Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

WWE: Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe Blu-ray Movie Review

Tribute to a fallen hero.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 22, 2015

It's never easy when a family loses a father and a husband. It's never easy when an organization loses one of its own. It's never easy when fans lose a favorite. It's never easy when the world loses a legend. And it's never easy when it happens so suddenly, particularly just as one chapter closes and another begins. On April 8, 2014, hours after James Brian Hellwig, better known by his ring name "The Ultimate Warrior," was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, spoke presciently on Monday Night RAW about the certainty of death and the importance of leaving behind a lasting legacy, and only a week-plus removed from the release of his comeback home video, Warrior passed away from a sudden heart attack at the age of 54. WWE Home Video has, in Always Believe, released a fitting tribute to the man, a legitimately emotional but honest look back at Warrior's career, from his beginnings in professional wrestling to the hours leading up to and following his death. Simply put, it's a must-own for Warrior fans but also WWE fans who owe it to themselves, and to Warrior, to see firsthand the lovingly crafted story of his life in the public eye.

Behind the paint.

The main film, which runs just over 90 minutes, offers something of a whirlwind overview of Warrior's life and times in the WWE. It shares much of the same information -- and reuses some of the clips -- from the above-linked Warrior Blu-ray release that's only about a year older than this. The difference here is a proper, feature-length Documentary whereas the previous release was only a match compilation with some narrative building in between. This film looks at Warrior's early days as a chiropractic student and bodybuilder, his beginnings in professional wrestling alongside Sting, the origins of his stage name, his theme music and makeup and the large younger fan following he gained, his in-ring rivalry and personal feud with Hulk Hogan, his various conflicts with the WWE and Vince McMahon (including his firing and lawsuit over the infamous Self Destruct DVD release), his negotiations for a return, his Hall of Fame induction, his final appearance on RAW, his death, and his legacy.

Always Believe rightly skips over the usual WWE Home Video introductory montage -- the "Then. Now. Forever." bit -- and instead begins with Warrior's speech and a sincere, tearful monologue from his widow Dana. Through interviews with a bevy of individuals and wrestling personalities -- including Dana, Warrior's children, John Cena, Cesaro, Sting, Triple H, Zeb Colter, Jim Ross, Hulk Hogan, Batista, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Dean Ambrose, Sheamus, Sgt. Slaughter, Natalya, and Vince, Linda, and Stephanie McMahon -- the film chronicles the ebbs and flows of Warrior's life and wrestling career. But more than just an obligatory, dry recap, this film is an opportunity for everyone involved to remember the legend -- often tearfully -- for not only who he was and what he contributed in the ring but the man he was outside of it, a man who may not have been a model of perfection (then again, who is?) or even a model employee over the course of his career but certainly an individual who became an iconic figure in the annals of professional wrestling and, above all of his contributions in the ring, was a loving, caring, and devoted family man. The pain is real in every scene, but so too is the joy, a blend of fondness and the tangible loss his family feels and the honest sense of reconciliation amongst his peers and employers that allowed Warrior to leave on top, where he belonged.

WWE: Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe features a fair, but unspectacular, 1080i transfer. The image is all over the place, offering good, crisp, well defined textures here and an overly sharp, processed look there. At its best, viewers will see with unflinching clarity makeup lines, facial features, clothing textures, and other intimate details with ease. At worst, the image is fairly flat and bland when it's not overzealously sharp. Colors are strong, with the face mask Warrior wears at his final RAW looking sharp and bright. Colorful graphics and other bits are also accurate. Black levels aren't bad, but flesh tones push from warm to excessively red. The main film repurposes older SD footage to a 1.78:1 aspect ratio but all vintage matches and moments in the supplements retain their original aspect ratio. Light compression artifacts, noise, and banding are also evident throughout, notably in the newer interview and backstage footage.

WWE: Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe features a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Light music lingers underneath much of the program and enjoys suitable definition and side-to-side placement. The film is comprised almost entirely of dialogue, which is presented cleanly and efficiently from the center, only losing any definition and intelligibility when it competes with rumbly busses and other backstage sound effects around the 17:30 mark. All of the wrestling action is saved for the bonuses, and general clarity, spacing, and accuracy improve as the material becomes more and more recent and of higher production values.

WWE: Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe contains the following matches, all listed under the "Special Features" tab, on disc one. Disc two contains a series of interviews, promos, and career moments. A "Blu-ray Exclusives" tab contains a number of extra scenes and matches. All of the matches appear new to Blu-ray (no crossovers with the previous Warrior release).

Disc One (Matches, 2:47:29 total runtime):

• 2 on 1 Handicap Match: Dingo Warrior vs. Perry Jackson and Chico Cabello. WCCW -- July 25, 1986.
• Career Match: Dingo Warrior vs. Big Bear Collie. WCCW -- June 2, 1987.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Frenchy Martin. Madison Square Garden -- November 24, 1987.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Brian Costello. Wrestling Challenge -- November 29, 1987.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Maike Sharpe. Philadelphia, PA -- December 5, 1987.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Conquistador #1. Wrestling Challenge -- May 8, 1988.
• Intercontinental Championship: Ultimate Warrior vs. Honky Tonk Man. Boston, MA -- October 10, 1988.
• Intercontinental Championship: Ultimate Warrior vs. Ravishing Rick Rude. Meadowlands Arena -- May 8, 1989.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior and King Duggan vs. Ravishing Rick Rude and Andre the Giant. Madison, WI -- June 6, 1989.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. John Weiss. Wrestling Challenge -- September 24, 1989.
• Intercontinental Championship: Ultimate Warrior vs. Andre the Giant. Maple Leaf Wrestling -- October 29, 1989.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Brooklyn Brawler. Wrestling Challenge -- March 11, 1990.
• WWE Championship: Ultimate Warrior vs. Haku. Saturday Night's Main Event -- April 28, 1990.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter. Saturday Night's Main Event -- April 27, 1991.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick "The Model" Martel. Wrestling Challenge -- April 28, 1991.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Smash. Superstars -- May 18, 1991.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Skinner. Superstars -- May 2, 1992.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Papa Shango. Lexington, KY -- May 19, 1992.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior and "Macho Man" Randy Savage vs. Nasty Boys. SummerSlam Spectacular -- August 23, 1992.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Isaac Yankem. Monday Night RAW -- April 29, 1996.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Owen Hart. Monday Night RAW -- July 8, 1996.

Disc Two (Interviews, promos, and career moments, 2:41:46 total runtime):

• Bill Mercer Interviews Dingo Warrior: WCCW -- September 19, 1986.
• Nightmares are the Best Part of My Day: Superstars -- February 27, 1988.
• I Live for Anger and Frustration: Wrestling Challenge -- March 13, 1988.
• Normal People: Wrestling Challenge -- June 5, 1988.
• I Won't Let You Down: Wrestling Challenge -- June 25, 1988.
• Legends Weren't Built Overnight: Superstars -- July 16, 1988.
• Craig DeGeorge Interviews the New Intercontinental Champion: Superstars -- September 3, 1988.
• You Can Feel It: All American Wrestling -- September 18, 1988.
• Totally Out of Control: Wrestling Challenge -- January 29, 1989.
• A Test Like All the Others: Wrestling Challenge -- May 28, 1989.
• We Shall Conquer the Giant: Superstars -- July 15, 1989.
• Mean Gene Interviews Ultimate Warrior About SummerSlam: Wrestling Challenge -- August 13, 1989.
• The Eighth Wonder of the World: Superstars -- September 9, 1989.
• Mean Gene Interviews The Ultimate Warriors: Wrestling Challenge -- November 5, 1989.
• The Brother Love Show Discussing The Royal Rumble: Superstars -- January 13, 1990.
• I Speak to You, Hulk Hogan: Superstars -- February 3, 1990.
• The New WWE Champion: Superstars -- April 14, 1990.
• The Brother Love Show Discussing SummerSlam: Superstars -- June 23, 1990.
• Confined Spaces: Superstars -- July 21, 1990.
• Leaving Nothing Behind: Wrestling Challenge -- August 12, 1990.
• Useless Dreams: Wrestling Challenge -- August 26, 1990.
• The Brother Love Show with Queen Sherri: Superstars -- September 8, 1990.
• Sister Love: Superstars -- October 13, 1990.
• The Commander in Chief: Wrestling Challenge -- December 23, 1990.
• Your Ultimate Destruction: Wrestling Challenge -- December 30, 1990.
• Total Surrender: Superstars -- January 5, 1991.
• The Smell of Defeat: Wrestling Challenge -- January 13, 1991.
• Mean Gene Interviews Queen Sherri: Royal Rumble -- January 19, 1991.
• I Am the Wildness: Superstars -- February 9, 1991.
• I Said Sew It In!: Superstars -- February 16, 1991.
• You Have Found the Madness: Superstars -- February 23, 1991.
• Don't Look Back: Superstars -- March 9, 1991.
• One More Step in the Destiny: Wrestling Challenge -- March 10, 1991.
• A Battle Like No Other: Wrestling Challenge -- March 17, 1991.
• Now We Are Back: Superstars -- May 4, 1991.
• Then We Shall Feast: Superstars -- April 11, 1992.
• These Are My Warriors: Superstars -- April 18, 1992.
• The Papa Shango Curse: Superstars -- May 23, 1992.
• Only Desperate Men Act with Impatience: Superstars -- August 8, 1992.
• The Ultimate Maniacs Are Born: Superstars -- September 19, 1992.
• The Ultimate Maniacs Are Out of Control: Wrestling Challenge -- November 7, 1992.
• One Warrior Nation: Monday Nitro -- August 24, 1998.
• Running to Reappear: Monday Nitro -- September 21, 1998.
• Hall of Fame Induction: Hall of Fame -- April 5, 2014.
• The Spirit of Ultimate Warrior Will Run Forever: Monday Night RAW -- April 7, 2014.

Disc Two Blu-ray Exclusives (additional snippets in support of the main feature plus additional matches).

• Ultimate Warrior? Who's That? (1:23): Dana Warrior discusses the first time she heard of Warrior.
• Disneyland Warrior (2:36): Dana Warrior discusses taking her husband to Disneyland.
• The Ultimate Bike Ride (1:58): Dana Warrior shares a memory of racing her husband.
• Call Vince (1:30): Dana Warrior remembers the birth of a child and Warrior wanting to share the news with Vince McMahon.
• That's My Dad! (0:48): The family remembers watching him on TV.
• WrestleMania VI Movie Night (1:30): The family remembers watching the event for family movie night.
• Barbie Meets Ultimate Warrior (1:08): Warrior shares a memory of his daughters playing with the Warrior action figure alongside Barbie dolls.
• Cockpit Door Promo (1:36): Warrior remembers making one of his famous promos.
• Batista's Homage (0:35): Batista admits he stole Warrior's rope shake.
• Warrior Plays the Game (2:51): Triple H remembers negotiating with Warrior and a humorous story from the negotiations.
• The Warriors Meet the Goldbergs (3:49): The family discusses their favorite show and appearing on it.
• The Slammy Award Presentation (1:16): Triple H presents the family with a Slammy Award.
• Mattie vs. Nattie (1:55): One of Warrior's daughters wrestles Natalya.
• Warrior Girl (2:44): Natalya outfits Mattie with some Warrior gear.
• Career Match: Dingo Warrior vs. Rick Rude. WCCW -- August 22, 1986.
• Career Match (Arena Cam): Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan. WrestleMania VI -- April 1, 1990.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior and Legion of Doom vs. Demolition. Saturday Night's Main Event -- October 13, 1990.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Earthquake. Fort Meyers, FL -- February 19, 1991.
• Career Match: Ultimate Warrior and Undertaker vs. Papa Shango and Berzerker.

WWE: Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe may not be a perfect, fully in depth examination of one of the most complex and (literally) colorful superstars in professional wrestling history, but it's probably one of the most honest ever to come out of the WWE, just another example of the full-circle journey that Warrior took since his days in the ring, since the ugly separations, and since the hurtful DVD. There's a very real sense of loss here, but also a sense of satisfaction that it all came together at the end, that all of the reconciliations were made, that Warrior was welcomed back into the family. This release captures it all with an integrity and sincerity befitting Warrior's journey and legacy. WWE Home Video's Blu-ray release of Ultimate Warrior: Always Believe features passable video and audio. A massive assortment of bonus matches, moments, interviews, promos, and deleted scenes are included. Very highly recommended.