Sad sad day for wrestling fans. Today Macho Man Randy Savage has passed away from injuries sustained in a car accident. He was driving his Jeep on a highway in Florida when his vehicle crossed over a median, into oncoming traffic, and collided with a tree head on.
http://www.wwe.com/inside/savage-tribute/randy-savage-passes
While I was never the biggest Macho fan, no doubt he’s one of the top 5 guys from that era that I remember the most along with the Hulkster, Flair, Sting, and Luger. He paved the way for smaller wrestlers like Bret Hart and Steve Austin that didn’t have the “steroid” physique to be successful. His Wrestlemania match with Ricky Steamboat is among those tossed around the wrestling community in the same breath as “greatest match of all time”.
The most vivid memories I had of him were when he first went heel, turning on Hogan, splitting up the Mega Powers, and getting his new valet “Sensational” Sherri. I remember his epic “retirement” match against Ultimate Warrior, mainly because as a kid I was a Warrior fan (not knowing the kind of shenanigans he had been accused of pulling behind the scenes) and I didn’t want Warrior to have to “retire”. Of course it was short lived and he would later form a short lived tag team with Warrior called the Ultimate Maniacs (during one of the final runs Warrior had in WWE).
Overall though, I have a greater appreciation for the personalities of that era because they captured my imagination as a kid more than any since. Of the personalities you’d be hard pressed to find one more memorable or charismatic than Savage. If the rumor is true that he lost control of his vehicle due to a heart attack, then he is another in a growing and alarming list of wrestlers that have directly or indirectly lost their lives due to heart related problems that wrestled in that era (Brittish Bulldog and Road Warrior Hawk are two that come to mind). Makes me wonder how many others are in similar danger and how much of it is related to the after effects of the years of use of steroids and other performance enhancers that were standard practice then.
Savage, you’ll absolutely be missed, and you’ve left a legacy that no one is going to come close to touching any time soon, if ever.