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Originally Posted by Reddit
Despite having faced each other one-on-one around a hundred times, poor Randy Savage just could not get a break against Hulk Hogan.
In 1985, Savage signed with the World Wrestling Federation. He got a substantial push right out of the gate and started to be groomed as a top heel. Yet despite plowing through the undercard wrestlers as he was built up, Savage ran face-first into WWF Champion Hulk Hogan. Setting the tone for the entire rest of their careers, Savage repeatedly challenged Hogan for the title, but the Hulkster won all of their initial encounters by pinfall. Later in the year and into 1986 somebody realized that Savage needed to pick up some kind of victories, so the two began to trade wins. Hogan's wins were all by pinfall and Savage's wins were all by count-out.
In early 1986 Savage defeated Tito Santana to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship for the first and only time, holding it for over a year until Wrestlemania III. One would assume that this would mean a parting of the ways between the two champions, allowing them to go about their own business of defending the titles; unfortunately for Savage, he continued to lose to Hogan by pinfall on house shows and in dark matches through all of 1986, in 1987 in the lead up to a defense against Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania, and then continuing after his title loss for most of the rest of 1987.
Then in late 1987 an amazing thing happened, as the two biggest stars of the World Wrestling Federation - the seemingly-invincible Hulk Hogan and the man he'd been beating like a rented mule for two years in Randy Savage - joined forces to become the Mega Powers! Gone were the days of Hogan pinning Savage day in and day out, which paid off just a few months later as Savage won a tournament at 1988's Wrestlemania IV to finally become the WWF Champion, where all it took was facing an opponent other than Hogan.
Yet storm clouds were on the horizon, as the Mega Powers broke up in early 1989 after Hogan began to get entirely too chummy toward Savage's girlfriend Miss Elizabeth, endangered Elizabeth by demanding that she accompany him to the ring for his matches, eliminated Savage during the Royal Rumble, and abandoned Savage during a match to be beaten down by the Twin Towers. What a jerk. Obviously this boiled over into a feud and the Mega Powers exploded! at Wrestlemania V where Hogan won the WWF Championship by pinfall. Savage got a measure of revenge in the ensuing months, beating Hogan in half of their matches - by count out - though Savage predictably lost the other half by pinfall. This pattern continued all through 1989 and into 1990. Their rivalry in WWF ended in 1990 at The Main Event III, with Hogan yet again defeating Savage, this time in a steel cage match just to break up the monotony.
Savage and Hogan both separately made their way to World Championship Wrestling eventually, teaming together when they crossed paths again, until Hogan betrayed Savage to form the NWO. What a jerk. With Hogan now a heel and Savage a babyface, it was clearly time for The Macho Man to gain vengeance! Only he lost some more, instead. Savage challenged for now-Hollywood Hogan's WCW Championship at Halloween Havoc 1996 (Savage was pinned), Hogan challenged for Savage's WCW Championship on WCW NITRO episode 136 (Savage was pinned), and Hogan challenged for Savage's WCW Championship on WCW NITRO 199 (Savage was pinned). There were only three other singles matches between the pair in WCW, where Savage won against Hogan twice by disqualification and there was one no-contest, but at least Randy Savage was spared the humiliation of dozens of successive losses on house show tours. After WCW folded Hogan went back to what would shortly thereafter become WWE, while Savage poked his head into the upstart NWA-TNA briefly before retiring. They never faced each other again and Savage ended his career without ever having gotten a real win over his rival.
So there you have it. People talk about Hulk Hogan's backstage politicking, but there's really no better illustration than the fact that across fifteen years, two companies, and roughly a hundred singles matches, the one star that was equal to Hogan's fame in the wrestling business was never once allowed to pin him one-on-one.
(What a jerk.)
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