Somehow, I would find it *very* difficult to imagine that many of my readers would be much fans of Professional Wrestling. (What has 100 arms, 100 legs, 200 teeth and a combined IQ of 100? 50 professional wrestling fans). I was saddened however, to hear that Randy "Macho Man" Stevens died recently in a car accident at the age of 58. Who would have imagined he was a nice boy from Columbus, Ohio named Randy Poffo would become one of the biggest names in the history of professional wrestling? (The again, with a last name like that, no wonder he turned out to be a tough guy.)
My younger brother Mark was a very good high school wrestler, and he hates, hates, *hates* pro wrestling. I just accept it as a lowbrow artform- a cartoon with human, rather than animated, characters. Anyhow, I always enjoyed the Macho Man's showmanship—one writer once speculated that Savage's wardrobe designer must've been a *longtime* user of LSD. (Sad to say, apparently both he and his stage “manager"/real life wife "the lovely Elizabeth" had problems with cocaine. "Elizabeth" died of an overdose several years ago.)
I never met Randy Stevens, but early one morning in the Fall of 1987, I learned he *definitely* had a sense of humor. I was finishing up my law degree at Notre Dame, and Stevens was on a South Bend radio station's early morning show promoting a "Wrestlemania" event that was to be held at the Notre Dame Atheletic & Convocation Center. He did his usual shtick, which was to sound like a guy who has just ingested a gallon of Turkish espresso: OOOOOOHHHHH YEEEEEAAAAAH!!! After doing the promo, the DJ asked the Macho Man if he'd like to do the weather report. Which he did—in character. "There's a COOOOOOOLD FRONT comin' down from CAAAAANAAAAADAAAAA!!!.."
It was with some difficulty that I managed to keep from falling out of bed laughing.
RIP Randy
No comments:
Post a Comment