WWE recently released Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection and I have gotten it all watched. I’ll go in depth about what is on each disc including any edits that I noticed from the original footage. I have been a Randy Savage fan since I started watching wrestling over twenty years ago. When I heard that WWE was FINALLY going to release this long talked about Randy Savage set, I knew that I had to pick it up. There is of course no biography type program and there is no Randy Savage involvement in it or any interviews. This is a collection of matches hosted by Matt Striker and Maria. I thought they did a good job of hosting it. Striker is a long time fan so he was able to add a lot of details to the building of the matches that we were about to see. Maria was also fun and played well off of Striker. Miss Elizabeth is of course featured a lot in this DVD set. You can’t think about Randy Savage without thinking about Elizabeth. The two of them will forever be united in wrestling history. I often think that if Savage goes into the Hall Of Fame (if McMahon and Savage can work out what ever differences that they have) that Elizabeth should go into the Hall Of Fame in the same year. Same year but induct them separately. The DVD covers Savage’s career from 1985 up to 1999 spanning from WWE to WCW. I had seen most of the stuff on this DVD set but there were three matches that I hadn’t seen. Big kudos to WWE for putting a couple of rare matches on the set along with the usual matches that we see on these sets.
Disc one starts with his early career in WWE and runs from 1985-1988. Savage’s WWE debut is shown which is against Rick McGraw at Madison Square Garden. This is a must see match as Savage was a heat magnet on his first night. He was doing a lot of talking while getting stuff thrown at him. He had a drink hurled at him at one point that got Savage over to the rail to confront the fan. Just a great debut and you just knew this guy was going to be big. The introduction of Elizabeth as Savage’s manager is shown. You’ll remember that there was a major competition between the managers at the time to get Savage but then he named Elizabeth as the manager. Next is a nice bonus for all of us fans that have loved the Savage/Steamboat match from WrestleMania III. They give us a rarely seen match which is one that I had never seen as it was Steamboat vs. Savage from Boston Garden in 1986. I just loved seeing a different Savage/Steamboat match. Fun match and the crowd was loving it. You know that there has to be Hogan/Savage matches on this set and I’m glad that a match from 1985 was put on this set which took place from MSG. Because of their feud later on getting so much attention, their matches from the mid 80’s are often overlooked. Their matches had a ton of heat cause Savage was such a big heel even so early in his WWE run. Hogan was red hot at that time and you had the usual moments of Savage hiding behind Elizabeth. One moment had Hogan picking Elizabeth up and then putting her to the side. I have always enjoyed the Hogan/Savage matches from 1985-1986 so this was a real treat to have on this set. Savage’s Intercontinental championship win is featured on this disc with the match against Tito Santana from Boston Garden. I’ve seen this match many times over the years but it is still fun to watch with the controversial finish involving referee Danny Davis. Ok, I admit that I’ve never been really big into watching Bruno Sammartino matches but his match against Savage on this first disc was a match that I really enjoyed. Nothing against Bruno obviously but I just liked other wrestlers instead. The Boston Garden crowd was big time behind Bruno. Like I said, WrestleMania III is there with Savage and Steamboat which is still one of the best matches in WrestleMania history. Just an incredible match that inspired many of the current talent of wrestlers to get where they are in the business. Savage’s face turn was after that which led us up to 1988 with Savage trying to recapture the Intercontinental title against The Honky Tonk Man. Savage faced him on The Main Event in February 1988 which was on the same show as the Hogan/Andre WrestleMania III rematch. That show did a HUGE rating. It had been a while since I had seen this Savage/Honky Tonk Man match and it was a lot of fun. Crowd was fantastic during this!!! Disc one finishes off with the Ted Dibiase feud. Speaking of the Dibiase feud, I would have liked to have seen the Saturday Night’s Main Event match with Savage and Dibiase added to this set as it helped set up where the story would go leading into WrestleMania IV. The DVD picks up at WrestleMania IV showing highlights of Savage’s first three victories in the championship tournament. We see the Dibiase match in the finals which is still fantastic to me to watch. I have seen WrestleMania IV so many times, especially when I was a kid, that I can recall a ton of the commentary. Andre accompanied Dibiase to ringside and Savage calls for reinforcements. Elizabeth is sent back and she returns with Hogan to even up the odds. Savage wins his first WWE championship by winning the tournament. I was thrilled of the match that followed on this set as they put a cage match with Dibiase from that summer of 1988 on there. This is a rarely seen match as well and one that I haven’t seen in many years. They had some great cage matches. I had completely forgotten about the fan that climbed the cage trying to get Virgil to quit interfering!! That was a funny moment. Another funny moment was Superstar Billy Graham on commentary saying that he had told Elizabeth that she needed to eat more and get bigger. My first thought was how would that go over saying something like that??!!! What a goofy comment. LOL. You never could go wrong with Savage/Dibiase matches especially from that time period.
Disc two covers 1988-1992 with a lot of classics with them being matches that are commonly featured on DVD sets. The disc opens with the first SummerSlam as The Megapowers took on The Megabucks. This match has a good memory with me cause it was the first PPV that I ever got live. What I loved seeing at the end was what I often talk about with the building of feuds way in advance. They planted that little seed of trouble with Hogan and Savage at the end of the match. The DVD moves right on to WrestleMania V where The Megapowers exploded. They do a quick overview focusing on the troubles of The Megapowers mostly showing the 1989 Royal Rumble where Savage got eliminated along with others at the time by Hogan. The elimination isn’t actually shown but they show the words being said afterwards. Of course, The Main Event special on NBC is shown as that was where the heel turn by Savage happened. Never forget watching that on TV when it aired!! One negative on this was that I would have liked to have seen some of Savage’s segments where he dissected moments from the past year on how Hogan had turned on him and working on stealing Elizabeth from him. Those were really good segments and I haven’t seen them in years. Too bad that at least one couldn’t be added as an extra. Also, the Saturday Night’s Main Event segment wasn’t shown where Elizabeth made her decision on whose corner that she would be in. Savage/Hogan from WrestleMania V is one of my favorite matches in WrestleMania history. Big one year build for this match from WrestleMania IV right up to V. The match delivered and then we go into the talk of Savage winning the right to be called King. They unfortunately don’t show footage of the match where Savage beat Duggan or don’t show the coronation either. However, the coronation is shown on the extras which I’ll get to momentarily. The Hogan/Savage rematch from The Main Event NBC special is included on this set from February 1990. Originally, Mike Tyson was set to be the special enforcer for this match but Buster Douglas knocked out Tyson just before this was set to happen. Douglas was put into the spot instead. I’ve always liked this match and thought it was fun. WrestleMania VI and VII are covered next. First, the mixed tag of Savage and Sherri against Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire with Elizabeth in their corner. Very fun match. Fun booking. WrestleMania VII was the career match between Savage and The Ultimate Warrior. You’ll remember that a couple of months earlier that Savage had cost Warrior the championship against Sgt. Slaughter. This match has always been a thorn in my side with Savage and Warrior so it was interesting to watch it again. Me and my friends often joke and get annoyed with the fact that Savage hit FIVE big elbow drops on the Warrior which should have been career ending but Warrior kicks out. We just always thought it was ridiculous from a story point of view. The finish of this match makes it all worthwhile and I LOVED seeing the reunion of Savage and Elizabeth again. It really was a HUGE moment and it provided the face turn for Savage. Classic, classic moment which had fans in the crowd crying. The wedding of Savage and Elizabeth is covered and is also an extra. The wedding reception provided the storyline of how the nasty feud with Savage and Jake The Snake Roberts got going. Who can ever forget the feud that Savage and Roberts had? The feud started while Savage was “retired” due to his loss and he had to battle to get reinstated. One of the more scarier moments in wrestling that I remember watching as a kid was when Jake had the cobra biting Savage. It still isn’t that fun to watch now. LOL. This led to their match at the This Tuesday In Texas PPV. I always loved the start of the match with Savage running down the aisle and nailing Jake from behind cause that is how logic would be that you wouldn’t be waiting for ring introductions if he did that to you. It had been a while since I had seen this match too so it was fun to get refreshed on this match. The story was the post match though with Jake continuing to assault Savage while Elizabeth begged and pleaded for him to stop. Interesting that the match stops before Jake hit Elizabeth and I wonder if they left it off of there due to the targeting kids deal that they are back to now. Disc two concludes with Savage and Flair going at it at WrestleMania VIII for the championship. She was mine before she was yours. That is what I always think when I remember back at this match. Great match!! Savage’s second reign as champion happens at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis as he defeats Flair. Lots of wild action in this one.
Disc three picks up in 1992 and carries into his WCW career with the matches finishing in 1999. A couple of real treats right off the bat on this disc. When I saw Savage vs. Shawn Michaels from the UK in 1992 listed on the set, I thought it would be the match from the Coliseum Video release that I had seen. When Elizabeth was introduced with Savage, I perked up realizing that I had never seen this match. This was a lot of fun and much better than their other match I had seen. Really fun finish to the match. Next was another rarity that is great for history’s sake. Savage teams up with Bret Hart taking on Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. Wow is all that can be said for this one. Loved this match as well. Two matches in a row that I hadn’t seen. Loving that!! The last match from Savage’s WWE run that is shown on this set is him taking on Yokozuna for the title from Raw in February 1994. I have to mention something on commentary that just made me laugh. Savage is walking to the ring and Vince McMahon says on commentary that Savage was, no doubt, Hall Of Fame bound. Just kind of ironic considering that Savage is asked about every year when it comes to Hall Of Fame nominees. That bad blood between the two just doesn’t make that seem guaranteed now. We move on to his WCW career from here as Striker and Maria discuss the Monday Night Wars. We pick up with Savage taking on Flair from WCW Bash At The Beach 1995. This was one of the better matches of their feud in my opinion and I liked the outside venue for the match. Another Savage/Flair match after this one from WCW Monday Nitro in February 1996 which features another Savage championship win. I had forgotten that this was the match where Savage won the belt until I neared the finish of it. Savage vs. Diamond Dallas Page was one of the best feuds in WCW in the late 90’s. The build was great and their matches delivered. This DVD has the match from the 1997 Great American Bash shown on it. I loved watching this one again. I have no idea how long it has been since I had seen this one. Brutal falls count anywhere match with the action all over the building. I had to laugh at Dusty Rhodes on commentary yelling for DDP to use the BBQ pit. LOL. Last match on the set skips ahead to Savage’s return to WCW in 1999 where he teamed with Sid Vicious to take on Kevin Nash and Sting with the WCW title being on the line. If anyone pinned Nash, they could win the title. Savage did win the WCW title again and this was the match where they teased that Gorgeous George had had enough of Savage and went with Nash. I had forgotten just how physically involved in matches that Team Madness used to be. Team Madness was of course George, Medusa, and Miss Madness, who would later go on to be Molly Holly.
DVD extras. Lots to be had. The wedding of Savage and Elizabeth from SummerSlam 1991 is shown including the pre-wedding music video. Piper going off on Heenan at the beginning of the wedding telling him to keep quiet and not ruin it is great stuff. Elizabeth’s managerial debut from 1985 is shown along with many interview segments. Definitely check out the Savage interviews. So many of them feature some funny stuff with Savage, Elizabeth, and Mean Gene. Most of them are from 1985-1987. However, there is one of the old “the following announcement has been paid for by the New World Order” black and white promos which features Savage and Elizabeth. I always liked the style of those promos especially when they first started doing them in 1996. The one extra that I liked to see for sure was the Macho King Randy Savage coronation ceremony from Superstars back in 1989. I bet that I have not seen this since it has aired. I never could find it on a Coliseum Video release back in the day or it was put on a video that the local video stores didn’t get. I didn’t remember that Dibiase was the one that gave Savage the scepter. Glad to have that footage in my hands now.
What has been edited from its original form? Anything with the letters WWF being said obviously has the audio drop out but it doesn’t happen very often. I can only think of twice. There is a spot at the beginning of the WrestleMania V match where a whole line that Gorilla said about the “WWF” championship is just removed. If you didn’t know it was there, you wouldn’t even realize it was gone so that was a nice edit. Quite a bit of music replacements. Hogan’s music is of course changed in their match from 1985 and changed to Real American. The Flair music replacement was puzzling to me. In the WrestleMania VIII match, his music is changed to his current theme song. However, during the Savage/Hart vs. Flair/Michaels match, Flair’s original music is back in there. Dusty Rhodes’s “common man” theme song is replaced for WrestleMania VI which hurt the match some especially with the dancing at the end. That generic music that they replaced it with just didn’t work. I’m curious as to why they didn’t use it since they have started using the music again. The Buster Douglas theme music has been replaced for his entrance during The Main Event match with Savage and Hogan. The Vanna White entrance music from WrestleMania IV was replaced but we just hear about ten seconds of it anyway for the introductions.
Ok, I think it is safe to assume that we’ll probably see another Randy Savage set released in the future. Hopefully, Savage and WWE can come together and do a biography style release and include more matches. I just thought I’d go over some matches that I’d like to see included on a future set. I would love to see the match where The Megapowers formed on Saturday Night’s Main Event where Elizabeth pulled Hogan to the ring to save Savage. The bottom line is that I’d love to see more matches featured from Savage’s first championship reign in 1988. Maybe some SNME matches. How about some more rare Hogan/Savage matches? Some of their rematches from 1989. Another match from 1985 or 1986. Savage vs. DDP from Halloween Havoc 1997. Savage vs. Duggan where Savage wins the right to be named King. Savage winning the World War 3 battle royal to win the WCW championship in 1995. Yeah, it’s a long match and I don’t remember just how good that the match was but it would be something for history’s sake with Savage’s title win. Maybe put the heel turn on there with Savage turning on Hogan from The Main Event in 1989. Definitely show some of the Savage promos from 1989 leading up to WrestleMania V where he uses the footage to prove his point of how Hogan had done him wrong. Savage vs. Dibiase from Saturday Night’s Main Event in March 1988. Something from the Savage/George The Animal Steele feud. You could use the Saturday Night’s Main Event match where the winner would get Elizabeth or maybe find a different match from that feud. There are really a lot of choices to go with but my preference of time period would be between 1985 and 1989.
So there you go. There are my thoughts on the Randy Savage DVD set. It really is well done and I enjoyed it a lot. Yeah, I had seen most of these matches many times but they were a lot of fun to watch again and it made me feel like a kid again. I was happy to see three matches though that I had never seen which was the Savage/Steamboat match from Boston Garden in 1986, Savage vs. Michaels from the UK in 1992, and Savage/Hart vs. Michaels/Flair from 1992. I’m just glad that this set finally got released after years and years of talk about it. Savage is one of my all time favorites and it was amazing how he could be such a good face and a good heel. He could do either role with ease. If you’re a Savage and/or Elizabeth fan, you’ll want to pick up this set. Elizabeth was such a big part of his career and it shows on this set. She was what class was all about with her appearance and style. She opened a lot of doors for women in wrestling and she deserves to be in the Hall Of Fame one day. The Savage DVD set gets a big thumbs up from me!!
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