Former Misfits frontman Michale Graves was recently interviewed by Michael Hodge of Faygoluvers. During the interview, Graves discussed a backstage incident with Savage during their time in WCW, highlights are below:
Vampiro mentioned something that I was wondering if you could speak on. Something about you and Doyle (Von Frankenstein) being caught in Macho Man Randy Savage’s wrath at one point, supposedly over his then valet/girlfriend Gorgeous George?
“Yeah, yes. It was terrible. There was a time at one point, when me and Matt, the two smallest guys on the MISFITS/GWAR tour, got cornered backstage by Randy Macho Man Savage. A very angry, drunk, Macho Man Randy Savage.”
Well Ian (Vampiro) once told me that you (MISFITS) were actually too “over” aka popular with the fans. And that the creative management in WCW did not like the fact that you were becoming more popular than some of their most popular acts, and that same management may have actually tried to sabotage your momentum there.
“Yeah man. I really tried to stay out of the politics of everything. There was so much drama going on within the band itself at the time. I just knew that we had so much talent and so much creativity. The fire in such a young man that burned in me, and the things that I wanted to do. It was very frustrating that it was such a big boy world with lots of money and power. You know. And I was just a creative guy. So I saw all of the struggles and I was just really kinda f–kin sad that it all got squashed over stupid s–t. And if we had people around us that could stand back and be objective and go ‘these guys are creative, they’re strong, they’re talented, and they can make us a lot of money’. We were on the verge. We were really on the verge. We had people like Rob Zombie calling us like ‘Hey man, can I direct your video’. And I saw all this happening. And again, I was a small fish. I was just a young guy in my early 20’s. So I just did my best to keep myself together and pray to god that we could keep the bus together…and we couldn’t man. We just flew apart.
How’d you get out alive, that guy was intense?!?
“I just stayed calm. I called him Mr. Man. I swear to god. I said Mr. Man, listen… and I just hoped for the best.”
I recently met Bill Apter, the guy that was the senior Editor for all the big wrestling magazines back in the day, and he said that he once got on Randy Savage’s bad side as well. He felt like his life was in danger and that he just couldn’t believe the intensity of the guy.
“Yeah, ya know. I can’t really speak ill of the dead. I’ve gotta be honest with you. With my run-in with Randy Macho Man Savage, that man had every right to be pissed off the way that he was. And every right to be as scary as he was. And if he wanted to, he coulda choked the s–t outta me. He was just awesome you know. He was an intense guy! ‘Stay calm son’, is all I could think to myself.”
