Randy "Macho Man" Savage Dead at 58

Randy "Macho Man" Savage,the iconic wrestling superstar from the 80s and 90s died Friday morning after he suffered a heart attack while driving with his new wife, and collided head-on with a tree. He was rushed to hospital, where he later died of his injuries. His wife survived with minor injuries.

This one is personal. Not personal like I knew him, but personal in the fact that I grew up watching wrestling (still do actually) and the Macho Man was my boy. When Eddie Guerrero died it sucked. When Chris Benoit shocked the wrestling world with the details surrounding his death, it sucked worse. But I grew up on the Macho Man. While all the other rabid fans of 1980s and 1990s were digging Hulk Hogan (whom I still consider to be public enemy #1) I was cheering on Macho. In fact, you could say that I was one of the few fans who actively cheered on a "heel" before it was a cool thing to do (read: Stone Cold Steve Austin or the nWo).
I remember sitting in math class in grade eight when I was 13, only paying attention to my drawing in my notebook of Savage flying off the top rope onto another down and out, defeated victim.

I remember that one particular Saturday morning I was watching WWF Superstars and the news came that Savage had beaten Tito Santana for the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. It was February 8, 1986 in the Boston Garden. That's the day Macho Man forever cemented himself as my all-time favorite wrestler. I admit, I was a Hogan mark when he was in the AWA, but when I saw Savage and the way he perfected his art of the "bad guy," I knew he was for me. He was cocky. He was arrogant. He was fast, tough and he could go. With anybody.

I also remember being in the third row on the floor-on the aisle-at the old Winnipeg Arena watching Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth walk down the aisle in an attempt to regain the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in a steel cage match. Yeah. Dig that. It was during their "WrestleMania Revenge," tour after WrestleMania III. Yes, they had the "Revenge" tour back then too. By the way, the cage was one of those chain-link kind, not the big blue steel cage, they usually climbed out of, made famous on Saturday Night's Main Event. I hate those blue cages.

Macho Man eventually lost the match, when victory was attained by escaping the cage, when he tossed Steamboat into the door and Steamboat fell out of the cage. Sounds suspicious huh? Well, I actually had a honest to goodness picture of the exact moment Steamboat's head hit the cage before it flew open and you can clearly see that the lock on the cage wasn't fastened. When I got that picture developed (Uh huh, remember, this is 1987) I was like, WTF?! I actually thought of sending the picture to the WWF to dispute the victory. I didn't of course. But I was that pissed that Mach got ripped off. I can't believe I lost that picture. Best shot ever. Actually the other one I had was better. It was a great shot of Macho Man slumped on the stairs, exhausted and bloody. And yep, I don't have that one either.

It was the little things Savage did that was magic to me. From his beautiful manager, Miss Elizabeth (Elizabeth Houle, who eventually became his real-life wife) to his, what the late Gorilla Monsoon coined as "intestinal fortitude," to of course his in-ring skills. His pulling Elizabeth in front of him to stop his opponents from advancing on him when action spilled out onto the floor, to his cat-like move of hopping back into the ring between the first and second rope to of course; his one-of-a-kind flying elbow drop. Nobody did it better. Nobody. His jabs were lightning quick, he sold better than anybody and his interviews were the stuff legends were made of, which of course he is and will continue to be. His improv interviews with Mean Gene Okerland and Gorilla Monsoon will never be duplicated. If this doesn't put him into the WWE Hall of Fame, Vince McMahon is a total jagoff, regardless of his past with Savage. To that end, it saddens me that if Macho Man does get into the Hall, we will never the less never get to hear that acceptance speech from Randy himself. That bothers me. It's bad enough that the WWE took forever to release a savage career DVD, but when they finally did with the "Randy Savage Ultimate DVD Collection," they had no interviews with the Macho Man or any of his past opponents. It was hosted by...Maria and Matt Striker?
Although here will be no speech, I cannot fathom the crowd not chanting "MACHO!, MACHO!, MACHO!" several times. But sadly and regrettably, there will be no "Oh Yeaahhhs" from the man himself. I personally regret never having the chance to meet the man. That would have been a thrill of a life time for me.

Randy "Macho Man" Savage was a six-time World Heavyweight wrestling champion. Twice in the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) and four times in the WCW (World Championship Wrestling) as well as holding the aforementioned WWF Intercontinental title, which he lost at WrestleMania III to Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in what many consider the best match in WrestleMania history if not WWE history. Certainly one of the best in wrestling history, period. There's a legacy for you. He was also a United States champion in WCW and held several regional titles including his father, Angelo Poffo's ICW heavyweight title and Jerry "The King" Lawler's Memphis-based USWA (United States Wrestling Association) heavyweight title.

Savage started his career (after being scouted by Major League baseball and was in fact in the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox minor league system for a short time) in the ICW (International Championship Wrestling) with his father Angelo and brother Lanny.

His life and career can be found here from Wikipedia.


Behold the awesomeness of the Macho Man!



































God bless you Macho Man. The greatest professional wrestler that ever lived. Rest in peace.