Rest in peace, “Macho Man” Randy Savage

I grew up watching professional wrestling.  My heroes were Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund, Chief Jay Strongbow and Haystacks Calhoun.  These were the larger-than-life heroes who battled the evil Stan “The Man” Stasiak, Professor Toru Tanaka, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and Bulldog Brower.  My earliest exposure to professional wrestling was as a kid, watching the old WWWF hour-long broadcasts on WRGB.  I cringed the day that Ken Patera put Indian Billy White Wolf in a swinging neckbreaker, crippling White Wolf.  I was shocked when Captain Lou Albano took off his fake arm cast and bashed it over Chief Jay Strongbow’s forehead, cutting him like a tomato.  And I cheered when Bruno Sammartino destroyed Larry Zbyszko in a steel cage match at Shea Stadium.

I learned to always root for the  good guys and boo the bad guys.  And even when my pre-teen mind could figure out that the matches were about as scripted as an episode of Glee, I didn’t care.  I was more than willing to suspend my disbelief as long as the two men in the squared circle told the story and told it well.

Then came a professional wrestler named Randy Savage.  And my whole perspective on professional wrestling changed in moments.

Yes, Randy “Macho Man” Savage was tough and brutal and as dangerous a professional wrestler as they came.  Every manager wanted to hire him for the WWF,  but he settled on bringing his own manager with him – his wife, Elizabeth Hulette (“Miss Elizabeth”, as we knew her).  Here was a professional wrestler that had the skills and the muscle and the cunning to defeat anyone he faced.  And he used every part of the ring to achieve his goals – the double ax-handle smash off the ring apron, the flying elbow drop finisher from the top rope.  I was amazed.  Yes, smaller wrestlers like Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka could jump off the top rope, but not a big guy like Randy Savage.  If he hit you with that elbow drop, your body was bent for at least four days.

And I marveled as he and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat wrestled to a five-star match at Wrestlemania III.  Savage, who was the Intercontinental Champion at the time, fought Steamboat in a televised match.  During the contest, Savage got ahold of the ring bell and pounded Steamboat in the throat with it.  The storyline culminated in Detroit, where at  Wrestlemania III both men battled back and forth, kicking out of each man’s finishing moves.  Nobody knew when the match would end.  Nobody really knew who would win.  It wasn’t until Savage was distracted by outside interference – from, of all people, George “The Animal” Steele – that Steamboat won.  But in the end, both men won.

Randy Savage was the first professional wrestler for whom I didn’t care if he was a good guy or a bad guy, whether he was a face or a heel.  He was a dominating and talented professional wrestler, able to match up in a brawl or a scientific catch-as-catch-can style.   In Wrestlemania IV, Savage won four separate matches in the span of a night – defeating Butch Reed, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, the One Man Gang and Ted DiBiase – and claiming his first championship title.

Randy “Macho Man” Savage could get a four-star match out of any professional wrestler, and his battles with Jake “The Snake” Roberts, the Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan are still marveled at today.  Whether he wrestled in the WWF, in Ted Turner’s WCW, or in Jeff Jarrett’s NWA-TNA, you knew you were getting your money’s worth when Randy Savage took to the ring.

Today, another icon of my memories passed away.  Television station WTSP reports, from TMZ, that Savage died in a car accident in Seminole, Fla., possibly caused by a heart attack.   He had just remarried a year ago.   Savage was only 58 years old. The Florida Highway Patrol said the 58-year-old Savage’s Jeep Wrangler ran across a median and then slammed into a tree.

It’s not possible.  Randy Savage took on opponents stronger than trees.  He battled Andre the Giant.  He battled Hulk Hogan.  He took Ric Flair and tore him apart.  He even battled Spider-Man.  Well, at that time, it was just Tobey Maguire, but still…

The sad thing is, when a professional wrestler dies, it’s almost automatically assumed that he died from steroid abuse.  We don’t know that with Randy Savage.  Yes, the Macho Man was wound tighter than a $3 wristwatch, but that was part of his on-stage persona.  That was part of his intensity.  That was part of the Macho Madness.  From the first notes of Pomp and Circumstance as he entered the ring, to the final moments when his opponent, beaten and bloodied, needed assistance to limp out of the ring, Randy “Macho Man” Savage was one of the all-time greatest professional wrestlers.

He will be missed.  And he will never be replaced.

Rest in peace, Macho Man.  And when you cross the rainbow bridge to the other side, I hope that you and the lovely Miss Elizabeth are finally reunited.