My thoughts and memories of Randy "Macho Man" Savage
I just read about the sad news of Randy Savage's passing this morning at the age of 58. He was driving his car in Florida and suffered a heart attack. Randy Savage was one of my all time favorite wrestlers as a kid when I first started watching wrestling and having been a big fan of his when I first got into wrestling, I thought I would share some fond memories of watching his matches and how entertaining he was every time he was in the ring or on the mic!
When I first started watching wrestling in late 91-early 92, Randy Savage was one of the first wrestlers I noticed right away and became a big fan of. I had known about his run as the Macho King and had seen some of his matches during that run, but I really first knew about him during his classic feud with Jake "The Snake" Roberts in 1991. I had just started watching wrestling when that rivalry was happening. One of the first matches I saw him in was the 1992 Royal Rumble and remember him eliminating Jake and going after him and attacking him more and being one of the final 4 guys left in the match along with Sid Justice Hulk Hogan and that year's winner Ric Flair.
Then came the Randy Savage Ric Flair feud for not just the World Wrestling Federation Title, but also Savage defending the honor of Elizabeth, after Flair said she was with him before she was with Randy. I remember the build to that match very well with all the interviews and segments that they filmed for Superstars and Wrestling Challenge and how Ric Flair was going to show the pictures to the world at WrestleMania 8. I didn't have PPV at the time, but a friend of my dad's taped the show for me and I remember cheering for Savage hoping he would beat Flair for the belt. The match itself was one of my all time favorite matches and I remember being so worried about what would happen, going crazy during every pinfall attempt. Finally after Savage got the win I remember being really happy that had he had beaten Flair for the Title. I almost cried out of joy when Howard Finkel announced him as being once again the Champion and the fireworks going off in the ring as Randy and Elizabeth celebrated. His interview after the match was really great also, and I remember him saying he had just taken a piece of Flair and that was going to get the rest of him and it didn't matter where or when. "I don't care if it's in the street parking lot, doesn't matter to me." That match and interview will always be one of my all time favorite moments in wrestling! The feud with Flair continued throughout the rest of 1992 with several house show matches for the Title and every time I would worry hoping that Randy would win.
Then came the match with the Ultimate Warrior for the Title at SummerSlam in Wembly Stadium that year. The build up for this match was really good too and the whole who's corner will Mr. Perfect be in at SummerSlam that Flair and Perfect had mentioned to get Savage and Warrior to not trust each other was really well done. I remember hoping that Perfect wasn't going to be managing either guy. When it came time for the match and the Warrior came out without Perfect I was a bit worried, then when Savage came out also without Perfect I was happy to see that he was still the good guy. The match itself was really good with alot of well built momentum. Then Perfect and Flair came out and went after both Savage and Warrior after a greuling match. Savage eventually got counted out so he remained Champion, which I was happy about. Then after the match Savage and Warrior hugged and helped each other to the back. This would be the beginning of what was to be The Ultimate Maniacs with Savage and Warrior vs. Flair and the new arrival Razor Ramon, but the Warrior left before the match could happen.
Then I remember on Superstars seeing Ric Flair in the back with the belt and my dad told that Flair was Champion again and I was really upset. I remember hating Flair and Razor even more then I already had after Savage lost the belt.
Then after The Ultimate Warrior left and I saw that he was replaced by Mr. Perfect I remember wondering what happened to the Warrior and why was Mr. Perfect now a good guy. I remeber watching the Colliseum Home Video addition of Survivor Series where they showed the episode of Prime Time Wrestling with Vince asking Savage who he would pick as his new partner saying, "Possibly this guy could be the perfect tag team partner yeah!" I was so thrilled that Mr. Perfect was now the good guy going up against Flair. The match was very good also, with Perfect hinting walking out then coming back to help Savage and I of course was very happy that Savage and Perfect won the match. It didn't matter to me how they won, just as long as they did win. Also the Savage-Perfect interviews before and after the match were absolutely hysterical where the had the turkeys for Flair and Razor and a little chicken for Bobby The Brain.
Then when Savage went to WCW in 1994 I was really excited to see him there and see how he would do teaming once again with former Mega Power partner Hulk Hogan. The feud with Ric Flair would continue in WCW with Flair attacking Randy's dad Angelo Poffo and Flair being victorious at the Great American Bash in 1995. Randy would eventually win the WCW World Title in November of that year at the first World War 3 in the 60 man 3 ring battle royal. Hogan was yanked out under the bottom rope and was not eliminated technically but it didn't matter to me as Savage was the man to walk out Champion that night and not Hogan! Savage and Flair traded the World Title back and forth a few times with Ric Flair winning the belt at Starcade 95, then Savage regaining it on Nitro a Month later and finally Flair winning it back at Superbrawl 96 after Elizabeth helped Flair, which also got be steamed.
During this time I had also seen the match from WrestleMania 3 with Ricky Steamboat and his WrestleMania 7 match with the Ultimate Warrior, which in my view was the Warrior's greatest match ever!
I remember watching the video package that built the Steamboat-Savage feud and the match itself being really awesome and the pre match interviews with both being really good. The match itself with Steamboat winning the Intercontinental Title is easily one of the greatest WrestleMania matches ever!
The "Career Ending" match at WrestleMania 7 was also a very memorable match, and Elizabeth was at ringside. The match had a lot of great moments in it and I'll never forget Savage giving Warrior FIVE top rope elbow drops and the Warrior kicking out. Finally Warrior got the win and afterwards Sherri began stomping on Savage till Elizabeth had seen enough and came to Savage's rescue running Sherri off. Then Savage came to and saw Elizabeth in the ring and after a bit they hugged and he lifted her up on his shoulder with his theme music playing and alot of fans in the arena getting very choked up, which was really something to see.
Macho Man Randy Savage will always be one my all time favorite wrestlers. He had the in ring talent and was tremendous delevering his promos! Face or heel you knew you were going be very entertained every time The Macho Man came out!
God Bless you Randy Savage! You will be truly missed by everyone who's lives you touched!
OOOHHHHH YEEAHHHH!!!!!!!!
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