Jim Hellwig

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James Brian Hellwig (born June 16, 1962), is an American professional wrestler known by many as The Ultimate Warrior, who legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993.

Contents

1 Profile 2 Early career 3 WCW career 4 Titles and Accomplishments 5 External links

Profile

• Height & Weight: 6'2" 275 lbs
• Billed from: Parts Unknown
• Debut: November 1985
• Previous Gimmicks: Bladerunner Rock, Dingo Warrior
• Finishing/Trademark Moves: Warrior Press + Splash, Gorilla press slam, Shoulder Block, Clothesline

Early career

As a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) superstar from the mid-80s to the early 90s, the Ultimate Warrior was known for his high-energy and high-risk wrestling style, and his Gorilla Press Slam, in which he would lift his opponent over his head like a barbell, and then drop him to the mat face-first.

Before his WWF career, Jim Hellwig was "Justice" Hellwig of Power Team USA, a group of bodybuilders that Red Bastien and Rick Bassman formed in 1985, but the gimmick went under when they discovered that the team had limited wrestling potential. Of the four members of Power Team USA, only Hellwig and Steve "Flash" Borden had subsequent wrestling careers (Borden went on to become WCW's Sting). They even formed a tag team called The Blade Runners with Hellwig as Blade Runner Rock when they wrestled in the independent circuit, but the group ended and Hellwig became The Dingo Warrior for a brief period in WCCW before he got the Ultimate Warrior gimmick.

Warrior enjoyed two stints as Intercontinental Champion, defeating the Honky Tonk Man and Rick Rude before achieving main event status. He was heralded as the wrestler to carry the torch after the pending retirement of Hulk Hogan in 1990. Ultimate Warrior defeated Hogan on April 1, 1990, at the Skydome in Toronto, Ontario in the main event of WrestleMania VI. He held the belt until the Royal Rumble in January 1991.

Warrior temporarily left the WWF in 1991 after they took him out of the running for the WWF Title, and upon returning, received creative control over his bookings. Many fans may remember the Papa Shango storyline, in which the "witch doctor" cast a spell over Warrior, causing him to convulse and vomit.

Rumors sometimes still persist that the original Ultimate Warrior and Dingo Warrior was not the same one as the one that came back in the late 1990s, however this has been shown time and time again not to be the case.

In 1992, Warrior temporarily left the WWF again, rather than engage in a potentially long-running feud with Nailz (in which Warrior wanted to be in the WWF Title hunt at that time instead), and then returned briefly in 1996, squashing future Champion Triple H in 1:38 at WrestleMania XII in Anaheim (Triple H only refers to his match against Warrior as 'not my best event,' and has never talked much about Warrior himself). WWF later terminated his contract, claiming that he wasn't pulling his weight, while Warrior claimed he took some time off to grieve the death of his father.

WCW career

WCW picked him up and gave him creative control over his matches, considered by some to be a foolish move. He created an storyline where he formed a stable opposing Hulk Hogan's New World Order: the "One Warrior Nation." The acronym OWN for One Warrior Nation was a play on the name nWo. Highlights of the unpopular storyline included Warrior "converting" The Disciple, frequent instances of "magic smoke" knocking out all of the nWo members except for Hogan (and covering Warrior's movement through a trapdoor in the ring), and backstage "apparitions" that only Hogan could see. Despite a terrible match at Halloween Havoc, WCW thought they could salvage the storyline, but an arm injury sidelined Warrior, and WCW let his contract expire.

Warrior officially retired in 1998, and now runs a youth center called Warrior University. He has also made speeches and commentaries denouncing left-wing politics, most notably a speech at UConn that led to the UConn College Republicans issuing apologies to several campus organizations for the Warrior's behavior. As of 2005, he and his company Ultimate Creations Inc. are allegedly attempting to sue Richard Kyanka of Something Awful for supposedly libelling him on an Awful Link of the Day.

Titles and Accomplishments

World Class Wrestling Association

• 1-time WCWA Texas Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time WCWA Tag Team Champion (with Lance Von Erich)

World Wrestling Federation

• 1-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion
• 2-time WWF Intercontinental Champion

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 101 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.

• Warrior won the PWI Comeback of the Year Award in 1992. He was involved in the 1990 Match of the Year (vs. Hulk Hogan) and the 1991 Feud of the Year (vs. Undertaker).

External links

• Home of Warrior (http://www.ultimatewarrior.com/) - Official website
• Ultimate Warrior (http://www.wrestleview.com/info/faq/warrior.shtml) FAQ
• Warrior Article on 411wrestling (http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&selm=3CFD1BEE.C8BFD198%40nope.com&rnum=1)
• Warrior Invades WCW! (http://www.wrestlecrap.com/warriorwcw.html)
• Warrior Trains With Jake "The Snake" Roberts! (http://www.wrestlecrap.com/warriorjake.html)
• UConn Republicans Apologize for Warrior's Comments (http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=9422&p=1)
• Humorous account of lawsuit threat against somethingawful.com (http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2790)

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