Yeah...this is is going to be hard. Not hard because it's bad, but because this match is very infamous in the wrestling industry for one very depressing reason. For as bad as the entirety of the Heroes of Wrestling show is, it would most likely be forgotten in time if it weren't for this match. This is the infamous match where the legendary Jake the Snake Roberts showed up completely intoxicated to wrestle Jim Neidhart.
Roberts had well-publicized issues with drugs and alcohol throughout his career. There's even a scene in the documentary Beyond the Mat where Roberts is interviewed after reportedly smoking crack. Luckily, Roberts was able to get his life back on track with the help of Diamond Dallas Page in 2012 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014. But unfortunately, he still had a very public relapse in front of thousands of people at this show. He was so intoxicated, in fact, that the promoter had to change the planned double main event of Roberts vs Neidhart and King Kong Bundy vs Yokozuna into a tag match between Roberts & Yokozuna vs Neidhart & Bundy. I really just want to get this over with, do let's get into it.
So before the match, we get a promo from Roberts. It's clear already that something is up with Roberts, as the normally skilled talker Roberts rambles through his promo. Included in this promo is the famous "You wanna play 21?" line from the Botchamania opening and drunkenly chanting "DDT" over and over again. God, this is hard to watch.
So finally, we come to what is supposed to be Jim Neidhart vs Jake Roberts. Neidhart looked great at this time, probably the best of any legend at this show. And then Roberts comes out. He walks down to ringside and puts his snake bag in the ring. He then walks all the way backstage before running back down and making a woman rub his chest. Roberts then gets in the ring and the match begins.
Neidhart must've realized Roberts was in bad shape because he dips out of the ring very quickly. He gets back in the ring and the two lock up. Roberts hits an arm drag on Neidhart before Neidhart hammers away in on Roberts after a long pause. Neidhart puts Roberts in a wristlock, and despite being drunk, Roberts still manages to sell better than Rosa Mendes. Just trying to lighten the mood.
Roberts tries for the DDT, but Neidhart dips out of the ring again. Roberts then pulls Damien the snake out of his bag, holds it between his legs and does the Five Knuckle Shuffle with it. Not the John Cena Five Knuckle Shuffle, the Urban Dictionary Five Knuckle Shuffle. Google it...in an Incognito tab. Roberts then lays down in the ring and starts kissing and licking the snake.
Despite being on the outside for over a minute, Neidhart isn't counted out and King Kong Bundy walks down to ringside. Neidhart ends up blindsiding Roberts and locking in a headlock. Roberts eventually fights out and calls for the DDT, but Bundy hops up on the ring apron to cause a distraction. Roberts flips him off and Bundy enters the ring to double team Roberts with Neidhart.
The heels beat down Roberts until Yokozuna walks down to make the save and...
Oh god. Yeah, for as well documented as the Jake Roberts controversy is for this show, something else that needs to be talked about is Yokozuna's weight. Yokozuna was always a super heavyweight in the WWF, weighing in at a billed 589 pounds. By the end of his WWF run, he weighed 660 pounds and was not cleared to wrestle in some states because of his weight. Despite losing almost 100 pounds in 1996, he was eventually released from the company. By this point, Yokozuna had stopped trying to lose weight and now weighed an estimated 760 pounds, even admitting he was trying to set the record for the heaviest wrestler ever. Seeing someone that size wrestle is almost scary.
Yokozuna flips off Bundy before getting in the ring and defending Roberts. Neidhart & Bundy double team Yokozuna when the ring announcer announces that the match is now a tag match between Neidhart & Bundy and Yokozuna & Roberts. At this point, a bald man who the announcers refer to as "Mini Bundy" runs down to ringside to consult with Neidhart & Bundy. This is actually the promoter Bill Stone, coming out to consult with the wrestlers and watch his dream go up in flames before his very eyes.
Roberts collapses in the ring before Neidhart drags him over the apron and bites him. Neidhart then smacks a chair over Roberts' head on the outside followed by using two chairs to deliver a chair shot to the head. Bundy then delivers his own sick, c*nty, stiff as all hell chair shot straight to Roberts' head. He then, ironically, gives Roberts some very gentle stomps to his back that more than likely don't even touch him. A sharp contrast in his offense. Stone even gets a long choke spot in on Roberts.
The heels continue to beat down Roberts, who is completely out of it. They take off both of Roberts boots(?) before Roberts low blows both of them and tags in Yokozuna. Yokozuna runs...well, stands still wild and beats down Neidhart. Despite Roberts clearly not being the legal man, Bundy sends Roberts to the ground and hits the splash to mercifully end the match.
Afterwards, Yokozuna grabs Stone and gets the crowd to chant for the DDT. Unfortunately, Roberts is too far gone at this point in the night, so Yokozuna just gives him a Samoan Drop. Roberts then grabs the snake and it cuts to black. That was Heroes of Wrestling.
The Verdict
If I'm judging the entire main event as a whole, it was a disaster. Roberts too messed up to work, the on the fly booking of the tag match, Roberts not being able to do anything in the match except take the pin, everything was bad. The tag match itself was nothing but a squash match simply because Roberts couldn't do anything, and I can't even really put it too low, because from a wrestling standpoint, I've seen far worse. Hell, I've seen far worse on this exact show. It was really uncomfortable to watch Roberts like this, and it's honestly a bit relieving to know that he was able to get his life together a few years ago.
Rankings (Best to Worst)
- Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
- Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
- T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
- Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
- Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
- Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
- Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
- Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
- Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
- The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
- The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
- Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
- ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
- Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
- Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
- Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
- Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
- The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
- Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
- Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
- Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
- Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
- Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
- Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
- Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
- Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
- Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
- Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
- Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
- Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
- Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
- Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
- Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
- Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
- Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
- Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
- Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
- Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
- Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
- Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
- Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
- Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
- Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
- Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
- Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
- Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
- PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
- Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
- Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
- Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
- Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
- Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
- King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
- Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
- The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
- The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
- Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
- Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
- Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
- Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
- Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
- Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
- David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
- The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
- The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
- The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
- Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
- Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
- Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
- Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
- Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
- Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
- Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
- The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
- The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
- The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
- Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
- Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
- Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
- The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
- Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
- Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/10)
- Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
- The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
- James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
- John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
- Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
- Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
- Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
Glad that one's out of the way. Up next is...
Oh man, the Hardcore Evening Gown match...between two guys. This should be awful.
Thanks for reading. Be sure to share if you enjoyed. Also, check out my Patreon
Oh man, the Hardcore Evening Gown match...between two guys. This should be awful.
Thanks for reading. Be sure to share if you enjoyed. Also, check out my Patreon
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