Macho Man Bio
Steven Sutton: On Friday May 20, 2011, the wrestling world was shaken with the news that Randy Savage was in a car crash with his wife in Seminole, Florida at the age of 58. It has been three years since the wrestling world has lost this charismatic character and I thought it was fitting to look back at this man’s life and career.
Randy Mario Poffo was born on November 15, 1952 to Judy and Angelo Poffo. He became a brother to Lanny Poffo two years later. Randy’s first love of sport came in the form of baseball; he was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals organization as a catcher out of high school but when he was placed in the minor leagues to develop he was used as an outfielder. Over the four years he played in the minor league he played two hundred eighty nine games, scored fifty three runs, sixteen home runs, had a batting average of .254 with 16 RBI.
In November 1973 Randy made his professional debut as a wrestler against Paul Christy, he was given the gimmick of “Spider Friend” (similar to Spider-Man); the gimmick debuted in February 1974 teaming with Sonny Rogers against Frank Hester and Mike Pappas in Miami, Florida. He would use the gimmick until April 1975 were he started to wrestle under his real name Randy Poffo and travel with Angelo and Larry in the Michigan, Carolina, Maritimes, Georgia and eastern Tennessee territories. The July 3, 1975 edition of the Toledo Blade ran a piece documenting Randy’s transition from minor league baseball to professional wrestling recalling what the promoter said to him:
“I showed up at my promoter’s in cutoff jeans, and everyone else was in trunks. There was I just off the beaches of Florida and they wanted me to wear wrestling trunks.” Also adding “a need for a gimmick was stressed.”
While on the road with his father and brother, Randy fought Stan “The Man” Stasiak {former WWWF champion}, Afa, Sika, Mr. Wrestling and Dino Bravo. By February 1977, Randy debuted for Georgia Championship Wrestling and it was suggested by GCW booker Ole Anderson for a name change as Poffo didn’t fit someone who “wrestled like a savage.” Randy debuted against Don Kernoodle in Augusta, Georgia wrestling to a draw; while in Georgia Championship Wrestling Randy took on Raymond Rougeau (future WWF Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion), Tito Santana (future WWF Intercontinental Champion) and Dino Bravo.
Randy left Georgia and started to wrestle for his father’s promotion International Championship Wrestling, due to the fact his father thought Randy wasn’t getting the push in Georgia Championship Wrestling that he should be. Randy fell in love with an on screen interviewer (known to her friends has Elizabeth Anne Hulette). Randy would go on to marry her. When ICW folded in 1984, Randy joined his father’s rival company the Continental Wrestling Alliance, which was joint owned by Jerry Jarrett and Jerry “The King” Lawler, where he debuted against “Dirty” Dutch Mantel; while in Memphis he would feud with Bobby Eaton, Dutch Mantel, Larry Poffo, Ronny Garvin, Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and Jerry “The King” Lawler.
By the summer of 1985, Randy Savage was signed by the World Wrestling Federation; he made his Madison Square Garden debut on June 21, 1985 against Rick McGraw (on the same show Larry Poffo also made his debut in the opening match). At the beginning of July he made television debut against Aldo Marino with the storyline being that he was wrestling’s hottest free agent and was being touted by “Classy” Freddy Blassie, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Jimmy Hart, Jimmy Valiant and Mr. Fuji. After a contest against Joe Mitro, Savage called all the managers who were touting him to give them the announcement of who was going to be his manager and it turned out to be Miss Elizabeth, portrayed of course by his wife.
By September 28, 1985 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, opportunity came knocking when Randy had an opportunity at the WWF Championship against Hulk Hogan. A month passed by and Randy then set his sights on the WWF Intercontinental Championship. On the October 31, 1985 Halloween edition of Saturday Night Main Event, Savage had a crack against the Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana which ended a double count out after both men were brawling around ringside. A week went by and the WWF debuted on Pay Per View with a show called “The Wrestling Classic” being held in Rosemont, Illinois. Savage made it to the finals of the one night tournament (beating Ivan Putski, Ricky Steamboat and Dynamite Kid) but lost to The Junkyard Dog in the final of the tournament. Savage kept his sight on the WWF Championship by challenging Hogan in St.Paul, Minnesota, Los Angeles, California, Landover, Maryland and New York, New York, but he always came6u up on the losing end or winning by countout.
In 1986, Savage refocused on the Intercontinental Championship but still had taste for WWF Championship as well. On February 8, Savage captured the Intercontinental Champion by defeating Tito Santana in Boston, Massachusetts (although the championship change wasn’t shown on television until the February 24 edition of Prime Time Wrestling). Before Randy captured the WWF Intercontinental Championship he started to feud with George “The Animal” Steel; this feud started back on Saturday Night Main Event after George started to have feelings towards Elizabeth; during a match against Tony Stetson, George would make his way down to ringside with a bunch of flowers to show his affection towards Elizabeth. Savage saw this and viciously attacked The Animal destroying the flowers in the meantime. When WrestleMania II came round the match between Savage and Steel was set for Long Island, New York. Savage retained the Intercontinental Championship. For the rest of 86 Savage still faced challenges from Tito Santana, George “The Animal” Steel, Jake “The Snake” Roberts all while contending for the WWF Championship. After a match against Ricky Steamboat on October 28, 1986, Savage attacked Steamboat ending with Savage coming off the top rope with ring bell and crushing the larynx of Steamboat. While during an injury update (about Steamboat) with Bruno Sammartino, Savage interrupted Sammartino first being concerned about the well-being of Steamboat and then saying he was proud that he injured Steamboat; this would set up a side feud between Savage and Sammartino. Steamboat would return and attack Savage after Savage’s victory against George The Animal Steel on the first Saturday Night’s Main Event of 1987.
During this time, Savage was also honored to be in Rowdy Roddy Piper’s final Madison Square Garden match (Piper was going to retire from the wrestling business to focus on his film career) where Savage teamed with Adrian Adonis and “King” Harley Race against Steamboat, Piper and Junkyard Dog in a six man elimination match. When WrestleMania III came around the stage was set on what would become the most anticipated match in WrestleMania history; after nineteen near falls in a WrestleMania Showstealer, Steamboat would capture the WWF Intercontinental Championship and end Savage’s four hundred and fourteen day regain. This WrestleMania classic would win Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Wrestling Observer match of the year.
Three months after the epic WrestleMania III match, fans started to cheer for the Macho Man, it wasn’t till the August 15 edition of Superstars of Wrestling where the face turn was completed. Randy started to feud with Jimmy Hart’s Hart Foundation especially the newly crowned WWF Intercontinental Champion The Honky Tonk Man. It all started back on a edition of Jake Roberts’ Snake Pit where Savage would not answer to the comments that “The Colonel” (This was a tribute to Elvis Presley manager Tom Parker) Jimmy Hart and the Honky Tonk Man had made; his first shot at Honky Tonk Man came in the form of a non title match in Madison Square Garden, which Savage won. Savage put the feud on hold to focus on the 1987 King Of The Ring Tournament which he won beating Nicolai Voldoff, Jim Brunzell, “Dangerous” Danny Davis and King Kong Bundy. On the September 26, 1987 edition of Superstars, Honky added more fuel to the fire when Honky was going to list top ten reasons why he was the better Intercontinental champion than Randy. This lead to an impromptu Intercontinental championship challenge but Honky Tonk Man declined and went to the back. Savage finally got the shot against the self-proclaimed “Greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time” which he won but only disqualification thanks to interference by the Hart Foundation. The Hart Family assaulted Savage until Elizabeth ran to the back and brought out Hulk Hogan to get rid of them and shake hands the “Macho Man”.
1988 began and Savage was still feuding with the Honky Tonk Man; one match he had with Honky Tonk Man on the Main Event 05/02/88 where Savage was rumored to capture the Intercontinental Championship but Honky threatened to leave the WWF and join the NWA. WrestleMania IV became the absolute high point in his WWF career when he captured the WWF Championship after beating Ted DiBiase in the final of the one night WWF Championship Tournament. The title was vacated after DiBiase “brought” the WWF Championship from Andre The Giant, who had defeated Hogan earlier in the night. Savage had to defeat “The Natural” Butch Reed, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and the One Man Gang on his way to the final. The following month Savage would have his first WWF Championship defense against Ted DiBiase. Savage continued to feud with the Million Dollar Man, taking him on in a return match in a Steel Cage match in New York City and then again in the main event at Wrestlefest in Milwaukee Wisconsin.
In the main event of the inaugural SummerSlam, it was slated that Savage and a partner at the time would take on the Mega Bucks (Andre The Giant and Ted Dibiase). On the August 1, 1988 edition of Prime Time Wrestling, Randy Savage would announce that his tag team partner would be former WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and the team would be known as The Mega Powers. After their victory at SummerSlam, Savage would continue to feud with Andre The Giant and Ted DiBiase in single competition. In the fall of 88, the King of the Ring would make its return and Savage once again would make it to the final defeating Virgil and The Red Rooster but missed out on retaining his “crown”, losing to the Million Dollar Man in the finals. The Mega Powers came up against another tag team known as the Twin Towers (Akeem and Big Boss Man) both members of each team interfered in their partners match. At the second annual Survivor Series both teams were co-captains of an elimination tag match, which the Mega Powers won.
Although the victory was tainted, there was signs of dysfunction were starting to show in the Mega Powers tag team. More signs of dysfunction were showing after Savage refused to come to the aid of Hulk Hogan after facing the Akeem and an attack by the Big Boss Man. During the 1989 WWF Royal Rumble, Hogan eliminated Savage (who was attempting to eliminate with Bad News Brown) from the Rumble. Instead of returning to the locker room, Savage returned back into the ring upset at with Hulk Hogan. It took Miss Elizabeth to calm the Macho Man down and return him to the locker room. The final nail in the Mega Powers coffin happened on an edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event when Elizabeth was carried back to the medic’s station by Hulk Hogan and Savage was left alone against the Twin Towers. Savage snapped and attacked Hogan at the medic’s station. Ten days later on a edition of Prime Time Wrestling it was revealed that Hogan would challenge the WWF Champion at WrestleMania. Although there was one person stuck in the middle of this and it was Elizabeth, unknown if she would accompany the champion or challenger to ringside at WrestleMania. Hogan would capture his second WWF Championship by defeating Savage at WrestleMania. Savage would receive forty nine championship shots in 1989 against Hulk Hogan but all came up short.
Eight days later on an episode of Prime Time, Savage and Elizabeth would have a confrontation, which introduced Sherri Martel, but it wasn’t until a segment of the Brother Love show that Randy Savage confirmed that Sherri Martel would be his manager and be known as “Sensational” Sherri. On July 18, 1989 Randy introduced Zeus (a character from No Holds Barred) during an interview on Prime Time Wrestling with the idea to take out Hulk Hogan for good. The second annual SummerSlam would once again be headlined by Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan, but this time they would be on opposite sides as Savage teamed with Zeus against Hogan and Brutus Beefcake. Once again, Savage lost to Hogan. On the September 15 edition of Prime Time Wrestling, Randy Savage defeated then king Hacksaw Jim Duggan for the crown of the WWF and on the October 2 edition of Prime Time Wrestling, Randy had his coronation with The Genius (Larry Poffo Savage’s brother) performing the proclamation and announcing him as the “Macho King”, with Sherri becoming the Sensational Queen. With his fellow heels around, Savage received a scepter from the Ted Dibiase. Savage continued to feud with Hacksaw Jim Duggan for the rest of 1989; plus to promote No Holds Barred film Savage teamed once again with Zeus to take on Brutus Beefcake and Hulk Hogan in a No Hold Barred Steel Cage match and lost as well.
At the beginning of the new decade, Savage ended his feuded with Hacksaw Jim Duggan by defeating Hacksaw at a house show in Hershey, Pennsylvania. From there, he went straight into a feud with Dusty Rhodes, which kicked off at a house show in Long Island, New York. At the 2/23/90 edition of Main Event, Macho King received an opportunity at the immortal Hulk Hogan which at the time was meant be special enforced by boxing champion Iron Mike Tyson, but was changed to James Douglas at the last moment after Douglas knocked Tyson out in a major upset. This was the fiftieth successful time Hogan retained the WWF Championship over Savage. At WrestleMania VI, Savage teamed with Sensational Queen Sherri to take on Dusty Rhodes and Saphire in the first ever mix tag match in WrestleMania history. The match saw Miss Elizabeth come down to ringside and distract Savage so Dusty could get the win. Fifteen days later on a edition of Superstars before Dusty’s match against Bob Salaz, Savage and Sherri attacked both Dusty and Saphire. This would lead to SummerSlam 1990, where Dusty would take on the Macho King and Saphire would face the Sensational Queen in single matches; but Saphire no showed for her match against the Sensational Queen. It wasn’t revealed until the Rhodes vs. Macho King match later on in the show that Saphire had been with the Million Dollar Man the entire time. After the battle with the Common Man finished, Savage set his sights on the Ultimate Warrior and the WWF Championship. On the September 8, 1990 edition of Superstars during the Brother Love Show, the Sensational Queen tried to gain an opportunity at the WWF Championship but failed after badmouthing the Warrior. On the house show circuit, Savage had twenty-nine opportunities at the WWF Championship but came up unsuccessful against yet again.
At the beginning of 1991, Savage would still receive four more opportunities at the WWF Championship on house shows but was still not successful. At the Royal Rumble 1991, Savage wanted to challenge the winner of the WWF Championship match between Sgt. Slaughter and Warrior. Savage would cost Warrior the Championship after hitting him with the royal sceptre during the match against Slaughter. So at Wrestlemania VII, “Stars and Stripes Forever” it was set for Savage to take on the Warrior but it would have an Loser Leaves the WWF stipulation on the match. Savage would lose the match but he didn’t lose everything. Sherri attacked Savage after the match but Elizabeth, who was in attendance as a fan, ran down to ringside and took out the Sensational Queen. When Savage stood up to leave the square circle, he was shocked to see Elizabeth standing in the middle of the ring with him. After a small stare down, Savage and Elizabeth hugged in the middle in the ring and Savage hoisted Elizabeth on his shoulders with Elizabeth crying and Pomp and Circumstance playing in the background. Although being retired from the squared circle, Savage still wrestled a few more matches for the WWF, mainly on the WWF/ Super World of Sports supershows in 1991. Randy Savage would still on be WWF television as a television commentator.
On a Barbershop segment over the summer, Randy appeared to drop hints that he was thinking of proposing to Miss Elizabeth and if she said yes they would marry at SummerSlam, which was emulating from Madison Square Garden. Elizabeth would respond with an “oh yeah” in the middle of the ring when Savage finally popped the question. Savage still wrestled or acted as a special referee on house show events, but never competed on television. Prior to the event, some WWF talent and television announcers threw a “bachelor party” on Prime Time Wrestling but one person who wasn’t happy to celebrate Savage’s upcoming wedding was Jake “The Snake” Roberts. SummerSlam headlined the wedding as the Match Made in Heaven, but the wedding party was disturbed by The Undertaker and Jake Roberts, who presented a snake to the happy couple.
After the attack at the party, on the September 21 edition of Superstars, Savage urged the WWF fans to lobby then WWF President Jack Tunney to reinstate the Macho Man to wrestle Jake Roberts. It took the WWF President nearly two months to respond to the fans requests and to take the matter under advisement. Although Roberts couldn’t wait so, on the November 23 edition of SuperStars after defeating Bob Werner, Jake taunted Savage, which lead to Savage running down to ringside to try and attack Jake Roberts but Jake tied Savage into the ropes and allowed the king cobra to bite Savage. Rowdy Roddy Piper and Miss Elizabeth rushed down to ringside and attended to the fallen Macho Man. After three months of campaigning, Jack Tunney reinstated the Macho Man and he would take on Roberts at WWF’s Tuesday in Texas event in which Savage won. The victory was short lived, as Jake attacked both Randy and Elizabeth in the post-match interview. The feud would continue into 1992 until a March 25th house show in Seattle, Washington, where Savage would defeat Roberts in a Steel Cage.
After ending his feud with Roberts, Savage started a feud with the newly crowned WWF Champion Ric Flair and this time the feud was personal. Ric claimed that Elizabeth was having an affair with him, showing “photos” of him and Elizabeth at a swimming pool among other locations. Mr. Perfect said that at WrestleMania VIII, he and Flair would revival a centerfold of Elizabeth during Flair’s main event against the Macho Man. Savage would win the bout and become a second time WWF Champion. After his championship victory, Savage confirmed the photos were fake and that they were edited by Flair and the actual person in the photos was himself. Unfortunately, after spending seven years with the company, Elizabeth left the WWF. In real life, the match made in heaven was already over as Elizabeth filed for divorce from the Macho Man and is believed she waved her right to finances in her name as she didn’t want to be in touch with Savage.
Back in the square circle, SummerSlam 1992 was announced for Wembley Stadium and the WWF Championship match was announced as Randy Savage taking on his old foe, the Ultimate Warrior. The focus was not on the WWF Championship match, but rather which corner would Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect will be in. In front of 80,355 WWF fans, Savage would successfully retain, although he was counted out and was selling an attack on his left knee after being stuck with a steel chair. Both champion and challenger embraced after the match. Unfortunately, Savage’s second title regain would end on the September 1, 1992 television tapings. It took two times to tape the match as Vince wasn’t happy with how the first match was coming together, but in the second try of the match it saw the debut of Razor Ramon as he helped Ric Flair to the championship. Heading into the 1992 Survivor Series, the main event was booked as Ric Flair and Razor Ramon taking on the Ultimate Maniacs, Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior. However, the Warrior was released from his WWF contract. Savage picked the “perfect partner” in Mr. Perfect on the November 16th edition of Prime Time ending the business relationship of Flair, Heenan and Perfect. The duo beat Flair and Ramon via disqualification at Survivor Series.
Savage returned to the commentary booth for the premier edition of Monday Night Raw and other WWF Television shows and pay per views. It seemed that Vince McMahon saw it was time to use younger talent and use people like Savage as special attractions. Savage wrestled against Doink the Clown and Repo Man on Raw, participated in the 1993 Royal Rumble and had an intense feud with Crush. By October 1994 his WWF contract expired and on the November 7th edition of Monday Night Raw, Macho was given an on-air farewell by Vince McMahon.
Hardly a month had passed since Savage was released by the WWE when their rival company WCW snapped him up. He made his television debut on WCW Saturday Night, granting an interview with Mean Gene Okerlund where he made references to his love/hate relationship with then WCW Champion Hulk Hogan. Twenty four days later at Starrcade, Savage came down to ringside after Hogan retained the WCW championship over The Butcher and seemed to side with Kevin Sullivan, Avalanche and the Butcher but instead aided Hogan against the three men and as the broadcast ended WCW commentator Tony Schiavone added “The Mega Powers are back together again!”
Savage’s in ring debut was on the January 28th edition of WCW Saturday Night against Arn Anderson with Anderson’s WCW Television Championship on the line. Hogan and Savage would reform their partnership but under the name Monster Maniacs at Clash of the Champions XXX to take on The Butcher and Kevin Sullivan, where the Monster Maniacs won. His pay per view in ring debut was at Superbrawl V teaming with Sting and taking on Avalanche and Bubba Rogers. During the match, Savage had a brief confrontation with Ric Flair, who was seated at ringside. Savage tried to get to the Nature Boy once again after the match but was held back by security. The feud between Savage and Avalanche continued to the first ever Uncensored event were Savage won via disqualification due to interference from a mystery women who jumped over the guard rail. That mystery women turned out to be Ric Flair in drag. These two old rivals would meet at the promotion’s first ever Slamboree in St. Petersburg, Florida as the Monster Maniacs reunited to take on Flair and Vader in the main event. After that, Savage entered the US Championship tournament and only reached the semifinals where he would meet Ric Flair (which never got officially started) and then it would be set for the first time in two years: Randy Savage and Ric Flair would meet in the main we event of the Great American Bash.
This main event was special to Savage as he was accompanied by his father Angelo at ringside. However, this would be his downfall as Ric went after Randy’s father and used Angelo’s cane against Savage to get the win. These two met again at Bash at the Beach in a “lifeguard match” and Macho got the win over the Nature Boy. Flair would ask Savage to team with him when Flair was in a feud with Arn Anderson but he refused. Savage would reunite Hogan and Sting to face the Three Faces of Fear at Fall Brawl in War Games but he had to trust Lex Luger, who just debuted in the company. These two had a match at Halloween Havoc, where Savage defeated Luger. Then at the debut World War 3 event, Savage lost the rematch with the now heel Luger, but he would later survive fifty nine other men to be crowned WCW Champion after Hogan was pulled under the bottom rope by the Giant and the referee called it an elimination. At the eleventh annual Starrcade, in his first match of the night, Savage was able to pull the promotion equal in it series with New Japan Pro Wrestling. However, the champion’s night was not over as he lost the WCW Title to Ric Flair in the show’s main event. The start of 1996 was a positive for the Macho Man as he recaptured the WCW title by defeating Ric Flair on WCW Nitro. He also reunited with Miss Elizabeth at Clash of the Champions XXXII. Savage’s title reign lasted until Superbrawl VI where he not only lost his WCW Championship to Flair within the confines of the steel cage, but he was turned on by Miss Elizabeth, who nailed Savage with her high heel shoe. The feud between himself and Flair continued into the second ever Uncensored event in which the Monster Maniacs reunited to face the Alliance to End Hulkamania in a three tier cage match. Savage went over to New Japan Pro Wrestling to take on Hiroshi Tenzan on April 29th in the Tokyo Dome before he returned to WCW and continued his feud with Ric Flair.
In the summer of 1996, Savage became a crusader for WCW as they were being invaded by Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and a mystery invader. At Bash at the Beach, Savage teamed with Lex Luger and Sting to take on Nash, Hall and this mystery invader, which turned out to be Hulk Hogan. He battled the NWO’s monster Giant at Fall Brawl and was humiliated after being spray painted with “NWO” on his back while Fall Brawl went off the air. He faced off against Hogan at Halloween Havoc but was unsuccessful in bringing back the WCW Championship from the NWO. Savage disappeared after this event and speculation was that neither WCW nor Savage could agree on a new contract for the Macho Man.
Moving to 1997, Savage returned to TV on the January 20th edition of Nitro claiming that he had been “blackballed” by WCW. For the weeks leading to Superbrawl, he was seen with Sting wearing black in the crowd and showing no signs if was a WCW or NWO guy. At Superbrawl VII it was confirmed that Savage was with the NWO, when he interfered in the WCW Championship match to assist Hulk Hogan. At Uncensored, Savage exposed that Nitro Girl Kimberly and Diamond Dallas Page were husband and wife in real life and that Kimberly posed nude for Playboy. They feuded for nearly eight months with both men trading victories in various matches from an unsanctioned lights out match to a sudden death match. One moment in the Savage/DDP feud that stands out is that on the July 7th edition of Nitro, DDP dressed up as cruiserweight superstar La Parka and defeated an unsuspecting Savage. While feuding with Page, Savage had a small feud with former NWO member The Giant that saw the Giant beating Savage in their match at Road Wild 1997.
In 1998, Savage kicked off the year feuding with Lex Luger again, picking up victories in their pay per view matches. However, during the main event between Hollywood Hogan and Sting, Savage tried to interfere on behalf of Hogan but it backfired. Hogan and Savage faced off in a Steel Cage at Uncensored, which seemed to be a set up to lure Sting into an attack but when Hogan left the steel cage, Savage spat on him. By Spring Stampede, Savage had the opportunity to bring the main gold back to the NWO as he took on Sting for the WCW title.
At Spring Stampede, Savage beat Sting to capture his second WCW Championship. However, during his title match he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and turned up the following night on Nitro with a knee brace on. That same night, Savage lost the championship to Hollywood Hogan thanks to interference by Bret Hart. On the following week’s edition of Nitro, Randy Savage and Kevin Nash showed up wearing “NWO” shirts but sporting the colors red and black of the newly christened NWO Wolfpac. Over the next two PPVs he continued to feud with Hogan and Hart but never picking up the victory over them in either singles or tag action. After losing to Hogan and Hart at the Great American Bash, his tag team partner for the match Rowdy Roddy Piper, forced Savage into a single match and beat the Macho Man in under two minutes. On the June 15th edition of Nitro, Savage took on DDP in a Caged Heat match. This would the final time these two rivals would meet inside the square circle as after this match Savage would take time off from WCW to recover from two serious knee surgeries. He would appear to help the Nature Boy Ric Flair capture control of the promotion from Eric Bischoff on the December 28th edition of Nitro.
On the April 19th, 1999 edition of Nitro, the WCW fans heard the voice of the Macho Man boom over the MGM Grand Garden Arena announcing that at Spring Stampede (which was that Sunday) he would be the special guest referee for the WCW Championship Fatal Four Way match between Ric Flair, Hollywood Hogan, DDP and Sting. While Page was world champion, Savage interfered in Page’s world title defenses to make sure that Page remained as champion but at Slamboree the plan back fired as Kevin Nash capture his second World Championship. With that, Savage stood up to Big Sexy at the Great American Bash and we saw the return of Sid Vicious at the PPV to help Randy attack the champion. At the following PPV, Savage captured his final ever World Championship when he pinned Nash in a tag team match but just like his title reign the year before, he immediately lost the championship to the returning Hollywood Hogan, and this time thanks to interference by Kevin Nash. His final PPV match for WCW was against “Rodzilla” Dennis Rodman at Road Wild 1999. After the match in Sturgis, Savage took another hiatus from the promotion. He wrestled his final international event on January 4th at New Japan’s Pro Wrestling “Wrestling World 2000” losing to Rick Steiner and his final WCW appearance came at the 3rd May edition of Thunder as a surprise return in a forty one man battle royal.
His final appearance in a major promotion was back in TNA, showing up at their first ever three hour Sunday PPV after the ladder match between Jeff Jarrett and Jeff Hardy for the NWA Championship. He pinned the NWA Champion Jeff Jarrett at their second PPV Turning Point in a six man tag team match as he teamed with AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy. The rumor was that Savage was meant to take on Jarrett at the promotion’s third pay-per-view, but many complications stopped that from happening.
Over his twenty four years as an active wrestler, Randy Savage wrestled 1,601 matches, winning 944 and losing 579, with 61 draws.
Ever since his death, Macho Man fans have been wondering if Savage will go into the WWE Hall of Fame. Currently, his brother has been answering the question as no unless the promotion inducts the whole family. Time will tell if Macho Man fans will ever get that true closure on his career.
