The Genius and Poet Laurette of Professional Wrestling has died. Yesterday, former WWE Superstar “Leaping” Lanny Poffo passed away. He was 68 years old. Mr. Poffo was a past CYInterview guest [see here].

Lanny was from one of pro wrestling’s most storied families. His father, the late Angelo Poffo, was a pro wrestling promoter and wrestler. His brother was the late, great “Macho Man” Randy Savage, who was one of the most famous pro wrestlers in the world over the last 30 years. Like Lanny, Randy Savage was a past CYInterview guest [see here].

Angelo Poffo died in 2010 at the age of 84. Mr. Poffo’s mother, Judy Poffo, who was not a wrestler, lived to be 90. She died in 2017. Lamentably, neither the Macho Man nor Lanny made it anywhere close to their parents’ ages. In fact, “Macho Man” Randy Savage died in 2011, a bit more than one year after his father, at only 58 years of age.

In 2016, Lanny Poffo joined us on CYInterview and shared how his love of poetry became part of his gimmick in World Wrestling Entertainment, during an episode of Tuesday Night Titans:

““When we went to black, which as you know is when you go to commercial, Vince McMahon said, ‘Lanny, that was great. From now on, you do a poem before every match.’ And I pretended to be cool about it. I just said ok. But inside I was going, ‘YES!’ And I had a gimmick. So that was it. And then when I became a villain, The Genius, oh man, that was easy. I just went to every city and insulted their sports teams. That was easy. Yeah. ‘Cause there’s no heat like cheap heat.”

We at CYInterview extend our condolences to Lanny Poffo’s family, friends and fans. Pro wrestling has lost another great.

You can listen to our entire CYInterview from 2016 with Lanny Poffo below:

Listen to the entire Lanny Poffo CYInterview: