Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
EAN: 0651191938902
Format: Closed-captioned
Item Dimensions: Array
Label: World Wrestling
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: World Wrestling
MPN: WWED93890D
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: World Wrestling
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2005-09-27
Running Time: 180
Studio: World Wrestling
Theatrical Release Date: 2005-09-27

Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 09/27/2005 Run time: 180 minutes

Customer Rating:
Summary: Not enough self-destruction. And too much crapping on the Warrior
Comment: I probably should have realized that the WARRIAH~! parted on poor terms with the WWF in 1996, but I hadn't realized just how poor they were.

This documentary is rather entertaining, with lots of footage of the ULTIMATE WARRIAH~! but for the most part... it's not a "documentary"; it's commentary.

While people like Edge, Jericho, and Christian seem to respect the WARRIAH~!, everyone else just absolutely s***s on the man every moment they can after the opening pleasantries about how big an impact he made on the business!

Every other scene features Hulk Hogan or Ted DiBiase or Bobby Heenan or Sergeant Slaughter or Steve Lombardi or Bruce Prichard or Gene Oakerlund s***ing on the WARRIAH~! Every chance they can, they keep saying how awful a wrestler WARRIAH~! was, which in the case of some people (Hulk Hogan much?) is the equivalent of the Pot approaching the Kettle and saying "You are black".

Obviously WARRIAH~! was nowhere near a decent wrestler at the time, but the fact that his peers constantly remark just how awful he is is insulting and a blatant "hitjob" to tarnish his skills. The fact is, while his skills weren't likely very good, they were about on par with much of the WWF's in-ring quality of the time. Is the WARRIAH~! a bad wrestler? Yes. Is he substantially worse than Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Rick Rude, Sergeant Slaughter? Absolutely not. The WWF's in-ring style in the mid-late 80s and early 90s was what is called by some "hoss" style, meaning a heavy emphasis on "big" guys (muscly or tall) and little to no emphasis on actual athletic talent. This was in the era where Vince's Big and Tall fetish was running rampant.

Even after showing the part regarding WARRIAH~!'s Wrestlemania victory over Hogan, they CONTINUE to s*** all over WARRIAH~!'s skill, and go on to start PRAISING HOGAN as if he were the superstar for so graciously "passing the torch" to Hogan, while Jericho, Edge, and Christian have the decency to say that WARRIAH~! could put on great matches with great opponents.


Before this DVD, I had figured the ULTIMATE WARRIAH~! had had some sort of colossal mental breakdown or devolving into serious drug use or something to warrant such a title as "The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior". Instead, it starts ALL OF A SUDDEN in early 1991, after continuous WARRIAH~! bashing and a quick overview of his feuds with Rick Rude and Randy Savage.

ALL OF A SUDDEN at the Royal Rumble, it's said that WARRIAH~! basically held up Vince for more money, saying he wouldn't go out and perform unless he got paid a certain amount. I agree that this is a really piss-poor unprofessional thing to do, but the talking-head commentary takes this event and runs with it for the next ten minutes, bashing and bashing how awful and evil a man WARRIAH~! is and how arrogant he is and how bad a wrestler he is (take a shot) and how ungrateful he is.

Then comes his lawsuit in 1993, changing his name to Warrior, and returning to the WWF in 1996, only to be fired again for no-showing and demanding more money. Again, this is a bad thing, but hardly anything like "self destruction".

Perhaps his brief time in WCW could explain the whole "self destruction" part, and it does... for five minutes. And only covering one promo. ONE! WARRIAH~!'s first coming to WCW, where he had a 15 minute rambling promo on Hulk Hogan that, due to WCW's own incompetence and lack of leadershipm was completely unscripted, nonsensical, redundant, and absolutely mad and out of control.

And that's it. Then they go on to show his match against Hogan from Halloween Havoc 98, arguably one of the worst in history.


Then it ends with some brief mention of his speaking tours, which unfortunately they can't show any footage of (I would've given this DVD five stars if they just had the footage or at least mention of that damn chestnut of WARRIAH~! wisdom "Queering doesn't make the world work"*), and that's it.


So what we have is a fun collection of videos of WARRIAH~!, accompanied by a total hitjob of bashing and heavily biased commentary, boiling down to Christian, Edge, and Jericho respecting WARRIAH~! for his contributions to the business, and the rest hating WARRIAH~! and hoping he burns in hell (exaggeration, but close enough).

Also, bonus matches~! But why would you want to watch a WARRIAH~! match?




*I completely disagree with this statement and believe it is wrong and in poor taste. However, I happen to find it a hilarious statement due to the sheer ridiculousness and tastelessness of it.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: The doc is entertaining but laughable...
Comment: First of the documentary:

The documentary is very obvious to anyone watching that it is a smear campaign. They wanted Jim "The Warrior" Helwig to be a part of the disc but when he said "No way" they went on a mission to bury him. The result is entertaining as hell but VEERRRRY laughable. There is probably about as much truth to this doc as their is B.S. Some of it is grounded and lots more is pretty unfair.

It's easy to crap all over the Warrior when there are all of these crazy videos of him online ranting like a madman. But the truth is that WWE tried to screw him out of money that he was agreed to...on more than one occasion.

The doc mocks his ring entrance, his in-ring work, and his crazy interviews and so forth-- but these are all the same reason that they hired him in the first place! They were WELL versed in what the Warrior could do. And they knew they had picked up a great talent because when they gave him a big push he made them (and himself) a lot of money.

The Warrior had very minimal technical skills in the ring but his physicality and charisma, both of which were stellar, put him over w/ the fans in a big way. The smear campaign comes of as a bit tongue-in-cheek, particularly with the wreslter interviews because it's clear that they all idolized him as teens. I'd give the doc a 4 out of 5 stars simply on entertainment value alone. Just don't believe everything Vince would like you to.

The Matches: There are 3great matches out of the few that are on this. And if you're lucky enough to on the 2-Disc special edition (available only at FYE stores) then there are FOUR great matches.

These are those matches==
Steel Cage match for the WWE(WWF) Title
vs. Rick Rude
Summerslam '90

**** (out of 5)
Roddy Piper's utter disdain for the Warrior during his commentary was HILARIOUS! There was such a real hatred for the guy that he couldn't hide it even though the Warrior was the biggest face draw that year. The match itself was a very fast-paced brawl for that era ('85sh-'92ish). Very entertaining if not a bit short.

WWE (WWF) Title
vs. Hulk Hogan(c)

****
It's rumored heavily that these two actually REHEARSED this match (a practice that really hadn't been done since the '70s) in order to make it look good. This is the first time on t.v. that Hogan missed his leg drop. This match the best performance any one had seen from either of these guys from a in-ring work perspective up until that point.

Career Match
vs. Macho King Randy Savage w/ Queen Sherri
Wrestlemania VII

*** 1/2
Savage took Warrior to new heights in this match and as a result both came off really well. The end dragged on a bit and so did the post-match between Savage/Elizabeth but for the time that was considered high drama in the world of pro wrestling *ahem* sports entertainment.


Bonus disc highlight:

**** 1/2

WWE (WWF) Title
vs. Randy Savage (c)
The build-up/storyline for this match was probably the best in WWE history up to this point. And the match didn't disappoint. These two worked so well together and Savage (one of the most gifted wrestlers of all time) elevated Warrior to a match that we will never see again from these guys unfortunately. There are so many near falls and every single one is a nail-biter. The storyline ("Which guy is hired Ric Flair & Mr. Perfect to help them win?") builds the tension even more. This is an oft overlooked classic.


There are handful of other matches on this DVD but these were really the only ones of note. I just wish they had included his WCW debut @ Fall Brawl in the late '90s (and I'm glad they avoided putting the Halloween Havoc match).

If you love that era of wrestling or even just the Ultimate Warror then you definitely need to own this one.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: ultimate warrior review
Comment: this was agood video-do not buy classic superstars of wrestling.my worst 50 dollars yet.i have about 15 wrestling videos.they are all good except this one.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: If the Warrior were to write this review he would say...
Comment: And so they speak through the sight of time and to hear the fowl scent of the only one left to speak the truth of the unknown ones. It is but the only one to exist in this form that we would truly be as one in the fountain of time. Observe the arm as it reaches forward to grasp the power of the warrior. It is the being that stands alone if it knew the truth of the value, the truth of the existence and the truth of mind over body over time. For the power of the warrior seeks the fuel of existence to only feel the combat of its own true being.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Incomplete
Comment: As much of a big fan as I was of the Ultimate Warrior I had to give this DVD set a 2. First of all where is the Warrior's side of the story of what really happened in his career. All I heard was some of the guys that worked with him and even guys who were still in kindergarten who were flapping their gums. For the most part they were dissing on the Warrior left and right which makes him an easy target for the WWE.

The WWE even talks about the warrior getting fired on 3 different occasions, such as Summer Slam of 1991 when Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior team up against Sgt. Slaughter, General Adnan and Col. Mustafa. The WWE's story was that the Warrior demanded more money or he wasn't going to show up for that match which was true but Vince McMahon says that it was like pointing a gun to his head. The real story was that the Warrior was owed money from Wrestle Mania 7 and that was the money he demanded. The second time was the following year which the WWE says that the Warrior failed a drug test, "a failed drug test?" Not to long ago they suspended 10 of their wrestlers for steroid use for about a week all separately and none of them got fired. Well anyway the real reason the Warrior got fired was a breach of contract. The final time was when the Warrior's father passed away which was true but the WWE made it sound like "the Warrior didn't care" and was only using it as an excuse so the Warrior wouldn't show up to his matches.

I thought this set could have had more matches such as the match he had with Sgt. Slaughter at the Royal Rumble in 1991, which was more intense than the rematch that they had about 3 months later. How about the match he had with triple H at Wrestle Mania 12, which was highly anticipated. Even the match that he had with Jerry the King Lawler at the King of the Ring of 1996. I thought that this should have been a 3 disc set instead of 2. They didn't even include any of the promos that he did leading up to his matches even though nobody understood what he was saying they could have been added to a third disc.

In my mind the Ultimate Warrior had a great career that was taken away from him because the wrestling business wanted to control him. Even to this day if the Ultimate Warrior were to come back to the WWE, he will be well recieved by the fans. The Warrior should one day be in the Hall of Fame for all of his accomplishments.

---