Dark Side of the Ring 1x1

1. [MUSIC]

2. If you were to try to package intensity and electricity and

3. just pure explosiveness into one package, that

4. would have been the Macho Man, ready to savage.

5. My God, Macho Man.

6. It's a stick of dynamite that is lit.

7. Fuse has gotten very short.

8. 100% of men who come at you with 100%.

9. The Macho Man Randy Savage, he was loud.

10. The cream of the crop.

11. It was colorful.

12. It was intense.

13. Yeah.

14. Miss Elizabeth was not.

15. Elizabeth was an icon and a role model for so many women.

16. Her character was something that brought a lot of feeling and emotion to the matches.

17. Elizabeth, I love you.

18. Randy Macho Man Savage and Miss Elizabeth were wrestling royalty.

19. And their roller coaster romance captivated audiences around the world.

20. It's Bonnie and Clyde, it's Romeo and Juliet.

21. They were the first male-female package that was created in that new WWF model.

22. They were the first and they were the best.

23. Dysfunctional, as it may have been in some respects, but I saw it.

24. It's a love story.

25. On this episode, art imitates life as we examine a fictional love story

26. surrounding a real life marriage that explodes

27. beyond the ring with tragic consequences.

28. [MUSIC]

29. Well first actually, tell us who you are.

30. I don't wanna do that.

31. Okay.

32. Look at how ripped I was.

33. Look at that belly, good God.

34. It's in fighting shape right there.

35. My name is Bruce Pritchard and I have actually

36. worked in the wrestling business for about 45 years.

37. First time I met Randy Savage was in 1987 in Houston, Texas.

38. Randy got into the wrestling business.

39. He's a second generation wrestler.

40. His father, Angelo Poffo, was one of the greats.

41. And Angelo had a wrestling territory.

42. It was considered back in the day an outlaw wrestling territory.

43. And through nothing against the Macho man here,

44. number one professional wrestler complete, mental infinity now.

45. Let him chant to Randy, he'll go down in history and then bring him here.

46. And bring him here.

47. I don't know about this, they're right sitting down.

48. Then all of a sudden, it's time for Randy Savage to appear.

49. Jimmy, baby, the best thing that you can do is probably just stand back and

50. let the Macho man talk, cuz there's nothing that

51. you could say that I couldn't say better myself.

52. There was a period in the wrestling business where if

53. you were crazy on screen, you were crazy off screen.

54. You had to live your gimmick and Randy played crazy really well.

55. And he lived it 24/7.

56. [MUSIC]

57. Just personally, do you think it'd be okay

58. if I came out that Randy was a bedwetter?

59. [LAUGH]

60. What was it like growing up with Randy as a brother?

61. He's the same as any other Alpha male, except his dial is not only past 10,

62. but it's broken and it's gone off the hinges.

63. I was upstaged every day, but I knew it was getting

64. over, so I was proud to be holding the rope.

65. He had a dream that he could be a villain, a bad guy, a ruffian.

66. He wanted to be an antagonist cuz he felt he had more

67. creativity than just being the pawn of the villain.

68. Randy would take a lot of risks.

69. He would say, yeah, I stare into a candle for two hours.

70. Stare at a candle for about two hours, they cut my head together.

71. Some people loved him, some people hated him.

72. But everybody respected him because when you see

73. that kind of athleticism, you have to buy into it.

74. [MUSIC]

75. So this is my autograph table.

76. Okay, this was another night where I think everybody was drinking too much red wine.

77. And right here is that little thing.

78. Never know what he meant by it, but that's what Macho

79. carved into the table and he used to say, whatever it takes.

80. I'm Linda Bolaya, married to my ex-husband,

81. professional wrestler, Hulk Hogan, for 25 years.

82. Aww, it was back when we loved each other.

83. [LAUGH]

84. In the olden days.

85. So once I met Miss Elizabeth, we ended up being friends

86. because I was really the only other female on the road.

87. Elizabeth was from Frankfurt, Kentucky.

88. Good upbringing, she addressed her mom as mother and she said, we were broke.

89. My dad left early, it was just me and my mom and

90. my brother and money was always really tight.

91. There was a gym called Cinté Sports Center and

92. Randy worked out there and then one fine day

93. a new girl came and that was Elizabeth Hewitt.

94. And she said Randy was in the gym about six in the morning and

95. she's working the front desk and he comes in and she goes, my, your eyes are so red.

96. And he goes, you should see them from this side.

97. And I said, I like to listen, said that did it for you?

98. That one line like reeled you in?

99. My name is Scott Oliver Hall.

100. I also was wrestling as Ray Zorimon, the bad guy.

101. I don't know, if I was a chick, I'd have begged Randy.

102. I thought he was cool as hell.

103. Randy would always tell the story that it was love at first sight.

104. Yeah, she saw me and fell in love.

105. What more could she want?

106. Liz would always be like, yeah, it took a little while to get used to it.

107. [LAUGH]

108. She was beautiful, she was phenomenal and she was excellent.

109. What a nice person too.

110. And I think that came across on television.

111. Elizabeth got involved in ICW as an announcer.

112. And she also helped with the editing.

113. Because it was a mom and pop shop, we did everything.

114. And she was adaptable and brilliant and very quick to learn.

115. Their first wedding was in Frankfurt, Kentucky at the home of Elizabeth's mother.

116. And that was about six months before Randy made his debut with WWE.

117. All right, this is gonna be a Jimmy Hart one, here we go.

118. Hey, it's me, the mouth of the sound of Jimmy Hart.

119. The sun is shining, life is great.

120. There's Randy and myself and Hulk and WCW when I manage them for a few matches.

121. The rest was history.

122. He goes, how's New York?

123. I said, it's great.

124. I said, look, they just saw your tapes.

125. They want you in New York.

126. The macho man, Randy Savage, who is quite a competitor,

127. making his World Wrestling Federation debut.

128. Vince and Linda McMahon had come down to Florida

129. to get the contract signed before WrestleMania One.

130. Is that Vince?

131. My gosh, whoa.

132. When Vince took over, he went around every

133. territory, took the very best of what was in it.

134. He made you bigger than life.

135. Vince was taking it to a whole completely new level that

136. none of us were ready for or even knew about or used to.

137. And we were all in for a big huge learning curve.

138. When Macho came on board, Vince was like, well, we really want your

139. character to have a valet, a woman, a manager.

140. Yeah, I think Randy probably just sat down and said, look,

141. I wanna come up here and I think I can make you money in this territory.

142. Can we work a spot out for Liz because she's gonna go with me on the road.

143. She's gonna be with me.

144. Randy, if he loves somebody, whether it was his brother or

145. whether it was Liz or whoever, he was gonna be very loyal to them.

146. Macho Man is at this peak right now.

147. And we all know who the manager is gonna be.

148. They fell in love with her as soon as she opened

149. up the door and stepped into wrestling history.

150. You can't.

151. Uh-oh.

152. Uh-oh.

153. Uh-oh.

154. Oh, my.

155. Liz was very demure, very quiet, gentle soul.

156. The person and the character were really one and the same.

157. As far as the persona of the Macho Man and the package of

158. the Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth was they were two opposites.

159. And Randy's so intense and Elizabeth so subdued.

160. They wanted you to love Elizabeth and hate Randy.

161. Picture of Elizabeth, no picture of the Macho Man and

162. Miss Elizabeth, that's very, very, very bad Elizabeth.

163. Randy would bring her out, she'd stand at ringside,

164. he'd get into Randy's circle and then he'd get out.

165. No, I told you to stand here.

166. And people were hating Randy just for browbeating the beautiful young girl.

167. Like you knew you could do better than him, honey, get away from him.

168. And there would be times that Randy would give Liz a look and

169. just turn his head and give her those eyes and she would almost be subservient.

170. Macho Man, Randy Savage and Ned Reynolds.

171. I'm sorry, Randy.

172. Shut up and keep pilots and if I lose today, it's your fault.

173. Each time they did it, they just, you're sorry,

174. son of a, you know, that's exactly what they wanted.

175. And you want Liz to see the light, but Liz,

176. underneath this, you're saying, man, she loves her man.

177. And you infer that Randy mistreats her, but he never really does.

178. He's just a little intense.

179. By the spring of 1987, Elizabeth and Randy are red hot.

180. They're about to make history in front of a record-breaking crowd of 93,000 fans.

181. WrestleMania III was, at the time, the largest indoor attendance record.

182. I mean, the largest gathering indoor of any event in the world.

183. Jesus.

184. Yeah.

185. And I'm a label man, 90,000 people.

186. I had Alice Cooper with me.

187. I mean, the electricity from the crowd was just unbelievable.

188. I mean, your skin is crawling.

189. It feels like your hair is growing.

190. The Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat match, WrestleMania III,

191. I think a lot of people consider one of the greatest matches of all time.

192. Two of the greatest athletes that I have ever seen in my life.

193. All that athleticism, all the drama, all that excitement.

194. It killed him that he could never surpass that match.

195. He was a perfectionist, and perfectionists are never happy.

196. The thing with Savage, I learned later on, of course,

197. when I started working with Savage was trying to hold him down.

198. Because he always wanted to give more.

199. Well, sometimes you can give too much.

200. Two years after their debut, Randy and Elizabeth are taking the WWF by storm.

201. But a surprising twist in their storyline would

202. propel them to the top of the wrestling world.

203. I pulled out a bunch of pictures I tried to find of Liz and Randy.

204. This is sweet.

205. It was Randy and Liz.

206. This was just at the condo.

207. We were just hanging out in Florida.

208. Polaroid picture.

209. Macho.

210. Little picture of Elizabeth.

211. So sweet.

212. So Macho man, he always kept Elizabeth in

213. the dressing room, so nobody really knew her.

214. Then one night, Macho came into our dressing room and said, "Where's Linda?"

215. And "Liz needs some help with her hair."

216. And she had her hair kind of like coiffed and

217. tightly curled, and it was just sort of church curl.

218. And I said, "Bitch, you need to just bring that stuff out."

219. And so I started getting her hair teased up and kind of stacked it out.

220. She's like, "Oh yeah, I like that."

221. Once we all realized that, "Hey, I live in Tampa.

222. Oh, you live in Tampa? Yeah, I live in Clearwater.

223. I live in Largo."

224. We all kind of lived in this area, so we thought, "Hey, let's all get together."

225. It was nice because when we did get a few days off,

226. I could call on her and she could call on me,

227. and we could either go shopping or we could hit the beach,

228. and it was just great because at least you had somebody to do something with.

229. Hope would have big parties over there and invite

230. everybody, and Randy and Liz would go to it.

231. And it seems like that's when she was the most happiest,

232. when she could be out around the people and kind of be herself.

233. You know, we'd be barbecuing in the backyard the weekend before.

234. Terry would always kind of lay it out,

235. "Here's how I want to run it," and then Randy'd throw in some ideas.

236. You know, and Liz would always just go along with whatever, talking about the angle.

237. The hotter the heel and people after a while will begin

238. to respect you, and Randy was so good, he was hard to boo.

239. The audience liked him and it was hard to ignore.

240. Randy Savage was really catching on as a babyface,

241. and people had grown to really love the Macho Man.

242. By the end of 1987, the fans' love for Randy Savage

243. inspires a revelation in Vince McMahon, a partnership with the company's top hero

244. to create a team unlike anything pro wrestling has ever seen.

245. The two biggest names in wrestling business at that time

246. are going to combine forces, you know, the madness in Hulkamania combining forces.

247. Brother.

248. With the madness in the mania.

249. Bigger powers, yeah!

250. I mean, who's going to match up against them?

251. By the summer of 1988,

252. Hogan and Savage with Elizabeth as their manager appear invincible.

253. They've destroyed all challengers and the only place left to turn is on each other.

254. What we knew is that we would have the mega powers explode.

255. You create the mega powers, for the mega powers to explode.

256. Especially when one is a paranoid schizophrenic

257. and the other is the all-American dude.

258. And what is the easiest thing for two men to argue?

259. A woman.

260. Summer slam 88.

261. Randy hoist lives up on his shoulder and goes

262. around and when he does, it's like a little slip.

263. Hulk puts his hand up, steadier.

264. Freeze it!

265. Look at how long his hand is on Elizabeth.

266. Nobody touches Elizabeth.

267. There was Hulk, say your prayers, take your vitamins, you know,

268. here's the American flag and here's Randy going,

269. you know, I don't think you're as truthful as everybody thinks you really are.

270. They don't realize that underneath, he's been boiling.

271. You got luck in your head and in your black heart for Elizabeth.

272. Randy is the jealous, raving lunatic

273. and Hulk is the best friend who's trying to screw his best friend's girl.

274. Pick her up and put Elizabeth where she has never

275. been before on top of another man's shoulder.

276. It's easy for him to blow it out of proportion

277. because you can tell the jealousy side of it.

278. He's blinded by love and he's blinded by rage.

279. He's paranoid.

280. He's got the championship.

281. He's got the whole world on his back.

282. So of course everybody's trying to knock him off.

283. Even his best friend.

284. His best friend's not only trying to knock him off, he's trying to take my girl.

285. They were really playing off of Randy's paranoia and it was real.

286. So that's what made it really work.

287. The Twin Towers, Big Boss Man and Joaquin, against Randy and Hulk, the Mega Powers.

288. But there was a point in the match where Randy

289. took a bump out and ended up taking Liz out.

290. Hulk sees that she's hurt, and carries her back to get her help.

291. You're hovering over, over the bed.

292. How dare you?

293. I'm out there fighting for my life.

294. But you're more concerned about her.

295. It all makes sense now.

296. When you take a look at the madness's eyes,

297. all you're gonna see is complete and utter rage.

298. That's me.

299. What corner is Elizabeth gonna be in?

300. Well, a lot of people wonder,

301. did Randy really control her in and out of the ring? Absolutely.

302. Randy, very protective of my God.

303. He had no idea when he would get visibly upset with anybody.

304. Tried to talk to her, carry out a conversation with her.

305. He just did not like it.

306. When they would be getting ready for an event, we didn't want any malfunctions.

307. He was in the wardrobe, so he would literally take

308. the tape and wrap it all around her whole body.

309. And then the other big thing was because she was always in a short dress,

310. was getting into the ring and entering the ring over the robe.

311. And was she gonna go over the second robe?

312. She should go under it.

313. This was all a big huge thing for Randy because this was his wife.

314. He loved and respected her.

315. And he didn't want anybody to be making fun of her.

316. He was definitely in charge of that relationship, and she was just the tag-alongs.

317. I think that that started to grow on her.

318. I think that started to just unnerve her.

319. That may have been where a lot of the issues started.

320. In WrestleMania V, are you gonna be a Lomacho man?

321. Randy Savage's corner.

322. When you take real life situations and you put it in front of the camera,

323. it's great because it's usually very relatable.

324. No! No!

325. However, when you take your real life feelings and you put them on camera

326. and you make it a part of a storyline, because they don't know you.

327. They don't know what you guys do when the door is shut at night.

328. They have no clue.

329. But they know you're really married and they know

330. what you said on TV, you sorry son of a bitch.

331. Life imitating art, and sometimes art imitates life.

332. And then you get really...

333. Being on the road 24/7 with your spouse, it's not an easy task.

334. You know, Elizabeth, as his wife, had those same duties as I did.

335. I did travel with Randy and Liz a lot.

336. And their relationship was that of a married couple on the road.

337. They didn't go out and party, went back to the

338. room, went to bed, and they had their privacy.

339. You'd get back to the room and she would have to scrub the blood off the boots

340. like I did to have to Terry's from their wrestling match.

341. You know, you'd put the wrestling boots in the bathtub

342. of the hotel and wash them off, get all the blood off,

343. because they had to wear them the next night.

344. And I'm sure he probably wanted to get laid.

345. And I'm sure she probably didn't, you know, and maybe she did and he didn't.

346. Then her, unlike me, she has to think about herself.

347. What the hell dress is she going to wear?

348. I had my wife involved for a while, but it is

349. brutal, man, having your wife around the guys.

350. They did practical jokes that were cruel.

351. I'm telling you, they used people's suitcases as toilets.

352. There were no boundaries. That was a problem.

353. I mean, you know, cutting somebody's hair off while they're passed out.

354. I mean, I wouldn't want my wife around that shit.

355. The pattern seemed to be that Randy wanted to keep

356. Elizabeth away from the boys as much as possible.

357. You know, I just don't blame him, really.

358. Randy being so intense and being so watchful over her, she couldn't have freedom.

359. And I think you can't smother somebody all the time like that.

360. Elizabeth wanted to leave the road, and she wanted Randy to quit.

361. Randy wasn't done yet. Randy was so enjoying it.

362. I knew she needed to have more socialization and

363. more friends, and she missed having the normal life.

364. But Liz apparently was looking for something

365. more than that than I realized at the time.

366. By 1990, an exhausted Elizabeth asked for some time off the road,

367. and the WWF seized this as an opportunity to

368. reinvent the Macho Man into a new kind of villain.

369. We did Randy as the heel. We made Randy the Macho King

370. and thought that Sensational Sherry, to be his manager, another female,

371. and making the queen. Sherry was a women's wrestler,

372. and the guys loved working with Sherry because she could take it.

373. She was tough as nails.

374. Queen Sherry has a whole new dimension to the Macho Man's character,

375. but the fans demand to see wrestling First Lady back in her rightful place.

376. Every day that Randy spent with Sherry, everybody said,

377. "Let's bring Elizabeth. Where's Elizabeth? Where's Elizabeth?"

378. I mean, the people hungered for Elizabeth.

379. Going into WrestleMania, Randy was looking to take the summer off.

380. He and Liz were looking to spend time together as

381. husband and wife, not being on the road all the time.

382. So the idea was at WrestleMania VII, to have a career match

383. with the Ultimate Warrior. To have a warrior lost, he was gone.

384. For Andy Lost, he was gone.

385. We had shown earlier in the night that in attendance that night

386. was Elizabeth in the crowd, sitting like in the fourth row.

387. And when Sherry started to kick Randy and go after Randy,

388. Liz made her way to the ring and pulled Sherry

389. off, and Liz is there fighting for a man.

390. And people are slowly applauding, and you see grown men with tears in their eyes.

391. That's emotional. That's good stuff. We got them.

392. Because they felt it, and people could feel that too.

393. Getting back together, getting back to the one you really love.

394. Elizabeth, will you marry me?

395. Despite being married in real life for seven years, which was kept secret from fans,

396. Randy and Elizabeth's characters finally tied

397. the knot on live television on August 26, 1991.

398. Oh yeah!

399. And they were excited. They were like two kids, planning for their wedding.

400. Thinking it was just the first time you ever saw the Macho Man

401. break down and have a human emotion, other than anger.

402. You saw him actually happy, and you saw him emotionally care

403. for someone outwardly, which you had never seen before.

404. Liz and Randy are having this beautiful wedding ceremony.

405. Now cue the devil.

406. They did the reception bullshit.

407. Put the snake in the box and I'm like, "Rad, I got it started. I kicked it off."

408. 14, 15 foot, King Cobra.

409. Look at that son of a bitch.

410. A beautiful, beautiful animal.

411. Randy came to me and said,

412. "So tonight I hear we're going to do something a little different."

413. "Mwah, yeah man, those snakes biting and he's

414. like, "Yeah, so, uh, has the snake been fixed?"

415. "Yeah, it's a cobra, you dumb shit.

416. Of course it's been fixed.

417. Maybe it has and maybe it isn't.

418. How about the snake biting you first?"

419. "What?"

420. "You, man, I... oh, oh, you don't want it to bite you.

421. Because if you won't let the snake bite you, that tells me it hasn't been fixed."

422. He's dead.

423. "You serious, man?"

424. So I went and got the snake, rolled up my pants' leg and it bite me.

425. And he's like, "Don't move. Don't take no pills.

426. Don't take no anod. Don't take no serums.

427. No... nothing, brother."

428. For like 20 minutes, man, he's like, "I'm gonna get you a key that you feel.

429. I'm a bit pissed off right now. I had to be honest with you."

430. So when it was time for that snake to bite him,

431. I got the snake out, turned my back to him,

432. and I paintbrushed the shit out of that snake, pissed it off.

433. And then whenever I turned around, that snake was just... [growls]

434. You know, he was ready.

435. And I got him close to the radio and he latched on and would not let go.

436. I mean, the time that you seen it on television was nothing to the real time.

437. It went on forever. That's why I'm sending the listeners down.

438. "Get the snake off of it. Get it off of it."

439. They said, "Now!" I'm like, "I'm trying."

440. And I'm pulling on the snake and it wouldn't let go.

441. It's just chewing on me.

442. And it's like anything else. First time it's ever been done, it shocks people, man.

443. The visual, you know.

444. Bottom line is nobody ever felt sorry for Randy.

445. They felt sorry for her.

446. It's not a good situation like with me whenever I slapped Elizabeth.

447. And then they tried to go home to see her family.

448. Grandpa meets him on the porch and says, "You're not coming in this house, boy."

449. He promised us she'd always protect our little girl.

450. The only way he could gain access back into their home was basically kicking my ass

451. and getting even in some sort of... "These are Tennessee folks, bro."

452. [laughs]

453. You know?

454. Rastled real people are fake.

455. What was the state of their relationship at

456. the time that they were getting married again?

457. I would say tumultuous.

458. I'm the verge of breaking up.

459. So, Terry had been cast in a movie called "Mr. Nanny."

460. It required us to be down in Miami for about eight weeks.

461. So, Liz called and goes, "When are you going to be back home?"

462. And I said, "I'm going back the next week."

463. She's like, "Oh." She's like, "Randy, can I please go?"

464. I heard her talking to him on the back of the phone.

465. She's like, "Can I please go? I want to go help Linda with the kids.

466. I just want to go see them and hang out with Nick and Brooke in the pool and stuff."

467. And he's like, "Well, only if you're going to be

468. babysitting and you're going to be with Linda."

469. She flew down with us. It was so much fun.

470. She helped me unload the kids. We got the toys. We were hanging out.

471. We're all going to go out to dinner, you know?

472. I said, "So, I'll just go get ready, do whatever,

473. come back from your workout or whatever."

474. And 7.30, I'm thinking, like, "Are we going to

475. do our makeup together and our hair together?"

476. Which is what we always did. So, I'm kind of like knocking on her door.

477. The light is on. You can see under the door, but she's not answering.

478. Where's Liz?

479. In 1992, leaving her husband, Randy Samby, behind,

480. Elizabeth travels alone to Miami to stay with Hulk Hogan and his wife, Linda.

481. Terry had to film the next morning, and the whole

482. next day goes on, and I see her at the pool.

483. I'm like, "Liz, where were you? You know, we were worried about you."

484. And she's like, "Oh, well, I met this other gentleman that lives in the building,

485. and he has an extra room here in the building,

486. and he thought maybe I'd want to take it."

487. The way I heard the story was that Liz wanted away from Randy,

488. and so she contacted Hulk's wife, Linda, and went and stayed with them.

489. Now, meanwhile, Randy is freaking out because

490. he doesn't know where the love of his life is.

491. Randy kept calling my room, wanting to talk to Liz.

492. And I was like, "Liz is not here."

493. I didn't say she had her home room. I just said, "She's not here.

494. I think she's with friends," or something like that.

495. And he goes, "Well, where is she?" I was like, "She's not here. She's not here."

496. Randy was like, "I'm going to fly down. You

497. know, don't tell her, because I don't like this.

498. You know, she's never, like, missed my calls, and she should

499. be answering, or she should at least be calling me back."

500. Three hours later, he lands, comes in blazing in the door, blazing, guns fired,

501. looking for Liz, and I'm sitting there, and he's like, "Where's Liz?"

502. I was like, "Randy, look. I don't know."

503. He's like, "What? You know, where do you

504. think she is? You know, who was she with last?

505. What did you guys do? I'm going to go find

506. Liz, and I want you sitting here in the chair.

507. And if you so much as leave this chair, and you smarten

508. her up and tell her that I'm here looking for her, you're going to hear about it."

509. I'd never seen Randy like this before in my life,

510. because I'd never even seen him argue or fight.

511. Seriously, I really hadn't.

512. So him and Terry went out the door, and I didn't know what was going on.

513. I just knew I wasn't leaving the chair.

514. And I guess he found her.

515. Terry came back to the room and said, "I left

516. them on their own. They're sorting it out."

517. So they got in their rental car, and they

518. drove back home, and he basically told Terry,

519. in so many words or less, like, "Liz is not coming

520. back to Miami, and there's no more hanging out.

521. The party's over. This is ridiculous. She just went too crazy."

522. I think Randy felt, again, life imitating art, that Hulk was taking Liz aside.

523. Well, that was the beginning of the end for them,

524. but the beginning of the end for Randy and Hulk, too,

525. because Randy always thought that Hulk had something new with it.

526. And I've been Hulk for 39 years. Hulk had nothing to do with that.

527. He was shooting the Dadgum movie.

528. I think that when you separate, and, like, she's at home and he's on the road,

529. that all of a sudden it's a newfound freedom,

530. and that's a whole brand-new life on both parts.

531. You know, it was just a normal day. I was just home with the kids, beautiful day out,

532. and this is probably, like, five, six weeks after we wrapped filming and we left Miami.

533. You know, hard line phones. I'm in the kitchen.

534. I'm giving Nick a bottle or whatever, and it's Liz.

535. I'm like, "Hey, Liz! God, I miss you. How are you?" You know?

536. And it was, like, dead silent on the other end of the phone.

537. I was like, "Liz?" She's like, "Linda?"

538. I left Randy.

539. I was listening to her, and she sounded like she was at a gas station or something.

540. Your car is going by in the freeway, you know? I was like, "Oh, my God."

541. She goes, "I'm done. I left him." And I said, "Oh, my God."

542. I said, "Are you home? Can I come help you? Can I talk to you?"

543. I was like, "I need to talk some sense to this girl, you know?"

544. And she wasn't home. She goes, "Nope. I'm halfway to Miami. I'm going back.

545. I met some people there, and I've got a place to stay."

546. She goes, "Just promise me, don't tell Randy, that I'm on the road."

547. She had a convertible little red Cadillac, and I just...

548. The mental picture in my mind was her, like, a country music video or something

549. with two suitcases in the back and her just driving her

550. convertible down to Miami with the wind blowing through her hair.

551. I was probably feeling free and relieved.

552. The constant submission that Randy had on her.

553. And it wasn't that he was trying to do it out of being mean or anything.

554. It was just his protective way, but she had just had enough of that suppression.

555. When Randy and Liz split up, you could tell there was a change in the mantra, man.

556. You know, he was a little drawn back.

557. He really wasn't as intense as he was when they were together.

558. Once she was gone, he really kind of just went silent.

559. He lost all... He didn't really care about the business.

560. You know, it was like the lights were on, but nobody's home.

561. Sad, but yet there was that exterior that was, "Okay, I gotta move on."

562. I think Randy was tormented.

563. You know, I mean, he had all the money, all the stuff

564. and all that, but he always knew he was never...

565. I don't know, he was always so wound up, and I'm

566. thinking, "Mosh, you've made it, bro. What's missing?

567. What's it gonna take to make you happy?"

568. One day, we were sitting in the car, waiting for Vince to come down,

569. take him forever, and Vince gets in the car, shuts the door, says,

570. "Gentlemen, Randy Savage is now the proud property of World Championship Wrestling."

571. And we were like, "What happened?"

572. [MUSIC]

573. WCW was owned by Ted Turner, a competition to the WWF.

574. Ted Turner had started to try and lure talent from the WWF over to WCW.

575. Hulk Hogan was the first talent that made the big job.

576. The muscle man, Randy Savage, he's interested in coming over,

577. and as a WWE, Randy had been put out to pasture by Vince McMahon.

578. Vince McMahon basically said, "Randy, you're too old, you're gimmicks over,

579. your stick is done, you're gonna be a color commentator," and that hurt Randy.

580. I didn't want to reinvent a wheel that I believed already worked.

581. And by the way, when Randy Savage came over... [MUSIC]

582. $750,000 a year of Slim Jim money came with him,

583. and Slim Jim wasn't interested in changing Randy Savage.

584. WCW has given the muscle man a renewed career,

585. but his protective nature won't allow him to leave his one true love behind.

586. Randy called her up and said, "Come on in, you

587. can be a part of the storyline, make some money."

588. He's divorced from Elizabeth at this point,

589. but cares about her enough that he gets her a 250 grand a year contract,

590. just to kind of stand around and look pretty.

591. She wasn't even on camera much, but he wanted her looked after.

592. Except this time, she was the fella and Randy was the baby face, it was perfect.

593. She had changed so much.

594. She wasn't like the same little quiet girl, I remember.

595. She was more talkative, so I said, "What's happening?"

596. I go, "Were you dating anybody?"

597. She goes, "Well, I'm kind of like seeing Lex."

598. And I go, "You're like seeing Lex."

599. I go, "Lex is married."

600. And she goes, "I know. That's the problem."

601. I go, "This. That's not good.".

602. Lex Luger was oftentimes considered the second coming of Hulk Hogan.

603. Lex had a million dollar body and he had a great look.

604. Lex Luger is one of the top names ever in the professional wrestling industry.

605. He's easy to hate because it's like, there's nothing wrong with him.

606. She was head over heels over him. I could tell that.

607. Paired together as part of a wrestling storyline,

608. Elizabeth and Lex Luger's professional

609. relationship evolves into a secret love affair.

610. They were a very happy couple. They'd go work out in the gym together.

611. They would spend a lot of time together.

612. They were being a little bit sneaky, but adjoining rooms and stuff.

613. And I guess you can't help who you're attracted to and who you fall in love with.

614. And I always liked Lex and I always liked Liz.

615. And hey, if you guys make each other happy, go for it.

616. So when the idea started bouncing around about blurring the lines, if you will,

617. between scripted and reality with regard to Elizabeth's

618. relationship with Randy and their marriage and their divorce.

619. Randy, she's your ex-wife. At least you over this much, man.

620. I was really shocked at first that Randy would entertain some of those ideas.

621. I'm really bald and I need you. And I don't think I can raise you.

622. He was still very protective of Elizabeth, but in a much different way.

623. He watched Lex like a hawk. It wasn't just that they were in a relationship.

624. Lex was married and had kids. Everybody knows that

625. that's going to end badly one way or the other.

626. Where are you living? Do you have an apartment or whatever?

627. She's like, no, he's got another place. He's keeping me in.

628. But the weird thing is that it's in the same complex of where he and his wife live.

629. I go, oh, I said, this is not good.

630. It was pretty apparent also that they were both... they were pilled up.

631. They were just spending too much time doing too many drugs.

632. I've never witnessed her doing any kind of drugs or pills.

633. And in fact, when we'd go out and drink, she'd have two glasses of wine

634. and she'd be already like feeling it. I'm like, oh, it's time to go home, you know?

635. The thing is, Liz doesn't weigh 270 like me and Lex. Liz weighs about 85 pounds.

636. So she's taking the same amount of pills that 300 pounds was taking.

637. You know, they had some kind of a fight and she fell

638. down the stairs and she ended up with two black eyes.

639. In April of 2003, squad cars respond to a

640. domestic disturbance at the home of Lex Luger.

641. Upon their arrival, the police notice Elizabeth has bruised eyes.

642. At first, she denies the injuries are from Luger, but she

643. eventually admits to the authorities that he did hit her.

644. Luger was charged with misdemeanor count of battery and released on bail.

645. I thought falling down the stairs gave her two black eyes.

646. Talk about the idea of getting Lex Luger on your podcast

647. and talk about how that process is what we wanted to talk to him about.

648. When Nick, my producer and co-host suggested that we bring Lex on,

649. you know, I had mixed emotions because I still...

650. Honestly, Lex, I'm sorry, but I still had some resentment.

651. Even during the time we were making the call, but Lex Rose to the occasion.

652. He was brutally honest.

653. I'll never forget that it was actually early morning hours.

654. We were having just an evening watching movies together and kicking back

655. and having to sit down on vodka and popping pills and literally,

656. before the 911 call, I realized she had stopped breathing.

657. Okay, what I want you to do, I want you to go over and see if she's breathing.

658. I think... Al, please send somebody here so she knows what they're doing.

659. I understand that, sir.

660. I have somebody on the way, but if she's

661. not breathing, you need to help her breathe.

662. You need to find out whether or not she's breathing.

663. Go over to her, sir.

664. Oh, my God.

665. Lay down and check to see if she's breathing.

666. Look at her chest. See if it's rising.

667. I don't want it like it is. I'm scared at death.

668. Terry called me and he just said, you know, really, really bad news.

669. Liz is dead.

670. And, like, when he said that, I just felt like somebody poured a bucket of ice on me.

671. Oh, I was at home in Atlanta, heard on the morning news.

672. I was pissed.

673. I was pissed because I saw Lex manipulating and exploiting

674. a vulnerable person and using prescription drugs to do it.

675. They told me that Elizabeth had just passed it.

676. I thought she was going to make it and she was going to go to the hospital

677. and they're going to admit that she didn't make it.

678. And then I was arrested on, I think, 17 felony

679. counts and all the drugs they found in my house.

680. I thought I had the drugs under control.

681. I ended up having, getting control of Elizabeth and I.

682. The tragedy of that, to witness that firsthand,

683. it was a very dark time, without a doubt.

684. I knew he was telling the truth. I knew he

685. was being honest and accepting responsibility.

686. I look at him so differently now.

687. I respect him.

688. I said, never thought I'd hear myself say.

689. I want to ask you about, you know, Miss

690. Elizabeth, you know, her loss and everything.

691. Earlier in your career, you guys helped each other out in your careers?

692. Yeah, we were actually married and we got a

693. divorce, like which happens in life sometimes.

694. We had separation, we had closure, but I

695. really feel real bad for her and her family.

696. And it was a situation where we hadn't seen each other in about maybe five, six years,

697. but, you know, we had closure and we'd settle low and

698. everything was all good, but I feel bad for her family.

699. Elizabeth tragically passed away at the age of 42,

700. but grieving fans would have no idea that this

701. epic saga was approaching its final chapter.

702. This is my brother getting married for the

703. second time to the lovely Lynne Paine-Poffo.

704. In 2010, seven years after Elizabeth's death, Randy Savage finds love once again.

705. He, you know, weathered the storm through his

706. divorce and he was finally kind of on his feet.

707. He was remarried and just starting to kind of really enjoy his life.

708. When Randy retired from wrestling, he was able to

709. devote a lot of his time to the Special Olympics.

710. That was his passion and he enjoyed his final years as a sedentary person.

711. I was supposed to go to San Jose, California.

712. American Airlines stopped in Dallas.

713. I turned on my phone and there was a message on there and it said,

714. "This is Largo Medical, your brother and his wife were in an automobile accident."

715. And she's banged up in your brother's in critical

716. condition, but the way they said it, I knew.

717. I got a phone call early that morning from Lanny Poffo.

718. "Jimmy, yell, Lanny. I hadn't had time to call yet because it's early."

719. He goes, "No, listen, I'm coming back home. Why?"

720. And I could tell his voice was really shaky. He goes, "What?"

721. He goes, "I just got a phone call. He said my brother just got killed."

722. We're going to share some breaking news with

723. you now regarding Randy Macho Man Savage.

724. You may know him well. He is a pro wrestler.

725. We have just confirmed that Randy Macho Man Savage

726. has died coming from the Florida Highway Patrol.

727. There was a car accident.

728. I was literally on my way to the airport to leave

729. Clearwater when I got the phone call from Hulk or Terry.

730. He crashed into a tree and died as a result of a heart attack.

731. It was hard to believe. Even now, sitting here doing this interview,

732. it's hard to believe it's true because he was so full of life.

733. He was so full of energy, but it's hard to imagine that he's not here really.

734. We're going to the site where my brother lost

735. control and you're going to see the tree.

736. They've still got a few flowers, although they've taken some of them down.

737. It's been seven years, you know?

738. I judge people by the way, for example, Randy treated my kids.

739. Oh, and that was it for me. If I started thinking about that too much, I'll cry.

740. He went out of his way to be really, really

741. good to kids, and that's how I judge people.

742. He loved Brooke and he loved kids. I'm sure he probably would

743. have said yes at any time and loved to have kids with Liz.

744. I think it's a shame Liz isn't in the Hall of Fame. I think

745. that she was called the First Lady of Wrestling for a reason.

746. She was the first significant female star who never wrestled.

747. Because he had her at his side made him even

748. more special because she was so special.

749. She was the first female that was depicted in a powerful role.

750. She was beautiful, quiet, but she was class. Elizabeth was class.

751. Maybe a boy named Timmy would come up with her, his

752. father, and they say, "May I have your autograph, sir?"

753. He's, "Ooh, yeah, here's the deal. Timmy, I'm going to

754. sign your autograph, but you got to do something for me."

755. Well, what's that?

756. How you doing in school, Timmy? How you doing in school? Are

757. you doing your best as Timmy? I'm going to sign your autograph.

758. But if you don't do well in school, if you don't do your best

759. every single day, it's going to be real, real bad for you.

760. Randy and Elizabeth were greater than the sum of their

761. parts. They were undoubtedly key to each other's legacy.

762. Fans have never before experienced a more emotional

763. and relatable storyline on the complexity of love.

764. Together, they transcended television and, well, the rest in two.

765. Even after the divorce, they still had a tremendous

766. amount of love and respect for each other.

767. They were true, true celebrities and icons. There's not one

768. person on the whole planet Earth that doesn't know who they were.

769. From a wrestling point of view, she's one of the greatest performers out there.

770. While both passed too soon, they left their legions of fans

771. with an epic love story that will last long after they're gone.

772. To me, Randy Savage is on the Mount Rushmore of wrestling.

773. Could perform, could do an interview, had the right look.

774. He was the macho man. He was an innovator. He was a

775. creator. He made the business better, in my opinion.

776. I would call Randy Savage one of the all-time greatest of the doubt.

777. And the real human being, Randy Pafo, was really a very good man and a loving man.

778. There was a lot of art imitating life. You know, sometimes

779. in the world, what really happens is not really planned.

780. After you roll with it, then all of a sudden you really turn

781. into that character, turn into that dilemma that takes place.

782. I think people will always want to think of her as Miss Elizabeth Ford, as Randy.

783. You don't want to remember her being with somebody else. It just doesn't seem right.

784. I mean, that's what we were fed, you know, that's what we believed.

785. [Music]

786. [Music product no.5].