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Ripped To Shreds #50: Rest In Peace, Randy “Macho Man” Savage

There’s no question what the biggest news is in wrestling has been over the last week. It is sad news, without a doubt, and here is a tribute to the one and only Randy “Macho Man” Savage.

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Let’s just dive right in.

Without further ado…

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On Friday, May 20, 2011, the wrestling world lost one of its greatest performers. Randy Mario Poffo, known to most as The “Macho Man”, died shortly after a severe car accident in his home state of Florida. With fond memories and heavy hearts, wrestling fans now have to say goodbye to someone who entertained us for decades. Over the years, Randy proved to us and to his peers that he was a great man, both on a professional level and on a personal level.

One of the things that Randy was well known for was his colorful, often times outlandish wrestling attire. He was recognized for his very unique way of dressing. He wore headbands, bandanas, and cowboy hats that were a myriad of colors and a myriad of designs. Except when he was actually wrestling in the ring, he was almost always seen with his trademark sunglasses, which were also known to be a myriad of colors and designs. On many occasions he was draped with a large robe or a jacket which were both, what else, a myriad of diverse colors and designs. When you heard “Pomp and Circumstance” (the Graduation March) play over the speakers, you just didn’t know what to expect when you were about to see Macho Man come through the curtain. Michaels P.S. Hayes once said that professional wrestling was a business where you had to “… dare to be different.” And indeed, Macho was one of a kind.

Savage was very well known for his distinct, deep, raspy voice. His speech was very unique compared to most others. In fact, Savage was once ask to lend his voice for an episode of “King of the Hill”. But not only was the sound of his voice unique, he was able to give excellent interviews. A few months back, WWE.com ranked the top twenty-five greatest talkers in WWE history. Macho Man was listed at number eleven. Quite an honor indeed. It’s easy to see why when looking back on Macho’s interview segments. It’s not difficult to realize how talented of a talker Savage was. He conducted colorful promos and always seemed to have a little bit of unpredictability to them. In fact, sometimes it seemed as if Randy could conduct a whole interview as if there was no punctuation in or after any of his sentences. That’s kind of an odd thing to say, but sometimes he really did talk like that.

But something else you can attribute to Randy is his incredible work ethic. Savage definitely put a lot of time and effort into his profession. In fact, Randy was a very good baseball player, and even made it to the minor leagues. Relatively few people in the world have enough talent to make it that far. Randy’s baseball career seemingly came to a halt when he injured his throwing arm. However, Randy Poffo would not give up that easy. He actually tried very hard to learn to throw with his other arm. Yes, you read that right. He actually tried to use his other arm to throw in order to stay in professional baseball. Unfortunately, he saw his baseball career come to an end.

Savage brought that same work ethic with him to sports entertainment long before it was even called that. He once claimed that he worked out every day. In 1997, long time wrestling veteran Jeff Jarrett once did a word association game on WWE television. When Jeff came across the name “Randy Savage”, he responded “…hardest working wrestler in the business”. Ricky Steamboat said that before he and Macho had their classic match at Wrestlemania 3, Macho wanted the two of them to actually rehearse the match before hand. Most wrestling matches are called on the fly by the two wrestlers in the ring, and possibly the performers will discuss certain parts before hand. But actually physically rehearsing the match before hand was not common at all. But Savage wanted his Wrestlemania 3 match to be very special and took no chances. Randy’s work ethic was so strong that they practiced the match so many times that it drove Steamboat nuts, but in a good way. Ric Flair went through the same experience leading up to when he and Savage had their classic World Title match at Wrestlemania 8. Hogan went on record as calling Randy a “… detail freak”, but in a positive way.

Randy was very talented at playing both the heel and the face. In his first few years in the World Wrestling Federation, he made himself out to be one of the most hated heels in the company. Fans would boo and jeer him to no end. They absolutely hated him. He used dirty, underhanded tactics to unfairly win matches. Randy would hit his opponents with foreign objects, put his feet on the ropes during pin attempts, and sometimes would blatantly hide behind his manager, Miss Elizabeth, when running from an opponent. He often times would openly blame Miss Elizabeth for losses and for things that didn’t go Macho’s way. He portrayed his character as jealous and possessive towards Liz, and made the fans see him as an egotistical jerk. As face, he made himself out to be a courageous, never say die competitor who would never give up and always stood up for what was right. When he was a face, he treated Miss Elizabeth with the utmost respect and was a proper gentleman towards her. Often times he hoisted Liz on his shoulder in celebration.

Long before Shawn Michaels coined the phrase, Macho Man just may have been the original “Mr. Wrestlemania”. Here is an overview of Savage’s performances on the grandest stage of them all.

Wrestlemania 2: Randy makes his WM debut by successfully defending his Intercontinental Title against wrestling legend George “The Animal” Steele.

Wrestlemania 3: Savage defends his Intercontinental Title against Ricky Steamboat, and the two of them put on what many consider the best match in Wrestlemania history. In 2004, WWE named this the fourth best match ever at a Wrestlemania.

Wrestlemania 4: Macho defeats three WWE superstars en route to competing in a tournament final against Ted Dibiase, who Randy defeated to win the vacant WWE World Championship.

Wrestlemania 5: Macho defends his WWE World Championship against Hulk Hogan, and culminates one of the greatest storylines in WWE modern history in the triangle between he, Hogan, and Miss Elizabeth.

Wrestlemania 6: Randy, now known as the “Macho King”, makes history by competing in WWE’s first mixed tag match, featuring the team of he and Queen Sherri against Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire.

Wrestlemania 7: The “Macho King” competes in WWE’s first ever “Retirement Match” against the Ultimate Warrior in what many consider the best match in Warrior’s career. Macho King was forced to retire that night, but moments later had a very unforgettable moment when he reunited with his long time manager Miss Elizabeth.

Wrestlemania 8: Savage defeats Ric Flair for the WWE World Championship and once again puts on a classic match at Wrestlemania. That night he and Flair culminated another of the best storylines in WWE history with their feud grounded on the Flair’s claim that “(Elizabeth) was mine before she was yours”.

Wrestlemania 10: Randy Savage makes his last Wrestlemania appearance by defeating Crush in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

That is a Wrestlemania resume that very few can compete with.

Outside the ring, Savage was known to be a very good human being. Bret Hart stated that, as far as he knew, Randy stayed true and faithful during his real life relationship with Elizabeth. He gave compliments to other wrestlers, whether they were above him or under him on the card. He called Davey Boy Smith’s win at Summer Slam ’92 as “the mother of all matches”. During his run in World Championship Wrestling, Savage was one of the first of Bret Hart’s peers to console him after the news of his brother Owen Hart’s untimely death.

Randy Poffo lived his life as a one of a kind person. Whether he was playing baseball or wrestling Hulk Hogan, he always brought with him an incredible work ethic. When you heard his voice, even if your eyes were closed, there was no mistaking whose voice it was. After you saw Macho’s outrageous ring attire, you never, ever forgot who he was. His interviews were one of a kind and you always knew you were in for something special when Savage was in front of the green screen. Whether he was a face or a heel, he made his name synonymous with Wrestlemania. Both as a sports entertainer or as a human being, his legacy will forever be unforgettable.

Rest In Peace Randy “Macho Man” Savage 1952-2011

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Thanks for reading.

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hardtime_RIPbossman@hotmail.com

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Until next time…

Adios.

Source: lordsofpain.net