Interesting Facts about "Macho Man" Randy Savage

Interesting Facts about "Macho Man" Randy Savage

November 30, 2022

By Ryan Porzl

One of wrestling's greatest, most colorful, and celebrated talents is "Macho Man" Randy Savage. At his peak, Savage had some of the greatest matches in wrestling history, he oozed charisma, and had an "it factor" few had. He had a career few could match and even though it's been more than a decade since his passing back on May 20, 2011, he continues to be remembered and loved by wrestling fans everywhere. This November 15th is a milestone as it would've been the 70th birthday for the Macho Man so having done one of these for Scott Hall, I decided to celebrate Savage's birthday by looking back at some interesting facts you may not have known about. With a man that had such a storied career and interesting life, some things might have been forgotten or fallen under the cracks.

Note: I don't own any of the pictures. I got them on Google. Credit to WWE or whomever owns them.

Wrestled the first match in the history of WCW Thunder- WCW Thunder was WCW's b show from it's debut in January 1998 till WCW closed in March 2001. It has an interesting history as many view it as a reason for WCW's eventual decline due to oversaturation and a decline in quality. Nevertheless, Thunder has it's place in wrestling history and Savage played a part in Thunder's history as he would be one of the first to have a match on the show. On January 8, 1998, Savage would actually go on to take part in the first match in the history of the program when he faced World Class legend Chris Adams. The match originally saw Savage lose in 2:31 thanks to interference from Lex Luger. However, the result would be overturned following the match due to Luger's interference resulting in Savage winning by disqualification.

Wrestled the final match in the history of WCW Clash of the Champions- Like Thunder, Clash of the Champions was another memorable piece in WCW's history. From 1988-1997, Clashes were specials that aired on TBS and like Saturday Night's Main Event with the WWF, Clash of the Champions aired a few times a year and offered main event caliber matches on television when it wasn't common for it. Months before Savage helped kick start WCW Thunder, he would take part in the closing of this WCW special. On August 21, 1997, WCW would hold the 35th and final Clash special on TBS and the main event would see Savage, filling in for Kevin Nash, as he teamed with Scott Hall to defend the Outsiders' WCW World Tag Team Championships against Diamond Dallas Page and Lex Luger. In the end, Savage and Hall would emerge victorious after Hall pinned Luger due to miscommunication from Page and Luger.

Was a former USWA Unified World Champion- It's no secret that Savage was a former world champion in professional wrestling. As far as most are concerned or know, Savage is a six time world champion having held the WWF Championship twice and the WCW World Championship four times. However, these weren't the only time Savage held a world title. As some have discovered in recent years, the WWF not only had a working relationship with the Memphis based United States Wrestling Association in 1993 but even had a promotional feud between the two promotions which saw the first glimpses of Vince McMahon's "Mr. McMahon" persona he later portrayed. It would be during this storyline that saw various WWF stars invade USWA and have matches with top star Jerry "The King" Lawler with Savage being one of them with the two reprising their old 80s rivalry. Savage would earn a few shots against Lawler in early October 1993 but wasn't able to win the belt. Finally, on October 11, 1993, Savage would once again face Lawler for the USWA Unified World Championship and went on to defeat his old rival for the championship. Savage would ultimately hold the belt for 40 days and wouldn't return to defend the belt before being stripped of it on November 20, 1993 due to the WWF briefly cutting ties with USWA due to legal issues involving Lawler (which he was eventually acquitted of).

Savage (left) with Vince McMahon (middle) and Rob Bartlett (right)

Was one of the original announcers for WWF Monday Night RAW- With January 2023 coming up, Monday Night RAW is set to celebrate it's 30th anniversary. Over the three decades it's been around, RAW has featured some of the biggest names and moments in professional wrestling history. While Savage's WWF career was in it's twilight by the time the show premiered on January 11, 1993, he still played a big part of it's history. When the show debuted, Savage would make history by becoming one of the original voices of the program alongside Vince McMahon and New York comedian Rob Bartlett. All in all, Savage would serve as one of the voices of RAW for most of it's first 18 months on the air. With the exception of times when he competed or was involved in an angle, he would announce the WWF/WWE's flagship show from it's premier on January 11, 1993 to his final episode on October 31, 1994 before departing for WCW. Perhaps appropriately enough, Vince would even give Savage a nice send off on the November 7, 1994 edition following Savage's departure which would close the book on Savage's time with the WWF as he sadly would never return.

        

Won his first WWF and WCW World Championships due to vacancies that involved Hulk Hogan- The day November 26, 1995 and the month leading to it must've felt like deja vu for Randy Savage. Not only did he win a world title for the first time but it was a vacant title that was declared vacant due to a controversy surrounding Hulk Hogan. This would not only happen in WCW but it happened seven years earlier in the WWF. On February 5, 1988 during the WWF's Main Event special, Hogan would see his four year reign as WWF Champion end at the hands of Andre the Giant thanks to corrupt officiating from referee Earl Hebner (who was posing as his twin brother Dave). Following the match, Andre would hand the championship to Ted Dibiase only for Dibiase to eventually be stripped of the title due to not having won the title. To fill the vacancy, a fourteen man tournament would be held at Wrestlemania IV on March 27, 1988 which Savage participated in (more on that later) and later won to become the new WWF Champion.

Seven years later, another Hogan controversy would benefit Savage. On October 29, 1995, Hogan would defend the WCW World Championship against The Giant at Halloween Havoc 1995 which Hogan lost by disqualification. Following the match, it would be revealed that Hogan's manager Jimmy Hart betrayed him by putting a clause in the match contract which allowed the championship to change hands on a DQ. However, on November 6th, the championship would be declared vacant because of the controversy. To fill this vacancy, WCW would create the World War 3 event which had a 60 man/3 ring battle royal with the last man standing would become the new WCW World Champion. In the end, Savage emerged victorious to become the new WCW World Champion.

First wrestler to lose the Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania- Well, not every fact has to be a "highlight" even though the match is considered a masterpiece. With an event like Wrestlemania being in it's early stages, it's bound to have many first than later ones. Especially when it comes to first major wins and losses. Savage would be apart of some and this was one. After successfully defending the Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania 2 against George "the Animal" Steele, Savage returned to Wrestlemania in a familiar setting when he defended the Intercontinental Championship a second year in a row at Wrestlemania III but this time against Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat. As is universally known in the wrestling business, the match is considered one of the greatest of all time and an all time classic. Unfortunately for Savage, lightning wouldn't strike twice as he would be pinned and lost the title to Steamboat, ending his near 14 month reign. With the loss, Savage became the first wrestler to lose the Intercontinental Championship at a Wrestlemania.

             

First wrestler to both win and lose the WWF Championship at a Wrestlemania- Wrestlemanias held in Atlantic City have been the best of times and the worst of times for the Macho Man as he saw historic wins and losses at them. The first time the WWF held a Wrestlemania in Atlantic City would be Wrestlemania IV which saw Savage triumph in a 14 man single elimination tournament to become the undisputed WWF Champion. With the win, Savage notably became the first wrestler to win the championship at a Wrestlemania as the previous Wrestlemanias either saw Hulk Hogan in a tag match or successfully defending the championship. Speaking of Hogan, Savage's friend at Wrestlemania IV would be his rival at the following year's Wrestlemania which was also held at Atlantic City. Savage would give it his all but like many in this era, he fell victim to the big boot and leg drop thus losing the WWF Championship after more than a year as champion. With the loss to the Hulkster, Savage became the first to lose the championship at a Wrestlemania which resulted in Savage going from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows at the WWF's premier event.

Was one of the last wrestlers to defeat Steve Austin in WCW- Over the last 40 years, many all time greats have emerged in the wrestling industry and two were Randy Savage and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Both achieved legendary status and achieved their biggest success in the WWF and WCW. The idea of a Savage and Austin match seems like it could've been an all time dream match that many would've loved to see. Unbeknownst to many, it turns out these did in fact face each other when both were in WCW. In 1995, Savage was having his first full year in WCW while Austin was soon on his way out. After Vader was stripped of the United States Championship in March 1995, a tournament was held to crown a new champion and Savage would enter. After taking out the Butcher (Brutus Beefcake) in the first round, Savage would meet Austin in the quarterfinals on the May 27, 1995 edition of WCW Saturday Night. Sadly, there wasn't much to the match as Savage won in only 2:29. The match would be one of Austin's last as he would be fired shortly afterwards following a torn triceps among other reasons.

Angelo Poffo (left) with Savage (right)

Was a second generation wrestler- Usually, when you think of second generation wrestlers, you likely automatically thought of guys like Bret and Owen Hart or Curt Hennig. However, what some forget or don't know, Randy Savage belongs in that same club as he too was a second generation wrestler. Savage's father was Angelo Poffo. Angelo Poffo wasn't as big or legendary as a Stu Hart or Larry "The Ax" Hennig but he had success as he debuted in 1949 and wrestled his last match in 1991 while mostly achieving his biggest success in the 1950s and 1960s for promotions like Fred Kohler Enterprises in Chicago, NWA Detroit, and the Indiana based World Wrestling Association. Ironically, during his career, he was actually managed by the legendary Bobby "the Brain" Heenan who also later worked with Savage when both were part of the WWF announce team in the early 90s with the two announcing much of the 1993 Monday Night RAW episodes as well as Wrestlemania IX and King of the Ring 1993. By the 1970s, Poffo would serve as a promoter for the International Championship Wrestling promotion where Savage and his brother Lanny Poffo served as top stars and it would be there where Savage met his future wife and valet Miss Elizabeth. Most casual fans may remember Poffo for his 1995 appearances in WCW when he was inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame and was part of Savage's feud with Ric Flair. Poffo eventually passed away on March 4, 2010 at the age of 84, a little over a year before Savage's own passing.

His first gimmick was "The Spider"- When most think of Randy Savage, they usually think of him as "the Macho Man" and if people think of Savage and spiders, it's usually his role in the 2002 Spider-Man film. However, these wouldn't always be the case. Though Savage will forever be remembered as "the Macho Man", he had to start somewhere and being Macho wasn't it. When Savage first entered the business in 1973, he wrestled under the gimmick called "The Spider" which was similar to the iconic Spider-Man which means him playing Bonesaw McGraw in the 2002 film wasn't the first time he did something with regards to Spider-Man. Savage competed with the gimmick during the first two years of his career, including competing for promotions such as Championship Wrestling from Florida before dropping the gimmick in 1975 at which point he started wrestling under his real name of Randy Poffo before switching to his more famous moniker.

Competed at a New Japan January 4th Tokyo Dome show- Since 1992, one of the biggest shows in the wrestling calendar is New Japan's yearly Tokyo Dome show every January 4th. The event is the biggest in all of Japanese wrestling and like any great yearly event has had a rich history of great matches, moments, and title changes. To no surprise, the event has also seen many of the all time greats make at least one appearance in the event and Savage would be one of them. Towards the end of his career, Savage would check another box of achievements in his legendary career when he participated in the 2000 edition of the 1/4 Tokyo Dome called Wrestling World 2000. At the event, Savage would face fellow WCW wrestler Rick Steiner in a one-on-one affair. In the end, despite this being one of Savage's last major moments of his career, it wasn't much to write home about just like his previous encounter with Steve Austin. Ultimately, Savage would come up short and lost to the dog faced gremlin in 11:08. The match proved to be Savage's final appearance for New Japan after having made a few appearances during his WCW tenure while proving to be the fourth to last match of his career as Savage would go on to wrestle for WCW two more times in 2000 and then had his final match with TNA (now Impact Wrestling) in 2004.

Was the first to defend the WWF Championship in Europe- By the time Randy Savage first held the WWF Championship, the championship was around for 25 years and already had famous moments, matches, and reigns. There were also many first for the championship. We've already seen some of those moments regarding Savage in this article and here's another one. With the WWF in the middle of a hot period in 1988, they began expanding outside of North America and began touring Europe. It would be during Savage's reign where the WWF Championship would be defended on European soil. On October 7, 1988, Savage defended the WWF Championship against Akeem at the Bercy Stadium in Paris, France. The match would be shown in France on Canal+ and RTL in Europe while eventually airing in America on the November 8th edition of Prime Time Wrestling. The match saw Savage retain on a disqualification in 10:13 after Akeem attacked referee Tim White.

The only World War 3 winner that wasn't part of the nWo at the time of victory- Obviously, one of the most popular match concepts in wrestling history is the Royal Rumble battle royal which has been one of the WWF/WWE's biggest matches in their history for decades. Since it's creation, other companies have done their own take on the Royal Rumble or tried to reinvent the wheel in regards to battle royals and WCW would be no different. From 1995-1998, WCW would have the World War 3 battle royal at the yearly November Pay-Per-View of the same name. The battle royal was truly something else as it featured 60 men in three rings competing with the last man standing being the winner. Like the Royal Rumble, the World War 3 battle royal would either be for the vacant world championship or a guaranteed title shot at a future date. As mentioned above, Savage would be a former winner of the World War 3 battle royal as he won the inaugural one in 1995 for the vacant WCW World Championship. As it turns out, Savage would ultimately be the only World War 3 winner to not be a member of any incarnation of the nWo when he won it. After Savage, the legendary faction would claim the battle royal for themselves with the Giant winning it in 1996 and Scott Hall won it in 1997 while both were members of the nWo. Meanwhile, Kevin Nash won the final edition in 1998 as leader of nWo Wolfpac.

Competed in Smoky Mountain Wrestling for a few appearances- Most longtime fans may remember Smoky Mountain Wrestling but for new fans, it was one of many attempts on Jim Cornette's to turn back the clock to when rasslin was rasslin. The promotion was around from 1991-1995 and while it wasn't a huge success, the east Tennessee promotion did make it's mark in the business and it's great contribution was either launching the careers or giving the first break to several wrestling legends including Kane, Sunny, the Gangstas, Al Snow, Chris Candido, and Balls Mahoney to name some. From 1993-1995, the promotion had a working relationship with the WWF which resulted in WWF wrestlers occasionally being brought in to boost a big show and sell extra tickets with Savage being one of those wrestlers. In May 1994, Savage was brought in for a weekend's worth of shows, mostly getting involved with Cornette's rivalry with SMW commissioner "Bullet" Bob Armstrong and would become an opponent for Cornette's man Bruiser Bedlam. Savage's first and most notable match would be on May 20, 1994 at SMW's Volunteer Slam III when he faced Bedlam one-on-one and came up short. Despite Savage being the bigger star, he reportedly had no problem putting Bedlam over seeing as how Bedlam was a star in SMW while Savage was a special attraction. Savage's second match would be on May 21st when he teamed with the Rock n' Roll Express to defeat Brian Lee, Bedlam, and Chris Candido and his last would be on May 22nd when he teamed with the Dirty White Boy against Bedlam and Jake "the Snake" Roberts which went to a no contest.

Last televised WWF match was at Wrestlemania X- Wrestlemania X was one of the most memorable Wrestlemanias for it's time. It was there where the WWF brought Wrestlemania back home to Madison Square Garden. Bret Hart returned to the top of the mountain while Owen Hart, Razor Ramon, and Shawn Michaels had career making matches. Matches such as Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart and Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels are considered some of the greatest matches of all times. What a lot of people don't know or realize is Wrestlemania X was historic for another reason and that it featured the televised farewell of Randy Savage in the WWF. At the event, Savage competed against former friend turned rival Crush in a falls count anywhere match with the match having a unique stipulation as this match could only see a wrestler pin their opponent outside the ring and then the pinned wrestler had 60 seconds to return to the ring or be declared the loser. In the end, Savage would settle the score with Crush and defeated him at 9:49. As mentioned, this match proved to be the last televised match for Savage in the WWF. With the WWF beginning their "New Generation" era, the near 42 year old Savage was mostly relegated to color commentary and ambassador roles while the WWF focused on younger talent. While Savage would continue wrestling at house shows and international tours (his last match overall would be September 13, 1994 teaming with Bret Hart against Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart), Savage never wrestled on WWF television again. According to Savage, it would be his reduced wrestling role that was the big reason he made his decision to depart the WWF in November 1994 for WCW.

Held six world titles between WWF and WCW and lost all of them to either Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair- When you think of all time greats and greatest world champions in history, it's hard not to bring up either Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair. During the 1980s and 1990s, fewer wrestlers dominated a world championship than the Hulkster and the Nature Boy who had strangleholds on either the WWF, WCW, or NWA World Championships. During their time of dominance, Savage would enjoy his time as world champion but he find out the hard way how dominate Hogan and Flair were as all six of his World Titles between WWF and WCW ended by at least one of them with each ending half his reigns. Savage's first WWF Championship reign ended at the hands of Hogan on April 2, 1989 at Wrestlemania V while his second WWF Championship reign was ended by Flair on September 1, 1992 at a Prime Time Wrestling tv taping. In WCW, Savage would lose his first two WCW Championships to Flair with the first loss being on December 27, 1995 at Starrcade 1995 and the second loss being on February 11, 1996 at SuperBrawl VI. His last two reigns were lost to Hogan with his third reign being on April 20, 1998 on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro and his fourth reign would end on July 12, 1999 on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro.

Wrestled more matches than anyone in a single Wrestlemania in Wrestlemania history- When it comes to Wrestlemania, many have already given Shawn Michaels the title of "Mr. Wrestlemania". However, if anyone perhaps deserved it more, it'd be "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Savage was a massive part of early Wrestlemanias. As mentioned, he was the first to win the WWF Championship at a Wrestlemania as well as lose the WWF Championship and Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania. His matches with Ricky Steamboat, Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior, and Ric Flair are among some of the greatest in Wrestlemania history and helped put the event on the map. He main evented three Wrestlemanias in IV, V, and VIII with VIII being a double main event. Then there is another achievement. One that saw Savage make history that will likely never be broken which was he competed in more matches in a single Wrestlemania then anyone in history. As is well known, Savage competed in a fourteen man tournament for the vacant WWF Championship at Wrestlemania IV. Due to Savage winning the tournament and getting no byes along the way, he had to compete in four matches that night. In the first round, he defeated "the Natural" Butch Reed in 5:07. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Greg "the Hammer" Valentine in 6:06. In the semifinals, he defeated the One Man Gang by disqualification in 4:05. In the finals, he defeated "the Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase (who had a bye in the semifinals so he only wrestled three matches) to become the new champion.