Macho Man Randy Savage, 1952-2011

?Macho Man Randy Savage is dead. He had a heart attack this morning while driving, and his car ran off the road, crashing into a tree. He was 58 years old.

I don’t cover much wrestling on Topless Robot, but Randy Savage was much more than a wrestler to me, and, I think, to the world. He was a pop culture icon. Even if you never gave a shit about wrestling, you knew his unmistakable voice, his ridiculous outfits. You saw his Slim Jim commercials. And he was part of the world of nerdery, too, playing Bonesaw McGraw in the first Spider-Man movie, as well as voicing several cartoon characters, most notably Space Ghost’s incredibly awesome grandfather.

I don’t know if I can really express how sad I am that Savage is gone. He’s just one of those people who have given me so much entertainment and pleasure in my life that I find myself genuinely upset now that he’s gone. I was only into wrestling a bit as a kid — a couple of years, although I was terrifyingly obsessed with it during those two years — but even after, I was always a Macho Man fan. Maybe it was just his journey from evil wrestler to good wrestler — and WWF champion — hit me at just the right time, where I was totally enraptured. Maybe it was because unlike Hulk Hogan, Macho Man was actually a genuinely great wrestler. Maybe it was because Macho Man was flawed and weird and dangerous and batshit insane and somehow just more fascinating to me than all the other wrestlers. Everyone had their one shtick, but Macho Man was only ever Macho Man. Let me put it another way: if Hulk Hogan was Superman, Randy Savage was Batman. Watching Hogan fight was fun but predictable; watching Macho Man do anything was always exciting, and always awesome.

I can’t say that Randy Savage had a direct influence on my professional or personal life, but I can say now that he’s gone, a part of my childhood is gone, too. Thanks for everything, Macho Man. Seriously. (Via Warming Glow)