Author Jon Finkel On ‘Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage’

“It’s difficult because you can’t write for who’s going to eventually read it,” Finkel said. “And so, my fallback, whether it’s this book or the other books I’ve written, is that they have to be enjoyable, and they have to be respectful to the people who are going to love this. And I include myself in that. What would I want to read? I grew up as diehard a fan as there is, but I could also be objective and a journalist-type writer, and I want to make sure I tell a story that is true. But whether you’re writing about an athlete or an entertainer or somebody who you legitimately followed for all the years before you became a writer, you have to be fascinated with the person, and you have to absolutely be respectful of their total persona.”

Then, the real struggle becomes not what to put in the book but what to leave out.

“You have to make cuts all the time, and sometimes you can hear this voice in the back of your head, ‘Is this important or is it not important in terms of the full story?’ You have to cut stuff, or the book could be 200,000 words, and then no one’s going to read it.”

And after writing biographies of the likes of “Mean” Joe Greene, Nate Robinson, and Charlie Ward, among a vast library of work, Finkel knows what works and what doesn’t.

“I’m the first reader, and I think I have a pretty good filter for what would be good and not good,” he said. “I’m sure somebody will read it and say, ‘How did you not spend more time on this or that?’ And my answer is, this is what was, to me, the best way to tell the story.’

So, while the tendency for less experienced writers would be to focus solely on Savage’s wrestling career, with a zoom-in on his time in the WWF, Finkel has presented a complete picture, with Savage’s pursuit of a pro baseball career particularly compelling. Even more compelling when it comes to that part of his life is the fact that after all the work he put into baseball and came up short, he was able to dust himself off and find a second chapter in the pro wrestling business where his father Angelo (and later his brother, Lanny) made his name.

“He was one of the most determined, focused people that anyone had ever met,” said Finkel of Savage, who passed away in 2011 at the age of 58. “And even you talk about his failed baseball career, he was still the guy in the clubhouse who they all had positive comments about. Remember, he wasn’t Randy Savage at that time. There was nothing special about him, but the one thing they all remember is that he was the hardest worker on the team. He would show up and do 1,500 sit-ups before practice, and he would be the last guy to leave. I think the thing that illustrates why and how he became a successful wrestler and successful at everything he did in the entertainment world is illustrated in baseball.”

That work ethic and attention to detail is illustrated most notably in what is widely considered to be one of the best wrestling matches of all-time: his epic WrestleMania III showdown with Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat in 1987. As great as that match was, perhaps what makes it even greater is that Savage and Steamboat scripted every move, regularly quizzing each other in the lead-up to their time in the ring in the Pontiac Silverdome.

“I think in order to write that section, if you didn’t live it and you were just kind of reading what everybody said about it, you wouldn’t have the appreciation for how well that was executed in terms of the audience,” said Finkel, who interviewed Steamboat about the match and his relationship with Savage.

In a lot of ways, that was more who Savage was than the flashy, over-the-top, Slim Jim-hawking character many remember him as. He was a worker who was supremely committed to his craft, win, lose or draw. Was there bad and ugly to go with the good? Absolutely, but it isn’t what you take away from the book. The big takeaway is Finkel’s ability to capture a unique man living in a unique time, yet, oddly enough, the book wasn’t going to happen if the author didn’t get to talk to Savage’s brother, Lanny, who passed away at 68 in 2023.

“It was not only important; it was my personal go or no-go on the book,” said Finkel. “I had written the proposal, I had publishers interested in it, I was ready to write it, and it sat for over a year until I could finally get in touch with Lanny. Not to be morbid about any of this, but they were best friends until the very end. They were not only in the same field, but Lanny was the torch bearer of the legacy of both him and his father, which, when you read the book, you understand how important Angelo was, not only as their father but in wrestling. And so I just couldn’t conceive of doing this book and coming to have an interview with someone like you who also appreciated Macho Man, and it’s horrible that Lanny has passed away, but had he lived, if you had said to me, ‘You wrote this book, did you talk to Lanny?’” I just could not imagine doing this book without talking to him.”

Having insight from “Leaping Lanny” adds the final touch to the book, one that will have readers firing off an “OH YEAHHHH” when they turn the final page.

“There was a time where we had common pop cultural themes,” said Finkel. “And I think it unites a lot of us. This was our time to just enjoy the hell out of larger-than-life superhero stuff to buy into. It’s a time when we didn’t have kids, and we didn’t even think about having kids. We had the catchphrases, and we got to buy the lunchboxes and the action figures, and we got to watch the shows and eat the ice cream bars, and it was a shared moment.”

To pre-order Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage, visit https://ecwpress.com/products/macho-man