April 24 – Dave Ungar breaks down the Macho Man’s trailblazing legacy as a Legend of WrestleMania!

Anyone who has followed the Attitude of Aggression Wrestling Podcast for any length of time knows, by now, that my favorite wrestler of all-time is the one and only “Macho Man” Randy Savage. In the context of WrestleMania, there are a few names synonymous with the early days of the Showcase of the Immortals. Hulk Hogan may be the most recognizable of those names, but Randy Savage was every bit as important – not just in putting WrestleMania on the map, but in keeping it there. While Hulk was the “people’s champion” back in those early days, no competitor, including the Hulkster, was a better performer, put on better matches, and delivered more powerful moments than the Macho Man. Shawn Michaels may be known as Mr. WrestleMania, but the Macho Man is not far off the pace, if at all.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane to review the history of the incomparable “Macho Man” Randy Savage at WrestleMania!

WrestleMania II

On February 8, 1986 at the Boston Garden, Savage would defeat then Intercontinental Champion, Tito Santana, in controversial fashion to capture the belt and set off one of the most iconic reigns in the history of that illustrious title. On the road to WrestleMania II, George “The Animal” Steele would become infatuated with Savage’s manager, the lovely Miss Elizabeth. This would lead to Savage defending the IC title at the New York portion of WrestleMania II on April 7, 1986.

The match, by Macho Man standards, was nothing to write home about. Notably, Steele would be the first man to kick out of Savage’s vaunted flying elbow drop. But Savage was one of the best heels in the business at this time, and he would retain the belt by pinning Steele with a roll-up and using both his feet on the ropes for extra leverage. It was far from a thing of beauty. But for a WrestleMania debut, it was still pretty memorable.

WrestleMania III

The main event of WrestleMania III, as we all know, was Hulk Hogan defending the then-WWF Championship against Andre the Giant. It is no secret that the match
brought 93,000 people to the Pontiac Silverdome on March 29, 1987. But, anyone who knows anything about WrestleMania III knows that it was Randy Savage’s defense of the IC title against Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat that stole the whole damn show. The story leading into the match was epic. Savage had inflicted a crushed larynx on Steamboat several months earlier. Story-wise, it was uncertain whether Steamboat would ever be able to wrestle again. When Steamboat returned, the stage was set for an epic clash at WrestleMania III.

The result was a match that most people place in their Top 3 best WrestleMania matches ever. For 15 minutes, the two men put on an absolute clinic. Savage painstakingly laid out the choreography of the match, Steamboat followed his lead, and the match delivered on every front imaginable. George “The Animal” Steele would prevent Savage from delivering a death blow from the top rope with the ring bell. Moments later, Steamboat would turn a body slam attempt into a small package and would pin Savage, ending one of the all-time great Intercontinental Championship reigns.

WrestleMania IV

WrestleMania IV was where my respect and admiration for Randy Savage truly grew. In the wake of the most-watched pro wrestling event ever (yes…ever!), the rematch between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, and the events of February 5, 1988, WWE found itself without a champion as Ted DiBiase was stripped of a title he never actually won. The solution? A one-night tournament at WrestleMania IV to crown an undisputed champion. On March 27, 1988 at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, NJ, the Macho Man would emerge from that tournament as the new, undisputed champion. To accomplish this feat, Savage would defeat “The Natural” Butch Reed, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, and then the One Man Gang to reach the finals against DiBiase. Behind the scenes, there was a fair amount of back-and-forth as to who would go over in that match. In the end, as he often did back in the day, Vince McMahon made the right call. In that final match, Miss Elizabeth would bring Hulk Hogan to the ring to be in Savage’s corner. The Hulkster would not only neutralize Andre, who was also at ringside, but he would deal a deadly chair shot to the back of the Million Dollar Man, who had made his life hell in the early part of 1988. A flying elbow drop later, and Savage was the new champion, the Mega Powers were truly formed, and Savage would embark on a memorable one-year run as champion.

WrestleMania V

Modern pro wrestling fans might feel that the Bloodline story arc is the greatest example of long-term booking ever. They may be right, but before the Bloodline, we had the Mega Powers story arc – a story that absolutely exploded at WrestleMania V. Following his triumph at WrestleMania IV, Savage would defend the WWF Championship against all comers while Hulk Hogan took a well-earned break, made some movies, and stepped away from the center of attention for a bit. When he returned, Savage and Hogan, as the Mega Powers, would defeat the Mega Bucks (Dibiase and Andre) at the inaugural Summer Slam and would be the sole survivors at Survivor Series ’88. But storm clouds were gathering as Macho Man began to eye Hulk suspiciously, particularly as to Hulk’s aspirations towards Elizabeth. Things nearly came to a head at Royal Rumble ’89 until Liz smoothed things over. It was merely a band-aid on a much larger wound. On February 3, 1989 during The Main Event, the Mega Powers imploded when Savage accused Hulk of jealousy over Macho Man being the champion and insinuated that Hulk had lust in his eyes for Elizabeth. Hulk tried to talk sense into Randy, only to get pummeled by the champion instead.

This led to the Mega Powers exploding at WrestleMania V. On April 2, 1989 at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, NJ, Hogan challenged Macho Man for the WWF Championship. It was a match that broke the hearts of many who were genuinely fans of both men. But battle lines were drawn and hard decisions had to be made. With Elizabeth in a neutral corner, at least for a bit, the former best friends engaged in warfare. Eventually, Elizabeth would be ordered to the back, hopelessly caught in the middle of the two men she had managed for a year. Hogan would kick out of the vaunted elbow drop, would Hulk up, hit the big boot, connect with the leg drop, and regain the championship he had been screwed out of over a year earlier. Despite the loss, Macho Man’s first reign as WWF Champion proved one very important thing: WWF could not only survive with someone other than Hogan as the champion; it could thrive!

WrestleMania VI

After WrestleMania V, Macho Man would try, unsuccessfully, to reclaim the WWF Championship from Hogan. Along the way, he would retain the services of Sensational Sherri as his new manager, having ended his relationship with Miss Elizabeth, much to the dismay of the fans. In September of 1989, Savage would defeat Hacksaw Jim Duggan for the King of the Ring title, which was not really a title. Nevertheless, Savage began referring to himself as the Macho King, and Sherri morphed into Queen Sherri. As the Macho King, Savage took the pageantry of what had, up to then, really just been a symbolic title, and magnified it tenfold. It was not long before the Macho King would butt heads with the common man, The American Dream, Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes, wildly popular in the NWA/WCW for many years before coming to the WWF, had taken a fan under his wing as his manager. Sweet Sapphire was everything Queen Sherri was not, and her mere presence vexed the Queen more than words can describe.

On April 1, 1990, at the Skydome in Toronto, at WrestleMania VI, the attention of the world was, rightfully, focused on the outcome of the title-for-title match between the WWF Champion, Hulk Hogan, and the Intercontinental Champion, The Ultimate Warrior. But on the undercard, Savage would team with Sherri to take on Rhodes and Sapphire in a mixed tag-team match – the first ever mixed tag-team match at the Showcase of the Immortals. Some timely interference by the lovely Elizabeth, who had no love lost for Queen Sherri, allowed Sapphire to roll up the Queen for a shocking upset. While certainly a low point in the WrestleMania career of the Macho Man, this was yet another example of long-term booking that would see the ultimate payoff one year later.

WrestleMania VII

Savage would get a measure of revenge in a singles match against Rhodes at Summer Slam ’90 and would remain very relevant for the rest of the year. Near the end of 1990, he began to issue challenges to the champion, The Ultimate Warrior. While most fans fully expected a rematch between Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VII, the Gulf War may have altered those plans. It did not help that the Warrior’s championship reign fell as flat as a pancake. Vince McMahon pivoted back to his old reliable, Hulk Hogan. But how could he get the belt off the Warrior, who had beaten Hogan 9 months earlier, in a way that was believable and would generate multiple story lines moving into WrestleMania season? Enter the Macho King. At Royal Rumble ’91, Savage would interfere in the Ultimate Warrior’s title defense against Sgt. Slaughter, knocking the champion out by blasting him in the head with his scepter and gifting the championship to Slaughter in a stunning upset and iconic moment.

At WrestleMania VII on March 24, 1991 from the Los Angeles Sports Arena, the feud between the Macho King and Ultimate Warrior reached its breaking point. Both men agreed to put their careers on the line in a match for the ages. You can count on one hand the number of standout matches that Jim Helwig had in his career, and there were very few people he truly respected in the wrestling business. Randy Savage was one of those men, and Savage reciprocated that respect. What ensued was, in my opinion, the best match in the history of the Ultimate Warrior. For over 20 minutes, Savage and Warrior went at it in a titanic battle that truly felt like something much bigger than a match. In the end, Warrior would, incredibly, survive 5 flying elbow drops and would eventually conquer the Macho King to end the illustrious career of Randy Savage….sort of.

What makes Randy Savage’s WrestleMania run so special, though, is not just the matches but the moments. After being vanquished by the Warrior, we all witnessed one of the greatest moments in WrestleMania history. An irate Sherri attacked Savage after the defeat. Elizabeth, who had been nervously watching the match as part of the crowd, jumped the guardrail, got into the ring, grabbed Sherri by the hair, and flung her to the ring floor. This led to an unbelievably emotional reunion between the Macho Man and Elizabeth as the crowd erupted in a sea of joy and tears. As Savage left the ring to a thunderous and standing ovation, the words of Gorilla Monsoon never rang truer: “He certainly lost the match, but he got something much more valuable…his woman!”

WrestleMania VIII

Although his career technically ended at WrestleMania VII, the Macho Man would transition into a commentary role leading into the summer of 1991. His reunion with Elizabeth, though, left the fans wanting more. Outside the ring, Randy Savage and Elizabeth, who had been married since 1984, were having many real-world problems. They would eventually divorce in 1992. But Vince McMahon knew a great love story when he saw one. This led to Savage proposing to Elizabeth, and the two were “wed” at Summer Slam ’91. At the wedding reception, though, Savage’s road back to competition was thrust into motion when Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Undertaker, and Paul Bearer crashed the reception and attacked Savage. This led to a “grassroots” campaign to reinstate the Macho Man. After an even more heinous attack by Roberts, complete with a cobra gnawing on the arm of Savage as he was trapped in the ropes, WWF President Jack Tunney agreed to reinstate Savage. He would go on to defeat Roberts at the This Tuesday in Texas PPV. It came with a price though, as Roberts sank even deeper into heeldom with a post-match beating of Savage and even went so far as to slap Elizabeth.

But things would then take an unexpected turn. Ric Flair arrived in the WWF during the summer of 1991, a shocking and seismic event in the history of pro wrestling. We were finally going to get the dream match of Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair. Well, for reasons no one is entirely sure of, the match never happened, at least not on the stage many of us expected it to. Flair would capture the WWF Championship in epic fashion by winning the 1992 Royal Rumble. Hogan was eventually tabbed as his opponent for WrestleMania VIII. But it did not happen. Instead, Hulk pivoted to a match with Sid Justice, and it was the Macho Man who would get the shot at Flair for the WWF Championship in Indianapolis.

Set against the backdrop of Flair claiming he was with Elizabeth before Macho Man was, the match took on a very personal feel. Although there was disappointment that we did not get Hogan vs Flair, there is little doubt that Flair vs Savage would have been the much better match, and it delivered. Savage and Flair went to war with one another, with Flair looking to shred the knee of Savage and Macho Man doing all he could to regain the title he once so proudly held. In the end, Savage showed the dirtiest player in the game that he was no choir boy as he held a handful of Flair’s trunks on a roll up to pin the Nature Boy and become a two-time WWF Champion!

WrestleMania IX

Macho Man’s second reign as champion would not be nearly as impactful as his first. Yes, there was the awesome rematch with the Ultimate Warrior at Summer Slam ’92 and all the drama about who had sold out to Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect. But by September of 1992, Savage dropped the title back to Flair, who would then drop the
gold to Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Savage remained active for the rest of 1992 and would end up being the runner-up at the 1993 Royal Rumble, being eliminated by Yokozuna in one of the oddest finishes in Rumble history. From this point, though, Vince McMahon made the controversial decision to move Savage to the commentary team for WrestleMania IX rather than have him compete. Savage would make an unforgettable entrance, and his Macho Toga was something to behold. To this day, rumors persist about whether Randy Savage was the one who gave Hulk Hogan a very blackened eye just prior to WrestleMania IX. Whatever the case, WrestleMania IX was one of the most infamous trainwrecks in WWE history, and one cannot help but wonder if an active Randy Savage, perhaps in a match against an emerging Shawn Michaels, could have salvaged the first WrestleMania in Las Vegas just a little bit.

WrestleMania X

We come to the end of our journey here at WrestleMania X. On March 20, 1994 at Madison Square Garden, Randy Savage would wrestle in his final WrestleMania match. Savage had begun a feud with his former friend, Crush. While Macho Man did all he could to put the big man over, you can only lead a horse to water, as the saying goes. At WrestleMania X, Savage and Crush would meet in a very strange variation of a Falls Count Anywhere match. In this iteration, you could pin your opponent anywhere, but once you did, the felled opponent had 60 seconds to get back in the ring, or he would lose. This turned the match into a quasi-falls-count-anywhere, last-man-standing hybrid. Eventually, Savage would pin Crush in a back room, would (more or less) hog tie him to the ceiling, kick him in the face for good measure, and then watch as Crush tried, and failed. to make it back to the ring in time. In his final match at WrestleMania, “Macho Man” Randy Savage left a winner.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Ultimately, Savage compiled a 7-4 record in WrestleMania matches, which is not too shabby a record at all. Beyond that, though, his matches with Ricky Steamboat, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, and Ric Flair were some of the best matches in WrestleMania history; all of them with deep, multi-layered stories behind them. Add in the Elizabeth factor, the drama she brought to the stories, and the memorable moments that surrounded everything Randy Savage accomplished during his run of WrestleMania appearances, and it is easy to see why he is, and always will be, one of my absolute favorites and, in my opinion, one of the best overall performers in the history of WrestleMania.