He is one of the most colourful and intense Superstars of all time, the Ultimate Warrior! Now for the first time ever, WWE honors his illustrious career with this ultimate collection of bone-crunching matches. Feel the power of the warrior featuring battles against his biggest rivals such as Hulk Hogan, Jake Roberts, Ravishing Ric Rude, Sgt. Slaughter and more!

WWE fans have long awaited another Warrior release since the controversial release of 2005 “The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior”. Finally, with over 7 hours of matches from this larger than life Superstar, this action on this home entertainment release is truly OUT OF CONTROL!!

The 2 disc Blu-ray set contains the following (It’s a lovely long list too!) –

Disc One:

Career Match: Blade Runners vs. Perry Jackson & Shawn O’Reilly. UWF — April 11, 1986.

Career Match: Dingo Warrior vs. Chris Adams. World Class Championship Wrestling — August 8, 1986.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Barry Horowitz. Challenge — November 7, 1987.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Steve Lombardi. Superstars — November 14, 1987.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. “King” Harley Race. Boston Garden — March 5, 1988.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Los Angeles Sports Arena — July 15, 1988.

SummerSlam Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Honky Tonk Man. SummerSlam — August 29, 1988.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match : Ultimate Warrior vs. Honky Tonk Man. Philadelphia Spectrum — December 17, 1988.

Title vs. Title: Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Boston Garden — February 11, 1989.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude. SummerSlam — August 28, 1989.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Bob Bradley. Prime Time Wrestling — September 18, 1989.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Brian Costello. Prime Time Wrestling — December 25, 1989.

Ultimate Warrior Confronts Andre the Giant: Brother Love Show. Superstars — July 29, 1989.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Andre the Giant. Madison Square Garden — October 28, 1989.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Andre the Giant. Saturday Night’s Main Event — November 25, 1989.

Ultimate Warrior Promo: “Crash the Plane.” Challenge — March 10, 1990.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Mr. Perfect. Madison Square Garden — March 19, 1990.

Title vs. Title: Intercontinental/WWE Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan. WrestleMania VI — April 1, 1990.

WWE Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. Tokyo Dome — April 13, 1990.

WWE Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude. Saturday Night’s Main Event — July 28, 1990.

WWE Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Ted DiBiase. The Main Event — November 23, 1990.

WWE Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter. Huntsville, AL — January 7, 1991.

Disc Two:

Steel Cage Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. “Macho King” Randy Savage. Madison Square Garden — January 21, 1991.

Career Moment: Ultimate Warrior Ends Brother Love’s Career. Superstars — March 2, 1991.

Retirement Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. “Macho King” Randy Savage. WrestleMania VII — March 24, 1991.

Career Moment: Ultimate Warrior on Paul Bearer’s Funeral Parlor. Superstars — April 13, 1991.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Undertaker. Maple Leaf Gardens — June 2, 1991.

Career Moment: Gene Okerlund Interviews Ultimate Warrior and “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Superstars — July 25, 1992.

Career Moment: “Riding on the Edge of a Lightning Bolt.” Superstars — November 14, 1992.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior & “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Ted DiBiase & I.R.S. Saturday Night’s Main Event — November 14, 1992.

Career Moment: “Faster Than a Cheetah.” RAW — March 11, 1996.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Hunter Hearst-Helmsley. WrestleMania XII — March 31, 1996.

Career Moment: Ultimate Warrior Returns — RAW — April 8, 1996.

Career Moment: Mr. McMahon Interviews Jerry “The King” Lawler and Ultimate Warrior. RAW — June 10, 1996.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler. King of the Ring — June 23, 1996.

Career Moment: Ultimate Warrior Interrupts “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan. Nitro — August 17, 1998.

Ultimate Warrior Promo: From RAW — October 26, 1998.

Presented in a mixture of both 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 aspect ratios in 1080i resolution, considering a lot of the material shown here was from the 80s and 90s it looks surprisingly good!

Whilst it’s not a perfect transfer, going with the source material this is going to be more than enough to please all Warrior fans out there. Colours are replicated well, shown with the Ultimate Warriors varying face paints and tassels on his arms. Skin tones do appear to be a little on the pink side, but I would presume this is because of the source material used. I would say the same with the detail and definition. This will never look as sharp or as detailed as you would come to expect from a newly released WWE Blu-ray due to only being presented in SD and this does show. But don’t let that put you off, this is the release we have all been waiting for!

“The Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection” comes with an English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 track.

Surprisingly, this is a very good track the compliments the Blu-ray well. Warrior’s entrance music blasts out of the speakers and (with me anyway) makes your hairs on your arms stand on end! All speakers get used to good effect, with the fronts picking up dialogue from both interview segments with Warrior and also from the ringside commentary and is delivered with good clarity. Sound effects from the fights are also replicated well, and the crowd noise creeps in to almost make you feel like you’re sat ringside watching the Ultimate Warrior. Everything is done very well never sounding artificial.

The audio track isn’t going to blow your socks off, but it’s more than enough to please the Warrior fans who’ve been waiting for this release!

The extras contained on this set actually consist of seven more Ultimate Warrior matches, which are exclusive to this Blu-ray release –

Career Match: Dingo Warrior vs. Matt Borne. World Class Championship Wrestling — October 24, 1986.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior & The British Bulldogs vs. Demolition & Mr. Fuji. Maple Leaf Gardens — July 24, 1988.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Dino Bravo. The Main Event — February 23, 1990.

Career Moment: WrestleMania 6 Contract Signing. The Ultimate Challenge — March 25, 1990.

Career Moment: WrestleMania 7 Contract Signing. Road to WrestleMania 7 — March 17, 1991.

Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter. Tokyo Dome — March 30, 1991.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Goldust. In Your House — April 28, 1996.

It’s with a very heavy heart that I am writing this. As I’m sure you’re all aware, James Hellwig (aka “The Ultimate Warrior”) suddenly passed away on 8th April (2014), two days after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, signing a multi-year deal as a WWE Legend and also appearing on WWE Raw on the Monday evening giving a very heart felt speech.

Growing up I remember going to my uncles house at weekends and seeing (as it was known then) WWF on cable TV and I always enjoyed sitting down on a Saturday afternoon watching the shows. I always remembered the likes of Hulk Hogan, The Million Dollar Man, Virgil, The Legion of Doom, Mr Perfect, Lex Lugor, Brett The Hitman Heart, The Undertaker and so many more wrestlers but there was always one that I got excited about watching; and that was The Ultimate Warrior. When his music hit, and you saw this giant of a man run to the ring, shake the ropes and always gave a great match he always stood out as my favourite! He wasn’t the greatest wrestler, he knew this but he always commanded the ring with his huge presence in and out the ring. I was only 7-8 years old when I first got into wrestling but never really followed it to the extent that some people do. However since I grew older I always wanted to watch the matches that I had never seen before in their entirety, such as the famous Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania matches that the Ultimate Warrior made famous and this Blu-ray made that complete for me. It brought back a lot of childhood memories but at the same time made me appreciate what the Ultimate Warrior brought to the WWE, even more so now with James Hellwig’s passing.

This Blu-ray set is an absolute must for all Ultimate Warrior and wrestling fans, especially with what has occurred over the past few days. Along with all of the matches, Warrior is on screen talking about how he got into wrestling and also about some of the troubles he had with the WWE. The 2 disc set is well worth the money! If you get a chance, I recommend everyone watch his WWE Hall of Fame inductee speech also.

I would like to end this review by saying that The Ultimate Warrior was and always will be my all-time favourite wrestler, I hope his legacy lives on and may he RIP. Thank you Jim! On his final on-screen TV appearance, The Ultimate Warrior appeared on WWE Raw on Monday 7th April, 2014 and gave this very heart felt and now haunting speech, which I want to quote now, thus ending my review –

“No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life what makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them bleed deeper and something larger than life then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized. By the story tellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make the running the man did live forever. You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend makers of Ultimate Warrior. In the back I see many potential legends. Some of them with warrior spirits. And you will do the same for them. You will decide if they lived with the passion and intensity. So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends, as well. I am The Ultimate Warrior. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans and the spirit of Ultimate Warrior will run forever”

James “The Ultimate Warrior” Hellwig 1959-2014