Dark Pegasus Video Review: Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection, Disc Three

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 05.20.2009

What up, Mach!

Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection, Disc Three

By J.D. Dunn
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Your hosts are Matt Striker and Maria.

WWF Heavyweight Title: Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) vs. Shawn Michaels (w/Sherri — 04.19.92).
Savage is just coming off his second title win at WrestleMania VIII, and this is the traditional post-Mania European tour. Shawn was in roughly the same place as John MORRISON at this point, although they had given him Sherri to get him over. That makes for an interesting dynamic that doesn't get played up on commentary, even after Sherri goes after Elizabeth. That distraction allows Shawn to take over on offense. Interesting to see Shawn in his formative years as a singles wrestler. Then again, I watched him do it the first time around. I guess it's interesting to be able to look back at his growth, is the main bullet point. Savage comes back with a slingshot and a double ax-handle. Sherri helps Shawn take over again. The ref gets bumped by Savage. Dude, pay attention. Wait, look who I'm talking to. Savage hits the flying elbowdrop, but there's no ref. Finally, he gets in and counts two before Shawn kicks out. Savage spits at Sherri, prompting her to climb up on the ropes. Elizabeth runs down and flips Sherri into the ring. Savage goes up but leaps over Shawn and hits a flying crossbody for the win at 16:19. Much better than their other match on the tour. Shawn was not yet at the level he'd reach in 1993 and 1994, but his natural athleticism allowed him to outshine most of the roster. This was more of a "Savage match" than a "Shawn match," of course, but it was still pretty exciting. ***1/2

Randy Savage & Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair & Shawn Michaels (w/Mr. Perfect & Sensational Sherri — 07.20.92).
This would be just before Summerslam because Bret is the IC Champion, and Savage is the World Champion. Bret and Shawn start with their usual great stuff, and Savage cleans house on the heels. Flair and Savage get chippy, and Savage slaps him in the face. Flair suckers Savage into the heel corner, but Shawn misses a charge and posts himself. Shawn plays the rare heel-in-peril before making the desperate tag to Flair. Savage comes in and destroys both heels until Michaels sneaks up and superkicks him. This was back before it was a finisher. Perfect and Sherri each get their shots in as Savage plays Ricky Morton. Flair nearly gets the pin with his feet on the ropes. Savage gets a small package on Michaels, but the ref is busy putting Hart out of the ring. Savage runs Flair into the turnbuckle off a sleeper. FLAIR FLOP! Flair goes up and gets slammed. HOT TAG TO BRET! Bret takes out both HBK and Flair. Savage rolls up HBK, and the ref counts it despite both men being illegal. Savage and Hart pick up the win at 17:16. It looked like they rushed that ending. In many ways, this was a great match to pass the torch to the 1990s wrestlers. ***3/4

WWF Heavyweight Title: Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) vs. Randy Savage (02.28.94).
Yokozuna was on a path of destruction, so Savage came out of retirement for this match. Savage attacks Yoko during his pre-match ritual. Yoko nails him with a back elbow but splats on another elbow attempt. Yoko takes over but misses a big splash. Yoko could actually move at this point, despite being huge (and it's hard to imagine that he actually gained nearly 200-pounds after this). We take a break, and chicanery allows Yoko to come back. Jim Cornette is now at ringside, speaking of chicanery. Savage keeps avoiding the killshot, but he can't muster any offense. Corny distracts the ref, but Yoko's attempt to use the ceremonial salt bucket backfires. Savage nails Cornette and this the flying elbowdrop, but Crush runs in and attacks Savage for the DQ at 11:38. Bret Hart makes the save until Yoko attacks him. Lex Luger makes the ultimate save, though. Hmm. Kind of a template for the Bret vs. Yoko match at Mania. **1/2

Savage would move on to WCW later in the year.

Lifeguard Match: Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair (07.16.95).
This is a lumberjack match, but they're at the beach. Hence, "Lifeguard Match." Tony Schiavone is apoplectic that Arn Anderson is one of the lifeguards. This is the usual Flair/Savage match only with an occasional stop to throw one another to the sand. Flair and Anderson attacked Randy's dad and crippled him to set this up, btw. Flair works the leg and locks in the figure-four. Savage turns it over, though, because there's no way he's giving up in a revenge match. Flair panics and tosses him to the ground where Arn Anderson gives Savage a DDT. Back in, ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Savage catches Flair on top and slams him off. That sets up the double ax-handle and the flying elbowdrop for the win at 13:56. The lumberjacks didn't add much other than a reason for Arn Anderson to be down there to interfere. ***1/4

WCW Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Randy Savage (01.22.96).
Before the match, Hulk Hogan comes down and wishes Savage lucky, but he says he wants the first shot at the title. The announcers make a big deal about Woman accompanying Savage to ringside, which we'll see is a big deal. However, it should also be noted that one of the other bevy of Macho beauties is Linda Hogan. Flair comes on to Woman and gets slapped. We take a break just as Savage misses his double ax-handle to the floor and cracks his jaw on the railing. Flair goes to work on the leg, naturally, while arguing with the ref. Savage comes back, but Jimmy Hart distracts the ref while Arn Anderson runs down. His interference backfires, though, as he clocks Flair. Hogan returns to smack Arn around, and that sets up the flying elbowdrop at 7:56. Too short, and by this time they were both just going through the motions. Still, it's Flair/Savage, so it's at least very watchable. **3/4

Falls Count Anywhere: Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) vs. Dallas Page (w/Kimberly Page — 06.15.97).
For those who care about that kind of thing, yes the nWo music is there. So is Page's AWESOME Nirvana ripoff. Speaking of AWESOME… Kimberly Page! Page is coming in with his taped ribs, a condition that he had for so long they actually used it in the video game. Page hits an ill-advised pescado to reinforce the fact that he has bad ribs. Savage takes a hard bump to the floor. Back in, Savage takes over but decides to piledrive the ref. He goes after Kimberly, but new referee Nick Patrick gets in his way. Page and Savage brawl up to a silly Great American Bash set where Page dumps barbecue ash on Savage. SNAP INTO IT! Patrick goes down. Back to ringside, Page nails him with a chair but there's no ref convenient. To the ring, Savage goes low, but DDP counters the suplex to a Diamond Cutter. Still no ref. Nick Patrick slides in, but Scott Hall stomps him in the back of the head. That. Is. Hilarious. Page takes Hall out, but Savage nails DDP in the back of the head with the title belt. Outsider's Edge. Flying Elbowdrop. Savage get the pin at 16:58. It wasn't a bad brawl, but when you book a blood feud, the random nWo run-in finish isn't necessary. **1/2

WCW World Title: Kevin Nash & Sting vs. Sid Vicious & Randy Savage (w/Team Madness — 07.11.99).
Hey, a world title defended in a tag match. What a wonderful idea. Before the match, Gorgeous George walks over to Nash's corner. I don't know that *anyone* is fooled by this, although it does 'distract' Savage long enough for Sting to jump him from behind. Sting winds up as the face-in-peril, though. Pretty boring stuff until Sting accidentally nuts Sid Vicious. Heenan, who was probably drunk, given it was a day ending in the letter "y," says Nash should never tag in so he'll keep his title. The match breaks down, and Team Madness interferes. Sting hits Stinger Splashes on everyone – including Nash – but he turns into a chokeslam from Sid. Nash sets up for the Jackknife Powerbomb, but Gorgeous George SHOCKINGLY SWERVES NASH! Oh my! She punches him in the nuts and runs away. Sid slams Nash and allows Savage to hit the flying elbowdrop at 13:18. The fans wanted Goldberg and lots of him, and they were quite vocal about it. So what did WCW give them? Hogan, DDP, Nash, Savage, Nash, Hogan. The match was just kind of there and had a swerve that everyone in the crowd saw coming. You know why? Because even back then it had been done a thousand times! *

Special Features

Lots of Macho Man interviews. The early ones where he rants against Tito Santana are fantastic.

The 411: Macho Man Randy Savage was one of the great workers of the 1980s and his bizarre personality kept him going on through the 1990s and even to the new millennium with TNA. Say what you will, his personality is just magnetic, and watching him move in the ring during the 1980s is truly a sight to behold. The discs are a fine representation of that – minor quibbles about the Tuesday in Texas segment and a lackluster WCW selection aside.

Thumbs way up.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]