The Mega Powers

Mega Powers
L-R: Macho Man, Miss Elizabeth, and Hulk Hogan
Tag team
Members	Randy Savage[1][2] Hulk Hogan[1][2] Miss Elizabeth[1] (valet)
Name(s)	The Mega Powers The Monster Maniacs
Heights	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) – Hogan 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) – Savage
Combined weight	533 lb (242 kg)
Hometown	Hogan: Venice Beach, California Savage: Sarasota, Florida
Debut	March 27, 1988[1][2]
Disbanded	February 3, 1989[2]
Promotions	WWF[1][2] WCW[2]

The Mega Powers were a tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The Mega Powers consisted of Hulk Hogan, and "Macho Man" Randy Savage with Miss Elizabeth (at the time Randy's wife, though portrayed on-screen as his girlfriend) as their valet. As of today, two-thirds of the Mega Powers are deceased, as both Miss Elizabeth and Randy Savage have died.

History

World Wrestling Federation (1987–1989)

The alliance between Hogan and Savage began at the October 3, 1987 taping of Saturday Night's Main Event. Savage was in the middle of a fan favorite turn when he sought to win the Intercontinental Championship from The Honky Tonk Man. When Savage hit his diving elbow drop finisher on Honky Tonk for the pin, The Hart Foundation (who at the time were villains, all three managed by Jimmy Hart) came in and attacked Savage, getting Honky Tonk disqualified.^[1]

When Honky Tonk shoved Miss Elizabeth, who was trying to stop them, she ran away to the backstage area; meanwhile, Honky completed his attempt to break his guitar over Savage's head. Shortly afterward, Elizabeth returned with Savage's former rival Hulk Hogan, at the time WWF Champion, who came and saved Savage from the assault.^[1] Afterwards, Savage extended his hand in friendship to Hogan, who accepted and the three paraded around the ring with their hands adjoined.^[1] Their alliance solidified Savage's change into a fan favorite, which had been brewing for weeks as fan support grew for him. Later that night, Hogan stated that the combination of "Hulkamania" and "Macho Madness" may become the most powerful force in WWF history.

Formation (1988)

The Mega Powers officially formed as a tag team at WrestleMania IV, after Hogan helped Savage win the WWF Championship in a 14-man tournament.^[1] The tournament was made after Hogan lost the belt to André the Giant at The Main Event on February 5, 1988. Andre promptly sold the belt to "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, causing WWF President Jack Tunney to strip André of the belt.

Hogan and André were both given byes in the first round of the tournament, fought to a double-disqualification in the quarterfinals. This had the side effect of giving Ted DiBiase a bye in the semifinals. Ultimately, Savage and DiBiase met in the final match of the tournament. The "Million Dollar Man" did all that he could to take out Savage (including the constant interference of André, who was acting as DiBiase's second for this match) but he couldn't keep him down. Savage eventually went to Elizabeth, whispering something to her. She ran backstage, as the fans were trying to figure out what was going on.

A few minutes later, Elizabeth reemerged with Hogan. André and DiBiase seemed shocked by the turn of events. Hogan got revenge on DiBiase by hitting him in the back with a steel chair while André had distracted the referee by preventing Savage from getting to the ropes while locked in DiBiase's Million Dollar Dream.^[1] Savage was able to hit his diving elbow drop finisher and got the three count. After the match, they celebrated as a group.

A few months later, with Hogan on leave of absence from the WWF and Savage feuding with DiBiase over the title. DiBiase and André attacked Savage during an interview segment, prompting Savage to challenge the two to a tag team match versus him and the partner of his choosing, which was accepted. Savage then revealed that his partner would be the returning Hogan. They let all wrestling fans know that they have become The Mega Powers and that they would meet André and DiBiase at SummerSlam.

Tag team debut (1988)

Their debut match as a tag team was at SummerSlam in 1988. They went against André the Giant and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase in a match billed as "The Mega Powers versus the Mega Bucks". Jesse "The Body" Ventura, a longtime supporter of Savage's but a longtime adversary of Hogan's, served as referee for this match. The match didn't go as planned for the Mega Bucks. Elizabeth exposed her assets in skimpy panties after stripping off her skirt to the heels, resulting in the Mega Powers coming back to win the match. Ventura counted but stopped at two because he hesitated, so Savage forced the three-count.

Feuding with The Twin Towers and split (1988–1989)

After SummerSlam, The Mega Powers were on top of the wrestling world. However, the two had an uneasy relationship, particularly when it became obvious Hogan would act friendly and/or overprotective beyond reason toward Elizabeth. On two occasions on Saturday Night's Main Event, Hogan was insistent on Elizabeth appearing at ringside for his matches versus King Haku and Akeem for "extra inspiration." In the latter instance, Elizabeth's safety was endangered by Akeem and his allies, Slick and The Big Boss Man when Big Boss Man grabbed Elizabeth and placed her in handcuffs; before Big Boss Man could use his nightstick to strike Elizabeth, Savage ran out and made the save. While Savage showed concern for Elizabeth, he disregarded Hogan, who was still reeling from being attacked by Haku and Akeem.

At the 1988 Survivor Series, Hogan and Savage captained a team that faced a five-member squad headed by Big Boss Man and Akeem (whom by now were being billed as the Twin Towers). Hogan and Savage eventually won the match (last eliminating Haku; Big Boss Man and Akeem had been counted out and disqualified, respectively); during the post-match posing, Hogan again began acting friendly toward Elizabeth, visibly annoying Savage. In a post-match interview, pro-heel commentator Jesse Ventura interviewed Savage, playing up Savage's growing anger regarding Hogan's behavior toward Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth was not the only reason Hogan and Savage had issues with each other during their stint as a team. At the 1989 Royal Rumble, Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage in the Royal Rumble match when he went to put out Bad News Brown (with whom Savage was having a concurrent feud). The two appeared to make amends at the behest of their manager, but Savage was clearly upset after the event (which was ultimately won by Big John Studd).

Things came to a full boil on NBC's prime-time special, The Main Event, when the two wrestled The Twin Towers. During the match, Akeem threw Savage out of the ring. Savage was thrown onto Elizabeth, knocking her unconscious. Hogan saw what happened and carried Elizabeth from the ring to the medical area. When Elizabeth was revived, she implored a distraught Hogan to return to the ring to help Savage, who had been left to fight the two gargantuans on his own for several minutes.

Hogan eventually called for the tag, but Savage, who was furious with being abandoned during the match, slapped Hogan in the face. After some choice words to a confused Hogan, he took his World Title belt, and stormed back to the locker room. Hulk Hogan defeated The Twin Towers by himself. After the match, Hogan went to check on Elizabeth. Macho Man was back there too, who was caught in mid-tirade yelling to Elizabeth that as world champion he was tired of taking a backseat to both Hogan and Elizabeth in the Mega Powers pecking order. Upon Hogan's arrival, Savage turned his frustration to him, accused Hogan of trying to steal Elizabeth from him, and manipulate the belt away from him. Hogan implored Elizabeth to try and talk some sense into him before Savage attacked him by hitting him in the face with the title belt, sealing the end to their partnership and beginning their feud.

WrestleMania V: The Mega Powers explode (1989)

Hogan's first response to Savage's actions was to challenge him at WrestleMania for the WWF Championship, which Savage eventually accepted. Most of the leadup to the match involved two things: the first being Savage showing (heavily edited and out of context) footage to prove that Hogan "lusted after" Elizabeth, after which Hogan would respond by showing the footage in its proper context and with explanation; and the question of whose corner would Elizabeth be in. Elizabeth ultimately announced she would be in a neutral corner.^[1]

On April 2, 1989, Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage, decided to settle the score at WrestleMania V for the WWF Championship. Although Elizabeth was stationed in her "neutral corner" for the match, she was eventually ejected from ringside after too many complications were caused by her attempting to assist both men at different points in the match. After an even match between both, Hogan eventually prevailed after kicking out of a Savage's diving elbow drop before "hulking up" and executing the leg drop to become WWF Champion for the second time.^[1]

The two would continue their feud in the months following WrestleMania. Savage would replace Elizabeth with a new manager, Sensational Sherri and align himself with Hogan's monsterous co-star from the movie No Holds Barred, Zeus (actor Tom Lister, Jr. in-character as his movie character). This extension of the angle would culminate at SummerSlam when Hogan and Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake (with a return appearance by Elizabeth) would defeat Savage and Zeus in the main event, and a December 1989 cage match between the two teams during a pay-per-view event entitled No Holds Barred: The Match, The Movie.

Savage and Hogan would meet one last time for a WrestleMania V rematch on the February 23, 1990 edition The Main Event with Heavyweight Boxing Champion James "Buster" Douglas as the guest referee. Hogan would come out victorious yet again with Savage knocked out by Douglas post-match.

Post-feud (1991-1994)

Savage would turn into a fan favorite again in 1991 and reunite with Elizabeth. Since his career ended with Wrestlemania VII, Savage became an announcer, and while he generally supported the Faces, he would make subtle potshots at Hogan. Later that year, Hogan was a guest on Paul Bearer's Funeral Parlor interview segment. When Hogan was attacked by The Undertaker and Ric Flair, Savage and Roddy Piper saved Hogan from the beating. While this did not officially reunite the Mega Powers, they had (in storyline) become amicable (if not friends) again.

Savage and Hogan both competed in the 1992 Royal Rumble, but in terms of storyline the two more or less did not cross paths for the rest of either wrestler's tenure with the company (Hogan left the WWF in 1993, Savage in 1994).

Hogan and Savage's real life friendship unraveled in 1992 when Elizabeth filed for divorce against Savage. In an interview with Radio WWF in 1993, Savage discussed the divorce, openly blaming Hogan and his wife for turning Elizabeth against him.^[3]

Rumor has it that, Savage gave Hogan a black eye with a punch, a few days before Wrestlemania IX.

World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)

Reunion (1995–1996)

After Hogan and Savage patched up their real life differences, Hogan talked WCW president Eric Bischoff into signing Savage, whom was increasingly unhappy with his diminishing role in the WWF. In his initial appearance on WCW Saturday Night, Savage made reference on air to his love/hate relationship with Hogan and was ambiguous as to where his allegiance was. He aided Hogan at Starrcade 1994 and shook his hand, signalling their alliance. Initially called "The Monster Maniacs" (presumably for legal reasons), Hogan and Savage teamed on January 25, 1995 at Clash of the Champions to battle Kevin Sullivan and The Butcher. On March 24, 1996 at Uncensored, The Mega Powers reunited to take on eight opponents in a Doomsday Cage Match. The opponents were "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Kevin Sullivan, "The Total Package" Lex Luger, The Faces of Fear (The Barbarian and Meng), Z-Gangsta, and The Ultimate Solution. They were known as the Alliance to End Hulkamania. At Clash of the Champions on January 23, 1996 from Las Vegas, Nevada, the duo lost to Ric Flair and The Giant.

Breakup (1996)

The team broke up again at Bash at the Beach on July 7, 1996. This time, it was Hogan who turned heel. Hogan came out seemingly to save Savage and Sting during their match with The Outsiders (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash) Hogan double-crossed Savage and Sting, dropping the leg on Savage three times, then forming the New World Order. WCW decided to work Hogan's and Savage's old real life feud into the storyline, going as far as having Hogan state that if Savage is going to accuse him of his divorce from Elizabeth, then he "doesn't need someone as ungrateful as 'The Macho Man' as a friend." Later that year, the former friends faced off at Halloween Havoc for the World Heavyweight Championship. Savage almost had Hogan beat, but thanks to Ted DiBiase and the Giant, Hogan retained the title and the nWo brutally beat Savage. Savage's ex wife, Elizabeth, who was aligned with the Four Horsemen at the time, begged Hogan to stop hurting Savage, who she still cared deeply about. She covered his unconscious body to prevent anymore beatings and was spraypainted along with Savage.

nWo (1997–1998)

After losing to Hogan at Halloween Havoc, Savage went on hiatus. He returned to WCW in January 1997, joining Sting in the rafters, showing no alliance to either WCW or the nWo for a while. At SuperBrawl, Savage appeared ringside for the match between Hogan and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Savage became a villain by slipping Hogan a pair of brass knuckles when the referee's back was turned. Hogan used the weapon en route to his very first pinfall victory over Piper, and after the match, Hogan and Savage brutalized Piper together. The pair would team often, sometimes with the Outsiders, in tag matches with Savage now wearing similar wrestling attire to Hogan. However, in late 1997, after Hogan lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Sting, friction popped up between Savage and Hogan again, this time over who the leader of the nWo was. A brief feud between Savage and fellow nWo member Kevin Nash ended when they forged an alliance when they realized Hogan was playing them against each other to keep them away from chasing the WCW Championship. The feud came to a fever pitch when Savage took the title from Sting, only to have Hogan take it from him the next night. After that, the nWo split into two factions, with Hogan spearheading nWo Hollywood and Savage co-founding the nWo Wolfpac with Nash. The Outsiders split shortly after when Hall turned on Nash and joined up with nWo Hollywood.

Millionaire's Club (2000)

In 2000, Hogan and other legends formed the WCW faction known as the Millionaire's Club. During one memorable brawl at the end of a television taping between the Club and their opponents, Savage suddenly ran out and lent the Club his aid, turning the tide and effectively becoming a member after tapping fists with Hogan once the fighting ended. Hogan and Savage had reverted to fan favorite status by this time.

TNA parody (2010)

On the March 29, 2010 episode of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Impact! television show, Hogan met with "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal in his office. Lethal, whose character is inspired by Savage, made reference to the Mega Powers, placing himself in Savage's place as Hogan's partner. They even did the "Mega Powers handshake" at the end of the segment.^[4]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Diving elbow drop^[1] – Savage
  • Atomic Leg Drop^[5] (Running jumping leg drop)^[1] – Hogan

• Signature moves
  • Atomic drop
  • Body slam^[1]
  • Clothesline^[1]

• Managers
  • Miss Elizabeth^[1]

Championships and accomplishments

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • The Mega Powers were ranked by Pro Wrestling Illustrated at # 57 of the 100 best tag teams during the "PWI Years" in 2003

• World Wrestling Federation
  • WWF Championship (1 time)^[6] – Savage^[1]

See also

Professional wrestling portal

• Millionaire's Club
• New World Order (professional wrestling)
• Team Madness

Notes

• Hulk Hogan (2002). Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743475569. 
• Shields, Brian (2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1416532579. 
• Loverro, Thom (2006). The Rise & Fall of ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1416510583. 
• Eric Bischoff (2006). Eric Bischoff: Controversy Creates Cash. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 141652729X. 

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r} "OWOW profile". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/m/megapowers.html. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Cagematch profile". http://www.cagematch.de/?id=28&nr=601&name=Mega+Powers. 
3. ^ http://www.misselizabeth.com/extra/interview4.html
4. ^ Caldwell, James (2010-03-29). "CALDWELL'S TNA IMPACT REPORT 3/29: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV show - cage match with Jeff Hardy, RVD, Wolfpack". PWTorch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/TV_Reports_9/article_40273.shtml. Retrieved 2010-04-13. 
5. ^ "Finishing Moves List". Other Arena. http://www.otherarena.com/nCo/finish/finish.html. Retrieved 2009-08-28. 
6. ^ "Randy Savage's first WWF Championship reign". http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wwechampionship/304454124. 

External links

• The Mega Powers Profile
• Official Website
• WWE Hall of Fame Profile
• Hulk Hogan at the Internet Movie Database
• Machoman.com - Official Website.