Review for Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection

BEST DVD EVER!

I should just end my review there. Really, I should. This is the DVD that I have been begging for, for probably two decades. And who is that DVD about: The ULTIMATTTEEEE WAAAARRRRIIOOOOORRR!!!!

When I first started watching wrestling there were only three things that got me hooked: Roddy Piper because of being part Scottish, The Roadwarriors because... well they were so cool and The Ultimate Warrior. It didn't matter that I had no idea what his promos meant, it didn't matter that his matches lasted less than a minute, it didn't matter that most of the time the matches were not very good. No, when I heard that music I was hooked and I would watch no matter what he did.

The Ultimate Warrior has long been at odds with the WWE, mainly over the rights to the Warrior name (which he legally owns), but also due to the various times he either left or as fired from the company. Now, none of this is brought up in this DVD and it is the only thing I am both sad and glad about. I think if this had been brought up the DVD would turn into a name-calling, shoot interview DVD with Warrior either coming across as sour, angry or maybe even a little childish. Instead this DVD is one of those types I usually don't like ie. Talk Match Talk Match Talk. Now it is true I would have preferred a two hour documentary with two disks worth of matches, but for some reason this one worked.

It is only Warrior speaking as he goes through his life from bodybuilding through the territories with Sting finally making it to the WWE. As the disk goes on we get to see at least one match in every territory he has worked in and seeing some such as his WCCW match against Chris Adams is great. It would have been nice to have seen more of that, but I understand why they didn't as even Warrior admits he was green (not very good) at the beginning.

The majority of the DVDs time is spent in the WWE and though I do wish more had been spent on his time before this I again understand why. It is interesting how they were able to fit what is technically maybe 3-5 years of a career across three disks. The main highlights are all here including his match against Honkytonk Man for the Intercontinental belt, his matches against Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, Rick Rude and of course his WWE title victory over Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VI. What is also great is WWE have sorted out there problems with Jesse Ventura and so the commentary is intact which on some previous releases was a bit odd.

Warrior's three main stints are looked at as well as the brief period in WCW. Not much is shown of this time and sadly they do not include the horrendous Halloween Havoc match against Hogan. With both now being back in the WWE I thougt they might have got them both together to do an alternate commentary on this match. It's sad that they didn't as I'm sure it would have been either insightful or hilarious, maybe both.

Throughout the three disks there are multiple matches and also multiple promos. This is nice as often with these types of DVD they ignore the amazing promos that sometimes go into the build of a match and really this is where the Ultimate Warrior was at his best. It is a shame that they didn't wait to release it after he had been inducted in the Hall of Fame 2014 as this would have been a nice end to this DVD.

There are no matches that I can think of missing, apart from the Halloween Havoc match and sadly none of his six-man tag matches with the Roadwarriors are on here. The only two that I thought were surprising by their absence is the Steel Cage Match against Rick Rude at Summerslam 1990 and any of the matches he was in from Survivor Series 1990. Both were great examples of the Warrior in his prime.

Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection is one of the best DVDs that was ever created for me. Sure, if you want your five star technical masterpieces there are a number of Ric Flair or Bret Hart DVDs out there, but if you want a nostalgia kick when it was cool to paint your face and tie tassels around your arms then this is the DVD for you.