a guy come in,

but instead of red and yellow, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hhe’s got neon on.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Look at this. - What a display of strength

as the Warrior has him \h\hhigh over his head.

- Except for Hulk Hogan, he was the most popular guy they had.

Very quickly.

\h\h- The audience would react to him.

\h\h\hThey started reacting very well.

And I thought, "Hmm. Okay then.

Maybe we do have something here."

- What an impressive showing here by the Ultimate Warrior.

- You can see that he’s on \h\h\h\ha clear trajectory.

That Vince is, like, \hwriting this script

\h\hthat will put him following in the footsteps of Hulk Hogan.

[cheers and applause]

- Ladies and gentlemen,

\h\h\h\hthis contest is for the Intercontinental Championship.

- Honky Tonk Man is gonna

defend the Intercontinental \h\h\h\h\h\hChampionship...

- Get me somebody out here \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto wrestle.

I don’t care who it is.

- Against an unnamed opponent.

And you’re waiting to hear \h\h\h\hwho it’s gonna be.

And that music hits.

[rock music]

- Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Somebody’s music.

- I mean, as Gorilla Monsoon \h\h\h\h\hsays, pandemonium.

- Here’s is the challenger \h\h\h\h\h\h\h[inaudible].

- It’s the Ultimate Warrior!

[cheers and applause]

This place has gone bananas!

- I remember what it felt \h\h\h\h\h\h\hlike, man.

\h\hIt was [bleep] awesome, you know.

It...

- Ultimate Warrior exploding \h\h\hhere on Honky Tonk Man.

Beautiful flying tackle.

- It was just nonstop energy \h\hfor less than 30 seconds,

\h\h\h\hand there was a new Intercontinental Champion.

- [inaudible] hooks the leg!

\h- That’s it! - He’s got it!

History has been made here!

\h\h\h- Just shocked the wrestling world.

Nobody expected it, right?

\hHe had the belt for over a year.

\hAnd I think that’s what really gave him

the little rocket \hthat he needed.

- It is unbelievable.

\h\h\h\h\h\hA newly-crowned Intercontinental Champion.

- It was just another \h\h\h\hcritical step

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin him becoming the biggest wrestler in WWE.

[indistinct chatter]

\h\h- There you go. Thanks a lot, man.

\h\h\h\h\h- This is WWE letting the world know

this is the next guy.

This guy that you think might be a star, he is a superstar.

- Please welcome the man known \h\h\has the Ultimate Warrior.

[cheers and applause]

- I think the Ultimate Warrior

\hwas a great match for the late ’80s,

early ’90s.

\h\hEverything was about being as big and strong and bombastic

as a character as possible.

He was a cartoon character \h\h\h\h\h\h\hcome to life.

So, my earliest memories of the \hUltimate Warrior are of this,

\h\hlike, mad man covered in tassels and of a doll

\hthat I wanted to cuddle and take to bed with me.

♪ ♪

- Hey. Yo. Yo.

- Now, because he \his successful,

now he’s got that target \h\h\h\h\h\hon his back.

\h\h- Ah! - Ah. Ah.

\h\h\h\h- "This guy’s only been in the business for five years.

I’ve been in this business \h\h\h\h\h\h\hfor 20 years.

What dues did he pay?"

There’s all that going on \h\h\hin the locker room.

\h\h\h\h\h\hI got the sense that he really was a loner.

\h- Warrior was very much, at times, an overgrown kid.

\hHaving known a lot of his personal life,

\hhe never really got to be a kid.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hYou know? Came from a broken home.

\h\hHad to grow him and mature quickly.

So, I do think that the Warrior \hcharacter--that’s why he fell

in love with it so much,

\h\h\hbecause it was an extension of him,

and he got to escape \hand do those things

\h\h\hand live probably a lot of things he never got to do.

- The Ultimate Warrior.

If we were in town, I mean, it only made sense to say,

"Look, you know, come home \h\hand let’s have dinner,"

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou know, and my wife would fix dinner.

\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd it was a breath of fresh air to have him there.

He was so different, you know,

and he really wanted \h\hthat environment.

You could tell he was attracted \h\h\h\h\hto that environment.

\h\h- There was very few people that were invited to come over

to my parents’ house.

[both laughing]

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- You know what, if he was asked, he would have.

He would definitely \h\hdo the dishes.

He was just that type of guy.

My dad was a father \h\hfigure to many,

and definitely was to Warrior.

I think it was just that family dynamic

\hthat Jim always aspired to have.

[cheers and applause]

- Coming up from behind. \h\hLook out from behind.

- Ah!

- They end up having Warrior \hfeud with Andre the Giant,

\hwho had previously been the most beloved wrestler

maybe on the planet.

- You see the ultimate maniac \hhas felt these large hands

around his neck.

He is feeling, right now, the Intercontinental Championship

slipping off his waist.

- One of the big values \h\hof Andre the Giant

was that if somebody beats him, \h\h\hor somebody can slam him,

they’re a household name, \h\h\h\h\hand Hulk Hogan

body slamming Andre the Giant \h\h\h\h\hat WrestleMania III

is the thing that set Hulkamania in motion.

- Look at this. He slammed him! \h\h- And you, Andre the Giant,

will realize that the power \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwill become

the Eighth Wonder of the World, \h\h\h\h\has we eat you alive!

[cheers and applause]

- Andre never did anything \h\h\hhe didn’t want to do.

It was frightening the first time he told me to slam him.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\hI knew what it meant to the character Ultimate Warrior,

\h\h\hand how much over that character would be

by being allowed to do that.

- Is he gonna pick him up? Wow.

- So now, you’re able

\h\h\h\h\hto really think of like Ultimate Warrior.

He’s on the same level \h\h\h\has Hulk Hogan.

Because up until that moment, the greatest thing Hulk Hogan

\h\h\h\h\h\hhad ever achieved was beating Andre the Giant.

Well now, Ultimate Warrior’s \h\h\hbeaten Andre the Giant.

"You slammed Andre. \hI slammed Andre."

- You can beat everybody else \h\h\h\h\h\h\hon the roster.

But after you slam \hAndre the Giant,

there’s only one place \h\h\h\h\h\hleft to go,

and that’s Hulk Hogan.

[indistinct shouting]

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

- There, you didn’t cry \h\h\h\h\h\hfor Santa.

You were too little.

\hIt’s been seven years since we lost Warrior,

and now we’re actually able \h\hto look at the memories

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand enjoy them and revel in them and laugh.

Warrior’s role at Christmastime \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwas, like,

\hthe biggest elf you’ve ever met.

And he’d negotiate.

\h\h\h- Negotiate-- he would negotiate.

\h\h\h\h\h\h- There was a lot of negotiation on Christmas.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Absolutely. - About what you guys deserved.

- Yes. - Yeah.

- Every morning, on Christmas,

we’d wake up with a note about \hwhat we should improve on...

- Yeah.

- For the next year. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Yep.

- ’Cause next year, \hit might be coal.

- And it was detailed.

- It was scary.

But then you had to get over it \h\h\h\hand you’d get presents.

- Like, "Wait, this is \h\hDad’s handwriting."

[laughter]

- For me and the girls, it’s about his legacy as a father.

But for millions of fans, \hit will always be about

what he did in the ring \h\h\hwith Hulk Hogan.

I think it’s pretty incredible \h\h\h\hto imagine he only had

five years in the business, \h\h\h\h\hand he was tasked

with the job of replacing \h\h\ha veritable legend.

- Hulk Hogan in the ’80s literally was wrestling.

[rock music]

\h\h\h- And just remember, Hulkamania is running wild.

- Crazy. Thank you, Hulk.

- He ushered in a new, \h\h\hlarger-than-life,

\h\h\halmost cartoonish era of professional wrestling.

\h\h\h- Hulk Hogan, over the six years

leading to WrestleMania VI,

had turned Hulkamania \hinto a phenomenal.

♪ ♪

- Remember what’s going on \h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the ring.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHulk is posing. We’re in the celebration mood.

We want the opposite of that.

- Okay. - Okay?

Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate \h\h\hWarrior--at the time,

\h\h\h\h\hthey’re you’re top good guys in the WWE.

So, when they start to flirt \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith this idea

that there may be \hsome animosity

\h\h\hbetween Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior,

you’re going, "Wait a minute."

\h- Bollea and Hellwig had a rivalry with one another,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand they had a mutual professional jealousy.

Which made sense.

[cheers and applause]

- How could there not be \h\h\h\hprofessional envy

and jealousy between Hulk Hogan \h\h\hand the Ultimate Warrior?

\h\h\h\h\h\h- Another elbow into the Hulkster’s chest.

- Ultimate Warrior was designed \h\h\h\hto replace Hulk Hogan.

How could Hulk Hogan \h\hnot resent that?

\h\h\h\h- [inaudible] the Ultimate Warrior

[inaudible].

\h\h\h\h\h- I don’t understand the Warrior’s thinking on this.

\h\h\h\h\hWhy should he run to the ring and save Hogan?

- How could Warrior not resent \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHulk Hogan?

If you’re gonna compete \h\h\h\h\hwith somebody

\h\hfor the number one spot, by design, you have to think,

"Here’s why I’m better \h\hthan that person."

- Wait a minute. Clothesline. \hHere it comes from behind.

\h\h\h\h\h\hHe stopped. Wait. What’s going on?

\h\h\h- Very nature of that competition between the two

is going to breed envy

\h\h\h\h\h\hand jealousy between the two of them.

- Both champions, Hulk Hogan \h\hand the Ultimate Warrior,

\h\h\hwant to be sure the other is healthy

for Sunday afternoon, April 1.

\h\hThe World Wrestling Entertainment champion

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hagainst the Intercontinental Champion.

- This was a big topic \h\h\h\hof conversation

among 11-year-olds:

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwho’s gonna win, Ultimate Warrior or Hulk Hogan?

I mean, for us, this was, like, \hyou know, Magic versus Bird.

- At the end of WrestleMania, \h\h\hit’ll be the Hulkster.

In God, they still trust.

- Look into my eyes, \h\h\h\h\hHulk Hogan.

You see nothingness.

- Warrior not only has to step \h\h\hinto the ring with Hogan,

has to carry the main event \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith Hogan,

\h\h\hhas to live up to the box office expectations with Hogan.

Is he gonna beat Hogan?

\h\h\h\hThe pressure on Warrior to deliver--it’s mind-boggling

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto think that pressure didn’t crush him.

- The Ultimate Warrior!

- Listen to the ovation \h\h\h\h\h\h[inaudible]

\h\hfor the Ultimate Warrior! Here he comes! He’s running.

- You can’t build to a match \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hlike this

and then go for five minutes.

So this became a test of, \h\h\h\h\h"Okay, now that

\h\h\hwe’ve got Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior together,

can we have these go do \h\ha 25-minute match?

\h\h\hCan we do a match where a real story is being told?"

- You can be the adrenaline \h\h\his already flowing...

- And here we go [inaudible].

- In those bodies.

\h\h\hIt’s deafening here in the Skydome.

- Warrior learned a lot from Hulk.

\h\hBut there’s always that little piece--you

\h\h\h\hwant to be the top dog. And Warrior was hungry for it.

\h\h\h\h- Look at that! A slam by the Warrior!

\h\h\h- They both get their time to shine.

- Unbelievable!

Hogan has never had \h\hanyone do that!

- And they both get that moment \hwhere, as a fan, you’re like,

"Well, this is the moment \h\h\h\hwhere Hulk wins."

- Got him with the [inaudible]. \h\h\h\h\h\h- Oh, [inaudible].

\h\h- That moment that we’ve all seen before.

\h\h\h\h\hHulk Hogan is hitting the ropes.

He’s dropping a leg.

- Here it is. \h\h\h\h- Oh!

He moved out of the way! \h\hLook out [inaudible].

\h\h\h- Two. - It’s over!

\h- It’s over! - Unbelievable!

- The Warrior has \hwon the title!

- Hulk Hogan was still hot \h\h\h\h[inaudible]. Okay?

When he takes that Warrior pin \hright in the middle fill out

\hthe ring--no funny business--and loses,

\h\houtright, to the Warrior, and makes Warrior king--this

\h\h\h\h\his not the same as doing that for someone

when you are clearly \h\hon the way down.

- Oh, look at this!

\h\hHulk presented the belt and raised the hand of the Warrior!

\h- That was both Hogan and the company anointing somebody new.

\h\h\h\hAnd it was a major deal to be able to beat Hulk Hogan.

[cheers and applause]

- I think Jim was idolized.

\h\hThat filled something up inside of him that he needed.

- Other people, you know, \h\h\h\h\hthat have said,

\h\h\h\h\h\hyou know, Warrior never respected the business,

\hyou know, he just wanted to get in, make a paycheck,

get out--that was not true.

Warrior came back \hto the curtain

after that match with Hogan,

and completely broke down, \h\hyou know, emotionally.

\h\h\h\hHe was finally at the very pinnacle of the business

\h\hthat he worked so hard to get to.

- The fact that I took the belt \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hfrom Hulk

in the way that I did,

with the clean finish--I mean,

the weight of that--you know,

\h\h\h\h\hthat saying about "It’s not the designation.

It’s the journey"--it’s true \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hfor me.

I was so emotional after it happened,

\h\h\hbut within a day or two, I was thinking, "What’s next?"

[cheers and applause]

- At WrestleMania, Warrior, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou lived up

the ultimate challenge, \h\h\h\hand then some.

But now, you face a challenge \h\h\h\hof a different kind.

- The Ultimate Warrior title \h\h\hreign as World Champion

was in some ways actually the beginning of the end.

- I can feel it!

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI can feel that I have been chosen.

- He was pure kinetic energy, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hright?

And the story that they told \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwas a missile

being shot into space.

The climb is exhilarating.

\h\h\h\hBut once you get there, the story just sort of fizzles.

\h- They didn’t set up the right guys for him.

And it did not get him off \h\h\h\hon the right foot.

\h\h\hThe first thing they do is they brought in Rick Rude.

He was a retread.

Warrior had already beaten him before.

\h\h- He had matches with the Undertaker.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- You’re scared, and you’re going to be scared.

- Wait a minute. \h- Not in there.

Not in--not in a casket.

- And it ends up going into \h\hJake the Snake Roberts.

- Huh? What do you think \h\habout that, Warrior?

Just a few friends \h\h\hof mine, huh?

- What if I tap the plexiglass? \h\h\h\h- Here comes a strike.

Here it comes. [inaudible].

- Warrior’s walking around \h\h\h\hin that locker room

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith eyes in the back of his head.

\h\h\h\h\h\hYou got guys that are jealous of him.

In front of the cameras, \h\hin front of the fans,

that was Warrior’s safe haven. \h\h\hThat was never the issue.

But when he had to walk back \h\h\hinto that locker room,

\h\h\h\h\hhe knew exactly what he was dealing with.

That’s where the pressure came.

\h\h- Hang on. Hang on. - Keep your attention.

Keep his attention.

\h\h\h- Keep his attention. Here we go. We see him now.

- I don’t think you really know \h\hif somebody’s up to the job

until they get there, right?

I don’t know what expectations \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hVince had set,

and what the Ultimate Warrior \h\h\h\hwasn’t living up to.

\hSomething had to be telling Vince McMahon

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthat this project wasn’t succeeding to the degree

that he had hoped \hthat it would.

[cheers and applause]

\h\h- With the scepter right between the eyes!

- Come on!

- Everyone in the entire \h\h\h\h\h\hbuilding saw

what the Macho King did.

- Immediately, it was like,

okay the decision is to get \h\hthe belt back on Hogan,

because Warrior didn’t \h\h\hdraw good enough.

But at the time, I--you know,

I think everybody figured \h\h\h\h\h\hthat Warrior

\h\hwas gonna be champion for three or four years,

and it was, you know, less than a full year

before they took it away \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hfrom him.

[crowd chanting]

- Warrior is not going \h\hto fall into line.

\h\hThis is not somebody you are going to control,

and they have to know this.

- Jim Hellwig went to the beat \h\h\h\h\h\h\hof his own drum.

Whatever that beat \hwas telling him,

whether it was good for him \h\hor detrimental to him,

\h\h\h\h\hhe went and walked to the beat of his own drum.

- There were times where,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou know, he was completely isolated.

\h\hSometimes he was just really on edge.

- So, there’s a story that a kid approaches

Ultimate Warrior in an airport, \h\h\h\h\h\has most people do.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hYou know, that’s half the reason

\hVince grabs these guys, is ’cause when they walk

\h\h\h\h\hthrough an airport, you can’t look away from him.

- He’s got his sunglasses on,

and this little kid \hcomes up to him,

\h\h\hand he asks, you know, if he’s the Ultimate Warrior.

And, like, he snaps on this little kid.

I was like, "Whoa."

\h\h- This kid’s parents were pretty connected to the WWE.

That posed a problem for Jim when Vince heard about this.

\hSo, Vince is so upset that he makes Jim actually record

a video apology to the kid.

- It’s Vince Apology.

\h\h\h\h- What--I mean, I’m humbly apologizing,

\h\hbut I’m not saying what I’m humbly apologizing for.

- That’s right. - We know what

\h\h\h\hthe gimmick’s for, but I mean, what’s it for?

- In three, two...

\h\h\h- I understand that there comes times in everyone’s life

\h\hwhen they may regret certain things--[bleep].

Regret certain things that they should--this [bleep]--

Yeah, I know. I don’t know \hwhat the [bleep] to say.

I didn’t say nothing \hto the goddamn kid.

- Well, no you don’t,

because I’m [bleep] making \h\ha videotape to some kid

about an apology.

\h\h\h- I’m working here. There’s two matches left.

\h\h\hI’m [bleep] working here, making an apology for something

I didn’t [bleep] do.

This guy’s really--whatever \h\hI should have--whatever

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI--supposed to have said to the guy,

I wish I had said to the guy.

\h\h- Me too. - Three. Two.

- There shall never come a time \h\h\hthat any one of the WWF--

[sighs] Go again.

That I shall take revenge \h\h\h\hupon that person,

\hand vanquish them from this universe.

And you--[bleep]. Me. [sighs]

\h\h\hNo one that walks within the World Wrestling Federation

shall ever--never offend you

without answering to the power \h\h\hof the Ultimate Warrior.

- But then the very next day,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhe sits down, and he writes Vince a letter.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h- It’s as if years of frustration and anger

\h\h\hhave just boiled over, and he can’t take it anymore.

- 1991 was a definitive moment \h\h\h\hin Jim Hellwig’s life.

[solemn music]

Around January of 1991, he and his wife filed divorce papers.

At the same time, \hthe WWE decided

that they were going to go \hin a different direction.

And so that same month that he’s filing divorce papers,

\h\h\h\h\hhe also loses his status as champion.

[cheers and applause]

- Where’s he going?

- Going through the divorce, \h\h\h\h\hneeding the money,

\h\hall of those things sort of worked together

\h\hto reignite some of that financial anxiety

that he had as a child.

A lot of the scars throughout \h\h\h\h\hJim Hellwig’s life

\h\h\hare definitely, like, coming to the surface now.

- The Ultimate Warrior!

- You realize that, sure,

Ultimate Warrior looked like \h\hhe had never been better,

but Jim is going through \h\h\h\h\h\h\ha divorce,

and Jim is having arguments \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith Vince,

and he’s blowing up on fans \h\h\h\h\h\hat the airport.

\h\h\h\hAnd you realize that there’s more to it than that.

- Ultimate Warrior seemed like \h\h\h\h\h\hhe was just sort of

\hat his wit’s end with Vince, right?

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHe’s, like, "I’ve tried to talk to you.

I’ve tried to bring \h\hthis stuff up.

Let me try something else. I’m gonna write a letter."

\h\h"Vince, writing this is a different approach.

I have been, from day one, different from the others.

I have sacrificed myself enough \h\h\h\h\hboth in personal life

and physical well-being."

- What Hellwig says \h\hto McMahon is,

"I know what Hogan has gotten, \h\h\hand that’s what I want."

- "I have sacrificed more \h\h\h\h\hthan $500,000,

more than a million dollars, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\heven,

in monies that I should \hhave been paid to me

\h\h\h\h\h\hin receiving equal treatment as Hulk."

- And he proceeds to give \h\h\h\ha list of demands

about the things that he wants,

about equal pay for Hogan, equal royalties for Hogan.

\h\h\hHe wants all of the same benefits that Hulk Hogan gets.

\h- "The videotaped apology was the icing on the cake.

\h\hYou see it as a business, so whether I like it or not,

I must do the same.

\h\h\hWhatever your decision, I can and will live with it.

Till then, I remain at home \h\h\hwith one who cares."

- Hellwig appears to be saying \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto Vince,

"I’m not going to show up

until you meet these demands."

That’s a cardinal sin

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin the world of professional wrestling.

- WWE have not only, \hin the micro-sense,

\hspent all this time marketing SummerSlam,

but in the macro-sense, \h\h\h\hall this time,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hmarketing the Ultimate Warrior character.

Like, they can’t just say, "All right, we’ll go home.

We’ll just do it without you."

- No one would take kindly \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto that.

But of all the people \h\h\h\hin the world

\h\hwho would not take kindly to essentially being bullied,

it would be Vince McMahon.

- When I get this letter, \h\h\hit’s-it’s a shock.

\h\h\h\h\hIt’s like, oh. It’s a kick in the guts.

Felt like I was burned, \h\h\h\h\hto so speak.

\h\h\h\h\hI told Jim we would work it out,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hindicating that we might do this deal

that he was looking for.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h"Oh, okay. We’ll talk at the Garden."

And I couldn’t wait \h\h\hto fire him.

\h\h\h\h- What an ovation for the Ultimate Warrior!

Is he ready? Yes.

- Yes, but can he be trusted?

\h\h- Vince McMahon came into my locker room, and he said,

\h\h"Well, the Ultimate Warrior is holding me up for $500,000,

and he wants to be paid \hbefore he wrestles."

[cheers and applause]

\hThen, through the locker room door comes Hulk Hogan,

and he said, "Sarge, you throw \hthe Warrior out on the floor,

and I’ll come into the ring, \h\h\h\hand I’ll jump on you,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand you and I will head off to the corner.

\h\h\hAnd while we’re doing that cheeky, you jump down,

and you break his leg."

And Vince went, "No. Whoa. \h\h\h\h\hWhoa. Whoa. Whoa.

I don’t need a lawsuit \hon top of all this."

- There’s a spot at the end \h\h\h\h\h\h\hof the match

where Hellwig grabs a chair \h\h\h\hand chases Mustafa

and Adnan out of the ring \h\h\h\h\hand backstage.

\h- Warrior’s got a chair. - As he comes back through,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hhe’s told, "Vince wants to see you,"

at which point Vince gives him \h\h\h\ha several-page letter,

talking about how Hulk Hogan \h\h\h\h\his a living legend.

"He is more popular than you, \hhas more years in the ring

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthan you, is in greater demand than you."

And then he hits Jim \h\hvery personally.

He says, "You have become \h\h\h\h\ha living legend

in your own mind." Probably everything

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthat Jim Hellwig would not have wanted to hear.

\h\h\hHe then details the fact that--"Jim,

\h\h\h\h\hyou are suspended for no fewer than 90 days."

- I think that Vince wrote \h\hsomething that cutting

\h\h\hbecause I think Vince felt insulted.

- It was so, you know, \h\h\h\h\houtrageous--

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe demand was, and just so far overreached,

\h\h\hit told me, obviously, he really didn’t understand.

\hOften, our performers will start believing in themselves

more than they should,

\h\h\hand just can’t separate Jim Hellwig

from the Ultimate Warrior,

\h\h\h\h\hand that happens to a lot of our performers.

- A lot of superstars \hwant his approval,

and they want to please him, and they want to be his guy,

the way you want your father \h\h\h\h\h\h\hto accept you.

- That’s what I feel, I guess, \h\h\h\h\h\hwith Vince McMahon.

It’s like, when he tells you \h\h\h\h\hyou did a good job,

it’s the greatest feeling \h\h\h\h\h\hin the world.

- Jim and I had this unusual \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hrelationship,

you know, personally.

\hAnd we both were on the same wavelength.

\h\h\h\h\hHe was nuts, and I was at the time.

\h\hI’m not now. But there was this great relationship we had.

No one really knew that.

- I’m sure he was out there \h\hlooking for acceptance.

And he might have looked at him

\h\h\h\h\has a mother and a father figure.

And there’s nothing \hwrong with that.

\h\h\h- Not as a son. I have only one son.

You know, I can see how someone \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwould look at me

as a father figure.

But I don’t look at him as a son.

You know, I’ve never done that, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou know.

\h\h\h\hBut I’ve looked at him as a relationship that would be

sort of mirroring somewhat, \hyou know, of father-son.

- If you look at somebody \h\h\h\hlike the Warrior,

\h\hthat maybe was missing some male role models early

\h\h\h\hin his life, I think Vince McMahon

could have easily filled \h\h\hthat role for him.

\hAnd I don’t know if Vince realized when he wrote that

that the Ultimate Warrior \h\h\hwould not take that

as his boss being mad at him.

\h\hHe may take that as a paternal figure

being disappointed in him.

Your boss being mad at you, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou get over.

\hSomebody that you look at like a father saying,

"I like him more than \h\h\h\hI like you,"

you don’t get over that.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h- Good morning, guys. - The entire world of wrestling

changed in 1992.

- The federal government \h\h\hhas leveled charges

\h\h\h\hagainst the leader of the WWF, Vince McMahon.

\h\h\h- Steroid use, steroid distribution

is now deemed not only illegal,

\h\hbut is being presented as inauthentic and immoral.

- A hulk of a hero named Hogan \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\his the biggest

to take a fall.

- First queue up.

This is take one.

- It makes a certain \hsort of sense that,

\h\h\h\h\h\hwhen Hulk Hogan has to take some time off,

you go back in the well \h\h\hand find the guy

who used to be the next \h\h\h\h\h\hHulk Hogan.

- There have been those

\h\h\hthat have sit upon many a throne

and promised to rule the entire \h\huniverse, the entire world.

- McMahon decides to bring \h\h\hthe Ultimate Warrior

back into the WWE,

\hand they begin the process of trying to mend the fences.

\h- Look at this! Hulk, Hulk, Hulk!

The insane Sid Justice-- \h\h\h\h\h\h\hHulkamania

could all end here today \h\hin the Hoosier Dome.

- And when that music hit...

- He don’t have a friend left.

- Wait a minute!

- You could hear that stadium \h\h\h\h\h\h\hfull of people

going forward nuts for it; \hthey couldn’t believe it.

- Can you believe this?

The Ultimate Warrior \h\hhas [inaudible].

- It was still a moment, and you were still, like,

"Oh my God, Warrior’s back."

[cheers and applause]

But when he comes back,

\h\hright in the midst of the steroid scandal,

he looks noticeably smaller. \h\h\h\h\hHe’s still jacked.

I mean, he’s still--by normal standards, he’s still--like,

I’m never gonna get a body like 1992 Ultimate Warrior.

But he--1992 Ultimate Warrior

\h\h\hdoes not have a body like 1990 Ultimate Warrior.

[tense music]

\h- He had not been quite as dedicated, as he was,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto the gym, probably because he’s coping

with an extraordinary amount \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof loss,

and going through a divorce.

- Ahh!

And I remember thinking, \h\h\h"Man, you gotta get

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hyour [bleep] together real quick here."

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

Ahh!

- Okay.

\h\h- In 1992, a package is intercepted addressed

to the Ultimate Warrior’s \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hdriver,

and it contains HGH, human growth hormone.

- Explosiveness that can never, \h\h\h\h\h\hever be recreated.

\h\hA chemical combustion that forms a bond forever and ever.

- Yep. Hellwig did fail tests.

\hAnd Hellwig also admitted to it, to taking steroids.

♪ ♪

I think it was, more than \hanything, in his head,

\hthat "If I don’t have this, I’ll never be the same guy."

♪ ♪

- Every time he takes \h\h\h\ha drug test,

\h\h\h\h\hhe has to list the kinds of medications

that he’s taking already.

And at the beginning \h\hof this process,

in May, he writes Motrin. \h\h\h\h\hPretty simple.

\h\hThe next test, it’s Tylenol with codeine and a nasal spray.

By the time we get \hto late October,

he’s taking multiple medicines \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hfor anxiety,

for depression, for insomnia.

♪ ♪

[upbeat rock music]

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h- Slam, jam, the Ultimate Warrior.

\h- In November of that year, the WWE will fire him again,

on the grounds that he has \hviolated the drug policy.

♪ ♪

- [bleep], I don’t know.

It just sort of unraveled, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin a way,

\h\hwhere I remember having a conversation with Vince,

and he was afraid of certain things

that were gonna happen to him.

\h\h\h\hIt just got so bad that he needed a couple scapegoats.

- Was it implied that you \h\h\hshould use steroids

to make yourself-- - No. Never to me.

I think the whole \hthing is weak.

- It was a bad optic \h\h\h\hto have huge,

muscle-bound guys on top,

as you’re fighting off these \haccusations of steroid use.

\hPeople like Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior

faded to the background.

\h\h\hAnd Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels

and other guys sort of stepped \h\h\h\h\h\hinto the spotlight,

\h\h\h\h\hbecause their look didn’t sort of remind people

of what was going on \hbehind the scenes.

\h\h\h\h\h- He arrives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Hellwig will legally change \h\h\hhis name to Warrior.

\h- He lived the Ultimate Warrior,

\h\h\h\h\hhe breathed the Ultimate Warrior,

\h\h\h\h\h\hso he believed he owned Ultimate Warrior.

\hSo, all you can really do is try to come up with ways

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto stick it to your former employer.

\h\h\h- [inaudible] the mad man’s back.

\hI’m the Warrior. You know who I am.

The rumor has it,

\h\h\hyou think you’ve got what it takes to be a pro wrestler.

- He launched a gym

\h\h\hand wrestling school called Warrior University.

- Warrior University.

- He wanted to do \hworkout videos

and Warrior workout kits.

- And I saw a new gym \hwas coming to town,

\h\h\h\hand it was owned by the Ultimate Warrior.

\h\h\h\hI had a pink résumé before Elle Woods ever did.

And when I walked in the door, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hall I could see

\h\h\h\h\hwas the eyeline to this huge, giant man.

And I walked with purpose, \h\h\h\hstraight up to him,

and put the resume down, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hand I said,

\h\h\h\h"I need to run your aerobics program."

\h\h\h\h\hAnd he said, "You need to marry me."

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd I said, "I won’t even date you."

[soft music]

And that man followed me \h\haround like a puppy,

until I finally broke down \h\h\h\h\hand I dated him,

and then, you know, \h\hI married him.

So it worked out okay.

I had my own demons that--from \h\h\h\ha difficult childhood.

And so my husband used \hto always say to me,

like, "You tamed the beast."

I met my counterpart \hand met the person

that I was able to do that for,

\hand he was able to do it for me.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Ah! - Ultimate Warrior!

- Warrior. - Warrior!

[cheers and applause]

- I look back at the innocence

\h\hof who we were when we first met,

\hand what my husband really wanted was to be successful.

- 6:30. \h6:30.

- 6:30 in the morning?

- Where are the pens?

- Right there.

- What’s up, buddy? \h\hHow you doing?

- He had all these goals \h\h\h\hand aspirations.

And what success was

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwas, in his mind, what Vince McMahon had created.

[indistinct chatter]

\h- He wanted to make the Ultimate Warrior

\hinto a full-blown comic book venture,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto launch the Warrior mainstream.

\h\h\hBut he seems to realize that it’s not going to happen

without a bigger platform.

And because of that, \h\h\h\h\honce again,

Vince McMahon and Jim Hellwig

somehow find their way \hback to one another.

[rock music]

♪ ♪

- When you look back now,

\h\h\h\hthe Warrior’s career is sort of more about, like,

returns than it is about the matches.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h- Around June of 1996, Hellwig’s father, Thomas, dies.

\h\h\h\h\h\hThe two had not had much of a relationship at all.

But it seems to have \h\h\h\hhit him hard.

\h\h\h\hIn this period of time, he doesn’t attend a few shows.

But of course, with the WWE, \h\h\h\hyou don’t miss shows.

- As I recall, he had not seen \h\hhis dad in over ten years,

and could care less about him.

And that was, like, \h\h"Wait a minute.

You’re gonna use this \h\h\has an excuse?"

That’s the straw that breaks \h\hthe camel’s back with me.

\h\h\h\h\hI can’t deal with anybody like that.

He was terminated.

[cheers and applause]

\h\h- The audience that was 5, 10, 15 years old

when Warrior was at his hottest \h\hhad moved on to be obsessed

\h\h\h\h\h\hwith other things besides the Ultimate Warrior.

\h\h\hSo, when that love and that adulation wasn’t there,

he went back to being \han 11-year-old boy

in the trailer in Indiana, whose father just left him.

[solemn music]

- He starts traveling around \h\h\h\hto college campuses.

One that really stood out-- \h\hit made major headlines

at the time--was a speech

he gave at the University \h\h\h\h\hof Connecticut.

- I knew something was wrong. \h- Hey, guys. How you doing?

\h\h\h- And I said, "What did you say?"

"We’ll talk when you get home."

[indistinct chatter]

- You know, young kids,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthey get their philosophy of life

\h\hfrom people that are older than them.

\h\hAnd today, that’s just not happening in any place.

- He’s accepted the fact that the Ultimate Warrior

is not going to be mainstream.

But it’s almost like he needed \h\hsomething to fill the void.

- He finds this new identity \h\hin conservative ideology.

\h\h\h\hAnd he becomes a conservative blogger.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- I would argue, for the Warrior, in his career,

his persona, his business,

it was not good that we got to see behind the curtain.

Every few weeks or whatever \h\h\his like another thing

that Warrior is saying \h\hthat is offensive.

♪ ♪

\h- Most people think I’m heavy metal or something.

On the radio, typically, \h\h\h\hI do talk radio.

And that’s it.

\h\h- Turning on talk radio was a really big thing at the time.

And, you know something, Rush Limbaugh is a great showman.

\h\h\h\hSo my husband’s like, "Kindreds--we get each other.

You know"--so, like,

the talk radio thing became \ha big thing in our house.

And, you know, certain news \hchannels on all the time.

I think he was just looking \h\hfor a new brotherhood.

- It’s never been the vision

\h\h\hthat people have in their heads--is that

it’s just Ultimate Warrior \h\h\h\h\h\has an identity,

a painted face pro wrestler \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith strings

\h\h\h\haround his arms and colorful characters

\h\h\h\hand a physique and the body and stuff.

It’s about--it represents more, \h\h\h\hon a fundamental level,

\h\h\hsomething or somebody that’s willing to stand up

and fight for what they believe in, even if they die doing so.

- And when he came back \h\h\hfrom that speech,

\h\hI knew something was wrong. And I said, "What did you say?"

- Now, I’m conservative.

\h\hLiberals believe in a utopian society,

where everything is equal.

\h\h\h\hThat Kwanzaa is just as legitimate

as Santa Claus and Christmas.

[audience exclaiming]

That a terrorist-- \hthat a terrorist

is just as legitimate

\h\has what of this country’s revolution freedom fighters.

\h\h- How are they not? - That the anarchists--

[laughter]

\h\h- What’s wrong with homosexuality?

- What are you talking about?

- And from this moment,

the speech has just become \h\h\ha straight dogfight.

- [bleep] you. No. No.

Apologize for that right now, you [bleep] piece of [bleep].

No. Apologize.

- As an Ultimate Warrior fan, \h\hyou’re like, "Bro, like,

I didn’t-I didn’t sign up for that.

Like, you’re starting \h\hto make me think

\h\h\h\h\hthat the Warrior might believe in some stuff

that I don’t necessarily \h\h\h\h\h\hbelieve in."

- There’s all people of all \h\hdifferent type of races

and colors that look up to you,

because I--you know, I grew up, \h\h\hand my dad wasn’t there.

Well, the Warrior’s telling me, "Just don’t worry about things.

Just be that little Warrior \h\h\hthat you are inside."

\hSo, when you are acting that way and you believe

\h\h\hthat in your heart, it can do a lot of damage

\h\h\h\hto those people that looked up for you.

- Has anything like UConn \h\hever happened before?

- No. Mm-mm.

- I was really disappointed. \hI was really disappointed.

And I let him know that.

And he knew it was different, \hand he knew he’d messed up.

And I don’t even think-- \h\hhe didn’t understand

the breadth of it \huntil later on.

But he knew it was bad.

\h- "The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior."

- So, WWE puts out this DVD,

\h\h"The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior."

And this, I think, was kind of \h\h\h\ha self-serving mission.

"We’re done making money off \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthis guy,

or from this guy,

and he’s off hurting himself, \h\h\h\h\h\h\hhis own brand,

and by extension, our brand.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hIf we can limit his importance in our legacy,

that’s a win for us.

If we can charge $30 for it and put a cool title on it,

and essentially, you know, \h\h\h\hmake as much money

\h\h\h\has we would off of a WrestleMania, off of Jim,

\h\h\h\hwithout even having his consent, even better."

- And Vince wants these to kind

of be a shoot deals, right?

- Yeah, he really does.

He wants to tell the truth.

He wants everybody to know.

- A little controversy?

[dramatic music]

\h- "Self-Destruction of Ultimate Warrior"

was not so much a documentary.

It was more of a hit piece.

You watched it and thought,

at the very least,

this guy is not beloved \h\h\h\h\hby his peers.

- I don’t know that he was \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hreally born

to be in this business.

- To me, the man had no idea \h\h\h\h\h\habout wrestling.

\h- Do I think Ultimate Warrior was merely a flash in the pan?

Enough said.

- I knew, when the Ultimate \h\hWarrior won the match,

and 68,000 people watched me \h\h\h\h\hleave the building

\h\h\h\hinstead of watching the new champ in the ring--

I knew that--okay, you know.

I don’t want to be the one \h\hto say "I told you so."

- I never watched that DVD.

\hPeople would not be alive if I had watched that DVD.

My husband wanted to watch it, \hand I said, "You shouldn’t."

- He has--doesn’t trust \h\h\h\hanyone in life.

And look, if you don’t enjoy \h\h\h\h\h\h\hcoming to work,

and then you’re gonna--bound \h\h\h\h\h\hto self-destruct

somewhere along the line.

[solemn music]

♪ ♪

- He watched that DVD, \h\hand that-that broke

\h\h\h\ha part of my husband that I was never able to fix.

- Nobody is gonna hand you

the fulfillment of the dream \h\h\h\hyou have in your mind

\h\h\habout a great live you want to [bleep] live.

- In later years, it’s almost

\h\h\h\has if he will be frustrated with himself.

But he will project out on \hto others the frustration

he feels with his own life.

- I think you’re [bleep] \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hpathetic.

Don’t fail. Take back yourself.

And don’t take any backtalk \h\h\h\h\h\hfrom yourself.

\h\h- I think he was trying to reinvigorate his own identity,

because when we fall \h\h\h\hdown a hole,

nobody can really get you back out.

\h\hYou have to climb, rung by rung, yourself.

And he did that.

♪ ♪

\h\h\hThat’s so inspiring, because he wasn’t perfect.

Other people in the world \h\h\h\h\haren’t perfect.

We all mess up.

And sometimes we’re ignorant.

But it’s ignorance is educable, \h\h\h\h\h\hand we can change,

\hand we can grow, and we can evolve.

♪ ♪

- I was very oblivious \h\h\h\h\h\hto his life

before he was a father.

\h\h\h\h\h\hHe was my dad. I was daddy’s little girl.

And he doted on my sister and I like any other dad that I knew.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h- He was so gentle with his Warrior babies.

That’s what he’d call us.

I know that his father wasn’t

incredibly involved \h\h\hin his life,

and so he didn’t really have that figure there.

But you don’t necessarily need \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\ha role model

\hto become the man you want to become.

- Very few people can overcome \h\h\h\hwhat they lived through

and not feel victimized by it, but instead chart a new course.

And that’s what we did \h\h\hwith our family.

We charted a new course.

- What you saw in his character \h\h\h\h\h\h\hused to translate

a lot into his workouts.

\h\h\h\hBut, you know, most of the time here,

\h\h\h\hwe got to know a different character.

We got to know Warrior.

And Warrior was a complete \h\hdifferent personality.

He made everybody feel special. \h\h\hHe made me feel special.

- I think that Warrior found \h\h\h\hhimself in Santa Fe.

I think he found a calmer \h\h\h\h\hsetting for him

to really think, to paint.

- Art became a really big part \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof his life.

\h\h\hWhen he wasn’t putting on his face paint every day,

you know, the face paint

\h\h\hbecame the paint on the canvas instead.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

- He had his daughters. \h\h\h\h\hHe had Dana.

\h\h\h\h\h\h- Oh my gosh, it’s so good to see you.

- You’re our first hug since all this started.

- Our friendship was about \h\h\h\hjust enjoying life.

Have fun. You are who you are.

- I think that my husband \hneeded hypermasculinity

in order to feel safe.

But, with the friends that he made in our town of Santa Fe,

he was able to experience \h\h\h\hgrown, adult men,

who had no vendetta \h\h\hagainst him.

And so I think when my husband \h\h\h\hwas finally ready to be

inducted in the Hall of Fame, \h\hhe was becoming somebody

\h\h\hthat was actually worthy of that honor in his own mind,

but also for the fans.

♪ ♪

- Ladies and gentlemen, accompanied to the ring

\h\h\h\h\hby two yeah ladies who are special in his life,

may I present: Warrior.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[soft music]

♪ ♪

- For several years,

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthe WWE had tried to find ways of getting Warrior

\h\h\h\hinto the Hall of Fame, and he had repeatedly said no.

- This particular year, \hfor whatever reason,

Warrior was able to trust.

\h\hAnd I said, "I apologize for anything I’ve ever said,

anything I’ve ever done.

That was then. Let’s just bury \h\h\hthe hatchet and move on."

\h- I just can’t believe it’s been as long as it has been.

- He enters into an agreement \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwith the WWE

\h\h\h\hto become an ambassador for a period of several years.

- Obviously, there \hwas some tension

with the relationship with WWE \hthrough the years, you know.

I mean, what does it mean \h\h\hto kind of be back

\h\h\h\h\h\hinto the fold and kind of repair those?

- Well, it means a--well, \h\h\h\h\hit means a lot.

You know, it was purposeful that they put the DVD out.

It hurt my feelings a lot, man. It hurt me that they did that.

♪ ♪

\h\h\hYou know, I have a lot of emotion about coming back.

\h\h- It’s well-known that the Hellwig men

had a short life span.

His grandfather died \h\h\h\h\hin his 50s.

His father died in his 50s.

And knowing that most of the Hellwig boys died a young age

definitely has to color how you live your life.

\h\h\h\hYou either face it or you live in fear of it.

- Great. Get that down... \h\h\h\h\h\h[indistinct]

- I think it was calculated, on his part, because he knew

\h\h\h\h\h\hthat by reigniting this relationship with the WWE,

\h\h\hhe can be the man that his father never was for him.

\h\hThis was his moment to set aside the hurt,

the ego, the pride,

\h\hall of the things that had kept him estranged, and to say,

"I’m going to do this \h\h\hfor my family."

♪ ♪

- You built a brand.

These are the graphics that support the brand.

- There are few legitimately \htough guys in our business.

\h\h\hMost of us aren’t. So we get to go out there

and we get to act like tough guys.

\h\h\hAnd people look to you, and you’re larger than life.

There’s responsibility \hthat comes with that.

Responsibility is that, if you get to do that,

you get that opportunity \h\h\h\h\h\h\hto do that,

\h\hthen you should be able to go out in the real world

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand handle a simple thing like life.

- Yeah.

\h- Really want you to know I’ve been dying to see you.

I really do. I really do. \h\h\h\h\hNo matter what.

- I think he was just really \h\h\h\h\hexcited to go home.

\h\h\hAnd absolutely, he wanted that reconciliation with Vince,

because Vince mattered to him.

But he also wanted \h\hto show Vince,

\h"I have family now, too. And now you’re part of it.

I don’t need you to be all of it."

- Ladies and gentlemen, accompanied to the ring

\h\h\h\h\h\hby two young ladies who are so special in his life,

may I present: Warrior.

[cheers and applause]

[soft music]

♪ ♪

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- In 1991, Vince wrote me a letter.

He said, "You think you’re a legend in your own mind."

\h\h\h\h\h\hBut I didn’t think that I was a legend in my mind.

But I will tell you this, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hVince,

the Ultimate Warrior \his a legend today,

\hand he will continue to run into the hearts

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand minds of fans throughout generations to come.

And I’m proud of that.

I’m proud of you for supporting me

\h\h\h\h\h\hand fighting for the Ultimate Warrior

\h\h\h\hto be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- Regardless of personal stuff,

\hregardless of what you see on the internet of anything,

\h\h\h\h\h\hjust, like, we’re now all grownups.

\h\h\h\h\h\hWe’re nostalgically looking at this guy like, "Yes.

\h\h\hThis is--when I was six, this is the guy I was watching.

I’m so happy he’s back."

- From the moment he ran on \h\h\h\h\hto WWE television

\h\h\htill he, you know, took the belt from Hogan,

hold that up against \h\h\h\hany wrestler

in the history of wrestling.

\h\h\h\h\hThat’s what we were celebrating.

I mean, I was there on Monday Night Raw, when he came out.

And I’ve never been in a crowd \h\h\h\h\hthat felt like that.

♪ ♪

\h\h\h- There you go. There’s the Warrior.

[cheers and applause]

all: Warrior! Warrior! Warrior! \h\h\h\h\h\h\hWarrior! Warrior!

- This is gonna be great.

[cheers and applause]

- Every man’s heart one day

beats its final beat.

\hHis lungs breathe their final breath.

And if what that man \h\h\hdid in his life

\h\h\hmakes the blood pulse through the body of others,

it makes them believe deeper

in something than larger \h\h\h\h\h\h\hthan life,

then his essence, his spirit, \h\h\h\hwill be immortalized.

You. You. You.

You are the legend-makers \h\hof Ultimate Warrior.

[cheers and applause]

- Finally, Jim had understood \h\h\hhow it all worked then.

And that may be, as far as I know,

about the only time he’s ever \h\hbeen peace with himself.

He so appreciated the honor, \h\h\h\h\hand what have you.

And unfortunately, uh...

[solemn music]

A couple days later, he died.

♪ ♪

- Just, everything \h\h\hfelt so good.

My kids are so proud \h\h\h\hof their dad.

We were gonna go to Arizona \h\hand have spring break.

And we got on a plane \h\hto go to Phoenix,

and we get to the hotel, \h\h\h\h\h\hand he said,

\h\h\h\h"I don’t-I don’t feel-I don’t feel good."

I said, "I know, babe. \h\h\h\h\hNeither do I.

\h\hLike, it’s been a--this is hectic.

It’s gonna be fine. \h\hYou just rest.

\h\h\h\hWhat do you need? I’ll go get it for you?"

Like, he’s like, "No. \hI don’t feel good."

And he said, "I think I need \h\h\hto go to the hospital."

And that’s where I was like, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h"Oh no."

♪ ♪

And I didn’t--I didn’t want \h\h\h\hthe girls to come,

’cause I didn’t want them \h\h\h\h\h\hto be scared.

So, they were old enough \h\h\h\hto lock the door.

♪ ♪

It was one second before \h\hwe were out the door.

♪ ♪

And he just...

[sighs]

Like--like an oak tree.

[somber music]

And I couldn’t catch him.

♪ ♪

\h\hSo, we get to the hospital, and they wheel him back there.

\h\h\hAnd they said, "He didn’t make it."

♪ ♪

And I also knew, like, I was \hgonna have to tell my kids.

And I left them at the hotel,

\hat the last--thinking I was protecting them.

\h\hBut then, did I rob them of the last moment with their dad?

[sobbing]

♪ ♪

- What he built at home \h\h\h\hwas far greater

\h\h\h\hthan anything the Ultimate Warrior

\h\h\h\h\hachieved in front of the television cameras.

That’s the tragedy of the man’s life.

When he finally found the love

that he couldn’t find \h\h\h\h\has a child,

and he had nothing \h\h\hleft to hate,

that’s when his heart gave up.

- You know, I mean, I can remember back

when I was a young kid,

being the kid in the wrong \hplace at the wrong time,

my dad leaving when I was 12, \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h13 years old,

having self-doubts \h\h\habout myself,

like any young kid does.

You create your own sort \hof fantasy--protector,

in a sense, you know?

The thing that you connect with \h\h\h\h\h\hto make you strong,

\h\h\h\h\hto-to get you through the self-doubts that you have.

- His daughters are definitely \h\h\h\h\h\hhis lasting legacy.

He was never more proud of anything in his life

than his girls.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hAnd he wanted both of them--which they do--

to have that warrior spirit.

- There’s nothing simple \h\h\habout Jim Hellwig.

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hHe was a flawed and complicated human being,

who made some serious mistakes in his life.

♪ ♪

But it’s a human story.

- Having done Ultimate Warrior

as a sports entertainment \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hidentity,

why I think the way I do, \h\h\hit’s built into us.

It’s a part of our nature.

It’s a part of our human nature \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto grow.

[soft music]

- I think redemption \h\his a heavy burden

\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto place on any one human being,

because we’re all on a journey \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto find out

who it is that we are.

\h\h\h\hI don’t believe that my husband’s story

ends with his passing.

I believe that that spirit \h\hof the warrior lives on

in each and every one of us \hwho decides to do better.

♪ ♪