The Ultimate Warrior

Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig; June 16, 1959 – April 8, 2014) was an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder.

Warrior was born in 1959 as James Brian Hellwig, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, about 50 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

He was the oldest of five children and was raised by his mother (along with, later, his stepfather) after his father left his family when he was 12.

His father died at 57 and a grandfather died at 52.

The family moved and he graduated from Veedersburg's Fountain Central High School and attended Indiana State University for a year.

Later, while he was attending Life University in Marietta, Georgia, he won the Junior Atlanta contest and placed 5th at the 1981 AAU Collegiate Mr. America.

In 1983, he won the AAU Coastal USA, before taking the Mr. Georgia title the following year.

Prior to his career in professional wrestling Hellwig was an amateur bodybuilder, competing in a number of NPC contests and winning the 1984 NPC Mr. Georgia crown.

Hellwig started training with weights when he was 11 years old and described himself as "the small, insecure kid who wasn't into any sports".

He moved to California where, after seeing bodybuilder Robby Robinson, he decided to take up the sport.

His first contest took place in Florida, where he placed 5th.

From 1985 to 1986, he would tag with fellow former bodybuilder Steve Borden, later known as Sting, as the Blade Runners.

The two split when Warrior left to pursue a singles career in World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW).

Under the ring name Dingo Warrior, he was a one-time WCWA Texas Heavyweight Champion.

His last bodybuilding contest was 1985's Junior USAs, which was won by future IFBB Pro, Ron Love.

Hellwig finished 5th.

In 1985, after spending six weeks in California training for a bodybuilding contest, he was invited to join a group of bodybuilders – Garland Donoho, Mark Miller, and Steve Borden – to form a professional wrestling team.

Warrior accepted the invitation and abandoned his bodybuilding career as well as his plans to become a chiropractor.

Hellwig began his professional wrestling career as Jim "Justice" Hellwig of Powerteam USA, the group of bodybuilders trained by Red Bastien and Rick Bassman.

Hellwig and fellow trainee Steve Borden (who later had success as "Sting"), formed a tag team called The Freedom Fighters (Hellwig was known as Justice and Borden was called Flash).

The Freedom Fighters debuted in the Memphis, Tennessee-based Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) promotion, run by Jerry Jarrett, in November 1985.

The team played babyfaces 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 under "coach" Buddy Wayne and soon afterwards manager Dutch Mantel.

They left the CWA in January 1986.

In March 1986, the Freedom Fighters – now known as the Blade Runners – joined the Oklahoma-based Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF).

Hellwig was "Blade Runner Rock" and Borden was "Blade Runner Sting".

According to Joseph Laurinaitis (aka Road Warrior Animal), UWF owner Bill Watts created the Blade Runners and the intent was to make them a parody of The Road Warriors.

Best known by his ring name The Ultimate Warrior, he wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) from 1987 to 1992, as well as a short stint in 1996.

In 1987, he joined the World Wrestling Federation, and became a two-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion within two years.

At WrestleMania VI, Warrior won the WWF Championship in a title vs. title match over Hulk Hogan, making him the first wrestler to hold both titles concurrently.

Posited as the new face of the company, he would fall out with chairman Vince McMahon over a pay dispute, and unsuccessfully attempted to leave the WWF, with which he was under contract.

Warrior would return at WrestleMania VIII, but by November 1992, he had been released; it was later revealed that this was due to steroid use.

In 1993, he legally changed his name to the mononym "Warrior" and was credited as a co-writer for a comic book based on his name and likeness.

Warrior returned to the WWF at WrestleMania XII, but lasted four months, as he began no-showing events.

Two years later, he joined World Championship Wrestling (which had tried to hire him in 1995), being used in a much-maligned storyline with Hogan, which culminated at Halloween Havoc.

On the preceding three nights in New Orleans, he had been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, appeared at WrestleMania XXX, and made his final public appearance on Monday Night Raw, returning to the promotion after an acrimonious separation in 1996.

He also notably spent a few months in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1998, in which he was known as The Warrior.

After a career in bodybuilding, Warrior turned to professional wrestling.

Warrior retired from professional wrestling and subsequently embarked on a public speaking career, but wrestled one final match in Spain in 2008.

Warrior died on April 8, 2014, at the age of 54 in Scottsdale, Arizona.