“There’s never been a more aptly named team than The Ultimate Maniacs.” – Vince Verhei, F4WOnline.com
About a week ago, I visited beautiful Bothell, Washington for the first time. It was long overdue. I sometimes kinda marvel at the fact that Bryan Alvarez and myself, who wrote the best-selling and award winning Death of WCW, have so rarely been in the same physical location at the same time. I consider Bryan a good friend, and I know he feels the same about me. But sadly, we never get to just hang out very often. When we are together, it’s usually at a convention and we are both running different directions completely and so we say hi, talk for a few minutes, then bolt off to wherever it is we are supposed to be next.
With his grandmother’s 90th birthday on the horizon, I determined that it was time to book my flight and just relax and have some fun with my friend. For those of you who don’t know of Granny, well, all I can say is you are truly missing out. She appears weekly on Bryan’s podcast and she is an absolute joy. Sharp as a tack and never afraid to speak her mind, she will do random questions from her Facebook friends where I am often in stitches. Just when I think it can’t get any better, she does a weekly wrestling report where she reviews whatever she finds on the Network or YouTube. For instance, while I was there she reviewed Adam Cole vs. Daniel Bryan. She went into great detail on the match, finally giving it an 8 out of 10.
She then noted, and I quote, “I hate wrestling.”
I legit almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard.
Did I mention she’s an absolute joy?
So yeah, I had a great time while I was out there. Got to hang with Bryan, finally meet his family, and have some fun laughing with Vinny and Craig as well. While I was there, Bryan asked if I’d come on the Bryan and Vinny Show and discuss WWF Superstars from the fall of 1992.
As if he even needed to ask – in a lot of ways, that entire era was the rock upon which WrestleCrap.com was founded. So we all watched the show, which took place a scant two weeks prior to Survivor Series, and proceeded to analyze it in a completely ridiculous manner.
Before we really went into detail, though, I was thrilled to finally correct Bryan about his incorrect views on the Repo Man. See, he had repeatedly stated that Repo Man was the absolute worst character in the history of pro wrestling.
Bryan, I love you brother, but he repossessed Randy Savage’s COWBOY HAT.
How on earth could ANYONE hate that?
Noting I was correct, we went through the rest of the program and hit upon a promo with the Ultimate Maniacs. That team, my friends, is what we are here to discuss today.
Before anyone goes crazy, let me state for the record that I do NOT think Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior sucked. That’s not the point of the induction. Nay, the point of this article is to give a few examples as to just how completely and utterly insane they were together and what a tragedy it was that a dream team that should have lasted for years vanished after only a couple of months of promos and three measly matches.
The duo became a team, ironically enough, following their match at SummerSlam 92. While the show is unquestionably more for the famous British Bulldog vs. Bret Hart Intercontinental title match, the undercard featured Warrior and the Macho Man squaring off for the WWF World Championship. It wasn’t in the same ballpark as their awesome match at WrestleMania a year prior, but this one had the added intrigue of Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect looking to cause chaos between the two combatants. In the end, Savage was counted out when Flair whacked him in the leg with a chair. That chair shot would indirectly lead to Flair regaining the title from Savage a few days later.
And that, friends, is where the fun begins. Because that is when the world was graced with the most insane pair to ever team up as Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior joined forces to become The Ultimate Maniacs.
The pair immediately set their sights not only on Flair and his new crony, Razor Ramon, but on something far larger: namely each man proving to his partner that he was the more clinically insane of the two.
Need evidence?
Then enjoy this promo where Warrior looks to be having convulsions before turning away from the camera. This allowed Savage to go completely off the deep end, gazing longingly at Warrior’s physique and then talking about, and I am not making this up, Warrior’s BACKDOOR.
That’s pretty much near the top of things I never wanted brought to my attention.
Still, that interview is relatively lucid in comparison to…
…Warrior going off about having no foooooooooood and MANIACISM. Also, apparently he and Macho are in BONDAGE together.
Ok, I lied above – THAT is at the absolute top of the list of things to which my ears never needed to be subjected.
Also, I legit thought Warrior was having a stroke mid-promo. WOWZERS.
Prior to their encounter with Flair and Razor at Survivor Series, the Maniacs were slated for a warm up match on Saturday Night’s Main Event, against Money Inc., consisting of Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster, otherwise known as IRS.
If you didn’t read everything following “against” in the above sentence in Howard Finkel’s bellowing voice, please leave.
Just…leave.
The Maniacs come to the ring the only way they possibly can: at 3,000 miles per hour. Clotheslines and punches are the name of the game, though Warrior does stop DiBiase with a vertical suplex for good measure. But this being Warrior, soon enough he is bouncing off the ropes and looking for his patented shoulder block…
…which Ted thwarts. Why didn’t anybody else ever do that?
Oh I know – because such an action causes Warrior to dry hump the mat uncontrollably.
The mere sight of that (and yeah, a bit more beating from the Maniacs) causes DiBiase and Irwin to take their titles and head to the back, gladly losing by count out so as to keep their titles.
So it was Warrior and Savage versus Flair and Ramon…in a match that never happened. Sadly, Warrior was gone from the company prior to the match (either for a drug suspension or because he got into a spat with Vince, take your pick) and that was the end of the legendary Ultimate Maniacs.
Still, we’ll always have our memories.
Our convulsing, backdoor memories.