WWE executive director Bruce Prichard recently offered a candid reflection on his experiences working with The Ultimate Warrior, born Jim Hellwig, during an episode of his Something To Wrestle podcast.
Prichard did not shy away from describing his initial impressions of Hellwig, dating back to their early encounters in Mid-South Wrestling.
“I first met Jim Hellwig when he was three months in the business in Mid-South, and from the very first interaction with him, he was a first class asshole. He was not a good person. He was difficult to work with, thought he knew it all, and he was just a real jerk.
Then he ran out when Bill Watts cracked him in the head with a baseball bat and he literally ran away and left the territory in the middle of the night. So I didn’t have good experience with him.”
Because of those early encounters, Prichard admitted he had reservations when Hellwig’s name came up years later during discussions about bringing him into WWE.
“When he was calling in the summer of ’87 to come in for WWE at the time and I was asked, ‘Uh, do you ever work with him?’ I said, ‘Yes. Didn’t have good a experience.’”
However, Prichard recalled that Vince McMahon offered a more nuanced perspective, urging him to consider the role environment can play in shaping a performer’s behavior.
“And Vince [McMahon] said, ‘well, you know, sometimes you have to look at the surroundings and the environment in which someone is in, and does the environment contribute to their demeanor and and and how they are.’”
According to Prichard, Hellwig initially appeared to take that advice to heart when he first arrived in WWE.
“I think that once Jim came in, he was on his best behavior when he first came in. And then once he he got over, and he did get over, I think it was his theme music that got him over, and his entrance and the enthusiasm.”
Despite his personal dislike for Hellwig as an individual, Prichard was emphatic about the undeniable power of The Ultimate Warrior as a character.
“And just, you know, say what you will about Jim Hellwig, and I did not like the the human being. Okay. The character of the Ultimate Warrior, man, had charisma and just he just like oozed charisma. And the guy had intensity and was frenetic and exciting.”
Prichard acknowledged that whatever Hellwig lacked behind the scenes, he made up for in his ability to connect with audiences on a massive scale.
“So it was, you know, hard to hard to deny that. No one can deny that. No one can deny the fact that this guy could not command an audience and that this guy couldn’t get a reaction going out and doing what he did. And so to that, kudos, man. I give him credit for that.”
Ultimately, Prichard credited McMahon’s vision for focusing on Warrior’s strengths rather than his flaws.
“And Vince, man, Vince just honed in on on the positives of what he saw. And you know, that was that.”
The comments offer a layered look at one of WWE’s most polarizing figures—highlighting the sharp divide between Jim Hellwig the person and The Ultimate Warrior, one of the most electrifying characters in wrestling history.
