At WrestleMania VII, Randy Savage lost his career to The Ultimate Warrior, but he gained back his former manager and love of his life, Miss Elizabeth. The stage was set for their marriage to headline the 1991 SummerSlam event. Meanwhile, on the road to the event, the Ultimate Warrior was stuffed in a casket by The Undertaker.
Related: Macho Man Randy Savage's 7 Best (& 7 Worst) AttiresTo understand the nature of his fears, Warrior sought the help of Jake The Snake Roberts. The Snake let him know for weeks that he was exactly that and eventually turned on Warrior, showing he was always aligned with The Deadman. But at the Match Made In Heaven, the devil’s favorite duo had turned their attentions to Mr. and Mrs. Savage when they crashed the reception and gave them the “gift” of a venomous python. It kicked off a blood feud that was wild enough to have felt right at home during the envelope-pushing Attitude Era.
The Buildup For The Feud Was Intense
For months, Randy Savage was begging Jack Tunney to be reinstated so that he could get his hands on Roberts. Shortly before Survivor Series, it seemed like Savage was going to get his wish. But before he could captain a team, Roberts assaulted him with a King Cobra in one of the most infamous and heinous attacks in WWE history. That was the last straw for Jack Tunney. Their feud was so intense that Tunney pulled both men from Survivor Series. The president reinstated Savage and banned any snakes from ringside The Macho Man finally got his wish and the battleground was set for an event called This Tuesday In Texas.
The Feud Made Roberts Even Viler
On Tuesday In Texas, there was a lot of time given to this war — pre and post-match interviews and of course the brawl itself. Savage fired the first salvo and won the match, but Jake couldn’t care less that he lost. After the match, The Macho Man tried to assault Roberts with the ring bell, as he had done to so many superstars when he was a heel. But Jake nailed him with the DDT, went under the ring to get the python bag.
Related: The 10 Best Rivalries Of Jake The Snake Roberts' Career
As Miss Elizabeth was begging for her husband’s well-being, not only did he deliver a few more DDTs to Savage, but he had the audacity to slap Elizabeth right across the face. At the time, striking Miss Elizabeth was unheard of and only made Roberts that much viler because of it.
The Violence Was Upped
While Savage and Roberts never had a wild hardcore match, had this feud taken place several years later, buckets of blood would have been spilled. The promos alone called for a level of intensity that was not often seen during the Golden Era. Much like any Attitude Era feud, the brawls they had were memorable and envelope-pushing; but it was their war of words that was actually achieving more in the theater of the mind. At the 1992 Royal Rumble, once Roberts was in, whenever the buzzer went off, he’s look to see if Savage was charging to the ring, and eventually, he’d slink out of the ring. Once Savage eliminated Roberts, he dove over the top after his mortal enemy. The psychology is that getting at Roberts meant more to Savage than winning the title. Their second encounter took place on Saturday Night’s Main Event and was a wild brawl much like the first one, where some blood was actually spilled when Savage broke Roberts’ nose.
On the night of their Main Event match, Roberts was primed to take Miss Elizabeth’s head off with a steel chair until when all people, The Undertaker made the big save. The Snake gave his soul to The Deadman at WrestleMania. Meanwhile, Savage then went on to challenge Ric Flair for the WWE title. Roberts left WWE later in the year as the Macho Man continued in the company until he headed for WCW.
Related: The 10 Worst Things Jake The Snake Roberts Ever Did (In Wrestling)
Their war was brief, but it was a highly personal vendetta that wasn’t for any titles or pride. Just two men who absolutely despised each other. It was just the kind of envelope-pushing feud that would have fit right in during The Attitude Era; as both Randy Savage and Jake Roberts were two very different superstars willing to go to dark depths to add more and more layers to their characters and storylines.
