In the midst of the Graduation Weekend Festivities, I must note, with sadness, the death of one of the Immortals, one of my Role Models, one of those Heroes of my Youth.
Randy, the Macho Man, Savage has shuffled off this mortal coil. RIP.
I did not grow up watching professional wrestling, and I haven’t watched it for over 20 years, but for a brief time in college, I watched it a lot. You see, my college roommate loved Professional Wrestling. Loved it. So, I watched a lot of it in college with him. (Moral: Be very careful in choosing a college roommate.) It was a big time in wrestling too—the WWF was shown in Prime Time on NBC.
When you watch wrestling, it is important to have wrestlers you love and hate. And, my favorite wrestler was The Macho Man. He was truly inspiring in so many ways (Oooooh yeah!). I felt empowered every time I saw him being interviewed (For example, here or here. And when he fought those magnificent battles in the ring, my heart raced with anticipation and fear. A modern day Gladiator.
And, lest you have this image of a couple of college guys with no social skills watching wrestling, I hasten to add that my girlfriend used to watch wrestling with us too. She never missed it, in fact. Her favorite wrestler was The Ultimate Warrior—a hyper-active freak, to be honest.
These days Janet (the aforementioned girlfriend) tries to pretend she never really liked wrestling, but she did and she knows it. In fact, Janet has even attended a professional wrestling match. We went with my roommate to a match in Sacramento once—it was a Big Match too—we later rewatched it on TV. (I think the three of us doubled the average intelligence of the section in which we were sitting, by the way—for reasons I cannot explain, professional wrestling does not attract many high school graduates.)
And, so, in this weekend of celebration, I pause to acknowledge the passing of one of the Greats. Rest in Peace, Randy the Macho Man Savage. Rest in Peace.
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