Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig on June 16, 1959) is a retired American professional wrestler, who has wrestled under the ring names The Ultimate Warrior, Warrior and Dingo Warrior. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1987 to 1991 and again in 1992 and 1996, and in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1998.
He won the WWF Championship when he pinned Hulk Hogan in the main event of WrestleMania VI. Hellwig legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993. Warrior retired from professional wrestling in 1999 and embarked on a public speaking career. On June 25, 2008, he returned to wrestle Orlando Jordan in Barcelona, Spain defeating him in a match booked by the Italian Nu-Wrestling Evolution promotion. Warrior was described by World Wrestling Entertainment as having been "the ultimate archetype of strength and intensity", and "one of the most intense and physically impressive competitors to ever appear in the WWE".
Early career (1985–1986)
Hellwig began his professional wrestling career as Jim "Justice" Hellwig of Powerteam USA, the group of bodybuilders trained by Red Bastien and Rick Bassman.
Later, they wrestled as The Freedom Fighters (Hellwig was known as Justice and Borden was called Flash) in Memphis' Continental Wrestling Association under manager Dutch Mantel. Hellwig and Steve Borden, who would later go on to success as "Sting", formed a tag team known as the Blade Runners, with Hellwig changing his ring name to "Blade Runner Rock" and Borden changing his name to "Blade Runner Flash". Debuting in the Memphis, Tennessee-based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) promotion, run by Jerry Jarrett, the team played baby faces at first, but fans were actually slow to take to the hulking duo in a territory that had featured sympathetic "good guy tag teams" like the Rock 'n' Roll Express and The Fabulous Ones. They were quickly turned heel as The Blade Runners. The Blade Runners went on to wrestle for the Mid-South Wrestling promotion, which became the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) in 1986. They were part of Eddie Gilbert's Hotstuff International group, before disbanding in 1986 when Hellwig left the UWF. Years later in a TNA interview when Steve Borden was asked about teaming with Hellwig, Borden referred to the relationship with Hellwig as being a "tense year, and when we parted ways it wasn't a friendly part".