All language subtitles for Dark.Side.Of.The.Ring.S03E05.WEBRip.x264-BAE

If you could take a bolt of electricity
and somehow morph that

into a living cartoon character, that
would be Warrior.

The ultimate warrior was a righteous
gladiator that rose faster than anybody

the top of the wrestling world.

Very few people in the history of
wrestling have gone from...

Stars can pinnacle as fast as the
ultimate warrior did.

He had a phenomenal 8x10.

He looked great.

Vince was about big bodies.

Warrior caught on to that and he took it
to a whole different level.

He had dreams, he had an intensity, and
there was absolutely nothing that was

going to stop him from becoming
something.

But the real man behind the face paint,
Jim Hellwing, contradicted the ideals of

his heroic alter ego, becoming one of
wrestling's most contentious figures.

When Jim would get in the ring, he
honestly thought he became the warrior.

For quite a while there, he was
absolutely

batshit insane.

He thought he was better than other
people.

He didn't want to learn the wrestling
business because he didn't like it.

My sense of that chronic paranoia.

When's it all going to end?

Hellwig's divisive behavior behind the
scenes would cut his reign short and

leave behind a complicated legacy
steeped in controversy.

And now a sad note to pass along. The
death of one of the biggest pro

stars of the 1990s. When I heard that he
had died the way that he had died, it

hurt.

He was a moment in time. He was a very
colorful, powerful character.

for a brief moment in time.

It's been very well documented about how
he was difficult to work with, that the

arrogance and the fame and the ego and
all of that was growing as his

grew.

But, you know, he would come home, and I
would see the sadness and the

insecurity and the self -doubt.

So, you know, people aren't always what
they seem to be.

People only share their true selves with
the people they're absolutely closest

to. Sometimes they're troubled, and I
just don't think that it's fair to judge

them just by one or two things that you
saw.

My name is Sherry Tyree, and I was
married to Jim Helwig, the Ultimate

from 1982 to 1991.

This picture was us backstage.

It was really nice to have fans give us
pictures and just walk up to you when

you'd come in from outside and say, hey,
I took this great picture of you and

your husband, and it was just, it was a
very, very happy time then.

Somebody gave me a picture. A fan gave
me this picture.

And it's him with a little boy on his
lap with a face painted and then the

little doll's face painted.

This is the picture after he won Mr.
Georgia.

There's a beast there. Oh, my God, he's
so big.

When I first met him, he was just
massive, absolutely massive.

He literally had the largest shoulders
I've ever seen on a man.

And the next competitor is Jim Helwig.

At that time, you know, bodybuilding was
huge.

And he had been doing some amateur shows
and all of that. And I thought, this

guy is just amazing.

Like, he really has got it going on.
This guy has big dreams, big plans.

Our first date, he said, come and pick
me up from the bar that he was bouncing

out. So I go.

And all of a sudden, I see the doors fly
open.

And he's got this guy by the neck. And
he's, like, basically just dropped him

the parking lot.

And then he went back inside and then he
got the trash from the bar and he took

the trash out. And I was just like in
shock and I started laughing. He goes,

I guess you saw me take the trash out. I
was like, yeah, both times.

Should I just run now?

I mean, should I just, you know, go?
Should I just leave?

But then the rest of the night was, you
know, wonderful.

We just literally sat on a couch and
just talked for hours.

And that's when he told me he was a
chiropractic student.

Took up weight training and
bodybuilding, and from that, I was bold

think after I saw the changes in my
scrawny little body that I could make

changes in my life another way, so I set
a goal for myself in education to

become a doctor of chiropractic. So
those were my goals.

During that time in school, they had
discussed genetics, and he had told me

about his grandfathers, that they had
died in their 50s, in their early 50s.

One of the teachers had said to him, you
know, hey, you know, if you have that

in your family, that doesn't look so
great for you.

And I think there was something about
that that just woke him up and scared

But he tried to kind of play it off
like, you know, I got to get it all in

because I may not be around that long.

His whole drive since the beginning,
since the first night I ever met him,

to be somebody and to be something.

His drive was to be rich, to be famous.
And he's so driven and

dedicated like nobody I have ever seen
in my life.

And he told me what every woman wants to
hear. He told me, protect me for the

rest of my life.

Jim and Sherry were married on October
2nd, 1982, and shortly after, Jim put

chiropractic career on hold to pursue
bodybuilding dreams in Los Angeles.

It was there Jim befriended a young
Steve Borden, better known today as

Wrestler Sting. Steve convinced Jim they
could make money together in wrestling,

and they send out promotional packages
across the country.

The first to call... is Memphis promoter
Jerry Jarrett.

Jerry Jarrett in Memphis was known as a
promoter who would take chances on new

and unknown talent. From Atlanta,
Georgia, and from California, the

Fighters.

I'm Jim Cornette. I've been a promoter,
matchmaker, announcer, and manager in

pro wrestling for 40 years, and I was
not a fan of The Ultimate Warrior.

They're going to be involved in a single
ball match coming up here. When Borden

Hellwood got to Memphis and showed up at
the TV studio, it was rotten.

But you could tell that they had some
physical

charisma. You wanted to look at them.
You just didn't want to see what they

ended up doing.

Look at these men. Look at them. Okay,
buddy, well, you know there's a lot more

to it than just being big.

the promoters decided, you know, these
guys may make it, but we don't have time

to do on -the -job training.

And so they started looking for a place
to send them so they could get rid of

them. So Hellwig and Borden go to Mid
-South.

And that's where the future of
professional wrestling was shaped

knowing it.

Ladies and gentlemen, the most awesome
tag team in professional wrestling, the

Blade Runners!

When the Blade Runners came to UWF, I
was a broadcaster.

I'm Jim Ross, the voice of AEW
wrestling.

I've never met or seen a wrestler with
less ability than the Ultimate Warrior.

Elwood was very narcissistic.

I look this good.

I've got a great smile.

I have wonderful teeth.

What more could a promoter want? Well, I
don't know. Maybe, could you wrestle?

The wrestlers liked Steve a little bit
more, and he was more trainable, whereas

Jim was hard -headed.

I didn't have the personality to take
it. I didn't like to be handled that

And Steve was more that he liked to have
his hand held.

This is where I started seeing Jim
change, where I saw this kind of side of

that was more selfish.

You know, at the time, I didn't get much
thought to what he's going to do or how

he's going to succeed in the business.

You know, I concentrated more on what I
needed to do.

They were two completely different
people with a different idea of what

really wanted to do.

Steve was all in.

But Jim always, I think on the inside,
he wanted to do something on his own.

That his size and all of that would get
more attention.

Despite his limited in -ring ability,
Jim's physique is undeniable.

After parting ways with Sting, he looks
to gain stardom in one of wrestling's

most groundbreaking territories.

World class had the hottest syndication
in the country. So if you could get on

world class, every promoter in the
country wanted you when you finished

My name is David Manning. I was the
referee, promoter, a booker.

With world -class wrestling back in the
heyday.

This is the third controversial finish.

When we brought him in, the world -class
fans had never seen him. So we just

built the story we wanted and we created
the star we wanted.

Weighing in excess of 300 pounds, the
Dingo Warrior.

We started trying to think of a name.
And I forget exactly who came up with

Dingo Warrior. Their pitch was, well,
think of a wild dog. This is a wild

warrior because he was a hill.

I thought he was Australian when I saw
his name the first time.

So what is a dingo warrior?

I have no idea. Nobody else did either.

It was literally just the name.

And then I remember us, like, going to
Hancock Fabrics or something, you know,

and cutting the streamers. It was cheap
trunks. The paint was cheap.

It was what we could afford at the time.
And there you go. You have the dingo

warrior.

This guy is a monster.

A muscle monster.

Probably his first 15, 20 matches we
gave him people to slaughter.

The more the fans cheered, the bigger
the

Dingo Warrior's ego got. The bigger the
Dingo Warrior's ego got, the harder it

was to work with the Dingo Warrior in
the ring.

And I think that history followed him
everywhere.

It was basically, I've got the best
body.

I should beat everyone.

And I'm not going to spend a lot of time
learning this craft because I don't

care about it. I just want to be a TV
star.

The only place that a wrestler with that
kind of attitude could find a home in

the 80s was in the WWF.

In 1987, there was no grander stage in
wrestling than the WWF.

Wrestler Jim Hellwig is now one step
closer to achieving his dreams of being

the spotlight.

And his life with his wife, Sherry, is
also about to change forever.

So this is the letter asking Jim to come
to the WWF.

I mean, he just knew that everything was
going to change when he got this. He

was so happy.

No matter what territory you were in, he
knew that if you were going to make

money and you were going to be on top,
that is where you had to go.

And I knew that this was probably going
to change the entire dynamic of our

marriage. Because I knew that he was
going to be on the road 20, 25 days a

month. And, I mean, it was basically
going to be a long -distance

And so he had assured me, you know, once
I start making some money, I want you

to come on the road at least seven days
a month or something like that. And so I

did go to some of these beginning
matches.

And they had him working with some of
the job guys, you know, Barry Horowitz.

Those guys.

And those matches, they were pretty
rough.

His big thing with me was, I want you to
sit in the crowd, I want you to watch

the matches, and I want you to give me
your feedback on what the people's

reactions are.

And people were up getting popcorn, you
know, going to the concession stand. I

mean, they looked at him, but it wasn't
like, wow, this guy's amazing, who's

this guy?

He knew that if he was going to make it
there,

that he was going to have to figure out
what his gimmick was going to be and

where he was going to go with the
character.

And I know that Vince saw a lot in him,
and they had this great connection and

this friendship. And, I mean, I think he
really looked up to Vince.

And I know Vince did not like the name
Dingo Warrior. Who is?

The Ultimate Warrior!

Vince said, we want you to do Warrior,
but we don't want Dingo.

And so the first time I wrestled Terry
Gibb, they did a pre -take where they

used to put the little screen up in the
corner back then.

For all you WWE fans out there looking
for some type of direction, you came to

the right place, brother, because you're
looking at the ultimate warrior.

His energy, his mannerisms, his jargon
began to come together there.

And when you look at these bangs, the
only thing that blows through these

is the power of the warrior.

You know, he's not the great wrestler,
but then saw the intensity.

And so he knew if he could get the
people's attention with that, then he

turn that into something, you know, and
that's when the shaking of the rope

started and just, okay, I've got to go
out there and I've got to grab the

attention.

And then, you know, he's got to be kind
of a mystery.

People have to kind of figure out who is
this guy?

Where is he from?

And that's with the parts unknown.

Where's he from? I'm from parts unknown.

I was sitting in parts unknown waiting
for the next spaceship to hire planes.

Boyer's promo style was unique,
irreverent, sometimes had to be

Here is the air that cowards breathe!

What'd he say?

His promos were nonsensical.

At best.

We would get in the car and he would
just crack himself up and he'd go, what

I say? What was that? You know, I mean,
everybody looked at him as this intense,

serious, aggressive, ultimate warrior.

And he was those things.

But he could also be extremely funny.

But I promise you, his entrance music
was the thing that really was the

catalyst.

We hear that music, stop what you're
doing.

He just flies to the ring, shaking the
ropes. He's got all the colors on.

Wow. It was game over from that point
on.

You take a guy that looks that good, you
give him music, you put every big star

in wrestling in the ring with him and
tell him to lay down.

He's got to win. He's got to win
decisively. You smash him over. It's

push, a big push.

And you make this guy the biggest star
that you can by disguising his

and exposing his strength.

That's a living cartoon character. It's
coming to life. It comes to your

hometown. You can get that cartoon
character's autograph.

There's nothing else like that.

And then the merchandising became a huge
thing.

Hey, fellas, what's going on?

Nothing, Dad.

Wrestling Buddy want to be your buddy.

His favorite merchandising was with
Wrestling Buddy.

Picture of him and his Wrestling Buddy.

I don't think that people understood how
excited he was about the wrestling

buddy. I don't know. There's just
something about it. It just made him

he had arrived.

We were able to buy our first house on
the lake.

The original part of the house we bought
was $100 ,000.

We added a $100 ,000 addition.

It was crazy at his home gym.

You know, the house was just absolutely
amazing. He's getting these huge checks.

We're happy.

And he's getting this big push to the
top.

And I think that is where the friction
came in between he and the other

wrestlers.

I'm Jake the Snake Roberts.

Well, he debuted while I was in the WWF.

He would fly off the handle very
quickly, very hard to get along with,

impossible to talk to.

And then he was a complete jerk in the
ring.

Bobby Heenan was not a fan.

Bobby had a bad neck from his years in
wrestling.

And he always told guys to take care of
his neck.

He walked up to him and said, hey, you
know, you broke my neck.

He didn't care.

You know,

there's an unwritten rule in wrestling.

It says the number one thing is you take
care of your opponent.

He threw that one out the window.

I'm not trying to be a prick here when I
say that literally he couldn't wrestle,

he couldn't talk.

He got over because he looked like a
million dollars and the most successful

promoter in the world pushed him to the
moon.

And there's nothing else to say.

Those guys talking about how bad of a
wrestler he was really affected him.

And then it kind of made him second
guess himself a lot.

I think they were spot on about him in
some occasions.

But I don't think they really understood
that there was more to him than that.

and that he did have a sensitive and a
very insecure side.

You know, he kind of grew up just a
really scrawny, insecure little kid. I

he weighed like 140 pounds.

His dad left home when he was 12, and
that was very, very traumatic for him.

He told me that, you know, his dad was
cheating with one of the neighbors.

It really did something to him. It
caused him a great deal of pain.

And when he started working out and he
saw changes in his body, He got excited

about that, and it made him realize that
he could be more.

I think that all of us carry around that
really insecure inner child.

And I think that all the trauma that we
have as children sometimes we take with

us. And in his case, he had a very
severe anxiety disorder.

He had had it for years. He was always
very anxious.

How would he show that sadness and
insecurity at home?

Well, I mean, I think he was a human
being.

I mean, he had insecurities. He cried.

He got frustrated. He wanted to be the
best. He put a lot of pressure on

to be the best. You know, he did not
want to be that scrawny little kid

So he had to make this work.

By 1990, the Ultimate Warrior is the
biggest star in the WWF aside from one

the immortal Hulk Hogan.

The final piece of Vince McMahon's plan
to crystallize a new megastar takes hold

at WrestleMania VI.

WrestleMania VI was in Sky Dome in
Toronto, one of the great North American

cities for wrestling.

Besides Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior
was the biggest box office attraction

in wrestling.

He found out a few months before that he
was going to be taking Hulk's butt, and

it was the greatest joy of his life. He
just thought, wow, this is going to be

amazing, and he was very pumped about
it.

And then it came, and WrestleMania VI
was there.

Champion against champion, title for...

He was the most nervous I've ever seen
in my entire life.

He had severe anxiety.

I

literally

could physically feel the match. Like I
was like feeling it, you know, the

emotion of it, the excitement in the
arena.

I've just never felt anything like that.

Stephanie to hear the skydive.

Vince felt that six or seven years of
Hulk Hogan steadily on top was enough.

didn't want to get stale. He thought
that the warrior was ready to take it.

With the clothesline up to the floor
goes Hogan.

Hogan had been on a breakneck schedule.

He was tired, he was beat down, and he
was ready to take a break.

And so Vince made the decision to pass
the torch.

It's the only time in that decade run
with the WWF that Hulk Hogan actually

legitimately got beaten, pinned one,
two, three in the ring by an opponent.

And it was the ultimate warrior.

For Hogan to do what Hogan did for
Ultimate Warrior is a miracle.

He carried the warrior to immortality at
WrestleMania VI, and they did it live,

which is even more astonishing.

After the match, he kind of went off on
his own for a little bit, just to take

it all in.

And for him just to give himself a big
pat on the back and say, wow, nobody

believed in me, but I did it. I mean, he
was rich, and now he was the world

champion. But that was short -lived.

Because literally, like two months
after,

Jim Hoag left and the ultimate warrior
came home.

He became really erratic. He started
staying on the road, which he never did

before. He was disconnected.

Something was off.

You call his behavior erratic. What do
you mean by that?

He seemed altered.

I mean, I didn't see anything, but he
definitely was not well.

He was on the road, and I tried to call
his room, and he didn't answer.

So I had them do a wellness check on
him. You ask any wrestling wife out

when you don't hear from your husband,
you get scared.

And when I called back, the guy goes,
he's there, he was asleep, and that was

the end of it.

I thought back to something somebody
told me a long time ago.

There's always going to be women that
want to sleep with your husband, but

the ones that want to steal your life
that you have to worry about.

So I called the room.

He answered the phone, and I heard a
girl's voice.

thought, oh my gosh, I'm devastated.

I started going through his things and I
found this day planner.

And I looked at page one and page two
and page three and it'd be a girl's name

and the town.

I told him, I said, when you come home,
you're going to be served papers.

And I'm divorcing you.

I didn't wait for a response.

You know, my worst fear had come true.

I had just lost my husband.

By 1991, Jim Hellwig's nine -year
marriage to Sherry comes to an end.

And to make matters worse, he loses the
WWF Championship.

Feeling betrayed, his relationship with
his boss, Vince McMahon, begins to

deteriorate.

I was in Orlando, and Vince came to me
and said, we want to put you and Warrior

together and give you your championship
run, which I had been waiting for for

years.

But before we can put you and Warrior
together, you need to go and get the

from him.

What?

What do you mean?

You're the effing boss, man.

It's just the way we have to do these
things.

So I went to his private dressing room
and knocked on the door a couple of

times. What?

Come here.

So I came in and he got right in my face
and said, let me tell you something.

I don't care.

Anything about your family, I don't care
anything about you.

I don't care anything about wrestling.

I just want to do my shit.

Here's the deal. You better not miss a
show.

Because if you miss a show, you're
missing my money.

And if you mess with my money, I'm going
to get you. End of story.

Get out.

I walked out and I was in shock.

For this jackass to come to me like that
was like pissing in my mouth.

But I had to do it if I wanted that
championship.

After SummerSlam, it'll be me and
Warrior, head to head, making more money

I ever thought I'd make.

Plans for Jake the Snake Roberts would
soon be derailed as tensions between

McMahon and Hellwig begin to boil over.

Desperate to remain at the top of the
card,

Jim planned the drastic move.

At this point, he moved into his home
that he bought in Arizona.

He decided he wanted to live the big
life, so he bought himself a million

-dollar mansion in Scottsdale.

He called me up because of our history,
and he needed somebody that he could

trust, somebody that he could talk to.

He wanted me to come out.

He had decided in his mind, in his
paranoid mind, that he wanted

everything that Hulk had.

He wanted the same money. He wanted the
same cut of the merchandising.

He wanted it all.

So he's like, I'm going to give Vince
this letter, and if he fires me, he

me. I was like, you can't do this. You
can't hold a PD.

And he's like, well, I've lost my whole
life, and I feel like I deserve what he

has.

And at that point, there's absolutely no
getting through to him.

And I knew.

that this was going to end really bad
for him.

Leading up to the SummerSlam pay -per
-view in 1991, with 20 ,000 fans in

attendance and millions more watching at
home, Jim delivers a letter to Vince

laying out a list of demands.

He threatens that unless he is treated
creatively and financially in line with

Hulk Hogan, he would refuse to show up.

His relationship with Vince is the most
complicated thing.

He loved Vince.

And I think that he looked at him kind
of like a father figure in a way.

I actually believe that a lot of it was
he just wanted more attention from him.

And any time he asked Vince for
something, Vince gave it to him.

You know, I want my own locker room. I
want a limousine all the time. I want

Learjets. I mean, he just wanted it all.

And I think at that point, Vince had
grown tired and weary of the demands,

it came to the point where, I mean, what
do you do? It's a business, and you

don't hold up a show.

Vince is infuriated, but he has one
rule.

Get the match in the ring at all costs.

Vince temporarily placates Warriors'
demands, but he has no intention of

honoring them after the event.

I was there at SummerSlam, man. It was
in Madison Square Garden.

I'm so amped up, man.

I am going to start making thousands and
thousands of dollars every time I'm

going to do that.

I was standing next to Vince when
Warrior came out of the ring.

Warrior!

And Vince put his hand out and stopped
and just, by the way, you're... Fire.

Now get out of my building.

And Vince looked at me and he goes, you
got the worst luck of any human being

I've ever met.

To say that I wanted to kill that son of
a bitch would be putting it lightly.

I carried that anger for years.

This is a letter from Vince McMahon to
the warrior. Dear Jim.

As you know, on September 23rd, 1987,
you signed a booking contract with Titan

Sports. At the time you signed the
contract, you were a relatively obscure

wrestler with an enthusiastic, professed
desire to succeed.

Unfortunately, it now appears the fame
that you have obtained through the

efforts of Titan Sports has gone to your
head. Frankly, you've become impossible

to work with.

You have become a legend in your own
mind.

You are certainly entitled to your
opinion. However, you are not entitled

vent your feelings by breaching and
threatening to breach your contract.

was a serious mistake on your part.

Jim's greatest downfall of all time was
his inability to see things from

somebody else's perspective.

He just always thought that his way was
the right way.

After threatening to no -show
SummerSlam, Jim Hellwig is suspended by

McMahon. Over the next 18 months, both
engage in several legal battles, leading

to Jim's eventual firing.

Feeling powerless, Jim makes a bold move
to regain control of his life and the

character he left behind.

Warrior's run with the WWF came to an
end in 1992, and Warrior went home and

changed his legal name to Warrior
because they owned Ultimate Warrior, and

were mad at each other for several
years.

Warrior became Warrior.

Not the Warrior.

Not Jim the Warrior Hellwig. He changed
his name legally to Warrior.

You know, I changed my name because they
were saying, look, whatever you did for

the last 15 years, we own it. You can't
even refer to it.

I started using my character that I'd
spent all those years developing,

in entrepreneurial projects.

Why do you think he legally changed his
name to Warrior?

This is just my opinion because I was
not his wife then.

He had to reinvent himself. You have to
make a living. You have to have a

career. You know, he built the character
and he just felt like that that's

probably what he was going to have to
do.

By 1996,

Hulk Hogan and other WWF wrestlers have
jumped ship to their arch competitor,

WCW.

In order to recapture WWF's former
success, Vince decides to approach

for a second chance.

Along with members of his executive
team, Vince flies to Warrior's new home

Arizona to make amends.

During this talk and during this lunch,
All the warrior talked about was his

concepts and his visions and his ideas
for spreading

death trucity.

You're probably wondering out there in
TV land, what the is death trucity?

Death trucity was the truth in between
destiny and reality where

you could stay true to yourself while
achieving your goals

demented mind he was going to be some
kind of motivational person for children

and beleaguered people across America.

As I got on with the entrepreneurial
project and started thinking about

speaking, got interested in reading and
writing, Ultimate Warrior always

represented like a true -to -life
superhero comic book character. So I

story around this graphically created
Ultimate Warrior comic book character.

So now he wants to be a motivational
speaker.

He wants comic books.

Look, there's nothing wrong with you,
that stuff, if you're qualified to do

This is time in my life I could never
get back.

It was a total waste of a trip.

Although his staff has major
apprehensions, McMahon takes a risk by

Warrior once again, and his big return
is scheduled for WrestleMania XII.

Warrior's opponent is rising star Hunter
Hearth Helmsley, better known today as

Triple H.

He basically sold nothing, took Triple
H's

finish and stood right back up and
looked at him, beat him up and beat him

minute and a half, class.

Just trashed him, just destroyed him,
because he was the warrior and he was

most important thing in the world.

The pop was huge, but only for a few
weeks.

When the 1996 WWF fan saw the guy that
he remembered as being the big star

from 1990, it really wasn't as good as I
remember him, because things had

changed. He was not going to sell lots
of merchandise.

Destrucity was not going to become a
household word.

The comic book was not going to be on
all the shelves.

Things were not going to be going his
way. And so Vince made the decision.

We don't need him on our roster.

Warrior's career in the WWF is over, and
it isn't the storybook ending everyone

was hoping for.

Defeated and disappointed, Warrior
retreats back to Arizona.

Years later, he goes back to his
bodybuilding roots and opens his own

It was there he would cross paths again
with his ex -wife Sherry.

I think that's probably one of the times
where he was very, very, very happy.

He had built this from the ground up.
And I don't know, I just felt like a new

energy in him that I hadn't seen in a
long time.

And he and I were friends at that point.
And he was dating and I was dating. And

it wasn't like weird or anything.

It was just nice just to have him in my
life and have him as a friend.

And then I met my now husband there.

And he met his wife.

And then when I got pregnant with my
daughter, it got to the point where he

I decided that it was not a good idea
for me to be in the gym anymore because

had fallen in love and he had fallen in
love with somebody else.

And it was going to make our significant
others, you know, very uncomfortable

for us to be around each other.

And he stood in front of me and he took
my hand.

And I want to thank you for all these
years of being my wife.

And I'm so sorry for all the pain that
I've ever caused you.

And I wish I could have been a faithful
husband.

And the fact that he acknowledged that
meant a lot to me.

And know that I always loved you.

And I wish you nothing but happiness and
the best.

And I know you're going to be a great
mom.

And that conversation ended our
relationship.

And that was the last time that I saw
him.

With Warrior's wrestling career in the
rearview mirror and his relationship

Sherry officially over, he was not done
creating controversy and would spend the

next decade using his fleeting celebrity
status.

to become a conservative motivational
speaker.

The woman who would become my wife
walked into my life. She was

And through her, I realized I had been,
without knowing directly, all along

living by a conservative philosophy of
life.

You know, I was in my mid -30s. I wasn't
just going to sit or retire and just

not do anything.

So I started with a real simple idea of
just going out, talking to young people,

all different ages. And I don't pull my
punches about any.

He thought he was going to be a
motivational speaker and a coach. He was

actually a far right wing nutcase who
hated gay people.

Let me come down off my politically
correct horse.

Because querying doesn't make the world
work.

And said, you know, really horrible
things about a variety of cultures and

peoples. His political rants or his anti
-gay rants or his right -wing rants or

his homophobia. I've never yet
understood the first thing about how

head worked.

And then he would say a variety of
things about a lot of the guys in the

business that.

may or may not have been true, but
coming from him was the most unpalatable

all. Hulkamania is entwined in society
by the example

you've set of how to fuck up a life.

I mean, you didn't care if your wife
slept with other guys.

I mean, you're a real piece of shit,
Terry.

Here was the most unprofessional.

argumentative, hard to work with,
egotistical, untalented guy that all

people had a hand in making a star, and
then all he did afterwards was trash

him.

After spending years publicly
disparaging his contemporaries and

lawsuits with the WWE, it was unlikely
that Warrior would ever find himself

-to -face with any of his former
opponents.

That would all change in 2014,

in a move that shocked the wrestling
world when it was announced that the

ultimate warrior would be headlining the
Hall of Fame ceremony at WrestleMania

30.

One of his longtime enemies would be
lying in wait for his return.

Had a roll of quarters in my pocket.

I was going to beat his ass.

And I'm waiting on him, looking for him.

Of course, warrior being warrior, they
had him in a private area and security

guards and all that. I had to wait.

I had to wait. I had to wait. And I'm
boiling, I'm boiling, I'm boiling.

And then all of a sudden, somebody
tapped me on the back.

I turned around and it was water.

He put his hands up. He goes, please,
just let me do this.

I need to apologize to you and your
family.

That's who I was then, but that wasn't
me.

But if it means anything, just know that
I'm sorry.

He disarmed me.

Another lesson in life, man.

That's what I got.

A lesson.

At the Hall of Fame weekend, Warrior
went around. He made amends with some of

the talent that was there.

I think it probably warmed Vince's heart
more than anyone because he just always

likes to bring people back into the
fold.

You look great.

Congratulations. You always look great.
You look better than anybody. He was on

his best behavior, and he did what...

Everyone considered to be a fine speech.

I've never interacted with anybody in
this business that hasn't taught me

something. The inductions were made and
his family was there. And it seemed like

an improbable storybook ending for this
multi -decade contentious relationship.

The next night.

He comes out on Monday Night Raw live on
television and cuts another promo. And

it's a very inspirational speech that
people actually understood.

I am Ultimate Warrior.

You are the Ultimate Warrior fans.

And the spirit of Ultimate Warrior will
run forever.

Warrior didn't look healthy that night.

Like he had...

Really got fatigued or hadn't been able
to sleep or something was off.

My sister called me and she's like, I'm
so sorry about Jim.

And I'm like, what are you talking
about?

What do you mean?

Somewhere around 12 hours after that
final Monday Night Raw appearance, he

leaving his hotel room, walking to the
car the next morning, had a heart attack

and died.

One of the biggest pro wrestling stars
of the 1990s. We learned overnight that

the ultimate warrior has died.

It's probably one of the most startling
things that ever happened in wrestling.

After almost 20 years, a guy finally
comes back, has a chance to at least

resurrect his legacy, if not his career,
gets started, drops over

dead.

He does his promo.

And he gets a standing ovation, and he
goes home, and he dies.

He couldn't write that story.

So sad.

It was sad.

I was sad for his family. The children
weren't going to have a father. I mean,

just everything about it, and just so
bad.

Nobody should ever have to see their
loved one die like that. I mean, I was

for the fans. I was sad.

That people had lost something that
meant so much to them. This character,

gimmick, the ultimate warrior. Like,
everything about it was so horrible.

I would say that Warrior never said
anything any more truthful than his last

words on Raw.

Every man's heart one day beats its
final beat.

His lungs breathe their final breath.

You're going to breathe your last
breath.

Your heart's going to beat its last
time. It's just we never suspected.

It'd be that quick, that soon for him.

Rest in peace.