If you were to try to package intensity,
and electricity, and just
pure explosiveness into one package,
that would have been the Macho Man, Randy Savage.
Oh my God. Macho Man.
It's a stick of dynamite that is lit and
the fuse has gotten very short.
100 percenter, man. He's gonna come at you with 100%.
The Macho Man Randy Savage. He was loud.
The cream of the crop!
He was colorful. He was intense.
Oh, yeah!
Miss Elizabeth... was... not.
Elizabeth was an icon and a role model for so many women.
Her character was something that brought a lot of feeling and
emotion to the matches.
Elizabeth, I love you!
Randy "Macho Man" Savage and Miss Elizabeth were
wrestling royalty, and their roller coaster romance
captivated audiences around the world.
It's Bonnie and Clyde, it's Romeo and Juliet.
They were the first, you know, male-female package
that was created in that new WWF model.
They were the first and they were the best.
Dysfunctional, as it may have been in some respects,
but I saw it... It's a love story.
On this episode, art imitates life
as we examine a fictional love story surrounding
a real-life marriage that explodes beyond the ring
with tragic consequences.
♪
- I don't want to do that. - PRODUCER: Okay.
Look at how ripped I was. Look at that belly.
Good God. I was in fighting shape right there.
My name is Bruce Prichard and I have actually worked
in the wrestling business for about 45 years.
First time I met Randy Savage was in 1987,
in Houston, Texas.
Randy got into the wrestling business,
he was a second-generation wrestler.
His father, Angelo Poffo, was one of the greats.
And, Angelo had a wrestling territory
and it was considered, back in the day,
an "outlaw" wrestling territory.
Can't do nothing against the Macho Man, yeah.
♪1 professional wrestler!
Complete mental insanity, yeah!
You're a champion, Randy.
You'll go down in history as the greatest.
The greatest--
I broke this chair by sitting down!
Then, all of a sudden, it's time for Randy Savage to appear.
Jimmy, baby, the best thing that you can do is probably just
stand back and let the Macho Man talk 'cause there's
nothing that you could say that I couldn't say better myself.
There was a period in the wrestling business where,
if you were crazy onscreen, you were crazy off-screen.
You had to live your gimmick.
And Randy played crazy really well.
He lived it 24/7.
♪
Just, personally, do you think it'd be okay if
I came out that Randy was a bed-wetter?
PRODUCER: [laughs] Ah...
What was it like growing up with Randy as a brother?
He's the same as any other alpha male,
except his dial is not only past 10,
but it's broken and it's gone off the hinges.
I was upstaged every day, but I knew it was getting over,
so I was proud to be holding the rope.
He had a dream that he could be a villain,
a bad guy, a ruffian.
He wanted to be an antagonist 'cause he felt he had more
creativity than just being the pawn of the villain.
Randy would take a lot of risks.
He would say, [gruff voice]
"You gotta stare into a candle for two hours."
Staring at the candle for about two hours
and get my head together.
Some people loved him, some people hated him.
But everybody respected him because when you see that
kind of athleticism, you have to buy into it.
♪
So, this is my autograph table.
Okay, this was another night where, like,
I think everybody was drinking too much red wine.
And, right here is that little saying,
never know what he meant by it, but...
that's what Macho carved into the table and
he used to say, [gruff voice] "Whatever it takes!"
I'm Linda Bollea.
Married to my ex-husband, professional wrestler,
Hulk Hogan, for 25 years.
Oh, that was back when we loved each other.
[laughs] In the olden days.
So, once I met Miss Elizabeth,
we ended up being friends because I was really the
only other female on the road.
Elizabeth was from Frankfort, Kentucky.
Good upbringing.
She addressed her mom as, "Mother".
And she said, "We were broke. My dad left early.
It was just me, and my mom, and my brother,
and money was always really tight."
There was a gym called Sin The Sport Center,
and Randy worked out there.
And then, one fine day, a new girl came,
and that was Elizabeth Hulette.
And she said Randy was in the gym about 6 in the morning
and she's working the front desk,
and he comes in and she goes,
"Oh, my, your eyes are so red."
And he goes, "You should see 'em from this side."
And I said-- I looked at Liz and said,
"That did it for ya? That one line, like, reeled you in?"
My name is Scott Oliver Hall.
I also was wrestling as Razor Ramone, the bad guy.
I don't know; if I was a chick,
I'd 'a banged Randy. I thought he was cool as hell.
Randy would always tell the story that
it was love at first sight.
[gruff voice] "Yeah, she saw me and fell in love.
What more she could want?"
Liz would always be like, "Yeah...
it took a little while to get used to it."
[laughs]
She was beautiful, she was phenomenal,
and she was excellent. What a nice person, too.
And I think that came across on television.
Elizabeth got involved in ICW as an announcer,
and she also helped with the editing.
Because it was a mom and pop shop,
we did everything.
And, she was adaptable and brilliant,
and very quick to learn.
Their first wedding was in Frankfort, Kentucky
at the home of Elizabeth's mother,
and that was about 6 months before
Randy made his debut with WWE.
Alright, this is gonna be a Jimmy Hart one.
Here we go. Hey, it's me!
The Mouth of the South, Jimmy Hart.
The sun is shining. Life is great!
There's Randy, and myself, and Hulk in WCW
when I managed them for a few matches.
The rest was history.
He goes, "How's New York?" I said, "It's great."
I said, "Look, they just saw your tapes.
They want you in New York."
The Macho Man, Randy Savage, who is quite the competitor,
making his World Wrestling Federation debut.
Vince and Linda McMahon had come down to Florida to
get the contract signed before WrestleMania 1.
Is that Vince? Oh my gosh. Whoa.
When Vince took over, he went around every territory
and took the very best of what was available.
He made you bigger than life.
Vince was taking it to a whole completely new level
that none of us were ready for or even knew about,
or used to, and we were all in for a big huge learning curve.
You know, when Macho came onboard, Vince was like,
"Well, you know, we really want your character to have
a valet, a woman, a manager."
I think Randy probably just sat down and said,
"Look, you know, I want to come up here and I think
I can make you money in this territory.
Can we work a spot out for Liz because she's gonna
go with me on the road. She's gonna be with me."
Randy, if he loved somebody, whether it was his brother
or whether it was Liz or whoever,
he was gonna be very loyal to them.
Macho Man is at his peak right now,
and we gotta know who the manager is gonna be.
They fell in love with her as soon as she opened up the door
and stepped into wrestling history.
RANDY: ...here she comes.
ANNOUNCERS: Oh... Oh... [laughs] Oh my.
Liz was very demure, very quiet, gentle soul.
The person and the character were really one and the same.
As far as the persona of the Macho Man and the
package of the Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth,
was they were two opposites.
And Randy, so intense, and Elizabeth, so subdued.
They wanted you to love Elizabeth and hate Randy.
Picture of Elizabeth.
No picture of the Macho Man Randy Savage.
That's very, very, very bad, Elizabeth.
Randy would bring her out. She'd stand at ringside.
He'd get in the ring, he'd circle around,
and then he'd get out, "No, I told you to stand here!"
The people were hating Randy just for brow beating
the beautiful young girl.
Like, "You can do better than him, honey!
Get away from him."
And there would be times Randy would
give Liz a look and just... [inhales]
Turn his head and give her those eyes,
and she would almost be subservient.
Macho Man Randy Savage, isn't that right, Liz?
- Right, Randy. - Shut up and keep polishing.
If I lose tonight, it's your fault!
Each time he did, they just, "Oh, you sorry son-of-a,"
you know, and that's exactly what they wanted.
And you want Liz to see the light.
But Liz, underneath this, you're seeing, man,
she loves her man.
And you infer that Randy mistreats her,
but he never really does. He's just a little intense.
By the spring of 1987, Elizabeth and Randy are
red hot and are about to make history in front of
a record-breaking crowd of 93,000 fan's.
WrestleMania 3 was, at the time,
the largest indoor attendance record.
I mean, the largest gathering indoor of
any event in the world.
Oh, Jesus. It was unbelievable, man.
90,000 people.
I had Alice Cooper with me.
I mean, the electricity from the crowd was just unbelievable.
I mean, your skin is crawling and it feels like
your hair is growing.
The Randy Savage- Ricky Steamboat match,
WrestleMania 3, I think a lot of people consider
one of the greatest matches of all time.
Two of the greatest athletes that I have ever seen
in my life. All that athleticism,
all the drama, all that excitement...
It killed him that he could never surpass that match.
He was a perfectionist,
and perfectionists are never happy.
The thing with Savage I learned later on, of course,
when I started working with Savage was...
trying to hold him down.
Because, he always wanted to give more.
Well, sometimes you can give too much.
Two years after their debut,
Randy and Elizabeth are taking the WWF by storm,
but a surprising twist in their story line would
propel them to the top of the wrestling world.
I pulled out a bunch of pictures and tried to find,
that had Liz and Randy.
This is sweet.
There's Randy and Liz. This was just at the condo.
We were just hanging out in Florida.
Polaroid picture, Macho.
A picture of Elizabeth, so sweet.
So, Macho Man, he always kept Elizabeth
in the dressing room, so nobody really knew her.
Then one night, Macho came into our dressing room and said,
[gruff voice] "Where's Linda?"
And, ah, "Liz needs some help with her hair."
[laughs] And she had her hair kind of like coiffed
and tightly curled, and it was just sort of church girl,
and I said, "Bitch, you need to just bring that stuff out,"
you know, and so, I started like
getting her hair teased up and kind of stacked it out.
She's like, "Oh yeah, I like that."
Once we all realized that, hey, I live in Tampa.
"Oh, you live in Tampa?"
"Yeah, I live in Clearwater. I live in Largo...
You know, we all kind of lived in this area so we thought,
hey, let's all get together, you know.
It was nice because when we did get a few days off,
I could call on her and she could call on me,
and we could either go shopping, or we could hit the beach.
And, it was just great 'cause at least you had
somebody to do something with.
Hulk would have big parties over there and invite everybody,
you know, and Randy and Liz would go to it.
And it seems like that's when she was the most happiest,
when she could be out around the people and kind of be herself.
You know, we'd be out barbequing in the backyard
the weekend before.
Terry would always kind of like lay it out,
"Here's how I want to run it," and then Randy'd
throw in some ideas, you know.
And Liz would always just go along with whatever,
talking about the "angle".
The hotter the heel, and people after a while
will begin to respect you.
And, Randy was so good, he was hard to boo.
The audience liked him and it was hard to ignore.
Randy Savage was really catching on as a babyface
and people had, had grown to...
really love the Macho Man.
By the end of 1987,
the fans'love for Randy Savage inspires
a revelation in Vince McMahon,
a partnership with the company's top hero to create
a team unlike anything pro wrestling has ever seen.
The two biggest names in the wrestling business at that time
are gonna combine forces, you know,
the madness in Hulkamania combining forces with brother.
With the madness and the mania...
- They got powers. - Yeah!
I mean, who's gonna match up against them?
By the summer of 1988, Hogan and Savage,
with Elizabeth as their manager, appear invincible.
They've destroyed all challengers and the
only place left to turn is on each other.
What we knew is that we would have the Mega Powers explode.
You create the Mega Powers for the Mega Powers to explode,
especially when one is a paranoid schizophrenic,
and the other is the all-American dude.
And what is the easiest thing
for two men to argue about?
A woman.
Summer Slam '88.
Randy hoists Liz up on his shoulder and goes around,
and when he does, there's like a little slip,
Hulk puts his hand up to steady her.
[gruff voice] "Freeze it!
Look at how long his hand is on Elizabeth, huh!
Nobody touches Elizabeth, un-uh."
There was Hulk, "Say your prayers, take your vitamins,"
you know, "Here's the American flag."
And here's Randy going, "You know, I don't think
you're as truthful as everybody thinks you really are."
They don't realize that underneath,
he's been boiling.
You got lust in your eyes
and in your black heart, for Elizabeth!
Randy is the jealous raving lunatic and Hulk is the
best friend who's trying to screw his best friend's girl.
Picked her up and put Elizabeth where she has
never been before, on top of another man's shoulders!
It's easy for him to blow it out of proportion because
you can tell the jealousy side of it.
He's blinded by love and he's blinded by rage.
He's paranoid.
He's got the championship; he's got the whole world
on his back, so of course everybody's trying to
knock him off, even his best friend.
His best friend's not only trying to knock 'em off,
he's trying to take my girl.
That really played off Randy's paranoia,
and it was real, so that's what really made it work.
The Twin Towers - Big Boss Man and Akeem -
against, you know, Randy and Hulk, the Mega Powers.
But there was a point in the match where Randy took
a bump out and ended up taking Liz out.
Hulk sees that she's hurt,
carries her back to get her help.
"You're hovering over her, over the bed.
How dare you!
I'm out there fighting for my life,
but you're more concerned about her.
It all makes sense now!"
When you take a look at the madness' eyes,
all you're gonna see is
complete and utter rage!
Match made.
What corner is Elizabeth gonna be in?
Well, a lot of people wondered,
did Randy really control her in and out of the ring;
absolutely.
Randy...
Very protective of her, man. God, you have no idea.
I mean, he would get visibly upset with anybody that
tried to talk to her or carry on a conversation with her.
He just did not like it.
When they would be getting ready for an event,
we didn't want any malfunctions with her wardrobe,
so he would literally take the tape...
and like wrap it all around her whole body.
And then, the other big thing was because she was
always in a short dress was, getting into the ring and
entering the ring over the rope,
and was she gonna go over the second rope?
She should go under it.
This was all a big huge thing for Randy because
this was his wife. He loved and respected her,
and he didn't want anybody to be making fun of her.
He was definitely in charge of that relationship and
she was just the tag along.
And, I think that that started to grow on her.
I think that started to just unnerve her.
That may have been where a lot of the issues started.
In WrestleMania 5, are you gonna be in
the Macho Man Randy Savage's corner?
When you take real life situations and you put it
in front of the camera, it's great because
it's usually very relatable.
- No, no. - [cheering]
However, when you take your real life feelings and you
put them on camera, and you make it a part of a story line,
'cause they don't know you...
they don't know what you guys do when the doors shut at night.
They have no clue.
But, they know you're really married and they know
what you said on TV, you sorry son of a bitch.
Life imitating art...
And sometimes art imitates life.
And then you get really fucked up.
Being on the road 24/7 with your spouse,
it's not an easy task.
You know, Elizabeth, as his wife,
had those same duties as I did.
I did travel with Randy and Liz a lot,
and their relationship was that of a married couple on the road.
They didn't go out and party.
They went back to the room and went to bed,
and they had their privacy.
You'd get back to the room, and she would have to
scrub the blood off the boots like I did to Terry's,
from their wrestling match.
You know, you'd put the wrestling boots in the
bath tub of the hotel and wash them off,
get all the blood off 'cause they had to wear 'em the
next night, and I'm sure he probably wanted to get laid
and I'm sure she probably didn't,
you know, and maybe she did and he didn't.
Then, her, unlike me, she has to think about herself.
What the hell dress is she gonna wear?
I had my wife involved for a while, man.
It's brutal, man, having your wife around the guys.
They did practical jokes that were cruel.
I'm telling ya, they used people's suitcases as toilets.
There were no boundaries; that was the problem.
I mean, you know, cutting somebody's hair off
while they're passed out, or, I mean,
I wouldn't want my wife around that shit.
The pattern seemed to be that Randy wanted to keep
Elizabeth away from "the boys" as much as possible.
And... you know, there's...
I don't blame him, really.
Randy being so intense and being so watchful over her,
she couldn't have freedom.
And I think, I think you can't smother somebody
all the time like that.
Elizabeth wanted to leave the road and
she wanted Randy to quit.
Randy wasn't done yet. Randy was still enjoying it.
I knew she needed to have more socialization and,
and more friends, and she missed having the normal life, but...
Liz, apparently, was looking for something more than that,
than I realized at the time.
By 1990, an exhausted Elizabeth asked for
some time off the road,
and the WWF seized this as an opportunity
to reinvent the Macho Man into a new kind of villain.
We did Randy as the heel.
We made Randy the Macho King,
and thought that Sensational Sherri
to be his manager, another female and
make her the queen.
Sherri was a women's wrestler,
and the guys loved working with Sherri because
she could take it, she was tough as nails.
Queen Sherri adds a whole new dimension to the
Macho Man's character, but the fans demand to see
wrestling's First Lady back in her rightful place.
Every day that Randy spent with Sherri, everybody said,
"Let's bring-- Where's Elizabeth? Where's Elizabeth?"
I mean, the people hungered for Elizabeth.
Going into WrestleMania, Randy was looking to
take the summer off.
He and Liz were looking to spend time together as
husband and wife, not being on the road all the time.
So the idea was, at WrestleMania 7,
have a, a career match with the Ultimate Warrior.
If Warrior lost, he was gone.
If Randy lost, he was gone.
We'd shown, earlier in the night,
that in attendance that night was Elizabeth in the crowd,
sitting like in the 4th row.
And, when Sherri started to kick Randy and go after Randy,
Liz made her way to the ring and pulled Sherri off,
and you know, Liz is there fighting for her man,
and people were... are slowly applauding,
and you see grown men with tears in their eyes...
That's emotional. That's good stuff.
We got 'em...
because it, it was...
they felt it, you know, and people could feel that, too,
you know, the getting back together,
getting back to the one you really love.
Elizabeth...
Will you marry me?
Despite being married in real life for 7 years,
which was kept secret from fans,
Randy and Elizabeth's characters finally tied the knot
on live television on August the 26th, 1991.
Oh, yeah.
[cheering]
And they were excited. I mean, they,
they were like two kids planning for their wedding.
I think it was just the first time you ever saw the
Macho Man break down and have a human emotion,
other than anger.
You saw him actually happy, and you saw him emotionally
care for someone outwardly, which you had never seen before.
Liz and Randy are having this beautiful wedding ceremony...
Now cue the devil.
♪
And, at the reception bullshit...
[screams]
Putting the snake in the box and all that crap,
and that got it started, that kicked it off.
14, 15-foot king cobra.
Look at that son of a bitch.
Beautiful, beautiful fucking animal.
Randy came to me and said, [gruff voice] "So, tonight,
I hear we're gonna do something a little different, hm?"
I'm like, "Yeah, man. A snake's biting ya."
And he's like, "Yeah, so... Has the snake been fixed?"
"Fuck, yeah!
It's a fucking cobra, you dumb shit!
Of course it's been fixed!"
"Maybe it has and maybe it hasn't.
How about the snake biting you first?"
"Fuck you, man. I ain't fucking let--"
"Oh, oh, you don't want it to bite you.
'Cause if you won't let the snake bite you,
that tells me it hasn't been fixed."
And he was dead fucking serious, man, so...
I went and got the snake, and rolled up my pants leg
and let it bite me.
And, he's like, "Don't move. Don't take no pills.
Don't take no antidote, don't take no serums,
no fucking nothing, brother."
Fuck! For like 20 minutes, man, he's like,
"I guess you're okay. How do you feel, man?"
"Pissed off right now, to be honest with you."
So when it was time for that snake to bite him,
I got the snake out and turned my back to him,
and I fucking paint-brushed the shit out of that snake,
pissed it off. And then,
whenever I turned around that snake was just, "Agh!"
You know, he was ready.
And I got him close to Randy and he latched to him and
would not let go.
I mean, the time that you see it on television was
nothing to the real time. It went on forever.
Vince wound up sending Elizabeth down,
"Get the snake off of him. Get it off of him!
Vince said now!" I'm like, "I'm fucking trying."
And I'm pulling on the snake and it wouldn't let go.
It's just chewing on him. And it's like anything else.
First time it's ever been done,
it shocks people, man. The, the visual, you know.
Bottom line is nobody ever felt sorry for Randy.
They felt sorry for her.
And it's not a good situation.
Like with me, whenever I slapped Elizabeth,
and then they tried to go home to see her family,
Grandpa meets him on the porch and says,
"You're not coming in this house, boy.
You promised us you'd always protect our little girl."
The only way he could gain access back into their home
was basically kicking my ass and getting even,
so to speak.
You know, these are Tennessee folks, bro, you know...
Wrestling's real. People are fake.
[laughs]
PRODUCER: What was the state of their relationship
at the time they were getting married again?
I would say tumultuous.
On the verge of breaking up.
[zap]
So, Terry had been cast in a movie.
It's called Mr. Nanny.
It required us to be down in Miami for about 8 weeks, so
Liz called and goes, "When are you gonna be back home?"
And I said, "I'm going back the next week."
She's like, "Oh," she's like, "Randy, can I please go?"
I heard her talking to him in the back of the phone.
She's like, "Can I please go?
I want to go help Linda with the kids.
I just want to go see them and hang out with
Nick and Brooke in the pool and stuff."
And he's like, "Well, only if you're gonna be
babysitting and you're gonna be with Linda."
She flew down with us. It was so much fun.
She helped me unload the kids,
we got the toys, we were hanging out.
We were all gonna go out to dinner, you know,
I said, so, I'll just go get ready, do whatever,
come back from your workout or whatever, and...
7:30, I'm thinking like, aren't we gonna do
our makeup together and our hair together,
which is what we always did, so I'm kind of like
knocking on her door and I see the light is on,
I can see under the door, but she's not answering.
I'm like, "Where's Liz?"
In 1992, leaving her husband Randy Savage behind,
Elizabeth travels alone to Miami to stay with
Hulk Hogan and his wife, Linda.
Terry had to film the next morning and the
whole next day goes on and I see her at the pool.
I'm like, "Liz, where were you?"
You know, "We were worried about you."
And she's like, "Oh, well, I met this other gentleman
that lives in the building and he has an extra room
here in the building, and he,
he thought maybe I'd want to take it."
The way I heard the story was that Liz wanted
away from Randy, and so, she contacted Hulk's wife,
Linda, and went and stayed with them.
Now meanwhile, Randy is freaking out 'cause
he doesn't know where the love of his life is.
Randy kept calling my room wanting to talk to Liz,
and I was like, "Liz is not here."
[laughs] I didn't say she had her own room.
I just said, "She's not here.
I think she's with friends," or something like that,
and he goes, "Well, where is she?"
I was like, "She's not here, she's not here."
Randy was like, "I'm gonna fly down," you know,
"don't tell her because I, I don't like this.
You know, she's never like missed my calls and
she should be answering.
She should at least be calling me back."
Three hours later, he lands, comes in,
blazing in the door.
Blazing guns of fire, looking for Liz,
and I'm sitting there and he's like, "Where's Liz?"
I was like, "Randy, look. I don't know."
He's like, "What?" You know,
"Where do you think she is?"
You know, "Who was she with last?
What did you guys do?
I'm gonna go find Liz and I want you sitting here in the chair,
and if you so much as leave this chair and
you smarten her up and tell her that I'm here looking for her,
you're gonna hear about it."
I'd never seen Randy like this before in my life
because I'd never even seen them argue or fight.
Seriously, I really hadn't.
So, him and Terry went out the door,
and I didn't know what was going on.
I just knew I wasn't leaving the chair.
And, I guess he found her.
Terry came back to the room and said,
"I left them on their own. They're sorting it out."
So they got in their rental car and they drove back home
and he basically told Terry in so many words or less,
like, "Liz is not coming back to Miami and
there's no more hanging out. Party's over.
This is ridiculous. She just went too crazy," you know.
I think Randy felt, you know, again, life imitating art,
that Hulk was taking Liz's side.
Well, that was the beginning of the end for them,
but beginning of the end for Randy and Hulk too because
Randy always thought that Hulk had something to do with it.
And, I'm with-- I've been with Hulk for 39 years.
Hulk had nothing to do with that.
He was shooting the doggone movie.
I think that when, when you separate and like
she's at home and he's on the road, that...
all of a sudden, it's a newfound freedom and
that's a whole brand new life on both parts.
You know, it was just a normal day.
I was just home with the kids...
beautiful day out, and this is probably like
5, 6 weeks after we wrapped filming and we left Miami.
You know, hard line phones.
I'm in the kitchen.
I'm giving Nick a bottle or whatever,
and it's Liz. I'm like, "Hey, Liz!
God, I miss you. How are you?"
You know...
And it was like dead silent on the other end of the phone.
I was like, "Liz?" She's like, "Linda...
I left Randy."
I was listening to her and she was like,
sounded like she was at a gas station or something.
I could hear cars going by on the freeway, you know.
I was like, oh my God.
She goes, "I'm done. I left him."
And I said, "Oh my God." I said, "Are you home?
Can I come help you? Can I talk to you?"
I was like, I need to talk some sense into this girl, you know.
And, she wasn't home. She goes,
"Nope. I'm halfway to Miami.
I'm going back. I met some people there.
I got a place to stay." She goes,
"Just promise me, don't tell Randy that I'm on the road."
She had a convertible, little red Cadillac.
And I, I just-- The mental picture in my mind was her,
like a country music video or something,
with two suitcases in the back and just driving her convertible
down to Miami with the wind blowing through her hair,
probably feeling free and relieved of the
constant submission that Randy had on her.
And it wasn't that he was trying to do it
out of being mean or anything.
It was just his protective way,
but she had just had enough of that suppression.
When Randy and Liz split up, you could tell there was
a change in the Macho Man.
You know, he was a little drawn back.
He really wasn't as intense as he was when they were together.
Once she was gone, he really kind of just went silent.
He lost all...
he didn't really care about the business,
you know, it was like the lights are on,
but nobody's home.
Sad, but yet, there was that exterior that was,
"Okay, I've gotta move on."
I think Randy was tormented.
You know, I mean, he had all the money,
all the stuff, and all that, but he always,
[gruff voice] he was never...
I don't know; he was always so wound up,
and I'm thinking "Mach, like, you've made it, bro."
Like, what's missing?
Like, what's it gonna take to make you happy?
One day, we were sitting in the car...
ah, waiting for Vince to come down,
taking forever, and Vince gets in the car,
shuts the door and says, "Gentlemen, Randy Savage is
now the proud property of World Championship Wrestling."
And, we're like...
"What happened?"
WCW was owned by Ted Turner, the competition to the WWF.
Ted Turner had started to try and lure talent from the
WWF over to WCW.
Hulk Hogan was the first talent that made the big jump.
The Macho Man, Randy Savage, he's interested in coming over
because the WWE, Randy had been
put out to pasture by Vince McMahon.
And Vince McMahon basically said, "Randy, you're too old.
Your gimmick's over, your shtick is done.
You're gonna be a colour commentator,"
and that hurt Randy.
I didn't want to reinvent a wheel that I believed
already worked. And by the way,
when Randy Savage came over...
[shattering glass]
- Want to spice up your life? - Yeah!
Have a Slim Jim!
...$750,000 a year of Slim Jim money came with him,
and Slim Jim wasn't interested in changing Randy Savage.
WCW has given the Macho Man a renewed career,
but his protective nature won't allow him to leave
his one true love behind.
Randy called her up and said, "Come on in.
You can be a part of the story line, make some money."
He's divorcing Elizabeth at this point,
but cares about her enough that he gets her a
250 grand a year contract,
just to kind of stand around and look pretty.
She wasn't even on camera much,
but he wanted her looked after.
Except this time, she was the villain and
Randy was the babyface. It was perfect.
She had changed so much.
She wasn't like the same little quiet girl I remember.
She was more talkative. So, I said, "What's happening?"
I go, "Are you dating anybody, or...?"
She goes, "Well, I'm kind of, like... seeing Lex."
And I go, "You're like seeing Lex?"
I go, "Lex is married."
And she goes, "I know; that's the problem."
I go, "Liz, that's not good."
Lex Luger was oftentimes considered, you know,
the second coming of Hulk Hogan.
Lex had a million-dollar body and he had a great look.
Lex Luger is a, one of the top names ever
in professional wrestling history.
He's easy to hate because it's like, what's--
there's nothing wrong with him.
She was... head over heels over him.
I could tell that.
Paired together as part of a wrestling story line,
Elizabeth and Lex Luger's professional relationship
evolves into a secret love affair.
They were a very happy couple.
They'd go work out at the gym together.
They would spend a lot of time together.
They were being a little bit sneaky,
but adjoining rooms and stuff, and...
and I guess you can't help who you're attracted to and
who you fall in love with, and I always liked Lex and
I always liked Liz. And hey,
if you guys make each other happy, go for it.
So, when the ideas started bouncing around about
blurring the lines, if you will,
between scripted and reality
with regard to Elizabeth's relationship with Randy
and their marriage and their divorce...
Randy, she's your ex-wife...
at least you owe her this much, man.
I was really shocked at first that Randy would
entertain some of those ideas.
I'm really lost and I need you, and I'm...
I don't think I can reach you.
He was still very protective of Elizabeth,
but in a much different way.
He watched Lex like a hawk.
It wasn't just that they were in a relationship;
Lex was married and he had kids.
Everybody knows that that's gonna end badly
one way or the other.
"Where are you living?
You have an apartment or whatever?"
She's like, "No, he's... he's got another place he's got,
he's keeping me in, but the weird thing is that it's in
the same complex of where he and his wife live."
I go, "Oh..." I said, "This is not good!"
It was pretty apparent also that they were both...
They were pilled up.
They were just spending too much time doing too many drugs.
I've never witnessed her doing any kind of drugs or pills,
and in fact, when we'd go out and drink,
she'd have two glasses of wine and she'd be
already like feeling it.
I'm like, "Oh, it's time to go home," you know.
Thing is, Liz doesn't weigh 270 like me and Lex.
Liz, Liz weighs about 85 pounds,
so she's taking...
same amount of pills that a 300-pounder's taking.
You know, they had some kind of a fight and
she fell down the stairs, and
she ended up with two black eyes.
In April of 2003, squad cars respond to a
domestic disturbance at the home of Lex Luger.
Upon their arrival, the police notice
Elizabeth has bruised eyes.
At first she denies the injuries are from Luger,
but she eventually admits to the authorities
that he did hit her.
Luger was charged with a misdemeanor account
of battery and released on bail.
I thought, falling down the stairs gave her two black eyes?
Hm...
PRODUCER: Talk about the idea of
getting Lex Luger on your podcast
and talk about that process and what you
wanted to talk to him about.
When Nick, my producer and co-host,
suggested it, you know, that we bring Lex on,
you know, I was, I had mixed emotions because I,
I still...
honestly, Lex, I'm sorry, but I still had some resentment,
even during the time we were making the call,
but Lex rose to the occasion.
He was, he was brutally honest.
I, I'll never forget...
The, ah-- It was actually early morning hours,
we were having just an evening watching movies together
and she came back and had been
sipping on some vodka and popping pills and,
literally, before the 9-1-1 call,
I realized she'd stopped breathing.
9-1-1: Okay, what I want you to do,
I want you to go over and see if she's breathing.
LEX: I can't tell.
9-1-1: I understand that, sir.
I have somebody on the way, but if she's not breathing,
you need to help her breathe.
You need to find out whether or not she's breathing.
Go over to her... Sir.
9-1-1: Lay down and check to see if she's breathing.
Look at her chest, see if it's rising.
LEX: It doesn't look like it is. I'm scared to death.
Terry called me and he just said, you know,
"Really, really bad news. Liz is dead."
And, like, when he said that,
I just felt like somebody poured a bucket of ice on me.
Oh, I was at home in Atlanta.
Heard it on the morning news.
I was pissed.
I was pissed because I saw Lex...
manipulating and exploiting a vulnerable person,
and using prescription drugs to do it.
LEX: They told me that Elizabeth had just passed.
I thought she was gonna make it and she was gonna go to
the hospital, and then I heard that she didn't make it.
Then, I was arrested on, I think, 17 felony counts,
and all the drugs they found in my house.
Thought I had the drugs under control,
but I ended up having--
getting control of Elizabeth and I,
and the tragedy of that, to witness that firsthand,
it was a very dark time, without a doubt.
I knew he was telling the truth.
I knew he was being honest and accepting responsibility.
I look at him so differently now.
Ah...
I respect him, which I never thought I'd hear myself say.
I want to ask you about Miss Elizabeth,
you know, her loss and everything, that...
earlier in your career, you guys
helped each other out in your career.
Yeah, we were actually married and we got a divorce,
like, which happens in life sometimes,
and we had separation, we had closure.
But, really feeling real bad for her and her family.
And a situation where we hadn't seen each other in
about maybe 5, 6 years, but, you know,
we had closure and we said hello and everything was all good.
But, feel bad for her family.
Elizabeth tragically passed away at the age of 42,
but grieving fans would have no idea that this epic saga
was approaching its final chapter.
This is my brother getting married for the
second time to the lovely Lynn Payne-Poffo.
In 2010, 7 years after Elizabeth's death,
Randy Savage finds love once again.
He, you know, weathered the storm through his divorce
and he was finally kind of on his feet,
he was remarried and, and...
just starting to kind of really enjoy his life.
When Randy retired from wrestling, he was
able to devote a lot of his time to the Special Olympics.
That was his passion and he...
enjoyed his final years as a sedentary person.
I was supposed to go to San Jose, California.
American Airlines stopped in Dallas.
I turned on my phone and there was a message on there
and it said, "This is Largo Medical.
Your brother and his wife were in an automobile accident,
and she's banged up and
your brother's in critical condition,"
but the way they said it, I knew.
I got a phone call early that morning from Lanny Poffo,
"Jimmy." "Yeah, Lanny.
I didn't have time to call ya 'cause it's early."
He goes, "No, listen. I'm coming back home."
"Why?"
And I could tell his voice was really shaky.
Goes, "What?" He goes, "I just got a phone call."
He said, "My brother just got killed."
We want to share some breaking news with you now
regarding a Randy Macho Man Savage.
You may know him well. He is a pro wrestler.
We have just confirmed that Randy Macho Man Savage has
died coming from the Florida Highway Patrol.
There was a car accident.
I was literally on my way to the airport to leave Clearwater
when I got the phone call from Hulk, or, Terry.
Crashed into a tree and died as a result of a heart attack.
It was, it's hard to believe.
Even now, sitting here doing this interview,
it's hard to believe it's true 'cause he,
he was so full of life.
He was so full of energy, brother,
it's hard to imagine that he's not here, really.
We're going to the site where my brother lost control,
and you're gonna see the tree.
They still got a few flowers,
although they've taken some of them down.
It's been 7 years, you know.
♪
I judge people by the way, for example,
Randy treated my kids. Oh, and that was it for me.
If I start thinking about that too much I'll cry.
He went out of his way to be really,
really good to kids, and that's how I judge people.
He loved Brooke and he loved kids.
I'm sure he probably would have said yes at any time
and loved to have kids with Liz.
I think it's a shame Liz isn't in the Hall of Fame.
I think that she was called the First Lady of Wrestling
for a reason. She was the first
significant female star who never wrestled.
Because he had her at his side,
made him even more special because she was so special.
She was the first female that was depicted in a...
in a powerful role.
She was beautiful, quiet, but she was class.
Elizabeth was class.
Maybe a boy named Timmy would come up with his father
and they say, "May I have your autograph, sir,"
and he'd, "Oh, yeah. Here's the deal, Timmy.
I'm gonna sign your autograph,
but you gotta do something for me."
"Well, what's that?"
"How ya doin' in school, Timmy?
How you doing in school? Are you doing your best?
'Cause Timmy, I'm gonna sign your autograph,
but if you don't do well in school,
if you don't do your best every single day,
it's gonna be real, real bad for you."
Randy and Elizabeth were greater than
the sum of their parts.
They were undoubtedly key to each other's legacy.
Fans had never before experienced a more emotional
and relatable story line on the complexity of love.
Together they transcended television,
and, well... wrestling, too.
Even after the divorce, they still had a tremendous
amount of love and respect for each other.
They were true, true celebrities and icons.
There's not one person on the whole planet earth that
doesn't know who they were.
From a wrestler's point of view,
she's one of the greatest performers ever, you know.
While both passed too soon, they left their legions of fans
with an epic love story that will last
long after they're gone.
To me, Randy Savage is on the Mount Rushmore of wrestling.
Could perform, could do an interview,
had the right look.
He was the Macho Man.
He was an innovator, he was a creator,
and he, he made the business better,
in my opinion.
I would call Randy Savage one of the all-time greatest,
without a doubt.
And the real human being, Randy Poffo,
was really a very good man, and a loving man.
It was a lot of art imitating life.
You know, sometimes in the world,
what really happens, it's not really planned.
After you roll with it, then all of a sudden,
you really turn into that character and turn into that
dilemma that takes place.
I think people will always want to think of her as
Miss Elizabeth, the one that'd been with Randy.
You don't want to remember her being with somebody else.
It just doesn't seem right.
I mean, that's what we were fed.
You know, that's what we believed.
♪