How many wrestlers have played The Ultimate Warrior?
One. Jim Hellwig is the only wrestler to ever play the Warrior. He had used different hair styles and ring wear but it is the same guy. When he returned to the WWF after one of his leaves he also looked smaller which led to rumours of a different wrestler portraying The Warrior. But this was due to the fact that he had stopped using steroids and his physique had suffered as a result.

Is Ultimate Warrior still alive?
He certainly is. Rumours of his death surfaced from time to time whenever Warrior disappeard from wrestling. Around 1993 there was a big rumor that he tied his arm bands he wears to the ring too tight and cut off his blood supply. The rumour, apart from being ridiculous was of course false.

Who were Power Team USA and The Blade Runners?
Power Team USA was a group of bodybuilders put together by Red Bastien and Rick Bassman in California in 1985. The group consisted of Jim "Justice" Hellwig, Steve "Flash" Borden, Mark "Commando" Miller, and Garland "Glory" Donnoho.
After the split Miller quit the wrestling business and so did Donnoho after a short stint wrestling in California as "The Myth".
Hellwig and Borden teamed together in independent federations as the Blade Runners. The group did not last long and Hellwig went on to be The Dingo Warrior in Texas and then the Ultimate Warrior in the WWF. Borden went on to be Sting in NWA/WCW.

Did he change his name to Warrior?
Yes. Warrior is his full legal name. The change took place in 1993.
After Warrior left WWF in 1996 both filed lawsuits against each other claiming they had the rights to the name. WWF claimed Warrior did not get to keep the name because he didn't live up to his contract. Warrior claimed WWF was unfair to his contract and that he owned the name before 1996 and even before he came to WWF in 1987 anyway. The case was settled in a court in Arizona sometime around 2001. Warrior won the case.

Why did he leave the WWF in 1991?
Going in to Summerslam '91 Warrior requested that he be paid money he was owed from previous events. Vince McMahon was left with no choice but to pay him because Warrior refused to wrestle otherwise. McMahon fired him after the event.

Why did he leave the WWF in 1992?
There are two schools of thought on this. One is that before Survior Series 1992 Warrior found out he was going to be moved into a lesser position and would be starting a long feud with Nailz. Warrior's contract let him leave at anytime so instead of being de-pushed he decided to leave the WWF. He was rarely seen or mentioned on WWF television until 1996.

The other comes straight from Warrior in an interview with Mike Tenay in 93:
"I wanted to go out and do other things. I knew things from the entertainment that came across Vince McMahon's offices were shoved aside because Vince McMahon wanted to have you on the road and drawing and producing out there so you could make money. That's totally understandable, but I wanted to reach a point where I could work with people out there as my representatives doing things like that. He agreed to it verbally, and when I presented him with papers, he terminated me."

Why did he leave the WWF in 1996?
The Warrior returned to the WWF in 1996 on condition that he have full rights to Ultimate Warrior merchandise and that he have creative control over his charachter. The WWF agreed to this and the Warrior resumed work for WWF.
WWF however soon began infringing on Warrior's seperate business using Ultimate Creations property to market WWF merchandise. Warrior called them on it and looked for the issue to be resolved. Around the same time Warrior missed some house shows to spend time with his dying father and eventually to mourn his death. WWF then fired him citing him as unreliable.

What was the court case about?
After his WWF tenure ended in 1996 both filed lawsuits against each other claiming they had the rights to the name and likeness of the Ultimate Warrior. WWF claimed Warrior did not get to keep the name because he didn't live up to his contract. Warrior claimed WWF was unfair to his contract and that he owned the name before 1996 and even before he came to WWF in 1987 anyway. The case was settled in a court in Arizona sometime around 2001. Warrior won the case.

Why did he leave WCW in 1998?
Warrior was brought into WCW for one reason and one reason only, so Hulk Hogan could even up the score from Wrestlemania VI. Once they had their match at Halloween Havoc Warrior was told the company had no need for him anymore. Just one of the many bad business decisions that helped WCW to it's demise.

Where is he now?
Warrior currently resides in New Mexico where he works on numerous Warrior related projects. At the time of writing this, Warrior is working on a book as well as building himself a career as a motivational speaker.

Will he ever return to wrestling?
Warrior will never work for Vince McMahon again so a return to WWE in any role is definitely ruled out.
In the recent past he was also in talks with WWA but these broke down when WWA started advertising Warrior for their events before he had signed or even formally agreed to work for them.
He was in negotiation with NWA/TNA in the early days of the company but decided against appearing on their programming.
Warrior states that there is no reason why he can't physically make a return to the ring. However he has no particular desire to return at the moment preferring to spend time with his family and work on his speaking career.

Return To Main
Warrior Central 2001-Present : Created by Scrapiron Bryan