February 8th, 1992 saw the airing of the WWE special Saturday Nights Main Event XXX. The Lubbock Municipal Coliseum in Texas is packed to the rafters, and over 14 million are tuned in from their homes to see the blow off to a very personal rivalry between two megastars. Jake the Snake Roberts has been a slithery thorne in the side of Macho Man Randy Savage, and Ms Elizabeth, and Macho is finally able to get his mitts on the contemptuous Roberts. How did Roberts become so vile, and how did Macho become so enraged ok so Macho is just being Macho, but, how did we get here?
Ohh yeeauuh, we gotta roll this one back, yeeauuh, with a rewind, yeauh
*water*
Please drink some.
Make sure to follow us on all social media platforms @feudrewind
Email: feudrewind@gmail.com
Thank you!
February 8th, 1992 saw the airing of the WWE special Saturday Nights Main Event XXX. The Lubbock Municipal Coliseum in Texas is packed to the rafters, and over 14 million are tuned in from their homes to see the blow off to a very personal rivalry between two megastars. Jake the Snake Roberts has been a slithery thorne in the side of Macho Man Randy Savage, and Ms Elizabeth, and Macho is finally able to get his mitts on the contemptuous Roberts. How did Roberts become so vile, and how did Macho become so enraged ok so Macho is just being Macho, but, how did we get here?
Ohh yeeauuh, we gotta roll this one back, yeeauuh, with a rewind, yeauh
*water*
Please drink some.
Make sure to follow us on all social media platforms @feudrewind
Email: feudrewind@gmail.com
Thank you!
EP: 14
TITLE: Macho vs Snake
INTRO:
February 8th, 1992 saw the airing of the WWE special Saturday Nights Main Event XXX. The Lubbock Municipal Coliseum in Texas is packed to the rafters, and over 14 million are tuned in from their homes to see the blow off to a very personal rivalry between two megastars. Jake the Snake Roberts has been a slithery thorne in the side of Macho Man Randy Savage, and Ms Elizabeth, and Macho is finally able to get his mitts on the contemptuous Roberts. How did Roberts become so vile, and how did Macho become so enraged ok so Macho is just being Macho, but, how did we get here?
Ohh yeeauuh, we gotta roll this one back, yeeauuh, with a rewind, yeauh
theme music
Chapter 1:
Welcome to the rewind I’m your host Benza Lance
In the early 90s, the WWE was going through somewhat of a transition period. The “Golden Era” of the 1980s, which saw the WWE gobble upterritorial talent almost at will in order to create their international behemoth promotion, was starting to see its popularity wane. Of course, if you look at any of the television ratings or gate numbers, the first few years of the last decade of the 20th century saw the WWE maintain their viewership, but the fans were starting to grow tired of the cartoony gimmicks and characters, and were desperate to get something a little more real. While it would be a few years before more viscerally real talent like Stone Cold Steve Austin, for example, would become the norm, there would be a feud in the early 90s that definitely had more a place in the Attitude Era of the late 90s. Built upon darker psychology, a real life relationship, and gruesome moments we hadnt seen before in a wrestling ring, the feud between Macho Man Randy Savage and Jake The Snake Roberts stands out as a pillar of the more modern style of storytelling that we love and appreciate nowadays. But first, a little foundation for our feud to build off of.
We all know Randy Savage, if for nothing else, than for his infamous “oh yeeuh” catchphrase. The Macho Man was born in 1952 in the cradle of the midwest, Columbus, Ohio. An extremely gifted athlete, Savage was drafted by the St Louis Cardinals of MLB out of high school. Unfortunately for him, an injury to his throwing arm due to a collision at home plate derailed his baseball career in the minor leagues. Fortunately for wrestling fans, he decided to join the family business instead, as his father was the legendary wrestler Angelo Poffo. Young Randy further went a pretty intense body transformation; due to his years as a baseball player, he had developed a sleek body compounded with fast twitch muscles, built for explosive lateral speed. For wrestling, he had to change his routine and bulk up considerably from his playing days, going from the mid 170s to the lower 200s in weight. Adding mass while keeping the majority of his quick athleticism made Savage stand out over time from most of his lumbering contemporaries. After a few years of learning the ropes and paying his dues, Randy’s father Angelo opens International Championship Wrestling, Feeling that his sons Randy and Lanny werent getting their proper respect after a few years of cutting their teeth in the NWA based promotions they were competing in. One of the most well known “outlaw” promotions of the 70s and 80s; outlaw because they had no affiliation with the NWA, the governing body and council for professional wrestling the time, ICE would grow into a cult like status. ICW would disband and the Poffo kids would join Jerry Lawler’s Continental Wrestling Alliance, where Randy would quickly ascend the ranks to become one of the most talked about wrestlers on the circuit at the time. His notoriety was as such that the WWE came calling when Randy’s contract was up, and in June 1985, The Macho Man would step through the doors of Titan Towers for the first time. Known for his flamboyant attire and high-energy in-ring style, Randy was quickly a fan favorite, displaying explosive athleticism and intense charisma.
Being paired with America’s sweetheart Miss Elizabeth, Randy would have legendary feuds with Hulk Hogan and Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, to name a few of the most well known feuds, while always becoming The Macho King by winning the 1989 KOTR tournament. By 1991, Macho Man has been an Intercontinental and Worlds Heavyweight Champion, and at Wrestlemania 7, had put his career on the line against the Ultimate Warrior, in which Randy lost. Having retired from in ring work, Randy had moved over to the commentary team, and was completing his story of winning back Miss Elizabeth. THis was culminating with Savage’s proposal to Miss Elizabeth, and they were preparing to marry during Summerslam. Before the wedding, it is a tradition that the men have a bachelor party, a stag do, whatever the term is in your area for the groom to be to blow off some steam with his lads, thats what Randy is about to do. And well, there’s one dude in particular that shows up, that Randy, and nobody else, wants there. It happens to be the other an in our feud, Jake the Snake Roberts.
Jake Roberts was born in Gainesville, Texas in 1955. The son of wrestler Grizzly Smith, Jake would become a wrestler himself, starting in such famed promotions of yesteryear as Mid-South, Mid-Atlantic, and Georgia Championship Wrestling. The 6’6” Roberts definitely had the height to be a wrestler, but his body was definitely more of the “everyman” type. Going into the latter part of the 80s, we saw the rise of bodybuilder types in the ring, and while Roberts was certainly fit, his physique was noticeably different to someone like Macho Man, for example. It would take a few years of seasoning in the aforementioned promotions and as well as Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, before Roberts would get a grasp on his character, but when he finally did, this was once again, in stark contrast to much of what we saw on tv. The Snake, with his enigmatic personality and calculating demeanor, was a master of mind games. His promos were often delivered in a very controlled, almost hushed, breathy way, with a slow and calculated speech that made his words carry that much more weight.
Together with his pet snake Damien, Roberts make his debut in the WWF in March of 1986, and quickly entered into a classic feud with Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Roberts was given his own talk segment called “The Snake Pit”; like other classic segments in a similar vein such as “Piper’s Pit” with Rowdy Roddy Piper, this segment was used for Roberts to conduct interviews and further storylines. Roberts proved himself very well appointed on the microphone, and it was an ingenious move to give him his own segment. Roberts had a history of sorts with the fans supporting him more than management at times; while both Georgia Championship and the WWF wanted him to be a heel, the fans adored Jake, and cheered for him almost at every opportunity. Unfortunately, stubbornness often prevailed, and instead of changing course and giving the fans what the actually want, possible planned pushes for Roberts were usually derailed. Damien the snake would unfortunately meet his demise at the buttocks of Earthquake John Tenta, but fortunately his big brother Lucifer was able to take his place.
In the summer of 1991, the Ultimate Warrior enlisted Roberts’ help in Warrior’s feud with Undertaker; Roberts turns hell and feeds Warrior to Taker instead, with Roberts proclaiming “I’m a snake, never trust a snake”. This was the first time that Jake had been a heel since 1987. This was also around the time that he showed up to Macho Man’s bachelor party unannounced.
The wedding for Macho and Elizabeth was taking place at the 1991 Summerslam. MSG was packed to the roof in wait for what Mean Gene has dubbed “A Match Made in Heaven”. During the reception after a beautiful ceremony, two crashers appeared; Jake the Snake and his new pal the Undertaker. Jake proceeds to give Macho and Elizabeth his wedding present; a box with a venomous python that frightens Elizabeth upon her opening the box, while Undertaker blindsides Macho with his urn. Jake takes the python out to taunt Elizabeth, and eventually Jake and Taker are run of by Sid Justice. A distressed Elizabeth and a pissed off Macho stand in the ring, in the ruins of their special day. Our feud begins.
Chapter 2:
Typically, this should be a pretty straightforward situation where another person has stepped up to your woman, so now you go kick that person’s ass. There is a slight problem, however; Macho is retired. More concretely, we have a WWE President during this era, Jack Tunney, that is a real hardass, and won’t reinstate Macho. Savage would start a public campaign to be reinstated, which largely was shot down by Tunney. Acutely aware that Savage could not issue him any type of receipt for his actions, Roberts himself would cut promos directed towards savage, often times berating and belittling him.The personal animosity between the two wrestlers was fueled by Roberts' desire to prove that Savage was not as honorable and loyal as he portrayed himself to be.They delivered intense and emotionally charged speeches, further deepening the animosity and creating a palpable sense of anticipation for their matches. Roberts targeted Miss Elizabeth, often making thinly veiled threats towards her, adding an emotional element to their rivalry. This raised the stakes for Savage, who was determined to protect his wife's honor and seek revenge on Roberts.
It wasn’t until November 23 on the WWF Superstars of Wrestling tapings did Savage return to the ring, but not in the capacity he intended. Roberts cuts a classic promo to goad Savage into the ring. After Macho was lured into the ring, Roberts lays down the boots and attacks Savage, eventually tying Savage into the ropes. Roberts removes Lucifer from his bag, and Savage has no choice but to sit there and writhe in pain as the snake bites into his arm. While the snake has been devenomized, you have to remember this is an actual snake biting into Randy’s arm. This added an extra layer of danger and intensity to their feud, as the bite inflicted real pain on Savage and further fueled the animosity between the two, especially since Savage wasn’t reinstated for in ring work. That is, until this brutal attack happened, as due to the overwhelming crowd support swelling beneath Savage, Tunney had no choice BUT to reinstate the Macho Man, and went a step further and actually booked a showdown between the two.
The Tuesday night ppv was an attempt to establish Tuesday as a secondary ppv day, and this event took place on December 3rd 1991. The Freeman Colisseum in San Antonio is our battleground for this midweek evening, The featured bout on the undercard was the match between Savage and Roberts, and a special stipulation that President Tunney has added is all snakes are banned from ringside. While Roberts was making his entrance, Savage rushed down the aisle and attacked Roberts from behind, attempting to get the drop on the Snake, and being so emotionally charged that Macho couldn’t wait. Savage spends the next couple minutes on the offense until the referee stepped between the two competitors, which allowed Roberts to deliver a blow to Savage's lower abdomen. Roberts then tossed Savage over the top rope to the floor, giving himself time to recover from Savage's relentless attack. Roberts took control of the match, focusing the majority of his punishment on Savage's injured arm, the same arm that was snake bit previously. At about the six minute mark of the match, Roberts grabbed Savage in preparation for his finishing move, the DDT, when Savage countered by driving him backwards into the corner, ramming his shoulder into Roberts' ribs. This caused Roberts to stumble out of the corner and fall to the mat in pain, allowing Savage to climb the ropes and perform his diving elbow drop finisher and pin Roberts for the victory. After the match, Savage wanted to inflict more punishment on Roberts and grabbed a steel chair but it was taken away by a ringside official. Savage then grabbed the timekeeping bell but became caught in a tug-of-war with the referee, which allowed Roberts to perform a DDT on Savage. Roberts would deliver a second DDT to Savage, and then Roberts reached under the ring and pulled out a bag, similar to the one that normally contained his King Cobra. Miss Elizabeth then ran to the ring and draped herself over Savage, attempting to prevent Roberts from harming him any further. It did not work however, as Roberts got hold of him and delivered a third DDT and followed that up with a slap to Elizabeth's face. THIS singular moment is definitely the most heinous of our feud; physicality with the female managers or valets is an old heel tactic, however, Elizabeth was long put on a pedestal in a way, almost assuredly due to Savage’s overly protective nature. Elizabeth was not to have hands put on her, and Roberts took this a step further by paintbrushin her clean across her face.
After this moment, a second referee then arrived to help escort Roberts out of the ring. WWF President Jack Tunney finally came to ringside to make sure Roberts left without any further incident.
Now, Savage was never one to let this slide, and Roberts would spend the next few weeks always looking over his shoulder. A great example of this is our next ppv event, and as the calendar year turns to 1992, we’re traveling to beautiful Albany, NY, for the Royal Rumble. Taking place on January 19 1992, this Rumble was notable as the Rumble winner usually is issued a Worlds Heavyweight Championship shot at the following Wrestlemania; since Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan has been involved in some screwy matches with Undertaker, Hogan has been stripped of the title, and the Rumble winner will instead become the new Heavyweight Champion. Both Roberts and Savage are a part of the titular event; Roberts enters at number 16, and once Roberts was in, whenever the buzzer went off, he’d look to see if Savage was charging to the ring. Savage enters at number 21, and he’s obviously more concerned with getting his hands on Roberts as opposed to winning this match, as he eliminates both Roberts and himself by tweeting both men over the top rope. The psychology is that getting at Roberts meant more to Savage than winning the title
Our feud would continue, and ultimately culminate, a few weeks after the Rumble, at Saturday Night’s Main Event XXX. February 8th, 1992 saw 8,000 Texans fill the The Lubbock Municipal Coliseum for a PPV format that should be held as a standard for a four to five match show. Over 14 million are tuned in from their homes to witness Jake the Snake Roberts and Macho Man Randy Savage finally end their blood feud. They’re the main event tonight, and deservedly so.
Just over five minutes of an intense, high impact, and somewhat bloody match unfolds. A more “perfect” version of this match is something a little longer, if only by a few minutes, and definitely bloodier given the stakes but what we get is incredibly strong still. Savage is displaying little bits of nastiness himself, as now his emotions are sky high, and he’s resorting to take a few pages out of Jake’s playbook. Macho is heated and crazed in all his actions but he tempers it with a level of cold sadism that seems to match the man he’s fighting. So instead of just swinging wildly, Savage also does things like grabbing at Roberts’ nose. He’s twisting and grasping at the thing, clearly trying to break it; these actions do cause some of the red stuff to start flowing. He even complements this by scraping Roberts’ face on the floor, a spot that really needs to come back into wrestling for heated rivalries.
The referee tries to get between Savage and Roberts in the ropes so Roberts goes for the eyes. Roberts tosses Macho over the top rope multiple times and Savage just crashes down each time; it’s often forgotten that Randy Savage could sell like a mother, and that’s on full display here.
The finishing stretch that comes after the commercial break loses some of the heat of the first half. Roberts is in control but doesn’t bring the same viciousness and urgency that Savage does; Macho is definitely out for revenge, and Roberts might’ve bitten off more than he can chew. Savage hits the double axe handle to drive Roberts’ throat into the guardrail and it gets sold perfectly. Following this, Macho hits his patented elbow drop, and gets the 1-2-3. Macho delivers a second elbow drop after the bell for good measure while Miss Elizabeth comes out to celebrate.
Post match, Roberts is helped backstage and his enraged that Savage hit him with an elbow drop after the bell. Jake grabs a steel chair and claims that he’s gonna crack the head open of whomever comes back through the curtain first, whether or not it’s Savage or Elizabeth, Jake doesn’t care, he’s livid. Of course, Elizabeth is the first one through the curtain; just as Roberts is about to take her head off, Undertaker of all people comes in for the save.
Strangely enough, this is going to bring our feud to somewhat of a whimpered ending. There’s some innuendo that certain people were upset with the physicality surrounding Jake vs Elizabeth, so the feud is tidied up rather quickly. Post feud, Jake would go on to feud with the Undertaker and become the 2nd man to lose to Taker at Wrestlemania; meanwhile, Savage would feud with Ric Flair over the Worlds Heavyweight Championship, winning it from Flair at the same Wrestlemania as the Jake and Taker match.
Personally, i would have loved to see the Jake and Macho feud continue further, but i would suggest that Roberts’ perceived limitations by management is what held this feud back from continuing. It’s easy to forget that Jake Roberts never held a title during his WWE tenure; not just the Worlds Heavyweight title, he didn’t hold any title. Now, it just illustrates how magnetic of a character Jake the snake was to have ascended into our cultural zeitgeist without having ever held Big Goldie. A perfect example of how championships don’t necessarily make a competitor, and having a cerebral opponent such as The Snake often times led to more well thought out storylines due to not having the title dangled in front of his face, although i would argue that Jake definitely could have deserved a title run at least once. In another turn of events, both men would also by gone from the WWE within the next 18 months or so; Macho would go to WCW and ultimately join the nWo; Jake would leave for a cup of coffee in WCW, before heading back to the WWE just in time to become the man on the receiving end of the now infamous “Austin 3:16” promo.
The feud between "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Jake "The Snake" Roberts is one of the most memorable and intense rivalries in the history of professional wrestling. The personal attacks from Roberts added a deeply personal dimension to their rivalry and intensified the animosity between the two. It showcased the power of storytelling and the ability of wrestlers to create compelling narratives that resonated with audiences. The combination of Savage's explosive personality and Roberts' psychological manipulation created a perfect storm of drama and excitement, leaving a lasting impact on the world of professional wrestling. Even decades later, fans still remember the intense battles and unforgettable moments that defined this feud.
The psychological warfare conducted by Jake against Macho and Elizabeth was something that you would normally see from a sadistic movie villain, not a wrestling heel. Utilizing mind games, manipulation, and intimidation tactics to get inside Savage's head and gain a psychological advantage, Roberts tried everything in his arsenal to one up the Macho Man, essentially attempting to have macho beat himself.
The Savage vs. Roberts feud left a lasting impact on the wrestling industry. It demonstrated the power of storytelling and character development, showing that personal and emotional rivalries could captivate audiences and elevate the in-ring action. The feud also showcased Jake Roberts' masterful ability to manipulate and control his opponents through psychological tactics, solidifying his reputation as one of wrestling's most cunning and sinister characters.
Overall, this was a perfect blend of athleticism, drama, and psychological warfare. It remains a standout example of how professional wrestling can create captivating narratives and engage fans on an emotional level. it left a lasting impact on the wrestling industry, and is often cited as an example of how a well-executed feud can captivate audiences and create memorable moments. The intense storytelling and emotional investment from both wrestlers and fans have made it a benchmark for future feuds in professional wrestling.
A feud that will always be remembered as a classic rivalry that showcased the artistry and drama of professional wrestling. From their intense promos and interviews to their in-ring battles, Savage and Roberts created a legacy that continues to inspire and entertain fans to this day.
To Jake The Snak Roberts, thank you so so much.
To Macho Man, no doubt snapping into a slim Jim as he smiles down upon us, thank you Macho man oh yeeauh
This brings us to the end of the rewind for the week!
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Fellow fan, im’ your host Benza Lance, and I’ll roll it back with you next week, with another feud, to rewind