All language subtitles for Dark Side Of The Ring s03e05 Becoming Warrior.eng

[cheering]

If you could take a
bolt of electricity,

and somehow morph that into a
living cartoon character...

that would be Warrior.

[cheering]

The Ultimate Warrior was a
righteous gladiator that

rose faster than anybody to the
top of the wrestling world.

Very few people in the history
of wrestling have gone from

start to pinnacle, as fast
as The Ultimate Warrior did.

- [cheering]
- [match bell]

History has been made here!

He had a phenomenal 8x10.
He looked great.

Vince was about
these bodies.

Warrior caught onto that,

and he took it to a
whole different level.

He had dreams,
he had an intensity.

And there was absolutely
nothing that was gonna

stop him from
becoming something.

But the real man
behind the face paint,

Jim Hellwig, 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.

I was sitting in parts unknown,
waiting for the next

spaceship to a higher place!

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.

I sensed that
chronic paranoia.

When's it all gonna end?

Hellwig's divisive behaviour
behind the scenes would cut

his range 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 wrestling 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 colourful,
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,

as his popularity grew.

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

sadness, and the insecurity,
and the self-doubt.

[cheering]

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 Shari Tyree,
and I was married to

Jim Hellwig,
The Ultimate Warrior,

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 in his lap.

With the face painted
and then,

the little doll's face
painted. [laughs]

This is a picture
after he won Mr. Georgia.

He'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 Hellwig.

[cheering]

At that time, you know,
body building was huge.

And he had been doing some
amateur shows and all of that,

and I just 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 at.

So, I go, and then,
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 drops
him in 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,

"Oh, I guess you
saw me take the trash out."

I was like,
"Yeah, both times."

[laughs]

Should I just run now?

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

Should I just leave?
[laughs]

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

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

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

I took up weight training and
body building, and...

from that, I was bold enough
to think after I saw the

changes in my scrawny little
body that I could

make changes in my
life in other ways,

so I set a goal for
myself to get an education,

become a doctor
of chiropractic.

So, those were my goals.

During that time in school,
they had discussed,

you know, genetics.

And, he had told me
about his grandfathers,

that they had died at like,
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 him.

But he tried to kind
of play it off like, you know,

"I gotta get it all in now
'cause I may not

be around that long."

His whole drive
since the beginning,

since the first
night I ever met him,

was to be somebody
and to be something.

His drive was to be rich,
to be famous.

And he was 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 he'd protect me
for the rest of my life.

♪

Jim and Shari were married
on October 2nd, 1982.

And shortly after, Jim put his
chiropractic career on hold

to pursue body building
dreams in Los Angeles.

Sting has arrived!

It was there Jim befriended
a young Steve Borden,

better known today
as wrestler, Sting.

Steve convinces Jim they can

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 Freedom Fighters!

[cheering]

♪

I'm Jim Cornette.
I've been a promoter,

match maker,
announcer, and manager

in pro wrestling
for 40 years.

And I was not a fan of
The Ultimate Warrior.

[cheering]

They're gonna be involved
in a single fall match,

coming up here.

When Borden and Hellwig got
to Memphis and showed up

at the TV studio,
it was rotten.

- ...Jim Hellwig.
- [cheering]

But you could tell that they
had some physical charisma.

You wanted to look at 'em.

You just didn't want to see
what they ended up doing.

Look at these men,
loot at 'em.

Okay, buddy, well, you know
there's a lot more to it

than just being big.

[Jim] So, 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 without
anybody 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.

[cheering]

Hellwig was
very narcissistic.

"I look this good.
I got a great smile.

I have wonderful teeth.

What more could a
promoter want?"

Well, I don't know,
maybe, could you wrestle?

This man gets a body slam.

[Shari] 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 way.

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

[Shari] This is where I started
seeing Jim change.

Where I saw this kind of side
of him that was more selfish.

[Crowd] Boo!

You know, at the time,
I didn't, you know,

I didn't give much thought to
what he's going to do or

how he's gonna
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
they 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

ground breaking 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 here.

♪

My name is David Manning.

I was the referee,
promoter, a booker...

With World Class Wrestling,
back in the heydays.

This is the third
controversial finish.

When we brought him in,

the World Class fans
had never seen him.

So, we just built a story
we wanted and we created...

the star we wanted.

Weighing an
excess of 300 pounds,

The Dingo Warrior.

[cheering]

We started trying
to think of a name,

and I forget exactly who came
up with The Dingo Warrior.

Their pitch was,
"Well, think of a wild dog.

This is a wild warrior,"
'cause he was a heel.

I thought he was Australian

when I saw his name
the first time.

I have no idea, and nobody
else did either.

It was literally just
the name, and then,

I remember us 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.

[laughs]

This guy is a monster.

A muscle monster.

Agh!

[David] Probably his
first 15, 20 matches,

we gave him
people to slaughter.

Woah, there goes one!

And here's Dingo
hammering away on Perry.

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.

- Agh!
- You the master!

You're the king
of Dingo, brother!

- Agh!
- You the king!

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
in the spotlight,

and his life with his
wife Shari

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 gonna change

when he got this.
He was so happy.

No matter what
territory you were in,

you knew that if you were
gonna make money and

you were gonna be on top,
that is where you had to go.

And I knew that this was
probably gonna change the

entire dynamic of our
marriage because I knew

that he was gonna be
on the road,

20, 25 days a month.
And, I mean,

it was basically gonna be a
long distance relationship.

And so, he had
assured me, you know,

"Once I start
making some money,

I want you to come on
the road at least

7 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.

[laughs]

The Dingo Warrior!

[cheering]

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."

[indistinct commentary]

And people were up
getting popcorn,

you know, going to
the concession stand.

I mean, I mean,
they looked at him,

but it wasn't like,
"Wow, this guy's amazing.

Who's this guy?"

[Commentary] Like I said before,
the guy's got the looks,

he's got the body...

[Shari] He knew that if he was
gonna make it there,

that he was going to
have to figure out

what his gimmick was gonna be,

and where he was gonna
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--

[laughs] Dingo Warrior.
Who would?

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 Gibbs and

they did a pre-tape where
they used to put the little

screen up in the
corner back there.

To all you WW-- 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.

...the only thing that blows
through bags is the

power of the Warrior!
Agh!

You know, he's not
the great wrestler,

but Vince saw the intensity.

Oh, what a clothesline!

And so, he knew if
he could get the people's

attention with that, then he
could turn that into something.

You know, and that's when
the shaking of the ropes

started and just, "Okay,
I've gotta go out there and

I've gotta grab
the attention."

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

People have to
kind of figure out,

"Who is this guy?
Where is he from?"

And that's where
the parts unknown,

"Where is he from?"

"Oh, he's from
parts unknown."

I was sitting in parts unknown
waiting for the next

spaceship to a higher place!

Warrior's promo style
was unique, irreverent.

Sometimes had to be...

interpreted.

[indistinct speaking]

What did he say?

His promos were...

nonsensical.

At best. [laughs]

They made no sense.

- Just seeing that--
- [inaudible speaking]

...have already
continued to worsen...

[inaudible shouting]

...across these
weak planets.

We would get in the car and
he would just crack himself up.

And he'd go, "What did 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.

♪ [rock 'n roll]

Wait a minute!
Somebody's music!

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

They've exploded!
Here they are!

He just flies to the ring,
shaking the ropes,

he's got all the colours on.

Wow! [snaps]

It was game over
from that point on.

Oh, no!
It's the Ultimate Warrior!

[Jim] 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 'em to lay down.

He's gotta win,
he's gotta win decisively.

You smash him over.
It's called a push, a big push,

and you make this guy the
biggest star that you can

by disguising his weaknesses.

And, exposing his strengths.

That's a living
cartoon character.

It's coming to life.
It comes to your home town.

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.
- Drop kick!

Wrestling buddies
want to be your buddy!

His favourite merchandising
was his wrestling buddy.

A 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 was
just something about it.

It just made him feel
like 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 $100,000 addition.

It was a crazy add,
his home gym.

You know, the house was
just absolutely amazing.

He's getting
these huge cheques,

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.

[cheering]

I'm Jake 'The Snake' Roberts.

And, 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.

Oh, hit him with
a big right hand!

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,
said, "Hey,

you know,
you broke my neck."

"Oh." He didn't care.

[screams]

The barney's bell is
ringing right now.

You know, there's an
unwritten rule in wrestling

that 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 it...

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 mean, he weighed
like 140 pounds.

His dad left home
when he was 12.

Then, that was very,
very traumatic for him.

He told me that, you know,
his dad was cheating

with one of the neighbours.

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.

Well, I mean, I think he...

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 himself to be the best.

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

anymore so, he had
to make this work.

♪

[cheering]

By 1990, the Ultimate
Warrior is the biggest star

in the WWF,
aside from one man...

the immortal, Hulk Hogan.

The final piece of Vince
McMahon's plan to crystalize

a new megastar takes
hold at WrestleMania VI.

[cheering]

WrestleMania VI, it was in
the Sky Dome in Toronto,

one of the great North American
cities for wrestling.

[cheering]

Besides Hulk Hogan,
the Ultimate Warrior was

the biggest box office
attraction in wrestling.

He found out a few months
before that he was gonna be

taking Hulk's spot.

And, it was the
greatest joy of his life.

He just thought, "Wow,
this is gonna be amazing,"

and he was very pumped about it.
And then, it came,

and WrestleMania VI was there.

Champion against champion!

Title for title!
This is what it's all about!

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

He had severe anxiety.

Take a look at this!
Look at the intensity!

Eye to eye right here,
face to face.

I literally could
physically feel the match.

Like, I was like
feeling it, you know.

It was just the
emotion of it,

the excitement in the arena.

I've just never felt
anything like that.

And here we go!

[cheering]

It's deafening
here in the Sky Dome!

Vince felt that 6 or 7 years
of Hulk Hogan

steadily on top was enough.
He didn't want to get stale.

He thought that the Warrior
was ready to take it.

Wow! Caught him with
the clothesline!

Onto the floor goes Hogan!

Hogan had gone out on
a breakneck schedule,

he was tired,
he was beaten down,

and he was ready
to take a break.

And so, Vince made the
decision to pass the torch.

He's got him up!

It's the only time in that
decade run with the WWF,

that Hulk Hogan actually
legitimately got beaten,

pinned, 1, 2, 3 in the
ring by an opponent,

and it was the
Ultimate Warrior.

Here it is...

Oh!
He moved out of the way!

[cheering]

Look out, the big splash!
1, 2...!

- He got him!
- [match bell]

He got him!

Unbelievable!

For Hogan to do what Hogan
did for Ultimate Warrior...

Is a miracle.

He carried the Warrior to
immortality at WrestleMania VI.

And he did it live, which is
even more astonishing.

[cheering]

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.

'Cause literally,
like two months after...

Jim Hellwig 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.

He seemed altered.

I mean, I didn't
see anything,

but he definitely was not...

he 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 there...

when you don't hear
from you 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 gonna be
women that want to sleep

with your husband, but
it's 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.

♪

[crying] And I immediately
thought, oh, my gosh.

I was devastated.

I started going
through his things,

and I found
this day planner.

And I looked at
page 1, and page 2,

and page 3, and...

it would be a girl's name
and the town.

[crying]

♪

And I told him, I said,
"When you come home,

you're gonna 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
9-year marriage to Shari

comes to an end.

[cheering]

And to make matters worse,

he loses the WWF Championship.

No! Wait a second, no!

Feeling betrayed, his
relationship with his boss,

Vince McMahon,
begins to deteriorate.

[cheering]

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 okay from him."

I'm like, "What?
What do you mean?

You're the f'ing boss, man."

He goes, "Jake, 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 in."

So, I came in and he got
right in my face and says,

"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.

'Cause if you miss a show you're
messing with my money.

And if you mess with my
money I'm gonna get ya.

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 run.

After Summer Slam
it'll be me and Warrior.

Head to head.

Making more money than 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 plans a 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 way,

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 gonna give,

you know,
Vince this letter and,

if he fires me,
he fires me."

I was like, "You can't do this."
I go, "You can't hold up TV."

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 gonna end...

really bad for him.

♪

Leading up to the Summer
Slam 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
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 the Lear jets."

So, I mean, he just,
he wanted it all.

And I think at that point,
Vince had grown tired and

weary of the demands, and 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 Warrior's demands,

but he has no intention of
honouring them after the event.

I was there at
Summer Slam, man.

It was in
Madison Square Garden.

I'm so amped up
'cause, man,

I am gonna start making
thousands and thousands of

dollars every time I go
through that curtain.

I was standing next to Vince

when Warrior came
out of the ring.

[cheering]

♪

And Vince put his hand out
and stopped him and he goes,

"By the way, you're fired.

Now get the-- 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 the 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 own opinion,

however, you are not entitled
to vent your feelings

by breaching and threatening
to breach your contract.

This 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 Summer Slam,

Jim Hellwig gets
suspended by Vince 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, they 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.

You can't even refer to it."

So, I started using my character
that I spent all those years

developing and creating in
entrepreneurial projects.

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'd built the
character and he just felt

like that that's probably what
he was gonna have to do.

By 1996, Hulk Hogan and
other WWF wrestlers have

jumped ship to their arch
competitor, WCW.

1! 2! 3!

In order to recapture
WWF's former success,

Vince decides to approach
Warrior for a second chance.

Along with members of
his executive team,

Vince flies to Warrior's
new home in Arizona

to make amends.

During this talk and
during this lunch,

all that Warrior talked
about was his concepts,

and his visions, and his...

ideas for spreading
"destrucity".

You're probably wondering
out there in TV land...

What the fuck is destrucity?

♪

Destrucity was the truth in
between destiny and reality,

where you could stay true
to yourself while achieving

your goals because he
thought in his demented mind

he was gonna be some kind
of motivational person for

children and beleaguered
people across America.

As I got on with the
entrepreneurial projects and

started thinking
about public speaking,

got interested in
reading and writing.

Ultimate Warrior always
represented like a

true to life superhero
comic book character.

So, I wrote the 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 any of that stuff,

if you're
qualified to do it.

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
hiring Warrior once again,

and his big return is scheduled
for WrestleMania XII.

WrestleMania!

[cheering]

Warrior's opponent is rising
star Hunter Hearst Helmsley,

better known
today as Triple H.

He basically sold nothing...

Coming right about-- Yeah!

It's over!

Took Triple H's finish
and stood right back up and

looked at him.

Beat him up, and beat him
in a minute and a half, flat.

Oh!

[cheering]

Just trashed him, just
destroyed him because...

he was the Warrior and he
was the most important thing

in the world.

[indistinct commentary]

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...

"He really wasn't as
good as I remember him."

'Cause things had changed.

He was not gonna sell
lots of merchandise.

Destrucity was not gonna
become a household word.

The comic book was not
gonna be on all the shelves.

Things were not
gonna 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 story book
ending everyone was hoping for.

Defeated and disappointed,

Warrior retreats
back to Arizona.

Years later, he goes back to
his body building roots and

opens his own gym.

It was there he would
cross paths again

with his ex-wife, Shari.

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 saw
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 and I decided that it was

not a good idea for me to be
in the gym anymore

because I had fallen in love...

and he had fallen in
love with somebody else,

and it was gonna 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 hands...

[crying]
He said,

"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."

[sniffles]

"And I wish I could have
been a faithful husband,"

and just 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
gonna 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
with Sherri 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 conservative,

and through her
I realized, I had

been without knowing directly

all along living by a
conservative philosophy life.

You know, I was in my mid-
thirties, I wasn't just gonna

sit or retire and just not
do anything. So, um--

I started with
a real simple idea.

Um, just going out and

talking to young people
all different ages.

And I don't pull my
punches about anything.

He thought he was gonna 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.

[laughs & applause]

Because queering doesn't
make the world work!

[laughs & applause]

- 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 fucking thing about

how this guy's 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 of 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, dude!

Here was the most
unprofessional,

argumentative,
hard to work with,

egotistical, untalented guy,

that all these people had a
hand in making a star,

and then all he did
afterwards was trash 'em.

[crowd cheering]

- After spending years publicly
disparaging his contemporaries

and embroiled
in lawsuits with the WWE,

it was unlikely that Warrior
would ever find himself

face 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.

I had a roll of
quarters in my pocket.

I was gonna 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 I had to wait.

and I had to wait,
and 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.

Turned around and
it was Warrior.

He put his hands up and 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.

- Congratulations.
- You always look great.

You look better than anybody.

He was on his best behaviour
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 story book ending

for this multi-decade
contentious relationship.

[chanting]
Warrior! Warrior! Warrior!

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!

- [snarls]
- [cheering]

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 was 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.

[JR] He does his promo and
he gets a standing ovation,

and he goes home...and he dies.

You couldn't write that story.

It was sad, it was sad.

[Shari] I was sad
for his family.

The children weren't
gonna 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 sad for the fans.

I was sad that people had
lost something

that meant so much to them,
this character,

this gimmick,
the Ultimate Warrior.

Like, everything
about it was so horrible.

[JR] 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 breath
their final breath.

[JR] You're gonna
breathe your last breath.

Your heart's gonna
beat its last time.

And just, we never suspected
it'd be that quick,

that soon for him.

Rest in peace.

♪

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