Lanny Poffo On Which WWE Legend Randy Savage Wanting To Pass Torch To, His Heat With Pat Patterson
By 1993, Randy Savage's days in a WWE ring were coming to an end as he was primarily a broadcaster for Raw. But Savage's brother, Lanny Poffo, tells of a storyline that Savage proposed involving Shawn Michaels that was shot down by Pat Patterson.
"I remember he called me up at 2 in the morning? and he said, 'can you find some breakaway champagne bottles?' So I said 'yeah, I can do that'. His plan was to toast to Shawn Michaels' career," Lanny Poffo said on The Genius Cast. "He would pour a drink, they would toast and then they would drink. Then Randy would smash the bottle over Shawn Michaels' head, starting a two-year feud ending in WrestleMania, where Shawn Michaels loses his hair if he loses, and Randy returns to the announcing table if he loses.
"So what happened? Pat Patterson says, 'well Randy, we're having a youth movement and the best thing you can do is to stay on the microphone.'"
Poffo went on to say that Savage was willing to lose to Michaels just as he did to Ricky Steamboat at WrestleMania III. Poffo compared it to the Montreal Screwjob but said instead of Bret Hart not doing business, Savage was willing to do what was best for business but Patterson wouldn't let him.
Poffo's ire for Pat Patterson doesn't end there as he also says the Poffo family has had a grudge against Patterson since the 1980s. In 1987 there was a Legends Battle Royal in WWE that both Savage and Lanny wanted their father, Angelo, to be a part of. But Patterson declined letting the then-62-year-old Angelo be a part of the match.
"I told Sean Mooney that I saw Pat Patterson in 2015 [at the Hall of Fame]," said Poffo. "He said, 'I am sorry about the Battle Royal. I didn't mean to do it. It was an oversight.' ...What I noticed about it was that three men were in it that didn't belong in that ring: Nick Bockwinkel, Tony Garea, and Rene Goulet. The reason why these three men didn't belong in the ring was they were road agents, and they had recently participated in this sport. They were still active, and Nick Bockwinkel still looked like a world champion. Everybody else that was in the ring looked like they had their walkers.
"Anyway, what I told Sean Mooney, and I really need to apologize for this, I said that the purpose I went to San Jose was 1) to induct my brother into the WWE Hall of Fame, 2) do my speech and 3) was to go home. I wasn't there to get in a fight with Pat Patterson, so I just let him talk and I looked at him, and I watched him lie. Then he started to change the topic and giving me advice. I thought to myself, look, he still smells like an ashtray. He is 11 months pregnant and never going to deliver, and why should I waste my time talking to him? He is going to be dead soon, and then I said, not soon enough. It didn't feel wrong when I said it, but a few weeks later when I played it back I was so embarrassed because I was thinking to myself that I didn't want to live holding grudges."
Lanny Poffo also talked about how Savage didn't want to go into the WWE Hall of Fame unless their father was inducted as well. After Savage passed away in 2011, Lanny wanted to honor his brother's request but WWE didn't want to induct the entire Poffo family. Eventually Lanny realized that Savage not going into the Hall of Fame was a disservice to the fans, so he told WWE he was willing to let only Savage be inducted. WWE was on board with that and Savage was inducted by Hulk Hogan into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015 with Lanny accepting the honor on his brother's behalf.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Genius Cast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Genius Cast with Lanny Poffo
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.