A Rare Great Main Event Rivalry In WWE & WCW
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When Ric Flair finally arrived in the WWE in late 1991, it seemed all but academic that The Nature Boy would be taking on The Immortal Hulk Hogan in what was then the biggest dream match in history. But according to people like Bruce Prichard, the electric chemistry that needed to be there between the two on House Show loops just wasn’t there. The fans weren’t coming alive for them either.
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Thankfully the heat between Sid Justice and Hulk Hogan had reached a WrestleMania-sized fever pitch, and they were eventually penciled into the main event slot in what was being booked as Hogan’s Last Match. That left Ric Flair’s schedule wide open for a world title defense and The Macho Man was ultimately named the number one contender. The two superstars had a tremendous rivalry, not just in WWE leading up to WrestleMania 8, but they carried pieces of their feud into WCW as well.
“She Was Mine Before She Was Yours”
Once The Macho Man was declared the number one contender, the WWE had a new feud and story to create heading into Mania. They couldn’t use the two greatest superstars ever colliding; even though Randy Savage was also one of the greatest ever the easiest way to get a lot of heat on the new world title match quickly was using Miss Elizabeth. In a WWE Magazine cover story, Ric Flair revealed “the truth.” There were pictures of him and Liz all over a palatial estate, and they looked madly in love with one another. The Nature Boy had declared infamously that “she was mine, long before she was yours.” Not only did that immediately enrage Savage, but it also raised the stakes of their match big time. In the coming weeks, Mr. and Mrs. Macho revealed the true pictures which were of both of them madly in love. Meanwhile, Ric Flair had threatened to show the entire world new pics of Liz for all the world to see At WrestleMania. That didn’t happen, but Naitch did plant one right on Liz, who slapped him in return and Savage became the new WWE champion in the process. Several months later at SummerSlam, Flair and Mr. Perfect repeatedly interjected themselves into Savage’s championship defense against The Ultimate Warrior. Savage would injure his knee and three days later had no choice but to tap out to the Figure Four.
The Unthinkable Had Been Thunk
Ric Flair would return to WCW early in 1993. The Macho Man would stay behind until Vince McMahon tried to put him out to pasture as a commentator. In late 1994, Randy Savage would head over to WCW and resume his frenemy relationship with Hulk Hogan. But it wasn’t long before he found Flair. On Father’s Day 1995, which was also the Great American Bash, Flair defeated The Macho Man, who had Angelo Poffo in his corner.
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They’d fight a few more times early in Savage’s WCW run, but the huge feud that worked for them in WWE fueled their biggest rivalry in WCW as well. In 1996, Miss Elizabeth returned to the side of The Macho Man. But for the first ever time in Liz’s career, she did the unthinkable and turned on her man to actually side with The Nature Boy. Not only did she turn heel, but she took her divorce settlement from The Macho Man and used it to finance Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen. The turn, along with Flair adding Woman and Debra to his valets just helped in completing The Nature Boy persona while painting Savage as a maniac who wasn’t even allowed in the building for a lot of shows.
The rivalry between the two legends was enough to fuel two different promotions each for a short time due to being so volatile. With the personal connection thanks to Miss Elizabeth, their WWE feud was one of the most memorable and still is. Once Savage arrived in WCW, it was a simple but very effective way to jumpstart their program.
It was actually one of the first-ever “Forbidden Door” types of rivalries. If you knew the backstory from WWE, it helped to inform fans about their WCW matches. If you didn’t, of course, both Flair and Savage were good enough to keep the interest going for their white-hot feud.
