| Randy Savage | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Randy Savage[1][2] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 237 lb (108 kg)[1][2] |
| Born | November 15, 1952 [1][2] Columbus, Ohio |
| Resides | Sarasota, Florida[1][2] |
| Billed from | Sarasota, Florida |
| Trained by | Angelo Poffo[2] |
| Debut | 1973[1][2] |
| Retired | 2004[3] |
| Website | MachoMan.com |
Randall Mario Poffo (born November 15 1952)[2][1][3] better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, is a former American professional wrestler and actor who is best known for his time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and most notably World Wrestling Federation (WWF). For much of his tenure in the WWF, he was managed by his real life wife, "Miss Elizabeth" Hulette.[3]
Savage became instantly recognizable by wrestling fans for his distinctively deep, husky voice, colorful attire (often comprised of sunglasses and a bandanna, gaudy robes and/or a cowboy hat), intensity exhibited in and out of the ring, and his signature catch phrase "Oooh, yeah!"[3]
Savage is a six-time world champion, with four WCW title reigns and two WWF title reigns. In WWF, he was a 2 time WWF Champion,[4][5] a 1 time Intercontinental Champion[6][5] and the winner of 1987 King of the Ring tournament.[7][5] In WCW, he was a 4 time WCW World Heavyweight Champion[8][5] and the winner of 1995 World War 3 battle royal.[9][5]
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Savage was born in Columbus, Ohio to Angelo Poffo, an Italian American, and Judy, a Jewish American.[10]
He is a graduate of Downers Grove North High School in a suburb near Chicago, Illinois. Randy Poffo attended Southern Illinois University and graduated in 1971. After college, Randy was a minor league baseball catcher in the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago White Sox farm systems.[1] He injured his natural (right) throwing shoulder at one point so he learned to throw with his left arm instead. When Poffo played for the St. Petersburg Cardinals minor-league baseball team in 1971, one of his teammates was Keith Hernandez. The team was managed by Jimmy Piersall.[11]
He is a second-generation professional wrestler; his father Angelo Poffo was a well-known wrestler in the 1950s and 1960s, who was featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not! for his ability to do sit-ups for hours on end.[10] Randy's brother Lanny had a moderately successful career as a wrestler, too, most notably under the names "Leaping Lanny Poffo" and "The Genius."[10]
Randy first broke into the business in 1973 during the fall and winter of the baseball off season.[3] His first wrestling character, "The Spider Friend", was similar to Spider-Man.[3] It is interesting to note that he would appear as a wrestler in the first Spider-Man film in 2002. His name change from Randy Poffo came at the suggestion of Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) booker Ole Anderson, who said that the name Poffo didn't fit someone who "wrestled like a savage".[3] During this transition from Poffo to Savage, he also toyed with the idea of wrestling as a blue clad medicine man named "The Big Geno", rumors were spread of a drug problem during his first few matches, as was common with early independent wrestlers, and Savage quietly put to rest the short lived Geno.[3] To this day Savage refuses to answer questions regarding The Big Geno and, eerily enough, he seems to become visibly shaken when this pseudonym is brought up.[3] When he decided to abandon his baseball career, he became a full time wrestler working with his brother and father.[3] Savage wrestled his first match against Midwest territory wrestler, the "Golden Boy" Paul Christy. Randy worked with his father and brother in Michigan, the Carolinas, Georgia, the Maritimes, and the eastern Tennessee territory run by Nick Gulas.[2]
After a while, his father felt that his sons were not getting the pushes they deserved so he started the "outlaw" International Championship Wrestling (ICW) promotion in the mid-American states.[1] Eventually, ICW disbanded and Randy and Lanny entered the Memphis scene, joining Jerry Lawler's Continental Wrestling Association (their former competitors). While there, Savage feuded with Lawler over the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. He also teamed with Lanny to battle The Rock 'n' Roll Express; this feud included one infamous match on June 25, 1984 in Memphis, where Savage (kayfabe) injured Ricky Morton by piledriving him through the timekeeper's table, leading to the Express winning by disqualification. Later in 1984, Savage turned babyface and allied with Lawler against Jimmy Hart's First Family stable, only to turn heel on Lawler again in early-1985 and resume the feud over the title.[3] This ended when Lawler beat Savage in a Loser Leaves Town match on June 8 in Nashville, Tennessee.[3]
In June 1985, Savage signed with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF). One of Savage's first appearances was on Tuesday Night Titans, where the established WWF managers all made their cases to offer their services to Savage (including Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart, and "Classy" Freddie Blassie).[1] Savage eventually rejected all these offers in favor of his new manager, the debuting Miss Elizabeth.[2][1] He made his pay-per-view (PPV) debut at The Wrestling Classic on November 7, 1985, where he defeated Ivan Putski,[12][13] Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat,[12] and the Dynamite Kid[12][13] on his way to finishing runner-up to Junkyard Dog in a sixteen man tournament.[13] Junkyard Dog beat him by countout in the finals.[12]
In late 1985, Savage started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana over the title. On November 2, 1985 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, he unsuccessfully challenged Santana for the title (Savage won the match by countout but not the title because a title does not change hands by countout)[14] before defeating Santana in a rematch on February 24, 1986 (taped February 8) edition of Prime Time Wrestling to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship at the Boston Garden by using an illegal steel object stashed in his tights.[15][16] Early on in his WWF career, Savage also won two countout victories in Madison Square Garden over his future tag-team partner WWF Champion Hulk Hogan (although the belt did not change due to the countout) and engaged in historic feuds with Bruno Sammartino and George "the Animal" Steele.[2]
Savage's feud with Steele began on January 4 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, when Steele began a crush on Miss Elizabeth.[17] At WrestleMania 2, Savage defeated Steele in a match to retain his Intercontinental title.[18] His another major title challenger was Jake "The Snake" Roberts, with whom he battled to a double disqualification on November 29 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.[19] He resumed his feud with George Steele in early 1987, culminating in two IC title matches, both won by Savage.[20][21]
Savage wrestled in what is widely considered to be one of the greatest matches in North American wrestling history when he faced Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III in the Pontiac Silverdome. The match was the culmination of a long and bitter feud (which saw Savage crush Steamboat's larynx in kayfabe), and featured tremendous athleticism and in-ring storytelling. After nineteen two-counts, Steamboat pinned Savage (with help from George Steele, who pushed Savage from the top rope seconds before he was pinned) to end his near 14 month reign as Intercontinental champion.[22][23] The match was extremely choreographed, as opposed to the "on the fly" nature of most wrestling matches at the time.[3] Savage was a stickler for detail, and he and Steamboat laid out and rehearsed every spot in the match prior to WrestleMania, at his home in Florida.[3] The highly influential match was considered an instant classic by both fans and critics and was named 1987's Match of the Year by both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer. Steamboat and Randy Savage were even reported cheering and hugging with other wrestlers after the match.[2][3]
Savage turned face later in 1987 and won the King of the Ring tournament.[24][7] After drawing increasingly positive reactions for his charisma, in-ring ability, and the estimable presence of Miss Elizabeth, he began to feud with The Honky Tonk Man after Honky began to refer to himself as the "greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time." On October 3 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, he solidified his status as a face when Elizabeth got Hulk Hogan to save him from a beatdown by Jimmy Hart's cronies, The Honky Tonk Man and The Hart Foundation after an IC title match against Honky.[25] As a result, The Mega Powers were born.[26] Hogan and Savage together ruled the WWF for the next sixteen months. In later years in the WWF, he also became known for a very open and unscripted rivalry with Hogan after Savage accused Hogan of sleeping in Elizabeth's bed during a road trip. Savage and Elizabeth were divorced on September 18, 1992. Savage and Hogan have a strained relationship to this day. It has been speculated that Savage punched Hogan in the face just prior to WrestleMania IX, causing Hogan to have a swollen eye during the event. The story was found to be untrue. WWF said that Hogan's swollen eye was due to a jet-ski accident.
Savage reached the pinnacle of his career to date at WrestleMania IV when after defeating Butch Reed,[27] Greg Valentine,[27] and One Man Gang on the same day,[27] he defeated "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase in the finals of a 14 man tournament for the vacant WWF Championship.[27][28][29] With help from Hulk Hogan, Macho Man pinned DiBiase.[28] Despite the WWF's disappointment in the "somber" crowd in Atlantic City, nothing like the one witnessed a year earlier in WrestleMania III in Pontiac, it was seen as a rejuvenation of a sport getting tired of the same champion.[3] However, Hogan's popularity would never be successfully overcome by Savage. Savage would set a new trend however because, after turning face, he would retain many fans who adored him as a heel.
Mega Powers' main feud was with The Mega Bucks (Ted DiBiase and André the Giant), whom they defeated in the main event of first-ever SummerSlam pay-per-view event.[30][31] Savage was a successful champion and held the title for over a year and defended the WWF title against the likes of One Man Gang[32] and André the Giant.[33] Problems between Savage and Hogan began in early 1989 when Hogan also took Elizabeth as his manager.[26] At Royal Rumble 1989, Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match and they even came to beat each other until Elizabeth separated both of them from each other.[34] On February 3, 1989 edition of The Main Event, Savage turned heel on Hogan, getting jealous on him over Miss Elizabeth as his self-perceived third banana standing in the Mega Powers. He solidified his heel turn after abandoning Hogan during a tag team match against Twin Towers (Akeem and Big Bossman), though Hogan picked up the win in the end.[35]
At WrestleMania V, Savage dropped the WWF title to Hogan after a reign of 371 days, becoming sixth longest reigning WWF Champion in history (no champion after Savage would hold the title for more than a year until John Cena nineteen years later).[36][37] He eventually replaced Elizabeth as his valet with Sensational Sherri. Savage would co-main event SummerSlam 1989, where he teamed with Zeus, a character from Hulk Hogan's movie, No Holds Barred, against Hogan and Brutus Beefcake. In this match, Hogan "no-sold" Savage's flying elbow by standing straight up after Savage hit it in the center of the ring.[38][39] Savage and Zeus faced Hogan and Beefcake in a rematch contested in a steel cage at No Holds Barred, and lost again.[40]
He adopted the moniker "Macho King" after defeating Jim Duggan for the makeshift King's Crown Championship (a moniker originally given to Harley Race on his WWF arrival in 1986.)[41] On a later wrestling episode, he had a coronation as the new "King of the WWF" led by wrestler The Genius (actually Savage's brother, Lanny Poffo), with DiBiase giving him a sceptre as a gift. Savage would use that sceptre as a weapon numerous times during his duration as "The Macho King."
On February 23, 1990 edition of The Main Event, the "Macho King" got a shot at Hulk Hogan over the WWF Championship.[42] Savage feuded with the "commoner" Dusty Rhodes, losing a mixed-tag match (along with Sherri) to Rhodes & Sapphire at WrestleMania VI[43] but beating him in a singles match at SummerSlam 1990.[44]
In late 1990, Savage started a feud with then-WWF champion The Ultimate Warrior. The feud escalated at Royal Rumble 1991 when Warrior refused to grant Savage the No. 1 contendership after Sgt. Slaughter (Warrior's opponent for the event) had already promised to do should he beat Warrior. Savage had sent "Sensational Queen" Sherri out before the match to try and convince the Warrior in a face-to-face interview laced with sexual innuendos. This failed to get anywhere with the champion. Outraged, Savage promised revenge, which he got during the Slaughter-Warrior title match. Before the match began, Randy "Macho King" Savage attacked the champion to the point where the Ultimate Warrior had to crawl to the ring for the match. The final nail in Warrior's title reign came when Savage ran out from backstage, smashed the sceptre over Warrior's head, (knocking him unconscious for Slaughter to pin), and then immediately sprinted back to the locker room.
This led to a career-ending match at WrestleMania VII. Savage lost the match after delivering five consecutive elbow drops as the Warrior somehow managed to kick out and return to score the victory after several flying clotheslines and shoulder blocks.[45] After the match, Savage was attacked by Queen Sherri as he lay dejected in the ring.[3] This was too much for Miss Elizabeth who happened to be in the audience.[1] Elizabeth rushed to Savage's aid, fighting off Sherri and reuniting with her one-time love to huge crowd appreciation.[3] The match was far from a legitimate "retirement" match, especially since Savage stayed in WWF afterwards while the Ultimate Warrior himself eventually left at SummerSlam later that year.[3]
Savage returned to TV in a non-wrestling role as the "Macho Man" after WrestleMania VII as a broadcaster. Meanwhile the angle with Miss Elizabeth continued, culminating with Savage "proposing" to her in the ring leading to an on-air "wedding" at SummerSlam 1991 dubbed The Match Made in Heaven. It was at this time that Savage was targeted by Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who was by now a dastardly heel. On an edition of Prime Time Wrestling prior to SummerSlam, the announcers and several other babyface wrestlers threw a "bachelor party" for Savage, with Roberts' arrival deemed unwelcome by the rest of the contingent due to his recent heel turn.[15]
In response, Roberts ambushed Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth at the wedding reception by putting a snake in their pile of wedding presents. Later, while Savage began a public campaign to get himself reinstated, Roberts forced a cobra to bite Savage's arm as the Macho Man was tied up in the ropes (seen on WWF Superstars). Due to fan pressure brought on by Savage's lobbying, Savage was "re-instated" as a wrestler by WWF president Jack Tunney so that he could do battle with Roberts. During the Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view, Roberts — after losing to Savage[46] — beat him down with three DDTs and then forced Elizabeth to beg for mercy towards her husband; when Roberts was dissatisfied with her, he slapped Elizabeth hard across the face. The feud finally ended after a match on February 8, 1992 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, which Savage won.[47]
Savage began a storyline feud with WWF Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. According to the storyline, Flair claimed that he had slept and carried on relations with Savage's wife Miss Elizabeth, going as far as presenting pictures of Elizabeth in which Flair had himself superimposed. This culminated in a title match at WrestleMania VIII and Savage won the match and his second WWF Championship.[48][49][50] He had only one major title defense during his reign against Ultimate Warrior at SuummerSlam 1992. Savage lost the match by countout but retained the title because a title does not change hands by countout or disqualification.[51][52] On September 14 edition of Prime Time Wrestling, Savage lost the WWF title back to Flair after interference by Razor Ramon.[15] Savage and Flair later swapped the WCW World Heavyweight Championship during their 1995–96 feud making them the only duo to win and lose both the WWF/E and WCW versions of the world title to each other.
He formed a tag team with The Ultimate Warrior known as the Ultimate Maniacs after both men were attacked by Flair and Perfect at SummerSlam. Savage backed Warrior to be the man to dethrone Flair. On the November 8 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, they took on Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster for the WWF Tag Team Championship. Money. Inc. lost by countout and retained their titles because a title cannot change hands by countout.[53] Savage and Warrior were scheduled to face Flair and Ramon in a tag team match at Survivor Series 1992. However, Warrior was fired from the WWF weeks before the event, so Savage chose Mr. Perfect, executive consultant to Flair, as his partner to replace Warrior. Perfect turned face and teamed with Savage. The duo defeated Flair and Ramon via a disqualification.[54]
When Monday Night RAW began in January 1993, Savage served primarily as a color commentator, wrestling only occasionally against characters such as Doink, The Repo Man, and Crush. However, he was the runner up in the Royal Rumble match at Royal Rumble 1993, where he was eliminated by Yokozuna.[55][56] He returned to pay-per-view at Survivor Series 1993 as a substitute for Mr. Perfect, and competed in the 1994 Royal Rumble match. His last WWF pay-per-view appearance as a competitor was a victory over Crush in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at WrestleMania X.[57] This came after Crush punctuated his heel turn by attacking Savage on Monday Night RAW, dropping him face-first on the guardrail, lacerating Savage's tongue. Savage also made periodic appearances in Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion in fall 1994. Meanwhile, Savage was also a color commentator for the 1994 King of the Ring and made his final WWF pay-per-view appearance at the 1994 SummerSlam, where he served as the master of ceremonies. At the end of September 1994 Savage's WWF contract expired and he left to sign with the competing WCW.
Savage signed with WCW, and his first appearance was slated for Starrcade 1994, for which TV announcers speculated whether Savage would arrive to "shake [Hogan's] hand or slap his face". Savage eventually saved Hogan from an attack by the 3 Faces of Fear, shaking hands with his friend and rival. His first WCW feud was against Avalanche. At SuperBrawl V, he teamed up with Sting and took on Avalanche and Big Bubba Rogers in a tag team match, which Sting and Savage won.[58] However, his encounter with Avalanche continued and ended at Uncensored 1995, with Savage getting the win by disqualification after a fan attacked Savage.[59] It proved out to be Ric Flair and Savage resumed his WWF rivalry with Flair in WCW.[60]
He participated in the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship tournament (created when former champion Vader was stripped of the belt for attacking WCW on-air Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel) and went on to defeat The Butcher in the first round[61] and "Stunning" Steve Austin in the quarterfinals.[61] However, Savage interfered in Flair's match vs. Alex Wright. He attacked Flair and caused Wright to get disqualified, setting up a tournament semifinal match where the winner would face the winner of the Sting vs. Meng match for the United States Championship at The Great American Bash that June. Savage and Flair's match never took place, as Savage and Flair brawled in the backstage area prior to the bell ringing.[61] They were both eliminated from the tournament, and had their own match in the main event of The Great American Bash 1995, which Flair won with underhanded tactics.[62] However, Savage defeated Flair in a Lifeguard Lumberjack match at Bash at the Beach 1995.[63] Later that year, during part of the storyline where Arn Anderson and Ric Flair turned on each other, Flair (looking for a partner to take on Anderson and Brian Pillman in a tag match) tried to recruit Savage to be his partner. However, remembering the rivalry (and how Flair had attacked Savage's father, Angelo Poffo, which was the catalyst for their feud back in May), he refused, telling Flair point blank to "get the hell out of here!"
In 1995, Savage pushed for WCW to place his father, Angelo Poffo, in its Hall of Fame. Commentator and wrestling legend Gordon Solie opposed this decision, because he felt wrestlers (or in this case, family of wrestlers) should not be asking for spots in the Hall, in this case, especially, since Poffo did not have much of a career in WCW. Poffo's induction went on and Solie left the company shortly after. At World War 3 1995, Savage won his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship by winning the first-ever 60-man three-ring battle royal.[9][64] He lost the title to Flair a month later at Starrcade 1995: World Cup of Wrestling.[65] Savage won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship back from Flair on January 22, 1996 edition of Nitro[66][67] but lost the title back to Flair the next month in a steel cage match at SuperBrawl VI.[68]
In January 1996, Savage brought Elizabeth with him into WCW as his valet once again. Elizabeth turned on Savage in his last title loss to Flair. Thereafter, Flair claimed that Elizabeth had given him a sizable amount of Savage's money, taken in their divorce settlement, and which Flair used to set up a "VIP section" at Monday Nitro events. Flair and Savage continued to feud until June 1996. At Bash at the Beach 1996, the nWo was formed when Hulk Hogan turned on Savage, Sting and Lex Luger and joined "The Outsiders", a tag team of former WWF wrestlers Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.[69] After their inception, one of their main enemies became Macho Man himself. At Halloween Havoc 1996, Savage faced Hogan for the WCW title but lost when the Giant interfered and chokeslammed him.[70]
After the loss at Halloween Havoc, Savage departed WCW as his two year deal had expired. Ultimately Savage re-signed with WCW and would return to television on January 20, 1997 edition of Nitro emanating from Chicago's United Center.
After months of abuse from the nWo, Savage joined them at SuperBrawl VII, when he helped Hogan defeat Roddy Piper in a rematch from their Starrcade match the previous year. He also reunited with Elizabeth, who had joined the nWo several months earlier. He began feuding with Diamond Dallas Page and DDP's wife Kimberly. Their feud lasted almost eight months which included tag team matches,[71][72][73] a no disqualification match at Spring Stampede 1997,[74] falls count anywhere match at The Great American Bash 1997: Savage/Page II[75] and a Las Vegas Death match at Halloween Havoc 1997.[76]
In early 1998, Savage started a feud with Lex Luger which culminated in a match at Souled Out 1998, which Luger won.[77] They faced in a rematch at SuperBrawl VIII, and Luger was again the winner.[78] When Hogan failed to recapture his "nWo" Title from Sting, it was Savage's turn, and he got his shot at Spring Stampede 1998. Hogan tried everything he could to make sure that Savage would not win the title because Hogan felt that he was the only nWo member who should be World Champion, since he was the leader of the stable. With the help of Nash, however, Savage beat Sting for his third WCW World Heavyweight Championship, despite tearing the ACL in his knee during the match.[79][80] The following night on Nitro, Hogan faced Savage for the championship. For a while it looked like Hogan had Savage beat,[81] but for the second consecutive night, Nash came to Savage's aid, powerbombing Hogan.[81] Savage tried to capitalize, but an interfering Bret Hart attacked Savage and preserved the victory for Hogan.[81] This resulted in Savage turning babyface. He joined with Nash and others to form the nWo Wolfpac, a split from Hogan's group, which became known as nWo Black and White or nWo Hollywood.[82] He went on to feud with both Bret Hart and Roddy Piper.[83][84]
For nearly a year, Randy Savage took a hiatus from the company to recover from at least two major knee surgeries. He made only one more appearance in 1998, helping Ric Flair defeat Eric Bischoff for the Presidency of WCW on December 28, 1998 edition of Monday Nitro.[85] When Macho Man returned, he came back with a new look (Savage now sported a slicked back ponytail-type of hairstyle) and new heel attitude, and also brought with him his then 22-year-old girlfriend Gorgeous George as a valet.[3] His first action was as the guest referee in the WCW world title matchup at Spring Stampede 1999, which was won by Diamond Dallas Page.[3] For a short time after, Randy interfered in DDP's matches to make sure that Page kept his World Title (for reasons unknown and never explained by WCW; assumed that, given their past rivalry, he wanted DDP to keep the belt so that he could win it from him), but when Kevin Nash won it at Slamboree 1999, Savage went after the title himself.[1] It was around that time that Madusa and Miss Madness joined Macho Man as his other two valets; together they were known as Team Madness.[86]
At The Great American Bash 1999, Sid Vicious returned to WCW and helped Macho Man attack Kevin Nash.[3] This led to a tag team match between Kevin Nash and Sting against Randy Savage and Sid Vicious, in which whoever scored the winning fall would win the WCW World Title, at Bash at the Beach 1999. Savage won his fourth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship when he pinned Nash.[87][88] However, he lost the title again to Hollywood Hogan the next night on Nitro, when Nash interfered and powerbombed Macho Man (in a reversal of the situation from the previous year, where Nash had attacked Hogan to help Savage keep his title, albeit unsuccessfully).[89] All of Savage's world title reigns (both WWF & WCW) ended with him losing the title to either Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair.[4][8]
After that, Team Madness slowly started to disband as Madusa and Miss Madness started fighting each other because they blamed the other for Savage's title loss.[1] Savage soon fired both of them and started a feud with Dennis Rodman, defeating him at Road Wild 1999.[90] In 2000, he eventually joined the Millionaires Club with Hogan, Jim Duggan, Flair, DDP, and other popular veteran wrestlers.[91] When Vince Russo came to WCW and Savage's WCW contract expired, Savage and George left WCW and never returned.
Savage made his return to wrestling for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) at Victory Road 2004 by confronting Jeff Jarrett.[92] At Turning Point 2004, he teamed up with Jeff Hardy and A.J. Styles to defeat the Kings of Wrestling (Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall).[93][94] The main event of Final Resolution 2005 was going to be Jeff Jarrett and Randy Savage for the NWA Title.[3] Savage's plan was to win the belt and then drop it back to Jarrett at the next pay per view. When TNA management didn't like the idea, Savage left because neither party would budge. There were also stories of a confrontation between Savage and Hulk Hogan, who was backstage at the TNA tapings. Hogan only wished to shake Savage's hand and wish him luck yet Savage had harsh words for Hogan. He asked if Savage wanted to "step outside" to settle matters; Savage apparently declined. Savage then claimed TNA was an "unsafe working environment" and actually left one time prior to leaving TNA for good, for this reason; he returned after being promised his own private dressing room and allowed his own personal security, which consisted of one of the Harris Brothers and ex-wrestler Brian Adams. While this pacified tensions between Savage and TNA management for a while, his eventual departure was indeed due to the proposed outcome of the title match.[3]
In 2007, X-Division star Jay Lethal took on the new ring persona "Black Machismo," a parodic impersonation and tribute to Savage.[95]
His former wife Elizabeth Hulette was found dead in the home of professional wrestler Lex Luger on May 1, 2003 from a drug overdose. According to a 2003 shoot interview with Lanny Poffo (Savage's brother), Savage has no animosity towards Luger, and feels that Elizabeth brought about her own death due to her drug use.
In 2005, Savage told a Missouri newspaper that he couldn't wrestle right at the moment because of "health concerns." He still holds a grudge against Vince McMahon.
In 1998, Savage accepted an award from Harvard University's humor society Harvard Lampoon as Man of the Year.
Savage provided the voice for the character, Rasslor, on the Dial M For Monkey segment on an episode of Dexter's Laboratory. He has also lent his voice to the online cartoon College University in which he voiced himself. He also appeared in an episode of the television program Space Ghost Coast to Coast, entitled "Piledriver." In the episode, Savage supplied the voice of Space Ghost's grandfather, a former professional wrestler. Zorak commented, "That sounds like Randy Savage," and the character also referenced Elizabeth, his brother, "Leapin'" Lanny Poffo, "Wildfire" Tommy Rich, and Haystacks Calhoun.
Savage beat out rival former wrestler Goldberg as the casting choice to appear in Spider-Man (2002) as the underground wrestler "Bonesaw McGraw." The original character from the comics is named Crusher Hogan. It was his "Bonesaw McGraw" character that has inspired fans of Clarkson University Hockey to bring the Bonesaw to hockey games to use as an intimidating gesture to the other teams as well as support the Golden Knights team. An entire website has been devoted to this cause, www.bonesaw.org.[96] In 2005, he provided the voice of Sasquatch in the Nickelodeon show The X's. He appeared on The Jeff Foxworthy Show as himself and played pro wrestler James "Pretty Boy" Carter on the sitcom Nikki in "Fallback." His character's financial bankruptcy and physical injuries led Dwight (Nick Von Esmarch) his long-time fan, to rethink his own options between a college education and a passion for wrestling.
Savage played a prison inmate who was forced to fight other inmates in a cage in the episode "Fight or Die" of Walker, Texas Ranger. In 1999, Macho Man appeared as himself on Mad About You in "Separated Beds." In the episode Savage wrestles "Gorilla Boy" (Marvin), and wins only after Ira, Marvin's manager, tells him to bite Marvin on the back of the foot, his Achilles heel. Savage responds by asking, "Is he basically a clean guy?" before he bites Marvin. Marvin's mom then attacks Savage resulting in a brawl in the ring. He also acted in an episode of The Weird Al Show.
In 2007, Savage appeared in the King of the Hill episode, "Bill, Bulk and the Body Buddies". He was also briefly shown on Family Guy in the episode "The Cleveland–Loretta Quagmire".
When Phil Hellmuth did an interview on Sirius Satellite Radio recently, he said that Savage will be on the next season of VH1's The Surreal Life along with Playboy Playmate Tina Marie Jordan and rock musician Peter Steele. This has been verified by Savage himself in a press release, though VH1 has not released the official cast list yet.
He was the celebrity spokesman for Slim Jim snack foods in the late 1990s and still is noted for this today. His catch phrase in the ads was "Snap into a Slim Jim, oh yeah!"
On October 7, 2003, Savage released a hip hop album titled: Be a Man. The album features a tribute to wrestler and friend Curt Hennig and the title track which mocks former friend Hulk Hogan.
Savage's ring entrance music in ICW and CWA (as well as some house shows early in his WWF run) was Irene Cara's Fame. In the WWF, Savage used Pomp and Circumstance, known best as the theme played at high school and college graduations. The song was originally used by legendary wrestler "Gorgeous George" (who is credited as being the first wrestler to use an entrance theme). Because the song was in the public domain and therefore could not be copyrighted by the WWF like most themes, Savage was able to bring it with him to WCW and used a rock version of the theme for much of his early to mid-WCW career. During his short TNA stint, Savage used a similar rock version as his theme.