Randy Savage and Owen Hart are the reasons that you are reading this right now. Without those two men there is no We Talk Wrestling podcast, there is no wetalkwrestling.com, and simply put, I am not a fan.
One Saturday morning in late 1986 a 9 year old Addie was in tears, running to his Mom and Dad terrified by what he saw.
“Mom, is Ricky Steamboat going to be OK?”
My parents assured me that he would be fine but I hated this dastardly man that did this to my hero Ricky. So much so that I convinced my Dad to buy tickets and drive two hours to Pontiac Michigan in order to see Ricky get his revenge. I attended Wrestlemania III not for Hogan and Andre (although I was excited for that match) but for Savage-Steamboat. As we all know I would not be disappointed as the greatest Wrestlemania match of the first decade of the event occurred and my hero was vindicated.
What I started out hating, I began to respect and it wasn’t long until Macho Man became my favorite wrestler. As an Easter present I still remember receiving the LGN “double biceps pose” Macho Man Randy Savage action figure.
As I grew up and got older I watched Randy win the WWF Title at Wrestlemania IV (something that I have watched so much I can still probably recite the commentary and interviews word for word), The Mega Powers Explode!, the retirement match against the Ultimate Warrior, and the infamous Jake the Snake angle (That Snake better be devenomized!!!). All these angles kept me latched to the WWF bandwagon while others my age were jumping off.
I won’t go through his entire career here, we probably will on We Talk Wrestling, but I did want to pay tribute to a man that started my “obsession” with professional wrestling. Randy Savage was truly one of a kind and, in a business that creates cookie cutter performers (ie. Dolph Ziggler), there will never EVER be another Macho Man.
Wrestling has truly lost a legend. My thoughts and prayers go out to his entire family and friends. As a lifelong fan, when your hero dies, a small part of you dies with them. I, as is the rest of the world, worse off today than I was yesterday. You will be missed Randy and Thank you for all that you did.
