This Is What Macho Man Randy Savage Really Ate
While Macho Man Randy Savage will always be remembered for his flamboyance and his flying elbow drops, his name will forever be linked to one particular snack product, as well. Everyone who's seen one of his Slim Jim commercials will never again be able to pass by a meat snacks display without hearing Macho Man growl, "Snap into a Slim Jim!" In fact, it's pretty much entirely due to Savage's influence and his awesome product-pitching skills that Slim Jims are now available in every gas station and grocery store from coast to coast. Another food project Savage was almost involved in was a late '90s wrestling-themed cooking show.
Sadly, this classic-in-the-making was never picked up by any network, so all we have of Savage's segment are a short clip of him rubbing meat on a guy's face. From the look of things, though, whatever Savage was planning to create (besides chaos), it was unlikely to have been a vegetarian entree. While the Macho Man was well known for his appetite for mayhem, he was quite the hearty eater, as well. Savage wasn't one to stick to some super-healthy regime, nor did he eat high on the hog, as his hefty bank balance would have permitted. Instead, it seems, his favorite eateries were ones seldom patronized by the rich and/or famous.
He was fond of a hearty night breakfast
While Savage lived up to his name inside the ring, he was known to unleash the beast outside those unfriendly confines, as well. One occasion on which he did so was the notorious "Waffle House incident" that happened in Nashville back in the '70s. According to Dutch Mantell (via Pro Wrestling Stories), Savage had just finished wrestling a sold-out house show, and he "wanted a waffle. NOW!!!" Rip Rogers, aka Disco Kid, was also present at the Waffle House table, and the way he remembers it (via Wrestle Zone), "Randy went to get some steak and eggs." Well, whatever the Macho Man planned to order, he never did get his Waffle House meal. Instead, he got into a rumble with another customer.
It seems the guy was a friend of the Waffle House wait staff and he'd come in to announce the news of his upcoming wedding just as Savage was set to order. The waitress stepped away from the table to offer congratulations, at which point...well, Savage said some things, the newly-engaged guy took offense, and a fight broke out. Kitchen implements soon came into play and things got really ugly, so somebody called the police. Even after being maced, Savage never stopped swinging, and the only thing that brought a stop to the madness was a police dog taking a chunk out of his behind. The dog, it seems, was the only one who got anything to eat that night.
He wouldn't say no to a plate of pasta
Back in the mid-1990s, carbs were yet to be considered evil. Low-carb diets were only just starting to get trendy, but pasta was still sufficiently popular that when Hulk Hogan decided to branch out into the restaurant biz, he chose a pasta restaurant concept.
When Pastamania opened at the Mall of America in 1995 (via Retroist), Savage was on hand to help his old ring rival with the launch party. Evidently the festivities involved a pasta-eating contest, though it's not known whether Savage took part. If he did sample what was on offer, however, a vintage menu (via the TNUC blog) shows he'd have had a choice of angel hair, fettuccini, penne, shells, or pasta nuggets (whatever those were) topped with marinara, alfredo, pesto, white clam, or garlic and oil sauce.
While Pastamania turned into a big old Flopamania, Savage did have another go-to pasta place. According to Savage's brother Lanny Poffo, himself a former wrestler, one of Savage's favorite restaurants was Olive Garden. Two years after the accident that took the Macho Man's life, Poffo told TMZ that he and his mom celebrated his brother's life with a memorial lunch at Tampa location.
He adopted healthier habits later in life
By the time Savage retired from the ring, he was experiencing some health issues, as you might expect from a man in his middle years who'd been getting beat on with chairs and tables for the past few decades. While he might not have been able to repair much of the damage done to his body, he did, it seems, start trying to eat healthier.
While Savage retained his fondness for breakfast chains, Bleacher Report says he favored Perkins Family Restaurant. He was no longer so apt to order waffles and steaks, much less get into any rumbles over slow service. Instead, his usual order, later in life, was an egg white veggie omelet. Tragically, this was the last thing he ever ate, as he and his wife had just been dining at a Perkins right before the 2011 car accident that took his life — ironically, on the same day that the Slim Jim flagship factory closed its doors for good.
Savage was honored with commemorative snack foods
Even though the Macho Man has been gone for nearly a decade, his likeness can still be seen adorning two different types of snacks: one savory, one sweet. Of course it's only right that Slim Jim should pay homage to the man who'll forever be associated with its product, and in 2019 it finally did so by releasing the Savage Meat Sticks. As befits such a larger-than-life namesake, these sticks are three times the size of a standard Slim Jim.
The other product honoring the Macho Man is a WWE-themed ice cream sandwich. According to Shared, back in the WWF days there were Good Humor bars featuring the likenesses of a dozen different wrestlers, Savage among them. These bars were discontinued in 2009, but last year Good Humor brought them back in a slightly different form. They are now stickless vanilla-flavored cookie sandwiches, and there are only four wrestlers depicted the cookies: John Cena, Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns, and Randy Savage. Just think, after you snap into a Slim Jim, you can now snap into an ice cream sandwich for dessert! Now that's good eating, ohhh yeahh!