Jake Roberts vs Randy Savage

[Guest Dmann2000]

Over at 411 Sydney Brown posted a review of This Tuesday in Texas. His main reason was to pimp the angle between Roberts and Savage. I just rewatched the match and post-match stuff and it should be manditory, MANDITORY for any heel to study Jake during this period. I'll still kill the guy for what he did. Man it saddens me to know that nothing in wrestling recently, not even HHH/Steph/Angle had the emotion of this. For those who say wrestling needs to stop being soap opera got it wrong. It needs to stop being BAD soap opera. This, this is Award calliber stuff. Feel free to add feelings.

[Guest bob_barron]

I'm about to review it as well- it kicks ass!

[Guest mesepher]

::sighs:: so much that COULD be released on WWF DVDs... damnit.

[Guest papacita]

It needs to stop being BAD soap opera.

Exactly

[Guest The Notorious CRD]

I agree that more angles should mimmick the Savage-Roberts formula. I'd care a whole hell of a lot more about something like that then "HLA" or a same-sex wedding. Sheesh.

[Guest cheercomp]

Can someone recap or summarize the feud for me? I was just beginning the get into wrestling seriously at that point since I was like 6 back then. I remember the snake bite but not too clearly.

[Guest nWoScorpion]

Greatness usually CAN't be duplicated, so I think it's a good thing they never re-did Snake/Savage otherwise it would be less special.

[Guest Jericholic82]

I'll summarize for you, as I remember it all in detail,

 

ok, back in 1991, at WM7 , Savage lost a "retirement" match to the Warrior. This was also the show which featured Jake's blowoff match with Rick Martel (the horrible blindfold match).

Later that year, Earthquake squahed Damien.

Warrior, in a feud with Uundertaker, went to Jake for help in learning "the dark side". Jake agreed to "help" him. Jake proceeded to put the Warrior through a series of humiliating "tests", all the while telling the Warrior to "trust me". Of course at the end, Jake was revelaed to have set him up and locked him in a room with "snakes" which were actually plastic, but thats neither here nor there. Undertaker showed up and Jake told warrior "never turst a snake"

 

Now this was naturally supposed to start a feud with Jake and Warrior, but of course Hellwig with his ego refused to work with a mid carder like Jake and infact ran away from the WWF after Summerslam. Of course the WWF needed a new angle for Jake and by this chance decided on Savage.

 

Now at Summerslam, Savage was to "Wed" ELizabeth (infact they had been married for years at this point). Before the wedding, at Savage's bachelor party, Jake showed up and pretended friendship and congratulated Randy, kinda sinisterly talking about a big present for the wedding. Summerslam came and went well, at the reception (available exclusivley on the coliseum video version and shown on WWF TV), The couple opened a box to reveal Jakes new snake, the cobra Lucifer. As Liz scremed, Jake and Taker attacked Randy, but Sid Justice ran them off. Now Sid feuded with Jake on behalf of Randy since he was retired.

At Survivor Series, Jake was to lead his Team of The Natural Disasters and IRS againsnt Sid's team of Bossman and the LOD. But, before the event, SId sufered an arm injury and therfore was out of the PPV. Savage in turn, began to rally Jack Tunney to reinstate him and let him take Sid's place at the PPV, infact millions of fans sent letters and called in demanding Savage be brought back. The week of survivor series, it seemed like he would get his wish. But on the Superstars of Wrestling that saturday before the PPV, Jake came out and taunted Savage and Liz. Savage could have no more so he ran to the ring, wher Jake attacked him, and tied him in the ropes. Jake put on a black glove and retrieved his cobra, and then proceeded to put the snake by savage's arm. To the horror of the crowd the snake started chomping down on savage's arm, drawing blood. Liz ran down and was screaming for help. Roddy Piper came down to help and ran of Jake, as savage stumbled around throwing punches at the air, acting like he head been poisoned by the snake, which in fact was devenomized (whether or not he was defaned as a matter of your own opinion as savage coulda bladed the arm for effect).

At the ppv, Jack Tunney, rad a statemnt, proclaming that he would reinstate Savage, but because of his "injury" at the hands of the snake, would not allow him to compete at the Survivor Series, then took Jake out of the match as well, and set a one on one match for the two enemies for Tuesday in Texas, which Savage won in a wild brawl, but after was attacked by Jake who also hit Liz. Of course Savage vowed revenge, but no more meaningful matches took place, until their brief tussle at the Royal Rumble, and the blowoff match on SNME in Feb of '92, where Savage beat Jake to win the feud. After the match Undertaker turned face when Jake was behind the curtain and saw Liz coming and was going to attack her, but Taker stopped him, leading to a feud between he and Jake, which ended when Taker squahsed Jake at WM8 and sent him out of the WWF for good.

 

Hope that helped.

[Guest Strike Force!]

Even if you knew wrestling was fake, that cobra biting Savage's arm was just plain scary.

[Guest Grenouille]

Even if you knew wrestling was fake, that cobra biting Savage's arm was just plain scary.

I fully agree with this. When the angle was originally running I was about 6-7 and I remember this giving me nightmares. It still creeps me out when I watch old videos that have it too.

[Guest mesepher]

that was an amazing storyline. I don't recall how old I was... but damn... seeing that snake bite Savage was SO memorable.

 

That is one of the events I still remember what I was doing at the time.

I had spent the night at my friend Tyler's house. We had just finished our lunch from SubWay and he went upstairs. So I stayed downstairs on watched WWF... once Savage got in the ring, I started screaming for him... but he missed it.

[Guest Dmann2000]

I actually used to joke that the whole fued started because Savage wouldn't let Jake into his bachelor party because "I don't dig snakes"

[Guest pete]

I thought that angle rocked. It had so much genuine heat. It was really mindblowing for the WWF back then. Since at the time the angles they had were really catering towards the kids.

[Guest imajackoff?]

Funny thing about this angle is that, for all its greatness, it bombed at the box office. I always felt that the failure of this "hardcore" angle at the house shows caused Vince to opt for the cartoony crapiness that was 92-95. Jake's TTIT post match promo with Okerlund still remains one of my favs

[Guest Dmann2000]

"I'm beggin ya Savage, if you wanna go one more time, please, bring your lady again, so I can touch her....heheheh...Trust Me...."

 

Oh Jake why oh why did you waste your life

[Guest DeputyHawk]

this was the angle that got me into wrestling bigtime. i had seen wm7 and summerslam of 91 at schoolfriends houses, but didn't have sky tv so saw none of the weekly tv shows. after the savage-jake angle, i was so hooked i used to pay a classmate to tape superstars & primetime for me. that angle was gold. even my dad (who hates wrestling with a passion) was convinced by it, and thought jake should have been banned. terrific stuff.

[Guest BlackRainbow1025]

I was like 10 at the time, maybe a bit older.......I remember being at my grandma's watching Superstars, seeing Jake's cobra biting Savage. The big X on the screen and everything. I was so freaked out. To this day I still have no idea if that snake really bit him or not. Wonderful angle, definitely no wonder Jake was one of my favorites when I was little.

[Guest Dmann2000]

ARGHHHH, I just realised I taped Jake's post interview BUT NOT SAVAGE'S. I guess it's back to the video store looking for Supertape 92 for me