Mean" Gene Okerlund Says Randy Savage Declined WWE's Hall of Fame Invitations
By Daniel Pena
Jun 17, 2012 - 11:22:45 AM


Legendary wrestling broadcaster "Mean" Gene Okerlund joined Inside The Ropes this past Thursday and divulged that the late Randy Savage declined WWE's multiple invitations to join their Hall of Fame.

When asked why the "Macho Man" isn't in the Hall, he responded, "Are you telling me that the WWE hadn’t made an overture to Randy about being in the Hall of Fame? That’s BS. They asked him many times and he declined. For whatever reason, that’s what I’m still trying to figure out."

Okerlund also gave his thoughts on Savage's rival Ultimate Warrior.

"He did have a look, that’s about as far as it goes. He couldn’t talk, he sure as hell couldn’t work in the ring, that was very marginal. I think one of the worst matches I’ve seen in my life was between Warrior and Papa Shango. What a disaster of monumental proportions," he said.

Okerlund also explained how WWE's pay-per-view frequency has changed the promotion.

"I personally think we have way too many pay-per-views," he says. "I don’t think we get the chance to adequately develop the storylines with the guys and gals between pay per views. I’d like to see us down to about eight pay per views a year."

In this ninety-minute interview, Okerlund explains the real reason he went to WCW in 1993, his views on "Rowdy" Roddy Piper not being given enough credit for WrestleMania, hating an angle Vince Russo scripted him and more. Visit insidetheropes.podbean.com and check out www.facebook.com/theinsidenetwork for upcoming shows and guests.

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“Be Who You Are and Say What You Feel Because Those Who Mind Don't Matter and Those Who Matter Don't Mind.” ~ Dr. Suess


Nice Guys Finish Last

Thank you,and have a nice day !

I call bullshit on Mean Gene. He's a company shill. Why not put him in posthumously? Vince holds a grudge. He never got over how Savage left him for WCW. Add to that whatever Randy did or didn't do with daddy's little girl, and that's why he isn't in the HOF. Case in point, Savage's DVD. It's bad enough that he lost the majority of matches on it, but then to let Maria co-host it?

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"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." ~ H.L. Mencken

No good reason, except I recall a requirement that Lanny and Angelo Poffo go in with him. The Poffos used to run an outlaw promotion in Memphis;sell Vince some tapes and you'll be surprised who he'll put in the HOF...

I wonder if the Poffos own the tapes to their promotion?

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

I wonder if the tapes actually exist...? I heard a lot of the old Portland tapes were taped over due to the high cost of tapes back then. They just reused a bunch of tapes instead of buying new ones. I'm calling bs on mean gene too.

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I'll be honest with you, I was surprised Ene Watt kept the material all this time.

Did Oregon ever syndicate their stuff? That would seem to be the differentiator.

I would think, in a bicycle network, keeping master tapes of episodes that are in cycle would make sense. In case some tapes decide to take a longer trip on Greyhound than expected...

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

The one thing that's missing in this whole Macho Man thing is, how/where/what is the betrayal/mistrust between Randy and McMahon. Oh sure, it's enough to say conversationally that McMahon screws everybody. But, barring stories of his bedding Steph, and whatever, what is the beef and who is the beef with (try not to channel Clara whatever-her-name-was)

What's the thought? Hogan's finally leaves, so Savage deserves the big push? Hmm, not realizing that he ages every day Hogan ages. The Intercontinental blah was a nothing belt? Yeah, well, these guys are performers, not boxers. Salaries are NOT tied into what belts they hold. Although, people in the biz do mark for themselves... Movies? Well, I'm a bad person to ask, but who wants to see Randy in a movie, or TV show? (Bad, because I didn't want to see Hogan, either.)

[Edit] Oh, and Gene's a piece of crap, too. Another part of the stiltifying bad announce teams; bad for Verne, bad for Vince, bad for Ted. Lord Alfred Hayes and Mean Gene calling a match together would saturate the suicide lines... And, he may be crappin' us on Randy, too.

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

I don't think Oregon syndicated. I guess Buddy Rose had one of the first vcr's ever back in the day and he actually recorded all of the portland stuff at home. If any tapes exist that would be where to look, but then the issue would be if the apes deteriorated. Him dying a few years ago can't help much either.

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Apes get angry when they are left starve.

I'm blaming Buddy Rose for the low food supply which lead to the deterioration of the northwest sasquatch species.

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I have run across Central States (Kansas City) tapes and the wwa/awa stuff from the Chicago Amphitheater so some of the stuff I assumed wasn't even taped or were long gone have surfaced. I wish there was a lot more mid-atlantic, omni events and mid-south superdome shows that were taped.

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