DVD Review: Ultimate Warrior – Always BelieveBy Henry Higgins| April 22, 2015 WWE DVD Reviews Certificate: 15 Running Time: 9hrs 00mins (540mins) Discs: 3 Disc 1 A Message From Dana Warrior Always Believe Beginnings The Blade Runners Dingo Warrior Ultimate Warrior SummerSlam 88 Competing for a Spot WrestleMania VI What’s Next? WrestleMania VII SummerSlam 1991 Back in the Spotlight The Ultimate Love WCW “Self-Destruction” One Warrior Nation The Journey Home Hall of Fame Back Home The Apology An Incredible Weekend April 8, 2014 Outpouring of Support Nattie Future Diva No Greater Tribute Final Letters The Spirit of Ultimate Warrior Will Run Forever Disc 2 2-on-1 Handicap Match: Dingo Warrior v Perry Jackson and Chico Cabello – World Class Championship Wrestling * July 25, 1986 Dingo Warrior v Big Bear Collie – World Class Championship Wrestling * June 2, 1987 Ultimate Warrior v Frenchy Martin – Madison Square Garden * November 24, 1987 Ultimate Warrior v Brian Costello – Wrestling Challenge * November 29, 1987 Ultimate Warrior v Mike Sharpe – Philadelphia, PA * December 5, 1987 Ultimate Warrior v Conquistador #1 – Wrestling Challenge * May 8, 1988 Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Honky Tonk Man – Boston, MA * October 10, 1988 Intercontinental Championship Match: “Ravishing” Rick Rude v Ultimate Warrior – East Rutherford, NJ * May 8, 1989 Ultimate Warrior & King Duggan v “Ravishing” Rick Rude & Andre the Giant – Madison, WI * June 6, 1989 Ultimate Warrior v John Weiss – Wrestling Challenge * September 24, 1989 Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Andre the Giant – Maple Leaf Wrestling * October 29, 1989 Ultimate Warrior v Brooklyn Brawler – Wrestling Challenge * March 11, 1990 WWE Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Haku – Saturday Night’s Main Event * April 28, 1990 Ultimate Warrior v Sgt. Slaughter – Saturday Night’s Main Event * April 27, 1991 Ultimate Warrior v Rick “The Model” Martel – Wrestling Challenge * April 28, 1991 Ultimate Warrior v Smash – Superstars * May 18, 1991 Ultimate Warrior v Skinner – Superstars * May 2, 1992 Ultimate Warrior v Papa Shango – Lexington, KY * May 19, 1992 Ultimate Warrior & “Macho Man” Randy Savage v The Nasty Boys – SummerSlam Spectacular * August 19, 1992 Ultimate Warrior v Isaac Yankem – RAW * April 29, 1996 Ultimate Warrior v Owen Hart – RAW * July 8, 1996 Disc 3 Bill Mercer interviews Dingo Warrior – World Class Championship Wrestling * September 19, 1986 Nightmares are the Best Part of My Day – Superstars * February 27, 1988 I Live For Anger and Frustration – Wrestling Challenge * March 13, 1988 Normal People – Wrestling Challenge * June 5, 1988 I Won’t Let You Down – Wrestling Challenge * June 25, 1988 Legends Weren’t Built Overnight – Superstars * July 16, 1988 Craig DeGeorge Interviews the New Intercontinental Champion – Superstars * September 3, 1988 You Can Feel It – All American Wrestling * September 18, 1988 Totally Out of Control – Wrestling Challenge * January 29, 1989 A Test Like all the Others – Wrestling Challenge * May 28, 1989 We Shall Conquer the Giant – Superstars * July 15, 1989 Mean Gene interviews Ultimate Warrior about SummerSlam – Wrestling Challenge * August 13, 1989 The Eighth Wonder of the World – Superstars * September 9, 1989 Mean Gene interviews The Ultimate Warriors – Wrestling Challenge * November 5, 1989 The Brother Love Show Discussing the Royal Rumble – Superstars * January 13, 1990 I Speak to You, Hulk Hogan – Superstars * February 3, 1990 The New WWE Champion – Superstars * April 14, 1990 The Brother Love Show Discussing SummerSlam – Superstars * June 23, 1990 Confined Spaces – Superstars * July 21, 1990 Leaving Nothing Behind – Wrestling Challenge * August 12, 1990 Useless Dreams – Wrestling Challenge * August 26, 1990 The Brother Love Show with Queen Sherri – Superstars * September 8, 1990 Sister Love – Superstars * October 13, 1990 The Commander in Chief – Wrestling Challenge * December 23, 1990 Your Ultimate Destruction – Wrestling Challenge * December 30, 1990 Total Surrender – Superstars * January 5, 1991 The Smell of Defeat – Wrestling Challenge * January 13, 1991 Mean Gene interviews Queen Sherri – Royal Rumble * January 19, 1991 I am the Wildness – Superstars * February 9, 1991 I Said Sew It In! – Superstars * February 16, 1991 You Have Found the Madness – Superstars * February 23, 1991 Don’t Look Back – Superstars * March 9, 1991 One More Step in the Destiny – Wrestling Challenge * March 10, 1991 A Battle Like No Other – Wrestling Challenge * March 17, 1991 Now We Are Back – Superstars * May 4, 1991 Then We Shall Feast – Superstars * April 11, 1992 These Are My Warriors – Superstars * April 18, 1992 The Papa Shango Curse – Superstars * May 23, 1992 Only Desperate Men Act with Impatience – Superstars * August 8, 1992 The Ultimate Maniacs Are Born – Superstars * September 19, 1992 The Ultimate Maniacs Are Out of Control – Wrestling Challenge * November 7, 1992 One Warrior Nation – WCW Monday Nitro * August 24, 1998 Running to Reappear – WCW Monday Nitro * September 21 * 1998 Ultimate Warrior – Hall of Fame Induction – Hall of Fame * April 5, 2014 The Spirit of Ultimate Warrior Will Run Forever – RAW * April 7, 2014 If you bought last year’s Ultimate Warrior – The Ultimate Collection, this is a fantastic companion piece to that release, although a lot of the Warrior talking-head footage comes from that set. Of course, it was impossible to get new footage, but even the repeated comments are welcome and the other talking-heads compliment it with their own input. The first disc is a documentary and something that WWE’s excellent production crew excel at. Opening with a very poignant speech from Dana Warrior, it runs through the man’s career with comments from Warrior himself along with Hogan, Sting, Vince, Triple H, Stephanie, Linda and a host of the current roster. As with the previous DVD, it’s obvious on the candid behind-the-scenes segments how much it meant to Warrior to return home and bury the hatchet with virtually everyone he had previous issue(s) with. It’s also obvious to see how much it meant to everyone else to have him there for what turned out to be the last few days of his life. The pride in his family and the pride they had in him in return leaps from the screen and footage of current day stars being in genuine awe at meeting him backstage (“I was a huge Warrior fan” was repeated over and over again… and not once did it seem false flattery). The part where Sheamus meets Warrior for the first time and is taken aback when Warrior immediately compliments the Irishman on his look and his style was great and another example of how genuine Warrior was in his comments. There are two main differences between this collection and the previous release; The Ultimate Collection almost seemed like an apology for The Self-Destruction and, of course, Warrior was alive when it was put together. Because of this, there are a lot of sentimental comments from the likes of Triple H, Vince, Stephanie, Linda, Dana and their two daughters. At times it can be too easy to point and say the tears are for show, but in this case, they are genuine tears of emotion at having lost a long-time friend. Warrior’s wife (much like Vicki Guerrero after Eddie’s passing) has been accepted as part of the larger WWE family (as twee as that sounds) and his two daughters come across as bright, articulate little ladies, with Mattie laying the groundwork for being the most unlikely of second-generation wrestlers. All of the footage from his return during the WrestleMania / HoF build to the backstage footage from his final appearance on RAW is both uplifting and sad. Uplifting because it gave him a fitting send-off and all of the emotional baggage had been shed. Sad, of course, because we were watching a man live out his final days live on TV. Load the spaceship with the rocket fuel, load it with the Warriors and strap in for a fascinating documentary covering the life and career of a fascinating man. Overview When I reviewed The Ultimate Collection, I had written what would have been the final draft before he died, but hadn’t sent it to go on the site. Warrior then passed away and I felt that my review should be rewritten after watching the DVD again to give proper (and current) context. With this set being released a year later, the same footage can be viewed from a perspective of distance from the rawness of his death. There are loads of little things that make this a companion to Warrior’s last outing rather than just a repeat. Candid pictures of Warrior as a young bodybuilder meeting Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sting talking about watching WrestleMania VI and being a little jealous, the relationship between the Divas and Dana and the girls, Hogan taking the blame for Halloween Havoc 1998’s match sucking majorly and just the genuine heartfelt emotion from everyone. There are a lot of matches here that few people will have seen and the third disc is pretty much just promos, which are worth watching just for reliving the giddiness you had as a kid when this massive face-painted man ranted about things you didn’t understand (Warrior was very big on metaphors), but you knew he meant every word. As a last word, anything that gets “Iron” Mike Sharpe on WWE DVD in 2015 can only be a positive. If you buy the Blu-Ray version, you get the following additional content -: Blu-ray Exclusive Ultimate Warrior? Who’s That? Disneyland Warrior The Ultimate Bike Ride Call Vince That’s My Dad! WrestleMania VI Movie Night Barbie Meets Ultimate Warrior Cockpit Door Promo Batista’s Homage Warrior Plays The Game The Warriors Meet The Goldbergs The Slammy Award Presentation Mattie v Nattie Warrior Girl Dingo Warrior v Rick Rude – WCCW * August 22, 1986 Ultimate Warrior v Hulk Hogan – WrestleMania VI * April 1, 1990 Ultimate Warrior and Legion of Doom v Demolition * Saturday Night’s Main Event – October 13, 1990 Ultimate Warrior v Earthquake – Fort Myers, FL * February 19, 1991 Ultimate Warrior and Undertaker v Papa Shango and Berzerker – Ontario, Canada * June 3, 1992 Points: 9/10
