I can't dig it

I read today that one of my childhood hero's, the "Macho Man" Randy Savage died in a car accident in Florida. For anyone about to laugh there was a time when pro-wrestling was not a white trash convention and people with a full set of teeth could still be fans. In the 1980's and 1990's pro-wrestling was really popular among kids/teenagers in North America. Hulk Hogan, Randy "Macho Man"Savage, Andre the Giant, "the Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase, Bret "The Hitman" Hart and the Undertaker were household names and kids all had the action figures and VHS tapes. It continued with the old WWF/WCW feuds of the 1990's, which ended with WWF going the route of white trash conventions and WCW folding with a mix of terrible script writing and outdated wrestlers (Hogan seemed less cool after he turned 50). By that time I had lost all interest in the "sport", as had most people I think (apparently it still runs on friday nights on cable sports channels, but I haven't seen it on TV in ten years) but in my childhood, these guys were awesome. I remember going to the Agrodome with my Dad to see Savage, Hogan and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan taking on Dibiase, Andre the Giant and ... I think it was the One Man Gang but I can't remember.

Randy Savage was always my favourite. Even when he went bad guy I was still hoping he'd beat Hogan and keep the belt. I remember in 1988 watching Wrestlemania IV and having Savage win the tournament to become World Champion. Of course now I know it was all scripted, but in 1988 I was six years old and I had no idea. even after I figured out that throwing someone in to a rope should not guarantee them bouncing off of it and running back to you, I still loved the charaters and the story. Especially Savage as his character was usually the guy who wasn't at the level of Hogan/Andre physically, but knew how to get the job done. He also didn't tell you to say prayers and bless America after the fights (though he later told us to snap in to a slim jim) he just took his belt, did some showboating, and left. He was also a comic genious and twenty years later he can still crack you up.

Anyway, it may seem funny to blog about the death of a pro-wrestler (cause it is), but this man was a childhood hero, and even though I haven't thought about the WWF in more years than I'd like to admit, it's funny how his death has me thinking about watching the old tapes (remember VHS?) or playing the video games with my best friend of the time Kevin on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It takes me right back to being that age, when my world was in North Vancouver and my biggest problems were not wanting to go to soccer practice (I mean what a stupid sport that is) and trying to finish my book report before bedtime. So to that time in my life I'll just say "OOOOOOOH YEEEEAAAH!"