On the latest episode of the Marking Out with MVP and Dwayne Swayze podcast, MVP shared a detailed and personal story about his unexpected relationship with the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage. The story, which began on the Florida independent scene, revealed a side of the iconic performer that few ever saw, as Savage took a young MVP under his wing, offering him advice, opportunities, and even his personal phone number.
The story began when MVP, then known as Antonio Banks, was a young wrestler trying to make a name for himself. A friend offered to pass his VHS tape and 8×10 photo to Savage, who lived in the area. MVP didn’t think much of it, but soon after, he found himself at Steve Keirn’s wrestling school in Tampa, where Savage was launching a new internet-based wrestling project called MachoMan.com. “Macho Man had linked up with Steve Keirn because he was supposed to do this thing, MachoMan.com, and it was going to be internet wrestling,” MVP explained.
The tryout for the project required each wrestler to cut a promo in front of Savage himself. “Some dudes were nervous. Some dudes were shitting bricks, as they say. I was salivating,” MVP recalled. “Because you guys don’t understand, Macho Man is one of my all-time favorite promos, because he was so over the top, but original.” Instead of being intimidated, MVP decided to go right at the legend.
“Macho Man, you were the epitome of pro wrestling. You were the absolute greatest. Nobody had your style, your charisma, nobody. You were the greatest… emphasis on were,” MVP remembered saying in his promo. “What are you now? What are you doing now, Macho Man? What do you have now? A tube of BenGay, a prescription for Viagra.” The gamble paid off. “He was in. I’m gonna roll these dice, man. I’m gonna see what happens. He’s either gonna go, ‘Fuck this kid, get him out of here,’ or, ‘I like this kid.’ And that’s exactly what he did.”
After the promo, Savage pulled him aside, revealing he had remembered him from the tape he had been given. Impressed, Savage wrote MVP a check for a few hundred dollars and gave him his personal phone numbers. “I remember I was in my apartment, you know, eating my double turkey Subway sandwich… and my special ringtone rang and it was Randy,” MVP said. “And I’m looking at the phone… and I’m just like, ‘The Macho Man is calling you’… And I hear on the other line, ‘Hey Antonio, how you doing, brother?’ I’m doing fucking great right now!”
During that phone call, Savage laid out the entire plan for MachoMan.com, which would have seen MVP built up as the top star, culminating in a match where Savage himself would lose to him for the MachoMan.com Championship. “He said, ‘That’s how you make people in the business,'” MVP recalled. “And then what we do once we establish you and you’re somebody, then you lose the title to somebody else, and we make a new guy.’ And I’m like, I’m talking to Macho Man right now.”
Though the project never came to fruition, Savage continued to call MVP periodically over the years to check in on him and offer advice. The most significant call came after MVP was signed to a WWE developmental contract. “Randy pops up on my phone, and he calls me because he heard I got signed, and he wanted to congratulate me,” MVP said. “And he said two things that he stressed to me over and over: ‘Don’t trust anybody, because everyone’s always trying to take your spot and save your money. Save your money, kid.'” MVP concluded the story by expressing his gratitude for the unexpected mentorship. “The fact that Macho Man, one of the greatest of all time, just hit it off and took a liking to me… I’m gonna guess it was all because I went in on his ass on that promo.”
MVP also shared another story about a chance encounter with Savage that happened even before they formally met at the wrestling school. He recalled being at a GWAR and Misfits concert when he saw Savage backstage, looking to confront Doyle from The Misfits over an issue involving Savage’s then-girlfriend, Gorgeous George.
“Macho Man is backstage looking for Doyle from the Misfits with bad intentions,” MVP recounted. “He’s walking ‘Where’s Doyle? Where’s Doyle?’… a few of the security guards and a couple cops come over because remember, this is Macho Man… This is Macho Man circa 2001-2002.”
MVP said the security and police approached him and his brother for backup in case they needed to remove Savage from the venue. “They come over here. ‘We might have to throw Macho Man out of here. If we do, man, you guys are some pretty big guys. Would you help us?'” Instead of helping security, MVP walked over to Savage.
“I had a disposable camera, and I’m like, ‘Hey, Macho Man, man you looking jacked man, you look huge.’ ‘Oh yeah, brother,'” MVP said. “And he said, ‘Man, you’re the only one that’s being nice to me.’ Everybody was giving him a look because they knew he was there to fuck Doyle up.”
MVP got a picture with Savage that night, a photo that has since circulated on the internet. Years later, after they had connected through the MachoMan.com project, MVP brought up the story. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I was the kid that came and asked to take the picture with you.’ And he goes, ‘Oh yeah, you were the one that was being nice to me.’ He remembered that.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Marking Out with MVP & Dwayne Swayze with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
