Oooh yeah!
Randy Savage was one of the true greats of the pro wrestling circle - a talented performer
with an arena-sized personality and enough charisma to actually use "Pomp and Circumstance"
as his entrance theme and get away with it.
The colorful, gravel-throated Macho Man was a runaway success in the squared circle.
At a time when pro wrestling was at the height of its considerable pop culture powers, he
was one of the greatest the WWE had to offer.
From the later stages of his active wrestling career until the fatal heart attack he suffered
while driving in 2011, he also dabbled in acting.
Now, here's the question: How much money did he earn from such a storied career?
Famous WWE wrestlers tend to be a mixed bag when it comes to money: Many of them are multi-millionaires
who are worth a lot more than you think, while someone like Ric Flair might barely have $500,000
to his name despite the fact that he spent decades at the absolute top of the entire
industry.
So, which end of the spectrum did Macho Man fall on?
How much money was Randy Savage worth when he died?
Macho Man wasn't short on cash when he died, if you ask Celebrity Net Worth.
The site guesstimates Savage's net worth at the time of his death at around $8 million,
the majority of which came from his tenures with the WWE - back then known as the WWF
- and its competitor, WCW.
Savage also had other sources of revenue, such as a stint as a spokesman for Slim Jim
snacks.
“Now snap out of it!
And snap into a beefy, spicy Slim Jim! Ohhh yeah!"
Now, what kind of career earns you a cool $8 million?
Hold on to your novelty sunglasses and garish cowboy hats, because we're in for a wild ride.
Apart from a number of smaller federations, Randy Savage was a championship-level pro
wrestler for both the WWE and its biggest competitor at the time, WCW.
If the WCW payroll numbers are anything to go by, the Macho Man maxed out at $1.9 million
per year, making him one of the best-paid stars in the entire federation.
Only Hulk Hogan, Bill Goldberg, Bret Hart and occasionally Sting earned more.
It's understandable that Savage's pay was higher than most of the roster.
Apart from his undeniable charisma and talent, he was also a magnificent business tool, thanks
to his famous gig as a spokesman for Slim Jim.
In an interview with 411 Mania, WCW’s Eric Bischoff noted that the mere presence of the
Macho Man automatically brought an annual revenue of $1 million in sweet, sweet Slim
Jim ad money.
What's more, the company was able to use the highly visible Savage and Slim Jim relationship
as a visible showcase for potential sponsors.
As Bischoff puts it, the WCW could just point at a Macho Man match with plenty of Slim Jim
signage and say,
"See what we did for them?
We can do this same thing for you."
Up next, we have Randy Savage's adventures in the wild world of acting.
“Hey, if you don’t mind my asking, you ever think about what you’re gonna do when
you retire?”
“Oh, I’ll be in the ring until they throw my withered carcass in a bag and drag me to
the dumpster.”
That wasn’t entirely true.
As his IMDb page reveals, Randy Savage built up a truly astonishing collection of video
and TV appearances during the 1980s and the 1990s.
However, these were largely related to his Macho Man-themed day job, and it wasn't until
the mid-1990s that he started to branch out.
In 1996, he appeared in the era's premier non-wrestling-related supplier of shirtless
men in trunks, Baywatch.
He also used his famously guttural vocal talents to voice the alien wrestler Rasslor in Dexter's
Laboratory.
“Rock on!
Yeah!
Flex and dresses!”
This started a nice side career of cartoon voice work and sporadic TV show appearances
for the Macho Man.
Though he never quite had a Dwayne Johnson-style breakthrough, he did end up with a successful
tent pole movie on his resume.
If you've seen 2002's Spider-Man, you might remember him as the terrifying Bone Saw McGraw,
a hulking wrestler Spider-Man fights against.
That role probably earned him a pretty penny - enough to pad that $8 million net worth
he had when he sadly passed on.
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