WWE: Ultimate Warrior – The Ultimate Collection DVD Review

Certificate: 15
Running Time: 8hrs 10mins (490mins)
Discs: 3

Disc 1

• Warriors Back!
• Finding Wrestling
• The Blade Runners v Perry Jackson & Shawn O’Reilly – UWF • April 11, 1986
• Move to WCCW
• Dingo Warrior v Chris Adams – WCCW • August 8, 1986
• Arrival in WWE
• Ultimate Warrior v Barry Horowitz – Wrestling Challenge • November 7, 1987
• Ultimate Warrior v Steve Lombardi – Superstars • November 14, 1987
• Getting Noticed
• Ultimate Warrior v Harley Race – Boston, MA • March 5, 1988
• Upgrading Warrior
• Weasel Suit Match: Ultimate Warrior v Bobby “The Brain” Heenan – Los Angeles, CA • July 15, 1988
• Intercontinental Champion
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v The Honky Tonk Man – SummerSlam • August 29, 1988
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Honky Tonk Man – Philadelphia, PA • December 17, 1988
• The Macho Man
• WWE Championship and Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Macho Man Randy Savage – Boston, MA • February 11, 1989
• Simply Ravishing
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Rick Rude – SummerSlam • August 28, 1989
• Building Momentum
• Ultimate Warrior v Bob Bradley – Prime Time Wrestling • September 18, 1989
• Ultimate Warrior v Brian Costello – Prime Time Wrestling • December 25, 1989
• Ultimate Warrior confronts Andre on Brother Love Show – Superstars • July 29, 1989
• Memories of Andre
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Andre the Giant – Madison Square Garden • October 28, 1989
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Andre the Giant – Saturday Night’s Main Event • November 25, 1989

Disc 2

• Leading to Toronto
• Ultimate Warrior Promo “Crash the Plane” – Superstars • March 10, 1990
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Mr. Perfect – Madison Square Garden • March 19, 1990
• Running to the Ring
• “The Ultimate Challenge” WWE Championship v Intercontinental Championship Match: Hulk Hogan v Ultimate Warrior – WrestleMania VI • April 1, 1990
• Responsibilities of the Champion
• WWE Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Million $ Man Ted DiBiase – Wrestling Summit • April 13, 1990
• WWE Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v “Ravishing” Rick Rude – Saturday Night’s Main Event • July 28, 1990
• WWE Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Million $ Man Ted DiBiase – The Main Event • November 23, 1990
• WWE Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Sgt. Slaughter – Huntsville, AL • January 7, 1991

Disc 3

• New Direction
• Steel Cage Match: Ultimate Warrior v Macho King Randy Savage – Madison Square Garden • January 21, 1991
• Ultimate Warrior ends Brother Loves Career – Superstars • March 2, 1991
• No Limitations
• Career Ending Match: Ultimate Warrior v Macho King Randy Savage – WrestleMania VII • March 24, 1991
• Into the Darkness
• Ultimate Warrior on Paul Bearers Funeral Parlour – Superstars • April 13, 1991
• Ultimate Warrior v The Undertaker – Toronto, ON • June 2, 1991
• Returning
• Gene Okerlund Interviews Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage – Superstars • July 25, 1992
• Ultimate Maniacs
• “Riding on the Edge of a Lightning Bolt” – Superstars • November 14, 1992
• WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Money Inc. v Ultimate Warrior & Macho Man Randy Savage – Saturday Night’s Main Event • November 14, 1992
• Re-establish
• “Faster Than a Cheetah” – RAW • March 11, 1996
• Ultimate Warrior v Hunter Hearst Helmsley – WrestleMania XII • March 31, 1996
• Warrior Confronts Goldust – RAW • April 8, 1996
• Ultimate Warrior Returns!
• Vince McMahon Interviews Jerry “The King” Lawler and Ultimate Warrior – RAW • June 10, 1996
• Ultimate Warrior v Jerry the King Lawler – King of the Ring • June 23, 1996
• Going to WCW
• Ultimate Warrior Interrupts Hollywood Hogan – Nitro • August 17 1998
• Replusive
• Ultimate Warrior Promo – Nitro • October 26, 1998
• The Right Story

I had originally written this review prior to the 2014 Hall of Fame Ceremony and felt that reading it on Wrestling 101 would be a good way to have you journey through Ultimate Warrior’s career so far and show why he deserves his place among the Legends of WWE.

Unfortunately, three days after he was inducted, two days after he was paraded at WrestleMania XXX and one day after he cut an eerily prophetic promo on RAW, Warrior passed away while walking outside his hotel with his wife.

Due to this, I felt that while I had watched the collection and reviewed it while he was still alive, most people will end up viewing it after his untimely death and of course this will change the way you appreciate the content, react to the great moments and feel inside as Warrior sits down and discusses the various events in his wrestling career.

With that in mind, I rewatched the entire set again and this review reflects the impact and legacy of The Ultimate Warrior Ultimate Collection in a world now without the star of the piece.

As sad as the passing of Warrior is, I’m glad that it happened after peace had been made between him and WWE (as well as apparently everyone else where there had been issues). No-one deserved the butchering he received when WWE released The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior and if he had died with that being the last word on his career, then a great injustice would remain unresolved.

Warrior actually opens the first disc by discussing that very DVD and it’s a credit to WWE that they admit they were wrong to release it. In fact, the talking-head segments with Warrior are various combinations of funny, poignant, classy, honourable and from a man who clearly understands where the character ends and the man begins.

Respectful to virtually everyone he has ever worked with, Warrior is candid with his comments (although not as “controversial” as some were expecting / hoping) and makes a lot of valid points during the over-8hr running time.

Surrounding these sections are various matches, promos and angles from his days starting out as Sting’s tag-partner (before either were known by their current monikers) through the Von Erich-run WCCW and into his stellar run in WWE… before giving his very brief run in WCW the afterthought footnote it deserves.

A lot of people said Ultimate Warrior couldn’t work and his promos made no sense, but this collection blasts that myth to smithereens. His squash matches were brutal and the longer bouts on the card are really well worked wrestling matches. I mean, he was never a headlock-takedown-into-a-headscissors type of wrestler and that’s fine. The gimmick he played was a human bulldozer who just ran through whoever was put in his way.

This in turn meant that when he was put into a match where he didn’t just run through his opponent, it made his foe come across as something special and the matches themselves were great. His bouts with Rick Rude, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage are epic, with the WrestleMania VII “Career v Career” match being my favourite wrestling match of all time.

It was my favourite when I first saw it as a 14yr-old boy in June 1991 and it’s my favourite wrestling match today as a 37yr-old father of four. It is genuinely the prime example of wrestling excellence and both Warrior and Savage (along with Sherri, Elizabeth as well as Heenan and Monsoon on commentary) giving the performances of their respective careers.

From the little nuance of Ultimate Warrior not running to the ring and Heenan making a huge deal of it, to the apparel of Warrior, the twitchyness of Savage, the distraction of Elizabeth in the crowd and the genuine feeling that one of these guys will never wrestler again, it had everything. The drama, the near falls, the five elbows, the walking away and the powerful image of the final pinfall… I could go on forever about why this match should be considered the perfect wrestling match, but this would take away from the rest of the collection.

All in all, this is epic on a scale worthy of The Ultimate Warrior.

Overview

Taking on extra emotional depth, this collection (from the words of Warrior himself) was meant to be the first part of an anthology committing his legacy to film for everyone to enjoy, but the sadness of his passing gives it an extra edge knowing that he can never see it fulfilled.

Reliving his most revered moments, greatest matches and, for me, the best match in history is worth the asking price and then some.

The collection has title wins, brutal squashes, hard fought victories and the final word on a great career as told by the man himself. It’s a fitting epitaph for a man who had made peace with the world before leaving it for a better place.

Please buy this, if for no other reason that to show WWE that we want to see the rest of what was in the pipeline.

If you buy the Blu-Ray version, you get the following additional content -:

Blu-ray Exclusive

• Dingo Warrior v Matt Bourne – WCCW • October 24, 1986
• Ultimate Warrior & The British Bulldogs v Demolition & Mr Fuji – Maple Leaf Gardens • July 24, 1988
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior v Dino Bravo – The Main Event • February 23, 1990
• WrestleMania VII Contract Signing: Road to WrestleMania VII • March 17, 1991
• Ultimate Warrior v Sgt. Slaughter: WrestleFest • March 30, 1991
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Goldust v Ultimate Warrior – In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies • April 28, 1996

Points: 9/10

Buy It:

UK: DVD / Blu ray

USA: DVD / Blu ray