Ultimate Warrior Shoot Interview DVD Review

Length: Approx 3 hours (DVD)

Without question, The Ultimate Warrior is one of the most controversial and outspoken wrestling stars of any era. Not only are his wild and memorable matches a talking point, but so are all the rumours surrounding his unique career. But now for the first time ever, Warrior talks candidly about his career, looking at everything from his start in the business, to his views on Hulk Hogan, Sting and so many more wrestling superstars. Warriors sits down with Ringside collectables in his first ever shoot interview, find out if the interview is as controversial as Warrior’s career?

As I said, this is the first Warrior shoot interview, but its also the first shoot interview produced by wrestling collectables website RingsideCollectables.com, and who better to start with than The Ultimate Warrior.

Highs and Lows

So, naturally to begin with Warrior talks about his childhood and getting into the wrestling business. Warriors says that he was at college studying to be a chiropractor, and training to be a bodybuilder at the same time. He was invited to join a team called “Power Team USA” which was a group of people who were going to be trained to be pro wrestlers, but that fell through, Warrior decided that pro wrestling was something he wanted to explore, so he left his studies and he and a member of the now-defunct “Power Team USA” Steve “Sting” Borden decided to pair up as a tag team. Warrior talks about his first memories of the Memphis territory, Jerry Lawler, Jerry Jarrett and other Memphis wrestling stars, where Warrior and Sting first got their breaks into the business.

Warrior goes on to talk about his run in Bill Watt’s UWF (Mid South Wrestling), discussing Bill Watts and what he thought of him, everyone usually seems to have an opinion on Watts, not really a good one, but an opinion, so it was interesting to see what Warrior had to say. Mike Johnson ( the interviewer) asks Warriors about what led him to leave the UWF. Warrior explains his reasons and puts his side across, I’ve heard a few different stories regarding why Warrior left, but Warrior gives his own version which was equally as entertaining as some of the other stories. Warrior talks about what caused him and Sting to split as a team, discussing some of the falling outs the pair had.

The discussion moves to World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) run by the famous Von Erich family and based out of Dallas. Warrior talks about what led him to go to that territory, how he enjoyed his time there, and how he grew close to the Von Erich family while he was there. Warrior discusses various subjects, including the tragedy of the Von Erich family, including Warrior’s own opinions as to why the tragedy struck the family. The subject of Warrior leaving WCCW is brought up, Warrior talks about how he was approached by New Japan Pro Wrestling to compete as the Vader character, but Warrior was approached by WWF and signed with them, leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling to sign Leon White to be Vader. An extremely interesting section of the DVD, and Warrior speaks openly and frankly about his time in WCCW and more so about the Von Erich family which is extremely interesting.

The discussion moves to Warrior’s ventures into the World Wrestling Federation. Warrior talks about how he was brought into the company and how he was initially used, he talks about how the name of the Ultimate Warrior came about, how he developed his character, including his attire, entrance and styles. Warrior is questioned about his running down to the ring so much, that he was often “blown up” for his matches, Warrior says that he gave more effort into his entrance than some guys did in their matches, he also feels that if he didn’t feel “blown up” then he felt he didn’t give 100% in his matches. Warrior is also questioned about his moves, and speaks about why people say he had a limited repertoire, Warrior talks about how he feels this criticism is not really legitimate.

At some point in the DVD ( as I’m writing this I can’t remember where it was) Warrior mentions the criticism he received from Ric Flair in his book, Warrior talks about how he always thought Flair said he could have a match with a broomstick and still make it look good, so why do people like Flair always criticise him (Warrior). I thought this was an interesting point because Flair criticised a lot of people in his book, Mick Foley, Bret “Hitman” Hart, so I was interested in Warrior’s reaction.

Moving on in the DVD Warrior talks about his time in the WWF, his first major matches, his Wrestlemania 6 title victory against Hulk Hogan, his match with “Macho Man” Randy Savage at Wrestlemania 7 and so much more. Warrior also discusses the subject of drug usage in wrestling, speaking about the steroid situation in the WWF, and also the use of recreational drugs in wrestling. Warrior talks about his departures from the WWF both in 1991 & 1992 and what led to those departures, which were very interesting indeed, especially when you hear rumours about the reasons, it’s always nice to hear the other side to the argument.

Warrior talks about his outside projects away from wrestling, including the Warrior comic book, and he mentions how he wanted to make it into a movie but that never happened, he also talks about his workout video and the Warrior University.

The discussion moves to his return to the WWF, the reasons which led him to return and the deal he struck with the McMahon’s to come back. Warrior is asked about his Wrestlemania 12 return, including his match with Triple H, Warrior speaks about the match, and about Triple H, which is of course very interesting to say the least. Warrior also talks about the “Clique” and also Scott Hall & Kevin Nash, plus he mentions Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith. A lot of people will be aware of the comments Warrior made about Davey Boy Smith and his untimely death on Warrior’s website a few years ago, Warrior discusses Davey, and mentions that he feels Davey wasn’t able to grow up in the sense that he was still doing things that he was doing in his youth, and they weren’t good for him. Warrior also mentions that he will always have a place in his heart for Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid because they took him under their wing when he first came to the WWF, and they looked after him for some time. Warrior says that he has never faulted or criticised anyone until they do so to him, and he says that is why he becomes so defensive about his career.

The subject of Bret Hart is brought up, and Warrior talks about how much he liked Bret Hart and the whole Hart family, saying he was very good friends with Owen and the rest of the Hart family. Warrior recalls a few stories about the Harts during his WWF days. Warrior says Bret Hart became bitter, and criticised Warrior for no reason at all, and he feels Bret’s bitter because he never followed the same path as Warrior did, in terms of taking legal action against the WWF and the McMahons after the 1997 “Screw Job”. Warrior is asked about how he would have handled the “Screw job” finish from Survivor Series 1997, Warrior says he isn’t sure but brings up an interesting point regarding the whole series of events by saying “the camera was in the right place at the right time too often”, Warrior talks about how he feels that the “Screw job” may have been a “work” to some point because it seems that all the parties eventually benefited from the events.

Warrior discusses his dealing with Linda McMahon, and his conversations with Linda on how to improve the wrestling business by crossing over to legitimate entertainment, plus all his dealings with her regarding his own franchise of goods including his comic book and other products. Warrior discusses all the problems which led to him leaving the WWF for the final time in 1996. Interesting to hear Warrior’s side on events as to why he left the company. Warrior talks about his lawsuit against the WWF over a breach of contract, which was settled in 2001.

Moving on, the DVD looks at Warrior’s WCW stint, with Warrior first commenting on the Renegade gimmick and character WCW portrayed for a number of years before Warrior joined WCW. He also talks about Hulk Hogan, and how Hogan brought Warrior into WCW to appease his own ego after the Wrestlemania 6 loss. Warrior also chats openly about Eric Bischoff, teaming up with Sting again and Bill Goldberg amongst others. Warrior talks about his match with Hogan at Halloween Havoc, mentioning that the match was awful, and its ironic that Warrior had his best match with Hogan and his worse match with Hogan. He also talks about his frustrations with WCW not using the character properly and he feels his character could have been so much more in WCW than it actually was. Mike Johnson brings up the fact that many wrestlers, including Davey Boy Smith were hurt by the trap door in the ring used for Warrior’s entrances, Warrior says he feels that Davey Boy wasn’t his old self which probably led to any injury and also mentions the fact that he wasn’t aware that the talent didn’t know about the trap door, he also feels that the trap door was over used and that it should have been a “one-off”. It seems everyone has something to say about WCW, and Warrior doesn’t hold back in his views.

As the DVD comes to an end, Warrior talks about rumours about him going to ECW in the late ’90s, his dealing with the Jeff & Jerry Jarrett when they wanted him to sign with TNA, and so much more. The DVD finishes with Warrior talking about his career and the misconceptions people have about him.

DVD Extras

• 2 Classic Dingo Warrior matches from World Class Championship Wrestling
• Q & A session from “Ringfest 2004” convention

Overall

One of the most outspoken and controversial wrestling superstars has finally spoken, and you know what, he doesn’t seem all that controversial anymore. I think many people have a misconception about Warrior, and to some degree that may be justified, but I think also many people believe in Internet rumours too much, and base opinions solely on them. In this interview, Warrior talked frankly about many subjects which are often speculated about, including his falling outs with the McMahon family and also his opinions of other wrestlers, from Hogan to Shawn Michaels. From the face value of the interview, it appeared that Warrior was totally “No holds barred” in his response to the questions, but it does appear that the interview may have been clipped somewhat, now whether that means there is some bits that were missed, or it could have been simply to make sure the interview flowed well and didn’t run too long I’m not totally sure.

The interviewer, Mike Johnson pretty much asked every question you would want to ask Warrior, and he did a great job in keeping the interview flowing very well. I have seen other interviews produced by other companies, and this is one of the best ones in terms of content and quality.

The DVD extras are good, it’s nice to see that the Von Erich’s agreed to let Warrior use some of the WCCW footage for this DVD. It’s also insightful to see the origins of the Warrior gimmick from World Class Championship Wrestling. The Q & A session is also insightful, touching on many of the areas the Interview did, as well as a few more subjects.

All in all this interview is extremely entertaining and could possibly make you have a different opinion of Warrior then you already did. Personally, I came away with the verdict that Warrior is one of the few people in the wrestling business that has moved away from the world of wrestling and has made a new life for himself and his family. But he is very grateful of the opportunity he was given in wrestling, and the doors it opened for him to change his own personal life. Warrior is also very reflective, talking about the mistakes he has made, and how many people have often misjudged him purely by speculation.

This is one of the best shoot interviews I have seen, and it’s actually one of the most entertaining and interesting wrestling DVD’s I have seen this year.

The DVD is available now from RingsideCollectables.com.

Overall: 9 / 10

Dan