Anniversaries can bring out many different emotions depending on what happened on a particular day. A wedding anniversary can bring joy to a happy couple of 50 years, or if a person has gone through a rough divorce, when the day comes around, it brings a lot of different feelings such as sadness, anger, and pain. Of course, the day that marks the “anniversary” of the passing of one’s parents or of one’s friend also brings sadness as does the day that a deceased person would have celebrated their birthday on.
Of course, when we write about them, we have to put our journalism hats on, and turn off the fan button, and be objective, especially if we are discussing a serious topic. However, we do admire the performers, and we as fans do feel sad when the performer dies. We miss their talent, and if we have met them, the feeling is even worse, so when the “anniversaries” come around concerning their deaths or what would have been their birthdays, it is natural to be sad. However, it is good to celebrate their lives.
This two-part blog series will be about two athletes I admired that happened to have shared the same “anniversary,” November 15th which is today. However, one of them was born on this date, and the other, sadly, died on this date. The real sad part is that both are deceased, so it is really a sad day today for me, because I really enjoyed these two great athletes. I will be writing about the great racehorse, and sire, Alydar who died on November 15, 1990, and the great WWE, WCW wrestler, “Macho Man” Randy Savage who was born on November 15, 1952, and would have been 59 today.
As the two athletes are vastly different, I will divide this blog in two parts.
Let me start with Randy Savage (born on November 15, 1952). What a performer he was. I only have tapes, and such of old matches, because I only started watching wrestling seriously in Sept, 1998. However, his match with Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat” at Wrestlemania 3 was lights out. Great match for the Intercontinental Title that still stands up today. Love the WM 8 match with Ric Flair.
His connection with real life wife Miss Elizabeth was so awesome. They really looked so regal as a couple. The Mega Powers with Hogan angle was terrific. Their breakup both on and off screen is pretty fascinating. Hogan and Savage really had a lot of heat between one another, and it really was a shame it went so long. Savage had great feuds with Hogan, and Jake Roberts. As the “Macho King” with Sherri, he had that retirement match against the Ultimate Warrior , and carried Warrior to an awesome match. What I loved was at the end , after Savage lost, was that he and Miss Elizabeth reunited. I thought that was so touching and well done. It is something that WWE seems to have forgotten how to do: Tell a simple story.
Savage , in his waning years , worked in WCW, and had some pretty good matches. He was slowed by injuries at that point. He did do a stint in TNA, but it really wasn’t much. In his personal life, he and Elizabeth divorced in the 1990’s, and Savage eventually remarried Barbara Lynn Paine. On May 20, 2011, he was driving with his wife, and suffered a heart attack, and crashed into a tree, where he died at age 58, and his wife suffered minor injuries.
RIP MACHO MAN. You won’t be forgotten.
Terri Bey currently blogs for CamelClutchBlog.com about Wrestling, NFL, and other sports/pop culture related subjects. Her work has appeared in BleacherReport and for F4WOnline.com. Terri can be found here at Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/TerriBey and at Twitter- http://www.twitter.com/missedgehead
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