Jeff Jackson and Tony Mirabella, hosts of SNS UnPlugged, welcomed Lanny Poffo, the man known as The Genius from WWE and the brother of the late great Macho Man Randy Savage, to this week’s show.
The interview starts off with Jeff thanking Lanny for allowing this induction to happen considering Macho Man wanted his whole family inducted or nothing. Lanny said he’s a fan and wants to put the fans first, he just wished that Randy was alive and was there to give his speech in person because despite of everything, nothing would be as good as a final “Oh yeah!” from Savage himself.
The hosts talked about how the induction of Bruno Sammartino, the Warrior, and now Savage, adds legitimacy to the Hall of Fame and Lanny said that he was happy when Bruno got inducted and would have liked if WWE allowed Randy to have the opportunity that Warrior had before he died.
Poffo then talked about how bad his mother took it when Randy passed away, he said that the worst of all was that his mom survived to see it. His dad was “lucky” to have passed away a year earlier but his mom is 88 and to her it was not a wrestler star who passed, but her first born. He said how she had nightmares about it and how he had to sell his house and move in with her but now she made a comeback and is looking great!
He mentioned that it took him 3 days of talking trying to convince her about the Hall of Fame. He said that being the younger brother he never got his way but now he’s the old one and he was going to get his way, overruling his brother’s wish of going in as a whole family. He said Randy was wrong and he doesn’t want to fight this war and he thinks that Randy should go in the Hall of Fame by himself. He said the fans demand it and they deserve it.
Lanny then asks who is there left to complain about once Savage is inducted and JJ mentions the names of Rick Rude and Owen Hart, and Lanny said he wants to see Pete Rose in the baseball Hall of Fame. He said this world is full of injustice and he hopes fans will be happy. He also mentioned how disappointed he was when Maria Menounos was booed out of Madison Square Garden when inducting Bob Backlund and how he can never forgive those fans. He said that he’s going to try and make the best speech in under 5 minutes to avoid any backlash.
JJ asks when did Savage request to go in as a family in the Hall of Fame and Lanny said it was April 10, 2009, on their father’s birthday. Randy was sort of complaining about the whole Von Erich family going into the Hall of Fame and that “we don’t kill ourselves, we die naturally” and the only way he’s going in the WWE Hall of Fame is if they induct him, Lanny, and their father. Lanny said WWE tried to do it when WrestleMania was in Miami but he stuck to his guns and he turned it down because that’s not what Randy wanted.
He then asked the hosts if he made the right decision by overruling his brother’s wish and Jeff said he agrees, although there’s room for the Poffo family as well. He mentioned how WWE needed something big for the Hall of Fame in Texas and thinks inducting the whole Von Erich family was more of a political decision as certainly not all of them deserved to be in the Hall of Fame.
The discussion then turned to Miss Elizabeth. Lanny, in a somewhat of an unconvincing voice, said “Yeah, why not?” about her in the Hall of Fame. He said he’s not a fan of people who walk down the aisle and then walk to the lawyer and said if Liz is ever inducted they should “let Lex Luger do that!” Ouch.
He said that Randy harbored zero malice towards Lex and did not blame him for the death of Elizabeth. Lanny then asked the hosts that if they came to his house and they overdose themselves, whose fault would it be, theirs or his?
Lanny said that in his short speech he’s going to tell the world what a great man his brother is and will throw in a poem or two cause that’s “his gimmick!”
He was then asked about what he thinks about Hulk Hogan inducting his brother considering all the history between the two. Lanny said that when he looks in the mirror he sees a complete jabronie except for the four months he worked with Hulk Hogan and will refuse to say one bad word about the Hulkster. He said that he will be forever grateful to Hogan and wants Hulk to get closure with a great speech.
Lanny then said that Randy spent the last year of his life trying to make peace with people and confirmed the story that Hogan keeps repeating about meeting Randy at a doctor’s office and making peace.
You can hear the whole interview here.
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