Randy Savage
#PWHS #Bio #Biography #RandySavage #MachoMan #Wrestling #ProWrestling #WWF #WCW #WWE #ICW
December 18, 1976
Randy was born Randy Mario Poffo on November 15, 1952 in Columbus, Ohio. His father was the legendary Angelo Poffo, a man who held the US naval record of completing 6,033 sit-ups in 4 hours and 10 minutes!!! He'd also have a brother who get into the wrestling business by the name of Lanny Poffo, may-be better known to some as the Genius.
The truth is though, Randy Savage is the proof that you don't need to love wrestling to get into the business. Most people have this rose tinted glasses view that the best wrestlers were fans growing up and wanted nothing else then to step onto the canvas and grapple for the entertainment of thousands of fans each night.
Not Savage though, all he wanted growing up was to be a baseball star. He would follow that dream as far as he could until it became apparent he was not going to make it in the big time baseball leagues. With no other options Savage would follow in his fathers footsteps and permanently don a pair of tights (He had wrestled in the off season of baseball previously).
Around the summer of 1973 would be the first time Randy laced up a pair of boots and from there he just kept improving and improving in the ring. For the first five years of his career he'd work in various territories including the All-Star Wrestling Alliance and Championship Wrestling from Florida.
During those first couple of years in the business Randy portrayed a character called The Spider, which included a mask. A lot of baseball or sports stars would wear a mask to protect their identities, so no-one would know what they did in the off season.
After giving up baseball Randy would go to using his real name of Randy Poffo. That name would not last long though, during a stint in Georgia Championship Wrestling, Ole Anderson would suggest Randy adopt the name of Savage as he was already wrestling like one, a savage that is.
Savage would now start touring under his newly assumed name from 1977 onward. The majority of his time in 1977 was spread between GCW, Mid-America, and the Mid-Atlantic promotion. He'd make waves in the promotions, but he was never really anything special. Just another face on the card.
It'd be in early 1978 when Savage really started coming into his own. Whilst working with Nick Gulas in the Mid-America territory, Savage started to adopt more outrageous outfit accessories that he eventually became famous for wearing. Not only that but his promo skills were really coming together in his trademark gravelly voice.
Angelo Poffo was not happy with the lack of momentum his two sons were getting in the NWA territories and thus decided to start up his very own promotion not affiliated with the NWA. The 'outlaw' territory would be known as International Championship Wrestling and opened it's doors in 1978.
Being pushed as the top heel in his fathers new territory, Randy was pretty much unstoppable there. His promo's from the late 70's through to the early 80's in the ICW were nothing short of breathtaking.
His manager Steve Cooper (Izzy Slapawitz) who was an instrumental part in helping Savage stay over once he had gotten over on his own in the ICW territory. The other thing that really helped cement Randy as an over the top heel was when he (Storyline) put a midget wrestler out of action with a series of vicious top rope elbow drops.
One of the top drawing and remembered feuds from Savage's time in the ICW was with his own brother Lanny Poffo. The two would fight against each other many times over the ICW Heavyweight Championship.
Wrestling and talking weren't the only things that got the Macho Man noticed during this period of time. It is noted by many wrestlers, managers, and personalities that it was during his time in ICW that his paranoia and reputation as a real life insane lunatic really became solidified.
There's a couple pretty well known stories that involved the ICW guys clashing with NWA affiliates who were also based in Tennessee. One such story involves Randy Savage and Bill Dundee having a heated argument outside of a gym when the two bumped into each other outside of the ring.
Dundee was a big star in Jerry Jarrett's Continental Wrestling Association. The Poffo's tell the story that the two sets of wrestlers were facing each other outside of the gym and when things escalated Randy pistol whipped Bill Dundee and left him laying.
Dundee tells it that he were sucker punched as he was walking to his car by Randy, and then Randy went to walk around to the front of the car to see if Dundee had a pistol, Dundee got his pistol out of his trunk. Dundee recalls that Randy then jumped on his back, Angelo Poffo tried to take the gun from Dundee but only got the holster. Then Dundee told Randy to get off his back or he would blow his old mans brains out. Prompting the ICW crowd to run away.
Another story comes from Dutch Mantell (Rip Rogers relayed the story to him) about Macho Man in a Waffle House following a show one night. According to rip Savage 'Wasn't feeling any pain.' Whilst in the middle of ordering his meal a cowboy walked in and declared he had just gotten married.
The announcement prompted the waitress serving Randy and Rip to go and congratulate the man (He was friends with the staff there apparently). Savage was unhappy, he was hungry and now he had to wait for the celebration to stop to finish his order.
"Savage had heard what the cowboy said when he entered. As the conversation about the marriage continued, the cowboy said that he was really in love with this girl. Savage, out of nowhere, had to to add in his two cents. Savage said, out loud and to nobody in particular but to everybody that could hear him, "who gives a f**k!!!"
The conversation in the Waffle House came to a screeching halt. Everybody heard what Savage had just said...especially the cowboy dude. Everything just stopped for a moment. Waffle Houses aren't that big to begin with and when Savage made his comment, the cowboy and Savage were only about 15 feet apart.
The skinny little cowboy didn't like what Savage had said. He looked squarely at Randy and asked, "what did you say?"
Savage looked back at the cowboy and repeated what he had first said, not that there was much doubt in what he said but this time, he slowly oozed the words out just to put more emphasis on them.
"I...SAID...WHO...GIVES...A...F**K," Savage slowly replied. Now dem's fighting words down South especially at 12AM in a Waffle House."
As you can imagine the cowboy couldn't just let that slide.
"The cowboy walked just a few steps toward where Savage was sitting, looked down at him and asked "You got a problem?"
Savage then arose from his seat like an old western gunslinger and stood up facing the cowboy eye to eye. The cowboy, who weighed in soaking wet at a buck fifty listened as Savage countered with a question of his own.
"I don't know, do we?" Savage answered in the gravelly 'oh yeah dig it' voice that would years later be his trademark sound."
The fight inevitably got under way...
"I don't know who swung first but. according to Savage, it was the other guy. Savage grabbed the cowboy in a headlock, which I didn't even know he knew how to do, and they both went down on the floor and were punching and kicking and screaming at each other right in front of a huge Wurlitzer jukebox.
....
As Savage and this cowboy guy wallowed around on the floor in front of the jukebox, the Waffle House people panicked and called the cops because their friend was in a fight with Randy Savage, the crazy wrestler. They knew who Randy was. They thought he was crazy. Everybody in Nashville thought he was crazy. Hell, I even thought he was crazy.
Rip thought that Savage was crazy too. What did Rip do when all this was going on? From all accounts, Rip did what all good friends do when their buddy got into a fight. He bolted out the door to the parking lot.
On the floor, Savage and the cowboy were kicking and punching each other but no real damage was being done. Somehow, the cowboy guy worked his way free from Savage, reached down in his pocket and pulled out a knife. Now, this fight was going a little too far at this point. But the cowboy wasn't stupid. He knew who Savage was. Everybody in Nashville had seen this crazy character on the Saturday afternoon wrestling show. The wrestlers were as recognizable as the 5 o'clock news anchors and a helluva lot more entertaining.
When Savage saw the knife, he panicked because Savage didn't have a weapon. As the cowboy brandished the knife in front of him, Savage took a good look at the silver blade and then in a split second, he jumped over counter to the grill area and grabbed the nearest knife he saw.
Savage jumped back over the counter and both men squared off against each other with both of them doing their best fencing moves at each other. The cops had been called and about this time, one of the waitresses started yelling at the cowboy that the cops were coming. Outside, the sound of sirens could be heard off in the distance. The cops had gotten a distress call from the Waffle House that a fight was in progress.
The cowboy, when he heard the sirens, had the sense to take off and he ran out the door. Savage, however, didn't feel the same urge. Savage believed that he was the victim of this whole incident and it was the other guy's fault totally. Savage then looked at his 'weapon' that he had picked up behind the counter. It was a butter knife.
The police car screamed into the parking lot and two officers rushed into the Waffle House. By this time, Savage was in full Macho Man mode saying "oh yeahhhhhhhh" and "can you dig it" at no one in particular. I said earlier that Savage was feeling no pain, didn't I?
Right as the police entered, the entire Waffle House staff all stooged Savage as the instigator of the whole thing. The cops looked at Randy and knew exactly who he was. Randy had made a serious impact on the TV viewing audience in Nashville in only a short few months. The police knew who he was. They were all wrestling fans too. He was the Macho Man, the guy who acted like a complete crazy man on TV. Actually, Randy was very convincing in his interviews because he had the whole town thinking he had mental problems. Savage blurred the lines between reality and make believe. Now the cops were more wary than they really had a right to be because not only were they dealing with a wrestler but a wrestler they thought was crazy.
Randy wasn't as big or muscular as he would become later on in his career but he was still 6'1 and 215 and no fat on him
The cops turned their attention to Randy telling him to turn around, he was under arrest. Savage didn't see it that way. In Randy's view...it was he who was the victim. not the aggressor. In his mind, the cowboy was the one who started it, not him. Randy pleaded his case and tried selling his story but the cops weren't buying. Randy started getting louder and again, the cops told him that he was under arrest.
Randy wasn't cooperating. The cops now had no choice but to physically try to overtake Savage and handcuff him. Randy was having none of that nonsense. A struggle ensued. With a police car outside with its flashing blue lights on and more sirens in the background, a crowd started gathering outside to see what the problem was. It was easy to see the action from the street as Waffle Houses have floor to ceiling full pane glass windows. You can see every inch of the place from the parking lot outside. Most of the onlookers saw who the cops were fighting with. They were fighting with the Macho Man. I'm sure some of them thought that this was better than the matches on Wednesday nights.
The entire incident moved with blinding speed. In real time, Randy had just walked through the door about 10 minutes earlier. But there was a lot more to come.
The police were struggling with Randy as they attempted to put the handcuffs on him but it wasn't working. Macho kept resisting. Randy kept screaming at the cops that they were letting the guilty one get away and he was the one who had been attacked.
The cops were having no success handcuffing the Macho Man so they decided to amp up their strategy a bit. Mace or pepper spray came into the picture. Mace's appeal to cops was that it would change most suspect's minds of resistance if used properly with 'properly' being the key word. But using the mace turned out to not be a wise decision.
These two cops apparently could have had starring roles in the Keystone Cops series. They were inept in using pepper spray as they were in using handcuffs. As one cop went to Mace Randy in the face, Randy ducked and the Mace got the other cop right in the eyes. But, at least Mace proved it claim that it took a lot of fight out of whomever received the Mace. From that point on, the Maced cop was out of the melee. Randy was left fending off the one remaining cop while the other one was screaming on the floor behind him. It was a friggin clusterf**k.
Now it was a one on one situation. One cop and one Macho Man. The remaining cop pulled out his billie club and tried to subdue Randy which met with the same result as the earlier attempts to subdue Randy. When the cop pulled out a club, Randy looked for a weapon himself and conveniently saw the the downed maced cop on the floor behind him. saw the maced cop on the floor behind him and grabbed his club. Randy didn't used the club against the cop but only used the club to block with. The sirens in the background got louder and closer. Randy was holding his own but for how long.
The crowd outside, which was getting bigger and bigger, was getting a helluva show. It was easy to see the action from the parking lot due to the huge windows that Waffle Houses are noted for. There was not a bad seat in the parking lot.
So the scorecard at this point read, an out of control wrestler fighting two inept police officers with more cops expected to arrive shortly. The people watching hadn't seen such a spectacle since Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in Rumble in the Jungle.
Finally more cops arrived and entered the Waffle House. Savage, who just minutes ago was giving his order to the waitress now had 5 Nashville Metro cops looking at him. He backed up in a corner as they tried to talk to him. The cops were screaming for Savage to give up but Macho Man wasn't obeying. Apparently, somewhere along the way, Savage had missed reading the manual on the protocols of surrender. The Waffle House by this time is deserted with only the cops and Savage inside.
So as the cops confront Savage, the Shift Sergeant walked through the door. Ironically, I found out later that the Shift Sergeant had actually worked the wrestling matches earlier that night as security. He knew who Randy was. As he called for him to give up, he used Randy's name in addressing him. In a calm voice, he said "Randy drop the club and turn around."
Savage's adrenaline was pumping and he had no intention of dropping the club. If you knew Randy, not only was his heart beating 150 beats a minutes, his brain had shifted into overdrive. As he looked at the people who he thought should be protecting him, he instead saw a group of people intent on doing him harm.
The shift Sergeant repeated his request using Randy's name for the second time . Needless to say, Savage didn't comply. More police cars arrived at the scene.
This was a wild scene.
Finally, the shift Sergeant ordered his men to back up. In through the door at that very moment entered a 75 pound German Shepherd police dog. WHOA!!! This dog I learned later was one of the most aggressive dogs in Nashville police department history. The handler, who had brought the dog inside the Waffle House, now ordered Savage to surrender or the dog would be set free. Well, Savage was never good at waving the white flag. Surrender just wasn't in the Macho Man's vocabulary. In not giving up, the inevitable happens. The police officer has no choice but to let the dog go after Savage.
Well, what fight was left in the Macho Man suddenly went south as the police dog came after Savage. Savage didn't have a chance against this dog but he told me later that he did get one good kick in. Savage admitted later that was a big mistake. Right after the kick which didn't do anything to slow him the dog down, the dog ripped into Savage and bit him several times before the handler could pull the dog off and the other policemen to handcuff him. Randy was left with a deep gash in his right butt cheek. The old saying "I'm going to tear you a new a**hole" suddenly took on a whole different meaning to Savage after that.
Savage was finally arrested and taken to the Davidson County Jail in downtown Nashville. Rip ended up calling Randy's father, Angelo who bailed Randy out a couple of hours later. After that, Savage was treated at a local hospital and sent home."
The truth is though, Randy Savage is the proof that you don't need to love wrestling to get into the business. Most people have this rose tinted glasses view that the best wrestlers were fans growing up and wanted nothing else then to step onto the canvas and grapple for the entertainment of thousands of fans each night.
Not Savage though, all he wanted growing up was to be a baseball star. He would follow that dream as far as he could until it became apparent he was not going to make it in the big time baseball leagues. With no other options Savage would follow in his fathers footsteps and permanently don a pair of tights (He had wrestled in the off season of baseball previously).
Around the summer of 1973 would be the first time Randy laced up a pair of boots and from there he just kept improving and improving in the ring. For the first five years of his career he'd work in various territories including the All-Star Wrestling Alliance and Championship Wrestling from Florida.
During those first couple of years in the business Randy portrayed a character called The Spider, which included a mask. A lot of baseball or sports stars would wear a mask to protect their identities, so no-one would know what they did in the off season.
After giving up baseball Randy would go to using his real name of Randy Poffo. That name would not last long though, during a stint in Georgia Championship Wrestling, Ole Anderson would suggest Randy adopt the name of Savage as he was already wrestling like one, a savage that is.
Savage would now start touring under his newly assumed name from 1977 onward. The majority of his time in 1977 was spread between GCW, Mid-America, and the Mid-Atlantic promotion. He'd make waves in the promotions, but he was never really anything special. Just another face on the card.
It'd be in early 1978 when Savage really started coming into his own. Whilst working with Nick Gulas in the Mid-America territory, Savage started to adopt more outrageous outfit accessories that he eventually became famous for wearing. Not only that but his promo skills were really coming together in his trademark gravelly voice.
Angelo Poffo was not happy with the lack of momentum his two sons were getting in the NWA territories and thus decided to start up his very own promotion not affiliated with the NWA. The 'outlaw' territory would be known as International Championship Wrestling and opened it's doors in 1978.
Being pushed as the top heel in his fathers new territory, Randy was pretty much unstoppable there. His promo's from the late 70's through to the early 80's in the ICW were nothing short of breathtaking.
His manager Steve Cooper (Izzy Slapawitz) who was an instrumental part in helping Savage stay over once he had gotten over on his own in the ICW territory. The other thing that really helped cement Randy as an over the top heel was when he (Storyline) put a midget wrestler out of action with a series of vicious top rope elbow drops.
One of the top drawing and remembered feuds from Savage's time in the ICW was with his own brother Lanny Poffo. The two would fight against each other many times over the ICW Heavyweight Championship.
Wrestling and talking weren't the only things that got the Macho Man noticed during this period of time. It is noted by many wrestlers, managers, and personalities that it was during his time in ICW that his paranoia and reputation as a real life insane lunatic really became solidified.
There's a couple pretty well known stories that involved the ICW guys clashing with NWA affiliates who were also based in Tennessee. One such story involves Randy Savage and Bill Dundee having a heated argument outside of a gym when the two bumped into each other outside of the ring.
Dundee was a big star in Jerry Jarrett's Continental Wrestling Association. The Poffo's tell the story that the two sets of wrestlers were facing each other outside of the gym and when things escalated Randy pistol whipped Bill Dundee and left him laying.
Dundee tells it that he were sucker punched as he was walking to his car by Randy, and then Randy went to walk around to the front of the car to see if Dundee had a pistol, Dundee got his pistol out of his trunk. Dundee recalls that Randy then jumped on his back, Angelo Poffo tried to take the gun from Dundee but only got the holster. Then Dundee told Randy to get off his back or he would blow his old mans brains out. Prompting the ICW crowd to run away.
Another story comes from Dutch Mantell (Rip Rogers relayed the story to him) about Macho Man in a Waffle House following a show one night. According to rip Savage 'Wasn't feeling any pain.' Whilst in the middle of ordering his meal a cowboy walked in and declared he had just gotten married.
The announcement prompted the waitress serving Randy and Rip to go and congratulate the man (He was friends with the staff there apparently). Savage was unhappy, he was hungry and now he had to wait for the celebration to stop to finish his order.
"Savage had heard what the cowboy said when he entered. As the conversation about the marriage continued, the cowboy said that he was really in love with this girl. Savage, out of nowhere, had to to add in his two cents. Savage said, out loud and to nobody in particular but to everybody that could hear him, "who gives a f**k!!!"
The conversation in the Waffle House came to a screeching halt. Everybody heard what Savage had just said...especially the cowboy dude. Everything just stopped for a moment. Waffle Houses aren't that big to begin with and when Savage made his comment, the cowboy and Savage were only about 15 feet apart.
The skinny little cowboy didn't like what Savage had said. He looked squarely at Randy and asked, "what did you say?"
Savage looked back at the cowboy and repeated what he had first said, not that there was much doubt in what he said but this time, he slowly oozed the words out just to put more emphasis on them.
"I...SAID...WHO...GIVES...A...F**K," Savage slowly replied. Now dem's fighting words down South especially at 12AM in a Waffle House."
As you can imagine the cowboy couldn't just let that slide.
"The cowboy walked just a few steps toward where Savage was sitting, looked down at him and asked "You got a problem?"
Savage then arose from his seat like an old western gunslinger and stood up facing the cowboy eye to eye. The cowboy, who weighed in soaking wet at a buck fifty listened as Savage countered with a question of his own.
"I don't know, do we?" Savage answered in the gravelly 'oh yeah dig it' voice that would years later be his trademark sound."
The fight inevitably got under way...
"I don't know who swung first but. according to Savage, it was the other guy. Savage grabbed the cowboy in a headlock, which I didn't even know he knew how to do, and they both went down on the floor and were punching and kicking and screaming at each other right in front of a huge Wurlitzer jukebox.
....
As Savage and this cowboy guy wallowed around on the floor in front of the jukebox, the Waffle House people panicked and called the cops because their friend was in a fight with Randy Savage, the crazy wrestler. They knew who Randy was. They thought he was crazy. Everybody in Nashville thought he was crazy. Hell, I even thought he was crazy.
Rip thought that Savage was crazy too. What did Rip do when all this was going on? From all accounts, Rip did what all good friends do when their buddy got into a fight. He bolted out the door to the parking lot.
On the floor, Savage and the cowboy were kicking and punching each other but no real damage was being done. Somehow, the cowboy guy worked his way free from Savage, reached down in his pocket and pulled out a knife. Now, this fight was going a little too far at this point. But the cowboy wasn't stupid. He knew who Savage was. Everybody in Nashville had seen this crazy character on the Saturday afternoon wrestling show. The wrestlers were as recognizable as the 5 o'clock news anchors and a helluva lot more entertaining.
When Savage saw the knife, he panicked because Savage didn't have a weapon. As the cowboy brandished the knife in front of him, Savage took a good look at the silver blade and then in a split second, he jumped over counter to the grill area and grabbed the nearest knife he saw.
Savage jumped back over the counter and both men squared off against each other with both of them doing their best fencing moves at each other. The cops had been called and about this time, one of the waitresses started yelling at the cowboy that the cops were coming. Outside, the sound of sirens could be heard off in the distance. The cops had gotten a distress call from the Waffle House that a fight was in progress.
The cowboy, when he heard the sirens, had the sense to take off and he ran out the door. Savage, however, didn't feel the same urge. Savage believed that he was the victim of this whole incident and it was the other guy's fault totally. Savage then looked at his 'weapon' that he had picked up behind the counter. It was a butter knife.
The police car screamed into the parking lot and two officers rushed into the Waffle House. By this time, Savage was in full Macho Man mode saying "oh yeahhhhhhhh" and "can you dig it" at no one in particular. I said earlier that Savage was feeling no pain, didn't I?
Right as the police entered, the entire Waffle House staff all stooged Savage as the instigator of the whole thing. The cops looked at Randy and knew exactly who he was. Randy had made a serious impact on the TV viewing audience in Nashville in only a short few months. The police knew who he was. They were all wrestling fans too. He was the Macho Man, the guy who acted like a complete crazy man on TV. Actually, Randy was very convincing in his interviews because he had the whole town thinking he had mental problems. Savage blurred the lines between reality and make believe. Now the cops were more wary than they really had a right to be because not only were they dealing with a wrestler but a wrestler they thought was crazy.
Randy wasn't as big or muscular as he would become later on in his career but he was still 6'1 and 215 and no fat on him
The cops turned their attention to Randy telling him to turn around, he was under arrest. Savage didn't see it that way. In Randy's view...it was he who was the victim. not the aggressor. In his mind, the cowboy was the one who started it, not him. Randy pleaded his case and tried selling his story but the cops weren't buying. Randy started getting louder and again, the cops told him that he was under arrest.
Randy wasn't cooperating. The cops now had no choice but to physically try to overtake Savage and handcuff him. Randy was having none of that nonsense. A struggle ensued. With a police car outside with its flashing blue lights on and more sirens in the background, a crowd started gathering outside to see what the problem was. It was easy to see the action from the street as Waffle Houses have floor to ceiling full pane glass windows. You can see every inch of the place from the parking lot outside. Most of the onlookers saw who the cops were fighting with. They were fighting with the Macho Man. I'm sure some of them thought that this was better than the matches on Wednesday nights.
The entire incident moved with blinding speed. In real time, Randy had just walked through the door about 10 minutes earlier. But there was a lot more to come.
The police were struggling with Randy as they attempted to put the handcuffs on him but it wasn't working. Macho kept resisting. Randy kept screaming at the cops that they were letting the guilty one get away and he was the one who had been attacked.
The cops were having no success handcuffing the Macho Man so they decided to amp up their strategy a bit. Mace or pepper spray came into the picture. Mace's appeal to cops was that it would change most suspect's minds of resistance if used properly with 'properly' being the key word. But using the mace turned out to not be a wise decision.
These two cops apparently could have had starring roles in the Keystone Cops series. They were inept in using pepper spray as they were in using handcuffs. As one cop went to Mace Randy in the face, Randy ducked and the Mace got the other cop right in the eyes. But, at least Mace proved it claim that it took a lot of fight out of whomever received the Mace. From that point on, the Maced cop was out of the melee. Randy was left fending off the one remaining cop while the other one was screaming on the floor behind him. It was a friggin clusterf**k.
Now it was a one on one situation. One cop and one Macho Man. The remaining cop pulled out his billie club and tried to subdue Randy which met with the same result as the earlier attempts to subdue Randy. When the cop pulled out a club, Randy looked for a weapon himself and conveniently saw the the downed maced cop on the floor behind him. saw the maced cop on the floor behind him and grabbed his club. Randy didn't used the club against the cop but only used the club to block with. The sirens in the background got louder and closer. Randy was holding his own but for how long.
The crowd outside, which was getting bigger and bigger, was getting a helluva show. It was easy to see the action from the parking lot due to the huge windows that Waffle Houses are noted for. There was not a bad seat in the parking lot.
So the scorecard at this point read, an out of control wrestler fighting two inept police officers with more cops expected to arrive shortly. The people watching hadn't seen such a spectacle since Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in Rumble in the Jungle.
Finally more cops arrived and entered the Waffle House. Savage, who just minutes ago was giving his order to the waitress now had 5 Nashville Metro cops looking at him. He backed up in a corner as they tried to talk to him. The cops were screaming for Savage to give up but Macho Man wasn't obeying. Apparently, somewhere along the way, Savage had missed reading the manual on the protocols of surrender. The Waffle House by this time is deserted with only the cops and Savage inside.
So as the cops confront Savage, the Shift Sergeant walked through the door. Ironically, I found out later that the Shift Sergeant had actually worked the wrestling matches earlier that night as security. He knew who Randy was. As he called for him to give up, he used Randy's name in addressing him. In a calm voice, he said "Randy drop the club and turn around."
Savage's adrenaline was pumping and he had no intention of dropping the club. If you knew Randy, not only was his heart beating 150 beats a minutes, his brain had shifted into overdrive. As he looked at the people who he thought should be protecting him, he instead saw a group of people intent on doing him harm.
The shift Sergeant repeated his request using Randy's name for the second time . Needless to say, Savage didn't comply. More police cars arrived at the scene.
This was a wild scene.
Finally, the shift Sergeant ordered his men to back up. In through the door at that very moment entered a 75 pound German Shepherd police dog. WHOA!!! This dog I learned later was one of the most aggressive dogs in Nashville police department history. The handler, who had brought the dog inside the Waffle House, now ordered Savage to surrender or the dog would be set free. Well, Savage was never good at waving the white flag. Surrender just wasn't in the Macho Man's vocabulary. In not giving up, the inevitable happens. The police officer has no choice but to let the dog go after Savage.
Well, what fight was left in the Macho Man suddenly went south as the police dog came after Savage. Savage didn't have a chance against this dog but he told me later that he did get one good kick in. Savage admitted later that was a big mistake. Right after the kick which didn't do anything to slow him the dog down, the dog ripped into Savage and bit him several times before the handler could pull the dog off and the other policemen to handcuff him. Randy was left with a deep gash in his right butt cheek. The old saying "I'm going to tear you a new a**hole" suddenly took on a whole different meaning to Savage after that.
Savage was finally arrested and taken to the Davidson County Jail in downtown Nashville. Rip ended up calling Randy's father, Angelo who bailed Randy out a couple of hours later. After that, Savage was treated at a local hospital and sent home."
December 5, 1987
And they're just two of the examples of stories that just encompass what the Macho Man was known for before he joined the WWF. Bill Dundee recalls that when the ICW closed down in the early 1980's and Savage went over to, by this time, Jerry Jarrett's & Jerry Lawler's CWA the two made up. Bill recollects Savage said to him "Brother, there were a lot of bad drugs man, a lot of them back then man."
Whilst in the CWA Savage would have a memorable feud teaming up with his brother Lanny to take on the Rock 'N' Express. He would have another feud that still stands up to this day in terms of psychology, in-ring performances, and storyline, with Jerry Lawler. The feud would culminate with a Loser Leaves Town Match, that Savage lost providing the excuse for him to leave the territory and start in the WWF.
Savage made his debut for the WWF at a TV taping from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie, New York on June 17. Randy Savage defeated Aldo Marino in that match. And that was just the beginning as he quickly went to work making a name for himself. If you saw his squash matches during that time then you will remember how they would last normally around 10 minutes. Savage would spend most of the time outside of the ring riling up the crowd, avoiding action and making a huge spectacle of what would otherwise be a rather humdrum affair.
Of course the first major part of his career in the WWF that people remember is the whole 'Hottest Free Agent in Wrestling' angle where all the managers were vying for his contract, the managers went as far as to bid on the Macho Man. It would be Miss Elizabeth who debuted on August 24 though shocking the world.
This alliance with Miss Elizabeth helped him stand out head and shoulders as a unique and must see character on WWF. Having a female as a manager had not been done before in that particular promotion. The package was now complete, the outfits getting even more extravagant and breath taking, Miss Elizabeth, the promos, the in-ring ability, it was all there.
February 24, 1986 saw him win the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Tito Santana. Soon after he got involved in one of the most remembered feuds of his career, the feud with George Steele over Miss Elizabeth. This feud would see Randy to his first Wrestlemania at the second annual event.
Following Wrestlemania II Savage would take on all comers for his Intercontinental Championship. One of the challengers in November of 1986 was Ricky Steamboat with the famous injury angle. The angle saw Steamboat out of action for several months at Randy unleashed a vicious attack on his throat.
After he put Steamboat out of action the feud with George Steele started back up full time providing a way for Ricky Steamboat to return in January of 1987 to build for one of the most popular matches of all time at Wrestlemania III.
As we all know that match at Wrestlemania III took place in the Pontiac Silverdome in front of a WWE reported 93,000 fans (Some people say there was as low as 72,000 people there). The match saw the end of Savage's 414 day reign as champion.
By the fall of 1987 Savage was back in line for the Intercontinental Championship feuding with the self proclaimed 'Greatest Intercontinental Champion of All Time', the Honky Tonk Man. That feud nicely took him into the next chapter of his career. When HTM's associates, the Hart Foundation, joined in an attack on Randy at the SNME that aired on October 3. Miss Elizabeth would run off and get Hulk Hogan to come and save her man.
The formation of the Mega-Powers. Now aligned with Hulk Hogan, Savage was a super over babyface. He was sitting right at the top of the food chain and at Wrestlemania IV he would capture the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in a sixteen man tournament. The show was on March 27, 1988 and Randy defeated Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, One Man Gang and Ted DiBiase in the finals.
Through-out the summer and fall the Mega Powers would battle against Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant. Main Events at both the Summerslam and Survivor Series PPV's featured these two teams. All would change in the run up to Wrestlemania V though. Savage and Hogan began to come apart. The Mega Powers would explode and take each other on at the fifth annual event on April 2, 1989.
Savage blamed Miss Elizabeth for his loss and the two split up. Back to being a heel there was a replacement needed to once again complete the package. Enter Sensation Sherri. Randy would beat Jim Duggan on August 30, 1989 (Aired in September) to become Macho King Randy Savage. He would also christen his new manager as Queen Sherri.
Whilst in the CWA Savage would have a memorable feud teaming up with his brother Lanny to take on the Rock 'N' Express. He would have another feud that still stands up to this day in terms of psychology, in-ring performances, and storyline, with Jerry Lawler. The feud would culminate with a Loser Leaves Town Match, that Savage lost providing the excuse for him to leave the territory and start in the WWF.
Savage made his debut for the WWF at a TV taping from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, Poughkeepsie, New York on June 17. Randy Savage defeated Aldo Marino in that match. And that was just the beginning as he quickly went to work making a name for himself. If you saw his squash matches during that time then you will remember how they would last normally around 10 minutes. Savage would spend most of the time outside of the ring riling up the crowd, avoiding action and making a huge spectacle of what would otherwise be a rather humdrum affair.
Of course the first major part of his career in the WWF that people remember is the whole 'Hottest Free Agent in Wrestling' angle where all the managers were vying for his contract, the managers went as far as to bid on the Macho Man. It would be Miss Elizabeth who debuted on August 24 though shocking the world.
This alliance with Miss Elizabeth helped him stand out head and shoulders as a unique and must see character on WWF. Having a female as a manager had not been done before in that particular promotion. The package was now complete, the outfits getting even more extravagant and breath taking, Miss Elizabeth, the promos, the in-ring ability, it was all there.
February 24, 1986 saw him win the WWF Intercontinental Championship from Tito Santana. Soon after he got involved in one of the most remembered feuds of his career, the feud with George Steele over Miss Elizabeth. This feud would see Randy to his first Wrestlemania at the second annual event.
Following Wrestlemania II Savage would take on all comers for his Intercontinental Championship. One of the challengers in November of 1986 was Ricky Steamboat with the famous injury angle. The angle saw Steamboat out of action for several months at Randy unleashed a vicious attack on his throat.
After he put Steamboat out of action the feud with George Steele started back up full time providing a way for Ricky Steamboat to return in January of 1987 to build for one of the most popular matches of all time at Wrestlemania III.
As we all know that match at Wrestlemania III took place in the Pontiac Silverdome in front of a WWE reported 93,000 fans (Some people say there was as low as 72,000 people there). The match saw the end of Savage's 414 day reign as champion.
By the fall of 1987 Savage was back in line for the Intercontinental Championship feuding with the self proclaimed 'Greatest Intercontinental Champion of All Time', the Honky Tonk Man. That feud nicely took him into the next chapter of his career. When HTM's associates, the Hart Foundation, joined in an attack on Randy at the SNME that aired on October 3. Miss Elizabeth would run off and get Hulk Hogan to come and save her man.
The formation of the Mega-Powers. Now aligned with Hulk Hogan, Savage was a super over babyface. He was sitting right at the top of the food chain and at Wrestlemania IV he would capture the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in a sixteen man tournament. The show was on March 27, 1988 and Randy defeated Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, One Man Gang and Ted DiBiase in the finals.
Through-out the summer and fall the Mega Powers would battle against Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant. Main Events at both the Summerslam and Survivor Series PPV's featured these two teams. All would change in the run up to Wrestlemania V though. Savage and Hogan began to come apart. The Mega Powers would explode and take each other on at the fifth annual event on April 2, 1989.
Savage blamed Miss Elizabeth for his loss and the two split up. Back to being a heel there was a replacement needed to once again complete the package. Enter Sensation Sherri. Randy would beat Jim Duggan on August 30, 1989 (Aired in September) to become Macho King Randy Savage. He would also christen his new manager as Queen Sherri.
January 25, 1991
The new King would have to lay down to Hulk Hogan one more time on the February 23, 1990 edition of The Main Event, before continuing on his journey to reuniting with Miss Elizabeth. Through-out spring and summer of 1990 Savage and Sherri were going back and forth with Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire.
By the end of 1990 Randy was back in the WWF World Heavyweight Championship hunt, entering into an angle with the Ultimate Warrior. At the Royal Rumble on January 19, 1991 after Sherri failed to convince Warrior to give Savage the next shot at the title with an innuendo laced speech, Savage cost the Warrior his title against Sgt. Slaughter as Slaughter promised Randy a shot at it if he were to win. As one would imagine the Warrior was mighty unhappy about this turn of events.
The two would progress their feud and eventually meet at Wrestlemania VII on March 24,1991, in what many say was the Ultimate Warriors best match of his career. It would see both men put their careers on the line, Randy Savage lost. Queen Sherri publicly dumped Savage then and there until Miss Elizabeth came out to save Randy and the couple reunited.
Savage stayed with the WWF in a non-wrestling capacity. Not many people know though that Savage actually had one more match just two days after that Wrestlemania match. It was against Rick Martel and said to be "Due to contractual obligations."
August 26 marked Summerslam. It would see Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth get married live on PPV. The two had been married in real life for quite some time. During the wedding reception a cobra came out of a gift Elizabeth opened and the Undertaker and Jake Roberts subsequently attacked Savage.
For the next two months Savage would beg to be reinstated as a wrestler, however, Jack Tunney refused to grant it. The feud resulted in an incident that is still remembered for horrific it was to this day when Jake Roberts let his cobra bite an incapacitated Savage on the WWF Superstars of Wrestling taping that aired on October 21.
Unfortunately the feud following this did feel some what lack luster, especially in hindsight, with only a minor pay-per-view at This Tuesday in Texas on December 3 and the second on a televised Saturday Nights Main Event, February 8, 1992. Either way Savage picked up two victories over Roberts that were aired. Their feud did get highlighted during the Royal Rumble match on January 19 though.
Savage quickly moved his focus back to the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Once again he would find himself in a very personal feud, this time with Ric Flair. The angle was based around claims that Flair had slept with Miss Elizabeth and he had photos of them together, it turned out the photos had been doctored and Flair was lying.
With this though Randy got his second run with the title as he defeated Flair at Wrestlemania VIII on April 5, 1992. Next up was the Ultimate Warrior once again. This time it was Face Vs. Face. They collided at Summerslam on August 29 in the other match which is often said to be Warrior's greatest match. Savage lost by count-out after being attacked by Flair and Mr. Perfect, but retained the gold.
Shortly after Summerslam Savage dropped the title to Ric Flair on Prime Time Wrestling that was taped on September 1. The loss came following interference from Ramon. This led to the Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage teaming up to form the Ultimate Maniacs.
They were all set for a big Survivor Series (November 25) match to take on Flair and Razor Ramon, That was not to be though, Warrior got fired and the match ended up with Mr. Perfect to take on Flair and Ramon. Whilst this feud was going on Randy and Elizabeth split up in real life around Summerslam time and she stopped appearing on TV.
Then it was time for Randy to start winding down his career, at least in the eyes of Vince McMahon anyway. In 1993 he became a full time commentator for Monday Night Raw from the get go on January 12. He still wrestled sporadically. His occasional opponents varied from Repo Man to Yokozuna.
In 1994 he had one last stand-out feud with a young guy named Crush. It culminated in one of my favorite matches by the man from Kona, Hawaii at Wrestlemania X on March 10. Savage won the match in a fun encounter that saw the go into the back area and Savage tie Crush upside down for the win.
That was Savage's last match for the WWF to be aired on a pay-per-view. By the end of the year he left the company. Those close to him have said it was due to his eagerness to still compete. The last recorded match for him in the WWF I have took place on September 13, 1994 from Rostock, Mecklenburg, Vorpommern in Germany. He teamed with Bret Hart to defeat Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart.
On expiration of his contract in late 1994 he immediately joined WCW. Once there he competed in main event or just below feuds with different members of Kevin Sullivan's group the Three Face of Fear. The first match I have for him took play on January 6, 1995 from Birmingham, Alabama. It saw him defeat the Avalanche.
Not even a year into the company Savage had already ignited his feud with Ric Flair in a series of matches including a Lifeguard Lumberjack Match. Slamboree was their first meeting on May 21, 1995 he and Hulk Hogan, with Jimmy Hart and the Renegade their corner, defeated Ric Flair and Vader with Arn Anderson in theirs.
The last time they'd meet would be at the Bash at the Beach pay-per-view on June 16, in the aforementioned Lifeguard Lumberjack Match. Then it was back to battling Kevin Sullivan's guys. In November 1995 he won the first ever World War Three Three Ring 60-Man Battle Royal to capture the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on November 26.
For the next few months he traded the title back and forth with Ric Flair, losing it to Flair a final time on February 11, 1996 in a Steel Cage at Superbrawl VI. You can't forget either that Savage was one of the three men in 1996 that Hulk Hogan turned on to join the NWO at the July 7. Savage lost a title match to Hogan at Halloween Havoc on October 27 that year and left the company.
In 1997 Savage returned to WCW. The first match I have recorded for him on his return took place on March 1 at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina. Although he had been back since late January and at Superbrawl VII he joined the NWO by helping Hollywood Hogan defeat life long nemesis, Roddy Piper on February 23.
It was after joining the NWO that he had the angle that he is probably most remembered for in Ted Turners company. Elizabeth was in the NWO also and it led to a reunion between Randy and her. From there the two feuded with Diamond Dallas Page and his wife Kimberly. On April 6 DDP defeated Savage in a no disqualification match at Spring Stampede.
Savage pinned DDP in a falls count anywhere match on June 15 at the Great American Bash. Then Savage won the rubber match at Halloween Havoc on October 26 in a Las Vegas Sudden Death Match. A feud with Lex Luger then tided Savage over for a few months.
Until April 19, 1998, the Spring Stampede. It was Savage's turn as a member of the NWO to step up and take on Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The Macho Man was successful with an assist from Big Sexy, Kevin Nash. The next night on Monday Nitro Savage lost the belt to Hogan after Nash's assistance backfired this time.
With a constant power struggle in the NWo the loss led to Randy, Nash and Konnan splitting from the NWO forming their own version called the NWO Wolfpac on the May 4 Monday Nitro. Following this Savage had two short feuds with Bret Hart and Roddy Piper before taking some much needed time away to recuperate from knee injuries.
Randy returned in 1999 and quickly formed a new faction called Team Madness. It included his three valets; Madusa, Gorgeous George, and Miss Madness. Sid was later aligned with Savage and the two fought Kevin Nash and Sting at the Bash at the Beach on July 11, and the wrestler to secure a pin fall would be the new WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Savage pinned Kevin Nash with Sid allowing it.
As per the previous year the next year on Nitro Randy Savage dropped the championship to Hulk Hogan. From there Savage's career in WCW started to wind down. Team Madness started dissolved and Savage feuded with Dennis Rodman. In May of 2000 Savage left the company.
It's little known that on January 4, 2000 he faced Rick Steiner for NJPW. The last match I have recorded for him in WCW took place at a TV taping on May 2 from the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee (Quite a fitting end for him as he spent many years in the area) it was as part of a forty-one man battle royal that Ric Flair won.
In 2002 Savage appeared in the Spiderman movie, and in 2003 he released a rap album titled Be A Man. Randy briefly appeared for TNA and on May 12, 2004 he teamed up with Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles to take on Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Jeff Jarrett. Randy's team won the match held at Orlando Studios. As far as I know that was his last recorded appearance wrestling.
Sadly on May 20, 2011 Randy Savage suffered a heart attack whilst driving and passed away in Sentinole, Florida. His legacy will never be forgotten though. Randy Savage entertained fans for three decades. He put on some of the most memorable matches and his persona was just something that can never be duplicated. A part of so many important historical events in both WCW, the WWF, and the NWA, that when someone says is Randy Savage one of the greatest superstars in history it's hard to say anything but, well, 'Ooooohhh Yeah!'
By the end of 1990 Randy was back in the WWF World Heavyweight Championship hunt, entering into an angle with the Ultimate Warrior. At the Royal Rumble on January 19, 1991 after Sherri failed to convince Warrior to give Savage the next shot at the title with an innuendo laced speech, Savage cost the Warrior his title against Sgt. Slaughter as Slaughter promised Randy a shot at it if he were to win. As one would imagine the Warrior was mighty unhappy about this turn of events.
The two would progress their feud and eventually meet at Wrestlemania VII on March 24,1991, in what many say was the Ultimate Warriors best match of his career. It would see both men put their careers on the line, Randy Savage lost. Queen Sherri publicly dumped Savage then and there until Miss Elizabeth came out to save Randy and the couple reunited.
Savage stayed with the WWF in a non-wrestling capacity. Not many people know though that Savage actually had one more match just two days after that Wrestlemania match. It was against Rick Martel and said to be "Due to contractual obligations."
August 26 marked Summerslam. It would see Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth get married live on PPV. The two had been married in real life for quite some time. During the wedding reception a cobra came out of a gift Elizabeth opened and the Undertaker and Jake Roberts subsequently attacked Savage.
For the next two months Savage would beg to be reinstated as a wrestler, however, Jack Tunney refused to grant it. The feud resulted in an incident that is still remembered for horrific it was to this day when Jake Roberts let his cobra bite an incapacitated Savage on the WWF Superstars of Wrestling taping that aired on October 21.
Unfortunately the feud following this did feel some what lack luster, especially in hindsight, with only a minor pay-per-view at This Tuesday in Texas on December 3 and the second on a televised Saturday Nights Main Event, February 8, 1992. Either way Savage picked up two victories over Roberts that were aired. Their feud did get highlighted during the Royal Rumble match on January 19 though.
Savage quickly moved his focus back to the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Once again he would find himself in a very personal feud, this time with Ric Flair. The angle was based around claims that Flair had slept with Miss Elizabeth and he had photos of them together, it turned out the photos had been doctored and Flair was lying.
With this though Randy got his second run with the title as he defeated Flair at Wrestlemania VIII on April 5, 1992. Next up was the Ultimate Warrior once again. This time it was Face Vs. Face. They collided at Summerslam on August 29 in the other match which is often said to be Warrior's greatest match. Savage lost by count-out after being attacked by Flair and Mr. Perfect, but retained the gold.
Shortly after Summerslam Savage dropped the title to Ric Flair on Prime Time Wrestling that was taped on September 1. The loss came following interference from Ramon. This led to the Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage teaming up to form the Ultimate Maniacs.
They were all set for a big Survivor Series (November 25) match to take on Flair and Razor Ramon, That was not to be though, Warrior got fired and the match ended up with Mr. Perfect to take on Flair and Ramon. Whilst this feud was going on Randy and Elizabeth split up in real life around Summerslam time and she stopped appearing on TV.
Then it was time for Randy to start winding down his career, at least in the eyes of Vince McMahon anyway. In 1993 he became a full time commentator for Monday Night Raw from the get go on January 12. He still wrestled sporadically. His occasional opponents varied from Repo Man to Yokozuna.
In 1994 he had one last stand-out feud with a young guy named Crush. It culminated in one of my favorite matches by the man from Kona, Hawaii at Wrestlemania X on March 10. Savage won the match in a fun encounter that saw the go into the back area and Savage tie Crush upside down for the win.
That was Savage's last match for the WWF to be aired on a pay-per-view. By the end of the year he left the company. Those close to him have said it was due to his eagerness to still compete. The last recorded match for him in the WWF I have took place on September 13, 1994 from Rostock, Mecklenburg, Vorpommern in Germany. He teamed with Bret Hart to defeat Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart.
On expiration of his contract in late 1994 he immediately joined WCW. Once there he competed in main event or just below feuds with different members of Kevin Sullivan's group the Three Face of Fear. The first match I have for him took play on January 6, 1995 from Birmingham, Alabama. It saw him defeat the Avalanche.
Not even a year into the company Savage had already ignited his feud with Ric Flair in a series of matches including a Lifeguard Lumberjack Match. Slamboree was their first meeting on May 21, 1995 he and Hulk Hogan, with Jimmy Hart and the Renegade their corner, defeated Ric Flair and Vader with Arn Anderson in theirs.
The last time they'd meet would be at the Bash at the Beach pay-per-view on June 16, in the aforementioned Lifeguard Lumberjack Match. Then it was back to battling Kevin Sullivan's guys. In November 1995 he won the first ever World War Three Three Ring 60-Man Battle Royal to capture the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on November 26.
For the next few months he traded the title back and forth with Ric Flair, losing it to Flair a final time on February 11, 1996 in a Steel Cage at Superbrawl VI. You can't forget either that Savage was one of the three men in 1996 that Hulk Hogan turned on to join the NWO at the July 7. Savage lost a title match to Hogan at Halloween Havoc on October 27 that year and left the company.
In 1997 Savage returned to WCW. The first match I have recorded for him on his return took place on March 1 at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, South Carolina. Although he had been back since late January and at Superbrawl VII he joined the NWO by helping Hollywood Hogan defeat life long nemesis, Roddy Piper on February 23.
It was after joining the NWO that he had the angle that he is probably most remembered for in Ted Turners company. Elizabeth was in the NWO also and it led to a reunion between Randy and her. From there the two feuded with Diamond Dallas Page and his wife Kimberly. On April 6 DDP defeated Savage in a no disqualification match at Spring Stampede.
Savage pinned DDP in a falls count anywhere match on June 15 at the Great American Bash. Then Savage won the rubber match at Halloween Havoc on October 26 in a Las Vegas Sudden Death Match. A feud with Lex Luger then tided Savage over for a few months.
Until April 19, 1998, the Spring Stampede. It was Savage's turn as a member of the NWO to step up and take on Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The Macho Man was successful with an assist from Big Sexy, Kevin Nash. The next night on Monday Nitro Savage lost the belt to Hogan after Nash's assistance backfired this time.
With a constant power struggle in the NWo the loss led to Randy, Nash and Konnan splitting from the NWO forming their own version called the NWO Wolfpac on the May 4 Monday Nitro. Following this Savage had two short feuds with Bret Hart and Roddy Piper before taking some much needed time away to recuperate from knee injuries.
Randy returned in 1999 and quickly formed a new faction called Team Madness. It included his three valets; Madusa, Gorgeous George, and Miss Madness. Sid was later aligned with Savage and the two fought Kevin Nash and Sting at the Bash at the Beach on July 11, and the wrestler to secure a pin fall would be the new WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Savage pinned Kevin Nash with Sid allowing it.
As per the previous year the next year on Nitro Randy Savage dropped the championship to Hulk Hogan. From there Savage's career in WCW started to wind down. Team Madness started dissolved and Savage feuded with Dennis Rodman. In May of 2000 Savage left the company.
It's little known that on January 4, 2000 he faced Rick Steiner for NJPW. The last match I have recorded for him in WCW took place at a TV taping on May 2 from the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee (Quite a fitting end for him as he spent many years in the area) it was as part of a forty-one man battle royal that Ric Flair won.
In 2002 Savage appeared in the Spiderman movie, and in 2003 he released a rap album titled Be A Man. Randy briefly appeared for TNA and on May 12, 2004 he teamed up with Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles to take on Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Jeff Jarrett. Randy's team won the match held at Orlando Studios. As far as I know that was his last recorded appearance wrestling.
Sadly on May 20, 2011 Randy Savage suffered a heart attack whilst driving and passed away in Sentinole, Florida. His legacy will never be forgotten though. Randy Savage entertained fans for three decades. He put on some of the most memorable matches and his persona was just something that can never be duplicated. A part of so many important historical events in both WCW, the WWF, and the NWA, that when someone says is Randy Savage one of the greatest superstars in history it's hard to say anything but, well, 'Ooooohhh Yeah!'
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Biography of Randy Savage.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: July 2014.
Biography: #126.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Updated: November 17, 2019.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Biography of Randy Savage.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: July 2014.
Biography: #126.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Updated: November 17, 2019.
The quotes come from If You Don't Want the Answers... by Bill Dundee and The World According to Dutch by Dutch Mantell.