{"id":280,"date":"2011-05-22T07:19:39","date_gmt":"2011-05-22T07:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/?p=280"},"modified":"2011-05-22T07:36:07","modified_gmt":"2011-05-22T07:36:07","slug":"macho-man-randy-savage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/?p=280","title":{"rendered":"Macho Man, Randy Savage"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Wrestling is an awful thing to love. Not only will you be mocked for the duration of your life for this interest, the guys you cheer for are usually a little less than Saints. The pinnacle of my blind adulation for the \u201csport\u201d was of course those blissful early years of my life. My young eyes widened with excitement from let\u2019s say 1988 to 1998 or so. After the fact, I still loved it, but not in the same way. That\u2019s the thing about maturing, you change. The business was always in my blood though and I to this day cannot shake it completely. I tried to because after guys I legitimately considered heroes started dropping dead from suicide or drug abuse or God knows what else, it just wasn\u2019t fun anymore. Chris Benoit is the most drastic example. Loved the guy. And then\u2026yeah.<\/p>\n

Just sitting back and reading a bit of what I typed is embarrassing on some level. Calling men in spandex who fake fight \u201cheroes\u201d is probably completely ridiculous to most people and I understand that, but just let me have it. It meant a lot to 8 year old me when the Big Bossman twirled the nightstick, it meant a lot to 8 year old me when the Ultimate Warrior tore like a bat out of hell down the entrance way and it meant a lot to 8 year old me when Jake the Snake DDTed someone suddenly and out of nowhere. That thing about maturing I said? It\u2019s true, you do change. But the things you loved as a kid, the Perfect necksnaps, the Santana flying forearms, they linger. They won\u2019t leave you alone even though all logic and social decency says you should put it away for good. You can\u2019t though. Eventually you just don\u2019t care if someone knows you thought the Road Warriors were the greatest thing in the world and you maybe even wear it like a badge of honor. \u201cGod dammit, look at these assholes with all their goofy tattoos and generic personalities. IN MY DAY, MEN WORE FACEPAINT, HAD MANAGERS AND SUCKED DOWN WHISKEY LIKE WATER. AND I LOVED IT. I FUCKING LOVED IT. CAPS\u2026LOCK.<\/p>\n

I still had a strong attachment to the Benoits and Eddys of the world as an adult, but that all went tragically to the deepest parts of hell. I just gave up. My thought process was basically this: These guys are all walking death sentences. Why even care? Why even try?<\/p>\n

So yes, I was firmly in the \u201cNothing can shock me anymore\u201d camp of jaded smarky older fans who think Randy Orton fucking sucks. And then you lose a guy of Randy Savage\u2019s stature and my jaded gimmick falls apart like a Billy Gunn main event push. I\u2019m not jaded when one of the guys, MY guys goes. I\u2019m just sad.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m not nearly as hurt as the people who knew and loved the Macho Man, but it definitely had me sitting and staring at the floor for a minute. He was never a huge favorite of mine as a kid, frankly, he scared the shit out of me. But like I said, he was one of mine. That group of characters from say 89 to 93 that were so vital to me and my bad little kid bowl cut. I hated Jim Duggan and never had a minute of fondness for ol\u2019 Hacksaw, but when he goes, I will be sad. He is part of a special club that I watched endlessly on old Coliseum video tapes and they will always be special to me. The Macho Man is right at the front of that.<\/p>\n

I could tell you about the classic Elizabeth-retirement angle, I could tell you about Wrestlemania 4, I could tell you about the Macho King growing on me like crazy as an avenging baby face and announcer when I realized deranged Ultimate Warrior attacking Randy Savage was fucking hilarious. I won\u2019t though. You already know those stories if you\u2019re reading this most likely.<\/p>\n

I will just tell you the basic point of this entire thing: I try to not care about this ridiculous wrestling shit anymore. Then a guy like Savage goes and I remember vividly why I can never stop caring fully. I would never want to lose something that used to make me so happy.<\/p>\n

Randy Savage played a huge part in that happiness. When I hated him as he dropped 5 fucking elbows on the Ultimate Warrior\u2019s chest, even then I remember thinking \u201cI will remember this forever.\u201d When he held the ropes open (FUCKING FINALLY) for Miss Elizabeth, I remember thinking \u201cThe Macho Man is kind of a nice guy I think. Huh. \u201d When his number was drawn for the 1992 Royal Rumble and he made a god damn beeline for Jake The Snake Roberts (the man who had ruined his wedding), I remember thinking \u201cTHE MADNESS IS LOOSE OH MY GOD\u201d. Hell, even when I got older and smartened up to the business, I remember watching Savage vs. Steamboat at WM 3 and saying to myself \u201cJesus\u2026Randy is REALLY good. What the hell was wrong with 8 year old me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Those things I just listed, they are just a blur, a collection of memories. A collection of memories that makes me smile even now.<\/p>\n

I have missed Randy for a long time now. He\u2019s been essentially out of the business for a decade and yet sometimes I randomly flash to him DARTING to the top rope and driving that elbow home. Always after raising both arms above his head of course. Oh yeah, that sweet \u201cgrab the guy\u2019s hair and jump over the top to the floor causing his neck to snap off the ropes\u201d move. Oh and the way he\u2019d point at a guy, talk some smack, and then extend both arms to his side, his fingers twiddling in the air. Oh God! His voice! How did I go so long without mentioning his voice?<\/p>\n

I could sit and think of things all day that I remember about Savage. And that\u2019s why you got to just let me love the goofy wrestling shit of my youth. It mattered and so did Randy Savage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wrestling is an awful thing to love. Not only will you be mocked for the duration of your life for this interest, the guys you cheer for are usually a little less than Saints. The pinnacle of my blind adulation for the \u201csport\u201d was of course those blissful early years of my life. My young […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[59,58],"class_list":["post-280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-r-i-p","tag-80s-fake-fighting","tag-randy-savage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293,"href":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions\/293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pooke.thedreamisdead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}