Today we remember the surprise passing of professional wrestler Randy “Macho Man” Savage five years ago. Here’s the word from Wiki…
Randy Mario Poffo was born in Columbus, Ohio,[5][6] the elder son of Judy and Angelo Poffo. His father was Italian American and his mother was Jewish; Poffo was raised Roman Catholic.[12] Angelo was a well-known wrestler in the 1950s and 1960s, who was featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for his ability to do sit-ups for hours on end.[12] His younger brother is professional wrestler Lanny Poffo. He lived in Zanesville, Ohio, where he attended Grover Cleveland Middle School. He graduated from Downers Grove North High School in Downers Grove, Illinois.[13] He later moved to Staten Island, New York, before moving to Lexington, Kentucky, where he lived for many years.
Savage was an amateur baseball catcher for years before he followed his father and brother into the wrestling ring. Savage won 29 championships during a 32-year career. He held six world championships between the WWF and WCW, having won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship twice and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship four times. He also won the ICW World Heavyweight Championship three times and the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship once. A one-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion, Savage was named by WWE (formerly WWF) as the greatest champion of all time and credited for bringing “a higher level of credibility to the title through his amazing in-ring performances.”[9] Savage was also the 1987 WWF King of the Ring and the 1995 WCW World War 3 winner. A major pay-per-view attraction in the 1980s and 1990s, he main-evented WrestleManias IV, V and VIII, as well as four of the first five SummerSlam shows, the 1995 edition of WCW’s Starrcade, and many other events. At the peak of his popularity, Savage held similar drawing power to that of Hulk Hogan.
For most of his tenures in the WWF and WCW, Savage was managed by his real-life wife “Miss Elizabeth” Hulette. He was recognizable by wrestling fans for his distinctively deep and raspy voice, his ring attire, intensity exhibited in and out of the ring, using “Pomp and Circumstance” as his entrance music, and his signature catch phrase, “Oooh yeah!”.
Savage died of cardiac arrhythmia while driving with his second wife Barbara Lynn Payne, in Seminole, Florida on the morning of May 20, 2011. On March 28, 2015, he was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Here’s Savage’s first bout in the WWE (then the WWF)…
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