Ah, that time of year again.

Let me flashback two short years ago to May 25th, 2007. My college graduation.

I did not even really want to attend. Graduating a shade less than 7 years was not incredibly noble in my point of view. In fact, most of my friends had either graduated in 4 years, transferred or dropped out by that point. I would not even be walking with my best friends. However, once I found out that I could miss a day of work, I was in (plus my family was happy). I, on the other hand, did not really even care as I proceeded to party the night before and barely woke up on time. While I knew my peers would be dressed to the nine in fancy duds, I chose army cargo shorts, a white t-shirt and my Jordan III basketball sneakers (with the sweltering heat that day, I made the right call). Still, I didn’t really care…

My family and I arrive to the campus and as I head down, I run into a few of my old classmates that I cannot believe are actually graduating (and vice-versa).
I get a little pumped.

After some joking around and generally mocking the graduation itself, a friend of mine hands me a small nip of whiskey. Granted, I’m a little hung-over, but that nip woke me up for sure.
I’m a little more pumped.

We line up, I cut some kids in line I don’t care to sit near and we are ready for the ceremony. Now we proceed, then “it” hits. “It” is that classic, timeless graduation tune, known to most as simply, Pomp and Circumstance (as heard below).

Known to most yes, but known to us wrestling fans as the Macho Man Randy Savage’s theme song. Everyone proceeds on, but I stop for one brief second. I look around for some familiar faces; I find them and belt out an, “Ohhhhh Yeahhh.” My friends laugh, let out a few of their own, add in some “Snap it to a Slim Jims” and give some finger twirls. Onlookers laugh, some of the prude girls cringe and professors wrinkle their brows then tell us to move forward.
I am now officially pumped.

It didn’t matter that my friends and I barely paid attention to the commencement speaker (she was an astronaut from the early 90’s, compared to local schools Fairfield University and Sacred Heart getting Bill Murray and Vince McMahon as speakers respectively, two of my all-time heroes). When the Pomp and Circumstance hit for my grammar school and high school graduations, it was the same reaction (well, no nips of alcohol yet). Even though that song will never be on a workout mix in my iPod, it always takes me back to a simpler time. It takes me back to an era that I have not seen in such a long time, yet it is one of the business’ greatest mysteries.

Alright, that was quite the segway to lead into a Randy Savage column, but still if you are reading this column and your school has played this song at a graduation you attended, I am willing to bet you thought of ol’ Mach. So this past February, it was announced that a 3-Disc DVD set of the Macho Man’s career would finally be released. I guess we really are in a recession and hard up for some more DVD profits. In the past, Vince has forgiven a man that has punched him in the face and spit on him (Bret Hart), employed a man that openly wanted him out of business (Eric Bischoff) and even asked the Ultimate Warrior to participate in the DVD documentary of his career (he declined, so they made a mockumentary).

My point is that Vince is willing to forgive for the sake of history (albeit revisionist history) and money. If you did not know anything about the business, you knew a few names during the 1980s heyday. You knew Hulk Hogan, you may have known the Ultimate Warrior and you definitely knew the Macho Man Randy Savage. He is the greatest old school wrestler yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund have both been invited and have declined). I’ve talked about the enigma that is Randy Savage’s disappearance from the WWE history many, many times on this column. I will not go through my conspiracy theories yet again, but this video says it all:

“Finally the wait is over.” That first line sums it up. Unfortunately, the nerdiness in me cannot help but spoil this DVD for myself and I am sure you have heard that there is no documentary for set as well as no participation from the Macho Man himself (so I’ve heard). Jim Ross alluded in his blog that it will be hosted my Matt Striker (Mean Gene seems like a more natural choice, but I have a tremendous amount of confidence in Striker’s ability). So the most I can hope for is some bridging between matches with interviews and comments from some of Savage’s peers.

Regardless, I know I will still buy it out of curiosity and I hope old school fans will as well. The ECW audience spoke up and got an awesome pay-per-view in 2005 and relaunch in 2006 that has turned out to be underwhelming at best. But it still caused a stir, a movement and a revolution (or sorts). It gave the fans what they wanted (for a time). The Madness already is a movement, like Hulkamania. So maybe that was cheesy, but the point is if you make it then we will buy it. If we buy it, they will make money and give us what we (or what Vince thinks we) want. I think this is a major step in getting him into the Hall of Fame. What do you guys think? Will we ever see Savage on a WWE broadcast as a result of this DVD? Will you buy this? Will I buy it? Will I fork over $30 to have what I mostly have on DVD and VHS already?
The answer is simple: Ohhhh Yeahhhh!

- Luscious Jonny F