Elizabeth Hulette
|
|
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.
During a 1989 Saturday Night's Main Event tag team match pitting The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Savage, accompanied by Hulette) against the Twin Towers (Akeem "The African Dream" and The Big Bossman with Slick), Hulette was knocked 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.
Hulette was also married to a non-wrestler for a brief period of time in 1998.
She sustained relationships with wrestlers Randy Savage, Lex Luger and, for a short period, Hulk Hogan. 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 the 911 emergency services 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.