Mega-Maniacs

The Mega-Maniacs was the World Wrestling Federation tag team of Hulk Hogan and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake that had two distinct runs as a team, one in 1989 and another one in 1993.

Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake began their careers more or less at the same time, quickly becoming lifelong friends and would team up from time to time. Their most well known "Pre-WWF" teams were as "Terry & Ed Boulder" and as "Hulk & Dizzy Hogan",^[1][2] billed as brothers.

During the summer of 1989, Tiny Lister began appearing at WWF arena shows, playing his character, "The Human Wrecking Machine" Zeus, from the WWF-financed film No Holds Barred; Zeus began targeting Hogan, the movie's top-billed star. Zeus teamed up with "Macho Man" Randy Savage in hopes of destroying Hulk Hogan. Faced with overwhelming odds, Hulk Hogan turned to his best friend Brutus Beefcake, who was already feuding with Savage at the time, to even the odds.

At SummerSlam 1989, Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake teamed up to take on Randy Savage and Zeus in the main event, a clash that saw Hulk Hogan pin Zeus after his trademark Leg drop.^[3] Hogan and Beefcake would once again team up after being attacked in the locker rooms during the closing moments of the 1989 Survivor Series by Savage and Zeus.^[4]

It was decided that the feud had to be settled in a steel cage match, which was featured on a "Mini-PPV" as a double feature with the movie "No Holds Barred." (The match was taped December 13, 1989, and aired two weeks later on pay-per-view.) Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake were successful in the cage, after which Zeus was not seen in the WWF.^[5] After the steel cage match, Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake both went back to working singles matches.

In 1990, Brutus Beefcake suffered a devastating face injury during a parasailing accident that forced him to temporarily retire from in-ring competition.^[6] After an aborted comeback attempt in late 1991/early 1992, Brutus Beefcake finally felt he was ready to get back inside the squared circle in 1993.

On February 1, 1993 (shown on Television February 15), Brutus Beefcake faced off against "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase with his Money Inc. partner I.R.S. and manager Jimmy Hart at ringside. I.R.S. would interfere in the match with Money, Inc. double teaming Beefcake, even going so far as to hitting him in his surgically reconstructed face with a metal briefcase. The actions of Money Inc. were so horrible, that even longtime heel manager Jimmy Hart took objection to it and tried to protect Beefcake from further harm.^[7]

At this point in time, Hulk Hogan was not active in the WWF, having gone into semi-retirement a year earlier, but the attack on his lifelong friend brought Hogan back to the WWF. With newly turned babyface manager Jimmy Hart at their side, Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake joined forces, swore vengeance on Money, Inc. and then officially named themselves "The Mega-Maniacs."

Due to the attack by Money, Inc, Beefcake took to wearing a red and yellow protective facemask when competing in the ring and Brutus's entire outfit changed to red and yellow as a show of unity with Hulk Hogan.^[8]

Leading up to WrestleMania IX, the Mega-Maniacs took on the Beverly Brothers during house shows^[9] to get ready for their shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania. The Mega-Maniacs were not successful in their challenge as they lost to Money Inc. via disqualification when Hogan attacked the champions with Beefcake's steel face plate.^[10] Later in the night, Hogan would win the WWF Championship in an impromptu match against Yokozuna, when Yokozuna challenged Hogan to a match immediately after winning the title from Bret Hart the same night.^[11]

The Mega-Maniacs would team up and take on Money, Inc. several times during the months of April and May on the house show circuit with the World Champion not defending his title once. Hogan would eventually lose the title to Yokozuna at June's King of the Ring pay-per-view, and both he and Beefcake would leave the WWF soon after.

Hogan and Beefcake, now known as "Brother Bruti," came to WCW together in June 1994. Bruti would eventually turn on Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1994, and the two feuded on and off for the next year and a half, with Bruti becoming "The Butcher" and "Zodiac." Hogan would be aided by Savage, while Butcher/Zodiac would be aligned with Kevin Sullivan and Avalanche, as well as being a member of Sullivan's Dungeon of Doom stable.

Zodiac would turn face in 1996, revealing himself to be a mole that Hogan and Savage had injected into the Dungeon of Doom a year earlier, becoming The Booty Man. Hogan, Savage, and Booty Man would continue to team against members of the Dungeon.

In July 1996, Hogan shocked the fans by turning heel and starting a new faction known as the New World Order. Booty Man attempted to join the group until Hogan ordered his fellow nWo members Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to attack him. Less than a year later, Booty Man, now known as The Disciple, would join the group and always accompany Hogan to the ring and aide him in winning matches. In 1998, The Ultimate Warrior came to WCW to feud with Hogan and turned the Disciple against Hogan, joining the One Warrior Nation (or oWn, a play on the nWo acronym). Hogan and Leslie never teamed again after this.