Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00There's a warrior man here.
00:02Champion against champion, title before title.
00:05Hulk Hogan, you have a long-running reputation
00:09for being a liar and a fraud and a phony.
00:12The rivalry behind the scenes was huge.
00:15Hulk Hogan!
00:18Hogan wanted to be the world champion
00:20every day the rest of his life.
00:22I was on fire at the time, and Vince didn't think so.
00:25I knew these two couldn't get along!
00:28I never had any doubts
00:30that I could be one of the best in the business.
00:32It was pretty clear,
00:34Ultimate Warrior was no Hulk Hogan.
00:37Yeah, I know. I don't know what the f*** to say.
00:39I didn't say nothing.
00:40It took on a life of its own.
00:42Hulk-mania became boring.
00:44How could there not be professional envy and jealousy
00:47between Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior?
00:50Go f***ing home.
00:52I told Vince, let me get in there and break his legs.
00:56I am coming to end your career.
00:59I don't know how much more personal it can get.
01:02When two legends collide,
01:04the rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.
01:08This is where we break down the legendary stories
01:11behind the greatest rivalries of all time.
01:14I'm Gabriel Iglesias,
01:17and this is WWE Rivalry.
01:26Eye-to-eye right here, face-to-face.
01:30Today, we're going to be discussing the rivalry
01:33between the immortal Hulk Hogan
01:35and the Ultimate Warrior.
01:38It's the late 80s.
01:40Hulk Hogan is at the top of his game.
01:42Been the king of the mountain forever,
01:44and here comes this man named Ultimate Warrior.
01:47He'd run down to the ring as fast as he could,
01:49and he would just shake the ropes,
01:51and he looked like a real-life superhero.
01:53He was gigantic.
01:55I remember me and all my friends going, like, whoa.
01:59As far as the rivalry goes,
02:01that's one of my favorite things I ever got to see as a kid.
02:06And a lot of times you'll hear people,
02:08like, oh, I was a Hogan guy, I was a Warrior guy.
02:10I was not either. It didn't matter.
02:12You know, we talked a lot about Hogan on these shows.
02:15You know, he went from a giant, a savage man to the Warrior.
02:18I mean, that is as divergent a group as you can get.
02:21And Hogan made it all look real.
02:23Hogan was the one steering the ship.
02:26From Venice Beach, California,
02:29the Heavyweight Champion, Hulk Hogan!
02:35Whenever you're in front of an audience,
02:38you got to make them believe.
02:41The moment I go through the curtains,
02:43I believe I'm Hulk Hogan.
02:45Whatever Hulkamania was,
02:48Whatever Hulkamania was,
02:50it was such an easy thing for kids my age
02:53to just find such joy in.
02:56The right thing at the right time.
02:58The train and the prayers and the vitamins,
03:00plus the 24-inch pythons.
03:02Let me see that.
03:04Times all those Hulkamaniacs equals victory.
03:07Hulk Hogan was by far
03:09the single biggest star and box office attraction
03:13in the world of professional wrestling.
03:15That's what you think.
03:16If you're going to compete with somebody
03:18for the number one spot,
03:19by design, you have to think,
03:21here's why I'm better than that person.
03:24Here's why I deserve number one better than he does.
03:27Here's all the things he does as number one
03:29that I'm going to do better than him.
03:36Well, it's the nature of the beast.
03:38If you don't have a leader
03:40and you don't have people nipping at his heels
03:42trying to take his spot,
03:44then there's not that energy.
03:46In the 1980s, the WWE was becoming
03:49the dominant force in professional wrestling.
03:52But you have to remember,
03:53there were other territories and promotions
03:56trying to find their own next big thing.
04:01From Queens, New York,
04:03287 pounds,
04:05the Dingo Warrior.
04:07Right there!
04:09Doing push-ups with a grappler.
04:11In Texas, there's the Dingo Warrior.
04:15Head down like a sack!
04:16His real name is Jim Helwig.
04:19It is a victory for the Dingo Warrior.
04:26Jim Helwig was a kid who grew up
04:30dirt poor in a trailer in Indiana
04:35whose father left him at 11.
04:40Who was there to teach him to be a man?
04:46Then, Jim Helwig goes to a gym
04:49in order to build up his body
04:51and have more self-esteem
04:52and learn how to be a man.
04:57I knew that it would serve me well
05:01to make my body different from everybody else.
05:05Like a comic book character
05:07that's ripped off the pages.
05:15WWE in 1987 was not ready for Warrior.
05:24We're smack dab in the middle of the Hulkamania era.
05:27But we're also a few years into it now.
05:32Green Bay, Wisconsin,
05:33they came up to me and said,
05:34you're going to go on TV tonight.
05:36Ultimate Warrior making his debut here.
05:39Take a look at that body.
05:41When I went to WWE,
05:43I got to make this turn into something.
05:45If it doesn't, I don't want to be a guy
05:47who just works on the cart every night.
05:49And that's how it all started.
05:51It just took off from there.
05:54Is this guy impressive?
05:55The answer, yes.
06:00When I first saw the Ultimate Warrior gimmick,
06:01I thought it was brilliant.
06:03His colors were brighter than mine,
06:04which made me jealous.
06:06The character got people up out of their seats.
06:09Take a look at him.
06:10Is he on fire or what?
06:12You know, the music, the run to the ring.
06:16The interviews that nobody could understand.
06:18I saw the battle scars.
06:20I saw the scars that run so deep
06:22that only a man in the Ultimate Warrior knows about.
06:25A lot of the wrestlers were going,
06:26what's he talking about?
06:27Is he crazy?
06:28Underneath his face,
06:29there's many different colors
06:30and many different personalities.
06:32And you're going to see all of them.
06:34He had a body that was just chiseled out of stone.
06:38They could have put his stomach on Mount Rushmore.
06:43Fans loved his energy.
06:44He was electric.
06:47Why are you going to stop this guy?
06:50What kid doesn't want to be that?
06:52What kid doesn't want to paint his face
06:54and look like that and scream and yell
06:57and just demolish people?
07:00Hulk Hogan had been on top for years.
07:05And at some point,
07:08he had to be replaced.
07:10Because Vince wants to get out
07:13of the Hulk Hogan business
07:15while it's at its hottest,
07:17not when it's on the decline.
07:21I'd kind of watch where Vince was placing him on the card
07:24and then I'd watch how Vince would put people around him
07:26to see if he could hold up.
07:29So I noticed Vince was getting ready to push him.
07:31This contest is for
07:34the Intercontinental Championship.
07:38The Intercontinental Championship
07:40was a title just below
07:44the World Heavyweight Championship.
07:46So it was not Hulk Hogan's title,
07:49but it was a very important title
07:52that sort of indicated
07:54who the next big superstar was.
07:57That's familiar music, brother!
07:59They've exploded here in the garden!
08:02I don't see anybody yet.
08:04Oh, ta-da!
08:06It's the Ultimate Warrior!
08:08One man!
08:10Oh, look at him attack!
08:12This place has gone bananas!
08:15Because that's what they were looking for,
08:17for the Warrior to take that next step.
08:19Ultimate Warrior exploding here on the hockey court.
08:21Now get him to play paddle!
08:23Even as a kid watching,
08:25this guy is heading towards the top of the mound.
08:28Right now, brother, we can get a new champion.
08:32Big splash, hooks the leg!
08:34He got it!
08:36History has been made here!
08:39I never had any doubts that by that point
08:42that I could be one of the best in the business.
08:44The new Intercontinental Champion,
08:47the Ultimate Warrior!
08:49The speed of Ultimate Warrior getting over
08:52is pretty unprecedented.
08:54They knew what they had with the Ultimate Warrior,
08:57and they knew they needed to get him to that next level.
09:00It is now time for the Royal Rumble!
09:09The Royal Rumble is this pivotal event for the WWE.
09:16It's this chaos, this mass of bodies in the ring.
09:22Shawn Michaels eliminated by the Warrior!
09:25And Rick Martel eliminated by the Warrior!
09:28Look at this! Look at this!
09:31Hulk Hogan and the Warrior!
09:33That moment is the beginning of the rivalry
09:37between Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior.
09:40There is not a person sitting down!
09:43Everyone on his feet!
09:45Look at the eyes of the Hulkster!
09:48Vince Williams has made it up.
09:50He actually wanted this guy to replace Hulk Hogan.
09:53Whoa! What a matchup this is gonna be!
09:57And nobody had him prepared for that.
10:05The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan, one on one!
10:12Hulkster's down.
10:14He missed the clothesline!
10:16Oh! They clotheslined each other!
10:20The Royal Rumble, Hogan versus the Ultimate Warrior.
10:24You wouldn't think you'd see them together.
10:26I remember being a kid watching this going,
10:28OK, what's gonna happen?
10:30But you never thought that him and Hogan would face
10:33because they were both babyfaces,
10:35and at the time, that didn't happen.
10:44Hogan had a lot of longevity and he had been there a minute
10:47and he had kind of, I wouldn't say run his course,
10:50but on paper, a warrior feels like this shiny new toy.
10:54He would be a great replacement for Hogan.
10:57Hulk Hogan!
11:00It was an easy sell
11:02that this young lion is gonna take over the old lion
11:05if I'm not on my game.
11:07It was a no-brainer to put us together.
11:09There's an unbeatable tag team that's been formed,
11:12Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior!
11:14Sometimes with an amazing rivalry,
11:16you end up getting, you know, an amazing tag team out of it.
11:20When the two strongest forces
11:22were on opposite sides of the fence,
11:24we almost tore the building down.
11:26Now the two strongest forces are teamed up as one.
11:29That common bond is stronger than anything!
11:33And Genius goes up and down!
11:36A warrior tagged by the Hulk,
11:38and the warrior knocking Porter down the ring!
11:40Hulk Hogan drops the leg!
11:42Hulk Hogan covered the Genius!
11:442, 3, they're done, Jesse!
11:47Everyone in the industry was in awe
11:52because the writing was on the wall.
11:54Warrior just traveling man after man after man!
11:57Oh, no! In close line, Hogan!
12:00I knew these two couldn't get along!
12:02WWE was gonna go all the way with the Ultimate Warrior.
12:05I think even Hogan knew.
12:07The body's never wrong!
12:10The body's never wrong!
12:12Look at the egos in the ring!
12:15And it crossed your mind,
12:17oh, my God, are these guys gonna square off?
12:20There's always a hero and a villain.
12:23It just, you didn't get two heroes
12:26at the top of their game going toe-to-toe, ever.
12:29And so it was such a unique experience,
12:31and it forced you to pick sides.
12:34I mean, I was on fire at the time.
12:37I really don't think you are anymore.
12:39I think the red and yellow thing started to get a little boring.
12:41So at that point, I knew every dog has his day.
12:45As a result of them seeing each other
12:48and almost fighting over and over again,
12:51it just built this anticipation.
12:53What will it look like when they finally throw a punch?
12:58Here I was out there on the road, really getting over.
13:02He explodes into an arena
13:04and forces warriors into a supercharged frenzy.
13:07Hulk is hearing it, you know.
13:09Please welcome the man known as the ultimate warrior.
13:12Hulk Logan has been the greatest champion there has ever been.
13:17But I have not yet been.
13:21The rivalry behind the scenes was huge.
13:25No torch gets passed easily in this industry.
13:28Hulk Logan!
13:31It can get heated quickly, and it can get ugly quickly,
13:34and it took on a life of its own.
13:37On April 1st, WrestleMania.
13:40At this time, I am happy to announce the main event
13:43in which champion Hulk Hogan
13:45will meet the Intercontinental Champion,
13:47the ultimate warrior.
13:51In three, two...
13:53Mr. Hogan, you're prepared to sign at this time?
13:56How could there not be professional envy and jealousy
14:00between Hulk Hogan and the ultimate warrior?
14:03Ultimate warrior, you don't realize
14:05what this means to me and all my Hulkamaniacs.
14:08That dark cloud, the darkness that you live in,
14:11once you sign this is where you're going to remain.
14:14The ultimate warrior was designed to replace Hulk Hogan.
14:19How could Hulk Hogan not resent that?
14:21Hulkamania is still the strongest force in the universe.
14:25Hulk Hogan wanted to stay number one.
14:27And what lies before us
14:30in the heavyweight championship of the world
14:33and the Intercontinental Championship of the world
14:37are nothing but normal representations
14:41of why there are followers
14:43and why there are leaders such as us.
14:46Instead of Hogan looking at me and saying...
14:52You know, being wiser from the business
14:55and looking at me and saying,
14:57this is going to be an incredible thing, this WrestleMania.
15:01Hogan would rather f*** up the beauty of the whole thing overall.
15:05Look into my eyes, Hulk Hogan!
15:08You see nothingness.
15:12In other words, not offer any suggestions or advice whatsoever
15:16whether to be my character or to talk like I'm talking now.
15:21I will take the powers of those that question.
15:26I will take the powers of those that have no fear.
15:31Because I take two and become one.
15:35He had unlimited potential, but he wasn't ready.
15:39The guy with experience is going to win.
15:52The Warrior was wound pretty tight that day.
15:56Testing, I am with the Intercontinental Champion.
15:59More than usual, but it's pretty obvious why.
16:04It was the biggest day of his life.
16:07You are nothing but normal!
16:09You don't deserve to breathe the same air that I and Hulk Hogan do!
16:14The most vivid thing I remember is that when they came and told me
16:18that they had carts to take us to the ring.
16:22I said, Vince, I'm running to the ring!
16:26He turned to the two guys, he said,
16:28you heard him, boys, he's running to the ring.
16:37It's the long f***ing way to the ring, man.
16:40Ladies and gentlemen, this is The Fiend!
16:43I think we all knew that night
16:45when The Ultimate Warrior ran out to the ring
16:48that this was the end of an era.
16:56Champion against champion, title before title.
17:00This is what it's all about.
17:02Eye to eye right here, face to face.
17:05Both still with their respective titles.
17:10Two biggest names in our company at the time,
17:12both of them standing toe to toe,
17:14and let's see what's going to happen.
17:16So it gets me chills talking about it now.
17:19And it was just electric, it was so loud.
17:22We're going to get a test of strength here!
17:28And then when we walk up, I just remember...
17:33He was completely blown.
17:35The nerves had gotten to him.
17:43WrestleMania VI, that feeling of like,
17:45wow, this really happened.
17:47Well, then you hear the story from Hulk.
17:49Warrior looks at Hogan and says,
17:51let's go, because he's gassed.
17:54We'll see if one man can break the other man down!
17:57And it says a lot about Hogan for not burying him right there.
18:00Because he could have.
18:01He could have buried Warrior, but instead, he carried him.
18:04Warrior's got those knuckles turned over,
18:06and the Hulkster is slowly falling to his knees!
18:09He's down!
18:11Once I got him to calm down,
18:13he listened and did everything I told him to do.
18:16And it made him look like a million dollars.
18:19Goes to Warrior, and a scoop slam!
18:22Wow!
18:25Hogan had been the guy for years.
18:28He was the white tiger.
18:30Oh, look at that! A slam by the Warrior!
18:34Every move, even if it's a move you see on TV every week,
18:39seemed to mean something.
18:41Clothesline and a beauty, and now he's down!
18:44It was a great match, man.
18:46The whole match, just the chemistry of it was awesome.
18:49Oh, he's going for a suplex!
18:51Oh, he got it!
18:54Goes for the cover, two down!
18:56My God, they had about 50 false finishes.
19:00Here's the turn attempt!
19:01No! No! No!
19:04People were just totally wrung out.
19:06Both of them fighting like champions,
19:08but there can be only one winner.
19:10Hoxton with a roundhouse!
19:12And the Warrior's backing up!
19:15Got him with the...
19:16Oh, he nailed him!
19:17There it is!
19:19He...
19:20Oh, he moved out of the way!
19:23Look out, the big splash, one!
19:25Two!
19:26He got him!
19:28He got him!
19:30Unbelievable!
19:32The Warrior's won the title!
19:35When Warrior won against Hogan at WrestleMania,
19:39I mean, that was the ultimate.
19:41I was jealous.
19:44This wasn't a fluke win.
19:47This was a win, and now the ultimate Warrior era
19:51was about to begin.
19:56Look at the hushed silence going over the crowd.
20:00They don't know what the Hulkster's gonna do,
20:02and neither do I.
20:04I think he knew we accomplished something very special
20:08because it was right.
20:10Oh, look at this!
20:11Hulk presented the belt
20:13and raised the hand of the Warrior!
20:17But, yeah, he just said,
20:18Hey, man, I love you. Thank you for everything.
20:22You know, that old saying about
20:24that it's not the destination, it's the journey.
20:27It's true for me.
20:29I was so emotional after it happened.
20:32But within a day or two, I was thinking, What's next?
20:37I just can't convey to you how shocked people were
20:41that he didn't retain his title.
20:44He was devastated by that loss.
20:47You will feel the full fury
20:51of the ultimate Warrior!
20:56The feeling was that Ultimate Warrior
20:58had the look, had the charisma.
21:00The only way you're ever gonna find out
21:02if somebody else can fill the shoes of someone else
21:05is to put them in those shoes.
21:09The ultimate Warrior!
21:16It was obvious watching him
21:18that he felt the pressure.
21:21There was just sometimes
21:22he was just really on edge.
21:24Warrior trying to build up the power!
21:27Yeah, you still had Hogan.
21:29Hogan was still there.
21:32Well, we're not here to wrestle today.
21:34We're here to have fun.
21:36Merry Christmas.
21:37It was pretty clear that
21:40Ultimate Warrior was no Hulk Hogan.
21:43I'd like to get my hands on an Ultimate Warrior
21:45and wipe that paint off his face
21:47and see what he really looks like.
21:49Once he was no longer in pursuit of the title,
21:54there didn't seem to be the same level of interest
21:57in the Ultimate Warrior.
21:59I walk into this battle as the ultimate champion.
22:02I walk away as the ultimate victor!
22:09The Ultimate Warrior had held the WWE Championship
22:12for less than a year.
22:14When the WWE decided it was time to take the title,
22:18You simply looked at business.
22:20Business wasn't as good
22:22with Ultimate Warrior as champion
22:24as it was with Hulk as champion.
22:26The winner of this round
22:28and new champion,
22:31Sgt. Smaller!
22:35The audience still loved Hulk
22:37and the fact that Hulk lost,
22:39the audience felt that they needed to win.
22:43The fact that Hulk lost,
22:45the audience felt that they needed to be behind Hulk
22:49to get him back to where he was.
23:07This is the moment
23:09when the jealousy of the Ultimate Warrior
23:12about the man he was supposed to replace
23:15really started to simmer.
23:20I'll never forget.
23:22We had an early, early flight
23:24and this little kid comes up to him
23:27and asks him if he was the Ultimate Warrior.
23:30He snaps on this little kid.
23:32I was like, whoa.
23:35The WWE demanded that the Ultimate Warrior
23:38tape an apology to that boy.
23:42But not in the Warrior's character.
23:44I mean, I'm humbly apologizing,
23:46but I'm not saying what I'm humbly apologizing for.
23:49I know what the gimmick's for, but I mean, what's it for?
23:52I understand that there comes times in everyone's life
23:55when they may regret certain things.
23:57F*** regret certain things.
23:59Yeah, I know, I don't know what the f*** to say.
24:02I didn't say nothing.
24:04I think that apology broke something in the Warrior.
24:0824 hours after Warrior taped this apology,
24:12Warrior decided to write a letter to WWE management.
24:17Writing this is a different approach.
24:20I have been, from day one, different from the others.
24:24I meant as much or more to that show as Hulk.
24:27I deserve to be paid the same.
24:30I know what Hulk will get, and until then, I remain home.
24:35He basically says, I'm not going to have my match tonight
24:38unless you give me $550,000.
24:41So they acquiesce, at least on paper in the moment,
24:45and make promises to get through that event.
24:49So in SummerSlam, you had Sergeant Slaughter
24:53teaming with the Iron Sheik against the team of Warrior and Hogan.
24:57Here's a man who has virtually gone through hell in recent weeks,
25:00the Ultimate Warrior.
25:02The Ultimate bad guys against the Ultimate good guys.
25:04Are we loaded down, Hulkster?
25:06Loaded down, ready to go down into the pit!
25:09You don't get any more unprofessional
25:12than calling up and threatening a promoter to hold him up.
25:15And the Ultimate Warrior was nobody when he came to the WWE.
25:19What an ovation for the Ultimate Warrior!
25:22That's as bad as it gets.
25:24That's unforgivable.
25:25Is he ready?
25:27Yes, but can he be trusted?
25:30Yes, but can he be trusted?
25:33And you know what that does?
25:35That puts you in uncharted territory.
25:37Now we don't know what he's really capable of doing.
25:43I told Vince, let me get in there and break his legs.
25:531991, SummerSlam.
25:56Both Warrior and Hulk Hogan are on the card.
25:59And there's some problems.
26:01Warrior threatened not to go on for the show.
26:03And that's something you just don't do.
26:05Devil's Advocate, I hear a benefit of the doubt.
26:07When you're told, you're him, you're him, you're him, you're him, you're him,
26:12maybe it's easy to start to believe it.
26:17I told Vince, let me get in there and break his legs.
26:20You know, which was...
26:24not correct.
26:25It's not who I am now.
26:27I guess that's who I was back then.
26:30And Vince went, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
26:33I don't need a lawsuit on top of all this.
26:36Just do the match.
26:39During the match, Warrior grabs a chair and then runs backstage.
26:45And that's when Vince McMahon hands the Warrior his own letter.
26:50Hulk Hogan is a living legend.
26:52He is more popular than you.
26:54Has more years in the ring than you.
26:57And is in greater demand than you.
27:00You have become a living legend in your own mind.
27:09Where did the Warrior go?
27:11There must be one hell of a fight going on back there.
27:15Warrior was then suspended indefinitely from WWE.
27:22And that was the end of The Ultimate Warrior, or so we thought.
27:27It's two against one.
27:29They're taking him out one way or the other.
27:31This is it for Hulk Hogan.
27:35Wait a minute!
27:37That's the Warrior's music.
27:39It's The Ultimate Warrior.
27:41It is.
27:42Look at that.
27:43The Ultimate Warrior.
27:45The decibel level on that thing, it was like the frickin' roof
27:48was really gonna come off of that place.
27:50I mean, my feet just felt...
27:52It felt like I wasn't even touching the ground.
27:54I'll never forget it.
27:57And I talked about that with Hogan one time.
28:01I could tell by the way his eyes...
28:03The look in his eyes, what he did, the way he shifted his eyes, he knew.
28:07The Ultimate Warrior has come to help Hulk Hogan.
28:11It was just so frickin' loud.
28:13The loudest pop I ever heard in my whole frickin' life.
28:17For WWE fans, seeing The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan
28:20back in the ring together again
28:23was a magical moment.
28:26Unfortunately, it didn't last.
28:29A year later, Warrior was gone again from the WWE.
28:35The audience that was 5, 10, 15 years old
28:38when Warrior was at his hottest
28:41had moved on to be obsessed with other things
28:43besides The Ultimate Warrior.
28:45Larger than life characters
28:49were being replaced by authentic, extreme characters.
28:55The mid-1990s
28:58was built on an anti-hero, counterculture environment
29:03that even resented Hulk Hogan.
29:07That's the man that packs the gold right there.
29:09And packs the arenas.
29:11Vince was moving in a different direction.
29:14And Vince was moving to younger wrestlers at the time
29:17and it was like a youth movement, basically.
29:20And I just wasn't finished yet.
29:22And I went down to WCW.
29:25These people out here,
29:27after I led their children down the right path,
29:30had the gall to boo Hulk Hogan one more time.
29:35You fans can stick it, brother.
29:38The fans still admire Hulk Hogan
29:41and his turn into a villain is brilliant.
29:45He's Hollywood Hogan now.
29:50It's 1998.
29:53Hogan and WCW president Eric Bischoff
29:56are involved in a heated ratings war with the WWE.
30:01Eric came to me
30:03and said,
30:05there's an opportunity to grab The Warrior.
30:07Can you work with him and will you work with him?
30:11I said, yes.
30:14If there's money to be made, let's make it.
30:17There's not a war that I can't win
30:20and there's not a warrior in the world that I can't beat.
30:25What is this?
30:28Look at the face of him.
30:29His bottom lip is quivering.
30:31Oh my goodness.
30:32Oh yeah, the fans recognize him and so does Hogan.
30:36And so do we.
30:39In all my years, I never believed I would ever see this.
30:43Unmistakable.
30:45It's The Warrior.
30:47Now I have to beat him.
30:50Warrior.
30:51Warrior.
30:52Warrior.
30:53Warrior.
31:03Feel the real power, Hogan.
31:08Moving forward to the summer of 1998,
31:10we are now watching Monday Nitro
31:14and who reemerges
31:17but a man by the name of Warrior
31:19and he confronted Hulk Hogan.
31:21Confronted him and talked a lot.
31:25As the victor of that one-time battle,
31:29I defeated what was, until then, undefeatable.
31:36They just stuck him out there without a safety net
31:38and let him do his own thing.
31:39The Warriors have waited all too patiently.
31:46Yeah, I'm just like, wow.
31:48This is horrifying.
31:51The very first time Warriors showed up on television,
31:54I knew that night that it wasn't going to be a long-term relationship.
31:59You were great.
32:01I was ultimate.
32:07And Eric was standing next to me in the ring.
32:09Eric was out of his mind over it.
32:11Beating you means nothing anymore.
32:14Everybody already has.
32:16This is live television now.
32:18I started to feel the sweat run down the back of my head
32:21because we'd already missed a commercial break.
32:24Cut him off! Somebody cut him off!
32:27It just went on forever with a bunch of gibberish.
32:30Your mind became weak and Hulk-mania became boring.
32:35Killed the rest of the show.
32:36Same Warrior time, same Warrior place,
32:41same Warrior channel.
32:46I tried a lot of things to keep that matchup exciting and interesting.
32:51We cannot wait for these two men to finally go at it again.
32:55And it just, all of it, sucked.
32:59He's going for something. Hogan's got something.
33:01I screwed that matchup.
33:04I have no idea what that is.
33:06I had the fireball paper.
33:08I was in the corner when he went to grab me.
33:11I went to light the fireball.
33:13I was in the corner when he went to grab me.
33:15I went to light the fireball paper and throw.
33:18And somehow the lighter misfired.
33:20Then when I hit it the second time, it blew up in my face.
33:23Is that like a fireball or something that he attempted to throw at the Warrior?
33:26That's probably one of the worst matches I've ever had.
33:33They used Turner's checkbook to buy me to come back to lose a match to Hulk.
33:38It was repulsive to me when I finally realized it.
33:43The Warrior has served his purpose,
33:45and Hogan and the Warrior can again go their separate ways,
33:49which they inevitably did.
33:52In the years that followed, incredibly, Hulk Hogan would go back to the WWE.
33:57He'd go toe-to-toe with The Rock.
34:00He would even become a champion one last time.
34:09While Hogan was doing all this,
34:11Warrior was trying to find himself and his place in the world.
34:17Warrior, frankly, garnered a lot of controversy.
34:20And videos would come up on the Internet of him saying inappropriate things.
34:25Come on, I've been in all the top locker rooms in the business
34:29and listened to the guys whine and moan and bitch.
34:31During the production of a DVD on The Ultimate Warriors,
34:34the WWE interviewed a bunch of the wrestlers who had worked with The Warrior.
34:39And those stories weren't exactly flattering.
34:43Let's just get through this, move on.
34:46And then you just realize the brother just doesn't get it.
34:49So the self-destruction of The Ultimate Warrior
34:51was what everyone had been saying for so long behind the scenes.
34:57Without a doubt, Jim Hellwig has a very big problem
35:01distinguishing himself from The Ultimate Warrior.
35:05I don't think Jim Hellwig really knows who Jim Hellwig is.
35:09It was uncomfortable, but honest.
35:11You know, it hurt my feelings a lot, man.
35:14It hurt me that they did that.
35:17So it hurt on one level, and on another level,
35:19it made me want to fight back.
35:21Litigation had gone back and forth with WWE and Warrior.
35:26This is tape number two, the continued videotaped deposition of Terry Bollea.
35:30We're back on the record at 253.
35:32I remember getting subpoenaed.
35:34And it was really bad, because he was sitting there,
35:36he didn't give me a heads up, so it was ugly.
35:38Would you agree that the promotion put a lot of effort
35:41to promote him to be as big of a star as he could be?
35:44I just basically stuck to telling the truth, and it wasn't pretty.
35:47He got one of the biggest pushes I've ever seen.
35:51And were you aware that once he got to be a main eventer,
35:56that he was demanding to be treated the same as you?
36:00I've heard rumors about that.
36:03He didn't turn out to have the staying power in the business
36:06that you have had, did he?
36:08No, sir.
36:09In fact, you could say he was someone with a flash in the pan, couldn't you?
36:13In my opinion, yes. Yes.
36:16It probably hurts the most coming from Hogan,
36:19the guy you shared your biggest moments with.
36:22Well, there had to have been real life...
36:24Animosity.
36:25Animosity.
36:26Oh, it was huge.
36:27The Warrior Man here, getting ready to get started in my studio,
36:31and I wanted to do that video.
36:34You had to see this interview by, you know,
36:38The Ultimate Warrior about Hulk Hogan.
36:41You have a long-running reputation for being a liar and a fraud and a phony.
36:49I do own a piece of your psyche.
36:52And I started watching it, and I actually had to turn it off
36:55because it was making me sick.
36:58I mean, it's not your hair.
37:01Those are extensions, man.
37:08I've never seen anything like this before.
37:10Hulkamania and negativity go together like peanut butter and jelly.
37:16Go f***ing home.
37:18Go home.
37:24You're not a good or decent human being, Terry.
37:30Because you don't have a brain.
37:32You don't have a heart.
37:35And you have absolutely no f***ing courage.
37:38Lawyers would call me and ask if I wanted to do a cease and desist,
37:42you know, this is defamation.
37:44I said, look, it'll all just go away.
37:47Just let it go.
37:50Closure is an incredibly important part of life.
37:56Hey, everybody.
37:58People go through all different things.
38:0118 years is a long time to be distanced from something that you love so much.
38:08And I'm happy for Warrior that he was able to go through
38:14I am Warrior.
38:16Ultimate Warrior is a legend.
38:18And the Ultimate Warrior fans, you are legendary.
38:27The next day, I was hosting the WrestleMania.
38:30And I saw this guy in the hallway with a three-year-old.
38:34And I said, you know what?
38:36I'm going to do this.
38:38I'm going to do this.
38:40I'm going to do this.
38:42I saw this guy in the hallway with a three-piece suit on.
38:45And as we rode by, I went, oh, stop, it's a lawyer.
39:00I'm sorry for all the bad stuff.
39:02Stop, man.
39:03It's all good, brother.
39:04It's all good.
39:05You know, it hurt for some.
39:07You know, to be in the business and be a part of it
39:09and go in a different direction to sort of get beat up and kicked like a dog
39:13just because I did that, you know?
39:15It freaked me out because I felt like I put my hand on like a 120-year-old grandmother.
39:19He was so thin and frail.
39:21You know, I'm used to grabbing him in the ring.
39:24I want to just tell you, honestly, from the heart, you're a great man.
39:27A good man, a good person.
39:29I love you, and I just hope, you know, someday we can just, you know.
39:33I accept your apology, man.
39:35Thank you, my brother.
39:36I accept your apology.
39:39You know, people make mistakes.
39:41They do, and I made some too.
39:44I'm sorry for what happened.
39:46Thank you, sir.
39:47Thanks, man.
39:48Yes, sir.
39:49And I wanted him to know that.
39:50No matter what he thought about me, I wanted him to hear that coming out of my mouth.
39:54Thanks, Hulk.
39:56Hulk Hogan! Hulk Hogan! Hulk Hogan! Hulk Hogan! Hulk Hogan! Hulk Hogan! Hulk Hogan!
40:08I think it was a power moment in professional wrestling.
40:13Every man's heart one day beats its final beat.
40:18His lungs breathe their final breath.
40:20He was predicting what he already knew.
40:22And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others,
40:28his spirit will be immortalized.
40:32Jim Helwig needed the warrior to get through life.
40:36You are the Ultimate Warrior fans!
40:39So when he was accepted back into the family, he had nothing left to hate.
40:45And the spirit of Ultimate Warrior will run forever!
40:52I walked up behind him and I leaned into his ear and I said,
40:55this whole process was worth it for that.
41:04Some sad news from the WWE.
41:06A wrestler who was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame has passed away.
41:09James Helwig, known to wrestling fans as the Ultimate Warrior.
41:12He died at the age of 54.
41:14He collapsed outside a hotel in Arizona.
41:16Officials calling the death sudden and catastrophic.
41:21I was just shocked. We all were.
41:24But Warrior went out in the biggest way he possibly could.
41:29He had closure from relationships that had gone bad or soured.
41:35And I'm so happy for him that they had the opportunity to experience that.
41:44You couldn't have written it any better in Hollywood to have this come full circle
41:48and have it end the way that it did.
41:50He gave his own eulogy.
41:51He did.
41:57This is definitely my favorite rivalry.
41:59Two people who I completely idolized.
42:01This was a lot of people's childhood.
42:04They grew up idolizing Hulk Hogan, idolizing the Ultimate Warrior.
42:08Last thing you want to do is to see Clint Eastwood and John Wayne fight.
42:14Both of them really embodied that 80s era of larger than life characters
42:18that you couldn't forget.
42:20Are we loaded down, Hulkster?
42:22You know, the bottom line of this is it's a business.
42:25And, you know, they did incredible business.
42:29Look out, the big splash. One, two.
42:32He got him.
42:34The Warriors won the title.
42:37I think it could have been so much different.
42:39I think Jim's a really good guy.
42:41You kind of get lost to doing what he had to do to survive back then,
42:44to doing what he thought he had to do to survive in the wrestling business.
42:47Your mind became weak, and Hulkamania became boring.
42:52I mean, I could have got in there with him and walked him to the ABCs
42:55and showed him that this is not an environment that's menacing.
42:59These guys are all here to help you, and we depend on you.
43:02The rivalry, it could have went on forever.