Randy Savage's (born Randy Poffo)
first brush with professional sports wasn't in pro wrestling
but as a pitcher for the farm team of the Saint Louis
Cardinals. While he played baseball, his father Angelo Poffo
(a former wrestler himself) talked him into taking working for
his International Championship Wrestling (ICW) promotion.
Savage
joined his brother Lanny Poffo working in the ICW and battled
his brother for the ICW Championship. After the ICW
folded, Randy began wrestling for the Memphis
based Championship Wrestling Association (CWA)
promotion, joined by his brother and father. Savage was a
much hated heel, feuding with the Rock-n-Roll Express with his
brother, and in singles action against Memphis heroes Austin
Idol and Jerry "the King"
Lawler. During a match against the
Rock-n-Roll
Express, Savage
piledrived Ricky Morton through a bench,
perhaps the first time such a move had been
executed.
After bowing to defeat
in a loser leaves town match, Savage surfaced in the World
Wrestling Federation (WWF) during the peak of the
Rock-n-Wrestling Era (joined by brother Lanny Poffo whose
family ties to Savage was ignored). The various managers
of the WWF courted Savage as their client but Savage shocked
the wrestling world when he chose newcomer Miss Elizabeth as
his manager. Savage and Elizabeth's relationship was
portrayed as bordering on abusive with Savage constantly
belittling Elizabeth and even using her as a shield against
babyface opponents.
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It
wasn't long before Savage won the Inter-Continental
Championship from Tito Santana and began a
lengthy run with the belt. Savage won the belt after
Santana attempted to suplex Savage into the ring and
Savage laid out Santana with a foreign object.
Savage covered the lifeless Santana for the first
of several WWF titles.
The August 1986 issue of Pro
Wrestling Illustrated (left)examined the inner
conflict that Randy Savage faced as a rulebreaker in the
WWF. |
During this time, Savage
feuded with the simple-minded wrestler George "the Animal"
Steele who was smitten with Elizabeth. However, this was
just a warm-up for one of the biggest feuds of the WWF during
the 1980's- Savage vs. Ricky "The
Dragon" Steamboat.
The Macho Man defended his
Intercontinental Championship against Steamboat on national
television. Steamboat fought with everything he had,
putting the champion on the defensive. Steamboat had the
momentum though and it seemed certain that Savage was going to
lose the championship. Never one to shy away from
cheating, Savage took the timekeeper's belt and jumped off the
top rope with it, using it to crush Steamboat's larynx.
Steamboat was hospitalized and fans wondered if he could ever
come back from the devastating injury he had suffered.
Several months later, Savage was surprised to see Steamboat at
ringside for one of his matches!
A rematch was signed for Savage and "The Dragon" to appear at
Wrestlemania III. In what is largely regarded as one of
the greatest matches of all time, Savage and
Steamboat fought with everything they had. The two
fought back and forth with neither man gaining the upper hand
for long. Finally, after referee Dave Hebner was
accidentally knocked out, Savage clotheslined Steamboat and
laid him out. He climbed to the top rope and delivered
his deadly flying elbowsmash from the top rope, covering
Steamboat for the pin. Unfortunately for Savage, the
referee was still unconscious and couldn't make the
count.attempted to repeat the move that had nearly ended
Steamboat's career. Frustrated, Savage grabbed the
timekeeper's bell and climbed the top rope to deliver the same
move that had crushed Steamboat's larynx months
earlier.. Perhaps remembering how Steamboat had saved
him from the brutal attack of Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron
Sheik many months before, George "The Animal" Steele knocked
Savage off the top rope, giving Steamboat the opportunity to
rally back. When Savage bodyslammed Steamboat, Steamboat
hung on to Savage and rolled him up for the pinfall victory.
Ricky Steamboat was the new Intercontinental Heavyweight
Champion.
By now, fans were warming to Savage
and he turned babyface. After the WWF Title was declared
vacant when Andre the Giant sold the belt to "The Million Dollar Man" Ted
DiBiase, a tournament was held for the WWF Championship at
Wrestlemania IV. Savage fought his way through three
opponents to the finals where he faced "The Million Dollar
Man" in the finals. However DiBiase was far from finished with
his quest for the gold. True to form, DiBiase, DiBiase,
stacked the deck by placing both Virgil and Andre the Giant in
his corner. Things looked bleak for Savage but help came
in the shape of Hulk Hogan. In the final round, Hulk
Hogan lent his support to Savage by blasting DiBiase with a
steel chair, helping Savage win the belt.
Shortly thereafter, Savage began
feuding with Ted "Million Dollar Man" DiBiase and Andre the
Giant. Savage was no match for both wrestlers
so he teamed with Hulk Hogan, forming a tag team known as the
Mega Powers. The MegaPowers met DiBiase and
Andre at SummerSlam. Jesse "The Body" Ventura was appointed as
the special referee but fans were skeptical that he would call
a fair match given the financial incentives DiBiase would no
doubt give him to call things in the Million Dollar Man's
favor. In the end, the lovely Elizabeth unleashed her
secret weapon- an eenie weenie polka dot bikini which
distracted the Megapowers' foes and allowed them to rally back
and defeat Andre and DiBiase.
Over the next year, the MegaPowers
slowly began to split apart as Savage became
increasingly jealous over what he thought was Hulk Hogan "lusting after
Elizabeth". Finally, the Mega Powers exploded during a
match between the dream team and the team of Big Bossman and Akeem. Savage brutally attacked
Hogan, setting up a main event match at Wrestlemania V.
Elizabeth remained in a neutral corner during the match, in
which Hogan regained the WWF Title.
Savage felt that
Elizabeth had betrayed him and replaced her with valet Sherri
Martel. "Scary" Sherri often aided Macho Man with the
help of a loaded purse and Savage continued his winning ways
in the WWF, eventually defeating "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan for the
King of the Ring title. The Macho King (as Savage was known
after defeating Duggan) then began a feud with the Ultimate
Warrior after helping Sgt. Slaughter
defeat the Warrior for the WWF Title. Before the match
began, Randy "Macho
King" Savage attacked the champion to the point
where the Ultimate Warrior had to crawl to the ring for the
match. Amazingly, the
Ultimate Warrior rallied back until the "Macho King"
blasted a ruby scepter over the Warrior's head giving
Slaughter the opening he needed to clinch his win. Savage and
the Warrior feuded, culminating in a retirement match in which
Savage lost, forcing him to leave the squared circle.
After losing the match, an enraged Sherri Martel attacked
Savage but Elizabeth rushed to the ring and saved
Savage.
Although Savage
could no longer wrestle, he continued to appear in the WWF as
a color commentator. He also rekindled his romance with
Elizabeth and eventually married her at SummerSlam.
However the wedding reception was crashed by Jake "the Snake"
Roberts and the Undertaker who attacked Savage
and terrified Elizabeth with a snake they had placed in one of
their gifts. Unable to wrestle, Savage was unable to
exact revenge on Roberts until he recieved special
dispensation from WWF President Jack Tunney. Savage and
Roberts would feud for several months before Savage destroyed
Roberts in a match on Saturday Night's Main Event.
His
feud with Roberts finished, Savage turned his sights to the
WWF Championship again (held by Ric Flair who had won the title at
the Royal Rumble). Flair and Savage feuded with Flair
taunting Savage that Elizabeth was "damaged goods" and that
Flair had romanced her before Savage even knew her.
Flair and Savage met at Wrestlemania where Savage won his
second WWF Title. It wasn't long before Savage lost the
title to Flair and began feuding with Razor Ramon (who
helped Flair regain the belt from Savage).
Savage began wrestling less frequently in the WWF and joined
Vince McMahon as a color commentator on Monday Night
RAW. Then, in a surprise move, Savage left the WWF for
rival World Championship Wrestling (WCW) becoming one of their
top babyface wrestlers and teaming with Hulk Hogan. Savage
rekindled his feud with Ric Flair and battled Flair over the
WCW World Title after winning his first
WCW belt in a 60 man battle royal. The Savage/Flair feud
was taken to another level when Miss Elizabeth entered WCW and
turned heel against Savage by joining Flair.
The Macho
Man became involved in one of the biggest angles of all time
when WCW was invaded by the New World Order. Savage
defended WCW against the NWO, rekindling his feud with Hulk
Hogan (a founding member of the NWO). Savage disappeared for
several months before returning to WCW where he resurfaced as
a member of the NWO.
Eventually, Savage left WCW and disappeared from wrestling for
several years. However Savage remained busy, appearing
as a wrestler in the blockbuster film Spider-Man and recording
a universally panned rap album entitled Be a Man.
During his hiatus from wrestling, Savage challenged Hulk Hogan
to a shoot wrestling match for charity. Savage and Hogan
have had a long love/hate relationship which has been in the
hate phase for the last few years.
Recently, Savage was announced as returning to the ring for
Total Nonstop Action (TNA) but his appearance was short-lived
and fans were shocked to see that the once muscular Savage had
become a shell of his former self. Whether or not
the Macho Man will return to wrestling is a mystery but his
legend is here to stay.
