I’d say the MP storyline started with Savage/HTM, not Hogan/Andre. That’s when Liz went to the back and called on Hulk to help Savage on SNME. It escalated from there, of course bleeding over to Hogan/Andre III and the Dibiase storyline leading up to WM 4.
I agree completely with everyone here. By far the best storyline in WWF/E history and the best I have ever personally seen.
I say it starts there because Hulk/Andre lead into stuff like the SummerSlam 88 ME.
Realistically, it’s a totally different storyline but there’s threads going back, all the way to the AWA.
This. Cause AWA started Hogan vs. Heenan Family, which carried over to the WWF and led to Hogan/Andre, which led to the formation of the Megabucks which was a big part of the Megapower saga. The saga ended in WCW even!! (I still forget when/how Liz went from Savage to Lex. Since they barely interacted after, this is the end pretty much....)
And this is a great time to start sharing the timeline I wrote on MS Word. And I still say there's a book to be written by us here. Anyway, get ready, this is going to be a big one! And this will just be WWF (with a bit of AWA)
1982-83 (?) AWA: Hulk Hogan starts feuding with Heenan Family
1984: Hulk Hogan returns to WWF, wins world title. Congratulated by Andre the Giant. For the next 3 years has on and off conflicts still with Heenan Family members. Includes PPV main event against King Kong Bundy at WrestleMania 2.
1985: Randy Savage debuts in the WWF. Shortly after introduces Elizabeth as manager.
1985: Savage starts challenging Hogan to world title matches.
1986: Savage wins I-C title. Has now been showing a possessive yet disrespectful, aggressive attitude towards Elizabeth, who gives him unrequited love. He also is very aggressive and sadistic to challengers, as seen in the throat crushing incident with Ricky Steamboat. Part of reign involves feud with George “The Animal” Steele who is in love with Liz. This lasts on and off until the beginning of 1987 when Steele fails to wrest the I-C title twice on SNME, nor win the services of Elizabeth. The feud officially ends post-Mania III on SNME when Steele loses a lumberjack match thanks to Danny Davis.
1986: For not appearing at a tag team match, Bobby Heenan gets Andre suspended. He fools WWF management by appearing as the masked “Japanese” star Giant Machine, and is eventually reinstated by year’s end…but of note was Heenan was at the reinstatement hearing and not against Andre!
1987: After a pair of awards ceremonies, Andre becomes resentful of Hogan and hires Heenan as manager. This leads to Hogan vs. Andre at Mania III, where Hogan retains. Heels will continue to insist that Andre should have won with a close two-count at the beginning. We’d hear from Andre again later in the year. At the same time, Savage falls short against his two enemies (Steele was in Steamboat’s corner).
1987: Savage and Steamboat have rematches, but Honky Tonk Man surprises by winning the I-C title himself. At first Macho is glad, but then HTM starts calling himself the greatest I-C champ of all time, and Savage takes offense. Savage gets a title match and fans start getting behind him. The match is on SNME and HTM loses by DQ when the Hart Foundation run in. The heels triple team Savage and HTM will finish him off with guitar, but in her first voluntary action Liz stands in between the two to get HTM to stop. HTM SHOVES her down!!!! Macho gets guitarred, but Liz brings Hogan to save the day. After some uncertainty, Hogan and Savage shake hands and the Megapowers form!
1987: Sherri Martel makes her WWF debut and defeats the Fabulous Moolah for the women’s championship. She shortly after demands to be referred to as the Sensational Sherri.
1987: A newcomer, the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase, with his bodyguard Virgil, appear in the WWF. He makes fans and people do humiliating things for money.
1987: The first Survivor Series. Hulk and Andre’s feud continues, and in an interesting undercard moment, Randy Savage captains a team against Honky Tonk Man’s team. What’s interesting is Savage is teamed with Jake Roberts and Ricky Steamboat among others! The same Steamboat both Jake and Savage tried to cripple. The same Jake who went to a double DQ brawl with Savage over the IC title. But they are together due to one common enemy. And indeed, HTM is left alone with these very three men, and decides to run away.
1987: Savage’s issue with HTM continues on SNME when he faces one of his allies, Bret Hart. A small sidenote: George Steele has a match with Danny Davis, and is also mad that his stablemates hurt Elizabeth last time. Hulk and Heenan have issues again, and Andre is very much a part of them as he throws Hogan off his game to help him lose by countout to Bundy on SNME.
1987: DiBiase decides to make his biggest move: buy the WWF title from Hulk Hogan! Hogan after some weeks says NO!
1988: Hogan puts the Heenan threat to rest for now by beating Bundy clean, but gets assaulted by Andre! After this happens, DiBiase makes a deal….Andre’s contract for money for Bobby. And Andre will give Ted the world title if he wins!
1988: The Main Event: Savage finishes his issue with HTM, he beats him by DQ so he doesn’t get the title. Liz again stops HTM from further assaulting Savage, and she’s rewarded when he lifts her onto his shoulders to celebrate. Randy finally gives Liz her day in the sun, despite no title win. Meanwhile, with the help of a evil twin referee, Andre pins Hogan and does surrender the WWF title to Ted DiBiase.
1988: DiBiase does make a few house shows announced as WWF champ. But president Jack Tunney makes a ruling taking the belt from Hogan, Andre, AND Ted. The vacated title is up for grabs at a tournament in WrestleMania IV.
1988: In an effort to weaken his competition in the tournament, DiBiase has a match with Savage on SNME, and of course now has Virgil and Andre backing him up. Liz gets Hogan again to deal with the numbers game. Savage loses this match.
1988: Mania IV, and Dibiase and Savage make it to the finals. Savage has to wrestle three times. DiBiase does beat the two opponents he has ahead of him, but because Hogan and Andre went to a DDQ, he gets a break into the finals. Andre insinuates this was part of the plan, to keep Hogan and out and give Ted a clearer path to the top. He also is in DiBiase’s corner due to Virgil being injured earlier. Tired of the giant interfering, Savage gets Liz to get Hogan. Hogan chairs Ted when he has Macho in the Million Dollar Dream, leading to Savage winning his first WWF title. All three Megapowers celebrate.
1988: Hogan takes a leave from the WWF for outside reasons. Savage and DiBiase have rematches across the country. He has, however, given Andre’s contract back to Bobby Heenan as the Giant deals with Hacksaw Jim Duggan (whom Andre cost a win in the tournament against DiBiase) But Andre and DiBiase still have a working relationship. Months later, the newly named Megabucks surprise attack the champ while Virgil makes Elizabeth watch.
1988: A new event, SummerSlam, is announced. Main event is the Megabucks vs. Savage and a partner of his choosing. Also, Jesse Ventura will be the referee. Can he be bought? Said partner is Hulk Hogan!! Hogan returns and reaffirms the Megapowers, including mentioning that Liz is both “their” lady now.
1988: Megapowers beat Megabucks at SS, again Liz is active but in a way few expected of her. It was hinted at by Hogan, but Liz distracted the heels by stripping down to a one-piece bathing suit. What should be noted is that during the celebration as Savage lifts Liz again, Hogan puts his hand on a certain part of Liz’s anatomy to keep her on Savage’s shoulder. Savage shoots him a brief look.
1988: Savage finds other challenges from his Megabuck opponent Andre the Giant, and Bad News Brown. Savage does say on one occasion that to be as great a champ as Hogan he must beat the Giant too. BNB in the meantime is goading him into title shots by claiming Liz does favors for Jack Tunney to keep him out of contendership. Meanwhile, Hulk has a new enemy: the corrupt prison guard Big Bossman, a new protégé of Slick. The two blindsided Hogan on The Brother Love Show, handcuffing him to a railing and beating him down with Bossman’s night stick. Slick has given another of his charges, One Man Gang, a new lease on life, making him an honorary African named Akeem. OMG/Akeem is no stranger to Hogan, nor is he to Savage, who beat him in the semifinals of the world title tournament and in a title defense on SNME. The two giants would form a team called the Twin Towers.
1988: The second annual Survivor Series arrives, and Savage teams up with his partner again to form a team to go against Slick’s Twin Towers team, which includes their old rival Ted DiBiase and charges of Bobby Heenan. Before the event, there was a segment where DiBiase tried to buy Hercules off of Heenan to use as his personal slave. Not wanting any part of servitude, Herc rebelled against the heels. For a time he’s considered an “unofficial” Megapower with Randy Savage’s endorsement. He gets to be on Hogan and Savage’s team as well but is one of the eliminated members of the team. The Megapowers are the sole survivors, but not before drama where Slick was threatening Elizabeth to goad Hogan into an out of ring attack where he was incapacitated with handcuffs leaving behind his partner for awhile. Slick gets knocked out, and Liz gets the key from him. Hogan then makes the winning pinfall against King Haku. Savage is still worse for wear, buy Hogan starts the victory celebration, even hugging Elizabeth. Again, this visibly ticks off Macho Man. But later in an exclusive interview with Jesse Ventura, the champ claims everything’s fine.
1988: I think Hogan and Haku meet again on SNME, and Hogan asks to borrow Liz to be his manager for that night.
1989: On SNME, Hogan and Akeem are in a one on one match and again Hogan asks for Liz to accompany him. Savage watches in the back. Something seems wrong this evening. Again the numbers game are too much for the Hulkster, so this time Liz goes to Randy to come to ringside. Savage refuses claiming Hogan knows what he’s doing. Despite a comeback, Hogan is overwhelmed by both Twin Towers and Slick again, and this time, Bossman catches Liz in his handcuffs. Only now does Savage come to ringside to make the save. All still doesn’t seem well in the Megapowers. Even though Hogan did the same for Savage in a Superstars match against Akeem.
1989: Royal Rumble….what’s interesting is Elizabeth is asked by Mean Gene Okerlund what would happen if the final two were her men. Hogan is asked the same and not only says he’d eliminate him, that people still say HE is the real world champion! At a key point of the match when the field includes both Megapowers, Hogan “accidentally” eliminates Savage as he dumps Bad News over. Savage is mad and the two nearly come to blows, but Elizabeth makes peace.
1989: The buildup to a Megapowers vs. Towers match on the next prime time Main Event is happening. The Powers appear on Brother Love, where the host insinuates they don’t know about real love. Hogan takes most of the question, saying he loves Randy like a brother, and loves Elizabeth…like a sister. Savage’s interest is piqued again.
1989: It all hits the fan at The Main Event. During the match, Savage is accidentally thrown onto Liz by Akeem. Hogan takes her to get medical aid, leaving Savage confused and to be beaten by the Towers. When assured she’ll be all right, Hogan returns and Savage has the upper hand. Hogan wants in, so Savage tags him…by slapping him in the face and leaving. Nonetheless, Hogan beats back Bossman and Akeem, then returns to the medical area to confront his now ex-partner, who has even more venomous accusations of jealousy and of lust in his eyes for Elizabeth. Savage brutalizes Hogan using his championship belt and even shoves down Liz. Only the interference of Brutus Beefcake and officials stopped the Macho Man’s rampage.
1989: Hogan and Savage do dueling accusatory interviews on each other in the weeks to come leading to a world title match at WrestleMania V, over one year and in the same place Hogan helped Savage win the title. Savage’s interviews are interesting in that if you watch them alone, you think he does have a reason to feel betrayed. But given he dwells on events months ago you can see the old paranoid, angry Macho Man return. Hogan defends his words and actions and claims innocence, but also restates that people still consider him the real champ and he wants to prove it while getting revenge for the betrayal. Savage’s interviews, his madness (no pun intended) plunge him into giving up defending himself and attacking Hulk Hogan and attacking the fans (the “Pukamaniacs”).
1989: On a special on USA Network featuring a series of debates about WrestleMania V matches, former women’s champion Sensational Sherri and the current champion, Rockin’ Robin argue as to whose corner Elizabeth should be in. Robin is for Hogan, while Sherri is for Savage. This will become important later.
1989: Elizabeth has to choose whose corner she’ll be in in the Mania V main event. She says she will be in a neutral corner, drawing Savage’s anger and leading Hogan to run him off. Of note also is Hogan having a match with Bad News Brown, again he is accompanied by Elizabeth. Although Savage and Brown had matches for months, the new narrative is that Savage avoided fighting off the accusations Bad News made and now it was up to Hogan.
1989: At a MSG show, Lanny Poffo, a fan favorite despite being enhancement talent for the stars, comes out to read his customary poem. He looks somewhat different now, with straight long hair and a beard. And shockingly, unlike his past work, Poffo’s poem is in praise of Randy Savage and slams Hulk Hogan! (the relationship between the Poffos was never mentioned on WWF television until maybe the Hall of Fame ceremony) Before Mania V is also the first time Savage encountered the Ultimate Warrior, as they faced off in some champion vs. champion matches, usually ending with Savage winning because of Rick Rude’s (Warrior’s challenger for the IC title) interference.
1989: Hogan wins his second world title from Savage at WMV, in a match that saw Liz escorted back to the lockers when Savage kept going after her. Earlier, Sherri does another interview not only about how she wanted her title back, but how foolish Elizabeth was to let her team split. On the WWF TV, a post-show scene would be shown where Sherri and Savage both take turns lambasting Elizabeth until Hulk comes to the rescue.
1989: On Brother Love, Savage officially announces that Sherri will be his new manager from now on. Meanwhile, Elizabeth expresses disappointment and hurt feelings over the pair’s words, but says she will be in Hulk Hogan’s corner and do whatever she can to help him keep the WWF title. This point is where Liz does indeed get more physical during matches instead of being a bystander or damsel in distress. In the rematches to come between Hogan and Savage, it wasn’t unusual to see Liz finally stand up to the bullies and lay out Sherri, or even slap Savage himself in the face.
1989: Lanny Poffo returns to TV in a reinvented role as “The Genius,” the “world’s smartest man.” Yes this has vague ties to the saga.
1989: In the summer, “No Holds Barred,” a movie Hulk Hogan starred in and worked on while away from the WWF, comes out in theaters. The man who played the villain Zeus (in real life Tom “Tiny” Lister Jr.) suddenly becomes angry and delusional and appears at WWF shows saying he was the real star of the movie and that he’d destroy Hulk Hogan if they ever met.
1989: Brutus Beefcake appears on Brother Love to mock Sherri, saying she’s not so sensational, and that it’s more like “Scary Sherri” (an insulting nickname that stuck for years) This earned him a double team from Sherri and Savage, who further humiliated Brutus by giving him a haircut, a taste of the Barber’s usual medicine.
1989: Brutus and Randy have a grudge match on SNME in which the heels promised an insurance policy. When Savage was in trouble, Sherri does a sinister inverse of what Liz did all those times and gets Zeus from the lockers. Zeus soon attacks Brutus and overpowers him, leading Hogan to rescue him. But to the shock (and possibly fear) of the Hulkster, nothing he did seemed to harm Zeus at all. Not even a chair to the back fazed the human wrecking machine. Only when Savage and Sherri coaxed him out of the ring did the confrontation end.
1989: Savage and Zeus cement their partnership and challenge Hogan and Beefcake to a match at SummerSlam. The challenge is accepted, and eventually, the faces promise that Elizabeth WILL be in their corner!
1989: SummerSlam ’89 comes. The Genius makes an appearance before the main event and reads another poem praising Savage and Zeus. Both Hulk and Brutus have not seen the last of him even if he is barely directly affiliated with Team Savage. Hogan and Beefcake do win the match after Hogan finally wears out Zeus, partially with the help of Sherri’s loaded purse. Liz lays out Sherri again and they cut off her ponytail. Aside from rescuing him at The Main Event, this also more or less starts Beefcake being considered Hulk’s “friend to the end” (in WWF continuity, that is) But likewise, Hogan has not seen the last of Zeus.
1989: Randy Savage beats Hacksaw Jim Duggan for the king’s crown (a “title” started in 1986 when Harley Race won a house show “King of the Ring” tournament). He would henceforth be called the “Macho King,” with “Sensational Queen Sherri.” What’s interesting at this point is Savage’s spiral into the dark side was such that not only did he alienate Hogan, but Beefcake and Duggan, who just 2 years ago were on his Survivor Series team! Speaking of which, what was also interesting was that his Series team in 1989 would consist of nothing but wrestlers under contract with Jimmy Hart, who also still managed his former main adversary, the Honky Tonk Man! And on the opposite end was the man who, one year ago, Savage praised for declaring himself a free man, Hercules.
1989: Now, building up to Survivor Series, Ted DiBiase has turned up in Hogan’s life again, having purchased the services of Zeus, who ran interference in a match with Hogan and DiBiase on SNME. He would also be on DiBiase’s team against Hogan’s, where he got disqualified for throwing a ref around. Besides that, during the PPV it was advertised that there would be a rematch from SummerSlam: No Holds Barred: The Match. While addressing this in a locker room interview, Hogan and Brutus are blindsided by the Macho King and Zeus.
1989: Hogan and Beefcake do win the NHB match, held in a steel cage. Meanwhile, the Genius, a Randy Savage supporter (he also read the proclamation at Macho’s coronation), has aligned himself with “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, and the two have baited Hogan into title shots, first by taping a series of vignettes displaying Perfect’s athletic feats. The tagline was, “Hulk Hogan…you can’t do that!” This led to an SNME match between Hogan and Genius, where the latter upset the champ by countout thanks to Perfect’s interference. The heels stole the WWF championship belt, and backstage crushed it with a hammer.
1990: Hogan and Mr. Perfect continued their feud. Brutus joined in in several tag team matches with Hulk against Perfect and the Genius. Brutus would also go one on one with the Genius at the Royal Rumble, where he humiliated him by giving him a haircut…but got blindsided by Perfect. Going back to Randy Savage’s happenings….now seeing himself and Sherri as royalty, he took offense at the popularity of Dusty Rhodes and his manager Sapphire, who stood for the working common person. At the Rumble, Sapphire and Sherri were dual guests with Brother Love. After slapping the Queen, Savage threatened Sapphire but Dusty came to the rescue. The two men would run into each other at the Rumble match itself, won by Hogan when he eliminated Mr. Perfect.
1990: Savage would get one more opportunity to take the WWF title back from Hogan at The Main Event special. Boxing champ Buster Douglas would be the special referee. He not only lost but was humiliated when Douglas knocked him out with one blow.
1990: To divert himself from his title loss, Savage returned to attempting to put Dusty Rhodes in his place. A mixed tag team match, the first of its kind at WrestleMania, was signed for the sixth installment, where Savage and Sherri would take on Rhodes and Sapphire. In the meantime, Brutus Beefcake would get a match with Mr. Perfect at the same event.
1990: At WrestleMania 6, former Hollywood gossip Rona Barrett had a special guest for an interview segment: Miss Elizabeth. She acknowledged that she’d been away for awhile, and regretted that she didn’t help her charges enough. She promised, should she return, to play a more active role. Mixed tag match comes, and Dusty accordingly has a surprise: the crown jewel, Elizabeth, will be in their corner against the Royalty. And indeed, Elizabeth helps Rhodes and Sapphire on to victory, again laying out Sherri. The heels are incensed post-match, it is not over yet between the royals and the common people. And Savage rants that there is no crown jewel! He is trying to deny any acknowledgment of Elizabeth herself, in other words! In other somewhat related WM news, Brutus is the first person (on “official” WWF television) to pin Mr. Perfect. Genius gets another haircut on the way out.
1990: Rhodes and Savage’s issue continues throughout the summer. On the side, Sapphire has been receiving expensive gifts from someone. Also, by merit of his win at Mania 6, Brutus is up for an IC title shot against the new champion, the man he beat at WM6, Mr. Perfect. (the title was vacated when Ultimate Warrior beat Hulk Hogan for the WWF title) He wouldn’t get it due to a serious real-life parasailing accident, however.
1990: As part of SummerSlam, there would be two singles matches: Sherri vs. Sapphire and Dusty vs. Savage. Sapphire no-shows her match and loses by forfeit. Later, before the men’s match, Ted DiBiase comes out and reveals that HE is the one who bought the gifts and has now bought the services of Sapphire. This distracts Dusty such that Macho King gets the victory. This isn’t the first time DiBiase has been on Savage’s side. He also bought a gold scepter for his coronation. Interesting that Savage continues to befriend his once-mortal enemies.
1990: Savage gets one more victory over Rhodes when DiBiase again helps distract, as him and Virgil bloody his son Dustin who was in the audience. He is now ready to be back in the world title picture, challenging the current champion the Ultimate Warrior. Both him and Sherri have been goading him in interviews, including one appearance on Brother Love where Sherri herself is being interviewed, only to have Warrior come out. After insulting Savage and Sherri, he is slapped three times before chasing her off. What’s interesting is that amongst other things, Warrior wonders if Savage is not there because he found love with someone else.
1991: At Royal Rumble, Sherri tries again to secure a title shot for her man, this time in a more seductive way. Warrior still rejects her advances. In retaliation, both heels interfere in Warrior’s title match against Sgt. Slaughter, who wins the title when Savage knocks out Warrior with his scepter. Warrior presumably is hunting down the royals through the rest of the show. And it must have worked as the Macho King does not show up to honor his spot in the Rumble match.
1991: With the WWF title out of the picture, Warrior seeks revenge by getting Savage to put his very career on the line in a match at WrestleMania 7. Warrior does the same. In the weeks to come, Warrior “retires” Brother Love with a beating in the middle of the ring, after destroying his set. Thus ends the run of the host who saw/was involved in many of this saga’s key moments. Before then, back at Survivor Series 1990, Brother Love debuted a devastating new force to the WWF: The Undertaker. Before the incident, Love turned over his services to one Paul Bearer, both of whom showed their support to Savage in the career vs. career match.
1991: The stage is set for the career ending match. Beforehand, Bobby Heenan, who is announcing with Gorilla Monsoon, looks out in the crowd and notices a familiar face. Elizabeth is in attendance. After an epic contest, Warrior pins Savage after multiple shoulderblocks. His career is over. And Sherri is angry….having lost her means to an end, she goes on the attack, stomping him repeatedly. Elizabeth has enough and again stops Sherri throwing her out of the ring. Savage is stunned to see her and almost instinctively attacks her after the attack by Sherri. After a dramatic pause as Liz tells him…something, the two embrace and have a tearful reunion that moves the fans in LA to tears as well. As a gesture of finally returning her love, Savage holds the ropes open for Elizabeth as the couple leaves the ring. Presumably never to return.
1991: Forced into retirement, Randy finds a new job as part of the WWF announce team, joining Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper on Superstars every week. He also commentates the last NBC SNME with Vince. Oddly enough, reclaiming his true love has not completely changed Savage and he favors the heels mostly, while holding grudges against rivals such as Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. He does however show sympathy when Warrior appeared on Paul Bearer’s talk show, the Funeral Parlor, where he was attacked and stuffed in an airtight casket by the Undertaker. He is also irked whenever he sees his former manager Sensational Sherri, who is now managing Ted DiBiase after appearing by his side at Mania 7 against Virgil, who had rebelled against him finally, and Piper, who supported it. Over the next year he will soften his stances though, and he and fellow commentator Piper often help each other out. Much later, the two even come out to aid Hogan when he was beat down by Undertaker on the Funeral Parlor.
1991: Rumors have started that Savage is looking to propose marriage to Elizabeth (marriage on camera, the two of course were already married for years). A direct answer is not given for some time. One week, however, Elizabeth is invited to be interviewed by Mean Gene about the topic. After professing her love for him, Savage comes to the ring and says he’s been thinking about returning to the ring at 1991’s SummerSlam. Gene reminds him he can no longer wrestle…but that’s not what the Macho Man meant. Pulling out a certain small box, he too proclaims his love for Elizabeth and finally pops the question to the delight of Vince and Roddy. Liz’s answer? “Ohhhhhh yeahhhhhhhh!” The Match Made In Heaven is set for SummerSlam.
1991: In the meantime, Jake Roberts has experienced a change of attitude. 1991 has not been easy for him, he just got over being blinded by Rick Martel and got even at WrestleMania 7. Then Earthquake dealt with his fear of snakes by forcing Jake to watch helplessly as he squashed his snake Damian. Suddenly, he took interest in Ultimate Warrior’s problems with the Undertaker, and he promised to help the Warrior learn the secrets of the dark side if he’d only trust him. After a series of bizarre rituals, Roberts locks Warrior in a room full of poisonous snakes, where he is bitten by a cobra Jake has kept in a box in the room’s center. As Warrior fades into unconsciousness, it is revealed that this has all been a set up, and Jake and Taker were in it together all along. Fortunately the camera crew got Warrior to a hospital where he was given anti-venom. Warrior would take his first of many sabbaticals from the WWF after this and after SummerSlam. Jake in the meantime has become a more sinister individual, and his python has been replaced by the cobra to reflect this change.
1991: Randy Savage has his bachelor party on Prime Time Wrestling with guests such as Sean Mooney, Bobby Heenan, the Bushwhackers, Jim Duggan, and more. Not invited to this nor the wedding were his ex-manager Sensational Sherri and to be more notable, Jake Roberts.
1991: The wedding takes place at SummerSlam without a hitch. But later it’s revealed that there was an incident at the reception. Elizabeth opened one of the gift boxes only to find the same cobra Jake Roberts had used before! Undertaker knocks out Savage with his urn, and Jake threatens Liz with the snake until Sid Justice, a newcomer to the WWF who had served as a guest referee at SummerSlam’s main event, came to the rescue. Sid will fight for the honor of the Savages against Jake for the next months.
1991: To get a chance at payback for what he did, Randy campaigns for reinstatement as a wrestler. In the meantime Sid has many confrontations with Jake and Taker, including one where Sid agrees to wrestle the masked “El Diablo.” Diablo takes a payoff seemingly from Paul Bearer to let Undertaker replace him in the match. Before the two big men can start to fight, Diablo returns and the heels gang up on Justice. Diablo unmasks….and it’s Jake! Bearer brings out a casket, shades of what had happened to Ultimate Warrior, and the briefcase supposedly containing money is opened, revealing a snake handler’s glove and a bag that was slightly bigger than the one Roberts has been using lately. It contains a bigger King Cobra. Sid looks to be in trouble until Jim Duggan makes the save. Interesting how one of Randy’s ex-rivals is coming to fight in his name too!
1991: Sid is injured from in-ring activity and before leaving for rehab, pleads with Jack Tunney to reinstate the Macho Man. Several tag team matches with Jake and Taker vs. Sid and Duggan have to be cancelled….or so we think. As a “mysterious” new wrestler named Mr. Madness signs to replace Sid. Madness wears very familiar flamboyant clothing and has a very distinct voice…
1991: The movement to legit reinstate Savage is strong yet slow in its effects. Savage has to be on his best behavior at the commentary booth to sway things in his favor. It doesn’t help that he often has to announce on matches involving Jake Roberts. And indeed his partner Roddy Piper has seen the consequences of getting involved in the matches, after being in a scuffle with Ric Flair, the multi-time world champion who had just crossed over to the WWF with the NWA World championship (the “big gold belt”) in hand, claiming he and not Hulk Hogan was the real world champion. The fight got so out of hand that Vince McMahon was laid out by an accidental chairshot from Piper.
1991: However, one week, the temptations of The Snake proved to be too much, in many ways. After a quick match, Roberts called out Savage, saying he once looked up to him, but now saw him as a coward who hides behind a woman. Though true at one point, this Macho Man was a changed individual, and the goading led him to leave the booth and head towards the ring, where he was blindsided and tied into the ring ropes by Jake, who then again brought out the King Cobra. And this time, there would be no last minute save….as the cobra managed to bite Savage’s arm, digging in and creating a bloody gash. The attack was so horrific the original airing had to be censored for daytime television. Elizabeth came to ringside hysterical, and Roddy Piper tried to help get Savage out of there and get medical help. But he would not leave the ring and attempted to fight back…but the snake venom made him ineffective as he staggered and hallucinated. Luckily Piper, Elizabeth, and EMTs got Savage on a stretcher and sent him back for treatment. Jake claims he thought the cobra was devenomized, unconvincingly.
1991: Night of Survivor Series ’91. Jake is banned from his match, and furthermore, he can never bring a snake to the ring again. Jack Tunney also finally reinstates Randy Savage and grants him a match against Jake Roberts at another pay-per-view the following Tuesday. As a sidenote, Undertaker with Flair’s help defeats Hulk Hogan for the WWF title.
1991: Tuesday in Texas: Savage defeats Jake but a win in a match is not enough. Harking back to what he did 5 years ago to Ricky Steamboat, he grabs the ring bell but is stopped by the official. Jake takes this opportunity to recover and lays out Savage with numerous DDT’s. He then pulls out the ominous black glove AND he has a bag with him! This brings Elizabeth out, who pleads Jake to stop the attack. But this just encourages Roberts further! After brutalizing Savage again, he yells at Liz, making her beg for her husband’s safety. But that’s not enough for him. He eventually grabs Liz and slaps her in the face! The intensity between the two men is now off the charts, to say the least.
1992: Because of the controversial finish of the Hogan/Undertaker match at Tuesday in Texas, which seemed to see Hogan regain the title after using the ashes in Paul Bearer’s urn, Jack Tunney again vacates the WWF title and declares that the winner of the Royal Rumble match will be the new champion. Among the competitors, Randy Savage and Jake Roberts will be there. Others include Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, the returning Sid Justice, and Ric Flair. Come the Rumble, of course Savage goes right after Roberts, at one point mounting the top rope and attacking from the air. Due to a technicality Savage was allowed to remain in the match (a rule that would be inconsistent over the years…) He fell short on his efforts, and after an epic hour-plus performance, Flair wins the title by eliminating Sid Justice, who was being distracted by Hulk Hogan.
1992: Savage and Jake still go at it. In the meantime, he is also part of a field of five wrestlers chosen to possibly face Flair for the world title at WrestleMania 8. Hulk Hogan gets the nod, however. And this brings us to the return of Saturday Night’s Main Event on Fox. Sid Justice, who was also up for possibly getting the title shot, was furious that Hogan was taken over him, but apologized…or so it seemed. A match was set with Hogan and Sid vs. Flair and Undertaker; during this, Sid abandons Hulk. As a result, Hogan gives up his title match to go after Sid at Mania.
1992: In the meantime, Savage and Roberts have one more confrontation on SNME, which Randy wins. After brutalizing the Snake and celebrating with Elizabeth, a camera man finds Jake hiding behind the curtain claiming the issue is not over yet. Later on, on the weekly WWF TV, the rest of the story is shown. Jake has a chair and is ready to hit whoever comes through the curtain first, it doesn’t matter if it’s Randy OR Liz. Near-tragically, it would have been the latter…WOULD HAVE, because Jake and the chair are stopped by…The Undertaker. Savage lays Jake out, and Taker and Paul stand over his prone body. Undertaker has turned face for the first time, officially on his way to becoming the Phenom of the WWF/WWE. On a later edition of the Funeral Parlor, he would cement this turn by telling Jake he was not on his side.
1992: With the Snake vanquished and now facing the Deadman, Savage is able to move on with his newly-continued career. Because of the Hogan/Sid issue, a new challenger is needed for the world title match at WrestleMania. This challenger is the Macho Man. But more turns out to be at stake, as champion Ric Flair, along with his executive consultant Mr. Perfect (the old cohort of Randy’s one-time [onscreen] friend the Genius), had a big story to tell. Apparently, before Randy and Liz met, she was Flair’s girlfriend. The heels would taunt Savage by insisting Elizabeth was “used goods” and more famously, “She was mine before she was yours!” They even had photos of Flair and Liz together. Or so we thought. Said photos were later proven to be photoshopped pictures of Randy and Liz, changed to replace Savage with Flair. But the damage was done. Elizabeth’s reputation was being dragged in the mud, and it was time to pay the price. But an angry Macho Man didn’t stop Flair and Perfect, who promised after retaining the title, they would show the Mania crowd in the Hoosier Dome nude centerfold pictures of Elizabeth.
1992: WrestleMania 8, Ric Flair and Randy Savage face off in a classic match that sees Savage go full stop at his enemy, even to the point of busting him open. Despite officials trying to stop her, Elizabeth later insists on joining her man at ringside. Savage gives Flair a taste of his own dirty playing by using a tights-assisted rollup to win his second world title. Enraged, the heels go on the attack afterwards and Flair forces a kiss onto Elizabeth, who responds with a flurry of slaps to the face of the ex-champ. Eventually, Savage recovers and runs off Flair and Perfect. To a background of pyro, Savage and Elizabeth are alone in the ring to celebrate the victory and the vindication. This would be the pinnacle of their saga. They also get the spotlight to themselves this time.
1992: Randy Savage, with Elizabeth in his corner, would defend the WWF title in rematches against Ric Flair as well as against other challengers such as Shawn Michaels, who now had Sensational Sherri managing him. But soon after, Elizabeth disappeared altogether from the WWF. This wasn’t acknowledged on TV, but in a news brief in the WWF Magazine that explained that the Savages were divorced. This held true on camera and in real life, and the article featured a message to fans from Randy saying the split was no one’s fault. It was just something that didn’t work out.
1992: Savage would spend the rest of the year continuing his feud with Flair nonetheless, with new wrinkles such as Flair and Perfect stirring up trouble between him and the Ultimate Warrior, who had returned to the WWF and would challenge for the world title at SummerSlam ’92. Thanks in part to the earlier interference by another WWF newcomer, Razor Ramon, Flair managed to regain the WWF title from Savage. Flair and Razor were set to wrestle Savage and Warrior, dubbed the Ultimate Maniacs, at that year’s Survivor Series. Warrior, however, left the WWF again before the event, so a story was presented where Savage made the unconventional choice of Mr. Perfect for a new partner. After having his manhood questioned, Perfect surprisingly accepted. The two managed to have good teamwork and came on the winning end of the tag match at Survivor Series. Moving on from his issues with Flair, the last vestiges of the Randy & Liz Saga disappeared.
1993-1994: As a spinoff to his feud with Randy Savage, Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect now were at odds, which would spill over into the Royal Rumble and an early episode of the WWF’s new flagship show, Monday Night Raw, where Perfect defeated Flair in a match where the loser had to leave the WWF. His feud with Flair would transition into one with another man Bobby Heenan brought to the company: “The Narcissist” Lex Luger. (so in a way, Randy Savage’s Saga also indirectly led to Lex’s WWF career, eventually being considered their “made in the USA” American hero) Savage, meanwhile, was becoming more of a part-time wrestler, and had mostly returned to the announce table, especially on Raw. He would still have a high profile fight from time to time, and was even the runner-up in 1993’s Royal Rumble. He’d later challenge one more time for the WWF title against sumo-inspired giant, Yokozuna, and feud with his former friend Crush, who was also managed by Mr. Fuji (who also managed Yokozuna at the time). This would lead to one last hurrah at WrestleMania for the Macho Man, as he beat Crush in a falls count anywhere match. But by now, Savage’s main job was to be a Raw announcer…yet he felt he had more to offer inside the ring. A change of scenery was coming, and with it the unexpected continuation of a saga thought to be over….