Remembering When the Ultimate Warrior Beat Up Phil Collins
If you are a wrestling fan over 35 you probably have the recollection somewhere in the back of your mind of a scene of singer Phil Collins in a wrestling ring, dancing and swaying back and forth with the Ultimate Warrior to his 1988 hit ‘Two Hearts’.
But what exactly was that all about? Was that really the music video for that song? Was it another artifact of the 80s Rock & Wrestling partnership, aired on Main Event to promote that year’s Survivor Series?
Well, close. Definitely on the right track.
To get the first part out of the way, ‘Two Hearts’ actually did have its own, much different, music video when it debuted in 1988 on the soundtrack to the Phil Collins movie Buster. That video featured the time-tested trope of Collins portraying every member of his band as they belt out the song as if they were appearing on an Ed Sullivan type TV show.
The Ultimate Warrior clip actually comes from a CBS TV special two years later in 1990 to promote Collins’ upcoming tour. The special revolved around TV executives, played by Vanessa Williams and Gilbert Gottfried, attempting to find creative ways for Collins to promote this tour.
As per the clip below, they hit on the idea to get Phil Collins in the ring with the current WWF Champion, the Ultimate Warrior. Complete with the full WWF branding and title belt.
While we all remember the visual of both men sashaying their hips in the ring together, as well as some general wrestling roughhousing, is there actually any more to this clip? To be honest? Not really.
What you remember is what you see is what you get.
But what is here is still a big slice of goofball fun. If you’re a wrestling fan, you’re going to love watching Ultimate Warrior put the screws to a completely out of his element Phil Collins, all dressed up in what can only be described as an outfit Chicken Little would wear on a cold date. If you’re a Collins fan (or even a hater) then you should get some mileage out of seeing the Pop superstar allowing himself to be manhandled by the WWF Champ.
Not for nothing, but you also get a great bonus in seeing a young Gilbert Gottfried tee off some zingers with Vanessa Williams. The jokes aren’t all politically correct, but this is 1990 and Gilbert Gottfried. I think most of you know what you’re walking into.
Stars poking fun at themselves is nothing new today. But back in 1990, it must have been refreshing to see when a known celebrity or artist, whom you normally only saw in drips and drabs, would come out on a special or in a video and allow themselves to look like an absolute geek in front of millions of TV viewers. Especially when the concept couldn’t have been any more black and white than big strong man dances with tiny weak man.
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