Miss Elizabeth
| Elizabeth Hulette | |
|---|---|
| File:ElizabethHulette.jpg | |
| Born | November 19, 1960 Frankfort, Kentucky |
| Died | May 1, 2003 Marietta, Georgia |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Miss Elizabeth Elizabeth |
| Billed height | 5 ft 4 in (163 cm) |
| Billed weight | 115 lb (52 kg) |
| Debut | May 1985 |
Elizabeth Ann Hulette (November 19, 1960 – May 1, 2003), known best as Miss Elizabeth, was a U.S. professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame during the late-1980s and early-1990s in the World Wrestling Federation, and the mid-1990s in World Championship Wrestling in her role as the ever-demure and graceful counterpart to the wild and brash pro wrestling character "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
Hulette was originally from Frankfort, Kentucky. She graduated from Franklin County High School in 1978, and held a communications degree from the University of Kentucky.
Career
While working at International Championship Wrestling shows, Hulette met Randy Poffo, a wrestling performer with the stage name "'Macho Man' Randy Savage". They married in December 1984. Their relationship led to a prominent on-air role as Savage's "manager", that is, spokesperson and "lighter side" for the wrestling persona. Departing from the traditional manager-as-mouthpiece role, Hulette, now known as "Miss Elizabeth", very rarely spoke or appeared alone on-camera — Savage's character did not require a sidekick to communicate effectively for him. Instead, the routine often went like this: Just as Miss Elizabeth was about to respond to comments or questions directed at her by the host or other on-camera characters, Savage would cut her off. Savage also acted very possessively toward Miss Elizabeth. The "Macho Man"'s personality dominated Miss Elizabeth off-screen as well, acting very protective of her, and jealous of any attention that her beauty might divert from him.
World Wrestling Federation (WWF)
1985
Several managers were at ringside in hopes that Randy Savage 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, which the unnamed woman then did. That woman was Miss Elizabeth. Miss Elizabeth made her WWF debut on July 30, 1985 at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. Her debut would air on August 24, 1985 on WWF Prime Time Wrestling.
1986
Miss Elizabeth's first major in a wrestling angle was during Savage's feud with George "The Animal" Steele in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) during 1986. In the angle, Steele fell in love with Miss Elizabeth, angering Savage and leading to a series of matches. 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 crush on Elizabeth. She also figured prominently in Savage's 1986 feud with Hulk Hogan and with Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat.
1987
After injuring Steamboat's larynx, Savage defended his Intercontinental Title at "Wrestlemania III" on March 29, 1987. The Savage–Steamboat match, many calling it the best "Wrestlemania" match ever, was concluded after 19 attempted pinfalls, Steamboat finally taming the Savage. Steamboat later lost the title to The Honky Tonk Man. Honky's constant harassment of Miss Elizabeth instigated a challenge by Randy "The Macho Man" Savage. That match, which aired on NBC's Saturday Night's Main Event in October 1987, had Miss Elizabeth persuade Hulk Hogan rescue and join Savage to form The Mega Powers, defeating The Honky Tonk Man and his allies, Bret "the Hitman" Hart and Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart.
1988
The year 1988 would be a pivotal one for Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Hulk Hogan, who had been the Champion and the foundation upon which the WWF's popularity was built, would lose the WWF Heavyweight championship belt in a controversial match against Andre the Giant, who then sold the belt to the "Million Dollar Man", Ted Dibiase. This resulted in a championship tournament at "Wrestlemania IV". Randy Savage won the championship and now claimed the most coveted championship belt in the industry. With Miss Elizabeth alongside him in the spotlight, she was the first female manager-valet to ever reach such a successful plateau. The only other female to do so is Sharmell, who manages and is married to Booker T.
1989
Miss Elizabeth became catalyst for the breakup of the Savage–Hogan relationship. During a 1989 tag team match that aired on NBC and that pitted the Mega Powers against the Twin Towers (Akeem "The African Dream" and The Big Bossman), Savage was thrown onto Miss Elizabeth, knocking her unconscious on the outside of the ring. Seeing this, Hogan scooped her up and, as the match continued, carried her to the backstage area for medical attention. Upon his return to the ring, Hogan was greeted with anger from Savage for having abandoned him in the midst of a match. Savage slapped his partner and left the ring area. Hogan continued the match, winning singlehandedly. Hogan exited the ring and reached the backstage area, whereupon Savage attacked him, turning Savage heel.
1990-1992
Savage remained a heel for several years, eventually taking on Sherri Martel as his manager and dubbing himself "The Macho King" after defeating "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan for the crown in 1989. Miss Elizabeth was a full-time valet and did not officially wrestle in a single match. However, she engaged in a notable feud with Sherri Martel, including several catfight segments. When Savage and Martel began a heated feud with "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire, Miss Elizabeth came to their aid and joined forces with them. This came to a head in "WrestleMania VI" where the two couples were engaged in the WWF's first mixed tag-team match. When Martel attempted to help Savage double-team Rhodes, Miss Elizabeth grabbed Martel by the hair. While the two women faced off, Sapphire took advantage of the situation, kneeling down behind Martel just as Miss Elizabeth pushed her. Martel lost her balance and gave Sapphire enough advantage to pin Martel for the win.
Miss Elizabeth disappeared from WWF television until WrestleMania VII, when Savage lost a retirement match to The Ultimate Warrior. Upon his loss, Martel began beating him, kicking the defeated man, until Elizabeth, who was sitting at ringside, entered the ring and defended Savage. Elizabeth grabbed Martel by the hair and threw her out of the ring, reuniting Savage and Elizabeth.
The couple then held a heavily promoted on-air wedding at SummerSlam 1991 in New York's Madison Square Garden (the couple were officially married in 1984). She figured prominently into Savage's brutal feud with Jake "The Snake" Roberts that fall. However, their relationship only lasted another year. According to Hogan, Savage blamed him for influencing Elizabeth to seek a divorce from Savage. Hogan stated that as he was preparing to film the movie Mr. Nanny on location in Miami, Florida, Hogan's wife Linda asked if Elizabeth wanted to help babysit their children.[citation needed] Apparently, Elizabeth did not bother to return home to Savage. Their divorce became official in 1992.
World Championship Wrestling (WCW)
1996-1998
In January 1996, Miss Elizabeth would return to wrestling as a valet for Savage. She would later turn against Savage and become Ric Flair's valet in the Four Horsemen. She later turned against the Four Horsemen and joined the New World Order (nWo) alongside Savage and Hogan. In June 1998, she parted ways with Savage once again by joining Hogan's side of the nWo, nWo Hollywood. Then, for the next few months she would often accompany Eric Bischoff.
1999
On the January 4, 1999 episode of Nitro, Elizabeth was seen talking to police detectives. She claimed that Bill Goldberg was stalking her and that he even accosted her by the water cooler. She then filed charges against Goldberg. Goldberg is arrested later that night for aggravated stalking and taken into custody by police. However, later that night, Elizabeth admits that she was lying. As it turns out, Elizabeth was a pawn for the nWo so that Goldberg wouldn't be able to have his scheduled title match with Kevin Nash later that night. Due to Goldberg's apparent absence, the returning Hulk Hogan took Goldberg's title shot in the infamous match that would be known as "The Fingerpoke of Doom". Soon after, Elizabeth would accompany Lex Luger and sometimes Kevin Nash to ringside. However, Luger injured his biceps at a February 1999 house show and they soon took time off the road.
Behind the scenes, Hulette was going through a divorce, began seeing Luger socially, and received a sizable breast augmentation. As Miss Elizabeth, she once strutted down to ringside, baring her enlarged chest wrapped in a tight velvet blouse. Despite that one-off moment, Elizabeth was not planning on going down the popular "T & A route". In a 1999 interview WOW Magazine conducted with Elizabeth, she said, "There's obviously an audience for everything, especially the titillation of 'let me show you what's under my top' approach. You will never see me in an evening gown match or anything like that where someone's going to rip my clothes off. I just don't think it's necessary. For those people that it works for, good for them." [1]
After Luger recovered from his biceps injury, Elizabeth would make her return to WCW programming on the September 27, 1999 edition of WCW Monday Nitro. Towards the end of 1999, Elizabeth became much more physically involved in the action than she had ever been. Her new vicious side would be ever so apparent at WCW Starrcade 1999 when she struck Sting by striking him with his own baseball bat. From that point on, Elizabeth would regularly come to the ring with a baseball bat in tow and strike Luger's opponents, helping him win.
2000
In February 2000, Elizabeth managed the short-lived partnership between Luger and Ric Flair. The three of them would be known as Team Package. The trio's main goal was to take down Hulk Hogan, whom Luger had been publicly challenging for the previous few weeks. During the February 2, 2000 edition of WCW Thunder, while Hogan's back was turned, Elizabeth came into the ring, bat raised. However, Hogan quickly turned around and easily out-muscled the bat from her possession. As a receipt for her dastardly act — and in a throwback to his attacks on Sensational Sherri in the WWF — Hogan picked up Liz and held her up high in the air and delivered his patented atomic drop. However, Elizabeth no-sold the maneuver and quickly rolled out of the ring. Shortly thereafter, Team Package went their separate ways as they fought various members of The New Blood. Elizabeth would engage in short-lived feuds with Vince Russo and Kimberly Page.
Behind the scenes, both Hulette and Larry Pfohl (Lugar) were frequently at odds with WCW head writer Vince Russo regarding certain storyline angles. [citation needed] Hulette had already undergone a sizable breast augmentation by the time of her black and leather-clad, "nWo meddling manager" storyline. Russo often tried to devise angles in which private, shy Elizabeth would at long last end up in her undergarments before TV cameras and an arena full of fans. Russo then created an angle in which he would control Elizabeth and her contract against her will. Russo's original intent for the angle was for Elizabeth to engage in promiscuous situations on-camera. However, Pfohl nixed all angles which required her to strip.[citation needed] Over Pfohl's additional objections, Elizabeth took part in her first wrestling matches. She squared off against Madusa, Daffney and Rhonda Singh — all having far more athletic ability and in-ring experience than Hulette, and all resulting in humiliating losses. By June 2000, Pfohl, who had a 7-figure, guaranteed contract, had such a strained relationship with WCW management, that he and Hulette were told not to return to work — while still collecting their full paychecks. However, Hulette's contract had to be renewed every 90 days; WCW released her from her contract on August 17, 2000, in what was officially labeled a cost-cutting move.
Death
On May 1, 2003 in Marietta, Georgia, Larry Pfohl, aka Lex Luger, called 9-1-1 from his home and reported that Elizabeth was not breathing. She did not respond to mouth to mouth resuscitation, and paramedics rushed her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead at age 42.
Police launched an investigation. Two weeks prior to her death, Lex Luger had been arrested on charges of domestic violence. In the home he and Hulette shared, police found pills of hydrocodone and alprazolam (Xanax), as well as anabolic steroids, testosterone and saizen. The subsequent autopsy showed that Hulette died of an accidental drug overdose, having ingested some of the medications with vodka. Though Luger was cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with her death, he was charged with felony drug charges.
In her honor, a slideshow of her career was shown on WWE SmackDown!.
While some websites and news sources have reported her being buried somewhere in Georgia, her final resting place is in Frankfort, Kentucky, at the Frankfort Cemetery next to her grandparents, the Sorgs. [2]
Trivia
- Aside from her marriage with Savage, Elizabeth was also briefly married to a non-wrestler. She married Cary Lubetsky, a South Florida attorney, in December 1997. The wedding was held at the Cuban Hebrew Temple in Miami Beach. The marriage was short-lived, as the couple were divorced in 1998. She later began a relationship and lived with Luger until her death.
- Prior to her release from WCW in August 2000, Elizabeth was making $156,000 a year.[citation needed]
- During one of his win poses in the Capcom created video game Saturday Night Slam Masters, Mike Haggar (who is loosely based off of Randy Savage) lifts his daughter Jessica onto his shoulder in the same fashion as Miss Elizabeth was lifted onto Savage's shoulder (see picture above by 1989).
References
- Tributes II by Dave Meltzer, 2004, ISBN 1-58261-817-8