Savage a wrestling legend in ring and out
Randy "Macho Man" Savage, an icon of professional wrestling whose fame extended beyond the wrestling ring as a television pitchman with the phrase, "in a snap Slim Jim, oooh, yeah," died Friday morning in Pinellas County, Florida, after reportedly suffering a heart attack while driving, resulting in a car accident.
Savage, born Randall Mario Poffo, was 58. Although perhaps best known for his battles as a reason professional wrestling Hulk Hogan's main rival in the 1980, Savage was also an actor and a one-time prospect of Major League Baseball.
Lanny Poffo, his brother and also a former professional wrestler under the handle "Jump" Lanny Poffo, told TMZ.com that he suffered a heart attack wild behind the wheel while driving a Jeep Wrangler 2009.
Seminole Fire Department responded to the scene to provide medical care and was taken to Long Memorial Hospital, where he died at 9:25 am The incident remains under investigation and an autopsy will be performed this weekend.
Savage's wife, Barbara Lynn Poffo, whom he had known since his playing days in minor league baseball in Florida, long before he met his first famous woman, Elizabeth Hulett, was also in the car. She suffered minor injuries.
Savage was best known in wrestling for a story that serves as a fond childhood memory of this day for wrestling fans both expired and current.
It was a plot by a year that began at WrestleMania IV in 1988 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, when Hogan, who was taking time off fighting for a movie role in real life, Savage helped "win" the final a tournament for the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) Championship, beating "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.
During the celebration postmatch, Savage Hogan Hogan gave a look that was celebrating a close with "The lovely Elizabeth," wild woman of real life. The WWF joked tension between the two, who were tag team partners, "over 1988 and the following year.
It climaxed in a live TV NBC Prime Time Special on 3 February 1989, as wild explosion of jealousy in a special live NBC and accused Hogan accidentally "wounded" Elizabeth, leading to the final and a complete team in the rivalry in which Isabel sided with Hogan. The game drew a Nielsen rating of 9.7.
This led to a match at WrestleMania V, April 2, 1989, also in Atlantic City, where he defeated Savage and Hogan won the championship. At that time, was the largest pay-per-view wrestling event ever, with more than 760,000 buys, a record that supports up to 2000, with the start of the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Dwayne " The Rock "Johnson era.
While Hulett and Savage had been married since 1984, a year earlier Savage joined the WWF in 1991, the WWF promoted a reconciliation history between the two moments after Savage had lost a "retirement" party "The Ultimate Warrior" WrestleMania VII in Los Angeles. A wedding story between the two was carried out on PPV at Madison Square Garden, a few months later.
But soon after the mock wedding, the couple separated in real life and Elizabeth left the wrestling business for many years. They officially divorced in late 1992.
Hulett died on May 1, 2003, at age 42, while living in a suburb of Atlanta with wrestling star Larry "Lex Luger" Pfohl, of an accidental overdose of a combination of drugs.
Savage other party most famous during the 1980s the golden era of wrestling was the March 29, 1987, at WrestleMania III, before a record crowd of professional wrestling then 78,000 in the Pontiac, Michigan, Silverdome. While Hogan vs. Andre the Giant was the main event match with Ricky Steamboat Savage on the Intercontinental title is generally considered the best WWF match of the day, a fast-paced, back and forth battle won by the steamboat.
From late 1970 to early 90's, Savage was considered one of the great workers in the ring in the business. At its peak, it was quick and bold adventurer known for his intensity, which limits the fear sometimes. His interviews were only one of the most recognizable in the industry, imitated by people inside and outside wrestling to this day.
However, her national fame did not come until 1985 with the WWF, because his family had a renegade wrestling promotion based in Kentucky and unofficially blacklisted from the mainstream industry for several years.
"I remember in 1980 when we talked about the new talent in St. Louis, and [promoter] Pat O'Connor told me, the best young talent in the business is Randy Savage, but we can not use it," recalled Larry Matysik, a wrestling announcer for a long time and was a promoter of San Luis. Savage and his family sued the then ruling National Wrestling Alliance on one point, claiming restraint of trade, but the case never went to trial because many of the key witnesses on the side of the family Poffo were hired away by developers NWA.
In its 40 years, Savage is being eliminated from the competition in the ring by WWF promoter Vince McMahon Jr., in 1994, signed with rival World Championship Wrestling, following the example of Hogan, who had signed there a few months earlier.
He was back in the ring as one of the biggest stars of that organization until 1999, including a period in spring 1996 and spring of 1998 when he was a leader in promoting wrestling. To the extent that Savage had suffered a series of serious injuries from his years of high-flying, physical wrestling style. When his contract expired and the company, bleeding money at the time, was not offered similar money to a new deal, opted to leave the company.
Savage was intense and used in everything he did. He played minor league baseball from 1971-74 St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox farm systems. He fought during the offseason, often under a mask to conceal his identity from his baseball employers, but sometimes under his real name as part of a household with his father, Angelo, and his brother Lanny.
An outfielder, after he blew out his right shoulder, so he can not pull with any force, they are taught to throw the left hand in an attempt to continue his career.
"I saw your test with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1971," she said Matysik. "The man who could hit. It was a trickle, not think it was over 165 pounds at the time."
Hit. 232 with nine homers and 66 RBIs in his last professional baseball season with Tampa of the Class A Florida State League, before turning his attention to time wrestling.
Savage also appeared as actor in a television series, often playing himself. His best known role, of course, was as legendary showman Slim Jim, but also played the role of wrestler Bonesaw McGraw in 2002's "Spider-Man" movie.
World Wrestling Entertainment issued a formal statement Friday afternoon.
"WWE is saddened by the death of one of the greatest superstars of the time, Randy Poffo, also known as Randy" Macho Man "Savage. Poffo was under contract to WWE from 1985 to 1993 and held both the WWE Championship the Intercontinental. Our sincere condolences to his family and friends. We wish a speedy recovery to his wife Lynn. Poffo will be greatly missed by WWE and its fans. "
The end of the wrestling career of Savage was unique. He was scheduled to appear in the main event a pay-per-view show by the group as Total Nonstop Action on January 16, 2005, against Jeff Jarrett.
"I had not seen since the TNA show," she said Dusty Rhodes, one of the biggest stars in wrestling of the 1970 and 1980, he had made a WrestleMania match with Savage almost 15 years earlier. "The last words I said, five minutes before the PPV, was:" I can not do this. I do not want people to see me with this. "Jerry [Jarrett, TNA company owner] called [event producer] Keith Mitchell, and said, 'Change the main event. I said,' Randy, you just go home." He is fine with me. "That is the last words I said. "Rhodes, who lived 20 minutes from Savage, never saw him again, and compared wild the last five years to notorious recluse Howard Hughes.
"I could see in his eyes ... he just did not want to," said Rhodes, whose real name is Virgil Runnels. "Obviously, it was as financially. Out of all of us at that time, [Ric] Flair, Hogan, Andre, myself, how many of us left. One."
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