Lanny Poffo

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Lanny Poffo
Statistics
Ring name(s)	The Genius "Leaping" Lanny Poffo
Billed height	6 ft. (183 cm)
Billed weight	228 lb. (103 kg)
Born	December 28, 1954 (1954-12-28) (age 53) Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Resides	Tampa, Florida
Billed from	Downers Grove, Illinois
Debut	1973

Lanny Poffo (born December 28, 1954 in Calgary, Alberta), better known by his ring name "Leaping" Lanny Poffo is a Canadian-American professional wrestler. Poffo was born in Calgary, Canada, to Angelo Poffo, an Italian American Catholic, and Judy, a Jewish American.^[1] He is also the brother of wrestling legend "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Poffo grew up in Downers Grove, Illinois. He holds both Canadian and American citizenship.

1 Career
2 Life after wrestling
3 Personal life
4 In wrestling
5 Championships and accomplishments
6 Footnotes
7 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career

He began wrestling in the NWA territories in the 1970s before becoming a star in his father's promotion, International Championship Wrestling, where he held the promotion's title. Over the course of his regional career, Poffo both tag teamed and feuded with older brother Randy. Upon the ICW's folding in 1984, he joined Randy in the CWA before traveling with him again to the World Wrestling Federation in June 1985. Interestingly, though, the brother angle was never worked in the WWF; in fact, the relationship was never mentioned on-air.

[edit] World Wrestling Federation (1985-1992)

While Lanny never attained the popularity of his brother in the WWF, he still managed to find a niche for himself as a minor fan favorite. As Leaping Lanny Poffo, the Wrestling Poet he would bring frisbees to the ring, read a short ode written on one of them that he himself had penned, and throw the frisbees into the crowd. Each poem typically ridiculed the heel that he was about to wrestle against, or angered the heel by building heat for the face that the heel was feuding with at the time. Despite wrestling as a jobber, he was arguably in the "Jobber To The Stars" category as he was usually allowed to get in a fair amount of offense in his matches, and won some matches on occasion. Poffo wrestled a high-flyer style at a time when big, heavy wrestlers still dominated the promotion. He made some publicity in late 1986 and early 1987 by competing in a series of Bunkhouse Battle Royals in full knight's armor, though he was eliminated quickly.

In April 1989, Poffo was re-introduced as a heel wrestler and became The Genius, adopting a highly intelligent, sniffy persona and wearing an academic cap and gown to the ring. His poems now ridiculed the face wrestlers, and he now behaved in an even more effeminate manner to infuriate the crowd. During the match, the Genius would construct a mathematical equation that would tilt the balance of the match in his favor. In addition, the Genius also served as a manager (and occasional tag team partner) for Mr. Perfect.

On an episode of WWF Saturday Night's Main Event aired on November 25, 1989, The Genius beat WWF Champion Hulk Hogan by countout due to Mr. Perfect hitting Hogan with the championship belt. Later in the show, Mr. Perfect and Poffo took a hammer to the belt, shattering it to pieces. It is erroneously said that this destroyed belt became the first WWF Hardcore Championship belt. [1] Later, The Genius was the manager of the Beverly Brothers (Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom). It was in this capacity that Poffo last appeared in the WWF, at Survivor Series 1992. In 2007, Poffo wrote a poem for WWE.com for the impending "Battle of the Billionaires" at WrestleMania 23 between Vince McMahon and Donald Trump.

[edit] World Championship Wrestling (1995-1999)

Poffo signed a WCW contract in 1995, but he was rarely used. In his autobiography, Chris Jericho commented that he only saw Lanny Poffo work once and probably received the same paycheck as Chris who worked 22 dates a month. He sat at home and collected a paycheck for four years. Although it is rumored that Poffo did in fact work WCW events as WCW's mascot, Wild Cat Willie, Poffo disputes this claim in an online interview.^[2]

[edit] Life after wrestling

Outside of wrestling, Poffo has released a collection of poems and limericks, most of which were related to drug and alcohol awareness, directed toward young children. Poffo is a staunch anti-smoker and has released a book of limericks entitled Limericks from the Heart and Lungs!. He is also a certified credit counselor. He was last seen on television in infomercials as an endorser of Tony Little's Gazelle Freestyle exercise machine. Lanny Poffo was a part of Wrestle Reunion in Tampa, Florida on January 28-30, 2005. Poffo defeated "The Royal Stud" Adam Windsor at that event.