10 Early Gimmicks From Famous Wrestlers You Won't Believe
6. Randy Savage
'The Macho Man' was one of wrestling's most unforgettable gimmicks.
Randy Savage was a screen-dominating presence who knew exactly how to work both the audience and Vince McMahon into thinking he was bigger than he was. He was hardly a small man, but his presence and wardrobe amplified his star power, and when you caught your attention, his intense, utterly unique charisma refused to relinquish it. He abused that ability to control, it must be stated. The character was an unforgettable, iconic fixture of 1980s pro wrestling: artist and megastar, the best of every world. A composite of an entire era that he himself could have defined, were it not for Hulk Hogan.
His last days at the top were extraordinarily boring, given that Savage was the antithesis of that at his peak. Clad in black and grotesquely over-muscled, Savage, thrashed, attempted to reinvent himself as a body guy. It was the only thing he could do, and the body guy wasn't even fashionable at the time.
He did achieve one last flirtation with fame as Bonesaw in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, which is heavily ironic: he himself portrayed 'The Spider' in his early years. There was little to the character - wrestling, simply, is full of plagiarists - and he abandoned it very quickly.