For those of you that know me or hang onto my every sports reference, know that I’m a big professional wrestling fan. So it came as great sadness, when TMZ broke the story that Randy “Macho Man” Savage/Poffo passed away in a car accident in Florida. Early word is that Savage suffered a heart attack while driving which caused the fatal accident. Professional wrestling lifestyle + too many Slim Jims = (too soon!)
If you are unfamiliar with Savage’s place in wrestling history, just check out the video (above) of his legendary match with Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat at Wrestlemania III. Some critics would claim this to be the greatest match of all time. Even if you aren’t a wrestling fan, you will enjoy this action.
Savage will most likely be remembered as one half of The Mega Powers tag team that he formed with friend Hulk Hogan or as the partner of Miss Elizabeth (his real life wife). Savage’s major milestone came in 1988 at Wrestlemania IV in Atlantic City, NJ when he won a World Heavyweight Championship tournament by defeating four wrestlers in one night (“The Natural” Butch Reed, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, One Man Gang, and “Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibase). That is a great drunken trivia question, by the way.
Savage also had some great feuds as the “Macho King” with Dusty Rhodes and the Ultimate Warrior and battled with Ric Flair for the better part of the 90s in both the WWF and WCW. He was a six-time World Heavyweight champion and made a great appearance in Spider-Man as Bonesaw McGraw.
As a wrestling fan, its disappointing that we’ll never have the satisfaction of getting a “true” documentary of Savage’s career from his own words. Macho Man had been the biggest superstar from the 1980s not to be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame. Savage had been estranged from the WWE since 1995 and had only recently participated in publicity for some WWE projects. What makes the estrangement even more bizarre is the fact that almost every wrestler that ever burned a bridge with Vince McMahon and WWE eventually made a return appearance. This had caused wide-spread rumors of Savage having some sort of sexual fling with a barely eighteen Stephanie McMahon (which have never been substantiated).
Savage is a true legend in the professional wrestling business and his memory will be with us forever. Oh YEAH! Dig it!
