10 Classic Wrestling Rivalries That Would Have Flourished In The Attitude Era

6. Jake 'The Snake' Roberts Vs Macho Man Randy Savage

Bobby Heenan Jerry Lawler Jim Ross Gorilla Monsoon
WWE.com

The absorbing war between Jake Roberts and Randy Savage is early-1990s evocative WWE at its zenith, and deserves more credit than it gets if only for the incredible bravery shown by the Macho Man to even let Roberts' Cobra gnaw on his forearm. The grisly scene propelled the storyline into the stratosphere, but when the promise of their first televised outing didn't boost buyrates for the company's experimental 'This Tuesday In Texas' post-Survivor Series supercard, management seemed to cool on conflict.

It forced the feud to end rather abruptly, with Savage eventually doing away with the sub-human scum on a February 1992 Saturday Night's Main Event special ahead of a WrestleMania title clash with Ric Flair.

Not only would the carnage of the Attitude Era begat further insanity between the pair, but twists and turns would take things in increasingly wild new directions. A decade on from the original snakebite, and fans could have expected the Cobra to about-face on his own master, or Miss Elizabeth to stab her husband in the back to pair up with his fiercest enemy. That WCW attempted those exact angles years before Vince Russo picked up a pencil highlights how little fanfare they afforded some of their more insane moments.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett