Jake “The Snake” Roberts says one of the wildest moments from his heated WWF rivalry with Rick Rude wasn’t just another planned wrestling spot. During an appearance on Going Ringside, Roberts claimed he legitimately warned Rude that he would rip off the tights featuring Cheryl Roberts—and then followed through.
The infamous storyline saw Rude use Cheryl’s image on his tights as a way to humiliate Roberts and make their rivalry even more personal. Cheryl was directly involved in the program, even legitimately rupturing Rude’s eardrum with a slap because she didn’t know how to pull the shot. When Roberts was asked whether seeing his wife’s image on Rude’s tights made things awkward, he admitted the stunt crossed a line for him.
“Yeah, that was a little bit too much. That’s why I ripped them off.”
Roberts was then asked whether ripping Rude’s tights off was actually a shoot. According to Roberts, he told Rude exactly what would happen if he wore them to the ring—and he wasn’t bluffing.
“Oh, yeah. That was a shoot. That was a shoot, Rick. I told him, I said, ‘If you go out there, I’m coming out and ripping them off.’ That’s exactly what I did.”
Roberts also described Rude as “a little bit of a smart butt” while discussing how the WWE Hall of Famer handled the personal nature of the angle. Rude may have known Roberts was angry, but that didn’t stop him from wearing the tights and pushing the storyline as far as it could go.
The Roberts-Rude rivalry remains one of the most personal feuds of its era, and Roberts’ version of events makes the tights incident even crazier. Rude went to the ring knowing Roberts had threatened to strip them off—and Roberts made good on every word.
What do you make of Jake Roberts claiming the Rick Rude tights incident was a legitimate shoot? Let us know your thoughts and leave your feedback in the comments.
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