Behind The Match: Ricky Steamboat Vs Randy Savage – WrestleMania III

How Did ‘The Dragon’ And ‘Macho Man’ Break The Mould?

The accepted practice among wrestlers at the time was for the action to be called in the ring. More often than not, all the competitors were given was the finish and the rest was put together on the fly once the bell rang.

‘Macho Man’ was not cut from traditional cloth though. He was famously meticulous – almost obsessive – about every detail of his matches, seeking to plot out every phase move-by-move. His insistence on detail caused some degree of friction backstage, especially among the veterans.

One of those veterans was George ‘The Animal’ Steele, with whom Savage had been feuding much of the prior year, without really setting the world alight. Savage felt it was down to a lack of preparation beforehand, with Steele unwilling to entertain ‘Macho Man’s meticulous planning. And so, he asked to be placed in a feud with Ricky Steamboat, with whom Savage was familiar from their time in AWA and admired as being among the greatest natural babyfaces in wrestling.

Steamboat, at a similar age to Savage, shared many of his philosophies and was therefore far more amenable to Savage’s obsessive planning. And so the two men spent almost five months crafting the perfect Wrestlemania match, meticulously scripting the encounter and honing spots across countless house shows.

• Ricky Steamboat
• wrestlemania iii
• randy savage
• wwe

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