Last Sunday (February 3) marked, (unbelievably for those of us who lived through it) the 30th anniversary of the legendary broadcast of The Main Event II, which of course featured the long teased breakup of the doomed tag team of WWF Heavyweight Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan, otherwise known as any promoter's dream tandem of The Mega-Powers.
The two seemed made for one another. Hogan, the bulky and bronze, perpetually adorned in his rote color scheme of red and yellow, self-anointed center of the WWF's moral compass. Savage his high flying, rainbow sequined, tempestuous and unquestionably more dangerous antithesis. Their professional friendship and rivalry spilled into the men's real lives in ways that they couldn't have imagined, following one of them all the way to the grave.
Though the feud that resulted from the events of The Main Event II resulted in the most storied portion of their off-and-on 14 year partnership and rivalry, the wars between the two began almost immediately following Savage's entry into the WWF in the Summer of 1985. Savage was immediately positioned as one of the top heels in the company, as every heel manager began a bidding war to obtain Savage's contract, an angle that they ran several times though it was usually centered around a babyface. Unexpectedly, Savage revealed his choice not as any of the existing managers but his real life wife Elizabeth, who had been a chubby fan of Savage's in his father's ICW promotion in Kentucky, transforming herself with a rigorous workout schedule and transforming herself into the vision of beauty she's known and loved as.
The Picture Of Loveliness
Originally set to be cast as devious femme fatale who would control Savage with her feminine wiles, Elizabeth's personality shone through and she ended up as a gentle and demure antithesis to Randy's vicious, ultra masculine persona. The core dynamic of their relationship in their first phase in the company was Savage browbeating Elizabeth for any and all attention she received from male fans or his opponents, most famously George "The Animal" Steele, a scenario that reflected Randy's real life anxieties regarding his gorgeous bride.
The Very First Match Between Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage
Though Hogan & Savage weren't feuding on T.V. at the time, they engaged in a very successful house show program in the promotion's larger markets (Philadelphia, Boston and New York, respectively) in a half dozen matches that usually had Savage winning by count out. However, once "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff who was Hogan's best friend at the time, turned on The Hulkster in the first of what would come to be almost passe' angles by the early 90s where his current sidekick would inevitably grow jealous of his immense popularity and turn on him, betrayed Hogan, the two engaged in the most successful WWF house show tour of the '80s and Hogan & Savage and aside from a short house show run in the Summer of 1987, they wouldn't find themselves on the opposite sides of the ring for nearly 3 years.
Both Hogan and Savage found themselves embroiled in arguably the two best feuds of their careers aside from the one discussed here, the Macho Man crushing Ricky Steamboat's larynx with the ring bell which led to their classic and highly influential Wrestlemania III match up that stole the show from the advertised main event, Hogan's showdown with former friend and mentor turned bitter rival, Andre The Giant. While one might have surmised that in the wake of the biggest event in the history of wrestling that Steamboat, having vanquished the vicious and malevolent Savage for the Intercontinental strap would automatically be positioned as the number 2 babyface in the company. But it wasn't to be.
An Eye For An Eye...Or A Throat For A Throat, As It Were...
A few factors were working against Steamboat's long term ability to remain in that position. Firstly was the match at Mania III itself. Steamboat recalled sitting in the dressing room at the Silverdome, surrounded by his peers congratulating him on the classic match he and Savage had just had and looking across the room to see Hogan sitting alone in the corner right before was had been preordained as the biggest night of his career. Well, Steamboat thought, this won't be good. Secondly, though he was scheduled to headline all of the B-crew house show main events in the months following WrestleMania III against Savage in steel cage matches, Steamboat famously requested two weeks off so as to be at home for the birth of his son.
Vince McMahon agreed, but soon thereafter demanded that Steamboat drop the title to the new favorite toy, The Honky Tonk Man, whose ability to draw genuine heat was unequaled by few in the WWF at this time. Ironically enough, when he was brought into the fold in the Fall of 1986, Honky's intended destiny was to be the spot that Steamboat currently occupied, deputy to Hogan's Sheriff, but despite all they tried to make it so, including The Hulkster himself laying his credibility on the line by speaking highly of his friendship with the cut-rate Elvis impersonator, the fans rejected him unequivocally like a fresh steaming pile of Roman Reigns' "sufferin' succotash".
Vince McMahon agreed, but soon thereafter demanded that Steamboat drop the title to the new favorite toy, The Honky Tonk Man, whose ability to draw genuine heat was unequaled by few in the WWF at this time. Ironically enough, when he was brought into the fold in the Fall of 1986, Honky's intended destiny was to be the spot that Steamboat currently occupied, deputy to Hogan's Sheriff, but despite all they tried to make it so, including The Hulkster himself laying his credibility on the line by speaking highly of his friendship with the cut-rate Elvis impersonator, the fans rejected him unequivocally like a fresh steaming pile of Roman Reigns' "sufferin' succotash".
As They Say, Plans Change...
Flustered by McMahon's seeming obstinacy concerning what he felt to be a completely reasonable request, Steamboat countered with demanding 6 months off, effectively removing him from any booking plans in the foreseeable future. A third factor is Steamboat's unassailable position as perhaps the purest babyface in the history and therefore an unlikely candidate for a match let alone a feud with Hogan for the fact that neither of them were likely to turn, and a match between the two babyfaces had the potential to turn out badly for Hogan, who had nixed a series of matches against Jake Roberts late in 1986 when a sizable portion of the audience began cheering the "cool heel" Snake over The Hulkster. Roberts was turned a few months later, taking him out of Hogan's line of fire for the time being.
Speaking of cool heels, with Steamboat out of the picture, Honky now needed a new foe to take his place on the house shows. Immediately after winning the title, Honky began to brag endlessly about being "the greatest Intercontinental Champion of All Time" (though when you ponder it, when has he ever stopped?), drawing the ire of Savage whom despite being hated also held the respect of the fans for being a tenacious, fighting champion, unlike the cowardly, jellyfish like approach of the incumbent title holder. So in lieu of an actual on-screen babyface turn, Savage simply began confronting Honky and disputing his delusions of grandeur, and the fans who had been looking for permission to cheer for Savage since his debut responded enthusiastically.
Savage's first shot at Honky came on the October 1987 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. Savage is on the verge of capturing the Intercontinental Title for the second time when The Hart Foundation, taking Jimmy Hart's place in Honky's corner after he'd been knocked out by a stiff right from Savage, interfered for the DQ, saving the title for their compatriot. Honky then ordered The Harts to hold a wasted Savage up for his trademark guitar shot when Elizabeth valiantly jumped between Honky and her man, resulting in Honky brazenly shoving her aside and causing her to flee down the aisle. Moments after Honky smashed the guitar over Savage's head, the crowd surged as they saw Elizabeth returning with the most effective of reinforcements: a wide eyed Hulk Hogan, huffing and puffing, his eyes bulging with righteous anger. Hogan cleared the ring and Savage rose to help him, the two backing into each other once the heels had fled. The two men raised fists at one another as Elizabeth begged them not to come to blows. Finally, Savage extended his hand and Hogan accepted, finalizing his turn and "sprinkling him with Hulk dust" as Bruce Prichard calls it.
The Very First "Mega-Powers Handshake"
Interestingly, not much was made of The Megapowers over the next few months. Savage continued to battle Honky in various matches on house show tours across the country, many of them rivaling and even eclipsing the Hogan tours in box office receipts, while Hogan took on a mishmash of opponents as his primary rival, Andre The Giant was generally unable to fulfill a full time schedule at this point.
The next important development, and probably the most crucial one from a backstage perspective came in late January 1988 before the initial "The Main Event" program a primetime version of "Saturday Night's Main Event" broadcast shown on the first Friday night in February. Vince informed a shocked and confused Honky Tonk Man that he was to lose to Savage at the event, flee the ring, and "never be seen again". When Honky pressed Vince as to exactly what this meant, he was given vague assurances that he would be "repackaged" down the line. Seeing thousands of dollars in main event payoffs abruptly going out the window, Honky called legendary negotiator Jim Barnett at Jim Crockett Promotions and cut a deal to jump sides before he was forced to do the job. An irate Vince, after hearing out Honky's fears and reasoning for such a clandestine deal, insisted that "are a million finishes", and changed the match ending to a count out. Following the bout, Elizabeth again placed herself in harms way but this time Savage dived in between them, chasing Honky off, and then insisting that he hold the ropes open for Elizabeth in contrast to his demands that she do the same for him during his prime as a heel and providing a visual representation of the change in the core dynamic of his character. Now, instead of Elizabeth's chastiser he was her protector.
Two Dave Hebners...Perhaps The Single Greatest Angle Of All Time?
Prompted perhaps to reconsider his long term plans or maybe just wanting to avoid drawing Savage's ire, Vince changed the planned WWF Title reign of Ted DiBiase following the twin referee debacle orchestrated by Ted DiBiase at the ending of the Hogan-Andre match on The Main Event and the resulting tournament was instead flipped to Savage outlasting and taking the title in the final match of WrestleMania IV. To punctuate the friendship between the two, Hogan not only came out and saved Savage from a beating at the hands of DiBiase and Andre on the March Saturday Night's Main Event preceding WrestleMania, but also got revenge on the two by costing the Million Dollar Man the title in the final match of tournament, smashing him over the back with a steel chair as Referee Dave Hebner was distracted with Andre after he'd attempted to interfere several times during the match.
In What Will Grow To Become A Trend, Hulk Hogan "Celebrates" A Randy Savage Title Win.
With a suitable replacement now in place, Hogan took off for several months to film "No Holds Barred" and prepare for the birth of his daughter, Brooke, while Savage slipped into the feud with DiBiase and Andre was diverted to a house show program with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan until Hogan returned in the Summer. Andre The Giant and Bobby Heenan baited Savage during a podium interview, allowing DiBiase & Virgil to get the jump on him, and Virgil held Elizabeth and made her watch as the two heels beat her man down. In the weeks following, the WWF ran several "Update" segments that are almost laughable in the predictability of their outcome, pondering who would take up the challenge and join Savage to face the two at the inaugural SummerSlam. But sometimes you need to deliver the fans what they want and expect, and savvy fans should be able to see much of whats coming if its executed logically.
The Mega-Powers Are Officially A Team!
The SummerSlam match effectively ended both the DiBiase and Andre feuds and solidified the MegaPowers as a unit (down to the matching gear), while also subtly establishing Hogan as the dominant member of the team by allowing him to score the winning pinfall, not to mention his embrace of Elizabeth as she wore her "little teeny itsy bitsy yellow polka dot bikini" which ended up as a skirt with a swimsuit bottom as Savage's real life insecurities wouldn't allow him to permit his wife to be exposed too fully before the slobbering masses, a window into his psyche that would be exploited later on in the ultimate turning point of this saga.
With DiBiase and Andre now sufficiently vanquished, a pair of seemingly unlikely candidates were chosen for the next opponents to threaten the duo. The former Big Bubba Rogers, poached from mid-card purgatory in Jim Crockett Promotions, and given the gimmick of the "Big Boss Man", a vicious prison guard based on his occupation before his entry in the professional wrestling business, was programmed with Hogan, famously handcuffing him to a guardrail and beating him down with his nightstick on the Brother Love Show.
The Hulkster Serves Hard Time
The choice for Savage's new dance partner was both somewhat underwhelming and a bit of a head scratcher. For some reason, the WWF braintrust saw fit to convert One Man Gang, who had been a very effective heel in the UWF in 1987 and also the WWF to a certain extent, into Akeem, a very inside joke on Dusty Rhodes' perceived status as a white man trying to convey a "black" affectation. Why they chose to sacrifice a credible heel for a comedy gimmick while still programming him as a main event sort of baffles me, especially since there was no angle to setup the program between him and the world champion, the only reason presented as to why they would be rivals was the fact that they were both associated with Hogan and Bossman respectively.
One Man Gang Discusses Vince Turning Him Into "Akeem".
But really, the feud between The Mega-Powers and The Twin Towers was merely a vehicle to establish and exploit the tension between Savage and Hogan. Each team co-captained their respective squads at the Survivor Series, and Hogan was notably given his own solo entrance after Savage was introduced with the rest of the team, and for the first time their gear was mismatched, Savage wearing yellow kneepads and the "Megapowers" trunks while Hogan wore his traditional gear, and we saw the first indication that anything was amiss between the two when Savage seemed to be irate at Hogan's embrace of Elizabeth during the post-match celebration, a reaction that Jesse Ventura harped on in the interview at the end of the broadcast.
From then on, the tension between the two was touched on with increasing frequency we entered 1989. Hogan inadvertently eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble as he was tangled in the ropes with Bad News Brown and the two came to blows before being calmed down by Elizabeth.
Hogan came out and saved Savage from a Towers beat-down on an episode of WWF Superstars, and Savage reacted by being upset at Hogan's interference and grandstanding following the bout, directing Elizabeth out of the ring before Hogan could engage her in the celebration.
Soon thereafter, Hogan faced Akeem on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, and when he faced a similar beat down, Savage refused to get involved as Elizabeth begged for his assistance as they watched on a monitor, interjecting himself only when Elizabeth herself was threatened, ominously lingering over Hogan with the steel chair in his hands even after the heels had been chased away.
This all led to a Mega-Powers Twin Towers match up being booked for The Main Event II broadcast. Before, the team made an appearance on The Brother Love Show, where Hogan admitted that he loved Elizabeth..."like a sister", leading to Savage doing a double-take and openly seething in reaction to the comment. Nonetheless, he seemed to brush off his anger and both were focused going into the big showdown on February 3.
The match seemed to be going fine until fate intervened and Akeem tossed Savage out of the ring and onto Elizabeth, crushing her in a bump that seems incredible today though that reaction is no doubt informed by her perceived "fragility" as opposed to her actual physical durability. With Savage and Elizabeth both down, Hogan ran over to tend to both of them, with Savage rising as Hogan cradled his woman in his arms. As Savage stared and pointed accusingly, Akeem pulled him into the ring just as he seemed poised to strike and Hogan ran to the back with Elizabeth in his arms like a Universal Monster from the '50s. In a bit of incredibly bad acting, Hogan begged and begged Elizabeth to come to even though at worst she probably just suffered a concussion. As Savage battled both Towers in the ring, Elizabeth awoke, and confused that Hogan was at her side and not in the ring, implored him to go back and "help Randy". Hogan took his corner just as Savage was mounting a comeback, only to earn a slap to the face as Randy took his belt and left Hogan on his own. After quickly dispatching of Bossman and Akeem, Hogan himself stormed back to the first aid center where he'd taken, Elizabeth, demanding an explanation as Randy ranted incessantly Elizabeth about being "number 3 in the Mega-Powers".
All of Savage's fears regarding his partner had were seemingly becoming reality, and his insecurities had reached their peak. Not only had Hogan eclipsed him as the more prominent member of the team, coveted both his title and his woman, and he had eclipsed Savage in his role as her savior and protector as well. Seemingly on the verge of a psychotic break, Savage had no choice to save his own sanity and sense of self but to lash out and attack Hogan, smashing him with the title belt and violently tossing Elizabeth to the floor when she lay over Hogan to protect him from further attack. Savage had completed his reversion back to his original heel character, though this was a more violent, paranoid version. Later in the broadcast, Hogan, deep in a state of rage and denial, finally snapped, going on a rampage through the locker room and attacking several babyfaces as he screamed Randy's name.
Savage's breakdown seemed to reach it's climax following the Saturday Night's Main Event the following month, when Elizabeth announced that she would indeed be in a "neutral corner" at WrestleMania V when they battled for the WWF Title, supporting both men but favoring neither. In the wake of this, "Macho Madness" became a self fulfilling prophecy and Savage disintegrated into a sweat soaked, wild eyed, enraged beast keen on revenge as everything that his ego had been based around the past four years seemed to crumble around him. He had been rendered ripe for the picking.
One day short of two months after Savage's turn, the day had arrived, WrestleMania V, in the thematically appropriate setting of Trump Plaza, site of WrestleMania IV and Macho Man's title win one year earlier.
The match, while fun and certainly not bad, seems a bit constrained by the story line elements in the match and lacks the energy and urgency of their 85 & 86 matches, though Savage goes all out, enduring a Hogan running body slam from the center of the ring to the floor while suffering from a life threatening staph infection in his elbow that necessitated the white bandage he wears during the match. Much of the match's focus centers around Elizabeth until she is ejected by the referee before the final third of the bout. It's sense of drama is also hurt by its inevitable conclusion. The program would've had more legs to it had Savage been able to somehow hold onto the title, either via a disqualification loss or god forbid by defeating Hogan somehow, but in the end the Hogan formula of big boot and leg drop was not to be varied from at this point in time. Savage was effectively dispatched and back in the role of top heel that he'd necessarily abandoned when Steamboat took his hiatus and Hogan had reascended his throne as only the second 2-time WWF Champion at that point of time.
The feud lasted on the house show circuit through the Summer returning to the formula of their first run with Savage mostly winning by count-out to build to return matches, but their rivalry was almost instantly diluted by the additions of Brutus Beefcake and Zeus into the picture, one to promote Hogan's best friend into the main event picture and the second to bolster his first starring role. After SummerSlam 1989, Savage was saddled with the "King" gimmick that while previously being a solidly mid-card appellation he managed to make his own. The next year at Main Event III, they had their final match against each other with newly crowned Heavyweight Boxing Champion Buster Douglas (replacing Mike Tyson) as the special guest referee.
Back in 1989, to the casual viewer, there seemed to be nothing questionable about Hogan's comments and actions that would've prompted Savage to unhinge in the way that he did. In hind sight it can be construed as a very conscious effort on his part to target and exploit Macho Man's one Achilles heel, his jealousy and paranoia surrounding Elizabeth. And given what we know now about Hogan's predilection for sleeping with his friends' wives, there is even more food for thought here. Could Hogan's actions following Survivor Series been all a devious plot to unhinge Randy and push him to brink, thus prompting Hogan back into the title picture all the while making it seem as though Savage was the villain in the scenario? On the WWE "Rivalries" DVD that they released several years ago, C.M. Punk commented on this, telling the story of the feud from Macho Man's perspective and framing Hogan as the villain. As time has passed, retrospect does not look fondly upon The Hulkster, and besides, what kind of a person has nearly every one of his friends turn on him violently? Even Brutus Beefcake!
Over the next decade, Hogan and Savage found themselves both on the same side and opposite sides of the ring, and their real life friendship has many notable ups and downs, much of it stemming from Randy's real life divorce from Elizabeth in 1992. Savage was no doubt the best opponent and partner that Hogan ever had, and seemed to be utilized whenever Hulk wanted someone to team or feud with that he felt comfortable he could draw money with. Incredibly, Savage lost the WCW World Title to Hogan twice, both times on the day after the ppv after he'd won it. In all six of the world title reigns he enjoyed over his career in the WWF and WCW, Randy Savage dropped the titles to only two men, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. Though his reputation for handling business in a professional manner was lauded by his peers, Savage seemed to enjoy taking a bit of a career full of Hogan-related frustrations out on their perpetrator in their last match against each other in July 1999 on Nitro, whipping him viciously with his own weight belt until you can see Hogan clearly ask beg him to lighten up as the beating seems to have no end in sight. Later in life, he challenged Hogan to a real life fight for charity and called him out in a notorious dis track on his rap album.
According to Hogan, he and Savage ran into each other in a Florida hospital months before Savage died. Perhaps Randy had finally decided to put down the sword, as many in the wrestling business who knew him and ran into him later in life found him unrecognizable, his beard white and physique that of a normal man in his late '50s. Some have disputed this claim, and as have said, when Hogan opens his mouth...That said, he was chosen to induct Savage in the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2015.
Like Flair & Rhodes, Austin & McMahon, Hart & Michaels, and Lawler & Dundee, Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage are eternally married to each other in the annals of wrestling history in a dance of admiration and acrimony that has only grown in legend in the last 30 years. The arc from Saturday Night's Main Event in October 1987 to WrestleMania V is perhaps the most carefully paced and effectively executed long term story line in the history of pro wrestling, a fairy tale of brotherhood told in Shakespearean beats of bombast, bravado and perceived lust torn asunder by one man's inability to resist the charms of his own ego and another's inexorable decline into the toxic masculinity that created and summarily destroyed him.
