Back in the mid 80’s, my high school buddies and I would travel every month or so from Simcoe to the Brantford Civic Center to get our fill of WWF wrestling. It was great because in those days they used to do the TV taping right there in Brantford for broadcast all over North America. It was usually a long night of about 3 hours of wrestling for 3 different TV shows. For $5 it was the best entertainment value around. Sometimes the matches would drag on.
Harley Race and Nikolai Volkoff were not exactly the most captivating performers, but we would endure them waiting for something to peak our interest. I’ll never forget the night a new wrestler was introduced to us. The ring announcer welcomed him as Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage. Out he came in a garish, metallic robe which reflected the television lights in a million directions. He had a maniacal look on his face and he revealed the craziest wild eyes when he finally removed his dark ski-goggle type sunglasses. His matted hair was held back by a colourful headband and he sported an unruly beard.
Once in the ring, he took off the robe to reveal not the plodding weightlifter type body we were used to seeing, but the more sinewy muscularity of an athlete. We, the veteran and savvy fans, took this new guy and his ring entrance with a grain of salt. “Macho Man”? Really? “Who calls themselves the “Macho Man”?” we thought. At that time our only reference to a Macho Man was voiced by a pop group named the Village People, and that was just plain challenging for a group of adolescent high school boys. So we watched on with wary eyes. The bell rung, the match started, and then the Macho Man turned into a human whirlwind.
He raced around the ring delivering all his moves with expert efficiency, but at a hyper-speed we had never seen before. He threw his man out of the ring, darted up to the top turnbuckle and came down hard onto the opponent’s backside with a double axe handle. He then threw the poor sod back in, picked him up and body-slammed him to the centre of the ring and jumped back up onto the top turnbuckle as quick as a cat. What was he going to do now? He raised his arms and pointed his fingers up high towards the arena roof and paused for a moment while the crowd held its collective breath. Then….he leapt. Sky-high into the air he launched, coming down with devastating force into the chest of his opponent with what would become his signature move, the Flying Elbow. One, two, three, and it was all over in the blink of an eye. We were awestruck. A star was born. After that display of wrestling awesomeness, it goes without saying that we were now all charter members of the Macho Madness fan club.
Savage’s “Oooooyyeeaaah” catch phrase and white-hot interviews would solidify his character, and his lovely manager Elizabeth would provide the eye candy which surely helped propel him to the highest heights of wrestling stardom. Whenever his entrance music, “Pomp and Circumstance” hit, the excitement level dialled up to a fever pitch. He would become a multi-time WWF champion and face off against Hulk Hogan in the top money-drawing program of the day. His crowning achievement was likely his match against Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania 3 in what is widely regarded as one of the best wrestling matches of all time.
Randy Savage, real name Randy Poffo, died tragically in Florida last month after having a heart attack while driving his car and then colliding with a tree. He leaves us at the too young age of 58. I know my buddies and I are not the only ones out there missing him. I’m sure some of you have your own favourite Macho Man moments.
Maybe you should have a stroll down memory lane and check out some Macho Man on Youtube In my mind, he was thegreatest of all time. John McIntosh is a favourite writer for The Silo.