Backstage details on Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage's first pre-match conversation (Exclusive)
Jacques Rougeau (fka The Mountie in WWE) has revealed what Hulk Hogan and Macho Man Randy Savage said to each other before their first match. The former WWE Intercontinental Champion told the story on the latest edition of SK Wrestling’s Inside SKoop, hosted by Dr. Chris Featherstone.
Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage’s first match
Jacques Rougeau said he can remember the time when Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage were sitting in the backstage area ahead of their match. The two WWE legends stared at each other before Hulk Hogan began to speak.
“Then Hulk said, ‘You know, brother, at the end of the match there I’m gonna do that leg drop.’ Then Macho Man looked at him and says, ‘No problem, no problem, but you know that elbow I give off the top rope there? I want to come off the top rope with it.’ Hulk looked at him, studied him for a second, and says, ‘No problem.’ Then he [Hulk Hogan] says, ‘You know that move I do there…’ and they start calling their shots, like what they are going to do.”
Rougeau recalled that he sat down one time in the locker room with several high-profile WWE names, including Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Roddy Piper. He noticed that they all had egos and he wanted to take a different approach to his matches.
Before facing Savage in a WWE Championship match in England in April 1992, Rougeau came up with an idea. Instead of allowing Savage to list every big move he planned to do, Rougeau immediately offered to receive the elbow drop from his opponent. He also went on to reveal more moves that he wanted Savage to perform on him.
Using that pre-match conversation as an example, Rougeau said he took the same approach with every top Superstar he worked with. That prompted his opponents to be more generous by offering to receive moves from him in their matches.
Rougeau added that he learned to communicate with his opponents in that way because of Ric Flair. The 16-time World Champion once taught him that he should always value the person he shared the ring with.
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