Rip little macho man!

www.yahoo.com/entertainment/genius-lanny-poffo-passed-away-180932750.html

Met The Genius at an autograph signing at my local sports club when I was a little boy. One of those spur of the moment things. My dad was like: "The Genius is at sports club. You wanna go?" I had to think about. Not a lot of Genius enthusiasts out there (minus Baker ), but was a fuck it, let's do it, type decision. Had met a few wrestlers there before and after, The Genius ended up being the best experience. He didn't draw a huge crowd. This had to be around his last year in the WWF, or even the year after. I feel like the signing was over in a half hour. So Genius just hung around afterwards, talking to everyone that came, one by one, genuinely interested in everyone's life, and their story. While we were there (a sports club), I decided to take some swings in the batting cage, and Genius showed interest. He was checking out my swing, rooting me on. He even got in the cage afterwards and took some hacks. Still wearing his robe! He joked about how hitting baseballs was another thing his brother was better at. We talked baseball, wrestling, everything. He seemed to spend the most time talking to me and my dad. This spur of the moment decision, a quick in-and-out for an autograph, ended up being most of the day. I think it was The Genius who finally had to leave. It was kind of a bummer that it was over. The small death that is a goodbye. Before he left, he told me I was a great kid and that when I grew up I could marry his daughter, who was around the same age. It was the perfect combination of sincerity (believed him when he told me I was a great kid) and a gregarious tall tale telling character (the daughter line). One of the warmest dudes I've ever met in my life. R.I.P. Lanny Poffo. 

Wild his last appearance in wrestling was in AEW.

The Genius really was amazing. Lanny was loved in the CT area. He would do signing here from time to time and manage local guys on the show later.   Thinking back he did seen to appear with Hacksaw a lot.

Tragic news that came out of nowhere considering I hadn't heard anything about him being in bad health and he always preached clean living. Loved The Genius. I have one of his frisbees! Also had him near the bottom of my list last time we did a Favorite Wrestler Countdown.

Leaping Lanny was an excellent performer. Unique too. There was nobody else quite like him. People forget he was either the first or second wrestler (possibly behind Chavo Classic) to do the moonsault in the US. His promos were a hoot. Great poet. Greater voice. The suit of armor promo in Memphis is tremendous. As were his vignettes with Mr. Perfect. Loved the Perfect/Genius pairing in general. Two of my absolute favorites in 1989. And we can't forget about his tremendous SNME match with Hogan which I've gone on record before in calling a Top 5 Hogan match for me. Sports entertainment at its finest. Kilgore's story about meeting the great man never gets old either.

RIP Lanny Poffo

I get the feeling a lot of people had similar stories to Kilgore's. Lanny just seemed like someone who would be sincere with the fans, probably due to his distinct way of talking. I could listen to him read a phone book and not get bored. Thinking about it now the Poffo brothers have to be two of the most unique and identifiable set of brothers in the history of the business, just so polar opposite from each other. Hopefully Genius is spouting the accolades of Macho King while Pomp and Circumstance plays up there as we speak.

RIP

My heart went out to Bake when I read the news.

I was too late to really know Lanny. My first exposure was actually through the Rob Van Dam DVD and I'm pretty sure it was Rob who cited Lanny as an inspiration and that put him on my radar. I can't say I heard too much about him until Bake came onto the scene and really went into bat about how he was one of Hogan's finest opponents. Then it seemed after Randy passed away, Lanny gained some notoriety as a quality guest and even though he was a little peculiar he was entertaining to listen to. It's amazing how he and Randy barely sound alike yet they both have amazing voices. If both guys wanted to, they could have dominated the voice acting business.

RIP Leapin Lanny

Only a genius could come up with this...



TIL Hogan vs. The Genius is Kenny Omega's all time favorite match whatculture.com/wwe/this-is-kenny-omegas-favourite-wrestling-match