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SHE WAS MINE BEFORE SHE WAS YOURS: LOOKING AT THE FLAIR-SAVAGE WWF FEUD OF 1992

For most of the 1980s, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair were the headline acts in the WWF and NWA, respectively. While Hulk Hogan was a sports entertainer who spent the decade portraying the superhero whom no villain could overcome no matter how big or bad, Flair was a wrestler who was traveling not just the country, but the entire world, often working 60 minute matches with whoever the local NWA affiliate threw in the ring with him. Both were very charismatic in their own ways, but while Hogan was a somewhat limited wrestler who made up the difference with his impressive displays of intensity and power, Flair made up for what he lacked in size with wrestling ability, psychology, and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of dirty tricks. While Hogan fought for truth, justice, and the American way, Flair lied, cheated, and used any means he needed to in order to keep the NWA Title around his waist. They were two completely different, yet both wildly successful wrestlers whom people often compared, and everyone had their opinion as to who really was better and who would win if they ever met in the ring. The possibility of that actually happening, however, seemed highly unlikely, as both were so successful and so deeply entrenched in their respective companies that the idea of either leaving to work for the competition did not appear to be in the realm of possibility.

That all changed, however, in the summer of 1991 when Ric Flair, still the NWA/WCW World Champion, shockingly quit the company (or was fired, depending on who you ask) and signed with the WWF. Suddenly that impossible dream match didn’t seem so impossible, and indeed Flair and Hogan were programmed together almost from the beginning. They worked the house show loop in both singles and tag team matches all throughout late 1991 and early 1992, and in fact Flair’s interference directly led to Hogan losing the WWF World Title to the Undertaker at Survivor Series 1991. The circumstances surrounding that match and the rematch in which Hogan regained the title the following week resulted in the title being vacated and put on the line in the 1992 Royal Rumble, a match that Flair won to become only the second man to hold both the NWA/WCW and WWF World Titles. All signs pointed to a Flair-Hogan showdown for the WWF Title, and not long after the Royal Rumble, that very match was signed to main event Wrestlemania 8.

However, it didn’t. Following a tag team match where Sid Justice walked out on Hogan and left him alone to face Flair and the Undertaker, Hogan pulled himself out of the title match in order to get ahold of Sid in a separate singles match that would turn out to be his last match for some time. Depending on who you ask, this may or may not have been planned before the Hogan-Flair match was announced, but in any event Hogan was out of the title match and Flair was now left without a challenger. It didn’t take long for a new challenger to be announced, and that would be the recently reinstated “Macho Man” Randy Savage, who had just come off a feud with Jake Roberts over the honor of his wife, Elizabeth. Flair and Savage had no on-screen history so it seemed that their match at Wrestlemania 8 would just be a straightforward wrestling match without any drama attached to it, but in the end Savage found himself once more fighting for the good name of his wife.

Part I: She Was Mine First

After the Savage/Flair match was announced, Flair and his Executive Consultant, Mr Perfect, came out on TV announcing that unbeknownst to the Macho Man, Flair and Elizabeth had a romantic past dating to before she met Savage. This was obviously a dubious claim, so Flair said he had photographs to back this up, and he would show them the following week. Though many doubted the validity of Flair’s claims, a week went by and Flair did indeed have several photos of himself with Elizabeth. The photos showed the two of them in the pool, eating dinner, and on the couch watching TV together, and suddenly people began to believe that there could be some truth to what Flair was saying, and that Flair really did have her first.

Savage was visibly upset when asked for comment, and though he just repeated that the claims were not true over and over, he didn’t elaborate. By all appearances, Savage was as surprised as any of us to see these photos and was himself just learning about Elizabeth’s apparently sordid past with Flair, and was in denial about the whole thing. Suddenly, this straightforward wrestling match had now turned every bit as personal as the Savage-Roberts feud.

Eventually it did come out that Flair had been lying the whole time, and that the photos were doctored photos that originally showed Elizabeth in all the same situations with Savage, not Flair. Remember, this was back in the days before Photoshop and while such things could be done, you had to go to greater lengths than you would today, and it wasn’t the first thing to spring to the mind of someone presented with photos showing things they didn’t like. In spite of this evidence, Savage still wanted the head of Flair for even insinuating that he shared a past with Elizabeth, especially once Flair said that while the photos he showed on TV were fake, he had a nude picture of Elizabeth that was “the real deal” and that he would show it on the big screen at the Hoosier Dome come Wrestlemania 8.

As you might imagine, Flair never ended up showing us the photo, if for no other reason than this was 1992 and America was still at least pretending to have some modicum of good taste. This didn’t stop Savage from trying to tear Flair apart once he got him in the ring at Wrestlemania, and it seemed throughout the course of the match that hurting Flair was as much a priority for Savage as winning the title, if not moreso. Still, Savage was in the ring with the Dirtiest Player In The Game, and Flair began using every dirty trick in the book to beat Savage, and so did Mr Perfect, who was liberally interfering behind the referee’s back, including climbing into the ring and dragging Savage to the floor after he hit the flying elbow on Flair.

Flair and Perfect injured Savage’s knee and continued attacking him until Elizabeth couldn’t take it anymore and came down to ringside to support her husband. Flair saw this as a great opportunity to get even further into the head of Savage, taunting Elizabeth and blowing kisses at her as he continued to wear down her husband. Flair slowly and casually continued to pick apart Savage’s knee, but got a little too nonchalant, stopping to “WHOOO!” at Elizabeth and giving Savage the opening to drill him in the face and then roll him up and grab a handful of tights to defeat Flair and regain the WWF Title.

Flair and Perfect were livid over losing to Savage and after having words with the referee, Flair went after Elizabeth, grabbing her and planting a big kiss on her lips. Savage’s knee was badly injured, but he still dove across the ring and went after Flair, but Perfect and Flair together were able to overwhelm Savage and put the boots to him until WWF officials physically removed them from the ring. But beating Savage up didn’t change anything, because Savage was still the new champion and as the fireworks went off over his head, he celebrated in the ring with Elizabeth in one arm and the WWF Title in the other.

Part II: Whose Corner Will Mr Perfect Be In?

Savage may have been the new champion, but there was still a very personal score to settle with Flair. In addition to the allegations prior to Wrestlemania, Flair had put his hands on Elizabeth, and now more than ever, Savage wanted to get his hands on Flair. After winning the title, Savage gave a backstage interview saying that he didn’t even get a piece of Flair, and he wanted the whole Flair package. Savage obviously wasn’t satisfied with the outcome of Wrestlemania, and in a rarity, Savage the champion actually challenged Flair to more title matches just to get him back in the ring. Over the course of the spring of 1992, they wrestled all around the house show loop and Savage always managed to retain the title.

As the spring came to a close, it was determined that Flair had gotten enough title shots, and Savage would face a new challenger at Summerslam, a man who had recently returned to the WWF amidst much fanfare: the Ultimate Warrior. Savage also had a very adversarial past with Warrior, as Savage’s interference had cost Warrior the WWF Title, and then Warrior was the one who had sent Savage into retirement in the first place, defeating him in a Retirement Match at Wrestlemania 7. There was a lot of bad blood between these two, but for some reason that past was not referred to once in the build to Summerslam.

Instead, the story of this match was not one of revenge, but one of mistrust created between Savage and Warrior by Ric Flair and Mr Perfect. One week as Warrior was cutting a promo about his upcoming match with Savage, Ric Flair came to the interview set and informed the Warrior that he and Perfect had contacted Savage and offered Perfect’s “services” at ringside for the Summerslam match…at a price. Flair told Warrior that Perfect’s assistance would surely lead Savage to victory at Summerslam, but the deal was not done yet, and Warrior himself could buy Perfect’s services if he chose to try and outbid Savage.

This seemed ludicrous, as Savage surely would never enter into business negotiations with a couple of guys who tried to cripple him and ruin his wife’s good name. But the next week when Savage came out to cut a promo of his own in response to Warrior, Mr Perfect crashed the interview and informed Savage that all week, Warrior had been on the phone with Flair and Perfect trying to cut a deal, and now the price for Perfect’s services at Summerslam had “gone sky high!”

The weeks passed by and Flair and Perfect continued to claim that Savage and Warrior were both bidding for Perfect’s services. Though it didn’t seem likely that any of this was true, neither Savage nor Perfect would outright deny the claims, and this fueled doubt that Flair and Perfect might be telling the truth, and one of the two would actually be desperate enough to win this match that they would pay for Perfect’s help.

However, neither man came to the ring with Perfect. Both men went on to wrestle a tough, but clean match and Perfect was nowhere in sight, which would seem to exonerate them. Midway through the match, however, Flair and Perfect made their way to ringside…and stood in a neutral corner and began casually observing the match. This obviously distracted both men, and if they were bartering for Perfect’s services, they obviously never told whoever won the auction. Finally Perfect trips Savage as he comes off the ropes, and the announcers proclaim that Warrior must have sold out, but then when the ref gets bumped a short while later, Flair and Perfect come in the ring and attack Warrior, so now the announcers speculate that Savage must have paid off Perfect and the trip before was just a ruse.

The match continues and Warrior turns the tables and hits the press slam, but as he came off the ropes for the splash, Flair nailed him with a chair and knocked him out. Savage regained his senses and saw that Warrior was down and hesitated, knowing that he wasn’t the one who put Warrior down. He eventually decides to go up top for the elbow, but pauses again at the top as he decides whether to take advantage of the situation or not. Eventually he decides not to go for it and instead leaps off the top toward Flair, who he apparently decided must have been the one who attacked Warrior. Unfortunately, Flair was waiting for him and cracked Savage in the knee with the chair on the way down. The referee counted Savage out, and the second the bell rang Flair and Perfect were on him like a shark, viciously attacking the knee until Warrior revived and came to Savage’s rescue. Even after all their history, the two men shook hands and Warrior helped Savage to the back.

Flair and Perfect cut an interview backstage after the match saying that the whole thing was a setup and that Flair should have gotten the title shot to begin with, not the Warrior, but now the title would once again be his. Though he didn’t go into detail, it became clear at this point that the whole “Mr Perfect’s services” thing had just been a front, and the plan all along had been to keep Warrior away from the title, and at the same time injure Savage to the point that he’d be easy pickings for Flair.

Part III: The Perfect Team

Flair didn’t end up having to wait long, as he got a match with Savage for the title mere days after Summerslam. Savage’s knee was obviously still in bad shape, as he was visibly limping. Flair and Perfect recycled their strategy from Wrestlemania 8, with Flair punishing Savage’s knee in the ring and then distracting the referee while Perfect attacked him from the floor. Still, Savage held his own until one point in the match where he was on the floor and Razor Ramon, a WWF newcomer who had only made his debut weeks earlier, came to ringside and clipped Savage’s knee from behind, then threw him back in the ring where he was easy prey for Flair, who locked Savage in the figure four. Savage fought to stay alive, but too much damage had been done to the knee and he ended up passing out. The referee, strongly suspecting subterfuge on Flair’s part, hesitated but finally made the three count and awarded Flair the match and the WWF Title for a second time.

Savage was willing to contend with both Flair and Perfect on his own, but with Razor Ramon now involved, even Savage knew he could not contend with three-on-one odds. He would need help in his ongoing war with Flair and his cronies, and there was only one man he could turn to: his Summerslam opponent, the Ultimate Warrior. Since they had both been victims of Flair’s machinations at Summerslam, they were willing to put their long-standing differences aside and work together to take care of Flair. They formed a team known as the Ultimate Maniacs, and a match pitting the two of them against Flair and Razor was announced as a main event for Survivor Series 1992.

As it turns out, that match would never happen, as the Ultimate Warrior either quit or was fired (depending on who you ask) just a week before the Survivor Series. There are several theories as to what led to this departure, but the bottom line was that Warrior was out and Savage would need a new tag team partner to face Flair and Razor. An attack on Warrior that had already been taped for Saturday Night’s Main Event was used as the storyline explanation for his absence, after which Warrior was never mentioned again as everyone moved forward.

This still left the matter of Savage needing a partner for Survivor Series, and he decided that since the Ultimate Partner didn’t work out, he would instead set his sights even higher and try to get a Perfect partner. And so, on an episode of Prime Time Wrestling, Savage appeared “via satellite” explaining his situation, and that he had a new partner in mind, one who had been a huge thorn in his side all year, yet someone he had a great amount of respect for as a competitor: Mr Perfect.

Perfect, as we all know, was Flair’s Executive Consultant and predictably laughed off the idea of teaming with Savage. But as the show progressed, Perfect began to reconsider that position. Bobby Heenan, who had not only been Perfect’s manager but also had a business relationship with Flair, started making remarks about Perfect being washed up, and said that Perfect would never stand across the ring from Flair because he knew he didn’t measure up. Heenan continued making such remarks, completely oblivious to the fact that Perfect was taking offense to them, and as Vince McMahon and the rest of the Prime Time roundtable continued stirring the pot, Perfect appeared more and more torn as to the choice he was presented with.

The end of the show came and Perfect was still noncommittal, which infuriated Heenan, who began telling Perfect right to his face that he was not getting in the ring with anyone at Survivor Series, even slapping his former protégé in the face. That settled it for Perfect, who grabbed Heenan by the shirt and told him that he and Flair had been holding him down for a year, and nobody was going to tell him what to do anymore. He dumped a jug of water over Heenan’s head, then told Savage that he accepted his offer to team at Survivor Series.

Even though Perfect accepted, there was still a bit of doubt as to whether Savage could trust him. After all, Perfect had caused Savage a lot of trouble all year, and it was difficult to accept that he could just flip the switch like a light and suddenly be Savage’s buddy. But Perfect was up front about the fact that he and Savage didn’t have to like or trust one another, because all that mattered was beating Flair and Razor.

For his first time in the ring in over a year, Perfect didn’t look bad at all, and in fact seemed to easily outwrestle both Flair and Razor. The tide changed when Savage got into the ring however, and as Flair and Razor slowly wore Savage down, Perfect seemed to think that maybe teaming with Savage wasn’t worth it after all. He dropped off the apron and started toward the back, but as he turned back and saw Flair and Razor mocking him as they had Savage in dire straits, Perfect changed his mind and returned to the ring. Savage was finally able to tag out and Perfect came in and cleaned house on both of his former cohorts, hitting the Perfect Plex on both men, though the fall was broken up each time. As Flair and Razor continued to double team Perfect, the referee finally had enough and disqualified them. Savage came back in the ring with a chair and cleared Flair and Razor out, leaving the Perfect Team alone in the ring. It was only a DQ, but they still won the match and shook hands in the middle of the ring in a show of mutual respect.

Epilogue

It had been a long, difficult, and very personal battle for Randy Savage, and one he decided to remove himself from following Survivor Series. He had come out on the winning end at Survivor Series, but had sacrificed much in the process. He had won the WWF Title for a second time, but lost it under dubious circumstances. His partner the Ultimate Warrior had abandoned him, leaving him to put his trust in a man who had spent all of 1992 trying to ruin him. And perhaps worst of all, he had lost Elizabeth, as the couple divorced in real life in the Fall of 1992.

Savage returned to semi-retired life at the broadcast table and Perfect continued the feud without him, eventually defeating Flair in a Loser Leaves The WWF Match on an early episode of Monday Night Raw in January of 1993 to send Flair packing once and for all. Savage never did score that decisive win over Flair in 1992, and the two would never again meet in a WWF ring. However, fate saw Savage rejoin Flair in WCW in the Fall of 1994, and it would not be long at all before their feud reignited, not once but twice, and both times in every bit as personal fashion as their first battles.

But that’s another story for another day.

Stu Carapola can be reached at stupwinsider@yahoo.com.

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