Roddy Piper, Ric Flair and Others Are Mortal Outside the Ring

Randy Savage’s untimely death is a big blow to all wrestling fans that ever saw him in a match or on television gawking merchandise.

Savage, 58, died of what is being deemed a “medical issue” by those in the know. It is presumed that Savage, who was in the vehicle with his wife at the time of the incident, died of a heart attack while driving and lost control of the vehicle the hit a tree off I-75 in Tampa, Fla.

Savage’s in-ring persona was larger than life, from the colorful outfits to the raspy voice that cried out to fans both young and old. And when he was on commercials in those blinding sunglasses and flamboyant cowboy hats, you knew there was magic once his opened his mouth.

Like many of Savage’s contemporaries will tell you he was a great in-ring performer and worked hard at his craft. But there were other parts if Savage that were of a concern to them in and out of the ring.

Savage was a worrier, and to his credit, used that to his advantage to make sure his matches were tight and on point.  But his continued obsessions were played out in real life through a broken marriage with Miss Elizabeth and constant stresses with rivalries with Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and other top WWE and WCW performers.

As someone who has followed wrestling for over three decades, I have come to understand that the persona and character does not always meet the expectation of the mortal behind the mask or costume. For years, wrestlers like Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Savage and others have lived with demons that have affected them in and out of the squared circle.

Angelo Mosca once told Ric Flair that if he lived past he was 30, he would be overstaying his welcome. Flair, now in his 60s has done more to prove that Mosca may have been correct.

Flair has had legal troubles, physical and mental issues and personal issues that have taken their toll on him. He is still an active member of TNA, but you have to wonder if this is because of finances or other things that drive him.

Roddy Piper said years ago that he was having trouble adjusting to life outside the ring. Drugs played a major role in his life during his heyday in the NWA and, as Flair put it in his book “To Be The Man”, he could see the mental stresses of being outside the ring catch up with his good friend.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts was a mid-card wrestler in the NWA with territories in the Mid-Atlantic States and in Florida as a disciple of Kevin Sullivan. Admittedly, drugs were a major influence on his life in the early 1980s and in the 1990s.

While these headliners over the years and part of the WWE machine have been affected after the bell stopped ringing, other wrestlers in their prime have also dealt with demons. Batista talks openly in “Batista Unleashed” about his “drug of choice” being women in his younger years in the ring.

And in the ranks of World Class Championship Wrestling, the Von Erich family lost David, Mike, Chris and Kerry to either drugs or suicide or both. The lone surviving brother, Kevin, said once that “I once had four brothers. Now, I am not even a brother.”

While we all adore the theatrics and the specter of it all and the real-life like drama and trauma these athletes deal with, we also need to realize they are human too. And our idols no matter what the sport or the situation, deal with the same trials as we do on the surface.

While the “Macho Man” died of reasons that were not tied to his persona and career, all it did was make us fans realize that the man in the ring really may not be like the one out of the ring.