Profile of Elizabeth Hulette on Famous Like Me

Elizabeth Hulette (November 19, 1960 - May 1, 2003), known in the professional wrestling world as Miss Elizabeth or "The First Lady of Wrestling", was a WWF (now the WWE) personality and, for a short time, female wrestler. Miss Elizabeth gained fame during the late 1980s.

Career

Hulette was originally from Kentucky, and held a communications degree from the University of Kentucky. It was while working at wrestling matches that she met "Macho Man" Randy Savage, who was to be her first husband. Her relationship with Savage led to a prominent on-air role as his manager, regarded by many as paving the way for a wave of female manager and valet roles in professional wrestling. Throughout her career she was also the valet for Ric Flair of the Four Horsemen and part of the nWo in World Championship Wrestling.

Hulette and Savage had what is thought by many wrestling fans to be the greatest of the 'soap opera' era wrestling storylines. Although the two were actually married in 1984, they had a heavily promoted on-air wedding in 1991.

Miss Elizabeth - as Hulette was known by fans and announcers - 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. During their match, Steele immediately fell in love with Hulette, angering Savage and leading to a series of classic matches. Their feud - 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.

Hulette also figured prominently in Savage's 1986 feud with Hulk Hogan and - after Savage turned face in 1987 - the Honky Tonk Man. Savage's feud vs. the Honky Tonk Man was instigated by his constant harassment of Elizabeth.

Hulette 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 Neidhart - began to interfere and made the match a 3-on-1 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 Hulette, but shoved her to the mat and completed his assault on Savage. Hulette, meanwhile, 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.

Hulette 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 unconcious 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 carried on and won the match single-handedly, but when he exited the ring to the backstage area he was attacked by his former partner, turning Savage heel.

Savage remained a heel for several years, eventually taking on Sherri Martel as his manager and dubbing himself "The Macho King". During this time Hulette managed various wrestlers 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 Hulette, who was sitting at ringside, entered the ring and defended Savage. After Sherri retreated, Savage and Hulette were reunited in what many consider to be the single most emotional moments in the history of professional wrestling. For years the WWF included crowd reaction shots of that night in video packages, including one girl crying her eyes out.

The two were "married" a few months later at the August Summerslam pay-per-view. Their offscreen relationship only lasted another year, with their divorce becoming official in 1992.

According to Hulk Hogan, Savage blamed him for influencing Hulette to seek a divorce from Savage. Hogan's side of the story was that as he was preparing to film the movie Mr. Nanny, Hogan's wife Linda asked if she wanted to help babysit their children, Brooke and Nick, while Hulk was in Miami filming Mr. Nanny. Apparently, Hulette didn't bother to return home to Savage.

The night before WrestleMania IX, Savage as legend has it, legitimately punched Hulk Hogan in the eye after finding out that his estranged wife had been hanging around Hogan and his family. Hogan, who had a noticeable black eye on camera, denied being punched by Savage. Instead, Hogan claimed that he got the black eye from a jet skiing accident. Hogan's black eye was explained in kayfabe that his nemesis "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, hired some goons to attack Hogan before their match at WrestleMania IX.

Hulette was also married to a non-wrestler for a brief period of time in 1998.

She sustained relationships with wrestlers Randy Savage and Lex Luger. She was widely regarded as a fan favorite no matter what she did later in her career.

Death

On May 1, 2003 in Marietta, Georgia, her companion, Luger, called 9-1-1 and said Hulette was not breathing. The 911 operator told him to give her mouth to mouth resucitation but she did not respond. Paramedics rushed her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Police launched an investigation because two weeks prior to her death they had arrested Luger on charges of domestic violence. Police found pills of hydrocodone and alprazolam (Xanax), as well as anabolic steroids, testosterone and sazien in the home Luger and Hulette shared. The subsequent autopsy showed that Hulette died of an accidental drug overdose mixing the medications with vodka. Luger was cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with her death.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Elizabeth Hulette