Miss Elizabeth


Elizabeth Ann Hulette, best known in professional wrestling circles as Miss Elizabeth, was an American professional wrestling manager, occasional professional wrestler and professional wrestling TV announcer. She gained international fame from 1985 to 1992 in the World Wrestling Federation and from 1996 to 2000 in World Championship Wrestling, in her role as the manager to wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage, as well as other wrestlers of that period.

Early life

Hulette was born in Frankfort, Kentucky. She graduated from Franklin County High School and the University of Kentucky with a degree in communications.

Professional wrestling career

International Championship Wrestling (1983–1984)

While working at a gym, she met Randy Poffo, who wrestled under the ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage. They married in December 1984.
Later Hulette worked at International Championship Wrestling shows as a TV announcer where Poffo was employed.

World Wrestling Federation (1985–1992)

Managing Randy Savage (1985–1988)

On June 17, 1985, "Macho Man" Randy Savage debuted in the World Wrestling Federation. At that time, the WWF featured an angle in which all the managers in the promotion competed to offer their services to Savage. During a match on July 30, 1985, in Poughkeepsie, New York, several managers were at ringside in hopes that he would name one of them as his new manager. After the match, Savage thanked the managers for their consideration and then asked that his new manager come to ringside. An attractive, unnamed woman then came down to the ring, and announcer Jesse Ventura remarked, "She must be some sort of movie star," referring to her glamorous sex appeal. It was later revealed that her name was "Miss Elizabeth". Elizabeth's WWF debut was taped on July 30, 1985, and aired on the August 24, 1985 edition of WWF Prime Time Wrestling. From that point on, she was the manager of Randy Savage. On February 8, 1986, at the Boston Garden she was in Savage's corner as he defeated Tito Santana for the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
Miss Elizabeth's first major angle was during Savage's feud with George "The Animal" Steele in 1986. In the angle, Steele fell in love with Elizabeth, angering Savage and leading to a series of grudge matches between him and Steele. Their feud was one of the WWF's most popular of the 1980s; it carried on for more than a year, thanks to the feral Steele's continued innocent crush on Elizabeth.
After "injuring" Ricky Steamboat's larynx, Savage lost his WWF Intercontinental Championship to Steamboat at WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987. Steamboat later lost the title to The Honky Tonk Man, whose insistence that he was "the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time" instigated a challenge from Savage, the former champion. In their match, which aired on Saturday Night's Main Event XII in September 1987, Honky shoved Elizabeth to the mat before assaulting Savage with a guitar. Elizabeth ran backstage and persuaded Hulk Hogan to rescue Savage, running off Honky and his allies, Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart. Throughout the Savage-Honky feud, a key point was Honky's claim that Elizabeth secretly wanted him more than Savage. In several of their matches, Honky would try to corner Elizabeth, although Savage would always beat him back. In other Savage-Honky matches, a woman named "Peggy Sue" would harass Elizabeth at ringside, creating an advantage for Honky. At the 1987 Slammy Awards, Honky named Elizabeth "Woman of the Year," but the honor was only to harass her and anger Savage; Savage quickly ran Honky off.
In February 1988, Hulk Hogan, who had been the champion and foundation upon which the WWF's popularity was built, lost the WWF World Heavyweight Championship to André the Giant. André then sold the belt to the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase due to an arrangement they had prior to the match. President Jack Tunney declared that the title cannot be forfeited to another individual. A tournament was held at WrestleMania IV to declare a new champion, which Savage won, pinning DiBiase in the finals. Throughout mid-1988, Elizabeth accompanied Savage to ringside for his lengthy series of title defenses against DiBiase.

Mega Powers (1988–1989)

At the inaugural SummerSlam event in August 1988, Savage and Hulk Hogan - dubbed the "Mega Powers" - teamed up against the Mega Bucks with Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Most of the pre-match build-up centered on Elizabeth, who was at the peak of her popularity. The tease for the match was that if things got bad, Elizabeth, billed as the secret weapon of The Mega Powers, was going to wear an "itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini" under her fancy clothes. Towards the end of match, André and DiBiase were in control, so Elizabeth got up on the apron and ripped her skirt off to reveal her panties, which distracted André, DiBiase, and Ventura, giving Savage and Hogan time to recover after being knocked out of the ring.
Elizabeth became the catalyst in the uneasy – and ultimate breakup of – the Savage–Hogan relationship, particularly due to Hogan's overfriendly, overprotective attitude toward Elizabeth. At his behest, Elizabeth accompanied Hogan to ringside for several matches during the fall of 1988, including matches against King Haku, Akeem, and Bad News Brown that aired on Saturday Night's Main Event XVII. In the match against Akeem, Elizabeth's safety was endangered by Akeem and his allies, Slick and Akeem's tag team partner, Big Boss Man when they began stalking Elizabeth. During a climactic point in the match where Hogan was being brutally beaten by Akeem, Big Boss Man grabbed Elizabeth and placed her in handcuffs, stopped only when Savage ran out to make the save; although he checked on Elizabeth's well-being, Savage appeared to be unconcerned about Hogan.
Concurrent with the Mega Powers' feud with the Twin Towers was Savage's feud with Bad News Brown. That feud started when Brown, during a guest appearance on "The Brother Love Show" talk segment, alleged that Elizabeth was "doing favors" for WWF President Jack Tunney. Savage quickly got revenge against Brown.
File:Miss Elizabeth running.jpg|thumb|upright|Miss Elizabeth played a central role in the storyline between WrestleMania IV and WrestleMania V.
The tension between Hogan and Savage continued to build at the Royal Rumble in January 1989 when Hogan "accidentally" eliminated Savage. An angered Savage confronted Hogan in the ring, causing Elizabeth to rush to the ring to play the peacemaker. After the match was over, Jesse Ventura interviewed Savage and claimed he could see problems between the Mega Powers, something Savage unconvincingly denied. By The Main Event II, aired live on February 3, 1989, Savage could no longer contain his growing anger toward Hogan. The sequence of events began when Akeem threw Savage onto Elizabeth, who was knocked unconscious from the force of the blow. Hogan immediately ran to Elizabeth's aid and, distraught and fearing the worst, carried her to the backstage area for medical attention; the match continued in the meantime, with Akeem and Big Boss Man working Savage over. Elizabeth eventually regained consciousness and asked Hogan to return to the ring. However, Savage, furious over being left to take a beating, slapped Hogan in the face and, after having some choice words, left him to face the Twin Towers alone. Following the match, Savage and Hogan had a loud verbal argument backstage while Elizabeth was receiving medical attention, which culminated with Savage striking Hogan with the championship belt and beating him down, thus splitting the Mega Powers.
The dissolution of the Mega Powers led Hogan to challenge Savage for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania V in April 1989. In the build-up to the event, Savage appeared in a series of televised promos accusing Hogan of "lusting after Elizabeth" with video footage of past incidents, edited in a context to push Hogan as a jealous, sore heel. Hogan responded by defending his behavior. After weeks of speculation as to whose corner she would stand in at WrestleMania V, Elizabeth announced she would stand in a "neutral" corner. During the Hogan-Savage match, Elizabeth got in the way of both wrestlers several times and was eventually sent away from ringside; Hogan went on to win Savage's WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Following WrestleMania V, Savage ended his partnership with Miss Elizabeth, adopting Sensational Sherri as his new manager.

Rivalry with Randy Savage (1989–1990)

For the remainder of 1989, Elizabeth's appearances were sporadic. She continued to mainly appear on the house show circuit managing Hulk Hogan in his matches with Randy Savage from April 1989 through October 1989. Elizabeth appeared at SummerSlam 1989, managing Hogan and Brutus Beefcake as they headlined the show against Savage and Zeus ; Elizabeth, who rarely became physical with other wrestlers beforehand, tripped Sherri to prevent her from interfering at a critical point in the match. Elizabeth closed out 1989 managing Jim Duggan in his matches against Randy Savage and appearing on the Brother Love Show during house shows with Sherri Martel in November and December 1989. In addition to her appearances at ringside, Elizabeth also briefly co-hosted WWF Wrestling Spotlight with Vince McMahon.
After Savage and Sherri began a heated feud with "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire near the end of 1989, Miss Elizabeth joined forces with Rhodes and Sapphire at WrestleMania VI in April 1990, where the two couples were engaged in the WWF's first mixed tag team match. When Sherri attempted to help Savage double-team Rhodes, Miss Elizabeth grabbed Sherri by the hair. While the two women faced off, Sapphire took advantage of the situation, kneeling down behind Sherri just as Miss Elizabeth pushed her. Sherri lost her balance and gave Sapphire enough advantage to pin Sherri for the win. Elizabeth continued to appear on the house show circuit with Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire from May 1990 until August 1990 in mixed tag team matches against Randy Savage and Sherri Martel, with Savage and Sherri adding Brother Love to their corner to counteract Elizabeth. From August 1990, she took a hiatus from appearing at WWF events.