Did Savage and Hogan reconcile?

[Tired]

Fans finally got the news that they had been waiting for when the WWE announced that 'Macho Man' Randy Savage will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. However, the news came with a twist as WWE also announced that long-time rival Hulk Hogan will be inducting him. But did Savage and Hogan ever reconcile? The answer appears to be NO.

Savage and Hogan once had a famous friendship. Little known facts about them was the Hogan pushed for Savage to become WWF Champion at WrestleMania IV, and then helped Savage negotiate his rather generous WCW contract. But during their time in WCW, the pair had a major falling out. It is not known what happened, but many former WCW stars claimed that they had exchanged punches on two occasions. Savage's distrust of Hogan led to Savage refusing to work a TNA match with Hogan, and then walking out of the company after a very short run. Savage had told people that he had started carrying a knife to protect himself. Hogan would badmouth Savage for years, and Savage even released a rap song mocking Hogan. After getting married for the last time, Savage refused to even speak about Hogan until he died. Hogan insisted that the pair had made peace, a claim that was rebuked by virtually everyone who knew Savage.

This led to some fans believing that Hogan was a terrible choice to induct Randy. Both Hogan and Savage's brother Lanny Poffo have recently claimed that Hogan and Savage did make peace before he died. It is not known whose idea it was to have Hogan induct Savage, but Lanny has consented to it. Hogan said that he has already planned the induction out with Savage's family and they have all given their approval.

But earlier today, Lanny admitted that Savage and Hogan did NOT make peace. Lanny gave Hogan his blessing to use the Hall of Fame induction to make peace with Randy.

Why has it taken so long to induct Savage into the HoF? Part of the issue was his rivalry with Vince McMahon. People close to McMahon thought that he felt betrayed by Savage when he left for WCW as they had a 'father-son' relationship. However, there are also persistent rumours that Savage took Stephanie McMahon's virginity when she was just 17 years old. McMahon allegedly discovered this after Savage had left for WCW. Many office employees had noted that McMahon had no interest in working with Savage again. When anyone mentioned Savage's name, McMahon was said to lose interest and zone out. When Savage died in 2011, McMahon was in deep mourning and openly regretted not making peace with Savage before it was too late.

Lanny would then refuse to let McMahon induct Savage into the HoF. Lanny insisted that it was Randy's wish to be inducted as part of the Poffo Family, with Lanny and their father Angelo Poffo. Lanny caved in just before WrestleMania last year, but the WWE held off inducting him as they had already agreed to induct Ultimate Warrior, Paul Bearer and Jake 'The Snake' Roberts.

Lanny now claims that he made the decision to have Savage inducted on his own out of respect to his younger brother and to Savage's fans. He added that he felt "relieved" that the announcement was made this week.

To this day, no-one actually knows why Savage and Hogan fell out. Although Ultimate Warrior put fourth a theory in his infamous 'Karma Collects' video series. Savage used to tour with his then-wife Miss Elizabeth. Savage would be very protective of Elizabeth because women were usually subject to sexual harassment by stars. Warrior suggest that both Hogan and his now ex-wife Linda both sexually harassed Elizabeth too, with Hogan telling others that Savage was "paranoid". The story adds that Hogan would continue to cause problems for Savage and Elizabeth as they separated and then as they started dating new people.

This is likely unrelated, but Vince Russo resented how much Elizabeth was paid in WCW when she had a stipulation in her contract allowing her to refuse to compete in matches. Russo pressured Elizabeth into quitting her contract by repeated writing storylines which involved her being stripped to her underwear. Then she was eventually sent home to sit out her contract. There had been allegations that Hogan had encouraged Russo to do these things, but there is no evidence or verification to this particular claim.

 

[Maximo]

Quick, someone call Jay Lethal, and get him onto the main roster before Wrestlemania preferably as an entrant to the Royal Rumble, then make him Macho Man's inductor.

"Ohhh YEEEEEAAAH"

...I hate having pipe dreams...

 

[Deleted User]

It seems more and more that the only people that have a beef with Hogan anymore is his Ex-Wife and the IWC. Sure, from time to time there's some midcarder who complains about politics and crap, but no one denies how important Hogan is to wrestling, not even Bret Hart, and he really doesn't like him at all.

I think if Savage were still alive he'd reconcile, hell, he was already appearing for WWE for that All Stars commercial, his life had turned around, a lot of those guys had made big changes in their lives. It's weird to think about, because the top three WWF guys in the 80's were Hogan, Savage, and Warrior, at least in Kayfabe. Two are gone, now, and the highest of them all, Hogan, is left alone.

It's coming down to him and Flair, now. Who dies first?

Edit: The rumors of him sleeping with Stephanie are garbage. They stemmed from an internet video Randy made on his wrestling site and people blew it out of proportion. No one in the business has ever even given that rumor the time of day. Except maybe Honkey Tonk man.

We're not listening to Honkey Tonk Man, are we?

 

[Tired]

I disagree. There are still a lot of people from multiple generations who do not like Hogan. Yes, Hogan had an industry-changing impact. But he has also done a lot of damage. There are plenty of people who are bitter with him because of the negative effects he has had on their lives and careers. The ONLY people that forgave him are those that managed to make a good career for themselves in spite of what he did to them (e.g. Austin). Heck, even Brock Lesnar doesn't like Hogan, and Hogan jobbed to him! People only work with Hogan because a major payday is still a major payday.

The difference with Savage, Flair and Warrior is that they made the effort to put things right with people. Hogan only talks about it most of the time. He will only make peace if he can make money.

I don't think Savage would have forgiven him for one reason; Ultimate Warrior. Yeah, Hogan reconciled with him. But almost as soon as Warrior was in the ground, Hogan started telling people about that he was some kind of saviour. He was going on about how Warrior lived in bitterness until Hogan graciously made peace with him, then Warrior could now pass away in peace. He went on about how close he was with Warrior's family now... until Diana Warrior hit him with a legal warning. She pointed out that Hogan was one of the few people who NEVER gave his condolences to the family. Even Ted DiBiase, who wrote a blog about what a bad person Warrior a week before he died, reached out to the family.

If Savage had seen how Hogan talked about Warrior after his death, he would know how sincere Hogan's apologies really were.

The WWE talks about how Brock Lesnar is a "special attraction" and should only appear now and again. This is how Hogan should be. At least Flair is giving back to the industry without being a dick about it.

 

[Best... Since Day One]

Wow. I have always thought that Savage and Hogan reconciled. Anyway I agree with Keson. If Savage were still alive, now they two would be friends. About Flair and Hogan it's not betting man...

 

[Deleted User]

When I said "had beef", I meant serious ones like Savage harbored. I didn't mean no one dislikes him. That just goes with the wrestling territory.

Hell, even Roddy Piper is friends with Hogan. RODDY. PIPER. The people who have beef are like you said, those that weren't successful. That's not Hogan's fault. That's how the business was back then, Hogan is the last big-time world champion to come frmo that extremely paranoid era where wrestlers legitimately weren't really friends with ANYONE.

Hogan didn't know Warrior's wife and kids. maybe he was too nervous to call them, I'm not going to let that incident decide for me who Hulkster is.

He's the last great kayfabe champion.

 

[Maximo]

But he wasn't a great kayfabe champion, he broke tons of kayfabe rules to stay at the top,
He called the WWF championship a piece of plastic "gimmick" in Japan whilst he was the face champion, knocking it over like it ain't no thing.

Who has Hogan pushed apart from when he has a giant paycheck in his pocket?

 

[Tired]

If Hogan didn't harm careers, explain the last 20 years. Hogan constantly held lower stars down to ensure that he remained the top guy. Every time Austin or Pillman built any momentum, he had their pushes stopped. When the Radicals asked to leave WCW, Hogan said to let them go because they couldn't draw. He even outright said that nobody under 35 could draw, even though Austin, The Rock, DeGeneration X and even Goldberg were all out-drawing him. He used his creative control to avoid putting over anyone who gained ANY momentum, like Sting or Jeff Jarrett. He never took a loss without the promise of the bigger win-back.

I don't need to mention the disaster he made of TNA. A.J. Styles and Abyss were already 2 of the biggest money makers in the company. Hogan completely repackaged them because they WERE making money. He destroyed every star that was making money without his input. He only went along with Bully Ray because they became buddies backstage.

We don't know what beef Savage had, but there are a lot of guys who have a legitimate beef. I mean, he repeated blamed Dixie Carter, his own business partner, publicly when he didn't get his way.

 

[Deleted User]

You need word that question differently.

Who did Vince Mcmahon put over on Hogan? Hogan didn't do all that booking, gents. Hate to break it to you, someone ELSE owned the WWF.

He was a GREAT champion. Who loved Puro and apparently, according to you, put it over even. Hogan hate is silly, brother.

edit: I NEVER said Hogan didn't hurt careers, but even ask Austin what he thinks about Hogan. It's almost like it was a bunch of guys competing for position or something.

It wasn't Hogan that broke up the Hollywood Blondes, hate to break it to you. His contract meant he had control of his character, not WCW.

Anyone that blames Hogan for TNA must think Hogan was doing the booking or something. He wasn't, he was just following the money. I reapeat: HOGAN WAS NOT THE BOOKER IN TNA, that was Eric, Russo, and a bunch of people from Panda. Hoganw as a hired talent, who made a lot of bad mistakes, but you can blame the company, not Hogan, for hiring Hulk Hogan.

Hogan didn't do shit for booking in TNA, that fact was established a long time ago.

 

[Maximo]

Right, because calling a championship plastic, having a 3 more matches that he won every single one of (ie putting himself over) in high profile matches (Muta and Hell Raisers when they were top draws) which probably made him a ton of money is really all about his respect of Puro.

Not even one person dude?

Hulk Hogan, if he didn't have that name...
It's literally a mix of Hulk, the legendary green man of Marvel who was world famous anyway.
And Hogan, which makes people think of Hogan's Hero's.

But I'm sure if he stayed with his real name without staring in Rocky 3,
He would of been huge...

 

[Tired]

edit: I NEVER said Hogan didn't hurt careers, but even ask Austin what he thinks about Hogan. It's almost like it was a bunch of guys competing for position or something.

It wasn't Hogan that broke up the Hollywood Blondes, hate to break it to you. His contract meant he had control of his character, not WCW.

Anyone that blames Hogan for TNA must think Hogan was doing the booking or something. He wasn't, he was just following the money. I reapeat: HOGAN WAS NOT THE BOOKER IN TNA, that was Eric, Russo, and a bunch of people from Panda. Hoganw as a hired talent, who made a lot of bad mistakes, but you can blame the company, not Hogan, for hiring Hulk Hogan.

Hogan didn't do shit for booking in TNA, that fact was established a long time ago.

There's the thing; that was only verified by Hogan and his buddies and one guy who doesn't want to admit that Hogan had more power than he did (he was a business partner, of course he had more power).

But the fact is that Hogan DID have booking power, and he DID use it often. One of his privileges and responsibilities was booking alongside Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo. He left more of it to Bischoff because he was being paid the same, whether he did it or not. Hogan had creative control over everybody's story lines and bookings, not just his own. Not only that, but Hogan had veto power over Bischoff, Russo and Ferrera.

Panda Energy has nothing to do with booking. They leave it to Dixie's people, while they handle the finances. Russo has told hundreds of times about how they asked Russo to change his booking to help reduce costs, but then he would be over-ruled by Hogan. They even begged Russo to try and convince Hogan not to book himself and Brooke so often as they were being paid so much each time they appeared on camera (Hogan's performer contract was separate from his business partner contract). It was him who overbooked Ric Flair and Rob Van Dam despite their limited date contracts.

 

[Deleted User]

I can give plenty of people.

I'll start my list post Hulkamania, since I'm assuming that's what people want.

Roddy Piper

Flair (In their first encounter at MSG)

Mr. Perfect

Ultimate Warrior

Macho man Randy Savage (He made Savage look like he could believable beat Hogan, this was pre-WM V, and YES, making someone look strong and still beating them was putting someone over in those days. Which was Flair's job, as well.)

The Undertaker

Paul Wight

Sting

The Rock

Kurt Angle

Goldberg

The Great Muta (Once again, made him look legitimate strong)

Billy and Chuck

Brock Lesnar

Triple H

The Undertaker (Again, because biker Taker is different)

Now.... it almost seems like you have to be a big deal to beat and be put over by Hulk Hogan. If you want to count his WCW career where he had a lot more control, that's still less than a quarter of his wrestling career that he had "control" over. That doesn't account for the other times when someone else had the book. Hogan and Jericho even discussed it on his podcast, Hogan had asked Vince several times in those first 5 years of him being champ is someone could at least beat him. He wanted plenty of people to do it, it was Vince Mcmahon's idea to have Hogan lose to absolutely no one.

Hogan didn't book himself to look so strong in AWA, that was Verne Gagne.

Hogan didn't make himself be booked strong against Andre all over the world and constantly in Japan, that was the decisions of other bookers. Every booker that encountered Hulk Hogan could see money with him, he was a unique specimen for his time, almost a one of a kind attraction similar to Andre, but even more marketable. These men who booked him so strongly (and this DOES include Eric Bischoff, who could have ended it any time he saw fit, but he decided to give Hogan the keys to his car, essentially.)

People hate Hogan because he was on top. I looove his shit in Japan, he even said in 1991 that the IWGP title is the most important in the world. Anyone who has seen his matches in Japan will attest to his love of Puro, because you will see Hulk Hogan as you never have before, doing fucking wrestling moves.

This is WWF Hogan, by the way:

 

[Maximo]

HE HAD TWO CONTRACTS?

Mother F******, he tried to milk them dry.

---

Bull,
The only people on that list who weren't already established was
Billy and Chuck,
And Billy Gunn had already established as a serious competitor in the WWE for 6 years at that point AND he was part of the Kliq (friends of friends).

So Chuck Palumbo.

I asked for one and I got one.

Right, because winning every match is helping Japanese stars.

 

[Deleted User]

Also.....

I'm right and everything Reverend says is as dumb as a butt.

Well... according to OTHER dirtsheets Panda inc. is a lot more involved with the story writing than you say, so who's anonymous "inside source". Russo blames other people for bad booking? Big Surprise! I'm not saying Hulk didn't get say so on some ideas, but to think that guy could book one entire wrestling show is ridiculous. He can't even cut a promo longer than 3 minutes before he gets lost.


edit: Brother!

edit 2: Jack!

edit 3: Dude!

edit 4: Now whatcha gonna do?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!?

 

[Maximo]

(This is fun)

Japan only saw dollars because he was Blond, Bald, Blue eyed and Tall which is such a rarity in Japan you might as well buy a unicorn.

USA only saw money in him once he was in Rocky 3, the dude BEAT Rocky and is called the Hulk...no way to trick money out of kayfabe believers.

Edit:
Like I said the dude BEAT Rocky in the eyes of kids,
Vince saw money so he put his money title on Hulk.

Hogan can wrestle, but what made him different compared to everybody else of his era?

The films.

 

[Deleted User]

He was already immensely popular before any films.

The correct answer to your question is Freddie Blassie. Hogan had plenty of kayfabe believers, because he was big enough, strong enough, and had charisma like very few others. He was like Billy Graham but BIGGER. It was different to look like that back then, remember. The rock star wrestling thing was still new. But even before he was a "rock star", he had Blassie. Freddie. Blassie.

Your blonde hair and blue eyed theory doesn't work, otherwise, Nick Bonkwinkle would have been able to draw like Hogan in Japan. He couldn't. Same with Dusty, he couldn't. Ric Flair could, but he was already champion by then, remember. The Incredible Hulk Hogan was still learn from Blassie and being booked as a very effective heel because he was a very effective character.

The films didn't make him nearly as much as you are giving him credit for. You are talking to a bonafied Hulkmaniac who's watched a lot of Hulk Hogan matches. Pre and post WWF.

Not saying he's the best of all time, but the hate for him is severely over-rated.

 

[Tired]

I can give plenty of people.

I'll start my list post Hulkamania, since I'm assuming that's what people want.

Roddy Piper
Flair (In their first encounter at MSG)
Mr. Perfect
Ultimate Warrior
Macho man Randy Savage (He made Savage look like he could believable beat Hogan, this was pre-WM V, and YES, making someone look strong and still beating them was putting someone over in those days. Which was Flair's job, as well.)
The Undertaker
Paul Wight
Sting
The Rock
Kurt Angle
Goldberg
The Great Muta (Once again, made him look legitimate strong)
Billy and Chuck
Brock Lesnar
Triple H
The Undertaker (Again, because biker Taker is different)

Okay, let's do this:

Roddy Piper - We need examples where Hogan did not get a massive payday specifically for taking the loss, or was not promised a bigger win later down the line. Hogan did get a pay bonus for this.
Flair (In their first encounter at MSG) - Can't give you that one because Hogan was promised a return win.
Mr. Perfect - When?
Ultimate Warrior - I'll give you this one.
Macho man Randy Savage (He made Savage look like he could believable beat Hogan, this was pre-WM V, and YES, making someone look strong and still beating them was putting someone over in those days. Which was Flair's job, as well.) - I can't let you have this. Hogan was originally supposed to face Ted DiBiase for the title at WM V, but then Hogan insisted on facing Savage because Savage was starting to become as popular as him.
The Undertaker - Can't give you this one as he got the promised bigger win less than a month later.
Paul Wight - Again, the plan was for Hogan to get a bigger win later on.
Sting - Major pay bonus for threatening not to put him over.
The Rock - For the second encounter, I'll allow this. I would be petty of me to suggest that Mr. McMahon was the promise of a bigger win as it was supposed to be Piper at one point. He received a major bonus for the first loss.
Kurt Angle - Okay.
Goldberg - Major bonus.
The Great Muta (Once again, made him look legitimate strong) - Promise of a return win.
Billy and Chuck - When?
Brock Lesnar - Okay, even though I pointed this one out.
Triple H - When? Triple H put over Hogan.
The Undertaker (Again, because biker Taker is different) - Okay, fair enough.

So taking the guys that he actually put over post-Hulkamania... most of them were already major stars. The only guy that he truly put over was Brock Lesnar.

 

[Deleted User]

You have to be a big deal to beat Hulk Hogan, I already said that, silly billy. You have to be established to beat Hulk fucking Hogan.

Same with guys like Bob Backlund, Bruno Sammartino, Billy Graham, Buddy Rose, Harley Race, Lou Thesz, and Ed "The Strangler" Lewis (over 6,000 confirmed matched, only 33 confirmed losses) before him.

You HAVE to be a big deal to beat Hulk Hogan. No, Goldberg wasn't an established star when he beat Hulk Hogan, but he was after he did. Same with Kurt Angle. You didn't see bald-headed super-aggressive Kurt Angle who could go toe to toe with ANYONE in wrestling history until he made Hogan tap. After his feud with Hogan, he harnessed the power of his baldness and used it as his own. Thus, why he wrestled bald ever since he wrestled and defeated the most Iconic man in Pro Wrestling history, Hulk Hogan.

Dude.

 

[Tired]

You've won me over on the Goldberg part.

As for Kurt Angle, he was already on the fast track to the top. Hogan didn't help him embrace his baldness, Vince McMahon did. McMahon showed him how bad his bald spot and thinning hair was getting. It was McMahon who convinced him to embrace baldness. He couldn't well embrace it immediately as losing his hair in a "hair vs hair" match was supposed to be a humiliation. Had Angle's next rival been Zach Gowen, then Gowen would've done what Hogan did.

By the way, I agreed that he did put over Angle. You gave a rubbish reason. After all, Angle was stealing shows with Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Edge, Steve Austin, Undertaker and even Shane McMahon.

 

[Maximo]

The Olympics with a broken fricking neck made Angle.
Taker helped make Angle.
Austin helped make Angle.
Jericho helped make Angle.
Benoit helped made Angle.

Hogan did 1 tiny mini-fued.

Eddie helped complete Angle.


Hogan helped Edge though. BUT ONLY if Hogan won the match.

Maximo giveth, Maximo taketh.

Edit: Rev had the same idea...I forgot Shane...