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Macho Man Randy Savage was widely viewed as one of the most intense WWE Superstars of the 1980s and early 1990s. Jake Roberts, Savage's former in-ring rival, recently recalled how he once had to calm his opponent down backstage.
The two legends were booked to compete in the biggest match of the evening at a Saturday Night's Main Event taping. Before the show, former NBC President Dick Ebersol warned both men that he did not want the viewing figures to drop during their 24-minute bout.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling Senior Editor Bill Apter, Roberts said Savage freaked out after the conversation with Ebersol:
"Randy went nuts. 'What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? They don't know what we're gonna f***ing do for 24 minutes. Do you?' 'No.' 'We've gotta come up with something new.' 'No, we don't Randy. No, we don't.' I told him, I said, 'Man, if you've been driving a car and it got you first place, why would you change your car? Do what you know, do what you've been doing, and everything will be all right,' and that's what I stand on." [5:17 – 5:51]
Watch the video above to hear Roberts' take on Savage's strengths and weaknesses as a wrestler.
Jake Roberts says Macho Man made the match "hell" at the start
Due to his nervous energy, Macho Man began the match at a much higher tempo than usual.
Jake Roberts purposely slowed down his in-ring approach in an attempt to tire his opponent out:
"The first seven to eight minutes of that match were hell because he was just wanting to fly, did not want to stop, and he was rushing everything, so I had to lean on him, drag him down until he blew up, and then once he blew up we were able to do a damn good match." [5:52 – 6:11]
Roberts also said he deliberately avoided Savage before shows to prevent his former rival from scripting their match in advance.
Do you have any favorite Macho Man Randy Savage memories? Let us know in the comments section below.
You can listen to more stories from Jake Roberts on his podcast, The Snake Pit.
Please credit Sportskeeda WrestleBinge and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.
