Randy Savage

Randall Mario Poffo
Randy Savage in 1986.
Data
Ring name	Randy Savage Mr. Madness Randy Poffo
Additions to names	Macho Man Macho King
height	188 cm
Fighting weight	108 kg
birth	November 15, 1952 Columbus , Ohio
death	May 20, 2011 Tampa , Florida
Announced from	Sarasota , Florida
Trained by	Angelo Poffo
debut	November 1973
retirement	December 2004

Randall Mario Poffo , better known as " Macho Man" Randy Savage (born November 15, 1952 in Columbus , † May 20, 2011 in Tampa ) was an American wrestler . Poffo was one of the best known and most popular players in the wrestling business primarily during the 1980s and into the new millennium. He was the son of wrestler Angelo Poffo and the brother of "Leaping" Lanny Poffo aka The Genius , who was also active in wrestling. During his career, Poffo received the top title of the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) twice and the top title of World Championship Wrestling four times .

Sporty background

Born in Ohio, Poffo grew up in Downers Grove , Illinois , a suburb of Chicago , and attended high school there. After graduating from college in 1971, he began playing minor league baseball in the farm systems . He was a catcher for the second division teams of the St. Louis Cardinals , Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox . However, an arm injury that forced him to change his throwing arm prevented a possible promotion to the major league . Since his father Angelo and his brother Lanny were active in wrestling, he tried his luck there too. After training from his father, he made his debut as the masked wrestler The Spider in 1973 .

Wrestling career

Beginnings

Poffo changed his ring name to Randy "Macho Man" Savage and performed with his father and brother in various territories of the National Wrestling Alliance . To help his sons with their careers, Angelo Poffo opened a small independent promotion himself with International Championship Wrestling , where he pushed it . Later this was bought by Jerry Lawler and Poffo also moved to Lawler's league, the Continental Wrestling Association .

World Wrestling Federation (1985-1994)

Randy Savage as WWF Champion .

In June 1985 Poffo was finally able to get a contract with the emerging World Wrestling Federation and shortly afterwards introduced his wife Elizabeth as his manager . Initially his character was designed as a villain and the league built him up for a reign as WWF Intercontinental Champion . On February 8, 1986, he was allowed to take this title from Tito Santana and then defend it against several challengers. His reign ended in 1987 as part of a feud program with Ricky Steamboat in a "fight of the year" match at Wrestlemania III. Poffo was very popular with fans because of his unorthodox style, which was heavily influenced by actions from the top corner post of the ring, such as his flying elbowdrop . Therefore, a change of heart was made to become the crowd favorite.

Poffo won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship in 1988 at Wrestlemania IV . André the Giant had previously ceded this title in the storyline to the million dollar man Ted DiBiase , who was then viewed by the WWE as vacant and reassigned in a 14-man elimination tournament. Savage was allowed to win the final against DiBiase and hold the title for a full year. A team was formed with Hulk Hogan , which resulted in a new storyline for a split of the team, which required another change of mind. This feud ended in a title match for the WWF Heavyweight Title in 1989 at Wrestlemania V, which Savage should lose. As a result, Poffo was renamed Macho King Randy Savage and he was separated from his manager. He worked in programs with Dusty Rhodes and the Ultimate Warrior . 1991 changed his character back to Macho Man Randy Savage; with the reinstatement of his manager, he switched to the crowd favorite again. His second title reign in the WWF began in 1992 when he was allowed to defeat Ric Flair in Wrestlemania VIII . However, he soon had to give the title back to Flair, as an impending steroid scandal required smaller wrestlers, such as the title holder, Bret Hart , to be the league's figureheads.

World Championship Wrestling (1994-2000)

From then on, Poffo was only used sporadically as a wrestler in the WWF, mostly he was seen as a commentator. He was one of the commentators on Wrestlemania IX with Jim Ross and Bobby Heenan . Therefore he switched to WCW in 1994. There he started a program with Ric Flair, from 1996 he feuded again with Hulk Hogan, who was the leader of the NWO as Heel . In February 1997 he himself became a member of this group. In the WCW he was allowed to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship four times.

His last WCW appearance was on May 3, 2000 on an edition of Thunder when Savage returned to the Stable The Millionaire's Club. A group made up of Hulk Hogan , Ric Flair, and other veterans. Although Savage quit the show claiming he would help the veterans group knock out the young New Blood group, he no longer appeared on WCW.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004-2005)

For PPV Victory Road by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling returned Savage for wrestling back. His impact! He made his debut on November 19, facing Kevin Nash , Scott Hall and Jeff Jarrett . At PPV Turning Point he competed with Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles , against Nash, Hall and Jarrett in a six-man tag team match that he won. This was also his last wrestling match. At the PPV Final Resolution a fight by Savage was planned for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship held by Jarrett . Savage would win the championship and lose it to Jarrett at the next pay-per-view event. On February 18, 2005, however, he left TNA Wrestling for health reasons.

Outside of wrestling

Savage appeared on many television shows in the mid-1990s. He appeared on a Baywatch wrestling episode that aired with fellow WCW wrestlers Hulk Hogan , Ric Flair , Big Van Vader and Kevin Sullivan in 1996 . In 1999 he appeared on the popular television series Walker, Texas Ranger, and Mad About You .

Savage appeared in his first movie in 2000 and made an appearance as a macho man character in the film Ready to Rumble , in which David Arquette fights Savage at a gas station in a sequence. Savage's best-known film role was in the 2002 film Spider-Man as the wrestler Bonesaw McGraw, based on the cartoon character Crusher Hogan.

Savage's memorable voice has given him various roles on various television and film projects. He pronounced the alien wrestler "Rasslor" in shorts M for Monkey from Dexter's laboratory . He also gave his voice on many other shows, including the voice for "Gorilla" on an episode of King of the Hill and the voice of Space Ghost's grandfather on an episode of Space Ghost Coast To Coast . Savage was the voice of "The Thug," the Disney Academy Award- nominated animated film Bolt , which was his last film appearance. Savage resumed "The Thug" for Super Rhino in 2009 .

In 2003 his album Be A Man was released on the Big3 Records label. In the title track of the album, Savage attacks his wrestling colleague Hulk Hogan with gross insults.

death

Poffo had an accident on May 20, 2011 with his car, with which he drove head-on into a tree. He was killed instantly, while his passenger, his wife Barbara, was only slightly injured. It quickly became known that he had suffered a heart attack , but it remained unclear for a long time whether it had occurred before or after the accident. The St. Petersburg Medical Examiner's Office then performed an autopsy . On June 3, 2011, they announced that the heart attack had occurred before the accident and had thus caused it. It was caused by an enlarged heart and defective arteries. Poffo himself did not know anything about this disease.

Poffo's death caused great sadness among fans, wrestlers and officials around the world. WWE broadcast a tribute video on the May 23, 2011 edition of RAW showing the greatest moments of his career. TNA Wrestling posted a message on their website backed by two personal Twitter posts from Hulk Hogan and Jeff Jarrett about his death.

On March 28, 2015, Poffo was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in his role as "Macho Man" Randy Savage . The laudation was given by his brother Lanny Poffo.

Wrestling successes

World Wrestling Federation

• Hall of Fame (Class of 2015)
• WWF Championship (2 ×)
• WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 ×)
• King of the Ring (1987)
• WWE WrestleMania IV (1988)

World Championship Wrestling

• WCW World Heavyweight Championship (4 ×)
• World War 3 (1995)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Macho Man" Randy Savage dies at the 58th Washington Post , May 20, 2011, accessed May 20, 2011 . 
2. ↑ cagematch.de
3. ↑ Yahoo / Eurosport: Autopsy: This is how "Macho Man" died (accessed July 9, 2011)
4. ^ TNA joins the wrestling world in mourning the passing of Randy Savage. Impact Wrestling , archived from the original on June 28, 2011 ; accessed on November 17, 2019 . 
5. ↑ wwe.com: The best always end up on top: "Macho Man" Randy Savage is inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame (accessed on January 16, 2015)

Web links

Commons : Randy Savage  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Randy Savage profile on wwe.com
• Randy Savage in the Internet Movie Database (English)