00:00 Back in 1987, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage combined their might to become the Mega Powers.
00:04 The collision of the madness and the mania not only caused some eye watering color clashes,
00:08 seriously this is like a magic eye picture, but lit the fuse on a three year feud that would blow
00:13 the roof off of WrestleMania V and become the blueprint for long term storytelling in WWE.
00:18 Now let's see if we can condense three years into about three minutes.
00:21 This is Fast Feud, Hogan vs Savage.
00:24 1987, WrestleMania III, a slam was heard around the world cementing Hogan as the biggest star
00:29 in wrestling. While he had toppled the giant, it was Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat who stole the
00:34 show, earning Savage a push. Not too long after, Randy was about to be bonged by the Honky Tonk
00:38 Man and Co. and real life wife/fictional manager Miss Elizabeth ran to get some help. She ran right
00:44 into some 24 inch pythons, brother. Hogan and his guns chased off the goons, saving Savage and
00:48 leading to a now iconic handshake. Both guys approached the handshake like it was giving
00:52 them static shocks, but it sparked a story that would take three years to culminate.
00:56 Hulk would lose the title to Andre at Saturday night's main event, giving us our first screwjob
01:00 as Dave and Earl Hebner pulled off twin magic to swindle Hulk out of the belt. This was all
01:04 the design of the million dollar man Ted DiBiase who paid off Andre to hand over the title.
01:08 Thankfully, the WWF stripped the title off DiBiase faster than Vince gives up on promising young
01:13 stars and declared a tournament to determine the new champion at WrestleMania IV. Savage won the
01:17 tournament with help from Hogan and a steel chair. From there, the mega powers would unite.
01:21 At Summerslam '88, it was the mega powers vs the mega bucks. Miss Elizabeth whipped off her skirt
01:26 and suddenly there was more than one Randy in the ring. While the bucks were thinking with their
01:29 downstairs department, Hogan and Savage went over. But Hogan also went over the line, picking up
01:34 Elizabeth during the celebration and hinting at the first problem within the powers. Savage wasn't
01:38 a fan of Hogan and Elizabeth getting so close. Randy was a jealous man, a green-eyed monster
01:42 maniac would eventually rear its ugly head. But this was subtle to start, just planting seeds.
01:47 You have to admit, Vincent Mann was a wrestling genius back then. Vince has forgotten more about
01:51 wrestling than most people know, like storytelling, how to cook a baby face, or sensical stipulations.
01:55 Anyway, Miss Elizabeth started managing Hogan for his matches too. This was just too much for
01:59 Savage to handle. Fast forward to 1989. At Saturday night's main event, the mega powers would face the
02:04 Twin Towers. Savage dared to dive to the outside and whipped his opponent but didn't miss Elizabeth.
02:09 Rushing to tend to his downed friend and wiped out wife, Hogan made the strange decision to carry
02:13 Elizabeth to the back and look for a medic. He sold the whole thing by acting like Elizabeth was
02:16 on death's door. I use the term acting here loosely. So loosely, it's become untethered from all meaning,
02:21 drifted off into the great world disvoid, and disappeared forever. It was sh*t. A doctor managed
02:26 to save Elizabeth, meaning Hogan would return to the ring, tagging back into the match but causing
02:30 Savage to freak out. Randy slapped Hogan and left, defying the two-on-one odds, though Hulk won out
02:34 and confronted Savage in the training room. Savage told Hogan he was afraid to come after him like a
02:38 real man and said Hulk could never beat him for the title. So the mega powers exploded, meaning it
02:43 would be Savage vs Hogan at Wrestlemania 5. But the question on everyone's lips was which corner
02:47 would Elizabeth be in? Hogan or Savage? Elizabeth would actually go to the neutral corner and so
02:52 would the crowd. Because Hogan was clearly supposed to be the babyface in all this, but the crowd was
02:56 split. He was messing with the man's wife after all. The match took place and Hogan would win
03:00 after hooking up at a Savage's elbow drop finisher. He'd hit the leg drop and the rest was history.
03:05 Three years to build one match at the biggest event of the year, it was beautiful. They didn't
03:09 face each other 45 times, trading wins in one month to build a throwaway pay-per-view. It was
03:13 simple, straightforward, and fantastic. The subtle storytelling and slow build made the payoff so
03:18 satisfying for fans and that's why Hogan vs Savage is one of the best feuds of all time.
03:23 This has been Fast Feud, Hogan vs Savage. Thanks for watching. If you liked the video,
03:27 why not give it a thumbs up, drop a comment with your favorite moment from this feud,
03:30 and subscribe to PartsFunKnown for even more wrestling-themed content like fantasy bookings
03:34 from Adam, explainers from Laurie, and our wrestling role-playing series No Rolls Barred.
03:39 Oh, and the next installment in Fast Feuds.
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