Randy Savage

In June 1985, Savage signed with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF). One of Savage's first appearances was on Tuesday Night Titans, in which several established WWF managers (including Bobby Heenan, Jimmy Hart, and "Classy" Freddie Blassie) offered their services to Savage. He eventually declined their offers and chose Miss Elizabeth as his new manager. He made his pay-per-view (PPV) debut at The Wrestling Classic on November 7, 1985, participating in a sixteen man tournament. He defeated Ivan Putski, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, and the Dynamite Kid before losing by a countout in the finals to Junkyard Dog.
In late 1985, Savage started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana over that title. On the 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).[16] In a rematch on the February 24, 1986 (taped February 8) edition of Prime Time Wrestling, he won the WWF Intercontinental Championship at the Boston Garden by using an illegal steel object stashed in his tights.[17][18] Early 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 hands due to the countout) as well as engaging in historic feuds with Bruno Sammartino and George "The Animal" Steele.[3]Savage's feud with Steele began on the January 4, 1986 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, when Steele developed a crush on Miss Elizabeth.[19] At WrestleMania 2, Savage defeated Steele in a match to retain his Intercontinental title.[20] Another major title challenger was Jake "The Snake" Roberts, with whom he battled to a double disqualification on the November 29, 1986 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.[21] He resumed his feud with George Steele in early 1987, culminating in two Intercontinental title matches, both won by Savage.[22][23]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 kayfabe crush Steamboat's larynx), 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.[24][25] The match was extremely choreographed, as opposed to the "on the fly" nature of most wrestling matches at the time.[4] 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.[4] 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 seen cheering with and hugging other wrestlers after the match.[3][4]Savage won the King of the Ring tournament later in 1987.[8][26] As the fans were drawn toward his charisma and in-ring ability, he began to turn face, becoming less hostile toward the fans and Miss Elizabeth. When The Honky Tonk Man declared himself "the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time", Savage began a feud with him to get the title back. On the October 3, 1987, edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, He got his shot at The Honky Tonk Man and the Intercontinental Championship, but was screwed out of the title when The Hart Foundation, who along with Honky were managed by Jimmy Hart, interrupted the match, getting Honky disqualified. In the ensuing beatdown, Miss Elizabeth got Hulk Hogan to save him, solidifying Savage's face turn and leading to the formation of "The Mega Powers."[27][28]Savage reached the pinnacle of his career to date at WrestleMania IV, when he participated in the 14 man tournament for the vacant WWF Championship. He had successful matches against Butch Reed, Greg Valentine and One Man Gang, and then went on to the finals, in which he defeated "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, by pinning him with the help of Hulk Hogan.[29][30][31] 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.[4] Savage would retain the WWF title for over a year, defending it against the likes of One Man Gang[32] and André the Giant.[33] Savage would set a new trend, as during his face turn he would retain many fans who cheered for him as a heel.The Mega Powers' main feud was with The Mega Bucks (Ted DiBiase and André the Giant), whom they defeated in the main event of the first-ever SummerSlam pay-per-view event.[34][35] Problems between Savage and Hogan developed, however, in early 1989 after Hogan also took Elizabeth as his manager.[28] At Royal Rumble 1989, Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match and they started to fight until Elizabeth separated them.[36] On the February 3, 1989 edition of The Main Event, Savage turned heel on Hogan, getting jealous over Miss Elizabeth and his self-perceived third wheel standing in the Mega Powers. He solidified his heel turn after abandoning Hogan during a tag team match against the Twin Towers (Akeem and Big Bossman), though Hogan picked up the win in the end.[37]At WrestleMania V, Savage dropped the WWF title to Hogan after a reign of 371 days, becoming the 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).[38][39] He eventually replaced Elizabeth with Sensational Sherri. Savage would co-main event SummerSlam 1989, teaming with Zeus, a character from Hulk Hogan's movie, No Holds Barred, against The Mega-Maniacs (Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake). In this match, Hogan "no-sold" Savage's flying elbow by standing straight up after Savage hit him with it in the center of the ring.[40][41] Savage and Zeus faced Hogan and Beefcake in a rematch contested in a steel cage at No Holds Barred, and lost again.[42]Savage adopted the moniker "Macho King" after defeating Jim Duggan for King of the Ring title in September of 1989 (Duggan in turn had won it from Haku)[43] 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), in which Ted DiBiase gave him a sceptre as a gift. Savage would use that sceptre as a weapon numerous times.The "Macho King" and Hulk Hogan met one last time (intended to end their ongoing year long feud), when Savage got a shot at Hulk Hogan's WWF Championship on the February 23, 1990 edition of The Main Event.[44] The pinfall was counted by new heavyweight boxing champion James Buster Douglas, who then punched Savage in the face after he slapped Douglas.After "The Mega Powers Explode" angle finally ended Savage began feuding with the "commoner" Dusty Rhodes, losing a mixed tag match (along with Sherri) to Rhodes and Sapphire at WrestleMania VI[45] but beating him in a singles match at SummerSlam 1990.[46]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 promise Savage the right to challenge him for the title, should Warrior defend it successfully against Sgt. Slaughter (Slaughter had already granted Savage this opportunity, should he beat Warrior). Savage had sent Sensational Queen Sherri out before the match to try to persuade the Warrior to promise this in a face-to-face interview laced with sexual innuendos, but was unsuccessful. Outraged, Savage promised revenge, which he got during the Slaughter-Warrior title match. Before the match began, Randy "Macho King" Savage attacked the champion, resulting in the Ultimate Warrior having to crawl to the ring. Later, Savage ran out to the ring and smashed the sceptre over Warrior's head, (knocking him unconscious for Slaughter to pin), and then immediately sprinted back to the locker room. In the Royal Rumble match later that night, Savage was due to enter the ring as the 18th entrant, but failed to show.[47]The events at the Royal Rumble 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.[48] After the match, Savage was attacked by Queen Sherri as he lay dejected in the ring.[4] This was too much for Miss Elizabeth who happened to be in the audience.[2] Elizabeth rushed to Savage's aid, fighting off Sherri and reuniting with her one-time love to huge crowd appreciation.[4] Some fans were spotted crying in the audience. Despite his retirement from active wrestling, Savage stayed in the WWF in an non-wrestling capacity while the Ultimate Warrior was fired by Vince McMahon after SummerSlam later that year.[4]Savage returned to TV in a non-wrestling role as the "Macho Man" after WrestleMania VII as a broadcaster. Despite being for the most part a face announcer, he still regularily made potshots at his old rivals in wrestling, especially Hogan and Warrior. 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 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 heel turn.[17]In response, Roberts along with The Undertaker 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 reinstated as a wrestler by WWF president Jack Tunney so that he could do battle with Roberts. During the This Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view, Roberts — after losing to Savage[49] — beat him down with three DDTs and then forced Elizabeth to beg for mercy for her husband. Roberts was dissatisfied with the result, and slapped her across the face. The feud finally ended after a match on the February 8, 1992 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, which Savage won.[50]Savage then began a feud with WWF Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. According to the storyline, Flair claimed that he had slept 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; Savage won the match and his second WWF Championship.[51][52][53] During this time, Savage and Elizabeth separated in real life, and Elizabeth stopped appearing as his manager. The former couple were divorced on September 18, 1992.Savage defended the title against Ultimate Warrior at SummerSlam 1992. Savage lost the match by countout but retained the title.[54][55] On the September 14 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, Savage lost the WWF title to Flair after interference by Razor Ramon.[17] 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 Mr. Perfect during their heated match at SummerSlam. After his title loss shortly after, an injured Savage backed Warrior to be the man to dethrone Flair. On the November 8, 1992 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 but retained their titles.[56] Savage and Warrior were scheduled to face Flair and Ramon in a tag team match at Survivor Series 1992. 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 initially laughed off the suggestion, but was angered by Bobby Heenan and his insinuations that he could never again wrestle at his previous level, and accepted the match; the duo defeated Flair and Ramon via a disqualification.[57]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.[58][59] 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.[60] 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 October 1994, Savage's WWF contract expired and he left to sign with the competing WCW. He was given an on-air farewell by Vince McMahon on Monday Night Raw.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.[61] However, his encounter with Avalanche continued and ended at Uncensored 1995, with Savage getting the win by disqualification after a fan, who happened to be Ric Flair, attacked Savage.[62] This led to Savage and Flair resuming their earlier feud.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[63] and "Stunning" Steve Austin in the quarterfinals.[63] He interfered in Flair's match against Alex Wright, attacking Flair and causing Wright to get disqualified, which set up a tournament semifinal match in which the winner would face the winner of the Sting and Meng match for the United States Championship at the June 1995 Great American Bash. Savage and Flair's tournament semifinal match never took place however, due to Savage and Flair brawling in the backstage area prior to the match and being eliminated from the tournament.[63] They were instead given their own match in the main event, which Flair won with underhanded tactics.[64]Savage defeated Flair in a later Lifeguard Lumberjack match at Bash at the Beach 1995.[65] Later that year, during part of the storyline in which 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. Remembering the rivalry (and how Flair had attacked Savage's father, Angelo Poffo, which was the catalyst for their feud back in May), Savage 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 was granted, however, 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.[10][66] He lost the title to Flair a month later at Starrcade 1995: World Cup of Wrestling.[67] Savage won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship back from Flair on the January 22, 1996 edition of Nitro[68][69] but lost the title back to Flair the next month in a steel cage match at SuperBrawl VI.[70]In January 1996, Savage brought Elizabeth with him into WCW as his valet once again, but she 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, 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.[71] After their inception, one of their main enemies became Savage himself. At Halloween Havoc 1996, Savage faced Hogan for the WCW title but lost when the Giant interfered and chokeslammed him.[72]Shortly after Savage departed WCW due to the expiration of his two year contract. Ultimately Savage returned to WCW, appearing on the January 20, 1997 edition of Nitro which took place at 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 of 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,[73][74][75] a no disqualification match at Spring Stampede 1997,[76] a falls count anywhere match at The Great American Bash 1997: Savage/Page II,[77] and a Las Vegas Death match at Halloween Havoc.[78]In early 1998, Savage started a feud with Lex Luger which culminated in a match at Souled Out, which Luger won.[79] Luger also won a rematch between the two at SuperBrawl VIII.[80] 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 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.[81][82] The following night on Nitro, Hogan faced Savage for the championship. For a while it looked like Hogan had Savage beat,[83] but for the second consecutive night, Nash came to Savage's aid, powerbombing Hogan.[83] Savage tried to capitalize on this, but an interfering Bret Hart attacked Savage and preserved the victory for Hogan.[83] 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 and nWo Hollywood.[84] Savage went on to feud with both Bret Hart and Roddy Piper.[85][86]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 the December 28, 1998 edition of Monday Nitro.[87] When Savage returned, he debuted a new look and theme music, sporting a slicked back ponytail and a new heel attitude, as well as introducing his then 22-year-old girlfriend Gorgeous George as his valet.[4] His first action was as the guest referee in the main event at Spring Stampede 1999, which was won by Diamond Dallas Page.[4] For a short time afterward, Randy interfered in DDP's matches to make sure that Page kept his World Title, but when Kevin Nash won it at Slamboree 1999, Savage went after the title himself.[2] 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.[88]At The Great American Bash 1999, Sid Vicious returned to WCW and helped Macho Man attack Kevin Nash.[4] This led to a tag team match at Bash at the Beach between Kevin Nash and Sting against Randy Savage and Sid Vicious, in which whoever scored the winning fall would win the WCW World Title. Savage won his fourth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship when he pinned Nash.[89][90] The title was also Savage's sixth (or tenth, if his ICW World Heavyweight Championship and USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship reigns are considered) and final world championship.Savage's last reign as champion did not last long. The next night on Nitro, he lost the title to a returning Hollywood Hogan, when Nash interfered and powerbombed Macho Man (in a reversal of the situation from the previous year, in which Nash had attacked Hogan to help Savage keep his title, albeit unsuccessfully).[91] All of Savage's world title reigns (both WWF and WCW) ended with him losing the title to either Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair.[5][9]Team Madness slowly started to disband, after Madusa and Miss Madness began fighting each other over who was responsible for Savage's title loss.[2] Savage soon fired both of them and started a feud with Dennis Rodman, defeating him at Road Wild.[92] In 2000, he joined the Millionaire's Club with Hogan, Jim Duggan, Flair, DDP, and other popular veteran wrestlers.[93] When his WCW contract expired, Savage departed WCW and didn't return.