Once Bitten

The snake bites back

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

I know I'm a couple of days late on this, but I'm plum out of ideas right now, so I'm digging into the archives for this one.  November 23, 1991 that Jake "the Snake" Roberts commanded his pet cobra to sink his fangs into the arm of "Macho Man" Randy Savage.  It happened on WWF Superstars.  Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper watched in horror doing the commentary after Roberts called Savage from the broadcast position. The lovely Elizabeth was helpless outside the ring.  Watch for yourself if you've never seen it, or relive the experience.

Savage had been "retired" at the time, after losing to the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania 7.  He spent his time on commentary with Vince and Piper in the meantime.  Once Savage got to the ring though, he was attacked by the Snake and wrapped up in the ropes.

Jake then pulls out the cobra and allows it to bite Savage.  The WWF flashed a large red X with the word censored across it.  The only other time I remember them censoring something like that was when Ron Bass sliced and diced Brutus Beefcake's head with a pair of spurs a couple years prior.

No censoring here.

The cobra incident was one of those defining moments in WWF Superstars history, because back then very little happened on the show, as most of the matches were squash ones.  It lead to a great feud between Savage and Roberts as Macho Man finally got reinstated to wrestle.  The incident also lead to the eventual face turn of the Undertaker.

While it was one of those "it can only happen in wrestling" type of moments, it was one that has stuck in my memory ever since.  I was in college at the time, so it's a lot easier for me to remember those types of things.  About a year later WCW tried to relive the incident when Roberts wrestled Sting in a Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match at Halloween Havoc '92.  It had been too closely associated with the first attack, and took away from the event WCW was putting on.

Who remembers this incident?  Post your comments here or on Facebook or Twitter.  Also, subscribe to My 123 Cents on YouTube.  Thanks!