‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage is a true icon of wrestling with his instantly recognizable voice and personality being a favorite among fans to this day. In new footage shared by Dark Side of the Ring: Unheard, Savage’s brother Lanny Poffo revealed fascinating insights into how the legendary character fans know and love came to be.
“He didn’t always have that voice, I think it came from marijuana and yelling and kind of got worse as time went on.”
Though now remembered as one of wrestling’s greatest talkers, Savage initially struggled with interviews. According to Lanny, Randy’s anxiety was so severe he would sometimes experience panic attacks before speaking on camera.
“He had some type of anxiety attacks that he couldn’t catch his breath and he felt insecure and he couldn’t think of anything. The greatest interview in the world was not always that way. He came to me with his hat in his hand and said that I was a great interview, could I help him.”
The solution came from an unlikely source – a television commercial featuring wrestler Pampero Firpo. Lanny suggested Randy study Firpo’s unique Armenian-Argentine accent, which became the foundation for the Macho Man’s distinctive delivery.
“I said ‘Why don’t you read that line to me?’ And he says ‘You are watching the number one station in Hawaii.’ I said ‘I think that’s it’ and he spent the next three months in the bathroom mirror practicing.”
Randy’s dedication to mastering this new persona was remarkable. “He went from the worst to the first, from the zero to the hero,” Lanny explained. This transformation didn’t happen overnight – it took months of practice, with Randy spending hours perfecting his delivery in front of the mirror.
The results would change wrestling history. Savage’s iconic “Ohhh yeah!” catchphrase and intense interview style became his trademark, inspiring countless impressions and remaining embedded in pop culture decades after his untimely passing in 2011.
