Randy Poffo's first sporting call was baseball. He had stints as a catcher with minor league clubs St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox. In 1973, his father, pro wrestler Angelo Poffo, persuaded Randy to give wrestling a go. In November, he fought his first match against Paul Christy.

In 1974 Randy began wrestling in Georgia and Florida as The Spider, under a mask. Savage teamed with Ole Anderson to win the South-Eastern Tag Team Championship, a title he would hold again with his brother Lanny Poffo. It was a comment made by Ole, who remarked on how Randy wrestled like a savage, that prompted the change of name.

In 1978, Angelo Poffo created International Championship Wrestling (ICW) in Canada. It was an independent promotion, which included such wrestlers as Randy Savage, Lanny Poffo, Ron Garvin, The Sheik and Ole Anderson amongst others. ICW became one of the first independent promotions to declare its champion a World Champion. Randy Savage defeated Lanny Poffo in 1979 to become the ICW world champion, a belt he held three times in the next four years. ICW suffered though, because of its refusal to work with any of the big 3 organisations of that time, the AWA, NWA or WWWF.

Savage left ICW in 1983 and signed with the Memphis-based AWA. As a heel, he won the AWA International Heavyweight title in 1984 from Austin Idol. After losing the title, Savage teamed with Lanny Poffo to feud with the Rock & Roll Express. In one of their matches, Savage piledrove Rick Morton through a table, a move unheard of in 1984.

After a babyface run with Jerry Lawler against Gary Hart's first family, Savage turned heel, defeating Lawler for the Southern title, then piledriving Lawler on a metal plate, putting him in the hospital. This began one of the bloodiest feuds in Memphis history. No DQ matches. Barbed Wire matches. Cage matches. Fireballs. Savage traded the Southern title with Jerry Oske, before signing to a loser-leaves-town match against Lawler. In a bloody war, Savage was forced to leave Memphis.

Savage entered the World Wrestling Federation in 1985, managed by his real-life wife Elizabeth. He made it to the finals of the WWF's "Wrestling Classic" tournament before losing to the Junkyard Dog. From there, Savage defeated Tito Santana on February 6, 1986 in controversial fashion to win the Intercontinental Title. Although a rule breaker, Savage defended the IC title against all comers and came close to defeating WWF Champ Hulk Hogan on many occasions, including a count-out victory over in Madison Square Garden. A feud developed between Savage and George ‘The Animal’ Steele after Steele began stalking Miss Elizabeth. It was an entertaining feud that ended with Savage defeating The Animal at Wrestlemania 2.

In November of 1986, Savage seriously injured Ricky Steamboat's throat after hitting him with the timekeeper's bell. The incident put "The Dragon" on the shelf for several weeks, and some felt Steamboat would retire. But he came back, and he and Savage engaged in one of the greatest feuds in wrestling history. The two fought in several bloody cage matches but the rivalry climaxed at Wrestlemania III on March 29, 1987, when Steamboat ended Savage's 13-month IC Title reign in front of over 93,000 people at the Pontiac Silverdome.

After challenging new IC champ, The Honky Tonk Man, Savage delivered his flying elbow finisher to the champion before the Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) interfered. The 3 beat Savage down and Honky smashed the guitar over Savage's head, when suddenly from the back came Elizabeth along with Hulk Hogan. Hogan and Savage sent the heels fleeing. Savage then extended his hand to his former rival. The two formed the Mega Powers, and overnight Savage became one of the biggest stars in the wrestling world.

At Wrestlemania IV in a tournament scheduled for the vacant WWF Title between the top sixteen challengers, The Macho Man defeated Butch Reed, Greg Valentine, the One Man Gang and then, in the final, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase to become the WWF heavyweight champion.

At the first ever Summerslam the Mega Powers defeated DiBiase and Andre the Giant, and then at the Survivor Series they were the sole survivors of their team. However, tension was growing between the duo. At the 1989 Royal Rumble, Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage, prompting a verbal altercation between the two for several minutes.

Several weeks after the Rumble, the Mega Powers teamed for the last time. It was during a telecast of The Main Event on February 3, 1989. The team took on archrivals the Boss Man and Akeem. During this match, Savage was thrown from the ring by Akeem and fell onto Elizabeth, rendering her unconscious. Hogan rushed to her aid and carried her back to receive medical attention, leaving Savage to battle the opponents alone. Hogan eventually returned to the ring to re-join Savage, but as Hulk reached for a tag, he was met with a slap in the face from the Macho Man. Randy then grabbed his WWF title belt and left Hogan to fend for himself. Savage then attacked Hogan at Liz's bedside.

April 5, 1989, Wrestlemania V subtitled "The Mega Powers Explode" saw Randy Savage lose the WWF title to Hulk Hogan. Elizabeth chose to take a neutral corner for this match, ultimately putting an end to her alliance with Savage. Hogan kicked out after Savage's flying elbow before pinning the Macho Man to capture the title.

Savage took on "The Sensational" Sherri Martel as his new manager. Along with Zeus (Tiny Lister), who had starred in the movie "No Holds Barred" with Hogan, Savage took on Hogan and Brutus Beefcake at Summerslam, at the Survivor Series, and again at Christmas of 1989 in a special steel cage tag match, both losing efforts.

Savage captured Jim Duggan's "King of Wrestling" crown, and became "The Macho King". He engaged in a rivalry with "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes. At Wrestlemania VI, Savage and Martel locked up with Rhodes and Sapphire in the WWF's first inter-gender tag match, a match that Rhodes and Sapphire won.

In January 1991, Savage directed his attention to the Ultimate Warrior, the WWF Champion. Sherri challenged the Warrior on behalf of Savage at the Royal Rumble, the Warrior rejected the challenge and Savage interfered heavily in the Warrior's title defence against Sgt. Slaughter, costing him the title. The Warrior sought revenge, and challenged Savage to a "Career Ending Match" at Wrestlemania VII.

In an excellent bout, the Warrior defeated Savage to end his WWF career. Sherri attacked Randy following the decision but was interrupted by the watching Elizabeth. Liz and Savage embraced in a tearful reunion.

Randy Savage began a commentary career with the WWF. During a 'Superstars' telecast, Savage proposed marriage to Elizabeth, who accepted with an emotional "Oooh, yeah!". The two were 'wed' at Summerslam 1991 (7 years after their real-life nuptials). During the wedding reception, Jake Roberts, who presented the couple with a wedding gift, a cobra, attacked Savage.

A while later, Roberts tied Macho in the ring ropes where he was bitten by the cobra. The Macho Man was reinstated in the WWF and he met Roberts on December 3, 1991 at the "Tuesday in Texas" PPV. Although Savage was victorious in the match, he was the victim of Roberts' DDT finisher several times after before ‘the Snake’ struck Elizabeth the face. Savage and Roberts engaged in a feud that saw them do battle on many a house show. Savage was victorious in every match, and after beating Roberts for the last time in early 1992 during a telecast of Saturday Night's Main Event, Randy turned his attention to the WWF title.

At the Indianapolis Hoosier Dome in front of over 70,000 people on April 5, 1992, Savage went into Wrestlemania on a mission, and after a hard fought match he caught Ric Flair with a small package to score the pin and win the WWF title.

Savage defended the title for several months, including a defence against the Ultimate Warrior at Summerslam '92 at Wembley Stadium, but on September 1, Flair took advantage of Savage's injured leg to regain the WWF title.

Following the WWF title loss, Savage's wrestling schedule was reduced as his commentating duties increased. He also divorced from Elizabeth in 1992. He engaged in brief feuds with Razor Ramon and Crush. He won a "Falls Count Anywhere" match at Wrestlemania X, over Crush, his last WWF PPV appearance.

Randy Savage signed with World Championship Wrestling in November 1994 and debuted on WCW Saturday Night on December 3. He won the vacant WCW title on November 26, 1995 at WCW's World War III. Savage was the survivor in a 3 ring, 60 man battle royal. He lost the belt to Ric Flair a month later. A year later Savage became a member the now. After several quite years, Savage regained the WCW title in 1999 at the Bash at the Beach PPV, but the reign lasted only a night. His WCW contract expired in early 2000 and due to his high wage demands, Savage hasn't been seen on TV since.

A former two-time Heavyweight champion in the WWF and WCW, it is sad to see him in the position he is. Although not what he once was, Randy Savage has a lot to offer. He has good mic skills and is a good in ring performer, Savage would be a superb mentor for younger wrestlers and a worthwhile addition to anybody's roster. However, his increasingly egotistical attitude and high price tag may keep him on the sidelines. Like many of the older stars in WCW over the last few years, many fans remember the fading talent, the lazy-looking ring work and no-sell attitude, this threatens to cloud the memories we should have of stars like Randy Savage. In his day, a hard working performer, a terrific heel and much loved babyface. The eighties "King of the flying elbow", He enjoyed spectacular battles with some of the greats and carried lesser workers to above average matches. His Wrestlemania 3 showdown with Ricky Steamboat will surely go down as the greatest bout in WWF history. A place in the WWF Hall of Fame also looms. Randy Poffo is the savage who would be king.

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