R.I.P. Macho Man Randy Savage

"Best there is... past, present and future! Ohhhhh yeahhhh!"
"Macho Man" Randy Savage

I remember the feeling I had when I got the Tweet that Macho Man Randy Savage had passed. It was more a feeling of melancholy thinking about my younger years when pro wrestling was, to steal a phrase, running wild. I had fallen in love with the product put out by Vincent McMahon Sr then known as the WWWF as it was all that was readily available on TV to those of us in the Northeast. It was pretty formulaic with Bob Backlund fighting off whatever challenger the holy triumvirate of "Classy" Freddie Blassie, The Grand Wizard of Wrestling, or Captain Lou Albano would throw at him typically having to get past Bruno Sammartino (or later Pat Patterson) on the way in or the way out of the program then disappearing to be brought back fresh at another time. One of these challengers was a young "Incredible" Hulk Hogan who would be brought back several years later to create Hulkamania and change the industry forever

At the same time this was happening 2 events occurred in my life; I discovered wrestling magazines and I got cable TV. My eyes were opened to the fact there was a whole world of wrestling outside the Northeast I knew nothing about. NWA territories like Florida and Georgia, Dallas and San Antonio, St Louis and Kansas City, the AWA and the crazy world of Tennessee wrestling featuring Jerry Lawler's CWA and Angelo Poffo's ICW. I remember for the first time seeing pictures of Randy Savage in a George Napolitano mag in a feature on the bloody feud with he and Ronnie Garvin. I was fascinated with his look to say the least. One week watching the old Georgia Championship Wresting (1983) they announced one of the teams for a tag tournament they were having was Randy Savage and Magnum TA. They showed a highlight reel of the Macho Man and I was hooked. He was just so different looking, athletic, and had an aura of intensity to him

Fast forward to 1985 and the WWE. Hulkamania is officially running wild and Vincent K McMahon is in the process of gobbling up all the stars from all the territories to take the company national. Savage made his debut that year on the old Tuesday Night Titans show with the gimmick of the established managers in the company vying for his services and him eventually choosing Elizabeth (his real life wife but storyline browbeat manager). His early push came with him battling for and eventually holding for some time the Intercontinental title back when it was considered a major deal. For me the greatest memory of this era was after 5 years of attending monthly matches at the old Boston Garden I had FINALLY seen a title change. Yes, they were once a rarity (note: I had sadly missed the card a couple years earlier when Tito Santana beat Don Muraco for the I/C belt). He would go on to remain the company's perennial #1 or #2 guy for the next decade, mostly as a face but often a heel. His Wrestlemania III match with Ricky Steamboat is still considered a classic for the time and to me one of my favorite matches ever. Like many of that era he became a cultural icon beyond the ring most notably as a spokesman for Slim Jim. Eventually he jumped ship to WCW forever destroying his relationship with VKM who had a special place in his heart for the Macho Man. While he did some recent work with WWE on their latest video game he remained a solitary man never really coming back into the loving arms of the company. Sadly his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame will have to be posthumous

What stood out to me with Macho Man was his charisma and star power. It wasn't until years later as I became "smarter" did I appreciate his athleticism and what a good worker he was. His presence...from entering to Pomp and Circumstance to the outfits to the intensity with which he worked...was on another level to me exceeding even that of the Hulkster who I had become completely ambivalent towards. I think the clincher for me was his interview style which could be summed up as Dusty Rhodes or Superstar Billy Graham on acid and cranked up to the Nth degree. Hell, he even used some of the same lines as both of them but with a totally unique delivery. To this day my wrestling friends and I still impersonate his "thinkin, thinkin, thinkin that...YEAH" and "Elizabeth...Elizabeth...Elizabeth...will you marry me". Even after he "retired" and worked on commentary he was often the best part of the show in a surreal sort of way

I was sad to hear of his untimely death and shocked to see the attention it got. I mean, the news was everywhere in both wrestling and straight media. He had been so far out of the limelight that I never saw that coming. I guess as wrestling is in a "not cool" to non-fans right now I underestimated how many people still embraced that era that was WWF in the 80's. I think the thing that stood out to me were a twenty-something guy at the bar handing out Slim Jim's and yelling OH YEAH, the announcers on Bellator Fighting Championships, an MMA organization, paying tribute on several occasions, and C.M. Punk, a heel character but a real student of the game, dressing in vintage Macho Man style on RAW right down to the pink and yellow and "CM PUNK" written on his ass. The WWE, as they are prone to doing, put together one of the best tributes to any wrestler I have ever seen

Rest well Macho Man and thanks for all the entertainment you brought me as a young man and the memories I still remember vividly into my 40's. I'm still diggin it, OHHHHH YEAH!!!

Oh Captain My Captain

The recent passing of WWE Hall of Famer Captain Lou Albano brought back a rush of nostalgia taking me back to my infancy in the world of pro wrestling (NOT sports entertainment). As a kid growing up in the Northeast all that existed was the WWWF (soon to become the WWF) with it's formulaic and, as far as we were concerned, extremely entertaining version of pro wrestling. Bob Backlund was the champ. Bruno, recently coaxed out of the color postion, was the guy you had to beat to get to Backlund or involved in the grudge matches. Most of the programs revolved around 3 matches in 3 months in all the major arenas (the initial meeting which the heel would win by countout or something to that effect, the rematch with some kind of inconclusive finish, and the blowoff in a steel cage or another gimmick match). The lead heel charges were usually managed by one of 3 men. "Classy" Freddie Blassie who usually had the giants (Big John Studd, Hulk Hogan) and who most of us had no idea he was once a headliner all around the world, The Grand Wizard of Wrestling who typically had more "skilled" heel opponents (Superstar Graham, Stan Stasiak) and who most of us had no idea was once known as Abdullah Farouk in Detroit, and Captain Lou Albano who tended to concentrate on tag teams and "character" wrestlers (The Wild Samoans, The Moondogs). Captain Lou to me was the most entertaining of the 3. His flabby physique flaunted by his open shirts, rubber bands around his beard and through his cheeks and his cliche driven promo's made him my favorite non-wrestling character. Of the "3 wise men of the WWF" he was also most likely to get physically involved usually taking a bump for the baby faces on the rare non-squash T.V. matches of the era. At live events, he was a bleeder of Tommy Rich proportions always selling the ire of the face team

As a young man, he was impossible not to be fascinated with. He never drew the anger with me that TGW did as he was too funny. His wrestlers were always "often imitated, never duplicated", he was always "in the best shape of his life and could suplex from his knees" and he called VKM "Junior" long after he made it known he LOATHED" being called that. His interviews were often done while he was eating, say, a meatball sub which was all over his bare, ample belly. I think, other then his always great interviews, I most remember Lou from the famous Snuka/Albano/Stevens/Rodgers angle and, of course, the whole rock-n-wrestling era which everyone will be writing about. His long, storied career, from the Sicilians to the Samoans, from NRBQ to Cyndi Lauper was one to be in awe of. He was one of the guys who bridged the gap from Sr. to Jr., WWWF to WWF, Bruno to Hogan, and from pro wrestling to sports entertainment.

I know in the most recent Wrestling Observer hall of fame voting he didn't fare well and reading Mr. Meltzers comments on him to me really show the East Coast/West Coast bias in wrestling. I hear about Ray Stevens, Roy Shire and the Cow Palace and I think beer belly, who, and rodeo. I hear Captain Lou, TGW, Classy Freddy Blassie, Landover, MD and the Boston Garden and I think of my favorite time in my life loving pro wrestling. I wasn't "smart", hell I wasn't even a "smark" yet but I looked forward to every Saturday morning at 11:00 A.M. Lou was the single most entertaining character of the era, baby or heel, and, in my humble opinion, a sure fire, non-wrestling hall of famer.

Rest in peace Captain Lou and Kappa Dilly Dilly