10 Obscure Wrestling Retirement Matches You Didn't Know About

3. Randy Savage

Gene Okerlund Randy Savage
WWE.com

It was sad to watch the decline of Randy Savage, because he was always one of the smartest workers in wrestling.

He knew how to generate buzz; he appeared on the radar of the WWF through his transformative, incandescent invasion of the Memphis territory. He knew how to go, obviously, he was amazing. He knew how to catch the eye, with his dazzling peacock look. He knew how to get fans invested in a match, chiefly by being so believably intense that he looked capable of exploding into a soul-consuming event within a second.

You'd think that, of any wrestler of his era, he'd be capable of relying on his many psychological gifts to get the most out of a declining body, but something weird - and bleak - happened instead.

Savage piled on the muscle to a point that limited what mobility he had left, and shed himself of his charisma at the same time. He was just so unfathomably generic by the end in WCW, and was much the same way when he teamed with of all people AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy to take on Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash and. Scott Hall at TNA Turning Point 2004.

Brutally long, at 17:52, it was a sad watch on a night that otherwise hinted at a bright future for the WWE alternative.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!