Lanny Poffo's Wrestling With Rhyme (1988)

[James Fabiano]

Anyone remember this book?

Found a copy at an indy show (where Poffo was appearing)...and hoo boy...it includes an ode to Grizzly Smith...

[jason1980s]

It was a pretty neat book, a good look at the 1988 time period in WWF.

If you ever see a copy signed by Lanny and MACHO MAN, that copy is signed by Lanny and Angelo Poffo forging Macho's autograph. It will be noticeable by the way Angelo did a "three" hump M look whereas Macho always did a two hump "M." Figures Inc, now Figures Toy Co. was originally selling these in the mid 1990s, claiming Lanny and Macho signed them exclusively for them. LOL. The price was $10 and considering Figures Inc was always the most expensive store, that should have been a red flag.

And one of the autograph "authenticators" either PSA or JSA authenticated a Angelo version of Macho as real. The fan had gotten the cut Macho sig, had Hulk sign it and the company "authenticated" it as real.

Edit: Google images shows PSA authenticated THREE of the fake Macho autographs with Hulk.

[chazraps]

Mar 30, 2022 10:09:06 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

If you ever see a copy signed by Lanny and MACHO MAN, that copy is signed by Lanny and Angelo Poffo forging Macho's autograph. It will be noticeable by the way Angelo did a "three" hump M look whereas Macho always did a two hump "M." Figures Inc, now Figures Toy Co. was originally selling these in the mid 1990s, claiming Lanny and Macho signed them exclusively for them. LOL. The price was $10 and considering Figures Inc was always the most expensive store, that should have been a red flag.

And one of the autograph "authenticators" either PSA or JSA authenticated a Angelo version of Macho as real. The fan had gotten the cut Macho sig, had Hulk sign it and the company "authenticated" it as real.

Edit: Google images shows PSA authenticated THREE of the fake Macho autographs with Hulk.

This bums me out and ruined my day.

[jason1980s]

Mar 30, 2022 15:18:47 GMT -5 chazraps said:

This bums me out and ruined my day.

Sorry about that. Did you have that copy or are you just disappointed that Lanny and Angelo would take part in selling fake autographs? Or that a company authenticates them as real?

[chazraps]

Mar 30, 2022 22:37:51 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Mar 30, 2022 15:18:47 GMT -5 chazraps said:

This bums me out and ruined my day.

Sorry about that. Did you have that copy or are you just disappointed that Lanny and Angelo would take part in selling fake autographs? Or that a company authenticates them as real?

All of the above really, and more.

I have a copy with both signatures, got it when I purchased a lot of books from Highspots when they had a book sale and I don't think they even had it listed as signed by Lanny let alone Lanny and Randy. So, I thought I'd lucked into a Savage autograph.

3-4 years ago on a podcast, Lanny said that the Savage signatures in his poetry book were authentic and told a whole story about how Randy told him one day "you'd probably sell a lot more of these if I signed them too."

So, I feel lied to and bummed I thought I had something - but it gets worse.

I looked up some actual Randy Savage autographs, and the signature is not even close. Like, beyond the humps of the "M" that you mentioned, they look *NOTHING* alike.

I don't necessarily blame the authenticators - they probably contacted Lanny himself and Lanny vouched, shared enough of Angelo's Randy signature to make it seem real. My search also showed a few news stories of Lanny being particularly vigilant circa 2009 before Randy's passing calling out other Randy forgeries.

And probably the biggest kicker of all - I would have been thrilled with an actual authentic Angelo Poffo signature. Looking up his signature online, it's so clearly his distinct signature. Further, Angelo signatures seems to be pretty rare these days, so it would really soften the blow.

[jason1980s]

Mar 30, 2022 23:19:51 GMT -5 chazraps said:

Thanks for the detailed response. I guess it's safe to assume Lanny made up the whole "hall of fame" thing about Randy wanting everyone to go in, if he's making up autographs.

I also would have loved to have an Angelo autograph. I actually had two Randy autographs, since sold and they were on crappy pieces of paper but never a true "Angelo" autograph. I'm not the biggest Randy fan so having his autograph doesn't appeal to me that much. I know his auto is getting harder and harder to find and people probably are hanging on to them but he did a lot of signings for WWF in the 1990s so the material is out there.

I can see Angelo really trying and somewhat succeeding to do Randy's autograph. If you look at the facsimile on the Hasbro 1990 figure, it's kind of close but the book autograph is slowly drawn so that too is a big indicator it's not real.

I never really thought anything of it until maybe 20 years after I bought it from Figures Inc and I went to research the item so I could sell it on ebay. I listed it for $10 and I think I got $10.

[James Fabiano]

Wow...I guess Lanny learned morals from Grizzly too...