THE MEGA POWERS
Hulk Hogan & Randy Macho Man Savage
1987 - 1989
Written by The Big Rybowski
Tag team wrestling was arguably in its heyday during the 1980s. There were so many great teams competing during that decade, several are still to this day considered the best of all time. Although some of the top tag team wrestlers would go on to have incredible singles careers (Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, etc), there was an obvious formula to almost every team.
They consisted of two members who individually didn't quite have what it took to be a top singles guy. They either had a very similar move set/attitude/style, or they were perfect compliment for one another (power & speed, technical & highflier, brains & brawn, etc). And of course, they would always look and/or dress the same.
That's why when a certain "tag team" came along in the late 80s, it totally blew my mind!
It all started on October 3rd, 1987 on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event. Randy Macho Man Savage was battling The Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental title. Just when it looked like Savage was going to score the victory and the strap, The Hart Foundation entered the ring, thus giving Macho the victory via DQ.
The three-on-one beat-down continued after the match, culminating in The Honky Tonk Man delivering his patented guitar smash to the head. While this was taking place, Miss Elizabeth (Savage's manager) fled to the backstage area to get help for her man. But who would come to the rescue? None other than the WWF Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan, that's who!
After the Hulkster chased away Honky Tonk and The Hart Foundation, only Savage and Hogan - the one-time bitter enemies - remained in the ring. Eventually, Randy Savage extended his hand in friendship to Hulk Hogan, and Hogan accepted. This led to a few minutes of parading around the ring, hand in hand.
Later on in the show, Mean Gene conducted an interview with both Superstars to get to the bottom of what had just happened. It was then that the duo confirmed that the Madness and the Mania were coming together to form "The Mega Powers".
Hold on?!?!? Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage were now a team?!?! The two top guys in the WWF would be teaming up?!?!?! How could anybody possibly stop them?!?!?!?
Of course, looking back, it's easy to see that this "tag team" was probably only formed for the inevitable split. However, at the time this was like nothing I'd ever seen before and I truly thought that the sky was the limit for this dynamic duo.
The Mega Powers did not live up to their hype. After wrestling as a team at several house shows, The Mega Powers really didn't gain much momentum as a team (largely due to The Hulkster taking a leave of absence from the WWE), but the team wouldn't die. Savage went on to capture the vacated WWF Championship at Wrestlemania IV and entered into a program with the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase in the months to follow. After Andre the Giant got involved, the Macho Man challenged Andre and Dibiase to a match at Summerslam 88 against him and a partner of his choice. When Savage revealed to the Universe that a returning Hulk Hogan would be his partner, The Mega Powers were finally off and running. The Mega Powers were victorious against the "Mega Bucks", in what was the team's official debut.
The Mega Powers would go on to team up once again, co-captaining a team at Survivor Series 88. They ended up winning the match, but this was the beginning of the end for this dream team. With Miss Elizabeth in the centre of some dissension between the two superstars, it was easy to sense that the Mega Powers were destined for a big split.