Randy Savage

Randall Mario Poffo, (born November 15, 1952 in Sarasota, Florida), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage (and alternately Randy "Macho Man" Savage), is a professional wrestler who achieved prominence in the World Wrestling Federation and later World Championship Wrestling. He has also performed under the names "Macho King" and "Macho Man."

The Macho Man is known to wrestling fans and non-fans alike for his distinctively deep, husky voice and his trademark loud, drawn-out cry of "Ohhhhhhhhhh, yeahhhhhhhhhhhh!", made even more popular by a series of Slim Jim ads. For much of his tenure in the WWF, he was managed by the late Miss Elizabeth, to whom he was married on December 30, 1984. The couple had twin boys.

Early career

Before he started his full-time wrestling career, he was a minor league baseball catcher in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system. He injured his natural throwing shoulder at one point, so he learned how to throw with his left arm instead.

He is a second-generation professional wrestler; his father Angelo Poffo was a well-known wrestler in the 1950s and 1960s, who was featured in "Ripley's Believe it or Not" for his ability to do sit-ups for hours on end. His brother Lanny Poffo had a moderately successful career a wrestler, under the ring names Leaping Lanny Poffo and the The Genius.

In the early 1980s, Angelo Poffo ran the "outlaw" ICW promotion in the mid-American states that featured his sons Randy and Lanny. The promotion competed with Jerry Lawler's Memphis promotion (later the USWA). Savage dated Debbie Combs for five years while they were working for ICW.

Eventually, the Poffo promotion disbanded and Randy and Lanny entered the Memphis scene.

World Wrestling Federation

File:Mega Powers.jpg

Randy Savage, along with "Mega Powers" partner Hulk Hogan

In June 1985, Savage signed with Vince McMahon's WWF and soon became a top heel (wrestling villain). Savage made an appearance on Tuesday Night Titans where the established WWF managers all made their cases to offer their services to Savage (including Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart, and "Classy" Fred Blassie. Weeks later he debuted and was touted as the "number one free agent," and "the man who is demand." That night he revealed his choice of manager to be the lovely Miss Elizabeth. He made his pay-per-view debut at The Wrestling Classic on November 7, 1985, where he defeated Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat among others on his way to finishing runner-up to Junkyard Dog in a sixteen man tournament. He eventually beat Tito Santana to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship at the famed Boston Garden in January 1986 by using an illegal steel object stashed in his tights. Early on in his WWF career, Savage also won a count-out victory over his future tag-team partner WWF Champion Hulk Hogan.

Savage wrestled in what is widely considered to be one of the greatest matches in North American wrestling history when he faced Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat at WrestleMania III in the Pontiac Silverdome. The match was the culmination of a long and bitter feud between the two and featured tremendous athleticism and in-ring storytelling. After nineteen two-counts, Steamboat pinned Savage to end his reign as Intercontinental Champion. The match was extremely choreographed, as opposed to the "on the fly" nature of most wrestling matches. Savage was a stickler for detail, and he and Steamboat laid out and rehearsed every spot in the match prior to WrestleMania, at his home in Florida. It still stands up to the test of time and is cited by such wrestling luminaries as Chris Jericho as their inspiration for becoming a wrestler.

Savage would turn face (wrestling hero) later in 1987 after the fans started cheering him for his exceptional in-ring ability. On Saturday Night's Main Event in October 1987 he solidified his status as a face when Elizabeth got Hulk Hogan to save him from a beatdown by Jimmy Hart's cronies The Honky Tonk Man and the Hart Foundation. As a result, The Mega Powers were born. Hogan and Savage would together rule the WWF for the next sixteen months.

Savage achieved his greatest fame during WrestleMania IV when he defeated "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase in the final of a tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. Savage would hold the title for a full year before losing it to Hogan at WrestleMania V in 1989. Prior to his WrestleMania V match, he turned heel on Hogan, getting jealous of him over Miss Elizabeth. He eventually left Elizabeth as his valet for Sensational Sherri. He adopted the moniker "Macho King" after defeating "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan for the WWF's unofficial "King" title. After the match, Savage proceeded to give Duggan five big elbow drops from the top rope, and Sherri did several splashes from the top to further humiliate Duggan.

The Macho King got into a feud with The Ultimate Warrior after the Warrior, then WWF Champion, refused to grant Savage the number one contendership, as Sgt. Slaughter already promised, if he were to defeat the Warrior. Savage had sent "Sensational Queen" Sherri out weeks prior to try and convince the Warrior, and in a face-to-face interview laced with sexual innuendos and gestures, failed to get anywhere with the champion. Outraged, Savage promised revenge, which he sought during the 1991 Royal Rumble. During the Slaughter-Warrior title match, Sherri goaded the Warrior out of the ring, causing the Warrior to leave and run down the aisle, only to be ambushed by Savage with a clothesline. Warrior managed to make it back to the ring and was nearing victory when Savage and Sherri interfered again. At an opportune moment the King smashed the Warrior on the head with his scepter, costing him the WWF Championship against Sgt. Slaughter. It led to a career-ending match at WrestleMania VII. Savage lost the marathon match; even after receiving five consecutive flying elbow drops, the Warrior somehow managed to kick out. After the match, Savage was attacked by Queen Sherri as he lay dejected in the ring. This was too much for Miss Elizabeth, who happened to be in the audience. Elizabeth rushed to Savage's aid, fighting off Sherri and reuniting with her one-time love to huge crowd appreciation.

Savage would return to TV in a non-wrestling role as the "Macho Man" again over the summer with Miss Elizabeth and "propose" to her in the ring, leading to an on-air "wedding" at SummerSlam 1991, dubbed "The Match Made in Heaven." It was at this time that Savage was targeted by Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who was by now a dastardly heel. In a memorable feud, Roberts would ambush Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth on their wedding day and later have a cobra bite Savage as the Macho Man lay prone in the ring. Due to fan pressure, Savage would be "re-instated" as a wrestler by Jack Tunney so that he could do battle with Roberts.

Savage would have another run as WWF Champion, defeating "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair at WrestleMania VIII in 1992, and holding it until September of that year, when he lost it back to Flair at a WWF TV taping in Hershey Pennsylvania. Savage and Flair would later swap the WCW World Heavyweight Championship during their 1995-96 feud, making them the only duo to win and lose both the WWF/E and WCW versions of the world title to each other.

After losing the title, he formed a tag team with the Ultimate Warrior, whom he defended the title against at SummerSlam 1992. The team was known as The Ultimate Maniacs. The duo formed after Warrior helped Savage to the back on the night he lost the title. Razor Ramon had injured Savage's knee during his match with Flair, ultimately costing him the match and the title. Savage backed Warrior to be the man to dethrone Flair. Savage and Warrior were scheduled to face Flair and Ramon in a tag team match at that year's Survivor Series. However, Warrior left the WWF weeks before the event was to take place, so Savage chose the late Mr. Perfect, executive consultant to Flair, as his partner to replace Warrior. Perfect turned face and teamed with Savage. The duo defeated Flair and Ramon via a disqualification.

When Monday Night Raw began in January 1993, Savage served primarily as a color commentator, wrestling only occasionally against characters such as Doink, The Repo Man, and Crush. Savage appeared alongside Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan to broadcast Wrestlemania IX and defeated Crush in a "Falls Count Anywhere Match" at WrestleMania X. Savage also made periodic appearances in Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion in fall 1994. His final WWF pay-per-view appearance was at SummerSlam 1994 where he served as host. He left the WWF in November.

World Championship Wrestling

Randy signed a $6 million contract with WCW, joining his "friend" Hulk Hogan, who was feuding with the 3 Faces of Fear and the Dungeon of Doom.

Savage got into a personal rivalry with Ric Flair during this time. During the 1995 WCW United States Championship tournament (created when former champion Vader was stripped of the belt for attacking WCW on-air Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel), Savage interfered in Flair's match vs. young Alex Wright, attacking Flair and causing Wright to get disqualified, setting up a tournament semifinal match where the winner would face the winner of the Sting/Meng match for the United States Championship at The Great American Bash that June. Savage and Flair's match never took place, as Savage and Flair brawled in the backstage area prior to the bell ringing. They were both eliminated from the tournament, and had their own match at the Bash, which Flair won. Later on that year, during part of the storyline where Arn Anderson and Ric Flair turned on each other, Flair (in looking for a partner to take on Anderson and Brian Pillman in a tag match) tried to recruit Savage to be his partner. However, remembering the rivalry (and how Flair had attacked Savage's father, Angelo Poffo, during their rivalry), he refused, telling Flair point blank to "get the hell out of here!"

On November 26, 1995 at World War 3, Macho Man won the WCW World Title by winning the 60-man three-ring battle royal. He lost the title to Ric Flair a month later. Macho Man won the title back a month later but lost the title again to Ric Flair another month later. In January 1996, he would bring Elizabeth with him into WCW as his valet once again. Elizabeth turned on Savage in his last title loss to Flair.

In July 1996, the nWo was formed when Hulk Hogan turned on Savage and joined The Outsiders, a tag team of former WWF wrestlers Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. After their inception, one of their main enemies became Macho Man himself. At WCW Halloween Havoc 1996, Macho Man faced Hogan for the WCW Title but lost when the rest of the nWo interfered. After months of abuse from the nWo, Randy eventually joined them and was therefore rewarded with the services of Elizabeth, and helped hogan retain against piper at superbrawl. who had joined the nWo several months earlier. He began feuding with Diamond Dallas Page and Kimberly. When Hogan failed to recapture his "nWo" Title from Sting, it was Savage's turn, and he got his shot at WCW Spring Stampede 1998. Hogan tried everything he could to make sure that Savage would not win the title because Hogan felt that he was the only nWo member who should be World Champion, since he was the leader of the stable. With the help of Nash, however, Savage beat Sting for the belt.

The following night on WCW Monday Nitro, Hogan faced Savage for the championship. For a while it looked like Hogan had Savage beat, but for the second consecutive night, Nash came to Savage's aid, powerbombing Hogan. Savage tried to capitalize, but an interfering Bret Hart attacked Savage and preserved the victory for Hogan.

After that, Savage joined with Nash and others to form the nWo Wolfpac, a split from Hogan's group, which became known as nWo Black and White or nWo Hollywood.

For nearly a year, Randy Savage took a hiatus from the company due to an injury. When Macho Man returned, he came back with a new look and new attitude and also brought with him his then 22-year-old girlfriend Gorgeous George as a valet. At first, Randy would interfere in DDP's matches to make sure that Page kept his World Title (for reasons unknown and never explained by WCW), but when Kevin Nash won it at WCW Slamboree 1999, Savage went after the title. It was around that time that Madusa and Miss Madness joined Macho Man as his other two valets; together they were known as Team Madness.

At WCW Great American Bash 1999, Sid Vicious returned to WCW and helped Macho Man attack Kevin Nash. This led to a tag team between Kevin Nash and Sting against Randy Savage and Sid Vicious, in which whoever pinned Nash (including Sting) would win the World Title, at WCW Bash at the Beach 1999. Savage won the WCW title for the fourth time when he pinned Nash but lost the title again to Hollywood Hogan the next night, when Big Sexy interfered and powerbombed Macho Man (in a reversal of the situation from the previous year, where Nash had attacked Hogan to help Savage keep his title, albeit unsuccessfully).

After that, Team Madness slowly started to disband as Madusa and Miss Madness started fighting each other because they blamed the other for Savage's title loss. Savage soon fired both of them. and started a feud with Dennis Rodman and defeated Rodman at road wild 1999. He eventually joined the Millionaire's Club with Hogan, Jim Duggan, Flair, DDP, and other popular veteran wrestlers. When Vince Russo came to WCW and Savage's WCW contract expired, Savage and George left WCW and never returned.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Savage made his return to wrestling for TNA at TNA Victory Road 2004 and feuded against Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall. At Turning Point 2004 he teamed up with Jeff Hardy and A.J. Styles to defeat the Kings of Wrestling (Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. The main event of Final Resolution 2005 was going to be Jeff Jarrett and Randy Savage for the NWA Title. Savage's plan was to win the belt and then drop it back to Jarrett at the next pay per view. When TNA Management didn't like the idea Savage left because neither party would budge.

In 2005, Savage told a Missouri newspaper that he can’t wrestle right now because of "health concerns," as he had apparently injured his back. Recently, rumors have been flying around that he will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame sometime in the coming years. Vince McMahon is still on bad terms with Savage, but there could be an agreement for his induction. McMahon has reportedly been very vocal to any and everyone backstage to never bring up the name Randy Savage in his presence.

Outside of the ring

Acting Career

• Savage provided the voice for the character, Rasslor, on an episode of the "Dial M For Monkey" segment on Dexter's Laboratory.
• He has also lent his voice to the online cartoon College University in which he voiced himself.
• He also appeared in one of the more popular episodes of the television program Space Ghost Coast to Coast, entitled "Piledriver." In said episode, Savage supplied the voice of Space Ghost's grandfather, a former professional wrestler (oddly enough). Zorak commented, "That sounds like Randy Savage," and the character also referenced Elizabeth, his brother, "Leapin" Lanny Poffo, "Wildfire" Tommy Rich and Haystacks Calhoun, a now obscure wrestler from forty years ago.
• Savage beat out rival former wrestler Goldberg as the casting choice to appear in the original Spider-Man movie as the underground wrestler "Bone Saw McGraw." Interestingly, the original character from the comics is named Crusher Hogan; Savage's rival Hulk Hogan's name is derived from Marvel character The Incredible Hulk.
• In 2005, he provided the voice of Sasquatch in the Nickelodeon show The X's.

Music Career

Savage is now pursuing a career as a rap artist; his debut album Be A Man was released on October 7, 2003. His album was met with scathing reviews; according to a review by Dan Aquilante of the New York Post, his album "defies the laws of physics by blowing and sucking at the same time." The title track of the album was intended to make fun of Hulk Hogan. This album has been inducted into WrestleCrap.

Trivia

• During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he also became known for a supposed friendship with Hogan that quickly developed into a very open (and unscripted) rivalry after Savage accused Hogan of sleeping in Elizabeth's bed during a road trip. Savage and Elizabeth were divorced on September 18, 1992. Savage and Hogan have a strained relationship to this day. It has been speculated that Savage punched Hogan in the face just prior to WrestleMania IX, causing Hogan to have a swollen eye during the event. The story was found to be untrue and Hogan's swollen eye due to a jetski accident.
• Savage has never been able to defeat Hulk Hogan in any type of match, with the exception of a series of countout victories in the mid-1980s on the house show circuit and a disqualification win on WCW Monday Nitro in 1998.
• Savage's ring entrance music in the WWF was Pomp and Circumstance, known best as the theme played at high school graduations. Because the song was in the public domain and therefore could not be copyrighted by the WWF like most themes, Savage was able to bring it with him to Atlanta and used a rock version of the theme for much of his early to mid-WCW career.
• Savage also angered many in the early 1980s by regularly giving out the phone numbers and home addresses of wrestlers in rival companies.
• In Savage's two WWF and four WCW World Heavyweight Championship reigns, each one of them ended with Savage losing the title to either Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair.
• In 2004, a trademark case was brought against Randy Savage by the makers of Kool-Aid, claiming that he stole the catchphrase "Oh, Yeah!" from their anthropomorphic mascot. The case is still pending.
• In a WCW video about his career in WCW, he admitted to never liking Diamond Dallas Page. although, he later admitted the had changed his mind and thought he was a stand up guy.
• In 1995, Savage pushed for WCW to place his father, Angelo Poffo, in its Hall of Fame. Commentator and wrestling legend Gordon Solie opposed this decision, because he felt wrestlers (or in this case family of wrestlers) should not be asking for spots in the Hall—in this case, especially, since Poffo did not have much of a career in WCW. Poffo's induction went on and Solie left the company shortly after.
• In 1998 Savage accepted an award from Harvard University's humor society Harvard Lampoon as "Man of the Year."

Wrestling facts

Quotes

• "Ooh yeah!"
• "The Madness is running wild!"
• "Snap into a Slim Jim!"
• "Dig it!"
• "Bone-Saw is R-E-A-D-Y!" (From Spider-Man)
• "I got you for three minutes of playtime!" (From Spider-Man)
• "The tower of power/too sweet to be sour/funky like a monkey/OOOH YEAH!"
• "OOOOOHH YEAH!!" "BROTHER!!"-Hulk Hogan and Macho Man, the Mega-Powers.
• "OOOH YEAH!! I want everybody to freak out, freak out! The Macho Man is right here and I'm gonna take it to the limit, yeah!!"-His debut Nitro show

"Best there is...past, present and future" "Oh Yeah!"

Managers

Miss Elizabeth Sensational Sherri (a.k.a Queen Sherri) Gorgeous George Team Madness (Gorgeous George,Madusa, & Miss Madness)

Finishing and signature moves

• Savage Elbow (Flying elbow drop)
• Top rope double axe handle to the outside of the ring

Championships and Accomplishments

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• 2-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time WWF Intercontinental Champion
• 1989 King of the Ring

• World Championship Wrestling

• 4-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion
• WCW World War 3 Battle Royal winner (1995)

• National Wrestling Alliance

• 3-time NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time NWA South Eastern Tag Team Champion (with Lanny Poffo)

• Mid-Southern Wrestling

• 2-time Mid-Southern Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time Mid-Southern International Heavyweight Champion

• United States Wrestling Association

• 1-time USWA Heavyweight Champion

• World Wrestling Council

• 1-time North American Heavyweight Champion

• Miscellaneous

• 3-time Independent Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time Georgia Championship Wrestling Tag Team Champion (with Lanny Poffo)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 9 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
• PWI ranked him # 57 of the best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Hulk Hogan.
• PWI Wrestler of the Year Award (1988)
• PWI Most Popular Wrestler Award (1988)
• PWI Most Hated Wrestler Award (1989)
• PWI Comeback of the Year Award (1995)
• PWI Match of the Year, versus Ricky Steamboat (1987)
• PWI Feud of the Year, versus Diamond Dallas Page (1997)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• 1987 Match of the Year (vs Ricky Steamboat)

External links

• Speaking From the Heart ... Randy Savage Style - A review of WWF Superstars: The Music Videos, hosted by the Macho Man himself
• MTV: Savage will become a rapper.