https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhBVW4r_l3c
Back in the ’80s, Andre the Giant and Macho Man Randy Savage had a rivalry that looked like the typical wrestler feud, with lots of goofy insults and snarling threats. But there was more to the beef between these two, who hated each other more out of the ring than they did in it. Not that it was obvious. Watch the promos above and below and see if it’s clear to you that there was real-life animosity between these two legends. It’s not clear at all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRWAfDMFrsc
But it’s true, the hate was real between the Macho Man and his giant rival. On Wednesday, Macho Man’s brother Lanny Poffo offered an explanation why to the Tampa Bay Times:
“Andre hated baby oil,” Poffo said. “But Randy wouldn’t stop wearing it. He stubbornly said Andre’s gimmick is being a giant and mine is baby oil. He never backed down from Andre and they never got along because of it.”
Brilliant. And easy to understand. It would be hard enough to toss around a muscle bound brute like the Macho Man. Trying to do it when he was lathered up like a swimsuit model must have made it nearly impossible.
Fun as Poffo’s explanation is here, there’s another that might get more to the heart of the issue. At a panel discussion at last year’s New York City Comic Con, Andre’s daughter Robin offered another explanation for the tension between the two stars: Steroids.
“He had no tolerance,” she said and the Macho Man loved them. After Savage was caught using, Andre put him on his shit list and that’s where he remained.
(h/t Uproxx)