The Insane Popularity Of The Bloodline (& What It Says About WWE Fans)

The Bloodline will be shorthand for a boom period in the years to come. This is an achievement in and of itself in 2023, with the death of monoculture viewing and increasingly splintered and isolated hobbies and interests.

The Mega Powers' explosion occurred the second their unit reached a theoretical peak. Having come together in late-1987 when Miss Elizabeth turned to the company's biggest babyface and then-WWE Champion Hulk Hogan to save Macho Man Randy Savage, the two entered a one-night tournament for the newly-vacated title at WrestleMania IV several months later. Now a face almost on par with 'The Hulkster', Savage was victorious and was on top of the world...for mere seconds when he noticed a brief embrace between Hogan and Elizabeth. The fleeting moment of rage burning inside him was doused by the sweat and tears of his success, but the die was cast. He had it all, alright, seething jealously included.

What played out over the subsequent year was a delicately balanced expansion pack to the original conceit. Hogan showed no desire to reclaim the title and certainly no affection towards Elizabeth beyond that of friendship, but every glimpse from Savage revealed the cogs of an overreactive mind whizzing quicker than Randy's own lighting speed rope-run. The Mega Powers tag unit were constantly winning and Savage was a Champion without compare, but the rosier things got, the more their demise was forecast.

When they imploded ahead of WrestleMania V to set up the title showdown one year on from the initial crowning - and in the same building no less - a near-two year arc rounded off to draw one of the biggest pay-per-view earners in company history. It was the creative and commercial peak of McMahon's 1980s national expansion, justifying every major creative and aesthetic decision he'd made at the expense of the industry's traditions and unwritten rules.

Just under a decade later, he'd do it again.

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