Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior by Eric Bischoff

Big Ultimate Warrior fan here. I also have mixed feelings about the DVD, because it portrays the Warrior as a colossal jerk and came as quite a shock. However you'll probably get that impression from watching his latest interviews or looking at his website.On the other hand, there was a barrage of cheap shots from Bobby Heenan which at times I felt were unprofessional and unnecessary. Jericho (who I am beginning to admire as a no nonsense truth sayer for his opinions on other WWE related matters) had a few positive things to say. I wish Warrior had agreed to be a part of this DVD for his fans. This makes me wonder - if Bret didn't agree to assist with his DVD, would Vince and co have slung mud at him as well?The Promo section is comedy gold. Why did I not remember the Warrior talking about spaceships? Oh and Christian's impression is priceless. There are almost half a dozen matches in the extras, the highlight being the WrestleMania VI match between Warrior and Hogan.

Interesting documentary - did not show Warrior in a great light at all - but some of the talking heads either loved him as a character but disliked the ego of the man - or in Bobby Heenan's case, just down right despised him! Its a shame that after 1991 - he spent the rest of the 90s trying to reclaim his popularity of the late 80s. I've bought the other Warrior dvd - so I'm interested to see how that compares WITH The Warrior's involvement rather than this which had no Warrior involvement!

Although this DVD is essentially a character assassination of Jim Hellwig from various former colleagues, it delivers just as well as an informative and intriguing biography of his on-screen character, the Ultimate Warrior.The DVD covers at length Hellwig's lack of in-ring ability, the clever booking constantly required to get him over and his lack of social skills in the locker room. In fact, one feels that too much of the DVD is given over to personal gripes - but in the telling of these sometimes bitter anecdotes, some of the most revelatory interviews ever released by WWE are created. One example is a wonderful tale of how Andre The Giant once decided to teach Hellwig a lesson with a fist between the eyes as Warrior came off the ropes, the kind of thing that would seem totally innocuous to an unknowing fan but which all the locker room would understand.The aforementioned story is told by Bobby Heenan, one of many old faces who come across well on the DVD, along with Ted Dibiase and Hulk Hogan. The most interesting stories come from this trio, particularly centering on how Hellwig was received in the locker room, and the general feeling towards his multiple firings and re-hirings. As mentioned, some of the stories are among the most open and honest I have heard on a WWE release. Some less welcome contributions - although generally accurate and informed - come from Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, neither of whom worked with the Warrior for long.But despite the grumbling, there are also contributions from Edge and Christian, included because they attended Wrestlemania 6 as fans of the Warrior. Reassuringly, they still recognise the value of the Warrior to the fans. Yes, he was booked and marketed very well, and wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and Rick Rude worked tirelessly to get him over. But it was the Warrior himself that they (and I) got excited about back then. He looked great, his music was electrifying and his entrance was truly explosive. Whatever issues his colleagues had, there is no denying that Jim Hellwig created something special which got fans going. In fairness, Vince McMahon acknowledges the value of Hellwig as a performer, and was not stupid enough to discount his draw with the fans. On the DVD, Vince is also probably the only contributor who defends Hellwig as a person.Because of all the above and some great retro WWE footage, this DVD is well worth purchasing. The extras are also interesting, as you see some of Warrior's most impressive matches (there aren't many to choose from), including the legendary Wrestlemania 6 title match with Hogan, which was as good as it could possibly have been considering the protagonists. Also included is the cage match with Rick Rude from Summerslam 90 (made a success by Rude) and the retirement match with Randy Savage from Wrestlemania VII (as Hogan says, it was virtually impossible to have a bad match with Savage). There is also the pointless inclusion of his squash Intercontinental title victory over the Honky Tonk Man from Summerslam 88, which is so short it is already included in the documentary itself. This would have been better replaced by his tag match with Hogan against Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa and Gen. Adnan at Summerslam 91, due to its unpredictable atmosphere and the fact Hellwig was fired as soon as he came back through the curtain.

The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior is not, as you may expect from the cover, a completely one-sided, negative view of the Ultimate Warrior's career, but if Bobby Heenan said what he wanted to say, it sure would be.That's the most noticeable thing about the people selected for interview: Heenan loathes the Warrior. He has nothing good to say about him whatsoever, to the degree that his words become incredible and obviously influenced by personal bias. Eric Bischoff also seems quite 'anti-Warrior'. But anyway, the content of the DVD is broken down into three sections - the main documentary, which is excellent, five bonus matches (which, as befits the Warrior, are mostly short clothesline-fests) and some other extras such as Ted DiBiase insulting the Warrior and Christian doing a pitch-perfect impersonation of the infamous Warrior promo about 'cock-pit doors'... Don't ask if you don't know. ;pThe extra matches are just that... extra matches. I'm glad the Rick Rude match here was included (from Summerslam 90) but I'd rather the feud where Warrior lost his Intercontinental Title to Rude was represented better. Also, there was at least one match noticeably absent from the entire DVD - The one where Sgt. Slaughter beat the Warrior for the WWF Title. It features shortly during the 'Randy Savage' section of the disk and very briefly during the Sgt. Slaughter vignettes, but ultimately, it is ignored and was one of the most focal matches of the Warrior's career. It was also a good match (which may explain it's absence), so why wasn't it included? (Rather that than the Honky Tonk Man match which is repeated in its entirety in the main documentary anyway...)The DVD doesn't offer much new in the way of information concerning the Ultimate Warrior. As is any product, it is told from one side of the coin - although, to be fair, the fact that the DVD tries to balance itself lends a lot of credibility to Vince's case here. Hogan, Christian, Chris Jericho and others wax lyrical about how much they love the Warrior (although Hogan admits to being tested by Warrior more than they got on) and even Vince seems to have a soft spot for the Warrior, but you get the impression that the Warrior fell from grace and that was enough to sour the deal between the two. When in Vince's bad books, you may never get out of them.However, the DVD is actually well-presented and there is enough positive information on the Warrior to not make it look like he's an idiot. The completely negative information (mainly Heenan, Jerry Lawler and - who the heck? - Jim Ross, who admits on the DVD to never even really meeting the Warrior!) is obvious in its extremes (as I've already said, it's difficult to take everything Heenan says at face value). However, the contributions of Vince (believe it or not), Hogan and especially Mean Gean Okerlund are particularly important and memorable as not being all-out on the Warrior, but at the same time, balanced and honest. I respect Hogan a lot more after this DVD. The presentation is superb on the DVD and as opposed to hate the Warrior after this DVD, I became very nostalgic and almost felt like I *needed* to re-dig out all my old WWF VHS tapes to relive the magic and intensity of the "ULLLLTIMATE WARRRRRRRIORRRRR". I don't get that often. ;)Moreso, the DVD is, in fact, hilarious at some points. Christian Cage, as is said above, is just plain funny (I love him in TNA, BTW). And the section where the Warrior starts doing his infamous incoherent promos is just comedy gold. I particularly found it funny when the Warrior demands that he be trampled by elephants... ;p I'm a grown man and I still, sure as heck, can't understand what the the Warrior is going on about. Destrucity? Sounds like a Materia from Final Fantasy.You also just have to see the DVD to see Bischoff try to squirm out of a particular sentence where he basically is implying Hogan isn't able to have good matches with everybody... heh heh. Now who has more moves in their moveset - the Warrior or Hogan..? ;)

A great & infamous DVD that will never be shown on the WWE network