A Tribute to Macho Man Randy Savage - May 20, 2011

Now, he's headed to the outside. A flying elbow. Hooks the leg. One, two, it's over. We have a new champion. That was the call by Gorilla Monsoon on March 27, 1988 as Macho Man Randy Savage won the tournament at WrestleMania IV to become the undisputed World Wrestling Federation Champion.

Randy Savage is one of my favorites of all time. I got hooked into wrestling just as he was moving up that ladder of success. A lot of my childhood revolves around wrestling and especially Randy Savage. When I was little, we would all wrestle and imitate our favorites. I loved climbing up on that couch or chair and raising those two arms up in the air to drop that double ax handle. It was fun. He was fun to watch. One thing that I found interesting about Savage even as a kid was that he was hard to cheer against him. I always talk about how Shawn Michaels was probably the first full fledged heel that I got behind with cheering. However, Savage was the one that got the ball rolling. I remember cheering him against The Ultimate Warrior. I couldn't cheer him against Hogan though cause I was too big of a Hulkamaniac. Savage was one of those guys that I enjoyed watching. When his matches air on WWE Classics On Demand, I will often watch them and still enjoy them. He did things that others weren't doing. The Randy Savage DVD set was released in the last couple of years and I enjoyed every bit of it.

1985 saw the launch of Savage in the World Wrestling Federation. He got people's attention for sure and his first match at MSG has been shown on DVD and also on Classics on Demand. You just have to laugh at the fact that Savage was such a heel magnet that he was getting stuff thrown at him already. Savage's heel run would be amazing to watch as he introduced Elizabeth as his manager. They did a big thing on TV where managers were trying to get Savage to allow them to be his manager. Elizabeth was introduced and we went to the next level with Savage. It didn't take long for Savage to be in the main event picture having some great matches with Hogan. They had some great matches at Madison Square Garden in the mid 80's.

WrestleMania III. You know where I'm going. Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat. Still one of my favorite matches of all time. While all the attention was on Hogan and Andre, Savage and Steamboat went out there and stole the show. You can ask so many wrestlers about that match and it is a favorite of theirs. Chris Jericho talked in his book about how he and his friend could work the full match by memory when they were kids. 93,173 fans were just glued to this match and it is one of the best WrestleMania matches in history to this day.

It wasn't long before Savage would make that face turn. A feud with Honky Tonk Man was the launching pad and then a teaming of the Madness and the Mania. The Mega Powers were formed in late 1987 on Saturday Night's Main Event in what was a perfectly done story. This would all lead to Savage taking the top spot in the company as World Wrestling Federation Champion by defeating Ted Dibiase in that tournament final. Savage was one of my favorite champions ever. Just always had good matches and interesting feuds. That year of 1988 saw feuds with Dibiase, Andre, and Bad News Brown. However, then the build turned to becoming a heel once again. Savage would turn on Hogan and there would be these great promos showing how Hogan had been a backstabber to him throughout his title reign. I recently commented about how Classics On Demand is now in that time period with Prime Time Wrestling and is airing those promos. I haven't seen them since probably that time they aired. Savage would drop the title to Hogan at WrestleMania V. A series of rematches would occur including bringing Sherri into the mix as Savage's manager while Elizabeth paired up with Hogan. Great stuff with the rematches. Savage's next feuds would be with Hacksaw Jim Duggan (which brought him to becoming the Macho King) and then on to Dusty Rhodes. The build to WrestleMania VII would be Savage not getting a title shot against The Ultimate Warrior only for him to cost Warrior the title at The 1991 Royal Rumble. WrestleMania VII was set up with a career ending match in place. One would have to retire. The result had one of the most garbage finishes ever with Warrior kicking out of five Savage elbow drops which should have been career ending, much less kicked out of. Warrior would end Savage's career but the big story became Elizabeth sitting in the building. After Sherri turned on Savage, Elizabeth ran to the ring to toss Sherri out of there. Savage and Elizabeth were reunited in one of the best booked feel good moments ever. It was great stuff and the crowd gave them a huge send off. We had the wedding that headlined SummerSlam 1991 and then the launch of the Jake Roberts feud. Roberts brought out another side of Savage's character. The insane Savage where you just watched as a viewer thinking that he is going to seriously injure this guy. That feud was just intense as could be. The next version of that was the feud with Ric Flair where he claimed that Elizabeth was "mine before she was yours" to Savage. Savage would win his second world championship that night. Not long after that, Savage would mostly work as an announcer for the company. The story that I've always heard was that Savage wanted to continue wrestling but Vince didn't want him to be that anymore. So, Savage left to go to WCW and his continue his in ring career.

WCW was definitely a revival of his in ring career. Savage kept teasing on why he was coming to WCW but we didn't know if it was friend or foe of Hogan's. Savage and Hogan would reunite and eventually feud once again. Savage continued his rivalry with Flair and had some title reigns thrown in there as well. Hogan turned heel and it was the legdrop on the Macho Man that sealed the deal on what was going on at Bash At The Beach in 1996. Savage was one of the guys that led the brigade of WCW against the nWo. However, Savage eventually joined the group but there ended up being a power struggle within the group. When the Wolfpack formed, Savage jumped over to that group. Savage would reinvent the character in 1999 with new music and a new look. Enter also Gorgeous George. Another title reign in there but Savage wasn't around a whole lot longer in WCW.

Savage has kind of faded out of the spotlight over the last ten years. He did make a few appearances for TNA including appearing in a main event match. Savage would pop up and do some convention appearances. Would he ever make another WWE appearance has been the talk for so long now? Would he go into the Hall Of Fame? There has been so much talk as to what exactly the heat was between Vince and Savage keeping him from being brought back into WWE. When Savage recently appeared in the new All Stars game, that was a good sign. An even better sign was the recent promo video that was done for WWE by Savage pushing the new Savage WWE figure. It was great and just classic Savage. I know I loved it and it got people all stirred up. People have been trying to figure out for years now just how long it would be until he went into the WWE Hall Of Fame. It didn't happen this year but attention turned to next year. Sadly, we didn't get the WWE sendoff for Savage which is always going to be sad. I am sure he will now go into the Hall Of Fame but it isn't going to be the same great moment that it should have been. Savage being up on that stage and saying farewell would have been great. It was a moment that I was really looking forward to. One of the all time greats has passed away today. Thank you Randy Savage.