[1990-06-23-WWF-Superstars] Brother Love: Ultimate Warrior & Amanda Ultimate Warrior

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

BROTHER ULTIMATE is the guest. He has gone halfway in changing his look to what it would be later in the year, wearing much less face paint and slightly changing his hair. The WWF thought that the reason he wasn't drawing was that his look was dated, so they started trying to modernize it. He brings out AMANDA ULTIMATE WARRIOR, the name she gives herself, a little girl dressed like him. Warrior has her flex, do a cartwheel and do a handstand. This is apparently what intensity and love are all about. I wonder where *she* is now.

[PeteF3]

I THINK that's Warrior's real daughter.

 

This is the WWF attempting rather rapidfire damage control, as they realized--apparently after the fact--that kids were afraid to be around the Warrior as opposed to Hogan. And why wouldn't they? I certainly wouldn't want to approach the Warrior in an airport or outside an arena so I can get a lecture on LIFTING THE FILM OVER MY EYES. I quite liked being a Normal, thank you. So we get Warrior interacting with and praising and hugging a kid to try to mitigate that. But it just doesn't work--Warrior talks about the love that the Little Warriors have for him but still comes off as a nut when talking about Rick Rude or antagonizing Brother Love.

 

And here is the fundamental difference between Warrior as a company ace and Hogan...or anyone else. Hogan was loud and super-intense at times, but he was a guy who happened to be loud and intense. He was also capable of talking normally, of displaying a sense of humor, of showing vulnerability, etc. etc. etc. Rock, Austin, and Cena were obviously the same way. Warrior was never anything except the Warrior, 100% of the time. What baffles me is why or how the powers that be didn't realize this before hitching their wagon to him and attempting to do something about it then. It was a rather obvious problem before WM6 and the build-up to it only exacerbated it.

[Ditch]

Not his daughter. At least, per Wikipedia, he didn't have any children until 2000.

[PeteF3]

Ah. Then per "Warrior Central" (yes, it exists) she was just a kid from a talent agency.

[Dooley]

It's things like this segment that keep me beating the drum that Warrior's in-ring performance wasn't even close to the top of things gone wrong with his title reign.

[soup23]

Oh man what an awful segment that didn't help make Warrior look good in the eyes of kids, he just looked even weirder cheering on this girl with her cartwheels and his minimal facepaint.

[shoe]

This is pretty creepy. You almost think Warrior kidnapped this kid and brainwashed her in his basement. The way he looked at her was creepy.

[Kevin Ridge]

They are trying to humanize Warrior more as he has less face paint and brings out a young female fan. Was kind of creepy. I hope that was his daughter or something. He kept talking about Warrior Love while holding her in his arms.

[DR Ackermann]

This was one of the dumbest and creepiest things I've ever seen in wrestling. Who thought having Warrior get in a little girl's face and commanding her to "do a handstand for the Ultimate Warrior. Do a handstand for the Ultimate Warrior," was a good idea? This is what intensity and love are all about? wtf?

[garretta]

They had to try something to make the man seem like less of a maniac, so give them credit for effort, at least. But it's not natural or normal for Warrior, and Pete's right; he still comes off as nuts when talking about Rude, so the effect is even more jarring than it would otherwise be. I do admit to enjoying him stalking Brother Love, though.

 

The bottom line is that they needed someone who could at least appear human as champion and ended up with this guy instead; by the time they realized their mistake, it was too late to change the plan. But who else could have filled the role, not only as champion but as lead face? Would you have rather seen Duggan, who was presented as semi-literate and lovably dumb at best? Piper, whose promos could at times ramble more than Warrior's? Beefcake, whose sole goal in life seemed to be humiliating people by ruining their looks? Or maybe Jake, who waved his snake in innocent announcers' faces for kicks? A real list of winners Vince had to pick from, don't you think?

[Dooley]

The bottom line is that they needed someone who could at least appear human as champion and ended up with this guy instead;

 

Disagree on that point. Warrior got super over with his schtick but as soon as he became champ, it was all about changing everything that people dug about him. Vince only wanted a new Hogan on top, he did the same thing with Luger and Diesel later.