CBS Sports‘ Denny Burkholder has a new article taking a look at Macho Man Randy Savage‘s rise as WWE Champion in a new article called ‘Summer Of Savage’.
Savage won the title 30 years ago at Wrestlemania IV and the article looks at Macho Man’s personality and title run through the eyes of his peers. You can read a few highlights below:
Ricky Steamboat comments on setting up his Wrestlemania III angle with Savage:
“The idea of grabbing the announcer’s bell and coming off the top, I think on Vince’s part there was a little hesitation on it. But I put my trust in Randy to make the angle big.”
“I remember when Randy and I were talking about it. He said to me, ‘Are you OK with it?’ I said, ‘Yeah. I believe in you.’ The only thing that we didn’t account for — and both of us had discussion about this after the fact, back in the locker room — when he grabbed the bell, there was a piece of plywood bolted to it. We were just thinking the ring bell, right? But yeah, I lied still. He came off the top with it, and man, it was like butter. It was so smooth, and God, it looked so good on TV. And then I do remember after that the amount of hate mail that he was getting.”
Mean Gene Okerlund talks about Savage’s skill on the mic:
“The one thing with Randy, nothing was ever chatted about before we would do these interviews. I would leave the door open so they could go either to the right or to the left or right down the middle on the opening question. Then all I would do is make it a point to listen. Randy was professional enough that you could do a little interplay with him, and he was quick.”
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Ted DiBiase talks about working with Savage in the match that saw him win his first title at Wrestlemania IV:
“When we got together to actually talk over this match — and this is like, this is at WrestleMania IV. I told him, I said, ‘Randy, I understand your need for laying it all out. I get it. But here’s all I’d like you to do. Give me this liberty, because I’m not used to doing that. I’ll do this, but as we’re [wrestling], if I feel something and I say let’s do this, know that we’ll do that. But then we’ll get right back to what we’re scripting here.’ It was kind of funny. He kind of looked at me, and he looked over at Elizabeth. Elizabeth said, ‘Randy, you can do that.’ He looked at me and said, ‘OK, brother. I can do that.'”
The Brooklyn Brawler Steve Lombardi on Savage’s title run:
“When he was world champion, he carried that title and he carried it well. He not only talked the talk, he walked the walk. Randy Savage was a special talent.”
Randy’s brother, Lanny Poffo, comments on how Savage was able to stay on top for so long:
“He believed that you had to develop your personality and then redevelop it and continually change. Otherwise, you’re gonna die of stagnation, and these are his exact words. You can actually squeeze something until you’re beating a dead horse, but you gotta be able to keep your finger on the pulse of the public and keep changing and adapting.”
