‘WWE Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection’ Blu-ray Review
The WWE have had a few controversial Superstars over the year, one of the most recent of these would be CM Punk and his walking out. Looking back through the years though one of the ones that has always been in the shadows to haunt Vince McMahon has been the Ultimate Warrior. A man who at times appears to live his character, and seem insane what is the truth about the man behind the face paint? We get a surprising answer of sorts in WWE Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection.
The answer for the most part is Warrior comes across as a surprisingly level headed man, and looking back at his career he is proud of the persona that he has created. In WWE Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection, Warrior looks back at some of the biggest matches of his career and some of the truth behind what happened. Starting with the Bladerunners (the tag team with Steve ‘Sting’ Borden and then the Dingo Warrior character we see his early years before he hit the WWE (or WWF as it was back then) and Warrior takes a look at the building up of his character from the smaller matches, to building up to being the champion.
The interesting part of WWE Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection is that with Warrior introducing each fight he gets to tell the audience some of his stories about what happened behind the scenes. Hearing the stories about Harley Race and people like Bobby Heenan are interesting because when we think about Warrior we think about him running to the ring, defeating his opponent quickly then running off again. To look at the way he made his way into the business allows us to see the birth of his character, and just what he had to do to become the iconic wrestler that he would become.
When watching WWE Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection you can’t help but like the man and admire the fact that he wasn’t just a “yes” man to dominant forces such as Vince McMahon. Why were WWE so negative against him for many years? Because Warrior was a man who would walk away from the company when he needed to for himself, in a way that puts CM Punk’s actions in a new light. Yes, it’s not a good business move in the eyes of WWE or other wrestling organisations to not stick to what the company wants you to do, but if you need to go for yourself then why not? I can’t really say that Warrior’s actions were always right, and Warrior himself even understands some of his actions were wrong but in the end he has done the right thing for himself as a person.
For some people the bigger question of WWE Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection is going to be what about the matches? Well this is where we get a big treat. On this release we have matches that include BladeRunners, Dingo Warrior to ease us into the story of the Ultimate Warrior, before getting into the meatier stuff. With matches against Harley Race, Honky Tonk Man, Macho Man Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Ted DiBiase (sr.), Rick Rude and The Undertaker these are some of the biggest names in the business but arguably the best matches were with Macho Man. The highlights of this release have to be the Macho Man Randy Savage, especially the retirement match which shows just how good Randy Savage was.
For many wrestling fans, especially coming up to the Hall of Fame at Wrestlemania 30, the question is just why was Ultimate Warrior so special? WWE Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection goes a long way in answering that question. Not just the out of control of his in-ring character, the man once known as Jim Hellwig chose to make Warrior his life, and went to the lengths of changing his name. He is a very vocal man who sometimes comes across as slightly insane, but behind all the face paint and the “Warrior” character there is a charismatic and smart man who actually managed to piss off Vince McMahon, and for that any wrestling fan has to applaud.
WWE Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection is released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 7th.
