That Was Then 2.16.07: The History Of The Madness Part 1 – The Savage Is Loose

“Macho Man” Randy Savage made his WWF debut in late 1985 and met with immediate success. Within months of his debut, he made it to the finals of the Wrestling Classic tournament, scoring wins over Ivan Putski, Ricky Steamboat, and Dynamite Kid before losing in the finals to the Junk Yard Dog, albeit by countout. Even though he hadn’t won the tournament, he established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the WWF with his performance. Just a few months after the tournament, he proved he was for real when he defeated Tito Santana to win the Intercontinental Title.

From the moment he won it, Savage had a deathgrip on the Intercontinental Title, and nobody seemed to be able to unseat him. In addition to being very quick and a solid technician and high flyer, Savage was unpredictable and very difficult to prepare for. He also had no problem cheating or trying to injure somebody if he was not able to beat them by normal means. As the months wore on, the list of failed challengers began to grow, but perhaps his most frequent opponent during his IC Title reign was George “The Animal” Steele. Much like King Kong, Steele was infatuated with Savage’s beautiful manager, Miss Elizabeth. While she wasn’t about to go running off with him, Elizabeth seemed to have some sympathy in her heart for Steele. Savage had no such compassion, and was furious that Steele would dare to try and move in on his territory. Steele got many shots at the IC Title during Savage’s reign, but the result was always the same: Savage would beat him by any means necessary, and then beat him up and humiliate him afterward. Steele may have even been the most sympathetic wrestler of 1986 because of the feud with Savage, but that wouldn’t earn him the IC Title.

When he wasn’t beating up Steele and his various other challengers, Savage spent a good deal of his time challenging Hulk Hogan for the WWF Title. Although he seemed unbeatable in IC Title matches, that didn’t carry over into his shots at Hogan, he lost them all. Still though, he was the Intercontinental Champion and had strung together a pretty long reign. But one day in a televised title defense, Savage met a man he couldn’t put away, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Savage threw all his best stuff at Steamboat, but Nn matter what he tried, he couldn’t put Steamboat away. Savage became frustrated at his inability to defeat Steamboat and, in a blind rage, draped Steamboat’s throat over the guardrail and gave him a double axhandle off the top rope, smashing Steamboat’s throat on the rail. Savage then threw Steamboat into the ring and came off the top rope with the ring bell, ramming it into Steamboat’s throat and crushing his larynx. Steamboat won by DQ, but didn’t get the title and furthermore, his future was in serious question thanks to the injuries he sustained at the hands of Savage.

Savage thought himself rid of Steamboat and went about his title reign, but as it turns out, Steamboat returned and immediately set his sights on Savage. Savage signed to defend the IC Title against Steamboat at Wrestlemania 3, but this time around, Steamboat would have Savage’s old rival George Steele in his corner to make sure Savage played by the rules. Although the spotlight that night was on Hogan vs Andre in the main event, Savage and Steamboat had what many have since called the greatest WWF match of the 80s. Steamboat seemed to have Savage’s number, but Savage regained control after a ref bump, hit the top rope elbow and covered for the win…but the ref wasn’t there to count the fall. Savage became desperate and went for the ring bell again. Steele grabbed the bell to try and save Steamboat from a repeat of the first incident, but Savage again beat up Steele and climbed up top with the bell. Before he could attack Steamboat with it again, Steele climbed up on the apron and pushed Savage off the top rope, allowing Steamboat to small package Savage and get the three count to win the Intercontinental Title.

After over a year, Savage had finally lost the Intercontinental Title. He may have been down, but he certainly wasn’t out just yet. He set his sights on regaining the IC Title in the weeks after Wrestlemania. Before Savage received a rematch, Steamboat lost the title to the Honky Tonk Man in what seemed at the time to be a fluke win. Honky would go on to surprise everyone by holding on to the IC Title for over a year himself, but one of his first challengers was Savage. The word was that Savage was planned to beat Honky and win the Intercontinental Title for a second time, but Honky pulled a political power play to keep the title, and instead of winning the title, Savage ended up turning full babyface after an attack by the Honky Tonk Man and the Hart Foundation in which Honky Tonk Man shoved Elizabeth down and then hit Savage over the head with his guitar. Savage captained a team at the first Survivor Series against a team led by the Honky Tonk Man, and even though it came down to a 3-on-1 situation in Savage’s favor, he didn’t get any kind of satisfaction because rather than take the beating, Honky just walked out and took the countout loss. Savage received several more shots at Honky Tonk Man, but was unable to put him away and reclaim the IC Title.

Though he wasn’t able to regain the title, Savage did forge an important friendship around that time with WWF Champion Hulk Hogan. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Hogan found himself a former champion much like Savage shortly into 1988. He faced Andre The Giant on The Main Event in a much-anticipated rematch of their huge encounter at Wrestlemania 3 and, thanks to a crooked referee, Andre scored a controversial victory over Hogan to win the WWF Title. After beating Hogan, Andre “sold” the title to Ted Dibiase, but WWF President Jack Tunney ruled that by handing the title to Dibiase, he effectively relinquished the title and now, for the first time, the WWF World Title was vacant.

The title was put on the line in a tournament at Wrestlemania 4, and Hogan, Andre, and Dibiase were all entered into the tournament, as was Randy Savage. Dibiase won his first two matches with relative ease and made it to the semifinals, where he would meet the winner of the match between Hogan and Andre, who had both been given automatic byes to the second round by virtue of having been the last two official champions of record. That match ended in a double disqualification, which meant that Dibiase received a bye and would now go to the finals. Regardless of who he ended up facing, the fact that he expended so little energy getting to the finals meant that Dibiase, already a tough opponent, would be the odds on favorite to win the tournament and take the title.

On the other side of the bracket, Randy Savage had a tougher road to hoe. He won a quick opening round match against Butch Reed and then in the second round faced Greg Valentine, who had cleanly defeated Savage’s old rival Ricky Steamboat in the first round. Savage reversed a figure four attempt into a small package for the win and made it to the semifinals, but now had to face the One Man Gang. At 6’8″ and 400 pounds, One Man Gang had a big size and power advantage over Savage, but made the mistake of trying to attack Savage with his manager Slick’s cane behind the referee’s back. The referee turned around, saw what was going on and disqualified the Gang, sending Savage to the finals.

And so it came down to Ted Dibiase against Randy Savage for the WWF Title. Savage had wrestled three tough matches to get to the finals, and Dibiase only had two quick matches, the last of which had ended almost two hours earlier, so he was not anywhee near as worn out as Savage was at that point. To make things worse for Savage, Dibiase had Andre with him at ringside, and Andre had no problem interfering on Dibiase’s behalf whenever an opening presented itself. Savage recognized the situation he was in and sent Elizabeth to the back. We found out why a moment later when she returned with Hulk Hogan, who sat at ringside to make sure Andre didn’t interfere. When Andre tried to make a grab at Savage, Hogan ran over and nailed Andre, but as the referee broke up the ringside skirmish and was distracted with Andre, Dibiase caught Savage in the Million Dollar Dream. Hogan used the opportunity to sneak in and nail Dibiase with a chair, allowing Savage to climb to the top and hit the flying elbow and win the match. Against all odds, Randy Savage was the new WWF Champion…thanks to the help of Hulk Hogan.

Hulk Hogan took a vacation after Wrestlemania 4 to begin filming on No Holds Barred, and so Savage was on his own for most of the Spring and Summer of 1988, defending the WWF Title against both Ted Dibiase and Andre on the house shows. After several months, it became clear that Savage was going to need some help to continue the battle and even the odds against Dibiase and Andre. Savage was in luck, because Hogan finished filming just in time to return and team with Savage in the main event of the first ever Summerslam against Dibiase and Andre. Despite questionable officiating from special referee Jesse Ventura, Hogan and Savage won the match.

They had won the Summerslam match, but decided to continue teaming afterward. Hogan and Savage became known as the Megapowers, and none of the top heels in the WWF could touch them. After Dibiase and Andre, they got into a feud with the new gargantuan tag team the Twin Towers, Akeem and the Big Boss Man. The Megapowers and the Twin Towers captained opposing teams at the 1988 Survivor Series. The Twin Towers tried outsmarting the Megapowers by beating Hogan down and handcuffing him to the bottom rope to trap him outside the ring to get a 3-on-1 advantage on Savage, but they were both disqualified for the act, leaving Haku 2-on-1 against the Megapowers. When Hogan escaped, it was just a formality: the Megapowers won again. But this time, Savage wasn’t a happy man. As he regained his bearings, he looked up and saw Hogan getting a little too friendly with Elizabeth, hugging her, but maybe a little too long. He lifted Elizabeth on his shoulders and celebrated with her instead of checking on Savage to see how he was doing. Savage was not happy, and a backstage interview with Jesse Ventura after the match confirmed what many suspected: Savage was beginning to grow jealous of his partner.

The dissension was quickly swept under the carpet, but was still undeniably there. The feud with the Twin Towers continued, as did the trouble between the Megapowers. At the Royal Rumble, Hogan eliminated Bad News Brown from the match and, in the process, accidentally eliminated Savage as well. That incident further drove a wedge betwen the Megapowers, but the final straw came on an episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event as they faced the Twin Towers. Savage took a bump out of the ring, but as he sailed toward the floor, he landed right on top of Elizabeth, knocking her cold. Rather than check on his partner, Hogan once again was more concerned with Elizabeth, picking her up and carrying her to the back and leaving Savage alone with the Twin Towers. After the match, Savage confronted Hogan backstage and accused him of using Elizabeth to try and weasel his way into a title match against Savage. Hogan was shocked and claimed that he was doing no such thing, but this didn’t satisfy Savage, who viciously attacked Hogan to the dismay of Elizabeth, who was helpless to do anything but lay there.

At this point, a confrontation between Hogan and Savage became inevitable. But to Savage, that was the problem: it was always Hogan and Savage. The Hulkster and the Macho Man. Hogan always came first, and their match at Wrestlemania 5 was Savage’s chance to prove that, as the WWF Champion, he was better than Hogan. Hogan clearly overpowered Savage, but Savage had the advantage in speed, and also was not at all hesitant to use Elizabeth’s presence at ringside to his advantage. Though Elizabeth said she was going to stay neutral, Savage repeatedly used her both as a shield and a distraction to gain an advantage on Hogan. The referee finally sent Elizabeth to the back, and without that distraction to use against Hogan, Savage’s plan seemed to fall apart. Hogan made his famous comeback and pinned Savage in the middle of the ring to regain the WWF Title.

As Hogan celebrated in the ring, Savage stormed to the back, a defeated man. Though he may have been defeated, he would be back to fight another day, and through the rest of 1989, Hogan would have to deal with Savage, but this time Savage wasn’t coming alone. He had made some new friends, and they were determined to help Savage bring Hulkamania down once and for all.