Miss Elizabeth
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| Elizabeth Hulette | |
|---|---|
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| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Miss Elizabeth Elizabeth |
| Billed height | 5 ft 4 in (163 cm) |
| Billed weight | 115 lb (52 kg) |
| Born | November 19, 1960 Frankfort, Kentucky |
| Died | May 1, 2003 Marietta, Georgia |
| Debut | May 1985 |
Elizabeth Ann Hulette (November 19, 1960 – May 1, 2003), known best as Miss Elizabeth, was a U.S. professional wrestling manager and valet. 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 Randy "Macho Man" 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.
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[edit] Career
While working at International Championship Wrestling shows, she met Randy Poffo, a second-generation performer with the stage name "'Macho Man' Randy Savage"; she would marry him in December 1984. Her relationship with Savage led to a prominent on-air role as his manager (i.e., a sidekick who speaks for, and/or adds missing depth to, the wrestler's character), regarded by many as paving the way for a wave of female manager/valet roles in pro wrestling. Departing from the traditional manager-as-mouthpiece role, "Miss Elizabeth" very rarely spoke or appeared alone on-camera; Savage was a big-as-life character which did not require a sidekick to communicate effectively for him. Instead, to add edginess and a hint of comedy to the "opposites attract" relationship of Hulette's and Poffo's characters, Miss Elizabeth was often cut off by Savage just as she was about to respond to comments or questions directed at her by the host or other on-camera characters. Typically, when it came to Miss Elizabeth, Savage acted like the stereotypical insecure boyfriend. On-screen, not only did the "Macho Man"'s personality dominate Miss Elizabeth's, but he was also overprotective of her, and jealous of any attention that her beauty might divert from him.
[edit] World Wrestling Federation
[edit] 1986
Elizabeth had her first major role in a wrestling angle, during Savage's feud with George "The Animal" Steele in the World Wrestling Federation during 1986. In the angle, Steele fell in love with Hulette, angering Savage and leading to a series of matches. Their feud was one of the WWF's most popular of the 1980s—carried on for more than a year, thanks to the feral Steele's continued crush on Elizabeth.
By most reports, Savage was extremely protective of Elizabeth backstage, usually forcing her to wait in a locked room while he dressed for matches, and only allowing her to come out when it was time for her to accompany him to the ring.
[edit] 1987
Hulette also figured prominently in Savage's 1986 feud with Hulk Hogan and—after Savage turned face in 1987—in Savage's feud against The Honky Tonk Man, which was instigated by Honky's constant harassment of Elizabeth. She was instrumental in forming The Mega Powers during Savage's match vs. the Honky Tonk Man (which aired on NBC's Saturday Night's Main Event in October 1987).
Savage was about to defeat Honky when Honky's allies, Bret "the Hitman" Hart and Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart, began to interfere and made the match a three-on-one assault. Eventually, Honky attempted to strike a prone Savage over the head with a guitar, but Elizabeth stepped in harm's way. Honky managed to avoid hitting Elizabeth, but shoved her to the mat and completed his assault on Savage. Meanwhile, Elizabeth scurried to the back and persuaded Hulk Hogan to rescue Savage. Hogan easily cleared the ring (with help from Savage once he regained his bearings). The two looked at each other uneasily, before Hogan shook Savage's hand. The new friends, along with Elizabeth, celebrated in the middle of the ring.
[edit] 1989
Elizabeth was a major part of the uneasy Savage–Hogan relationship, and her presence led to the team's falling out during a 1989 tag team match airing on a prime time NBC special, where the Mega Powers, accompanied by Hulette, wrestled against the Twin Towers (Akeem "The African Dream" and The Big Bossman with Slick. During the match, Savage was thrown onto Hulette, knocking her unconscious on the outside of the ring. Seeing this, Hogan scooped her up and carried her to the backstage area for medical attention while the match continued. Upon his return to the ring, Hogan was greeted with anger from Savage for having abandoned him in the midst of a match. Savage went so far as to slap his partner and leave the ring area. Hogan continued with the match, winning singlehandedly, but when he exited the ring to the backstage area he was attacked by his former partner, turning Savage heel.
[edit] 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. 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. A few occasional catfight segments occurred between the two. When Savage and Martel began a heated feud with "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire, Hulette 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. Hulette grabbed Martel by the hair from outside the ring when she attempted to help Savage double-team Rhodes. While the two women faced off, Sapphire took advantage of the situation and quickly knelt down behind Martel just as Hulette pushed her, causing Martel to lose her balance. This gave Sapphire enough room to pin Martel for the win.
After this, Hulette was absent from WWF television until WrestleMania VII, when Savage lost a retirement match to The Ultimate Warrior. Upon his loss, Sherri began berating him, and eventually began kicking the defeated man until Elizabeth, who was sitting at ringside, entered the ring and defended Savage. Elizabeth grabbed Sherri by the hair and threw her out of the ring. After Sherri retreated, Savage and Hulette were reunited.
The couple had a heavily promoted on-air wedding at SummerSlam 1991 in New York's Madison Square Garden, and she figured prominently into Savage's brutal feud with Jake "The Snake" Roberts that fall. However, their relationship only lasted another year, with their divorce becoming official in 1992. 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, Hogan's wife Linda asked if Elizabeth wanted to help babysit their children while Hulk was in Miami, shooting the movie.[citation needed] Apparently, Elizabeth did not bother to return home to Savage.
[edit] World Championship Wrestling
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. For the next few months she would often accompany Eric Bischoff.
On the January 4, 1999 episode of Nitro, Elizabeth was seen talking to 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 (he was originally going to be accused of rape, but Goldberg refused to go along with that particular storyline). However, later that night, detectives figure out that Elizabeth is lying. Detectives say that perjury and falsifying reports is a serious crime. Elizabeth then changes her story and admits that she was indeed 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, Elizabeth was going through a divorce and she started to socially see Luger as they were often seen hanging out together at bars after shows. During this time frame, Elizabeth would also get a sizable breast augmentation. Liz's augmentation was especially evident during the WCW Souled Out 1999 pay-per-view as she was uncharacteristically sticking her enlarged chest out in a tight velvet blouse while she came down to ringside. Despite that one-off moment, Elizabeth was not planning on going down the popular "T & A route," like in the case of the vast majority of the other females in wrestling at the time. 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] Also in 1999, there was a storyline in place for Elizabeth to become the manager of Billy Kidman, 24 years old at the time, but she objected because it would have been a "Mrs. Robinson-type" angle in which she'd be portrayed as an older woman trying to seduce a male much younger than her. According to Kidman, Liz would end up turning on him and siding with Luger again. However, Elizabeth didn't want to be portrayed as an "older woman" even though she was nearly 40 years old at the time. [2] Torrie Wilson eventually became Kidman's valet.
After a several month hiatus due to Luger suffering a 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 at any other point in her career. Elizabeth's new vicious side would be ever so apparent at WCW Starrcade 1999 when she turned on Sting in his match with Luger 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 with the weapon in order for him to win. In February 2000, Luger formed a short-lived partnership with Ric Flair -- and Elizabeth would be their manager. The three of them would be known as Team Package. The trio's main goal was to take down Hulk Hogan, who Luger had been publicly challenging for the past few weeks. Even "The Hulkster" himself would be susceptible to being potentially struck by Elizabeth's weapon of choice as she attempted to nail him with her ballbat while his back was turned on the February 2, 2000 edition of WCW Thunder. However, Hogan quickly turned around and prevented her from attacking him by easily outmuscling the bat out of 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 to give her his patented atomic drop. However, Elizabeth no-sold the maneuver for the most part and quickly rolled out of the ring after Hogan had delivered it to her. The reason for this was that Elizabeth was seemingly concerned with an upskirt possibly occurring during the maneuver as she happened to be wearing a short miniskirt in which her underwear would have easily been visible. As soon Hogan had lifted Elizabeth up in the air, she pressed her leather skirt up against her legs as tightly as possible so that her underwear wouldn't be visible to the audience. Both Luger and Flair would have their own moments of embarrassment as well as they were unable to defeat Hogan in subsequent matches after they had previously vowed to. Shortly there after, 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 Elizabeth and Luger/Larry Pfohl were frequently at odds with WCW head writer Vince Russo regarding certain storyline angles.[citation needed]Hulette had already undergone a sizeable breast augmentation by the time of her black and leather-clad, 'nWo meddling manager' storyline. Russo was often trying to devise angles in which the privately shy Elizabeth would at long last end up in her undergarments before both TV cameras and an arena full of fans. To Russo (a life-long WWF fan, and former WWF co-writer) this was the only fresh angle that the Miss Elizabeth character had left to offer, as this had never been done before. Russo created an angle in which he would control Elizabeth and her contract against her will. Russo's original intent for the angle was to engage her in promiscuous situations on-camera. However, Pfohl nixed all angles which required her to strip; he also tried to nix angles in which she would have to wrestle.[citation needed]In spite of their objections, Elizabeth took part in her very first wrestling matches. She squared off against the likes of Madusa, Daffney and Rhonda Singh -- all having far more athletic ability and in-ring experience than Hulette -- all resulting in humiliating losses. By June 2000, Pfohl (who had a 7-figure, guaranteed contract) had such a strained relationship with WCW creative/management that he and Hulette were told not to return to work -- while still collecting their full paychecks. However, WCW had a release option in Elizabeth's non-guaranteed contract that repeated every 90 days, allowing it to unilaterally fire her. WCW let her go at the next available opportunity: She was released from her contract on August 17, 2000, in what was officially labelled a cost-cutting move.
[edit] Death
On May 1, 2003 in Marietta, Georgia, Lex Luger/Larry Pfohl (with whom she was living) called 9-1-1 from his home and reported that Elizabeth was not breathing. The 9-1-1 operator told him to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation, but Elizabeth did not respond. Paramedics rushed her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead at age 42.
Police launched an investigation because, two weeks prior to her death, Lex Luger had been arrested on charges of domestic violence. Police found pills of hydrocodone and alprazolam (Xanax) as well as anabolic steroids, testosterone and saizen in the home Luger and Hulette shared. The subsequent autopsy showed that Hulette died of an accidental drug overdose, having ingested some of the medications with vodka. Luger was cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with her death, but 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. [3]
[edit] 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 couple married 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 with Luger that culminated in the couple living together up 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).
[edit] Reference
- Tributes II by Dave Meltzer, 2004, ISBN 1-58261-817-8
[edit] External links
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1960 births | 2003 deaths | Drug-related deaths | New World Order wrestlers | People from Frankfort, Kentucky | Professional wrestling managers and valets | The Four Horsemen | World Championship Wrestling alumni | World Wrestling Entertainment alumni | Converts to Judaism
